Wave 3 - The Artists formerly known as convoys

[0rph3u5]

Wave 3 is here and after the heavy hitters of Wave 2 it's a small offering:
[url]https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/3/16/bigger-battles-better-tactics/[/url]





Both of the new Options, of which we know very little are at this stage, are [url=https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/d9/12/d912850d-be81-44aa-9f6f-d22e2e6d8e3d/flotillas_reference.png]Flottilas[/url]. Flottilas are in game terms ships but with a few exceptions, such as not causing damage to a ship they overlap with. While the actual stats are mostly still hidden, it seems both flottilas will also arrive with a first in game: a "-" armament battery - which is to say a battery with no attack dice.

EDIT: Another interesting feature I nearly missed on first glance: Those flottilas have the Scatter-Defense Token which was previously reserved to some elite squadrons. Considering they carry next to no batteries and each only have 3 hull, I guess that should not be suprising since the Flottilas need something that will keep them from getting kicked off the board by a ship flying by. Scatter's powerful defensive effect will require you to actually go after a Flottila to take it out and eliminate its effect on the enemy fleet.

EDIT2: The low battery armament will be a problem with scoring - although I cannot say that without knowing the fleet points costs of each Flottila. Battery armament is quite important for some scoring purposes... But maybe I am getting ahead of everyone here.

Another addition featured on the Flottila-rules card is a new upgrade category called "Fleet Support". Three cards of that category have already been spoiled:


From what you can see here it looks like this Upgrade slot is intended to give you are force multiplier option that is not mounted on your attack craft. Esspecially "Bomber Command Center" looks interesting and may put some of the Rebel fighter options back in the game (and upgrade the Rhymer-ball as well as those "hidden ship"-Firesprays which might become problematic).



Truth be told, I am glad that they are going small (both in volume and ship sizes) for this wave. Armada will never match the break-neck release speed of X-Wing simply due to a lack of source material, for one. Secondly of course, pumping the game full with big ships (e.g. the First Order SD and the Liberty-class Mon Cal) at this juncture may have lead to some dead-on-arrival expansions as these ship either break pattern with their faction (e.g. the Liberty Mon Cal not being broadside focused) or competing with established ships (there are only so many dice you can put in a foward battery).