For the transport in particular, I never remember seeing one of those things shoot in any incarnation. It seems a bit like a move to get people to play more missions. You put in a token like the senator's shuttle and no one uses it, at least I've not run into any missions yet, but if you make a big model that gets people invested and diversifies the gameplay more. I'm increasingly liking the idea of storm trooper transports and a capture the corvette mission.

In the EU cannon it is established that they are in fact armed, just not well enough to take on capitol ships which is why they need an escort.

Personally I'm into it. Being someone who has come from 40k I enjoy the dynamic of having a "regular size" and a "super big special rules for awesome models size". I will pick both of these up when I have the cash and use them in fun games and mega battle style stuff.

I hope that they don't become part of the tournament scene though and that dog fighting stays the norm. I think we can hope that that will stay mostly true because of the uninterrupted wave release schedule.

Ah cool. Where was that? I'm mostly going off of X-wing Alliance here. Something like a blaster turret and 1-speed movements would make some sense.

Umm its just mentioned in different Rebellion Era EU canon. I mean it was mentioned off hand in Choices of One (just finished reading recently). I don't know particulars of what kind of load out it would have but I would imagine something in the order of the cannon upgrade cards, Ion Cannon, Heavy Laser Cannon, things like that. Not many, but enough to stave off a few small fighters at a time.

FWIW, Wookieepedia claims a variant GR-75 is equipped with "Twin fire-linked laser cannon turrets" and of the 7 crew, one of them is a gunner.

Looked to me like there were 2 or 3 in on the attack on the second death star.

That's true, I think they were there as kamikaze ships, though.

If anyone wants to see these beauties:

http://www.boardgamequest.com/x-wing-miniatures-large-ships-not-wave-4/

If anyone wants to see these beauties:

http://www.boardgamequest.com/x-wing-miniatures-large-ships-not-wave-4/

Ha, ha, Really, by the time anyone gets to this point in the thread they will have seen plenty of the same photos.

Are the S-Foils movable into non-attack position?

Only once

You know, given the fact that they aren't keeping scale on the capitol ships, as well as the fact that even at speed one something that size would move much, much faster than any a-wing or interceptor I wonder if the new Epic mode won't feature "zoom levels" of a sort. By which I mean, you have two play areas, one with the cap ships and figures to represent fighter squadrens, when the fighters get within, say range one you set up those two squads on the second area and do a standard match, probably with some fleeing rules. Cap ships take damage from each other and from fighters based on how many and if they have secondaries. Would also have the added benifit of you not needing 30+ tie fighters.

Unlikely I know but it would be cool in a non-tournement setting..

I was actually wondering if they would come with their own maneuver templates. I was thinking of something wedge-shaped, like a piece of pie, only one side would extend further so you could have a slow-moving, shallow bank maneuver. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

You know, given the fact that they aren't keeping scale on the capitol ships, as well as the fact that even at speed one something that size would move much, much faster than any a-wing or interceptor I wonder if the new Epic mode won't feature "zoom levels" of a sort. By which I mean, you have two play areas, one with the cap ships and figures to represent fighter squadrens, when the fighters get within, say range one you set up those two squads on the second area and do a standard match, probably with some fleeing rules. Cap ships take damage from each other and from fighters based on how many and if they have secondaries. Would also have the added benifit of you not needing 30+ tie fighters.

Unlikely I know but it would be cool in a non-tournement setting..

I wonder if we'll get new ways of moving, perhaps using the same side of the ship instead of front to back.

You know, given the fact that they aren't keeping scale on the capitol ships, as well as the fact that even at speed one something that size would move much, much faster than any a-wing or interceptor I wonder if the new Epic mode won't feature "zoom levels" of a sort. By which I mean, you have two play areas, one with the cap ships and figures to represent fighter squadrens, when the fighters get within, say range one you set up those two squads on the second area and do a standard match, probably with some fleeing rules. Cap ships take damage from each other and from fighters based on how many and if they have secondaries. Would also have the added benifit of you not needing 30+ tie fighters.

Unlikely I know but it would be cool in a non-tournement setting..

I wonder if we'll get new ways of moving, perhaps using the same side of the ship instead of front to back.

