Wave IX is Coming Soon™* and there's a lot to like!
Imperials, via the First Order sub-faction, are getting the Special Forces TIE Expansion Pack.
Rebels, via the Rebel Alliance sub-faction, are getting the ARC-170 Expansion Pack.
And Scum & Villainy are getting both the Protectorate Starfighter Expansion Pack and the
Shadow Caster
Expansion Pack.
This brings the Imperial and Scum & Villainy factions each to 13 different ships (sharing the Firespray-31), and the Rebel faction to 14 (the Ghost/Phantom combo putting it ahead of the other factions; it shares the HWK-290, Y-Wing, and Z-95 Headhunter with the S&V faction).
Let's take a look at the ships themselves.
The above are renders, however there are real images of the models that show they are just as beautiful as they look in this picture.
The TIE/sf is, of course, very similar to the TIE/ln and TIE/fo. This new ship sports slight differences and the new /sf paint job, yet the same clean, fresh-off-the-line look of standard military mass-production. The ARC-170, on the other hand, has a very weathered paint job. Personally, this bugs me a little bit, as it is unlike any other ship so far. However, it seems to be intended to reflect the limited number of these the Republic actually has access to, as we'll see later.
Both the Protectorate Starfighter and the
Shadow Caster
have the cleaner look. The two Scum ships are both cool new designs, despite being similar to existing ships in some ways. The Protectorate is practically a backward Scyk, and the Shadow is pancake-like, yet they each have their own unique style.
On to the individual expansions! First Order first.
One of the first and most exciting things to notice is that, along with the ARC, we are getting our first small ships with rear-facing auxiliary firing arcs! Like the Y-WIng, the gunner operating the turret is simply represented by the weapon itself in lieu of a crew slot, which is cool with me. Upgrade-wise, this is the first ship to combine the Sensor and Tech upgrades, which is pretty exciting. There is more Tech on the way, which is good, because right now Weapons Guidance is lackluster and Comm Relay can't be used as this ship has no Evade action.
Speaking of Tech, this ship comes with "Se... Clu..." which with 100% certainty will be "Sensor Cluster": "When def[ending]... spend a... change... results..." I'm seeing a sort of reverse Weapons Guidance here: possibly spend a Focus to turn a blank into an Evade (though
results
appears to be plural, hmm). We'll also get a new Sensor upgrade, "Col... Det..." which, again with 100% certainty will be "Collision Detector": "When per[forming a] barrel roll [action, your] ship and [maneuver template] can ove[rlap] obstacles. When ro[lling for collision] damage, [ignore {hit} results]." Speculative text, but it's thematic.
The Title is interesting, if controversial. On the one hand, it's a great way to add additional rules to a ship with limited room on the card for text. On the other hand, some argue this could be done with a rules insert or reference card, so it wouldn't conflict with any future Titles. In my opinion, conflicting with other Titles can be used as a design advantage: see TIE Defenders. Anyway, what the Title actual does is very neat. It makes the front and rear arcs function differently, and can combine the two all-in-one. Savvy X-Wing pilots have already figured out that there's a position next to a large ship that will allow you to hit it with both arcs at once! Accuracy Corrector seems especially good here, with a 2 Attack ship that can potentially attack twice.
Last but not least, let's look at the pilots, at least the one we can see. Heroes of the Resistance just gave Rebels their 3rd PS9 ace, and here comes the Imperials'! And what a guy is "Quickdraw": "Once per round, when you lose a shield token, you may perform a primary weapon attack." Naturally, this functions a bit like Dengar's "payback" ability granting an extra in-arc attack. However, you can also trigger it during movement after running into someone with Anti-Pursuit Lasers, being hit by Captain Oicunn, or - surprise, here's 4 Attack dice at Range 1 while you have no tokens! - running over a mine or obstacle! A bomb exploding before combat will also trigger "Quickdraw", provided he has a shield left, of course. Possibly a good argument for Shield Upgrade; time will tell.
We also get a note about the dial. "
Although it looks almost identical to the TIE/fo fighter, the Special Forces TIE is an entirely different vessel, trading away a point of agility in favor of two extra points of shields, and boasting
an entirely different maneuver dial
." Though I think the odds are just as likely that's poor phrasing as it is a
completely
different dial (all we know from the picture is a 2-straight green, which literally every ship has so far).
Here we have the Rebels' small base auxiliary arc acquisition. Unlike the TIE/sf, the ARC actually has more crew seats beyond turret operation, so it gets the Crew slot. That makes this ship the first appearance of the Crew + Astromech combo! How cool is that? Recon Specialist + R5-P9 probably sprang right to mind. There's also R2-D2 and Nien Numb, Targeting Astromech and Hera Syndulla, and a host of other new options to explore. This expansion adds a new card to each as well: R3 Astromech and Tail Gunner. All we can tell about R3 is "Once per..." something, but Tail Gunner really has me intrigued. It's
Limited
, which only matters on the YV-666 as far as I can tell, because we can guess pretty easily that it'll have something to do with auxiliary arcs and only that ship also has more than one Crew slot. I'm hoping for something tasty on a Firespray!
Then we've got Vectoring
Thrusters. Oh boy, is this going to be popular. Even without all the text, it's clearly a
Small Ship Only Modification
that adds the barrel roll icon to the ship's action bar. It could go as high as 4 points like its cousin the Engine Upgrade, though I'm going to guess no more than 3 since it at least can't go on large ships. Any and all less-maneuverable ships will be giving this a try, I can assure you. Maybe even a Scum HWK with a Cloaking Device and Vectoring Thrusters? Weeeeeee!
Also something similar-but-different compared to the TIE/sf, the ARC has an "extra text" Title. While this one also increases the punch out the front end, instead of allowing a possible double tap out the back, it's basically a Focus-free Calculation there. We'll see which proves to be more useful, but this does have at least one obvious combo with a certain pilot...
At PS7, we get Norra Wexley: "When attacking or defending, you may spend a target lock you have on the enemy ship to add 1 [eye] result to your roll." With the Title, that's similar to having an Advanced Targeting Computer for your Butt Gun™! Norra also happens to be friends with Weapons Engineer, allowing her to hit harder or defend better against up to 2 targets at once. Could be R5-K6's time to shine, too, since he gets double the chances to get double the locks for free! Shara Bey, as seen below, is also a fan. The other two pilots are also unique, which is strange, but seen before on the Aggressor and Attack Shuttle.
Finally, we get the intriguing "Se... Tor..." Torpedo upgrade. No idea what it'll be named, but it does appear to lack an "
Attack:
" header and instead have an "
Action:
" header. Wait, what? Attacking (presumably; you are firing a torpedo after all) during movement; that's crazy! All told, Imperials and Rebels get some similar tools that are still completely different. Sensor/Tech combo for Imps, Crew/Mech combo for Rebels. Two arcs with potential double tap for Imps, two punchy arcs for Rebels. "Quickdraw" can attack before combat, as can a ship toting "Se... Tor[pedoes]".
Oh, and one more thing about the ARC-170, a tidbit about its dial, too. "
It flies well at slower speeds, but struggles at higher speeds, featuring six green maneuvers at speeds "1" and "2," even while four of its seven higher-speed maneuvers are red." Given that, I've come up with the following as a guess (basically a Y-Wing with more green):
Stay tuned for my thoughts on Wave IX Scum & Villainy!
*"Soon" not guaranteed.
Edited by ObiWonka
... and maybe a few more if there's a solid generic, but that's it.
