So i'm not a huge fan of the Imperial Raider's design. Not so much the actual design but the way it's implemented in the Armada model, which is strange considering the high high quality of every other ship in the game. The hull plating's lines are a tad garish.

However as someone who plays Imperials is it worth it to get at least one raider for the upgrades and cards? How does the ship play on the table? And is the design better in person as i've only ever seen it online.

It's too bad it wasnt a Tartan Patrol Cruiser or Lancer Frigate.

Well, the Tartan and Lancer were both judged as "too large" for X-Wing at the time... So they developed it new for there... And because its now familiar, its been added to Armada...

I do agree, the Panel lines are a bit much on it... Personally, I think its about 90% more Awesome by removing the Panel from Underneath and placing it on top instead... (There's a little cutout at the back that basically frames the cockpit area...

... Either that, or utilising the Underside Panel from two as the "Wing" Panels on another really makes a striking difference, too...

And the Upgrade Cards... Well, there's Ozzel. And Ozzel can take some getting used to, but you do unlock a lot of potential when you do... I personally feel that some people have forgotten about Impetuous and Instigator recently, and the uptick of Squadrons being fuelled by FC/FCT provides a framework for them to come back - although not as lone hunters, as support shipping...

The Raider, like the Lancer before it, was designed to be primarily, an Anti-Squadron Ship. Its **** good at its job. It happens to be not too bad at a hunter-killer support role at the same time, if you're canny... So by ignoring or neglecting it, you're removing, admittedly, what is a one of a few choices for its capabilities...

Well that is certainly convincing me to get at least one. Do you think we'll ever see more dedicated AA ships for the empire in the game or is this really the best bet?

For the cost of 48 or 44 they seem perfect at augmenting a double Imperial II star destroyer fleet. Especially if I don't go for squadron screens.

Well that is certainly convincing me to get at least one. Do you think we'll ever see more dedicated AA ships for the empire in the game or is this really the best bet?

For the cost of 48 or 44 they seem perfect at augmenting a double Imperial II star destroyer fleet. Especially if I don't go for squadron screens.

I think you'll find that there are more ships about that just happen to have additional AA as a Redundancy... (The Blue-Black of the Interdictor Combat, for example), but as a dedicated AA Ship-based Platform... I Strongly Doubt there will be anything else as dedicated as a Raider.

It's a fine ship. Great at flakking squadrons, good in a reactionary "catch, blow up, run away" role vs. most ships. Can hunt flotillas adequately. Takes a lot of getting used to. At the very least you will want the Ordnance Experts and SW7 Ion Cannons from it, but if you give it a try and some practice I think you'll like it.

It is a high learning curve, high risk/reward style of play in ship to ship. It hits hard, dies fast, and thrives on managing to close range while arc-dodging.

I would certainly call it a staple Imp ship. At least until the Arquitens. They will play different roles but both would serve as the flanker.

.... Paging FourDogsInAHorseSuit for negative response...

(Because you should always hear both sides)

It's a fantastic antisquadron escort ship. Kallus+Impetuous+Ordnance Experts is brutal against ace-heavy lists, especially against other imperial players. Throw in APT or ACM for a little extra punch vs ships (Expanded Launchers is just too much of an investment really...), especially in a hunter-killer role or flank escort in hairballs; it's one of the few ships that you can multirole for anti-squadron and anti-ship on the cheap, so you are able to take it against squadron light or squadron-less lists and still get some utility out of it. These little ships are fragile, but can seriously dish out mayhem if left unchecked. Took me a while to warm up to them, but now I generally try to have one around.

Very difficult to use in bomber-heavy battles as they evaporate under concentrated bomber fire.

How I wish they had even one Redirect token.

When Imps get a 3 point unique crew that swaps out a defense token for a redirect, the Raider is gonna be a serious pain.

And lo, the tired painter rat doth say: I like the Raider but it infuriates me.

