So with Wave 6 announced two upgrade cards that take up multiple slots have come up.

Despite the fact that none of these cards show storm troopers there are some points I like to bring up.

• Two specific slots. Weapons team and Offensive upgrades both slots often left empty further more we can assume that both Wave 6 ships will have those two slots as well as an officer slot but this narrowly limits the ship selection to only 4 (6 with wave VI) for boarding parties: ISD, VSD, Raider, AFmk2. Not a lot of Rebel ships, but no GSDs or Flotillas.
• Uses squadron command, so trying to get more out of squadron command without having to keep a squadron nearby. So more in ship use of commands making a ship less predictable as a low squadron value ship will likely not be using that command.
• So more of a control mechanism. Bording Torps seem to be for getting rid of defense tokens, so they can take out a scatter from a flotilla or braces from a MC-80. Boarding Engineers I don't think might be used as much because it requires damage to be done to a ship already. Sure flipping a card of your choice can be brutal but if the ship is already near dead why not just shoot it?

So my quick take on it. What are your opinions on it. Will it change the meta or mostly be largely unused?

and where are my freaking Storm Troopers FFG!

Also in the hammerhead there appears to be a unique boarding character. Uses the same slots though.

Okay we now need Imperial Storm Troopers and Lord Darth Vader for boarding upgrades!

10 minutes ago, Marinealver said:

and where are my freaking Storm Troopers FFG!

Well, that one is an easy answer, anyway.

Coming with the Admiral Piett in the Super Star Destroyer...

Flight commander + either boarding card = win

Edit: no its not, i stand corrected

On 3/14/2017 at 4:33 PM, xanderf said:

Well, that one is an easy answer, anyway.

Coming with the Admiral Piett in the Super Star Destroyer...

Wouldn't those be Snowtroopers and General Veers instead?

Actually General veers was supposed to die in the Battle of Hoth but that didn't happen. But yeah Storm troopers on Super Star destroyer would be alright.

But back to boarding, and the 4 ships from past waves an the two from wave 6 to bring it up to 6 total..

So what do we got to talk about. First lets go with the Big Boys. The Star Destroyers.

So Imperial Star Destroyers. The Firs ship we saw that captured a CR-90 and had Stormtroopers cut down the door and shoot Rebel Troopers (The only thing they can hit). High Squadron and Engineering Value of 4 means they will hit the hardest with boarding actions being able to remove almost all defense tokens or flip all cards face up. Downside. They are expensive.

Victory Star destroyer has a downside of being real slow. So getting it at close range is the tricky thing here. A 3 squadron value is good but not as good as an ISD and the point cost of VSD can put it in a list without having to build the fleet around it. Boarding Engineers will make this much of a slow-hard hitting short reach of a brawler.

What about the little raider.

So the pros and cons of raiders with boarding actions are as clear as night and day. Fast speed and cheap cost makes it easy to get within close range to make boarding actions. Downside is the low squadron value so Boarding team is not as potent here as it would be on an Imperial Star Destroyer. Boarding Engineers would be very effective and raiders but only agaisnt ships with high hull value so CC and against flotillas will not be as good. The short range isn't that much of a hindrance since they already have to get in close to be effective. Still an option to fly in and quickly issue the coup de grace on a big ship might bring the raiders to the table.

Now on to Wave 6

So good squadron and moderate engineering values means that this ship would do okay with the boarding upgrades currently available. Point cost is right between the VSD and the Raider. Faster than the VSD however the VSD has double the engineering value so if you are using boarding engineers you might go with the VSD instead. Also if you were going to use Boarding Engineers the raider is faster for the same value at a cheaper price. So boarding will always be boarding troops (or stormtroopers and Lord Vader when they finally come out).

Now on to the Rebels, and since we are coming from Wave 6. We shall continue there.

While both squadron and engineering values are less than something to be desired. The cost is cheaper than the Raider while the raider is faster. I don't know I am finding it to be a real hard sell. Maybe with more maneuverability especially at speed 2 it could be an anti-flotilla killing off the scatter defense token then ramming it. I don't see how Cham would be any better.

And last but not least, the Rebel Assault ship.

It is no Star Destroyer, but it is what the Rebels have. The upgrade bar has the specific upgrade slot combination required for boarding upgrades definitely putting the word Assault in the name Assault Frigate. They are cheaper than Imperial Star Destroyers but have the same engineering values, while the Type B squadron values matches the VSD for 1 point less. The Type B will likely be used for boarding actions in a list more than the A as the Type B is not only cheaper than the A but has 1 more squadron value. This could add another option to a squadron heavy rebel ship where the AFmk2-B could have a heavy punch in reserve to make up to the lack of punch. Or you could throw in Cham and play havoc with the 3 command dials of Star Destroyers.

