Post by Fadril Adren on Mar 22, 2016 20:01:29 GMT -5
Rebel and Imperial fleets fight for the fate of the galaxy in Star Wars™: Armada, the two-player miniatures game of epic Star Wars space battles!
Massive Star Destroyers fly to battle against Rebel corvettes and frigates. Banks of turbolasers unleash torrential volleys of fire against squadrons of X-wings and TIEs. Engineering teams race to route additional power to failing shields. Laser blasts and explosions flare across the battlefield. Even a single ship can change the tide of battle.
In Star Wars: Armada, you assume the role of fleet admiral, serving with either the Imperial Navy or Rebel Alliance. It’s your job to issue the tactical commands that will decide the course of battle and, perhaps, the fate of the galaxy.
Fighter Squadrons
Even in the largest of battles, a single pilot can sometimes prove the difference between victory and defeat. Some of the most pivotal battles of the Galactic Civil War have been decided by the Rebellion’s courageous starfighter pilots.
Squadrons play an important role in the tactical fleet battles of Star Wars: Armada. Though they’re dwarfed by the capital ships they accompany, squadrons are not to be ignored; swarms of them can take down even the largest of ships. By adding eight squadrons of A-wings, B-wings, X-wings, and Y-wings to your fleet, including unique squadrons led by such aces as Wedge Antilles and Tycho Celchu, the Rebel Fighter Squadrons Expansion Pack helps to tip the scales in your favor.
The Rebellion’s fighter squadrons feature the same keywords and abilities as the Empire’s, but they feature them in different combinations and with different, speeds, hull values, anti-squadron armaments, and battery armaments. Altogether, they feel like drastically different starfighters.
For example, the X-wing Squadron features the Escort keyword and a hull value of “5,” just like the TIE Advanced Squadron. However, it’s speed is one lower, at “3,” and it gains the Bomber ability, along with a potent battery armament of one red die. Altogether, it’s a more rounded fighter squadron than either the anti-fighter TIE Advanced Squadron or the TIE Bomber Squadron, but at thirteen fleet points, it’s also a larger investment than either of those Imperial squadrons.
Of course, the X-wing is also the starfighter of choice for many of the Rebellion’s greatest aces, and Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles are about as great as they come. With his battery armament of one black die and his ability to ignore enemy shields, Luke Skywalker excels at attacking enemy ships, potentially crippling them with devastating critical effects. On the other hand, Wedge Antilles is an unparalleled dogfighter, who can fire as many as six blue dice at an enemy squadron that has already been activated.
Here, we begin to see some of the heroics that one might expect from the Rebellion’s veterans. While you could simply have Wedge Antilles wait to activate until after his chosen target, you could choose, instead, to have him fly his squadron in formation with "Dutch" Vander , who can toggle the activation slider of any squadron he damages.
Both “Dutch” Vander and the standard Y-wing Squadron feature the Bomber and Heavy keywords like the Empire’s TIE Bomber Squadron. However, for one extra fleet point, the Y-wing Squadron features an anti-squadron armament of two blue dice, instead of one black die. It also differentiates itself from the TIE Bomber Squadron through the addition of one hull point and the loss of one point of speed. More importantly, though, the two starfighter squadrons don’t really share equivalent roles.
While the TIE Bomber Squadron is the Empire’s most effective and dedicated anti-ship squadron, the Rebellion’s most effective anti-ship squadron is the B-wing Squadron . Though it’s the slowest starfighter squadron in the game’s first wave, the B-wing Squadron is the one most likely to concern enemy ship captains. It features both the Bomber ability and a battery armament of two dice, one blue and one black. Once you get it into position, the B-wing Squadron’s attack dice race to the top of the charts for damage potential versus fleet points.
B-wing ace Keyan Farlander further enhances the B-wing’s lethality with his battery armament of two black dice and his unique ability, “While attacking a ship, if the defending hull zone has no shields, you may reroll any number of dice in your attack pool.”
Finally, while most of the Rebellion’s fighter squadrons are slower than the Empire’s, the A-wing Squadron offers Rebel players a means of racing quickly into engagements. With its speed of “5,” your A-wing Squadron can move swiftly into position to aid your other squadrons, or it can engage your foes early, holding them back from the other squadrons with which you intend to attack enemy ships. Either way, as soon as it’s locked into a high-speed dogfight, the A-wing Squadron’s Counter 2 ability gives it a decided edge.
Lock S-Foils in Attack Position
In Armada, you not only command your fleet, you assemble it. Thus, your path to victory begins with the careful selection of those ships and starfighter squadrons that you intend to take to battle. Will you use squadrons with the Bomber ability to batter enemy ships? Will you utilize interceptors to engage enemy fighters before they can approach your ships? Will you rely upon the talents of a few starfighter aces? The tactical flexibility that squadrons offer is limited only by the fact that you can’t spend more than one-third of your fleet points on fighter squadrons.
There’s no denying the raw power of the Star Wars galaxy’s capital ships, nor that they’re the heart of Armada and its battles. Still, there’s always room for personal heroics, and there’s always the chance that a single starfighter pilot can turn the tide of battle.