So wit hthe release of the Corleran Conflict campaign expansion I was thinking that other things such as mix squadrons like the ones in the Death Star Trench Run can be added. So here is an idea for a squadron with a one Vader's TIE and two TIE Fighters. So here is Death Squadron.

Tie Fighter /TIE Advanced Leader

Speed 4 Hull 4 Anti-Squadron 3xBlue 1xBlack Anti-ship Black 1xBlue

When attacking each of your <crits> adds 1 damage total.

Grit: ( You are not prevented from moving while you are engaged with only one enemy squadron ).

Scatter Brace

17 points.

Cool Concept, but not exactly 'balanced' as comparison....

I mean... You lose 1 Hull from Darth Vader (Squadron)...

Keep the speed.
Gain a scatter (much better than a brace it replaces)

Keep the Anti-Squadron

Keep the Battery
Keep the Unique Ability.

Gain Grit

And lose 4 Points.

1 Hull is not worth a Scatter/Brace Exchange, Grit, and 4 Points.

Maybe 1 of those things.

But not all of them.

*pushes up glasses*

Actually, Black Squadron (which has already been spoiled for the campaign) was the squadron Darth Vader commanded at Yavin

Cool Concept, but not exactly 'balanced' as comparison....

I mean... You lose 1 Hull from Darth Vader (Squadron)...

Keep the speed.

Gain a scatter (much better than a brace it replaces)

Keep the Anti-Squadron

Keep the Battery

Keep the Unique Ability.

Gain Grit

And lose 4 Points.

1 Hull is not worth a Scatter/Brace Exchange, Grit, and 4 Points.

Maybe 1 of those things.

But not all of them.

Actually I was thinking of keeping some things from the TIE Fighter and putting in the firepower from Darth Vader. The Defense tokens was what you would see in a unique TIE Fighter squadron. Also replaced Escort with Grit which seems more in line with Vader's character (small things like asteroids does not concern him). As for the 1 hull well that was in between a TIE Advanced and a TIE Fighter because they both have the same speed. For the point cost I simply took the increase of Darth Vader over a TIE Advanced squadron and add that difference to a TIE Fighter squadron.

*pushes up glasses*

Actually, Black Squadron (which has already been spoiled for the campaign) was the squadron Darth Vader commanded at Yavin

Maybe Death Star squadron would be better?

"Actually I was thinking of keeping some things from the TIE Fighter and putting in the firepower from Darth Vader. The Defense tokens was what you would see in a unique TIE Fighter squadron. Also replaced Escort with Grit which seems more in line with Vader's character (small things like asteroids does not concern him). As for the 1 hull well that was in between a TIE Advanced and a TIE Fighter because they both have the same speed. For the point cost I simply took the increase of Darth Vader over a TIE Advanced squadron and add that difference to a TIE Fighter squadron."

Think of it this way. Your design looks like the Darth upgrade applied to the average between a TIE & Tie-Adv. There are two things that you can't strictly average between Tie-Adv & TIE: The Anti-ship die & the defense token setup. If you picked one of those two, I could see a cost of: 9 (darth) + (8+12)/2 (average TIE & Tie-Adv) = 19. Since you picked both, I'd go with 20 as my point cost for this ship.

Alternately, if you want to slap Darth into a TIE, you'd get:

Death Star Darth

Speed 4 Hull 3 Anti-Squadron 3xBlue 1xBlack Anti-ship Blue

When attacking each of your <crits> adds 1 damage total.

Swarm

Scatter Brace

And that feels much more like a 17 point ace to me. You'd use this as part of a light fighter screen, but you'd probably get more mileage out of soontir or mauler if you had a full fighter wing.

Indeed, the mix fighter squadron is the most difficult the conceptualized because All Armada Squadron stats are composed of all one squadron with maybe an Ace squadron leader. So putting in all the concepts for adding an Ace from another squadron (Darth Vader) and putting it into a squadron of a diffrent fighter type here is some guidlines for each of the stats and abilities.

• Unique/Generic , All mixed squadrons should be unique
• Speed use the lowest value
• Hull Use the average value between the two (rounding down)
• Firepower Take the additional dice the leader ads to the firepower from the squadron the leader is from and add it to the squadron the ace is placed in.
• Abilities Copy the leader's ability
• Traits , use a trait that better fits the squadron's role or theme (such as rouge squadron replacing escort with rouge)
• Defense Tokens Use the defense of a unique squadron the leader is entering in.
• Point Cost Add the difference between the leader and their generic squadron to the new squadron.

But you are right you did catch me on the blue as Vader adds no anti ship value. I'll fix it. As for replacing Swarm with grit, the trench run seems more like a grit scenario and not a swarm as the swarm was on the surface and Vader noticed that they broke off from the engaged group. Still at 17 points it is the most expensive TIE Fighter Squadron out there.

Make it a Rogue instead of Grit.

