Imperial Aces is a perfect counter example to the trend that is being applied to FFG. They put two push the limit upgrades I. This expansion that until then were only available on rebel A-Wings. If they really wanted to push A-Wings, they wouldn't have done this. I have to think if there are good small ship upgrades we may see them elsewhere. Now the pilots are a different story... But I have to believe their pilot abilities will be geared more towards the cinematic play.

Everyone has different points of when it will be too much. I've found that I am doing pretty well in avoiding the need for the maximum complement of a ship. Still only 1 Falcon and Shuttle, and only 2 Firesprays. Even with the components. And if the Aces pack has shown, you can be patient for certain upgrades. I am willing to wait to acquire more Advanced Sensors. Of course, I've always enjoyed the restrictions of what I owned. I may not have the most competitive squad, but it will still be fun to play.

I do feel bad for those that don't want the Epic/Cinematic stuff. I was in this group for quite some time (until I stared too long at the models at Gencon).

Wanna Play...Then PAY.

I don't know if I'll ever get to use the GR-75 or the CR-90 in a game, but I plan to get both regardless. The repainted x-wing, 4 new unique pilots, and possibly a new astromech or 2 is icing on the cake for me. That is essentially a rebel aces pack right there.

Now IF I were only interested in the x-wing and related cards, I'd just offer up the transport as a trade/sale to reduce the total cost. There are people on this forum who would probably be happy to split the cost in that way.

See, there's so many people here who have things in excess that they don't want or simply buy ships for specific cards that I'm rather surprised that there isn't a sell/trade site for this game for specific components. I know that I'm not going to need duplicates of certain named pilots, and maybe I'm not terribly interested in getting another transport pack with an X-wing that I'm not going to use, so I have no idea how this hasn't become a thing yet.

I am passing on all my extra stuff, name pilots, pre-loved ships to friends and club players in my area. They r typically students who have a small budget for games so i am happy to help them out - it has the positive spinoff of making their selection of ships for squads more competitive which in turn helps me test my own squads.

So...

GR-75 [20pts]

4 Energy

0 Agility

8 Hull

4 Shield

Large Cards, Single Row, Left to Right:

Ion Turret [New Reference Card]

PS2 Rookie Pilot

PS3 Tarn Mison

PS4 Red Squadron

PS5 "Hobbie" Klivian

PS7 Jek Prokins

PS8 Wes Janson

PS3 GR-75 Medium Transport

Small Cards Top Row, Left to Right:

? (Looks like "Bac*** ***** Gr***," possible "Bacta ____?) [New Type, GR-75 Cargo]

? (R2 unit, you can see the icon on the bottom left corner.) [Astromech]

? (Unique, likely R2 Unit, since I doubt they only include the 2 we can already clearly see and it appears to be a shot of a hanger deck. Yavin 4 it looks like.) [Astromech]

R5-D8 (Unique R2 Unit, I'm going ahead and calling it as R5-D8 even though we can only see "R5-" because R5-D8 was Porkins' R2 unit. Makes sense they'd include it with him, i.e., Luke and R2 in the core.) [Astromech]

Flechette Torpedoese [Torpedoes]

Expanded Cargo Room [unseen, New]

? ((Looks like "Com** Bude***," possible "Computer B_____?")

Flechette Torpedoes [Torpedoes]

? (Looks like "W*** Repa** ***," possible "Weapons Repair Droid." I add droid because Repa- is off center but too short a word on its own, given FFG's tendency to center titles and text.)

Carl Riekeen [Crew]

Jan Dodonna [Crew]

--

Small Cards Bottom Row, Left to Right:

Flechette Torpedoes [Torpedo]

Shield Projector [New Type, GR-75 Cargo]

Emdee (Medical Droid) [New, GR-75 Cargo]

Toryn Farr [Crew]

Frequency Jammer [New Type, GR-75 Cargo]

Slicer Tools [New Type, GR-75 Cargo]

Quantum Storm [Title Card]

Treasure Trove [Title Card]

? (Flipped Card) [New Type, GR-75 Cargo]

Hmm, a medical droid... perhaps it could heal criticals that have the Pilot word in them? Don't we have Determination for that though? I guess it does free up an elite talent in exchange for a crew slot.

Does anyone else think it is odd that it has never made it to the upcoming/reprint section on the site? I mean the star tiles are still there but this and the b-runner have never been on it...

