Is the appaerance of the TIE Bomber here purely for comparison with the TIE Punisher, or is there a TIE Bomber re-paint included in the expansion pack?

It has to be hard for FFG. They have used up all of the OT options (except for the Ewok glider and T-16) and now the have no option but to delve into EU or create their own ships. The EU is unstable ground. Some folk love EU, some folk despise it and some folk love select choice pieces like a vegetarian eating a Ceasar salad.

I really don't like the EU. Too much of it does not fit in with my idea of the SW universe. Having said this, this wave is said to be a fix to ordnance. Ordnance may now be an enjoyable element to the game. I think we should focus on that, and not the choice of ships FFG chose to deliver this much desired fix. As, mentioned before, EU ships are always going to get mixed reviews.

But it could have been the Missile Boat.

That's my beef.

Is the appaerance of the TIE Bomber here purely for comparison with the TIE Punisher, or is there a TIE Bomber re-paint included in the expansion pack?

It's there because I asked for them to put it side-by-side. Note that the case was temporarily open for my picture taking pleasure. You know, because I'm a cool dude and such.

The K-wing actually looks pretty good from WW's pics (thanks WW!), and you have to admit, that Interdictor still looks deadly.

For me, it's actually the opposite. I was browsing over some fan-drawn concepts for the K-Wing and thought, "Well, it's over-designed, but I see how they could make it work,"

And then I saw the large stills of the models on display and I thought, "Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh. Maybe not,"

On the bright side, I see that it's still pending Disney approval. Mickey, please save us!

(Just for clarity, that last sentence is said with good humor. I don't like the design of the K-Wing and the new bomber looks as lazy as it did when it was first published in SW:GB, but neither is going to detract from the game for me. It'll just make me that happier to put the poor things out of their misery when they hit the table against me)

The K-wing actually looks pretty good from WW's pics (thanks WW!), and you have to admit, that Interdictor still looks deadly.

For me, it's actually the opposite. I was browsing over some fan-drawn concepts for the K-Wing and thought, "Well, it's over-designed, but I see how they could make it work,"

And then I saw the large stills of the models on display and I thought, "Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh. Maybe not,"

On the bright side, I see that it's still pending Disney approval. Mickey, please save us!

(Just for clarity, that last sentence is said with good humor. I don't like the design of the K-Wing and the new bomber looks as lazy as it did when it was first published in SW:GB, but neither is going to detract from the game for me. It'll just make me that happier to put the poor things out of their misery when they hit the table against me)

A couple of people have said something like this, but:

(1) Every preview/display case shot I can remember (going back to Wave 3) has had the same disclaimer.

(2) Is it reasonable to think they've gotten this far without getting preliminary approval from LFL at multiple stages? Because...

(3) ...can you imagine how much of a disaster it would be from FFG's perspective to get this far (design and playtesting done, molds produced, models produced and painted) only to have LFL yank one of the planned products?

Steve Horvath actually mentioned that they had completely wrapped development on one of the SW card games, were ready to push the button to send the order to the factory, when one of the other senior staff members approached him and asked him to play one last game. They ultimately decided that the game was good, but not great, and that they could do better. So they called LFL and told them that they were shelving the entire project and asked permission to start over, because getting it right means that much to them.

So yeah, I can imagine FFG getting pretty dang far in the development process and having a product pulled.

Steve Horvath actually mentioned that they had completely wrapped development on one of the SW card games, were ready to push the button to send the order to the factory, when one of the other senior staff members approached him and asked him to play one last game. They ultimately decided that the game was good, but not great, and that they could do better. So they called LFL and told them that they were shelving the entire project and starting over, because getting it right means that much to them.

So yeah, I can imagine FFG getting pretty dang far in the development process and having a product pulled.

They really do want to do their best, and frankly I really appreciate the work they put into it.

What design errors?