I don't think the Raider is a must buy either, a lot of ships can double on that role semi-effectively and it is fairly fragile. That said, it's a nice little surprise to have lingering behind a more solid wall of vessels, likely keeping lower speed to really make use of its low speed maneuverability then kicking it into high (if it ever gets the chance) to get out. It's a niche ship that can perform well (anecdotally, I turned a game around in a tournament once just by getting a single good round of shooting in on a rebel bomber group that I tied up). but as Church said, it has a high difficulty curve and still plays a high risk high reward game. It's effective almost bare, it can load up a few interesting tricks, but it's not an essential ship.

Upgrade wise, I'm a completionist so Ozzel is sort of a 'thing' to have, but for me the outstanding upgrade is SW-7's. Others love TRC's, but I just get more mileage out of the SW-7 auto-damage.

As for the model, I think it's a glorious little ship that is probably my favourite outside of the ISD. It's sleek, it's fast and fun to paint up (if you're inclined, like me: I just did 4 and still feel great about them), and I think that even out of the box it's pretty decent. I'm opposite of Dras on this one, I love the panel lines and I typically try to make them more prominent, not less. The Tartan would have been cool, the Lancer... well the Tartan could have been cool anyway.

I was on the fence for a long time but I just ordered one this week.

No wave V in sight so...

I love the Raider. Actually the Raider I, specifically. One of my favorite fleets from wave II was a kitted out Motti ISD II and three Raider Is with ordinance experts and expanded launchers. I also ran a token interceptor screen with Howlrunner. It is a high risk/reward fleet, as the raiders may die before getting their shot off, but Motti makes them 25% more survivable. And when they hit, they hit crazy hard. I once parked one right behind an MC80 and killed it in 2-3 turns (with only minor help from the ISD). It also gives your opponent hard choices to make. Raiders with EL/OE are also amazing for hyperspace assault, as they are one of the last ships you want behind you. If the empire had something akin to Rieeken, the Raider would probably be the best ship in the game.

So, yeah, buy one...or maybe three.

The Raider is a fantastic for short range knife fighting. Doesn't have the dice pool of a gladiator but darn if it isn't fast and hard hitting cruise missle

Everything is a must by. *scratch scratch* you don't understand, man! I gotta have it!

I love raiders, they are great little ships, instigator with a few ties can be a massive pain, there are fast, turn on a die and hit hard. They also come packed with ozzel who is great.

The Raider is a fantastic for short range knife fighting. Doesn't have the dice pool of a gladiator but darn if it isn't fast and hard hitting cruise missle

I always like to explain it in these terms: both Gladiators and Raiders are criminals with pocket knives. Gladiators are more of your "breaking and entering" aggro style criminals. Raiders are more "highwaymen" criminals: they prefer for their prey to come to them. People who use Raiders like Gladiators find that they're really not great at rushing things (as at short range they effectively get a single easily-locked-down defense token and then *poof*). They do have an advantage over Gladiators in the "highwayman" role, however in a few ways:

