We’ve got a lot of news recently and that’s great, but I really want to know more about what we have coming. My anticipation for the campaign box is driving me crazy. However, we are getting Clone Wars. It’s a ways away but it’s fun to speculate, and speculating helps quench my anticipation for a time, even if it comes back stronger later. So we’re going to speculate about Clone Wars ships. Full disclosure: I know much more about the Galactic Civil War despite being a kid that grew up in the time of the prequels, but with this announcement I’ve been looking into the Clone Wars more deeply to see what new and interesting toys can come from this period. I’m also not a fan of duel faction units, so I’m trying to avoid that. However if, say, a Republic Arquitens is made, I would want it to feel different from the Empire’s, not just a copy paste. I’m not sure what different enough is, though, so I’m just not going to even wander into dual faction ships right now. Let’s take a look at what I think will be in the first wave or two of Clone Wars, starting with the CIS.
Munificent-class frigate
If you’ve watched the Clone Wars animated series this is one of the most iconic CIS ships, or at least frequently seen. It’s almost the exact same size as a VSD, and would therefore be a medium base ship. I think it would have a well shielded front with weak shields everywhere else, definitely no more than 2. Its front battery armament would be its primary arc, with weak sides and rear. It would be a ship that would get use out of Dcaps with its front armament, and would probably have 5 dice there: 3 red 2 blue or vice versa, depending on the ship variant. It would have 6-7 hull (durable but not quite as much as the Victory,) defense tokens would be 2 braces and 1 redirect, squadron value would be low at no more than 2, and command would most likely be 3, maybe 2. Its upgrade slots would vary but all variants would have Turbolaser, Ion cannon, and Weapons Team slots. Its point cost would be high 60s to mid 70s.
Providence-class carrier/destroyer
Again a fairly iconic ship, these vessels served as flagships to some of the more notable CIS commanders. It would be a large base ship with heavy shielding on all arcs and a durable hull at around 9 or 10. I think it would be a reverse MC-75 with its front arc more geared towards long-range attacks and its side arcs filled with black dice, and at least one of the ship variations would have a heavier focus on ordnance. It would have brace, redirect, redirect, contain for defense tokens. Both ship variations would have access to defensive retrofits making it one of the most durable ships in the game. Squadron value of 3 or 4, definitely command 3. The arcs of this ship would be fairly well balanced, but with a bias for the front having 6-7 dice in the front and 5-6 dice in the side arc. This gives it the same number of dice an ISD has when double arcing: 12. This guy would be in the price range of an ISD as well – 110-120 points.
Hardcell- class transport
From my understanding this ship was more of a luxury transport for the techno union. However, some of them were refitted for combat. They would be very fast but maybe not quite so nimble, and lightly armed similarly to the CR-90 corvette. They would have at least one evade and redirect and would cost in the 40-50 point range, not a whole lot to say about this one.
Trident-class assault ship
So as far as flotillas are concerned this is the best option I could find, because it is unique to the CIS. Sure, they did use Gozantis, but I think FFG wants each faction to be as unique as possible, or at least I do, and I think ships that are not in the game currently should be given priority over ships that are in the game. This would have an assault variant and a support variant. The assault variant would have a Weapons Team slot, meaning it would be able to take boarding parties. There might be an upgrade in the fleet support slot that adds raid tokens when at distance 1-2 of a ship or something like that too. The assault variant would be one of the more expensive flotillas around 30ish points, the support variant would be pretty standard but still armed and priced around the same cost as a Gozanti. They would have attack dice; what they would be I’m not quite sure.
Lucrehulk-class battleship
I’ll wrap up the CIS ships with what will probably be a controversial thought: the Lucrehulk will be a large base ship. I know, I know, it’s a big ship and people keep saying it’s 3-4 times the size of an ISD. While you may be able to put 3 ISD’s within the circumference of the ship, that statement is a bit misleading. The Lucrehulk is basically a big circle with a diameter of a little over 3000 meters, and the ISD is 1600 meters long, though some sources say 1800 but we will go with 1600, meaning it takes about 1 and about 3/4 ISDs to cross its diameter of a Lucrehulk; Slightly more, granted, but not much. With the sliding scale in Armada, if you took an ISD and put a pencil on its tip, and drew a circle, I expect that would be about the size of the Lucrehulk (probably just slightly bigger.) I really think at most you will be able to fit two ISDs inside the Lucrehulk’s circumference, and that is still a manageable large base ship. I have other reasons for this belief, namely gameplay, point cost value and, the “feel” that I think this ship should have, but who knows, I could be wrong. So this guy is going to be a Quasar on steroids; it will most likely have squadron 5 or even 6, will have probably the highest hull in the game (outside of Huge ships) around 13-15, decent shielding 3 or so all around, command 3 for sure. Very sluggish movement: it might not be able to go faster than speed one. Its tokens would be double brace and double contain, making it very vulnerable to small concentrated attacks, but able to deal with big burst damage. It would have a Fleet Command slot, Weapons Team slot, and at least one Offensive Retrofit slot. It would be very lightly armed for a large ship, with 5 dice tops in the front, 3-4 on the sides, and 2 on the rear, most of which will be blue. Maybe some red on, say, a combat refit version, but it’s a support ship that will buff squadrons and the rest of the fleet, but will be reliant on other forces to protect it and do the heavy lifting. It will cost in the 115 to 130 point area.
