Hi. I am looking to get in to this game when the Clone Wars starter box comes out but I have some questions I hope the community can answer. One, will these new armies be cross compatible with the existing armies or are they completely separate all together? Two, will the old cards work with the new armies? Three, are the new armies going to be significantly handicapped against the more robust existing armies with a more complete model line?

Thank you.

The clone wars armies will be their own separate factions meaning you can't take Darth Vader alongside clone troopers. The old unit cards (such as Darth Vader) will not work with the new factions but any of the upgrade cards that are not faction specific will work for them. For example grenades or training upgrade cards. As to your third question that remains to be seen. They will have less options in the beginning for sure and that will hurt them to start but if FFG gives the clone wars and aggressive release schedule they should be caught up enough to be just as competitive within a few months.

Even if the new armies start with a handicap, They are expected to get releases more quickly than the older factions for a while to help them catch up.

3 hours ago, Muchato said:

Hi. I am looking to get in to this game when the Clone Wars starter box comes out but I have some questions I hope the community can answer. One, will these new armies be cross compatible with the existing armies or are they completely separate all together? Two, will the old cards work with the new armies? Three, are the new armies going to be significantly handicapped against the more robust existing armies with a more complete model line?

Thank you.

1. No, completely separate.

2. Yes, neutral cards will work.

3. In some ways, possibly, though that will likely only last a month or two before other releases start to even things out.

5 hours ago, Muchato said:

One, will these new armies be cross compatible with the existing armies or are they completely separate all together?

Two, will the old cards work with the new armies?

Three, are the new armies going to be significantly handicapped against the more robust existing armies with a more complete model line?

One - They are separate factions within the same game. That means that your army of Republic clones must be made up entirely of Republic units. You can't mix units from different factions into the same list. However, your Republic army will be able to fight any other army, whether Rebel, Imperial, Separatist, or Republic.

Two - Yes, except for cards specific to certain factions or units. You can't use an AT-ST unit card or a Coordinated Fire command card in your Republic army, because those cards are Imperial only, but you could use lots of existing upgrade, command, and battle cards. The Upgrade Card Pack releasing around the same time as the Clone Wars stuff will get you a ton of generic upgrades that were originally released with Rebel or Imperial models to help get you a bunch of options without having to buy out-of-faction models.

Three - Maybe for the first couple of months, but the announced plan is to focus on Republic and Separatist releases while slowing down Rebel and Imperial releases until the Clone Wars factions are caught up. After a few months, the new factions will have enough units available to make a variety of competitive lists.

As points one and two are sufficiently covered, I won't reiterate what others have said.

As for point three.. well, that depends on a certain point of view. The new release schedule will be broken up, I think it was said 60/40, but maybe 80/20, favouring the new factions. As Legion has a pretty aggressive release timetable (at least for me) I would expect they will be up and running fairly quickly. If people buy the Clone Wars starters with the same fervour of the Rebellion era starter, coupled with trooper spam being still the best way to play, I think the clones and separatists will be fine out of the box.

However, only time will tell how exactly the new armies play. During the reveal it was mentioned that both the clones and CIS forces will have a bit more ‘faction identity’ whereas the Empire and Rebellion will come off as little more bland, or straight forward with the design.

The rebels and Empire had near symmetrical releases, not in that each unit was an exact analog, but they filled the same niche and generally offered up new mechanics each release.

Only time will tell if the clones and CIS follow a similar pattern of releases. I suspect we will get one release for each type of unit in the force organization chart, then we will see a divergence.

The Republic for example, it makes more sense to release more commander and operative packs than multiple corps types. Now we will see the phase II clones as a unit, for sure, but Jedi and padawans are going to be a huge focus I suspect.

I know I certainly hope that the republic gets a more asymmetric release style.

If the scum faction of xwing was any indicator, they will be aiming to have them on the level in 6-12 months. That said, thier relase units seem to be pretty strong, and it's still very true that 2-3 gcw cores + commanders is more tnan enough for casual play.

The new factions will be new enough that people will scream they are terrible or way too strong for a few months, then people will learn to play them/against them better and it will even out. Pretty much the standard. lol

1 minute ago, Ralgon said:

If the scum faction of xwing was any indicator, they will be aiming to have them on the level in 6-12 months.

I agree. As far as I remember they said they will release in a 80/20 ratio. So by that it should take at least half a year until there are enough clone wars units so that the clone wars lists aren't too predictable anymore.

I think question # 3 is the best most relevant question. Speaking as someone who purchased units as the came out for Rebels and Imperials, both rebel and imperial factions were hurting for variety and needing the numbers to make a useful army until the second commander and first special forces units came out. As soon as the second commander (Leia and Veers) and special forces (Scouts and Commandos) came out the factions started to gain a sense of identity as well as getting options that weren’t just obvious and finally making it somewhat of a mystery as to what your opponent was going to bring to the table. There has been mention that FF will slow production for rebels and Imperials. My guess is that those factions will have something come out once per quarter. As for Clones and CIS, they will probably do what they have been doing and release one unit a month after releasing the Core set and extra trooper and support expansions. The first month after that release will probably see heavy units such as tanks for the two new factions, and the following month will see the second commander and a second type of corps trooper. As I mentioned, in the Rebels it was Leia with Fleet Trooper, and for Imperials it was Veers and Snowtroopers. One month had Leia and Fleets, the next Veers and the Snows. That was all followed by a Objectives/Deployment/Condition card expansion, which was followed by a third commander or operative and special forces unit.

If FF follows the same release schedule as before (and there’s no reason they won’t) the following is what will happen.

Clone Wars Release Schedule

Core set release with extra trooper expansions and BARC speeder and Droideka expansions

Next month: Heavy units for each faction. Probably tanks of some kind. There are threads with lots of guesses.

Next month: Objective/Deployment/Condition card expansion - these expansions are useful to everyone, but this expansion will probably have a Clone Wars look and feel. The rebel/imperial version had moisture vapourators and creates, but even it is useful to clone wars and I’d recommend getting this even if you only go with a CW faction.

Next month: Second Commander and second corps troop. There’s no telling which faction will be first (CIS or Republic), but it will only be one faction.

Next month: Second Commander and second corps troop for the faction that wasn’t in last month’s release.

***Its at this point that the new factions should be competitive enough, but to be a real threat, I think they need the next month’s release.

Next month: Third Commander or Operative and the first Special Forces unit. The rebels got Han Solo as a commander, but the Imperials got Boba Fett as an Operative at this point. The special forces unit was a saboteur/sniper unit for both factions, but only one faction got something in this month.

Next month: Third Commander or Operative and the first Special Forces unit for the faction that didn’t get anything last month.

At this point both new factions are fleshed out enough so that no one will know exactly what you’re bringing to the table and will be forces to be reckoned with.

Hope this helps. I can’t wait for CW to come out myself.🥰😁🤩🥳

9 hours ago, Staelwulf said:

I agree. As far as I remember they said they will release in a 80/20 ratio. So by that it should take at least half a year until there are enough clone wars units so that the clone wars lists aren't too predictable anymore.

There are currently 18 released or announced unit expansions for each of the GCW factions.

With an 4:1 release ratio, and the clone wars release month including two expansions per faction plus the core set, there will be parity in about a year after CW release with two faction expansions releasing per month.

This might be pushed a few months if FFG releases generic expansions like the downed AT-ST or priority supplies at the expense of faction expansions certain months.

That means GCW factions should be receiving one unannounced expansion this winter, one in the spring and two in the second half of 2020, with six in 2021 - unless more factions arrive by then.