Armada Warlords: Legacy wave 1 update

 

Armada Warlords has been updated with Legacy w1 content: https://armadawarlords.twilightpeaks.net/

PM me on Discord if you find any bugs/errors.

Fleet Dossier: Leia Nautilian Hammerheads

  

Today’s Fleet Dossier is a Rebel list.

It’s inspired by an exchange with Peter Saber on Facebook. He really likes Nautilian. I wasn’t entirely convinced… so here’s my attempt at becoming convinced.

The core concept is ARC Leia + Nautilian + Hammerhead swarm—if you can call three Hammerheads a swarm. Normally, three isn’t quite enough to really get the title value flowing, but Nautilian effectively gives you another “copy” of the effect, and that might be just enough.

And yes: this is very much an ARC Leia list. It doesn’t work if your flagship can’t spend tokens and still repair. It also highlights how much less flexible old Leia was.

For this build, I’ve chosen Task Force Antilles for a bit of durability. A Leia Hammerhead that pivots into Repair can regenerate/move shields (and even hull) surprisingly well—in Hammerhead terms, anyway. Don’t expect miracles. If you want to go fully on offense, you can swap to Task Force Organa instead and save six points. (Also: TFO at 1 and TFA at 3 has always felt a little… lopsided. But that’s neither here nor there.)

The squad screen is small but nasty. This exact four-A-wing package has done work for me even into squad-heavy lists. They will die, but used correctly, they can derail your opponent’s carefully laid squadron plan. Into light-to-medium squads, they can delay and disrupt for ages. Into squadless fleets, they chip in meaningful damage over the game.

This also shouldn’t be a particularly difficult fleet to run. Your flagship needs to draw fire so the Hammerheads don’t evaporate immediately—but obviously, “getting your flagship shot” is not exactly a free win condition, so you’re juggling how much aggro it takes. Between PDIC, ET, and Leia-fueled Repairs, you should be fine… as long as you coordinate that with the Hammerhead strike and manage the squad screen. Bread-and-butter Armada, really. 🙂

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400 points

I see no reason to bid with this list. I’m not much of a bidder to begin with, and this fleet doesn’t meaningfully benefit from it.

Name: Leia Nautilian TFA 400
Faction: Rebel
Commander: Leia Organa [ARC]

Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Asteroid Tactics
Navigation: Infested Fields

MC80 Command Cruiser (102)
• Leia Organa [ARC] (28)
• Raymus Antilles (7)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Point Defense Ion Cannons (6)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
• Nautilian [Legacy] (4)
• Intensify Firepower! (6)
= 173 Points

Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41)
• Slaved Turrets (6)
• Task Force Antilles (3)
= 50 Points

Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41)
• Slaved Turrets (6)
• Task Force Antilles (3)
= 50 Points

Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41)
• Slaved Turrets (6)
• Task Force Antilles (3)
= 50 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Ahsoka Tano (2)
• Comms Net (2)
= 22 Points

Squadrons:
• Shara Bey (17)
• Tycho Celchu (16)
• 2 x A-wing Squadron (22)
= 55 Points

Total Points: 400

Variations and flex

There isn’t much I’d change here.

• PDIC → Leading Shots is the obvious “more damage” swap, and QBT + LS plays nicely. But you already have IF!, and the Hammerheads are the real spike damage anyway. PDIC also matters because… you’re flying an MC80 that must stay alive.

• TFA → TFO is the other big lever. You gain offense and free up 6 points, but your entire fleet becomes noticeably more brittle. You can spend the points on things like Chart Officer on Hammerheads (if you’re worried about formation), Bright Hope on the GR-75, Hardened Bulkheads on the MC80, or just keep a small bid if that’s your thing. Personally, for this concept, I want the durability, so I’m staying with TFA.

Objectives

These are debatable, and that’s fine.

• Most Wanted is here to maximize the payoff: three Slaved Hammerheads doing Leia-enabled CF into a Most Wanted target can be absolutely horrific.

• Opening Salvo is tempting but I think it’s a trap. Hammerheads don’t love return fire for “+1 die once,” and any serious damage on the MC80 can cost you a lot of points.

• Abandoned Mining Facility and Volatile Deposits are both solid alternatives for Yellow/Blue, but I’m deliberately using the “slug” objectives to discourage squad-centric fleets. Ideally they pick MW… or they get to struggle through the A-wing screen plan.

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600 points

At 600, you need another “center of gravity.” The MC80 can’t take all the aggro, and the Hammerheads still won’t survive being the only thing in range.

So I add:

• one more Hammerhead, and DCaps on all four for a stronger opening punch,

• an Assault Frigate as a second serious ship (tankier profile, credible at all ranges with the addition of Boarding Troopers) threat.

• a second GR-75 and more token support so the MC80 stays fed. Leia + ET + IF! makes the flagship… thirsty.

• two more A-wings (it's Sector Fleet, so max 150 squadron points for my opponent, so I HOPE this is enough).

Name: Leia Nautilian TFA 600
Faction: Rebel
Gamemode: Sector Fleet
Commander: Leia Organa [ARC]

Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Asteroid Tactics
Navigation: Infested Fields

MC80 Command Cruiser (102)
• Leia Organa [ARC] (28)
• Raymus Antilles (7)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Point Defense Ion Cannons (6)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
• Nautilian [Legacy] (4)
• Intensify Firepower! (6)
= 173 Points

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72)
• Boarding Troopers (3)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Dual Turbolaser Turrets (4)
• Paragon (5)
= 91 Points

Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Slaved Turrets (6)
• Task Force Antilles (3)
= 53 Points

Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Slaved Turrets (6)
• Task Force Antilles (3)
= 53 Points

Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Slaved Turrets (6)
• Task Force Antilles (3)
= 53 Points

Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Slaved Turrets (6)
• Task Force Antilles (3)
= 53 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Ahsoka Tano (2)
• Comms Net (2)
• Bright Hope (2)
= 24 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Hondo Ohnaka (2)
• Comms Net (2)
• Quantum Storm (1)
= 23 Points

Squadrons:
• Shara Bey (17)
• Tycho Celchu (16)
• 4 x A-wing Squadron (44)
= 77 Points

Total Points: 600

600-point tweaks

Same levers as at 400, plus a couple more:

• Paragon → Hardened Bulkheads if you want less “fun” and more “this ship must live.”

• Swap transport titles if you want Ahsoka moving faster, but speed 3 is usually fine.

• If you love Slicers, you can do it by trimming Paragon and retooling the GR-75… but again: the MC80 wants tokens all game, so it might not be worth the effort.

