Batter your enemy at close range with the sixth wave of expansions for Star Wars: Armada!

The Imperial Light Carrier Expansion Pack and the Hammerhead Corvettes Expansion Pack introduce three new ships between them — one medium-base Imperial Quasar Fire-class cruiser-carrier and two Rebel Hammerhead corvettes. And while these certainly aren’t the largest or most durable ships you can add to your fleet, you’ll find that they come with surprising tactical options that allow them to punch well above their weight!

~ Built for the Endgame ~

Over the course of six rounds, games of Armada typically build toward a resounding crescendo. In the early rounds, you and your opponent may maneuver warily, gauging the distances between your ships and trying to lure each other into disadvantageous situations. Then, as your Star Destroyers and Mon Calamari cruisers lay down the heavy fire, you’ll balance the attention you direct toward your ship-to-ship battles, your efforts to score precious objective points, and the squadron battles waged between your TIEs and X-wings. And it all comes to fruition in the later rounds as you finally reveal the full scope of the plan you crafted before the engagement. Your CR-90 Corellian corvette may snag the final objective token as your Mon Calamari star cruiser limps to safety. Or your Interdictor may use its gravity wells to trap your opponent’s flagship, allowing your bombers to punch through the hull plating that your previous volleys have left exposed.

The beauty of Armada lies not just in its finely crafted miniatures, but also in the way it rewards strategic vision. You take the role of fleet admiral, and you deliver the commands that determine the course of battle. And given the massive nature of your ships, it can take their crews multiple rounds to process your orders, meaning you need to plan far in advance — often assigning command dials three or four rounds ahead of time.

Accordingly, you’ll feel relief and gratification whenever you reveal just the right dial at the right time. But with Wave VI, you’ll be able to experience the same relief and gratification whenever you disrupt your opponent’s plans — undercutting their commands, stripping their ships’ defenses, and making sure that every point of damage your enemy suffers is as good as a crippling critical hit. As you and your opponent build toward the endgame, your new Wave VI ships may give you the edge by tearing your opponent down.

~ Boarding Parties ~

The “surprise factor” is strong with Wave VI as its two expansions introduce three different boarding party upgrades. These play only on ships with both the Weapons Team and Offensive Refit upgrade slots — such as the Quasar Fire-class cruiser-carrier and the Hammerhead corvette. And they work only at close range. Each boarding party requires you to get within close range of an enemy ship. Then, whenever you reveal your command dial, you can discard a squadron command dial or token — plus the boarding party upgrade—to trigger its effect. And these effects can prove absolutely devastating.

For example, the Boarding Troopers upgrade from the Imperial Light Carrier Expansion Pack can spend one enemy defense token for each point of your squadron value, and given the Quasar Fire-class cruiser-carrier’s squadron value of “4,” this can leave an enemy ship utterly bereft of defenses. Especially if you partner the impact of your Boarding Troopers with the abilities of the expansion’s new Commander upgrade, Admiral Sloane. Not only can you exhaust your opponent’s defense tokens; you can discard them.

Alternatively, the Cham Syndulla upgrade from the Hammerhead Corvettes Expansion Pack can throw an enemy ship into utter chaos. Give it an engineering command when it needs to adjust its speed, or force it to concentrate its fire when your opponent desperately needs it to reveal an engineering command to recover shields and help it survive.

If Armada is about navigating the balance between your ship-to-ship battles and your focus on the objective as you build toward the endgame, boarding party upgrades like Cham Syndulla and Boarding Troopers are like bombs set to blow up and throw those endgame plans into total disarray.

~ The Power of Surprise ~

No battle plan survives contact with the enemy, and Armada Wave VI provides you all kinds of ways to make contact. From its boarding parties to the Garel’s Honor, Wave VI is all about getting up close and personal and leveraging the power of surprise to overcome your foes.

How will you take advantage of its ships and upgrades? Armada Wave VI is slated for release in Q2 of 2017!