Not really. It was just announced much earlier than FFG normally does. Generally, we get the announcement 3 months before their targeted release, which is when they go into the "Upcoming" page docket. Given the GTM preview is saying early, I'm guessing we are looking at a March or April release. I'm expecting the official FFG announcement/preview articles to start either this week, or just after the holidays.

any word on how the big ships are going to fire? bc unless im crazy and blind I don't see any fire arc or indication of 360 like the falcon.

Not sure, since the Transport does not have an Attack rating.

any word on how the big ships are going to fire? bc unless im crazy and blind I don't see any fire arc or indication of 360 like the falcon.

They have no attack. Just ram the **** out of Imp's.

The other will probably be able to fire, possibly from multiple arcs near the turrets. Transport doesn't have any factory standard guns though.

Question:

I see 1 GR-75 card, 6 X-wings, and 1 Rule card in that main row. That means 3 base templates with front and back sides for 6 X-wings. There are 3 of them in a small pile to the left and below the Transport model, plus another inserted into the base of the X-wing miniature... So 4 base templates.

So far I'm pretty sure FFG has only made images that are true to in-box contents. If that holds true, then with 4 bases we'd have 2 extra sides. The reason I noticed is because I was trying to figure out if any of the new unique pilots share a template. Ergo, assuming you have 3 extra X-wing miniatures, could you play all 4 unique pilots with one set? Or would any of the base templates be paired so you'd be forced to buy a second Transport just to get enough X-wing templates? I'm hoping it means they use the extra space with the 2 generics we already have, Rookie and Red Squadron Pilots, so you can field all the uniques with one buy. Something like:

3 Tarn / 2 Rookie

5 Hobbie / 2 Rookie

7 Jek / 4 Red

8 Wes / 4 Red

Technically there would be 2 'extra' templates for Red and Rookie but you'd be able to play all the unique pilots with one purchase, assuming you'd have the miniatures. What do people think?

(I have the same concern/hope for Imperial Aces, having 4 templates and 6 pilots where 2 are generic.)

3 Tarn / 2 Rookie

5 Hobbie / 2 Rookie

7 Jek / 4 Red

8 Wes / 4 Red

That makes perfect sense.

Good eyes you have, my friend.

The picture shows seven shield tokens. Four for the GR-75 and two for the X-Wing. Why token number seven?

That extra shield is probably for the shield projector ability. I can see it working like Garven's focus ability; pass one off to who you like.

Dang R22, you have better eyes than I. The third upgrade card in has a dot showing I the name field, as does the R5 unit. I hope the package contains two non-unique droids and two unique droids.

Hoobie's ability allows him to do something after acquiring a target lock.

Jek's ability allows him to do discard... when he receives damage.

I bet Jek gets to discard stress when he receives damage. It's the only thing he can lose for benefit, what's he going to lose, a weapon? Who would want that? If you're hit you already spent the focus attacking earlier or trying to defend most likely. So I bet he loses stress when hit.

... because he's so convinced he "can hold it." Awkward.

Also, I'm adding the guess that the "R5-" unique R2 unit we glimpse is R5-D8, that's Porkins' R2 unit so I bet they include it with him, just like Luke and R2D2 in the core. (I went back and added this to my OP of contents.)

Porkins ignored the "weight limit exceeded" warning light in his cockpit and we all saw what happened.

(I stole that joke from Mr. Plinkett.)

Porkins ignored the "weight limit exceeded" warning light in his cockpit and we all saw what happened.

(I stole that joke from Mr. Plinkett.)

Mr. Plinkett is a saint. Love his reviews.

Also, I'm adding the guess that the "R5-" unique R2 unit we glimpse is R5-D8, that's Porkins' R2 unit so I bet they include it with him, just like Luke and R2D2 in the core. (I went back and added this to my OP of contents.)

R5-D8 comes with the Y-wing expansion pack. I do like the idea of matching my pilots with their droids though. It would be nice if they were released together.

Also, I'm adding the guess that the "R5-" unique R2 unit we glimpse is R5-D8, that's Porkins' R2 unit so I bet they include it with him, just like Luke and R2D2 in the core. (I went back and added this to my OP of contents.)

R5-D8 comes with the Y-wing expansion pack. I do like the idea of matching my pilots with their droids though. It would be nice if they were released together.

Are you sure that's not R5-K6?