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I think both versions come together nicely, and I think both TFA and TFO are viable—I just chose TFA here because this archetype really wants to keep the Hammerheads on the table for as long as possible.

And it’s genuinely cool to see how one ARC card (Leia) and one Legacy card (Nautilian) can enable a fleet type that wouldn’t really exist otherwise—without pushing into OP or NPE territory.

But what do you think? Is Nautilian a good title in general—and is it specifically a good title for ARC Leia? And if you’ve flown Hammerhead packages lately, are you team TFA or team TFO?

Fleet Dossier: Trench Insatiable Hyenas

 

The idea here is to revisit a fleet I played against at Scottish Not-A-Regional—but updated with the new Insatiable [Legacy] title. We talked about Insatiable in a recent post, and this is exactly the kind of shell where I think it shines.

The ceiling is straightforward and disgusting: between Trench and San Hill, you can push four Hyenas with Insatiable in a single window. That’s potentially all your shields stripped. But if that sequence lets you delete a key ship, you happily pay the price.

Running the list is both simple and not.

Simple, because the core plan is: concentrate Hyenas into one problem at a time, while Patriot Fist shapes the fight—finishing wounded ships, bullying small fry, and generally making sure the opponent can’t just ignore the ship part of your fleet.

Not simple, because CIS squad lists like this live and die on token management, aura ranges, and activation timing. Also: generic Hyenas and Vultures are absurdly efficient and absurdly fragile. They reward reps and punish sloppy positioning. But Fleet Dossier isn’t the place for a tactics clinic, so let’s get to the list.

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Trench Insatiable Hyenas (391)

Name: Trench Insatiable Hyenas
Faction: Separatist
Commander: Admiral Trench

Assault: Precision Strike
Defense: Fighter Ambush
Navigation: Superior Positions

Recusant-class Support Destroyer (90)
• Admiral Trench (32)
• Rune Haako (4)
• Flight Controllers (6)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Expanded Hangar Bay (5)
• Patriot Fist (6)
= 147 Points

Hardcell-class Transport (47)
• Tikkes (2)
• Auxiliary Shields Team (3)
• Bomber Command Center (8)
• Foreman’s Labor (5)
= 65 Points

C-ROC Gozanti-class Cruisers {CIS} (24)
• San Hill (3)
= 27 Points

C-ROC Gozanti-class Cruisers {CIS} (24)
• Insatiable [Legacy] (3)
= 27 Points

Squadrons (125)
• Jango Fett - Slave I (22)
• Wat Tambor - Belbullab-22 (18)
• DBS-404 - Hyena (17)
• 4 x Hyena (44)
• 3 x Vulture (24)
= 125 Points

Total Points: 391

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9 points is a lot — what to do with it?

A 9-point bid is… chunky. This list does benefit from some initiative control, but if you’re not playing the full “bid chess” game, you might as well go to 400 and buy more power.

Those 9 points can go in three directions:

1) More squadrons (up to 134).
You’re at 125, so you have room. You could push from 10 squads (5 drops) to 12 squads (6 drops) if you’re willing to go more generic. I’d keep Jango regardless—he’s doing real work against enemy aces. DBS-404 also feels “right” if you’re leaning into Insatiable.

If you want one neat upgrade: swapping a Vulture into DIS-T81 gives you a long-range control piece. Just don’t pretend it magically solves the anti-squad problem by itself.

2) Upgrade polish.
Patriot Fist can absolutely roll cold; it doesn’t have built-in dice fixing. Dual Turbolaser Turrets are a cheap consistency nudge. TRC is stronger but starts asking uncomfortable questions about points density on a ship that is still, at heart, a carrier Recusant.

3) Move Trench.
Putting Trench on the Hardcell spreads your points and reduces the “shoot the Recusant and the fleet falls apart” pressure. If you do that, Expert Shield Tech is a clean add—Trench likes being able to leverage that extra bit of shield discipline.

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My casual 400-point version

If I were running this at 400 into friends / casual online games, I’d do this:

Name: Trench Insatiable Hyenas 400
Faction: Separatist
Commander: Admiral Trench

Assault: Precision Strike
Defense: Fighter Ambush
Navigation: Superior Positions

Hardcell-class Transport (47)
• Admiral Trench (32)
• Tikkes (2)
• Expert Shield Tech (5)
• Auxiliary Shields Team (3)
• Bomber Command Center (8)
• Foreman’s Labor (5)
= 102 Points

Recusant-class Support Destroyer (90)
• Rune Haako (4)
• Flight Controllers (6)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Expanded Hangar Bay (5)
• Dual Turbolaser Turrets (4)
• Patriot Fist (6)
= 119 Points

C-ROC Gozanti-class Cruisers {CIS} (24)
• San Hill (3)
= 27 Points

C-ROC Gozanti-class Cruisers {CIS} (24)
• Insatiable [Legacy] (3)
= 27 Points

Squadrons (125)
• Jango Fett - Slave I (22)
• Wat Tambor - Belbullab-22 (18)
• DBS-404 - Hyena (17)
• 4 x Hyena (44)
• 3 x Vulture (24)
= 125 Points

Total Points: 400

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600-point version

This is a Sector Fleet build, so it’s 25% squadrons max (150). Locally, you might also enforce something like 1 ace per 150 to keep it grounded—feel free to ignore that if your group doesn’t care.

We’re also not chasing “competitive” at 600. That format isn’t really where bid/initiative theory lives. But we can still build efficiently and keep the archetype intact.

Name: Trench Insatiable Hyenas 600
Faction: Separatist
Gamemode: Sector Fleet
Commander: Admiral Trench

Assault: Precision Strike
Defense: Fighter Ambush
Navigation: Superior Positions

Hardcell-class Transport (47)
• Admiral Trench (32)
• Tikkes (2)
• Expert Shield Tech (5)
• Auxiliary Shields Team (3)
• Bomber Command Center (8)
• Foreman’s Labor (5)
= 102 Points

Recusant-class Support Destroyer (90)
• Rune Haako (4)
• Flight Controllers (6)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Expanded Hangar Bay (5)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Patriot Fist (6)
= 122 Points

Munificent-class Star Frigate (73)
• Veteran Captain (2)
• Projection Experts (6)
• Thermal Shields (5)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
• Point Defense Ion Cannons (6)
• Sa Nalaor (5)
= 104 Points

Pinnace-class Corvette [Legacy] (43)
• Shu Mai (4)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
• Heavy Fire Zone (2)
• Koklivex [Legacy] (3)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
= 64 Points

C-ROC Gozanti-class Cruisers {CIS} (24)
• TI-99 (4)
= 28 Points

C-ROC Gozanti-class Cruisers {CIS} (24)
• San Hill (3)
• Insatiable [Legacy] (3)
= 30 Points

Squadrons (150)
• Jango Fett - Slave I (22)
• Wat Tambor - Belbullab-22 (18)
• DIS-T81 - Droid Tri-Fighter (17)
• DBS-404 - Hyena (17)
• 4 x Hyena (44)
• 4 x Vulture (32)
= 150 Points

Total Points: 600

Added: a Star Frigate, a Pinnace, plus the Tri-fighter ace and another generic Vulture.
Patriot Fist gets TRC. You could go LTT if you think flak matters more, but between red flak coverage and the LTT nerf, I’m not excited about paying for it here.

