Valen Rudon is I N S A N E!!!! 3 black dices?! Three?! For only 14 points? With one roll he can wipe out literally any squadrons... And if it has a wingmate you can't even attack him?Now the Imps have the Rhymerball AND this indestructible killing machine. Bringing squadrons against Imps has no point any more...

Wait till you find out he is only 13 points...

So is Kallus going to be an auto-include for Imperial lists now?

Imagine Kallus on a VSD with Warlord, Quad Turbolasers Turrets and Quad Turbolaser Cannons.... Obviously enemy squadrons would steer clear of you, but dang tho...

Or Kallus on a Raider-I Instigator (or II) with OE and Quad-Laser Turrents. Counter would be Blue+Black vs unique, Normal AAA attack would be blue-black-black vs unique. (Or black-black-black vs unique that has no scatter)

Or Kallus on a Raider Impetuous getting two shots on Biggs, with OE for reroll fun.

Raider has less hull but a better chance of chasing down the squads.

So is Kallus going to be an auto-include for Imperial lists now?

Imagine Kallus on a VSD with Warlord, Quad Turbolasers Turrets and Quad Turbolaser Cannons.... Obviously enemy squadrons would steer clear of you, but dang tho...

Or Kallus on a Raider-I (or II) with OE and Quad-Laser Turrents. Counter would be Blue+Black vs unique, Normal AAA attack would be blue-black-black vs unique.

The commander who gains the most from this set is Rikeean, by a mile. I would expect a more zombie lists now.

So is Kallus going to be an auto-include for Imperial lists now?

Imagine Kallus on a VSD with Warlord, Quad Turbolasers Turrets and Quad Turbolaser Cannons.... Obviously enemy squadrons would steer clear of you, but dang tho...

Or Kallus on a Raider-I (or II) with OE and Quad-Laser Turrents. Counter would be Blue+Black vs unique, Normal AAA attack would be blue-black-black vs unique.

With all these shenanigans I'm tempted to run a fleet with 2 Ruthless Strategists on GSD2, Kallus, QLTs and a mix of Bombers and YV666.

I dont think a GSD can run QLT, unless you meant on Raiders or something else...

BOSSk

Bring that auto damage, I bloody love it.

So is Kallus going to be an auto-include for Imperial lists now?

Imagine Kallus on a VSD with Warlord, Quad Turbolasers Turrets and Quad Turbolaser Cannons.... Obviously enemy squadrons would steer clear of you, but dang tho...

Or Kallus on a Raider-I (or II) with OE and Quad-Laser Turrents. Counter would be Blue+Black vs unique, Normal AAA attack would be blue-black-black vs unique.

With all these shenanigans I'm tempted to run a fleet with 2 Ruthless Strategists on GSD2, Kallus, QLTs and a mix of Bombers and YV666.

I dont think a GSD can run QLT, unless you meant on Raiders or something else...

Seriously. You two just look like you're tittering like giddy Schoolgirls together.

(tee hee) Captain Jonus (Tee Hee)

And Gamma Squadron can screen....Imperials have all the nice squad combos.

So far I think Imperials are winning out with these squadrons. Major Jonus, Ciena Ree, and Saber Squadron are all very strong. Biggs and Rogue Squadron are decent if uninteresting. Ten Numb is good but has some weird anti-synergy going on with the lost blue die and the fact that you're paying for an anti squadron ability on a squad that would rather be shooting ships. Hopefully rebels get some more exciting stuff.

Not to turn this is a NO YOU! argument, but rebels can't really complain (like, ever! you have x wings and every new expansion is buffing the hell out of them, like they needed it in the first place). To be honest, my first reaction to the spoiler was disappointment because of how much rebels get and how little imps get in return. Admittedly, that was before spotting the new cool combo possibilities that were pointed out in this thread, but I think the additions to rebel squadron compartment are crazy good, especially Biggs and Shara.

With his unique ability, Biggs will make Rieekan aces even nastier than before: just think assigning 1 damage for each squadron attack suffered to one of your squadrons... who's already dead! That means -1 effective damage per attack. Even when not playing Rieekan, still Biggs will be awesome, preventing wounded squadrons untimely death. The ability to move around the damage you suffer, much like a redirect for squadrons, has no direct counter and further strenghtens x wing spam builds, which were already the best multirole fighter bomber builds out there (IMO).

Shara, on the other hand, provides the second scatter token in all rebels squadron compartment and is a real monster in squadron to squadrons engagements. While it's true that there are counter to her counter (pun intended), only very dedicated builds will account for it, as snipe is limited to a single squadron for now. and IG 88 is not very used. One could make an argument for Rudor ignoring her counter, but the grin-bearer only shoots blacks.