Im thinking a boarding Victory with Hyperspace Assault and Assault Missiles would be a hell of a thing.

22 minutes ago, Grey Mage said:

Im thinking a boarding Victory with Hyperspace Assault and Assault Missiles would be a hell of a thing.

Scary, but HA doesn't get picked much in our meta just because nobody wants to have anyone jumping in. And without it, that boarding vic is very underwhelming. Could be awesome in the Corellian Conflict final fight though, where there are also jumps in from hyperspace.

Can the Redemption title make boarding engineers more dangerous, as it adds +1 engineering?

14 minutes ago, D503 said:

Can the Redemption title make boarding engineers more dangerous, as it adds +1 engineering?

Nope. this was asked in the wave 6 discussion also. Redemption only adds a point to what you get when u resolve an eng command. It does not increase your eng value.

In any case, BE are already dangerous in themselves if you even have an eng value of 2. Note also that the more eng value you have the more facedown damage you first need to do to the enemy ship before the full power of BE can be realized, which may cause one to build around it rather than use it as a tool of opportunity.

Just imagine: AFMK2B goes in, boarding party. Then comes the Hammerhead for the lolz. And finish it with Mon Karren. ISD goes down in one turn.

Saying this, I predict we will see much more tabling than before. Either party makes a mistake its main ship goes down in turn 2-3.

7 hours ago, Norell said:

Saying this, I predict we will see much more tabling than before. Either party makes a mistake its main ship goes down in turn 2-3.

I just wonder whether this wave is a precursor to having 500pt tournament level games - with all the extra destruction games shouldn't take much longer.

16 minutes ago, Kendraam said:

I just wonder whether this wave is a precursor to having 500pt tournament level games - with all the extra destruction games shouldn't take much longer.

Not going to happen. They have said many many times 400 is the limit.

21 minutes ago, Kendraam said:

I just wonder whether this wave is a precursor to having 500pt tournament level games - with all the extra destruction games shouldn't take much longer.

I would think the point of increasing the destruction is to shorten games at the tourney standard 400 points.

57 minutes ago, Overdawg said:

Not going to happen. They have said many many times 400 is the limit.

That reminds me of the talk about ARC 170s in X-Wing.

Anyone that gives you a token at the same time as a dial will be nasty with this combo, as activating your boarders is not a command you can discard your token to activate boarders then spend your figher command dial to activate your fighters, strip your tokens, send in the bombers then blast em.....

Depending on the FAQ an isd one activation with boarders, rapid launchers and four sprays would be hard to live through...

curious about the spending.

Is it spend dial to get effect <or> (token + discard)?
Or is it spend (dial <or> token) + discard to get the effect?

Im kinda leaning towards the latter since this would be kinda brutal if its not a 1shot thing.

Just now, Vineheart01 said:

curious about the spending.

Is it spend a dial to get the effect OR a token and the card
Or is it spend a dial OR the token AND the card?

Im kinda leaning towards the latter since this would be kinda brutal if its not a 1shot thing.

I read it as the latter. So discard a (dial or token) and discard the card to trigger its effect.

What's important to note is that it's not a resolution of a squadron command so you could activate, reveal a squadron dial, discard the squadron token (dial is still there) to resolve whichever Boarding Dudemans, and then spend your squadron dial to command squadrons normally.

22 minutes ago, Snipafist said:

Boarding Dudemans

I can't like this, so QFT.

Assault transports, not ship upgrades, is my outlook on boarding actions.

14 minutes ago, Ardaedhel said:

I can't like this, so QFT.

I'm in the same boat, so QFT^2.

Well since they made an Officer into a Commander (Leia) here are a few ideas for Darth Vader <Weapons Specialist> <Offensive Retro> upgrade card.

I do like the idea of having Three versions of Darth Vader, and thus, only ever having to face one of them in the Corellian Conflict.

But what would Vader's ability be as a boarding party? Given that when he shows up its bad news for every rebel soldier not near an escape pod (or the Tantive IV) on board what would would he do? Immediately destroy the ship? Seems kind of OP but anything less wouldn't seen thematic.

10 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

I do like the idea of having Three versions of Darth Vader, and thus, only ever having to face one of them in the Corellian Conflict.

Corellian Conflict should let the player who picks a unique character that exists in various places move them around in their roles between missions...

Vader and 501st as named boarding officer and a named boarding team would be pretty awesome

Just now, xanderf said:

Corellian Conflict should let the player who picks a unique character that exists in various places move them around in their roles between missions...

Well, that would only work with Theoretical Vader, in this instance, and only between Crew and Squadron - As the other situations with that Context (Leia Organa, and Vader Admiral) are, well, Fleet commanders , and thus, integral to the Fleet and cannot be exchanged or Replaced....

If we get more, maybe that's worht looking into... But for the moment, that's really it.