The Star Frigate is slow but reasonably tanky with Thermals + PDIC + Sa Nalaor. And honestly, any shot into that ship is a shot not going into something more important, so I’ll take it. Projection Experts helps the whole fleet, but I was specifically thinking about how this list wants to “buy time” for Insatiable turns.

Koklivex doing Heavy Ions + Heavy Fire Zone (two blue dice on a 43-point ship!) is probably too many eggs in one tiny basket… but come on. That combo is just cool.

San Hill moving onto Insatiable also frees room for TI-99, and we land at 600 on the dot. Works for me.

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My take: Is the 391/400 competitively viable?

Yes, with caveats. The core engine is real: Trench + San Hill + big Hyena package + BCC is absolutely capable of deleting ships, and Insatiable adds a nasty “burst” lever.

The caveats:

• You’re very squad-centric and your squads are fragile, so you’re punished hard by strong opposing anti-squad plans and by mistakes.

• Your ship plan is basically “support the squad plan,” and if you lose the carrier posture too early, the list can feel like it collapses.

• Your objectives are aggressive and can pay off big, but also invite counterplay if the opponent knows how to deny your scoring while still trading efficiently.

So: viable, but it’s a list that rewards reps more than it rewards clever listbuilding.

And the 600 version? Looks extremely fun, and it does what a good sector-fleet “scaled archetype” should do: keep the core identity, add staying power, add side threats, and not pretend it’s a totally different list.

And that’s Trench Insatiable Hyenas—a list that’s brutally simple in concept, but rewards you hard for getting the timing and positioning right.

What would you do with the flex points at 400: tighten the ships, add more bodies, or keep a smaller bid? And if you’ve put Insatiable [Legacy] on the table already, I’d love to hear what you paired it with—and whether it overperformed, underperformed, or landed exactly where you expected.

Got a fleet concept you want to see in a future Fleet Dossier? Drop it in the comments.

Armada Legacy Wave 1 Review (Part 3): Confederacy of Independent Systems

 

In Part 1 we looked at the Empire and Rebel additions: a fun set of “generiques” squadrons and a handful of titles, with Empire coming out a bit ahead.

In Part 2 we dug into the Republic, where the real meat of the wave begins: Admiral Coburn, two new Arquitens variants, and some titles that (depending on your tolerance for Salvo on smalls…) are either exciting or slightly alarming.

Now we wrap up Wave 1 with CIS: a new commander, a brand-new hull (yes, an actual new hull), three Pinnace titles that might be the cleanest title set I’ve seen in a long time, and a tasty Gozanti title for bomber enjoyers.

Let’s go.

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COMMANDER

Poggle the Lesser

Like Coburn, this guy went through a lot of iterations during playtesting. And I’m happy to say the version that made it isn’t the mechanically strongest one—it’s the one that fits Armada the best.

His ability to expand the “command token capacity” of CIS small ships is significant. Gaining a Repair token on deployment is, on its own, only moderately useful (smalls usually have low Engineering, so Repair tokens aren’t exactly premium)… but it ties directly into Poggle’s main trick: spend a command token to make attacks obstructed.

Making attacks obstructed is powerful. Requiring token spending as the limiter is top-tier game design. And by letting you start with a bonus token, you don’t have to spend the early game setting up the condition. Elegant, limited, and functional from turn one.

Let me go off on a tangent: compare this to mechanics like Bomber Command Center (huge auto-aura) or PDIC (infinite uses), and you can probably see why I’m so pleased. Poggle is elegant and constrained. BBC is a band-aid aura. PDIC is just… lame. Legacy 1 – FFG 0.

Back to Poggle.

He works on you (the flagship) and on non-flotilla small ships (your flagship can be any size). That wording matters. You can run him as pure CIS MSU, but you can also run him as “big flagship + small support.” Poggle on Patriot Fist wouldn’t be horrible. Poggle on a Providence won’t be horrible. You get the picture.

Another tangent: this is also great design. Imagine if Ackbar had said “non-flotilla.” Then the GR-75 Combat Refit might have been less silly. Legacy 2 – FFG 0.

And he only costs 20 points—Grievous-level cheap, but in many ways more flexible. Really like this guy.

Oh, and yes: he obviously works very well with the new dirt-cheap small ship released in this wave—the Pinnace.

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SHIP

Pinnace-class

This is a fully new hull—the first truly new ship we’ve seen since Wave 10 (Venator, Pelta, Recusants, Providence).

It’s CIS’s first speed 4 ship. It has 4 hull and no Brace. A true corvette. A true “squishy.”

Both variants share the classic corvette statline we know and love:

• Command 1

• Squadron 1

• Engineering 2

The nav chart is… something. It’ll take getting used to, but it also lets you go places other ships can’t, which means it can surprise people who plan their defense around “normal” turning behavior.

It only has a single Evade, which makes it more like a Consular than a CR90—but where the Consular has the sad little Contain, this thing gets a Salvo.

And once again: I’m a bit skeptical about putting Salvo on small ships, both mechanically and thematically. It’s just so much better than Contain. I get why it’s tempting, but it’s a trend I’m not thrilled about. Or rather, as a CIS player, it makes me very happy that the Pinnace has Salvo, but when I put on my "designer" glasses, I'm mildly uneasy.

That said, the rear battery is either blue/black or double blue, so it’s not like you’re salvoing people at long range. One variant can take DBY, but probably won’t, and neither variant can take Flak Guns, so… fine. Probably.

Arc layout is like an extreme Munificent: very narrow front, exaggerated sides. Combined with the nav chart, it’s awkward at first. But once you internalize it, it works. I will say this: side arcs that are meant for “kiting” usually want long-range dice. These short-range sides might feel clumsy until you get reps in.

Corsair

Corsair is the shorter-range version.

