Hello everyone and welcome. Today I am very excited as I recently learned that Star Wars Armada will shortly be releasing the Imperial Star Destroyer Chimaera, flagship for Grand Admiral Thrawn. Oh, yes, the Rebels get the Profundity, the flagship of the Rebel Fleet as seen in Rogue One. They also get Admiral Raddus. Have a read of the excerpt from the Fantasy Flight website below, source for all the information and images, and click on the link to read more about the Rebel Stuff.
“I will start my operations here, and pull the rebels apart piece by piece. They’ll be the architects of their own destruction.”
–Grand Admiral ThrawnTwo of the Star Wars galaxy’s greatest admirals join the heated fleet battles of Star Wars™: Armada with the game’s seventh wave of expansions.
Even as its new ships, squadrons, and upgrades blast their way onto the battlefield, Armada Wave VII provides two new commanders—one Rebel and one Imperial—who are both more than capable of leading their forces to victory.
Rebel players gain the services of the blunt and pragmatic Admiral Raddus, whose leadership ensured the Rebellion successfully retrieved the Death Star plans from Scarif, and fans of the Galactic Empire can savor the long-awaited arrival of Grand Admiral Thrawn!
Chimaera Expansion Pack
Profundity Expansion PackPerfecting the Art of War
“I studied the art of war, worked to perfect it.”
–Grand Admiral ThrawnIn Armada, you assume the role of fleet admiral, serving with either the Imperial Navy or the fledgling Rebellion. As your fleet engages your opponent’s, it’s your job to ensure your ships and squadrons are all provided the right commands. You direct their movement. You balance your defensive and offensive tactics against your need to complete objectives. And all of this means planning multiple steps in advance.
The Star Destroyers, Mon Calamari star cruisers, and other capital ships at the heart of Armada aren’t quick and nimble like the starfighter squadrons that buzz all about them. They’re
massive, lumbering vessels that need time to adjust. Getting them into the right position at the right time requires anticipating your opponent’s moves, as does making sure your crews are ready to take the right actions. This is where Thrawn comes in. The striking, blue-skinned Chiss is almost unparalleled as a tactician. Even without the powers of the Force, he’s able to anticipate his opponents’ moves, using his studies of their history, philosophy, and art. He aims for an understanding of his opponents’ deepest desires, using it to play upon their weaknesses, and he’s patient enough to allow his foes some smaller victories in order to win the larger war.
In short, Thrawn is, in many ways, the epitome of what every Armada admiral aspires to be, and his inclusion in your Imperial fleet ensures that you’ll immediately reap the rewards of his foresight.
And Thrawn’s foresight is just the beginning of all that Wave VII has to offer!
Chimaera Expansion Pack
In addition to the new Grand Admiral Thrawn commander card, the Chimaera Expansion Pack introduces a new Imperial Star Destroyer, adorned with Thrawn’s stylized chimaera, two Mandalorian Gauntlet squadrons, six ship cards, two squadron cards, and seventeen other upgrade cards.
The first thing you might notice about the new Star Destroyer from the Chimaera Expansion Pack is that it looks different from that in the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Expansion Pack. This is thanks to its distinctive chimaera design. But the physical, aesthetic differences between the two miniatures only begin to hint at the differences in the strengths that they bring to your fleet.
Where the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Expansion Pack gives the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer and the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer , the Chimaera Expansion Pack gives us three copies each of two different refits, the Imperial Star Destroyer Kuat Refit and the Imperial Star Destroyer Cymoon 1 Refit .
Both these Star Destroyer refits feature new upgrade bars that may lead to significant changes in the way you fly your fleet. Maybe you’ll only make a minor tactical adjustment. Maybe you’ll adjust your entire strategy to accommodate the Cymoon 1 Refit’s ability to equip any of the expansion’s three Fleet Command upgrades. Maybe you won’t even take advantage of the new upgrade potential, but simply by gaining the option, you place yourself in a better position to respond to your foes’ tactics, and make it harder for them to anticipate yours.
via The Grand Admiral Arrives – Fantasy Flight Games
If you have read my “It’s more than just Star Wars“post, or if you have watched some of my unboxing videos, you will be aware that I was a big fan of the Star Wars books in the 1990s. The chief reason for this was the character Grand Admiral Thrawn, whose major debut was the novel Heir to the Empire, by Timothy Zahn. The reasons I liked Thrawn were manifold. I always liked the look of the Empire more than the Rebels, and Thrawn embodied the more positive elements of Imperial Doctrine in that he was a fan of order. However, he had significantly more empathy for his troops and placed considerably more value on their lives than standard Imperial Commanders. For instance, Tie Interceptors stationed in his fleet had shields, as he thought that it was a criminal waste allowing pilots to die so readily. That is not to say he was a good guy, not in the Empire books. He used a number of tactics and stratagems that were utterly ruthless, however, he did so to insure quicker victory thus protecting his forces. In later stories, his motivations and backgrounds actually revealed exactly why such a seeming civilized man would willingly commit atrocities. It falls into the category of the ends justifying the means. That aside, the character was compelling and, more importantly, tactically and strategically brilliant.
I have been waiting for Fantasy Flight to release a ship with him on board for a while, and whilst it focuses on the new Disneyverse Star Wars, where Thrawn is significantly less mysterious (annoyingly), they at least got his character more or less right. I had a look at his admiral ability. It is amazing, reflecting his talent for altering strategy mid battle. I can definitely see my using him constantly. I did note a Darth Vader card, though I am not sure what its ability is yet and since I have recently got the fighters pack with Vader piloting a Tie Advanced, am not sure I would want him as crew on my ship. Time will tell.
I look forward to the Q4 release.
Bye for now!