Its Vader after all.

The best pilot in the galaxy can't move and attack by its own?

Make it a Rogue instead of Grit.

Its Vader after all.

The best pilot in the galaxy can't move and attack by its own?

Hah I often forget how good of a pilot he was. Though, I guess by the time we see him at the death star trench he is probably a bit past past his prime. It would be like strapping Buzz Aldrin into a space shuttle at 85 and saying, "Well you piloted a lander to the moon once, so this should be a breeze!"

Obvious hyperbole, but that was what popped into my brain for some reason.

Make it a Rogue instead of Grit.

Its Vader after all.

The best pilot in the galaxy can't move and attack by its own?

Hah I often forget how good of a pilot he was. Though, I guess by the time we see him at the death star trench he is probably a bit past past his prime. It would be like strapping Buzz Aldrin into a space shuttle at 85 and saying, "Well you piloted a lander to the moon once, so this should be a breeze!"

Obvious hyperbole, but that was what popped into my brain for some reason.

Your point is that Vader is too old for the Rogue ability?

I guess? I am not sure I even had a point. But if I did, that would definitely be it.

You underestimate the Force.

Vader knows exactly where he is needed. And could only be surprised by .... smugglers ... cheating smugglers that jump out of hyperspace a few meters away from planets and moon-sized battlestations. At least I'll take this as the explanation for that incident.

If you put two tie's on vaders flanks and keep the existing card, it just means that vader is THAT awesome (which I like!)

Or maybe even put his single ADV on a rogues/villain stand to show VADER DON'T PLAY THAT!

Just wondering is there any other mixed squadrons we could try out?

Just wondering is there any other mixed squadrons we could try out?

I like the idea of having a shuttle flanked by 2 (TIE) fighters ... or even 'Palp Aces on a stand': a shuttle (with the Emperor on board - rules pending), Vader and Soontir

Just wondering is there any other mixed squadrons we could try out?

I like the idea of having a shuttle flanked by 2 (TIE) fighters ... or even 'Palp Aces on a stand': a shuttle (with the Emperor on board - rules pending), Vader and Soontir

It would have to keep the heavy trait but it could have counter 1 on it. Although most of the X-wing large ships appear as a single ship in squadrons. Which is why Vader doesn't have Rouge, He might be the best pilot but his wingmen are necessarily not and I doubt they have initiative like the pilot of Rouge squadron.

Just wondering is there any other mixed squadrons we could try out?

I like the idea of having a shuttle flanked by 2 (TIE) fighters ... or even 'Palp Aces on a stand': a shuttle (with the Emperor on board - rules pending), Vader and Soontir

It would have to keep the heavy trait but it could have counter 1 on it. Although most of the X-wing large ships appear as a single ship in squadrons. Which is why Vader doesn't have Rouge, He might be the best pilot but his wingmen are necessarily not and I doubt they have initiative like the pilot of Rouge squadron.

And this is where the inconsistency begins. Vaders' wingmen should be the Black Squadron Tie Fighters - which literally IS the imperial Rogue Squadron.

Black Squadron pilots are hand-picked by Vader himself. The empires' finest. Vader should be able to at least command his own squadron. As we saw them in action with Episode 4,

Vader commanded his own wingmen to engage the rebel snubfighters, while Tarkin decided to ignore them, because there is nothing they could do to stop the Death Star.

So, Vader should be a Rogue in terms of Armada

Okay I see, Rouge might make a better trait than grit, although I still think grit fits Vader's personality. But you are right Black squadron does have rouge and Vader's wignmen are supposed to be Black Squadron pilots.

I pretty much like Vaders ability in Star Wars: Empire at War.

Vader can only be damaged in dogfights if all of his wingmen, the Black Squadron, were killed. In this game he could summoned new wingmen as an active ability with cooldown. Vader is pretty much a beast in this game.

So for Armada this could be like: When defending, a friendly squadron with 'swarm' at Range 1 may suffer 1 damage instead of you.

So Vader with Escort (and the above ability in addition) could first use brace and redirect one of the remaining hits to any squadron with Swarm next to him.

I'd also like the idea that Vader's ability was to grant 'Rogue' to up to 2 friendly squadrons with 'Swarm' in range 1. And of course loses the 'Escort' and get 'Rogue', so Vader could lead his spoiled Black Squadron (with Escort) and Mauler Mithel (because of fluff) as an efficient but fluffy anti-squadron unit for 21 + 9 + 15 = 45 points. So the 'complete' Black Squadron is 3 bases. Replace 2 Tie Advanced Models on Vaders Base with Tie Fighters at will. And play on the Death Star map.

Perhaps add Backstabber with 'Intel' - so you don't need to hire bounty hunter scum.

Backstabber: 'When attacking a squadron that is already engaged by a friendly squadron, add one die of any color to your attack pool" Swarm, Intel - 15 points