Blue/black battery only—very Raider-I/Consular-ish—but it’s closer to the Consular in that it lacks a Weapons Team to pair with the Ordnance slot. It does have Defensive Retrofit, which might get overlooked (partly because we have so few defensive upgrades that feel good on a ship like this).

Flak is a single black: fine, not exciting.

Cost is 40 points. That’s a tad high in isolation, but compared to other lightweight ships (especially ones that don’t come with Salvo), it reads as moderately priced. It also doesn’t need much upgrading to be useful, which helps keep the total cost reasonable.

Corvette

Corvette is the pricier version at 43 points.

For that, you get an almost uniformly blue battery, with a single red out the front. You also upgrade to two blue flak, which is genuinely excellent for a 43-point ship. The Legacy team really likes their flak, apparently.

It also gets a very spicy upgrade bar: in addition to the customary Officer slot, it can take Ion Cannon and Turbolaser.

That’s very strong… but you have to be careful not to overload such a brittle platform with too many points. The Pinnace will absolutely punish you for getting greedy.

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TITLES (Pinnace)

Koklivex

For 3 points you gain an Offensive Retrofit.

That’s amazing, and it works on both variants.

Disposable Capacitors is the obvious choice, letting you open early and hit before your opponent wants you in range. Corvette benefits the most. If you also take High-Capacity Ion Turbines, you can set up some very nasty early double arcs (which is easier than it looks with these arcs): strong long-range output before you even add your Concentrate Fire die.

But I’m also going to run Flak Guns + DBY at least once, purely for the “I can’t believe this is legal/I will make it legal” energy.

Petranaki

A clean defensive option: for 2 points, obstruction becomes “cancel 1 die” instead of “remove 1 die.”

That’s basically turning obstruction into an Evade-like effect that works at any range… but it gets much better if you can reliably create obstruction.

Hint: Poggle.

Equally useful on both variants. If Koklivex is the default offensive title, Petranaki is the defensive pick.

Visgura

A cheap little utility title that basically lets you use a Flag Bridge Fleet Command twice.

Example: Poggle on Patriot Fist. Add Flag Bridge + Intensify Firepower!. The first time you would discard IF!, you discard Visgura instead. Then you get to do it again later.

Neat for 2 points. Downside: you’re giving up Koklivex or Petranaki, so there’s a real opportunity cost.

Overall: these three titles might be the best-designed title set for any ship in the game. Varied, appropriately costed for the hull’s staying power, and useful without being oppressive.

If you want to be overly critical, you could ask: “Why would you even run a Pinnace without a title?” And that’s fair. But honestly, that’s true for plenty of ships. Armada titles often function as “this ship’s real identity.” Sometimes that’s healthy. Sometimes it just means the base ship is undercooked. Either way: I’ll take good titles over bad ones.

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FINAL CIS TITLE

Insatiable (CIS Gozanti)

This one is interesting.

It basically lets you turn a blue or red die into a black die, which can be significant in a world of Evades and PDICs.

Hyenas throwing 1 red + 1 black is a lot better than 2 reds, for example. It also plays nicely with HMP Droid Gunships if you’re into Raid nonsense.

But DBS-404 is the real star here: turn a red into a black, then add another black. That’s genuinely scary.

The catch is what keeps it fair: you have to actually command those squads, and you take 1 damage every time you use the effect. Unless you’ve got Projection Experts support lurking nearby, you can’t do this many times—unless you’re happy paying hull for damage output.

So this is a title that’s hard to judge in isolation. Yes, it’s costly. Yes, it has moving parts. But if you evaluate it as part of a Hyena-centric list (as you should), it starts to look like a deadly addition—not just for raw damage, but for adding much-needed consistency to those big bomber strikes.

Used correctly, in the right fleet? Easy A. Tossed in casually? It will feel awful.

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Closing thoughts on Wave 1

That concludes my three-part review of Legacy Wave 1.

There’s so much goodness here. The winners are obviously GAR and CIS—but that was the stated intent from the start. I really connected with Coburn’s design, and the Pinnace titles are an absolute masterclass in making upgrades feel exciting without being stupid.

Empire and Rebels also got something, and I’m grateful for that, even if I didn’t immediately connect with most of the Rebel stuff. Not because it’s bad—more because it’s niche. Empire’s additions feel more broadly useful, if you know what I mean.

In a broader sense, I'm extremely pleased with what Legacy wave 0+1 has added to the game. And that's coming from someone who is not traditionally very easy to please. Do I have some criticisms? Sure? Will some of them prove unfounded? Probably. Will some things end up needing cost tweaks or errata? Could happen, but if so, Legacy will fix it. They already did with a couple of wave 0 items!

Next time, I’ll go into some sample builds using the new toys. I’ll also try to finish the general ship review series—we’re only missing the Clone Wars ships now.

After that… we’ll see. Special Modifications will return, and I have some ideas. But what about you, dear reader? What would you like me to cover?

Armada Legacy Wave 1 Review (Part 2): Galactic Republic

In Part 1, we covered the Empire and Rebel additions: four new “generiques” squadrons and a handful of titles, with the overall takeaway being “Empire gets a Win, Rebels also get a Win, but it's more situational.”

Now it’s time for what Wave 1 is actually about: the Clone Wars factions—starting with the Republic. This wave gives GAR a new commander, two new Arquitens variants (yes, another pair of Arquitens variants), three titles for the ship, and finally a title for the GAR Victory.

Let’s get into it.

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COMMANDER

Admiral Coburn

GAR has always had issues with turning… on account of them nav charts, you know?

The Pelta and Consular are fine, and the Venator is fine too—unless you want to go speed 3 (which you absolutely want to), and then it starts getting awkward. The Acclamator? Oh man. That thing is a flying brick. The Victory also deserves a mention here, now that I think about it. And now we have the Arquitens in-faction, with three variants total, once you include ARC-01, that also have turning issues.

The Coburn comes and says, “No, actually, we can turn.”

Yes, planning and practice can make a big difference. But if you want to pretend yaw isn’t a real GAR problem (hint: one reason Bail is popular is so you can Nav and do something else on a key turn), then Coburn isn’t for you. For me, he’s a godsend.

How he works: if you meet the requirement (distance 1–2 of an obstacle or an enemy ship), all the dashes “–” on your nav chart become “I”.

That means a Venator or Acclamator at speed 3 suddenly has I at every joint. That’s a 200% improvement over the base chassis. Add a yaw dial and even a Clam can stay on target or re-engage—while saving that dial for something more important on turns where you’d otherwise be “forced to Nav.”