I personally don't really like the named bwing (isn't it supposed to be the ultimate ship bomber?), but I'm sure you guys will come up with good uses for him that involve pain and rhymerballs.

So in the end, I think FFG did a good job at defining differences between rebs and imps and keeping them consistent throughout the various waves: once more, rebel squadrons are the jack of all trades, good at doing a little bit of everything, and imps have very focused builds full of combos and mean tricks. Hey, we're siths after all!

I always find it interesting how different areas are, for example you say that IG-88 is not used very often in your area. In mine he is used I would guess about 90% of the time.

Point-defense reroute + Quad-laser Turrents on an ISD-I increases expected COUNTER damage to .75 with QLT alone, 1.5 with Kallus, 2.5 with Ruthless Strategists also on that same ISD-I. Heh.

2.5 expected damage on a counter attack from a capital ship is definitely interesting.

On anti-squadron fire your expectation with PDR alone on an ISD-I is 1.5, with Kallus it would be 2.25, and 3.25 damage per squad with all 3 (Ruthless Strategists, PDR, Kallus).

Point-defense reroute + Quad-laser Turrents on an ISD-I increases expected COUNTER damage to .75 with QLT alone, 1.5 with Kallus, 2.5 with Ruthless Strategists also on that same ISD-I. Heh.

2.5 expected damage on a counter attack from a capital ship is definitely interesting.

I wish. PDR bumps the damage to .66, not .75. I tried that combo on ISD1 and found it underwhelming/not worth the points. QLT with Kallus is a different story though.

Rebels kind of need access to Ewings and snipe for things to remain balanced...

Eould be surprised if the campaign was released before wave V

Shara is very nice (she would most likely always replace a basic A-Wing) but what would silly is two of her locked in combat, purposily trying not to attack the clone. All we need is a rebel pilot that can copy another's unique ability for shenanigans. Allies only.

Point-defense reroute + Quad-laser Turrents on an ISD-I increases expected COUNTER damage to .75 with QLT alone, 1.5 with Kallus, 2.5 with Ruthless Strategists also on that same ISD-I. Heh.

2.5 expected damage on a counter attack from a capital ship is definitely interesting.

I wish. PDR bumps the damage to .66, not .75. I tried that combo on ISD1 and found it underwhelming/not worth the points. QLT with Kallus is a different story though.

With PDR and QLT (a single blue dice for counter), you only have a 1 in 4 chance of missing each time you roll, as you can keep re-rolling your crits.

Point-defense reroute + Quad-laser Turrents on an ISD-I increases expected COUNTER damage to .75 with QLT alone, 1.5 with Kallus, 2.5 with Ruthless Strategists also on that same ISD-I. Heh.

2.5 expected damage on a counter attack from a capital ship is definitely interesting.

I wish. PDR bumps the damage to .66, not .75. I tried that combo on ISD1 and found it underwhelming/not worth the points. QLT with Kallus is a different story though.

With PDR and QLT (a single blue dice for counter), you only have a 1 in 4 chance of missing each time you roll, as you can keep re-rolling your crits.

OK maybe I overreacted. A bit. I still think he's insanely powerful for such few points...

So for 13pts I only found two squadrons that you can get, first Valen Rudor in his TiE Fighter, second the generic X-wing.

On the Empire side you get three black anti-squadron dice, one blue anti-ship dice, a speed of four with three hull. Special abilities of Swarm, and the custom ability of as long as they are engaged they can not attack you. Last to this you get one brace and one scatter defense tokens. Letting you do up to three points of damage to squadrons, or one anti-ship with critical hits not counting. You can not get accuracies on anti-squadron and on anti-ship they do no good as only one attack dice.

On the Rebel side you get four blue anti-squadron dice, one red anti-ship dice, a speed of three with five hull. Special abilities of bomber and escort, no custom abilities. Also no defense tokens, but as it is not unique you can have as many as your points allow. You can do up to four points of damage to squadrons, or two anti-ship with the possibility of getting a critical hit. You can get accuracies on anti-squadron dice and that may make you do more damage, again they do nothing on the anti-ship dice as you only have one.

My take is that maybe (I think it is a big maybe) Valen is better than the generic X-wing. Even if he is it is not that much as the three hull makes him AAA foder, and at least in my area almost every Rebel ship on the table has two AAA dice that will still hit him.

Point-defense reroute + Quad-laser Turrents on an ISD-I increases expected COUNTER damage to .75 with QLT alone, 1.5 with Kallus, 2.5 with Ruthless Strategists also on that same ISD-I. Heh.

2.5 expected damage on a counter attack from a capital ship is definitely interesting.