Sorry, I don't mean to jump onto the negative band wagon here but I'll admit I'm underwhelmed at Wave 7. If anything I was hoping for another Imperial Epic. As much as many love S&V and yes I'l admit they add variety S&V just doesn't reflect Star Wars flavor, rather just another space miniatures game. Once you move beyond TIEs and the traditional Rebel fighters anything could be valid. I want to look at the new figures and see what up with them. My greatest disappointment is they will most likely have cards that fix prior ships. Looking at FFG's X-Wing, Cosmic Encounter (I have both the original and 2nd edition) and Arkham Horror perhaps I need to rethink getting into Armada. Sorry for the down attitude. But I hope I will be surprised and still have my fingers crossed.

Well, alright:

Some of the K-Wing's aerodynamics actually resembles a space plane design I tried for the longest **** time to get working is Kerbal Space Program:

When you're in an atmosphere and you have wings that are off-plane like that, weird stuff happens and the airframe will have a very hard time maintaining level attitude. When you have off-center thrust and get into thin atmosphere / space, the performance becomes so terrible that you need vertically positioned thrusters as a handicap to keep the craft from somersaulting. A third thruster awkwardly positioned on top would only make matters worse.

The top turret mount on the K-Wing looks like it would suffer from the same problems that the Lancaster's belly turret had; the field of far is just too limited. It's crammed too tightly against the cockpits to have a half decent shot off of either side of the craft, the huge top mounted engine and the wing assembly block most of it's rear arc and the front is already covered by the chin mounted ball turret & any fixed armament the craft has. The chin turret looks functional enough to me (thought still aesthetically displeasing).

Any forward-firing ordnance on the ship is also going to have awkward convergence point from the gunner's perspective because of the way the weapon rack 'wings' are mounted. you can always compensate for this with a half decent HUD, of course, but it's usually still better to have a sensible ergonomic profile than a poor profile that relies on avionics crutches for functionality.

Plus, it looks like duck sex.

Is the appaerance of the TIE Bomber here purely for comparison with the TIE Punisher, or is there a TIE Bomber re-paint included in the expansion pack?

It's there because I asked for them to put it side-by-side. Note that the case was temporarily open for my picture taking pleasure. You know, because I'm a cool dude and such.

How come you haven't gotten us a picture of the ISD next to the VSD for Armada? <glares>

Because I don't play Armada, and this isn't the Armada forum.

(3) ...can you imagine how much of a disaster it would be from FFG's perspective to get this far (design and playtesting done, molds produced, models produced and painted) only to have LFL yank one of the planned products?

Yeah, I would not actually want that to happen to anyone, regardless of what I thought of the final designs. I have actually been there when a license holder says, "Nah, that's okay. Try again," and you have to shelve months of work, sometimes worth thousands of dollars from your project budget. It's not fun times.[

So, we are going to have 6+ months of complaining about Wave 7?? Especially when the stuff is revealed to be really cool and people will be "forced" to buy them? Yeah, this forum is going to be fun...

I guess I'm just easy. FFG's miniature wizardry gets me every time. EVERY TIME. So, K-wing and Punisher x3 for me. I actually like the Hound's Tooth and Khizraxh.

The wait is going to be a while, almost certainly. One of the staff members mentioned that we'll have the Raider before wave 7, so there is that to look forward to.

I'm so **** hyped for The Raider. That thing looks oh, so, SO sweet.

Do you have any other pictures of the K-wing? Or are those the only two? I want to see more of it and then decide what I think about it.

I think both ships look fantastic! Just look at the detail in those models!

I'm so **** hyped for The Raider. That thing looks oh, so, SO sweet.

Speaking of the Raider... Was it actually represented? I don't recall seeing it in any of the pictures that were taken, and FFG has been quiet about it since the initial announcement. I'm wondering if they backed up in the development cycle to make some adjustments like they did with the game tiles/playmats.

I took some pictures of the Raider, but it's nothing we haven't already seen before. Wave 7 really stole the show yesterday.