The Victory and Acclamator become genuinely bendy at speed 2. The Arquitens becomes very flexible. Even the Consular can benefit at speed 4… but that’s niche.

With good obstacle placement, deployment, and a maneuver plan, Coburn’s trigger should be consistent. You do have to work for it, and you may become a bit more predictable in how you approach obstacles—but you’re being compensated with much greater mobility. I’ll take that trade.

Cost: 25 seems fair for a very strong maneuver commander (Jerjerrod is 23, Ozzel is 20, Madine is 30). The real cost is opportunity: taking Coburn means not taking Anakin, Bail, or Luminara. That said, he adds tremendous value and options, especially now that GAR has a new ship that meshes so well with him.

Also: credit where it’s due. Designing new commanders is hard. This is a clean balance of utility, limitations, and cost—and it’s exactly the kind of card that proves playtesting works by making each iteration better until you reach your goal.

---

SHIPS

Arquitens-class (Republic)

Same chassis as the Empire Arquitens. Same speed and yaw, same arcs, hull, etc.

But the battery dice and upgrade bars are very different—and unlike ARC (which has decided against making new cardboard), Legacy can actually move dice around.

Like the ARC Republic Arquitens, the Legacy versions swap the second Redirect for a second Evade, because double Evade is less busted than double Redirect with Luminara + EST (if Lumi didn't exist, double Redirect could be cool for Obi-wan).

But Legacy goes further: they swap the Contain for a Salvo.

That’s a big upgrade over both the Empire versions and ARC’s Republic version. Sure, the rear arc isn’t that scary, but it’s not nothing either—and one of these variants can take TRCs, which plays very nicely with Salvo (it can even go TRC+DBY for max Salvo hilarity).

Both variants also have excellent blue/black flak. The ARC Arq wishes it had this. So do the Empire variants.

The logic here seems to be: “GAR already has great flak on smalls, so the new ship must also have great flak or it won’t be competitive.” I’m… skeptical. Maybe I’m wrong and flak really has to be this good to matter. But this does smell like “we solved a problem by overtuning,” and I’m not ready to give final judgment until I’ve got more table time.

Also: the nav chart is still wonky as hell, which is the main reason I’ve never loved Arquitens. You don’t want to spend Nav dials on them… but you kind of have to, otherwise you become very predictable.

Except Wave 1 does something incredibly cunning: it adds a GAR commander that makes the Arquitens shine, and works with multiple other GAR bricks. That’s part of why I’m side-eyeing the flak: the ship is getting its main weakness addressed, and then it also gets Salvo and great flak. At some point, you risk ending up with a small ship that has no real flaws.

Still: the designs are undeniably exciting.

---

Assault Cruiser

This one looks similar to the Empire Light Cruiser at first glance—a mix of red and black dice—but the details shift it into a different role.

Front arc is black-only, while the side arc is 2 red + 1 black. That’s not a skirmisher. That’s a brawler.

Officer + Weapons Team + Offensive Retrofit + Ordnance is an excellent bar. Ordnance Experts + External Racks is the obvious package, but you’ve got options: Clone Gunners + Zak + ExRacks is very much a thing too. Or put Boarding Troopers on it (see Stellar Rise below).

48 points feels reasonable. Not cheap, not overpriced.

It has real weaknesses: it’s a bit squishy when it commits, and speed-3 brawlers can struggle to be in the right place at the right time. So this is a good ship, fairly priced, that rewards skill and has meaningful counterplay. Again, that Salvo AND flak combo has me mildly worried, but we'll see.

---

Escort Cruiser

This is closer to the Empire Command Cruiser: red/blue batteries, Squadron 2, plus a Support Team slot.

And then it goes off the rails:

• Way better flak (again)

• Double Turbolaser

• Dice layout shifted toward consistency rather than max broadside: 2 red front/sides, plus 1 blue out the side.

It doesn’t have the same raw broadside as the ARC Light Cruiser or the Empire Arqs, but it has that sweet, sweet double turbolaser bar.

TRC is the obvious pick on a double-Evade ship. So yes, it’s basically a way better CR90 in the “reliable chip damage” role.

Second turbolaser? QBT is a solid default (especially if you’re on Engine Techs), but DBY is an option that stacks into Salvo pressure and is super cheap. There are other options as well; so many good, cheap turbos these days.

54 points feels very reasonable compared to the Assault Cruiser, very attractive compared to the ARC Republic Arquitens, and honestly kind of embarrassing for the 55-point Empire Command Cruiser.

This is also the variant where I think the flak might be a bridge too far: moderate cost, no glaring flaw, easy to run in multiples—unlike the ARC Light Cruiser, which tends to require “unique upgrade scaffolding” to feel coherent.

---

Republic Arquitens Light Cruiser (ARC-01 comparison)

This one isn’t part of Legacy Wave 1, but it exists in the same space, and thus matters.

The ARC version:

• Keeps Contain (bad, in the current ecosystem)

• No Salvo (bad)

• Weak flak (bad)

• Wonky upgrade bar (not bad, just niche)

• Better side battery (3 red, good)

• No Turbolaser slot (very bad)

• Cost 52 (2 less than Escort, 4 more than Assault)

It’s still playable, and the double Officer + double Weapons Team can do fun things with those side arcs. It works very well with Thunder Wasp. Indeed, Thunder Wasp + Zak might be the combo that saves it from oblivion.

But outside of niche builds, it’s simply worse than the Legacy variants—especially the Contain vs Salvo situation.

I also don’t love Salvo on smalls as a general trend. In an ideal world, ARC and Legacy would have collaborated, and we’d have something closer to the Legacy variants without Salvo. But we’re not in that world—so we deal with the world we’ve got.

---

TITLES (Arquitens)

Stellar Rise

This works extremely well on the Assault Cruiser if you want to run Boarding Troopers.

BT + External Racks + this title looks like an excellent (and relatively cheap) package.

You could use it on the Escort to push squads with Fighter Coordination Team, but you’re only gaining +1 effective squadron value and you can’t spend squadron dials. Nah.

Good design overall. Irrelevant on the ARC Light Cruiser, but that’s not a failure, more like entirely out of scope.

Surrogator

A more carrier-themed title: it boosts both anti-squad play (Toryn-style) and ship damage support (BCC-style), which is potentially very strong.

Escort Cruiser is the obvious home, though I guess you could do Expanded Hangar Bay Assault Cruiser for… reasons.

But the big limiter is the trigger: you need a nearby squadron with the printed Assault keyword.

That’s what kills it for me. Too complicated, too narrow, too many hoops. Nice try, though.

