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.
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.
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:
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Command 1
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Squadron 1
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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.
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.
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.
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?
Ackbar is a problem with the GR75 Conbat Refit? That ship doesn't have any side guns, so it already doesn't interact.
ReplyDeletePrecisely. If Ackbar was worded like Poggle, the Combat Retrofit could have side guns.
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