Parts 1 and 2 covered the rules, objectives, ships, squadrons, and upgrades. There's one more piece to this release, and it's the most important: the old ARC and Legacy projects are now working together as Armada Community Edition.
The ACE announcement folds Legacy Waves 0 and 1 into the shared ruleset, along with the Halloween Squadrons. Apparently, those four squadrons were a separate release rather than part of Wave 1. I must admit I never really noticed the distinction and included them in my Wave 1 reviews. The changelog lists the eligible ships, squadrons, and upgrades, so there should be no doubt about what is included for organized play.
I'm not going to go through that entire list card by card. I've already written about Legacy Wave 0 and Wave 1's Empire and Rebel, Republic, and CIS additions. Read those if you want the deep dives. What matters here is that these cards now belong to one supported, shared environment. That's a big deal.
The changelog could have told the story better
The PDF includes card images for the main changes, then ends with a plain list of the Legacy content added to organized play. I think that's a small mistake. For the big Community Edition launch, the document should have shown everything it was bringing together. Yes, the people doing this work are volunteers, and I appreciate the enormous amount of effort involved. I can appreciate that while still wishing the launch document had been more complete and consistently formatted.
There are also a couple of changes the PDF doesn't explain. I was made aware that the Hyperwave Signal Boost shown there isn't the final wording. The playable version is on Star Forge. The two texts appear to do essentially the same thing, but the final wording is more careful. Two months after release, I would have liked the changelog to say so. It's a minor issue, yet it adds to the sense that the PDF didn't receive a final editorial pass.
Two Legacy commanders also changed without being called out in that section. Daultay Dofine now works with unique squadrons as well as generics. That's a good change. CIS can certainly field lots of generic squadrons, but I wasn't convinced a generic-heavy fleet also wanted Daultay. The new wording gives him a broader role. Tri-fighter aces already had black anti-squadron dice, so the change does little for them, but Vulture aces and the HMP ace benefit. Unique Hyenas can now benefit when bombing too.
Ki-Adi-Mundi is the one that makes me grin. His revised timing is more generous, so he can wait until an effect such as Swivel-Mount Batteries adds a black die at long range, then add another black. You may remember my KAM fleet idea, which I had to correct when I realized the old timing wouldn't allow that trick. Well, the trick works now. I may have to remake that dossier after all.
Why list points changes to Legacy ships in the PDF while leaving these actual card changes unexplained? I don't know. None of this ruins the release, but a changelog should be the one place where a player can find all the changes without chasing down card images and later clarifications.
The good, the bad, and the ugly
The good is overwhelmingly good. ARC and Legacy have joined forces. We have a common community home and Star Forge, a very good fleet builder that's actively supported. The release gives neglected objectives and cards reasons to see play, adds Legacy content to the common ruleset, and makes the future of Armada feel like something we can actually build together.
The next, smaller points update is in the works, as planned. After that, I'm hopeful the next big update—perhaps in summer 2027?—will bring new options and interesting gameplay. That's a hope, not a release date I'm promising anyone. But it feels good to have a future to look forward to.
The bad is mostly a concern about stacking defensive tools. I remain skeptical of the Point Defense Ion Cannons rewrite and, to a much lesser extent, Damage Control Officer—not because either card is necessarily broken in isolation, but because both join an already substantial pile of mitigation, repairs, and defensive support. I will admit that I dislike the new PD Ions less than the old version. That's progress, I suppose! Most of the other changes land somewhere between good and excellent. Even Oddball, who still doesn't wow me, moved in the right direction.
The ugly is the presentation of the changelog: missing card images at the end, an outdated Hyperwave text, and unlisted Legacy commander tweaks. These are fixable editorial problems, and relatively small ones compared with the work behind the release. They matter because the launch of a combined ruleset deserved a clearer, more complete document.
So where do I land on Community Edition 2026?
9.5 out of 10 (on my proprietary made-up and arbitrary Green-Knight scale).
There is remarkably little “meh” here. The few things I dislike are dwarfed by the quality of the release and, above all, by what ACE represents. ARC and Legacy are pulling together. Armada has a common home, tools people actively maintain, and more to come.
I can't wait to put more of it on the table... and fun fact: I'm actually playing Armada this weekend. Some of that sweet Sunday Armada.
The only problem: how do I 3D-print the Pinnace swarm? Or will I be forced to use CR90s as proxies? Or will I fold and make a KAD fleet?
Stay tuned to find out!
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