Thunder Wasp

Simple, clean, strong.

Adding a black die at long range, or adding a blue to smooth out red-only pools, is just good. Easy to use. Zak obviously wants to live on the same ship.

This works with any commander, but it’s extra nice with Coburn: if you can get the yaw boost online, you can focus on Concentrate Fire without feeling like you’re throwing away your entire maneuver plan.

It works well on all three Arquitens variants, and it might even be the card that saves the ARC Light Cruiser from obsolescence. What a happy coincidence.

TL;DR on Arquitens titles: I expect to see a lot of Thunder Wasp, some Stellar Rise, and not much Surrogator.

---

FINAL GAR TITLE

Arlionne (GAR Victory)

First: it’s genuinely nice to see a title for the GAR Victory. It was sorely lacking.

The effect is a potent critical trigger, and yes—it can be used on a Salvo attack (the just-spent token counts toward the extra damage). In the best case you can add up to 3 extra damage, which is a huge spike—especially on a Salvo.

In theory, you could do something like 2+2+3 = 7 damage out of a Salvo that started as two red dice. That’s hilarious.

But here’s the problem: you have basically no dice control. To get the payoff you need a crit, and two red dice do not reliably produce a crit—especially once evades get involved. It’s a high-ceiling card strapped to a low-consistency chassis.

It’s (kind of) easier to trigger on your own attack (if the enemy doesn't shoot at you, that's kind of a win too), but then you run into another limitation: it can’t be used with an Ignition attack—which is often why you’re running a GAR Vic in the first place. You can still Ignition out the side and then title on the front shot or a Salvo, sure, but it’s a real constraint.

So: potent, but full of caveats—and it’s priced accordingly on a ship that’s already expensive.

I’m not a huge Victory fan to begin with, and piling even more points onto one for a situational spike isn’t for me. Pass. But I can absolutely see other players loving the “sometimes I roll the crit and someone explodes” gameplay.

---

Closing thoughts

Overall: GAR got a lot here. Coburn is a genuinely exciting commander who fixes a real, faction-defining weakness in a way that rewards planning rather than handing you free value.

The Arquitens variants are genuinely exciting, but also… slightly alarming. Between Salvo, strong flak, and Coburn smoothing out the nav chart pain, the Escort Cruiser in particular looks like it might end up being “too easy to be good.” I hope I’m wrong and it turns out I'm just an old grumpy fart and everybody else is just having great fun.

Next time: CIS—Pinnace-class, titles, and the CIS commander. Then we’ll wrap up with some actual list-building ideas using the new toys.

Armada Legacy Wave 1 Review (Part 1): Empire & Rebels

This is going to be a 3-parter: Empire/Rebels first, then GAR and CIS get a post each. After that, I’ll try my hand at list-building with the new cards.

Despite the name, this is actually the second Legacy Wave. 🙂

Wave 0 gave us a new commander each for CIS and GAR, plus Rogue and Assault squadrons for both Clone Wars factions. If you missed it:

• Wave 0 review: https://armadaihaveyounow.blogspot.com/2025/08/legacy-wave-0-review-rogues-raid-and.html

• Wave 0 errata thoughts: https://armadaihaveyounow.blogspot.com/2026/01/legacy-wave-0-errata-two-tweaks-hmp-ace.html

With that out of the way, let’s look at Wave 1.

The Legacy team describes it like this:

Legacy Wave 1 has launched!
After over a year of development, 3 months in open beta, and help from dozens of members of the community, Armada Legacy Wave 1 is officially live!

• 2 new commanders
• 4 new ship cards
• 12 new titles
• Commissioned art and 3D models
• Printed cards, STLs, and ships now available from our partnered vendors

This wave is a big boost to our beloved Republic and CIS factions, and we're just getting started. Expect to see something quite Dreadful in the near future.

“Something quite Dreadful” presumably means the Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser in Wave 2. The obvious question is whether it becomes a multi-faction ship. GAR + Empire feels plausible, and if we’re really dreaming, maybe that opens the door for an Assault Frigate Mk I for Rebels down the line (it is derived from the Dreadnaught, after all). Either way: I really hope the next wave swings toward Empire/Rebels. The OG factions could use some love.

Fun fact before we move on: Wave 1 also includes four new squadron cards, which the announcement doesn’t mention.

What’s in Wave 1?

• 4 new squadrons: 2 Empire (TIE Defender, TIE Phantom) + 2 Rebels (E-wing, Z-95 Headhunter).
  These are “generiques”: unique squadrons without defense tokens, in the Saber/Gold sort of mold.

• New ships: 1 GAR ship (Arquitens, with 2 variants) + 1 CIS ship (Pinnace-class, entirely new).
  GAR having three Arquitens variants once you include ARC-01 is… honestly fine, as long as they’re distinct and compatible. We’ll get to that later.
  The CIS Pinnace is a small corvette: low hull, high speed, and some CR90/Raider/Consular DNA. Finally, CIS gets a speed-4 ship.

• 14 upgrades total:

  • 2 commanders (1 GAR, 1 CIS)

  • 12 titles
    Half of the titles are for the new ships (3 for the Arquitens, 3 for the Pinnace). The other half is arguably the most exciting part: titles for existing ships across factions, especially hulls that either have none (CIS Gozanti, GAR Victory) or really want more (MC80 Home One).

Alright. Card-by-card, faction-by-faction.

Empire & Rebels

Squadrons

Bandit Squadron (Z-95 Headhunter)

A Z-95 with all-black armament. That’s pretty great.

It loses Swarm (bummer), gains Heavy (not great, but also not always a real drawback), and clocks in at 9 points. In theory, it slots neatly between other squads, ideally alongside Escort so it doesn’t just get deleted.

My issue is role clarity. Rebels already struggle to fit everything they want into a fighter wing. So what’s Bandit’s job, exactly? Maybe I’m being harsh—the Z-95 is such an odd duck that it’s hard to design a unique Z-95 that doesn’t feel awkward.

I think it’s a pass for me… but what do you think, dear reader? Do you see a clear role for Bandit Squadron?

Dark Squadron (TIE Defender)

A more anti-squad Defender.

It loses Bomber, but gains a black anti-ship die, so average damage stays similar—just with fewer crit-related shenanigans, and no Sloane synergy versus ships.

Grit is, as anyone who’s ever flown Maarek knows, incredibly valuable on a Defender. And Swarm on a Defender is… kind of disgusting. I am absolutely running this with Flight Controllers and Howlrunner at least once, purely for meme value.