Squadron Pack I
So here is what I think will be in the first CIS squadron pack: The Vulture droid, very similar to TIE Fighters with the Swarm keyword. Hyena-class Bomber, very similar to the TIE Bomber. The Belbullab-22 Heavy Starfighter, which would be speed 3, 2 blue and 2 black AA, 5 hull, with one black anti-ship and maybe Escort or Counter, all at 14ish points. The ace would be General Grievous’ Soulless One. The last one I am really torn between the Nantex defense fighter, as it has appeared earlier in the war and would probably be a good Escort option, or the Droid Trifighter, as that is really my favorite CIS fighter. The Nantex would have Escort, 4 or 5 hull, 4 blue AA, and one blue anti-ship die with speed 4, while the Tri Fighter would have 4 hull, speed 5, 4 blue AA, Counter 2, one black anti-ship and Swarm, either also costing around 14 points.
So that is what I think will be coming first to the CIS. There are plenty more ships for the Separatists, but I think these are what will appear in the first wave or two to make the faction feel like the CIS. Now on to the Republic.
This was pretty hard for me. The Republic Navy is not very diverse, at least in canon, and a lot of their ships step on the other faction’s toes. Maybe that is a sign we will get cross-faction ships. Again, though, I just hope they feel different enough, as I think it will be more limiting to the game then freeing, and the factions might not feel like they have their own identity, if ships are to similar. Anyway, let’s dive in.
Venator-class Star Destroyer
I have a big point of uncertainty about the Venator: the smallest large ship we have in the game is 1,200 meters (the MC75) and the largest medium ship we have in the game is 1,129 meters (the Interdictor.) The Venator is 1,137 meters long, so if they make it a large base it will be the smallest large base we have, and if it’s a medium base it will be the largest. Either outcome is interesting. At the end of the day, because the Venator is so iconic and a centerpiece for the Republic fleet I think it will get the bump to large ship. I could be wrong, but if the Venator is medium, the Republic is left without any canon large ships. I think it will be similar to the ISD, with weaker guns in the front but probably the same on the sides and rear, so 6-7 dice out the front, 4 out the sides and 3 out the back. Shielding would also be very much like the ISD. I think there will be a carrier-focused Venator with 2 offensive retrofit slots, and an assault type, that maybe gets more dice or swaps out some dice for higher damage output or something, maybe at a cost to squadron value. One could have 4 and the other 3, for example. I expect it will have the ISD’s token suite and many of the same upgrade slots (maybe a Fleet Command on one of the variations,) and will have 9 to 10 hull, with a cost around the 105-110 area.
Acclamator-class assault ship
The Acclamator is primarily used as troop transport but is still armed, mostly with torpedoes. I’d like a black dice heavy ship with 2 Weapons Team slots and 2 Offensive Retrofit slots to do some cool boarding party stuff with while getting use out of your black dice; it’s simple but unique and fun. This would be a medium base ship and would probably have an armament similar to the Gladiator, and most likely the same defense tokens. It would have 6 hull, but only 2 shields on the front, and would be around 65 points.
Consular-class cruiser
This ship was a diplomatic vessel outfitted with weapons during the Clone Wars, and would be the primary corvette of the Republic. It would be very similar to the CR90, with some subtle differences. It would have a cost in that same ballpark; nothing too exciting.
Paladin-class corvette
So this is where it kind of get a little iffy the only semi plausible flotilla would have to be the Paladin-class, if we are not stepping on toes of other factions. It’s 99 meters long, but the GR-75 is 90, so I think we can still say we are in flotilla territory. I know next to nothing about this ship but it does look like a support vessel, so there you go. It's apparently like 1000 years old but I have heard in multiple places it was still used in the clone wars.
As far as everything else goes, we start to step on other factions’ toes with the Pelta, the Arquitiens and more. Either we do that or move into legends territory; I’m not sure what FFG will do. If they do start to step on the other factions’ toes, I hope they make the ships different enough to still feel unique to each faction. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Squadron Pack I
Last of all for the Republic is the first fighter pack. We’ll start with the V-19 Torrent: 4 hull, speed 3 maybe 4, 4 blue dice AA, and 1 blue anti-ship die, all for maybe 9ish points. Then the BTL-B Y-wing, with the same stats as the standard Y-wing. Just add counter 1, make it 11 points. The Delta-7B Aethersprite, or Jedi Starfighter woud be speed 5 with 4 blue AA, one black anti-ship die, 4 hull and a new keyword. Something like Battle Mediation: if you have not activated squadrons at distance 1 of you, you may reroll one die while attacking a squadron. I’m not sure, but something to show a Jedi is flying in that thing. All of this would be priced around 18 points. Lastly is the ARC-170: much like an X-wing with Escort, but add Counter 1 for 15 points.
Clone Wars comes sometime next year, which is a while away. If we’re lucky we might hear something about it at Gen Con, but I kind of doubt that. I do think we will hear about these two mysterious ships that are hopefully coming before the end of the year for the Empire and Rebellion. Since they called them substantial I think we can rule out the Braha’tok-Class gunship, as it would have to be a flotilla; it’s the same size as a GR-75, and while I hope to see combat flotillas soon, I can wait. I’m personally hoping for the assault frigate Mark I as a medium base ship for the Rebellion and the Imperial support vessel for the Empire, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens. What do you think the first wave of Clone Wars expansions will look like? What are these two mysterious ships coming out for the Empire and the Rebellion? Remember: this is all just speculation and while in the end it means nothing, it’s still fun to do. Have a great week everyone!
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