So hang on. This thing can engage enemy squadrons. Engaged squadrons can't attack capital ships. So this thing just become literally immune to fighters?

Oooh - crap, is that correct?

They can attack the capital ship

Engagement: When a squadron attacks it must attack an engaged squadron if possible rather than an enemy ship.

So if the raider is the only thing that has Y-wings tied up, the Y-wings can attack the Raider because there are no squadron for them to attack first.

Edit: I should refresh the page first before posting a reply...

This doesn't make the one raider title count as a option to receive damage to trigger this effect, right?

Or worse since it counts as engaged with two squadrons, you can deal damage to those "ghost" squadrons.

So this just means you wont see Tie fighters next to that Raider.

But good catch! Did not realize that the inverse is also true!

Mr Corvette, I approve of your combo!

As another raider related thought, how about a swarm of them with Big D in charge? By the time they get into preferred engagement range, they will have all those evade tokens just sitting around begging to be turned into re-rolls.

This doesn't make the one raider title count as a option to receive damage to trigger this effect, right?

Or worse since it counts as engaged with two squadrons, you can deal damage to those "ghost" squadrons.

So this just means you wont see Tie fighters next to that Raider.

But good catch! Did not realize that the inverse is also true!

FFG should be reading this thread, so they can publish the FAQ the same day this ships comes out.

Well the "ghost" squadrons aren't defined as friendly, so i don't see ruthless strategist working.

Gonna have to ge three of these things....

The real loser of this reveal is the GSD-II. If I want to maul ships I choose GSD-I, if I want to attack fighters, I choose a raider. You've got less black dice to reroll with ordnance experts. I may be missing something, but is there any build that makes sense with it? I'm thinking perhaps ruthless strategists and ACM with Screed for medium range anti-squadron but is it 73 points worthwhile?

Actually, a pair of ordinary TIE's could be quite the boost to this ship in it's anti-fighter role. Engage enemy fighters with the raider and let it's quad lasers get a bit of hurt down if they haven't activated yet. Bank a squadron token that turn. Move the two TIE's up in the squadron phase keeping the raider in-between the two fighter groups so that they don't become engaged. Next turn, activate the raider, use both the squadron token and a dial to fling the TIE's into the fight (both will benefit from swarm), blast fighters with the AA fire from the raider then go sailing off into the distance.

For the talk of all these effective anti-squadron upgrades making squadrons even less appealing than now........there is an unspoilt card in the home one pack (right in the middle of the top row showing its upgrade cards) looks like "Win? C?????" to me......Wing Commander maybe?.....something to make bombers better? I think there is hope.

If you have not placed Quad turrets on your Warlord's with H9's, then SHAME!

SHAME!

Also, please tell me that I wasn't the first person to think about this.... I don't even own imperial stuff...

Why are you using your VSD to shoot fighters? Seems like a cool combo but not practical and kinda a waste of 5 points.

EDIT- Misread Quad guns, seems solid.

erm... quad lasers give counter 1. With the Warlord H-9 combo that is 1 point of damage to any fighter that dares to shoot at your ship. No loss of anti-ship shooting required.

Edit: missed your edit. Nothing to see here, move along...

So, so happy. :-) Should have held out hope a little longer. =)

I'm very pleased to see these, they seem pretty cool. Maybe they fail in certain areas compared to existing ships, but I feel like they give the Imperials more options which is a really good thing. Even if they're not all optimal options, more options will keep players interested for longer.

And the upgrade cards are pretty wicked. Even as a Rebel player I might have to pick one of these up if there are cards I can't get elsewhere.

Really happy with this expansion.

I am buying 2 of them, and running both of them with the title cards, it is a very nice 1-2 punch combo that is almost designed specifically to get casual players like me buying a duplicate box for a change.

I'm extremely pleased with the Raider. My initial thought was that it would fill the same niche as a CR-90, a fast pelter that is slightly better at anti-squadron attacks. But with the upgrades available, it's clear that this thing is supposed to drastically change the way squadrons play (or respond to an upcoming change in the way squadrons play). I was initially afraid the buy-in would be too high, but at 44 points (48 for the II variant, or a I with title), after seeing what it actually does, it seems a phenomenal value. A Raider I with a title and ACMs is 55 points, just one point more than a CR-90A with enhanced armaments. I'm pretty sure the Raider is winning that fight in a head-to-head engagement.