Their weapons should be longer range, so they can harass fighters as the close in and so that we can have battles between capital ships with enough room for the fighters to dogfight in between.

The 3' x 3' play area was a good limit when we only had fighters, as it sped up the game by keeping the ships at most one or two maneuvers from being in range. But with larger ships in the mix a bigger area is called for and will open up strategies about how squads close on a capital ship to minimize casualties while trying to get in range. And capital ships will be more worried about presenting the correct facings towards oncoming threats since they wouldn't be able to outrun / out maneuver them.

We don't need star destroyers for this to be fun. Frigates and gunships would be the right size to keep the squad sizes manageable for games that could be completed in a reasonable amount of time.

I'd only put out ships 3' or less (whether such a large ship's price point would be manageable is another story). And keep them all the same scale. As the point is to combine the dogfight action with the presence of these larger ships, I don't want a fighter to appear too large next to such capital ships.

I'm more interested in seeing the mechanics and details of the capital vessels rather than the models.

There will be some change in how they move. I talked to one of the employees running the demos and he mentioned that it would avoid the "fishtail" problem that the current method would give on any turns. He wouldn't tell me how it would work, but something is planned.

Something these bigger ships could really use is roll. Flipping over 180 degrees would bring to bear fresh shields and gun emplacements, while taking much less distance to perform than anything else. But that gets tricky for the model and the gameplay...

Something these bigger ships could really use is roll. Flipping over 180 degrees would bring to bear fresh shields and gun emplacements, while taking much less distance to perform than anything else. But that gets tricky for the model and the gameplay...

The only problem with a roll is trying to avoid any ships nearby- in 2D it's something akin to a whale rolling around in a swimming pool and squishing anything in the way

But in space it's simply equivalent to rotating around your central axis, with no other movement involved.

Of course, SW doesn't follow any rules of how space physics works, so who knows.

Something these bigger ships could really use is roll. Flipping over 180 degrees would bring to bear fresh shields and gun emplacements, while taking much less distance to perform than anything else. But that gets tricky for the model and the gameplay...

The only problem with a roll is trying to avoid any ships nearby- in 2D it's something akin to a whale rolling around in a swimming pool and squishing anything in the way

WOW, that's all pretty optimistic for such a big ship.

I would be surprised if they moved more than one per turn,

let alone flipping 180 degrees. I could see a barrel roll taking three turns.

Just for comparison, I don't see any of these making quick turns... of any kind.

I agree, 180 degrees in a single turn is perhaps a bit to quick for a lumbering giant. I already can't figure out a good way to depict roll in the game, and it's even going to be harder if it has to be done incrementally. Not only would the mini have to be able to roll on its stand, the firing arcs would be constantly changing on the base(s) It's probably just too 3D of a concept to incorporate into this 2D game.

I'm really curious how big ship combat is going to be handled. We've got around five months before the Tantive and Transport hit the stores, and that is if everything stays on schedule. Hopefully some previews will come out before then cluing us in on how it will work.

I'm pretty sure the "roll" being suggested wasn't a barrel roll but just a 180° rotation such that the ship was now upside down. The usefulness relying on having different shields/weapons on each side of course.

I wouldn't really expect too much out of the capital ships in terms of mechanics and maneuvering, I think they are meant more for looking pretty on the table while fighters zip around them with minimal interaction beyond shooting at nearby targets when possible

I don't think they are trying to make it a full fleet engagement with tactical maneuvering of both fighters and starships

Will the big ships be able to take crew cards, special abilities, and the like?

Found this image at wookieepedia. Wonder how faithful they will be with the miniature.

Some were used as suicide kamikaze vessels, as demonstrated during the assault on the Fondor shipyards and the Battle of Endor, where they functioned as fire ships and were stacked with explosives.

Not intended for combat, GR-75s were to be placed at the center of Alliance fleet formations and relied on starfighter support in blockade-running missions.

Armament

Standard: None

Variant: Twin fire-linked laser cannon turrets (x4)

I'm pretty sure the "roll" being suggested wasn't a barrel roll but just a 180° rotation such that the ship was now upside down. The usefulness relying on having different shields/weapons on each side of course.

"The shield must be deactivated if any attack is to be attempted." ―Admiral Ackbar