After a few weeks of starring at my new toys I finally got them out yesterday against my brother in which we fielded Imps vs Rebs and I found the new stuff a bit of a mixed bag.

Phantoms & Echo: I'm really not feeling it when it comes to the phantoms other than the fact that the two red ship dice can make you chuckle when you managed to find a double hit on the dice roll but let's be honest the chance they land damage is more than a little remote. There have the blue dice of a interceptor and an extra hull point but the lack of counter means people can blow them apart with no fear at least with the ceptors they might be squishy but that counter 2 can be a right pain in the ass for people. I also don't see much use in there cloak ability. For the point cost I just find echo lacking..

Defenders: everyone seemed to be loving these but even at 6 hull they seem to die as fast as everything else but for the cost of a few of these you can roll out a few strong imp aces that can take a licking and keep on ticking so I don't see me personally using they on mass.

Shuttles and the VCX: Omg I'm in love and will never leave home with out a shuttle or two... Not only is strategic a epic skill but relay is GoD like.... Thank you soooooo much FFG you nailed it with these two units.

Pelta: seeing the model on the table looks so good and is hands down my fave unit based on looks alone, it's cheap and hits like a glad which is not a bad thing for a rebel fleet... But remembering to use the entrapment can be a bit of a pain as I think my brother forgot twice, but as a 5 point card it was a epic upgrade.

Arqu's : Boom! I fielded 4 of these bad boys to give them a go and split them into two groups sadly two of them never got involved in the fight as they got sent off to flank and took to long to get back into play.. There movement is poor if you not spending commands every round to add a click... And when I say poor I mean POOR....... But.... my other two Arqus got charged by two AF2's and a Pelta and managed to both limp away with 1 hull remaining on each ship in return they killed the Pelta and one AF2... The Arqus both had DTT and were spamming fire power commands throwing 4 reds and then the DTT dice to modify the role was extremly strong and I thing one or two of these ships will find a place in all my list but any more than that seems counter productive.

Sato: Great but **** hard to get good use from as the other player knows what your up to and can make life difficult so not someone I would spend those points on atm.

CC aces: where have you all been all my life.... Please feel free to join my fleets when ever you want...

Initially i thought Sato was dumb but once i got one use out of him hes somehow my default commander now lol. 9/10 of my lists are using him suddenly.

And i agree: Strategic is amazing.

Have you shared your lists? I'd be interested to see the exact breakdowns.

I've definitely been eyeing Nav Team for Arqs, need to get a Goz to throw tokens at it.

Iv had allot of fun with the VT-49 Decimator, for me its like a pocket capital ship and is great for bringing down things like Cr90's and Neb B's or for chunking out rounds into shields for my VSD to open fire its full volly from its front arc into the enemy's ships. Iv yet to try any of the rest though but so far im loving the VT-49 Decimator.

Arqu's : Boom! I fielded 4 of these bad boys to give them a go and split them into two groups sadly two of them never got involved in the fight as they got sent off to flank and took to long to get back into play.. There movement is poor if you not spending commands every round to add a click... And when I say poor I mean POOR....... But.... my other two Arqus got charged by two AF2's and a Pelta and managed to both limp away with 1 hull remaining on each ship in return they killed the Pelta and one AF2... The Arqus both had DTT and were spamming fire power commands throwing 4 reds and then the DTT dice to modify the role was extremly strong and I thing one or two of these ships will find a place in all my list but any more than that seems counter productive.

Try an Arquitens Light Cruiser with Tactical expert and Turbolaser reroute circuits. Just spam move commands all the time to make up for the awkward movement, and then when you have a shot lined up that needs an extra red or black die then change the command to focus fire.

I am planning on running 2 of these with screed in my next game. This gives me 2 67-point ships with guaranteed 3 damage at red range, and guaranteed 4 damage at black range, that have the speed and manoeuvrability to be able to choose their engagement. not too shabby.

Needa is also worth a mention as a officer on an Arquitens. Adding an extra evade token means that you can use TRCs on 2 arcs, and the movement chart of the Arquitens makes it very easy to double arc a ship if you have a move command scheduled.

Ah i envy you guys. No playtests of the new equipment yet for me. However all is not lost. My regular opponent and i are going to square off in 2 weeks in a massive all-day fleet engagement. 900 points for capital ships, admirals and upgrades AND 300 points of fighter opposition should make for an epic star-wars battle

Cloak seems more like a squadron assassin where you get to move through to reach Jan Ors. Thing is there is no defensive benefit other than not being tied down. IMHO cloak should have been a defensive token (re-roll all attackers dice then move distance 1).

I got hammered in this game and defiantly agree with what my brother said above. Learning for me is as follows:

1) Sato can be very difficult to use and if your opponent brings a heavy fighter list you face the choice of using your squadrons to get Sato off and your squadrons being defeated in detail or you having to focus on the squadron fight and risk not getting Sato off. Therefore I would say Sato is probably the highest finesse leader out there and unless you can really practice your combined arms tactics, stay away until you have the time.

2) light cruisers are stone cold nasty for their points, pound for pound they outfight Assault frigates and never underestimate the ability of a small base ship to double arc and therefore outfight a larger ship. Using them as flankers on both flanks is difficult. I simple manouvered my fleet into one flank to gain local superiority and the light cruisers on the other flank could not get into play (that strait line at speed three is an issue). The problem was two of the light cruisers ( with dual turbo lasers) then somehow out gunned two AFs and a pelta(well played bro). I even parked one AF across the front of the light cruiser conga line and got them to run into each other. So for me I would not take more than two and if you do ensure you keep them concentrated, I don't think you can play them like CR90s, so no spam lists, think of them as more focused (gunship wise) and cheaper Assault Frigates.

3) Relay and strategy, I'm not sure a competion list can do without these, they are the ultimate multi tool.... they come as a package and are both amazing. I non stop used relay in the game as it allowed me to keep my transport safe and always in the game. A base VCX is not a bad ship at 8 hull and 3 blue dice so relay and strategy are costing you almost nothing if your buying fighters anyway.

4) pelta,to slow as an attack ship, so the assault version will be staying at home in future. I can see its use as a carrier. Entrapment is the dogs bits but timing means you will need to practice to ensure it becomes second nature to activate. In the beginning this is going to cause a lot of lost opportunities in tournament play. As my brother noted I forgot twice, in a competion you would be bonkers to let your opponent have the missed opportunity as it's just so potent.

5) Flotilla, if you don't take a way to confirm an accuracy your going to get punished, I thought Sato would cover this for me, but I double arced my brothers gozanti with an AF at medium range and got Sato off for five blues and a red with two blue rerolls and still did not get an accuracy, the gozanti just walked off without its scatter and then played into the middle of the fighter engagement where it's fighter commands and anti fighter dice made a big difference.