If that sounds too strong: it’s 17 points on a squadron with no defense tokens. So it’s probably fine.

Nightmare Squadron (E-wing)

This one reminds me of Dark Squadron in a weird way: it stops being a Bomber and becomes a black-die “not a bomber” instead. For E-wings, that might actually be better in a world full of Evades and PDICs.

It picks up Relay 1, which is mostly relevant if you’re stacking Relay—so you’re probably looking at Nightmare + VCX as a baseline package. That’s 30 points. Thirty!

Still Snipe 3, still blue anti-squad, still no Swarm or other punchy keyword support.

I don’t see it. Sure, you can Toryn Farr and so on, but you can say that about half the Rebel roster. The base E-wing dropped a point, so Nightmare is “only” 15… but to me this is the weakest of the four. Even less appealing than Bandit.

Shadow Squadron (TIE Phantom)

This is the standout generique, in my opinion.

Screen fits the Phantom perfectly, and in a Sloane ball it might actually live long enough to matter. It also swaps a red battery die for a blue, which makes it much better with Sloane. Red+blue with a reroll fishing for crits gives you a very real chance of flipping a token—while Cloak + Screen makes it annoying to remove.

I like it. It might even be worth 15 points.

Clear job, clear synergy, clear home. Still niche (Sloane is doing a lot of heavy lifting), but this one “gets it.”

Titles

Battle Cruiser (Interdictor) — 2 points

Swap a Contain for a Salvo (excellent), and gain a Turbolaser slot (also excellent), for a very modest cost—on top of the big Combat Refit cost drop from ARC-01.

So does this finally make Combat Refit viable after years of languishing?

Yes… and no.

Yes, because you can build a cost-effective combat Interdictor now.

No, because it’s still speed 2, still kind of squishy once you commit, and you still only get one gravity upgrade instead of two (which is usually why you brought an Interdictor in the first place).

But: I do think this makes a “good enough” combat Interdictor that can contribute damage, run Projection Experts (yes, yes), and still bring at least some gravity nonsense. More options is good for the game.

Intrepid (Imperial Venator) — 4 points

Congratulations, your Venator now has five defense tokens. 🙂

You can either keep the second Contain and lean hard into the active effect (damage reduction for friendly squadrons), or you can treat it as a token-swapping playground via Local Fire Control, Needa, or both.

Both approaches feel viable:

• Ven-II in a Sloane list? I’d be tempted to go all-in on squad damage reduction (only squads WITHOUT tokens, mind you, so don't get too worked up.

• Screed brawler nonsense? Token swapping starts to look very interesting.

Definitely my favourite of this lot. Overall, just very useful and flexible.

Nautilian (MC80 Home One) — 4 points

This is arguably what Home One should have had all along (or something close).

Fleet Command on your actual flagship is obviously nice. The other effect plays with Mon Calamari Exodus Fleet and the Hammerhead Task Force titles.

In practice, Exodus Fleet is hard to make meaningful at 400 points unless you commit hard—and if you commit hard you quickly run out of points for the things that make Rebel ships function. Still, I can absolutely see myself trying to make the Exodus angle work, failing, pivoting into a Hammerhead swarm around Nautilian… then realizing Ackbar won’t cooperate… and then quietly shelving the whole project.

Great design. The problem is that the Home One chassis itself still feels like it’s paying a tax for being iconic. This title would sing more at 600 points.

Rebel One (Rebel Providence) — 6 points

At first glance, the defensive effect makes you think: “Cool, now I can run Providence without Agate.”

Then you realize: you can run it with Agate and it gets so much better that it isn’t even a contest. Cry, cry.

The offensive piece feels more like an afterthought to me. It’s not bad—just not the reason I’d pay for this title.

The broader issue is that the Providence is already an odd, upgrade-hungry ship, and (in my opinion) about 5 points too expensive even before you start stapling upgrades on. Now I’m expected to spend another 6 points on a title... that's how good it is!

Quick verdict so far

Empire definitely got the better deal here. Rebels feel mid, situational, or tied to niche hulls that already struggle in standard 400-point play.

Next time: GAR — two Arquitens variants and their titles, plus a title for the GAR Victory-class. After that, CIS and the Pinnace. Then we’ll do some list-building with the new toys.

Legacy Wave 0 Errata: Two Tweaks (HMP Ace + R2/Twilight)

Legacy Wave 0 just got a small errata pass, hitting two squadrons—and not coincidentally, both were ones I flagged as potentially problematic in my Wave 0 review:

(Review link again for convenience: https://armadaihaveyounow.blogspot.com/2025/08/legacy-wave-0-review-rogues-raid-and.html)

This is the kind of “small but meaningful” tuning I want to see: not a full redesign, but enough to open up counterplay and reduce feel-bad moments.

---

DGS-047 — HMP Droid Gunship

Points: -2 (20 → 18)

Text change: triggers “when you would activate” instead of “instead of attacking.”

This is a substantial functional change.

Previously, the card effectively let you move toward a target and still trigger the splash in a way that didn’t leave the opponent many real options. Splash damage with minimal counterplay is one of those mechanics that can turn games into “well, guess I just take it.”

Now, because the timing hook is different, you can’t just do the same “close distance and splash” routine. That creates more windows where:

• positioning matters more,

• engagement and screening matter more

The -2 points is a reasonable compensation for losing that sequencing power. I’m still not in love with the underlying design (uncounterable-ish splash is always going to be touchy), but with this timing change, it’s much less likely to become a persistent headache.

Verdict: correct change, good direction.

---

R2-D2 — Twilight

Big change: can now only target friendly ships (no more targeting enemy ships).

This is enormous. Twilight goes from:

• stealing from the enemy and giving to you AND transforming/transferring tokens between your own ships.

    to:

• transforming/transferring tokens between your own ships only.

It’s a different card now.

“So why didn’t he go down in cost?”

Fair question—single brace aces are famously fragile.

Two reasons, I think:

1. He was undercosted for the original effect.
   Even before you argue about “is this fun,” it was a lot of control for very few points.

2. The new effect is still extremely good, and the timing is excellent.
   Doing token work during your activation is a big deal. Ship phase is possible, but so is Squadron phase. Pretty unique flexibility.

About survivability

Twilight is going to be a low-priority target in a lot of games, because he’s hanging around your own ships:

• he benefits from incidental flak coverage,

• he’s not diving into the enemy to do his job anymore,

• and shooting him often means not shooting something that’s actually killing you.

Yes, he eats an ace slot—but that’s a real cost you can plan around. You can still do something like Axe + Deltakin + R2 and have room for one more ace, so it’s not like he locks you out of ace play.

