Thursday, January 28, 2021

Wave 10 Article: Heart of the Swarm (Separatists)

 


This article looks at the two teased Separatist expansions: Invivisble Hand (Providence-class) and Recusant-class. Both are meaty large-base ships with the Providences being the bigger of the two classes.

We have one FFG article plus some additional info "leaked" on Asmodee's product pages:





Both miniatures look great. The Recusant is a bit weird-looking but in a cool way. I'm going to need 2 of each, I think. Yeah, 3 Venators and 2 of each of these babies.






This is the type of ship Grievous rides to Coruscant and where Ani and Obi go to rescue Chancellor Palpatine. Spoiler alert: he's the Sith and he's orchestrated the Clone Wars!

It's got Home One type arcs with six dice so it's a broadsider. But unlike the poor MC80 the Providence packs FIVE dice out the front. The side arcs have black dice too so going to hit hard up close. It also has three dice out the back so beware of Salvo.

The Dreadnought version has a mix of reds, blues, and blacks. If you've ever been double arced by a Kuat you know what this is going to feel like! It has a single blue flak dice which is about as bad as it gets for a big ship. 

The Carrier version has two black flak dice. That's rough on enemy fighters. Not sure about its battery armament. Does it have fewer blacks and more blues? I don't know but I can guess that it does. Otherwise, Ordnance Experts would be very tempting. With fewer black battery dice but 2 black flak it's going to be a real competition between Flight Controllers and Ord Experts.

Hull is 9, shields are 5/3/2. That's not half bad. We can see brace and contain. I'm going to bet on the other two being redirect and salvo. It's practically guaranteed.

Speed is harder to judge. We can see it has that awesome "II" yaw at speed 1. Is it a bendy speed 2 like the Muni? Or is it speed 3, bendy at speed 1 but horrible at speed 3?

Command 3. Engineering 4. Squadron value 4 for the carrier. The Dreadnought won't have a higher squad value that's for sure. But it could be 3 or 4. Not lower than that I think. The reason I say that is because it lacks a Defensive Retro. It's got an AMAZING upgrade bar but no defense slot.

Upgrades. Officer, Weapons, and Offensive. So far, so good. Ordnance, Ion, 2x Turbolaser. That one bad-ass upgrade bar! So many possibilities - but so many points 😅 

So what can we guess about the Carrier version? It will have an Officer. It needs Offensive. But will it get a Weapons Team? My gut instinct tells me "yes," but Flight Controllers AND AI bonus? With maybe Invisible hand on top? That's a LOT of dice coming out of those Tri-fighters. The DN version does have a Weapons team but maybe lower squadron value to balance it out. It won't have 4 weapon upgrades. It'll have 2, maybe 3. It will also need to have Fleet Command. Seppies can't live without this upgrade type. Could it also get a Defensive retro? If it has a defensive I'm even more sure the Weapons team is out.

The cost of the Dreadnought is 105. So is the Carrier a 100 or a 110 (or thereabout)? That depends on its upgrade bar really. If it maxes out on all the good stuff, I could see it being MORE expensive. If it has a weaker upgrade bar - or flat out drops dice from its battery - it could be LESS expensive.





The Recusant is an odd one. It's a large-base with a type of arc layout different from anything we've seen yet. At first glance, it looks like it has massive side arcs. And in a way it does. But when you look closer you realize the front arc is far wider than anything seen before. It's nearly a 180 front arc!

The Light Destroyer's dice pool reminds me of the Victory but far superior. Four red 2 black is a perfect mix, and the sides have three red 1 black which is also superior. Only a single blue flak though. 

The other version is likely to have blues instead of blacks (pretty standard) unless it's one of those versions with fewer dice instead. It's called a Support Destroyer but that doesn't tell us anything really. It's got a red flak though, so if it has a Turbolaser (likely) it's another ship with LTT superglued AND stapled to it.

Hull 8, shields 3/3/2, same as the Victory. Defense tokens include an Evade! That's going to be super useful at range and against pesky bombers too. It has to have a brace and it's CW so I'm thinking Salvo as well. Evade/Brace/Redir/Salvo. Pretty strong tokens.

Doesn't turn as well at speed 1 as the Providence. Speed is either 2 or 3. I'm rooting for 3. This is a ship that wants to trade fire at range then BAM! in your face. Best guess both larges are speed 3, the Providence turns well at low speed while the Recusant is better at speed 3. That leaves the Muni the speed 2 turning king.

Command, squadron, and engineering are all 3 for the Support Variant. The Light Destroyer (has a Weapons team) is either also 3 or just 2. The lowish engineering and squishy shields reinforce the Recusant as a skirmisher-who-turns-brawler.

Decent upgrades for a combat ship. Officer, Weapons, Offensive, Ordnance, and Turbolaser. Not much to say there. The Support destroyer will either swap Offensive for Defensive or pick up a second Offensive. Maybe the only Seppie ship to have that combo? Definitely Turbolaser. Not sure about Ordnance. If it goes blue dice it might have an Ion Cannon slot. I don't think "Support" implies it will have a Fleet Support slot. We already have the Hardcell for that.

Just 85 for the Light Destroyer? I'll be damned. That's the same as a Vic-II 😎 The CW factions need squadron and ship updates. Support variant with blues instead of blacks? Higher squadron rating possibly? It's going to cost a few points more but not too much. Nothing like the Victory. Around 90 is my best bet.

Over to the upgrades:


We get 3 upgrades: Grievous (commander), Shu Mai (officer), and Invisible Hand (Providence-title).


Super cheap! And such a cool, thematic effect: sacrifice his subordinates, the more the better, so that he might live to fight another day. That's Grievous's true nature captured in card form 😆 

I'm definitely running this guy. Vultures are the obvious sacrificial lambs. But think about Tri-fighters with RHD? They die twice so you get TWO tokens back! If stuff dies in the squadron phase that's even better. Recover a token to the red side, then it's round and you get to flip it back to green. Love it.



Rerolls are strong. If LTT and IF! isn't enough, Shu Mai offers a cheap way to gets to rerolls. Note the timing restriction though. Decent for a faction that doesn't have too many unique officers yet.


Funny title card. Costly too. It works a bit like Rapid Launch Bays. Or rather how RLB (and Fighter Ambush) should have worked. You set aside INSTEAD of deploying so you're not losing deployments.

When you want those squads to join the fray you must set them WITHIN distance 3. That's not the same as within distance 1-3. Think about how snipe works and you get the picture. So while the AI bonus is hugely powerful, the drop range restriction is pretty severe. 


The guy hidden behind the Providence is of course Admiral Trench (commander). he better be a good one 😅 

Jedi Hostage. What kind of upgrade is that? Lots of complicated game text. No idea what it does. 

Finally what looks like a shield of some sort protecting a ship. Could it be Trench's famous thermal shields? Game effect is a complete unknown. Out on a limb here but that episode with the invisible ship is one of my favorites from the early CW seasons.


No idea who is in the picture with hidden game text. Looks like an officer. 

TF-1726 is a commander. While a friendly ship is attacking a ship something add black die to attack pool something something. Not enough text to get a clear picture of what triggest the add.

The last one is a Super battle Droid with jump packs. It'll jump around. Maybe something to do with raid? More toys for Dooku? Maybe.

And that's it. Looking forward to seeing more detailed articles on each ship.










No comments:

Post a Comment