• Their front arc is superior to a Gladiator's front arc in both the dice available (2 black+2 blue is better than 2 black+2 red overall, as the blue dice give good odds of rolling an Accuracy, which can be deadly, as well as more consistent results overall) as well as how large it is (quite large) so it's easy to "catch" enemy ships in it and difficult to escape when you set the Raider up right.
• Their flak is better than a Gladiator's. The Gladiator-II can contest this but the usage is a bit different. The Gladiator-II mostly flaks when it's got nothing better to do with that arc, but it's a more expensive usually more heavily-upgraded ship and it wants to be attacking enemy ships whenever possible. Raiders can happily give up most non-front arc shots for flakking (and if the targets are juicy enough, the front is fine too) because they're cheap and their flak benefits from Ordnance Experts making it very reliable.
  • Extra tip on flakking with Raiders: If you're running them in a squadron support role, try to keep your friendly squadrons on their flanks or directly in front of them (if you put them directly in front, then make sure you're going at least speed 2 so you can hop over them). I like to keep the squadrons tightly hugging the flanks right near the front edges. This accomplishes a few things:
    1. You prevent easy bomber attacks on the Raider by engaging most bombers at their bombing range or at the very least there is only one open "slot" for a bomber (exception #1: Rhymerballs, but at least your Evades will work at medium range; exception #2: Intel squadrons, but this forces the enemy to "waste" one of their squadron activations on the Intel squadron rather than a dedicated bomber or fighter AND it puts the Intel squadron into flak range)
    2. Enemy squadrons looking to get the jump on your escorted squadrons will need to venture into black dice flak range.
    3. Enemy squadrons attacking your flanking escorted squadrons can sometimes find themselves getting double-arced by the front+side arc of a Raider. This is particularly true if they need to gang up to finish the job (which is often the case, TIEs are not durable but they usually require more than one X-Wing or similar to bring down). Raiders that get to double-arc enemy squadrons are RED HOT DEATH.
• Raiders have superior maneuverability at speeds 2 and 4(I mean to be fair, Gladiators don't technically get a speed 4 setting but you get what I mean) and identical maneuverability at speeds 1 and 3 compared to Gladiators. Gladiators can benefit from Engine Techs, of course, but with Raiders usually set to a default speed of 2, you have a lot of wiggle room for exactly where you end your movement provided you're holding on to a Navigate token and using Navigate commands when necessary. Given that Raiders benefit substantially from their positioning (lying in wait for enemy ships, staying out of the worst attack arcs, shooting past counter attackers, escorting fighters), you get some maneuvering assistance from Raiders, particularly at speeds 1 and 2.

This is purely from a repainter's standpoint regarding those panel lines that are too deep/bold relative to the rest of the tiny model:

If you repaint the thing and keep your panel wash "wet," have a big fat brush that's dry nearby (a pointed number 2 or 3 brush, for example) to "suck out" the panel wash to the desired thinness- because the panel lines are all V-shaped on FFG models (I imagine for mold release purposes!) the more ink you draw away, the thinner the final line will be on the model- if you can draw a bead of wet water across the whole model, the raider is small enough that you can do all the lines simultaneously with this method. I got my panel lines to a very nice, very uniform, "just barely there" thickness using this method.

In other words, since the panel lines are V-shaped, just using less wash (or a very low surface tension wash) can make much thinner, easy to control lines without having to do any serious fixing to the miniature.

I think you could skip out on the raider and just go for 2 flotillas instead... that said, when you need the firepower in a pinch, the raider will come through, the flotillas will not... wave 2, I had Motti riding the raider, and he was able to stop Intel sweepers that got away, winning me the objectives... but ya, for the most part he just hung back, and a flotilla can do that a lot better what with com's net and all

Well, the Tartan and Lancer were both judged as "too large" for X-Wing at the time... So they developed it new for there... And because its now familiar, its been added to Armada...

I do agree, the Panel lines are a bit much on it... Personally, I think its about 90% more Awesome by removing the Panel from Underneath and placing it on top instead... (There's a little cutout at the back that basically frames the cockpit area...

... Either that, or utilising the Underside Panel from two as the "Wing" Panels on another really makes a striking difference, too...

And the Upgrade Cards... Well, there's Ozzel. And Ozzel can take some getting used to, but you do unlock a lot of potential when you do... I personally feel that some people have forgotten about Impetuous and Instigator recently, and the uptick of Squadrons being fuelled by FC/FCT provides a framework for them to come back - although not as lone hunters, as support shipping...

The Raider, like the Lancer before it, was designed to be primarily, an Anti-Squadron Ship. Its **** good at its job. It happens to be not too bad at a hunter-killer support role at the same time, if you're canny... So by ignoring or neglecting it, you're removing, admittedly, what is a one of a few choices for its capabilities...

Well, the Tartan and Lancer were both judged as "too large" for X-Wing at the time... So they developed it new for there... And because its now familiar, its been added to Armada...

I do agree, the Panel lines are a bit much on it... Personally, I think its about 90% more Awesome by removing the Panel from Underneath and placing it on top instead... (There's a little cutout at the back that basically frames the cockpit area...