I wish. PDR bumps the damage to .66, not .75. I tried that combo on ISD1 and found it underwhelming/not worth the points. QLT with Kallus is a different story though.

With PDR and QLT (a single blue dice for counter), you only have a 1 in 4 chance of missing each time you roll, as you can keep re-rolling your crits.

Unfortunately, you can't. You can trigger "while" clause only once per attack, so only one reroll. (Same story as Vader commander and spending multiple defence tokens for multiple rerolls)

FFG has declared war on the English language. Sigh.

FFG has declared war on the English language. Sigh.

How So?

I mean, its been that way since Day One.

My thoughts after staring at Imp squadrons even more:

"This is why we can't have nice things."

-Emperor Palpatine

My thoughts on all the new cards (maybe slight Rebel bias as i play them most)

Shara Bey - So, what to say about Poe Dameron's mum. Ability only works on Counter, but it's Counter 3 and 17 points. With having that scatter, people are going to think twice about attacking her. Like a lot

Ten Numb - Slow (its a B-Wing) with anti-squadron AOE. Numb, Keyan, Yavaris, bring it on.

Biggs Darklighter - More survivable than I thought he would be. I can see Red Two, Red Three and Red Five being flown alot together again (with Biggs dying first)

Rogue Squadron - Rogue abilty (well what would you expect, a squadron interested in cosmetics?), no Escort for 1 point more than generic. Will see a lot of combat in the future. Nice unique to pad out a Reeikan list, or any to be fair.

Black Squardon - Cheap Escort, will die quickly, but beware whatever its protected for a round. Lack of Swarm means no help from Howlrunner, but overall very useful cheap Escort

Sabre Squadron - WTF. Who needs Counter when a can shoot you from 4 miles away. With an extra die from Howlrunner and maybe a reroll (add Flight Controllers, maybe,TBD). For 1 more point than generic. Thank goodness its unique (and Rebels can Snipe it back when E-Wings arrive )

Ciena Ree - Nice Ace interceptor that can't be shot by any ship EVER (Kallus and/or CF maybe). In a world with Jamming Fields, nothing additional to fear above having Defence tokens

Captain Jonus - "Need help destroying the Admiral's yacht, I'm your man". Nice difference to Rhymer with ability in same vein as Sato. Not sure how useful Grit is going to be, but have never really used Gritty ships. Good squadron, Imperial mini-Home One

Gamma Squadron - "He ain't Heavy, he's my Gamma" quote Major Rhymer. Preventing enemy squadrons from disengaging from a Rhymer-ball, those black dice can add up with bomber health meaning they can survive a while. Its not were the bombers want to be but if they are, it TIES up the enemy

Valen Rudor - "I'm sexy and I know it". Cheap, hard hitting, hard to kill, raffish smile. Very good squadron. Not much more to be said on this one

Slightly dispointed all the squadrons weren't shown, but so far a nice addition to the game

Ciena Ree - Nice Ace interceptor that can't be shot by any ship EVER (Kallus and/or CF maybe). In a world with Jamming Fields, nothing additional to fear above having Defence tokens

1) There are Plenty of 2 Die Anti-Squadron Ships... (Neb B Escort, AFMK-IIA, MonCal Command / Assault / Battle, ISDs, Glad-IIs, Raiders)... They'll still get 1 Die at you, assuming all of their dice are in range (some are Blue-Black, so it only counts for Black range)

2) If you are a 1 Die Anti-Squadron Ship, no amount of Concentrate Fire or Agent Kallus will help, becuase you lose your 1 Die before you get a chance to add them, and your attack ends....

I'm dumb.

I just realized that if a squad is treated as obstructed while defending, other squads can't attack it. I was wondering why everyone was slavering over Cienna Ree. Now I belatedly realize why.

Ciena Ree can certainly be shot at by 2-dice ships. Plenty of those.

FFG has declared war on the English language. Sigh.

How So?

I mean, its been that way since Day One.

Not everyone got that memo. (See: me for example.) I wonder if the designers of that particular card (Point Defense Reroute) intended it to only increase damage output by 0.16 per die? Seems more likely they intended it to be something else, but the definition of "while" in the rules messed it up.

Not everyone got that memo. (See: me for example.) I wonder if the designers of that particular card (Point Defense Reroute) intended it to only increase damage output by 0.16 per die? Seems more likely they intended it to be something else, but the definition of "while" in the rules messed it up.

I'm dumb.

I just realized that if a squad is treated as obstructed while defending, other squads can't attack it. I was wondering why everyone was slavering over Cienna Ree. Now I belatedly realize why.

What are you rambling about?

edit - ninja'd