FFG realized that The BIG Boys play this game and so they decided to not play tickle-tail cuties about just showing stuff ASAP, which is why we got the made up BS W3 & W4 which I simply call Wave THOR.

That happened due to some issues with the new factories. From now on I think we can expect an entire wave with each ship being fully previewed in it's turn.

Not quite.

Wave 3 is clearly a panic response. I have a strong suspicion Wave 4 was supposed to be out months ago.

Wave 3 uses painted models from the Rebellion board game. With the various production delays we are aware of and guessing at in Wave 4, it was probably seen as a fortuitous coincidence that both ships were already being produced. It meant that all they had to do was design cards and game mechanics, which could be done almost anywhere.

Wave 4 is about to hit shelves a full year after Wave 2 was intended to be in stores. The addition of Wave 3 was clearly a stop gap measure taken when they realized that Wave 4 would be delayed by such a significant period. And frankly I'm glad for it. Despite appearances, wave 3 is likely to have a much greater impact on fleet design than wave 4.

We already know through Bothan sources that wave 3 and 4 were supposed to be released together as wave 3, a fair few months ago but wave 4 was delayed in production.

Thats the truth. Hopefully, they have sorted out their production issues and we wont see anymore of these shenanigans.

Now it may be highly likely that they were very clever and decided to do a combined imperial assault and armada production run, but I dont think it was a stop gap, but good planning.

I think a two-step reveal is best... one for the hype machine and one for peeps to begin crafting, etc when it drops so they can get maximum enjoyment (probably helps the competitive scene too... aren't Magic cards revealed way in advance as well?).

For me, it's weird... I can never build fleets until I physically look at the cards and ships (then I can go to Fab's or Hive for shipbuilding)... must be some ritual for me... like YuGi-Oh... I need to feel the "heart of the cards." LOL

BONUS: Peeps with limited budgets can have a better idea of what they will want and can proxy right now.

FFG realized that The BIG Boys play this game and so they decided to not play tickle-tail cuties about just showing stuff ASAP, which is why we got the made up BS W3 & W4 which I simply call Wave THOR.

That happened due to some issues with the new factories. From now on I think we can expect an entire wave with each ship being fully previewed in it's turn.

Not quite.

Wave 3 is clearly a panic response. I have a strong suspicion Wave 4 was supposed to be out months ago.

Wave 3 uses painted models from the Rebellion board game. With the various production delays we are aware of and guessing at in Wave 4, it was probably seen as a fortuitous coincidence that both ships were already being produced. It meant that all they had to do was design cards and game mechanics, which could be done almost anywhere.

Wave 4 is about to hit shelves a full year after Wave 2 was intended to be in stores. The addition of Wave 3 was clearly a stop gap measure taken when they realized that Wave 4 would be delayed by such a significant period. And frankly I'm glad for it. Despite appearances, wave 3 is likely to have a much greater impact on fleet design than wave 4.

You make some interesting points...

I will also be calling this Wave Thor from now on.