... Either that, or utilising the Underside Panel from two as the "Wing" Panels on another really makes a striking difference, too...

And the Upgrade Cards... Well, there's Ozzel. And Ozzel can take some getting used to, but you do unlock a lot of potential when you do... I personally feel that some people have forgotten about Impetuous and Instigator recently, and the uptick of Squadrons being fuelled by FC/FCT provides a framework for them to come back - although not as lone hunters, as support shipping...

The Raider, like the Lancer before it, was designed to be primarily, an Anti-Squadron Ship. Its **** good at its job. It happens to be not too bad at a hunter-killer support role at the same time, if you're canny... So by ignoring or neglecting it, you're removing, admittedly, what is a one of a few choices for its capabilities...

The Lancer wasn't too large, it was too......phallic

Well, the Tartan and Lancer were both judged as "too large" for X-Wing at the time... So they developed it new for there... And because its now familiar, its been added to Armada...

I do agree, the Panel lines are a bit much on it... Personally, I think its about 90% more Awesome by removing the Panel from Underneath and placing it on top instead... (There's a little cutout at the back that basically frames the cockpit area...

... Either that, or utilising the Underside Panel from two as the "Wing" Panels on another really makes a striking difference, too...

And the Upgrade Cards... Well, there's Ozzel. And Ozzel can take some getting used to, but you do unlock a lot of potential when you do... I personally feel that some people have forgotten about Impetuous and Instigator recently, and the uptick of Squadrons being fuelled by FC/FCT provides a framework for them to come back - although not as lone hunters, as support shipping...

The Raider, like the Lancer before it, was designed to be primarily, an Anti-Squadron Ship. Its **** good at its job. It happens to be not too bad at a hunter-killer support role at the same time, if you're canny... So by ignoring or neglecting it, you're removing, admittedly, what is a one of a few choices for its capabilities...

Well, the Tartan and Lancer were both judged as "too large" for X-Wing at the time... So they developed it new for there... And because its now familiar, its been added to Armada...

I do agree, the Panel lines are a bit much on it... Personally, I think its about 90% more Awesome by removing the Panel from Underneath and placing it on top instead... (There's a little cutout at the back that basically frames the cockpit area...

... Either that, or utilising the Underside Panel from two as the "Wing" Panels on another really makes a striking difference, too...

And the Upgrade Cards... Well, there's Ozzel. And Ozzel can take some getting used to, but you do unlock a lot of potential when you do... I personally feel that some people have forgotten about Impetuous and Instigator recently, and the uptick of Squadrons being fuelled by FC/FCT provides a framework for them to come back - although not as lone hunters, as support shipping...

The Raider, like the Lancer before it, was designed to be primarily, an Anti-Squadron Ship. Its **** good at its job. It happens to be not too bad at a hunter-killer support role at the same time, if you're canny... So by ignoring or neglecting it, you're removing, admittedly, what is a one of a few choices for its capabilities...

The Lancer wasn't too large, it was too......phallic

Yet we already have a **** in a box called the Home One.

Am I the only one who thinks the Gladator is the best ship in the game?

Am I the only one who thinks the Gladator is the best ship in the game?

I don't see how that is really pertinent to this particular conversation.

I have three Raiders...but that's because I usually get three of everything Imperial.

I have found that using it right requires finesse. I run mine only with Ordnance Experts, and tend to lurk around the edge of the melee, rushing in to deliver either a softening blow before running away at top speed, or a killing blow after a Glad or ISD has had its turn. '

Either way expect them to die if you run them in by themselves.

I love running a pair of them with ACT in a Screed list. Pretty easy to sneak around back and pick up a double arc with. I've burned down some ISDs and MC80s in just a couple of turns with a pair of these running and end-around. Works nicely against lists with a lot of smaller ships like Corvettes, too, as the speed is there to dart around targets, and the APT or ACT becomes lethal.

Agree they can be great in combo with a small squadron group for AA. Again, with Screed, I've run one with Instigator, Kallus, QLT and found it actively shred named squadrons, but even just with OE they're solid for that too.