Also, as an imp player who's been shredded countless times by anti-squadron fire from Neb-B escorts, I'm itching at the chance for some payback.

I think people are more pleased with the Raider than the ISD

I'm finding some of the upgrades more interesting than the Raider itself, which of course is welcome to have a ship at that point level, but is going to be extremely vulnerable with large ships in play.

I think people are more pleased with the Raider than the ISD

And wow rogues and villains must he AMAZING because of all this anti-squadron stuff we are getting this wave...

I think once all of Wave II is out we're going to see a huge change in the meta in regards to squadrons. I think there will be some sort of ability that prevents some of these squadrons to let themselves and/or other squadrons disengage if there is only one squadron within distance one, which would then make the raiders card make sense in regards to "as if there were two squadrons."

This will force people to bring more squadrons into the game to actually make a decent screen.

I can't see FFG gimping squadrons THIS bad with all of this awesome anti-squadron stuff we've seen in the three spoiled packs so far. They even pointed out in the article how important squadrons and bombers really are, so I think they are trying to break the meta of "NO SQUADRONS!" in Armada.

I think people are more pleased with the Raider than the ISD

I think people are more pleased with the Raider than the ISD

Hah! You have been deceived, the isd is still the bomb and will soon comince it's reign of terror on everyone's game

The real reason everyone's excited about the Raider is because it allows four- and five-ship lists with two ISDs, seasoned to taste (ISD I + ISD I + Raider I + Raider I + Raider I = 352). So really, it all comes back to the ISD... but is that really surprising?

Seriously, though... a speed 3/4 fleet, with five activations and two behemoths... wowzers. So. Many. Options. Add Ozzel for mobility, Vader + Ordinance Experts for rerollable pain, Screed + ACMs/overload pulse/ion cannons/etc. for critical triggers, ACMs + Heavy Turbolasers for defense token nullification, or tractor beams for laughs. Put Needa on one ISD and Montferrat on the other, and you've made a fairly significant contribution to both ISD's evasive abilities for just 5 measly points.

Bring on squadrons, bombers, whales, Mon-Cals, we don't care. We take on all comers.

And they flee before us.

*chucks Luke in bin*

Well! There go my reb squadron dreams!

*chucks Luke in bin*

Well! There go my reb squadron dreams!

"Oh Raider, hai, you forcing me to attack you and not your ISD buddy? M'k, here's a Ruptured Engine. Have fun with that."

Personally, if a raider zoomed up to be within range one of a bunch of bombers to block a run on a bigger ship, I am okay with that. Better than TIE fighters mucking around, at least my bombers are loaded for bear.

So, 4 B-wing attacks from the same zone and a tad bit of luck (or a fifth attack from somewhere, perhaps the activating Yavaris) and this thing is gone.

The 9 Y-wing list eats this in one round of fire.

Granted it's only 44 points (realistically more around 50) but is that worth a one round speed bump vs these lists. A comparable cost in fighters would occupy both lists far longer.

I'm going to be very happy if imperials bring only one of these things and think they're safe from bombers. I think the raider is a decent anti-fighter screen, just not a very good anti-bomber screen.

So hang on. This thing can engage enemy squadrons. Engaged squadrons can't attack capital ships. So this thing just become literally immune to fighters?

Oooh - crap, is that correct?

no, if engaged "it must attack an engaged enemy squadron if possible rather than an enemy ship" (rules ref page 6)

Attacking imaginary squadrons would not count as "possible".

Ah right. Until now, the only way to be engaged was with an enemy squadron, which obviously mean't you couldn't attack the ship. I skipped the middle part and went straight to the end result of not being able to attack ships when engaged. Good to know.

Exactly. A 4 squadron bomber activation targeted at one of these plus the fire from your cap ship is going to wreck this thing pretty quick. Rebel fighters also have the shields to take a volley from a raider and still be effective.

Its interesting that the raider has zero attack capability at long range where its evades are effective. Once it closes to medum/close range, it will only be able to use its brace which is pretty easy to shut down. So unless the rebel fighters overextend they should be able to manage the threat.