Is he less attractive than before? Absolutely. No denying it.
But a Rogue, 7-hull ace for 17 that can do token shenanigans and still move and attack is still a real piece.

Verdict: huge improvement for game health, still playable, probably still good.

---

Bottom line

Overall, these are good and correct changes that help make Legacy Wave 0 feel more compatible with an ARC-style competitive environment.

I still think we don’t have enough real-world data on how CIS/GAR rogue balls behave over time. But for now, I agree with the “let it breathe” approach: let Riggers and Star Couriers do their worst for a while, and if they end up being a genuine balance problem, then tune them with actual evidence behind the decision.

That’s all for today. Next post will be the Legacy Wave 1 review.

VASSAL update 4.15.0 "ARC02 & Legacy w1"

 

### Module version 4.15.0 "ARC02 & Legacy w1" is available! ###

Download (takes a day or so to update): https://vassalengine.org/library/projects/Star_Wars_Armada

Direct download link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QFTxtqfJ78x7Nz9Kfo-rI_tq4MCqvkbN/view?usp=sharing

Checksum: b92682df

### OVERVIEW ###

Legacy w1 & ARC02 compliance

### COMPATIBILITY ###

Armada 4.15.0 was built using VASSAL 3.7.19.

### CRITICAL BUGFIXES ###

None

### OTHER BUGFIXES ###

None

### MAJOR NEW FEATURES ###

Legacy w1 added

Legacy w0 errata added

### OTHER NEW FEATURES ###

ARC02 added (points changes only)

ARC-02: Technically an update, emotionally a rounding error

I'm cheaper now!

My posting rate has… not been great lately. Since November, I’ve been dealing with some health issues (as mentioned in earlier posts), and while things are improving, they’re still not entirely resolved. I’m hoping to pick up the pace again going forward, but we’ll have to see how it goes.

Which also explains why I’m a bit late to the party here. ARC-02 dropped in late 2025, and I’m only getting to it now. Better late than never, right?

Anyway. The show must go on. Or something.

This is the second ARC release, and as promised by the roadmap, it arrives when it was supposed to — and it’s also small.

And by “small,” I mean minuscule.

Points changes only, for a few cards, from two factions only.

What? Seriously?

Now, I do agree with the actual changes, and we’ll get to them in a second. But my initial knee-jerk reaction was: at this pace, it’ll take forever to make any meaningful impact.

And honestly… that reaction hasn’t changed.

If this is meant to be a full ARC release (even if it’s a smaller mid-season patch), why bother making it an “event” at all? I welcome the tweaks, but the “release” as a whole feels like a huge wasted opportunity.

Anyway. On to the cards.

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CIS

Kraken (Commander)

-6 points (30 → 24)

Good change. Kraken is strong, but he takes setup to really shine — much more so than Mar Tuuk (28). After this adjustment, Kraken lands 2 points below TF-1726, which feels about right: TF adds dice, Kraken fixes dice, both are powerful, and this makes the choice a lot more interesting.

That said, this immediately makes me side-eye the rest of the CIS commander lineup.

• Trench can be very strong, but… 32 points strong when Mar Tuuk is 28 and Kraken is 24? Probably not.

• Dooku can be decent, but his raid tricks don’t feel worth 27 compared to his competition.

• Grievous is a whole separate problem: you can’t really fix him with points alone unless you’re willing to make him the first sub-20 commander… so I'm fine with him not being touched.

Munificent-class Comms Frigate

-5 points (70 → 65)

Also a good change — but I don’t think it solves much.

The Comms is a better carrier than the Star Frigate, sure, but:
A) it’s still not a good carrier compared to other options (especially now that we have the new ARC Command Frigate from ARC-01), and
B) it just… dies.

So a 73-ish point Star Frigate or Command Frigate will often still be a better choice in practice.

A 5-point drop is enormous on a 70-point hull, but it doesn’t change the fundamental issue here — or rather, the issue baked into Armada’s core design: valuable ships struggle to live without a defensive retrofit slot, and that’s doubly true for slow ships.

Competitively, I don’t expect this to suddenly become a staple. But it does open up some design space, and in campaign formats like Rebellion in the Rim this could be a meaningful leg up.

What I don’t love is how little time ARC spent looking at other underused CIS ships. Making the Comms Frigate cheaper arguably pushes the Hardcell (and especially the Battle Hardcell) into an even more awkward spot. Maybe that overlap is smaller than it feels, but it’s hard not to notice.

Belbullab-22 Starfighter Squadron

-1 point (15 → 14)

Sure. Fair. But I don’t think it matters.

The Belbullab is just too much of an odd duck in the CIS lineup for a 1-point drop to fix. Relay 1 means you still kind of want them in pairs to matter, and 28 vs 30 for the pair is still pricey — especially when you also need a bunch of other squadrons to really leverage Screen, which remains… pretty irrelevant. Even if you do build around it, the Belbullab is the last CIS squad you actually want to remove, making Screen practically useless.

Why not drop it to 13? Maybe because it starts making out-of-faction squads look even worse, and then you’ve opened another can of worms. Either way: I don’t expect to see these on tables much more often at 14.

---

GAR

And then we get to GAR, where we… also only get squadron points changes. Three cards. That’s it. Even more depressing, somehow.

Delta-7 Aethersprite Squadron

-2 points (17 → 15)

This is the best change in the whole patch. The Delta is still a bit squishy, but now you can slot one (or more) into lists without feeling like you’re committing a small crime against efficiency. Excellent adjustment.

Luminara Unduli & Plo Koon

-3 points each (Lumi 23 → 20, Plo 24 → 21)

Great change — or at least a great attempt to open up GAR squadron builds a bit.

GAR still struggles with variety and compelling ace options, but cheaper Delta-7s plus cheaper Delta-7 aces (other than Anakin) is at least a push in the right direction. And yes, Anakin is still comically underpriced for what he does… but the faction also lacks other punchy ace options, so I understand why nobody wants to touch him without a broader plan.

---

Final thoughts

And that’s ARC-02. A handful of points tweaks I mostly agree with — wrapped in what feels like an almost comically tiny “release.”

I really wish this update had done more. At the very least, it could have offered something for Empire and Rebels. But I’m not going to beat that dead horse any further.

If you want ARC’s own breakdown and intent behind the changes, they’ve got a write-up here:
https://www.armadarulesetcollective.com/news/these-arent-the-droids-youre-looking-for-lnapZ2

Next up on this blog: Legacy Wave 1 — and some errata thoughts for Legacy Wave 0.