We Weren't Expecting Rapid Reinforcements

 Well, that sure was an announcement. In case you missed it, here's a link:

Rapid Reinforcements

New ships for each faction, each pulled from different faction, and a new squad for most of the factions (sorry CIS). It's "print and play", so no additional purchase is required. That, for me, is a point in its favor. Not needing to make any new purchases is great. These ships utilize the same cardboard that comes with the ship expansion, so no worries there. There's changes to squadron values, maneuver charts, and upgrade bars, but dice, shields, and firing arcs aren't affected. So let's take a look at what came out, starting with the ships. 

Venator II-class Star Destroyer

A relic of ages past for the Galactic Empire, the Venator II received some changes. First off, it's unique, so you can only take one of them in your Imperial lists. Squadron value has been dropped to 3 (because Sloane really did not need a Squadron 5 combat carrier), and the upgrade bar is now officer/weapons team/defensive retrofit/ordnance/ordnance/turbolaser, which is certainly interesting. With the double ordnance and low amount of black dice, it's hardly a black crit machine, but not all ordnance relies on having black dice. ExRacks and OrdPods are solid choices on a Republic Venator, so now having both options at once is great. Flechette Torpedoes is an interesting choice with black dice in the anti-squadron armament, especially with Ordnance Pods to trigger it more often. 

The Imperial Venator seems like a battlecruiser of a ship, meant to cruise in, beat up ships, and (probably) die. It's a flagship that fills the weight class between a Victory- and Imperial-class Star Destroyer, with a defensive retrofit, good dice, and a decent squadron value. It can push squads in a pinch, but the main reason you bring it is for offensive punch. And while these cross-faction ships don't get access to their original titles, the Venator can equip Seventh Fleet (it is a Star Destroyer, after all). Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this ship. 

Providence-class Carrier

Another unique ship for the Galactic Civil War, the Providence-class Carrier is pulled from the Separatists, and like a Sep ship it is weird compared to everything else. Squadron value has been halved down to 2, the contain has been replaced with an evade (hello, Mothma!) and that upgrade bar. Wow, what an upgrade bar. The base cost of the ship has been dropped to 95 to account for it. With double officers, weapons teams, offensive retrofits, and support teams, it's an absolute Christmas tree of a ship. Honestly, there's a few ways to approach this ship, but the main one I've been drifting towards is Flight Commander, Raymus Antilles, Flight Controllers, Expanded Hangar Bay, Fighter Coordination Team, and Engine Techs to absolutely fling squads at your problems. The dice are the same as the Separatist ship, which means it's a close range monster with double arcs. I have no idea how this ship will operate in the game, and I'm actually pretty excited to see how it does. 

Victory I-class Star Destroyer

Well buckle up cowboys, looks like the Republic has another ship they can throw SPHA-Ts on (AMG please let me salvo ignition attacks). It's not unique, so feel free to run three or four of them in a list (I mean, if you want. I wouldn't recommend it). The stats and maneuver chart are all the same as an Imperial VSD, so you stilll have those issues and upsides, but you also have a native Engine Techs Support Team slot, so you can make use of those double ordnance slots (I think AMG may have a thing for this between the VSD and Venator here). The defense tokens have been changed as well, swapping one of the redirects for a salvo and bringing it to match the Acclamator (also to prevent Kenobi/EST shenanigans, I'd wager). Beyond the obvious of making it a SPHA-T machine, I also see it as another close range bruiser, possessing decent amounts of black dice and double ordnance to make it work, while not having a turbolaser slot. Personally I'm not entirely sold on it, but I know some people are overjoyed. 

Gozanti-class Cruisers

Well. A Separatist flotilla. With attack dice. It's almost identical to the Imperial Gozantis it comes from, which makes sense, but the upgrade bar is different, swapping the fleet support and offensive retrofit for a weapons team and ion cannons. This ship is either a very cheap Flight Controllers platform for a carrier list, an extra dice machine for TF (hello, Ordnance Experts!) or Mar Tuuk, or a blue crit machine for Kraken. Honestly, you could probably run some combination of carrier and commander buff if you want, and it's still a cheap activation/deployment (two of them naked are less than a naked Hardcell Transport), which is not something I think Seps needed. Will there be builds where these are acceptable? Sure. Will there be builds where these are obnoxious and I want them to die in a fire? Absolutely. These will depend on who is flying them and how more than any other ship in the game, IMO. 

Overall, these ships don't strike me as too weak or strong, but they do look like they'll have their place in their respective factions. Alternate models for the CIS Gozantis over the regular Imperial ones are pretty exciting, and I've got a pair of Tridents and CIS Gozantis from @Nerfherder2187 that I'm super excited to run in their stead. Now on to the squads. 

Darth Vader

Also known as "The Biggest Heart Attack for the Quickest Correction", the Dark Lord himself continues to be the character with the single most variants in the game, with his seat in a TIE Defender bringing him up to a whopping 5 different cards. And this shoves all but probably his boarding team to the side, in my opinion. With a red, blue, and two black in his anti-squadron armament, two red in his anti-ship, rogue, bomber, and adept 2, all with his ability to count crits as damage against unique squads, means that he is an incredibly powerful squadron that can hit ships and squads with equal efficiency. Speed 5, 6 hull, brace and an evade means that he's less survivable than Maarek Steele, but he's leagues better in the damage department. I very much see him being stapled to any Imperial squad lists as another buddy of Jendon's. 

Hera Syndulla

The space mom herself, Hera again appears as a squadron, this time in an X-Wing as seen in season 4 of Rebels. And like a good space mom, she helps out her kids, specifically ones with escort, by passing out adept 1 to escort squads at distance 1 when she activates, which stays until the end of the round. her anti-squadron armament has replaced two of the blues with a red and a black, her bomber die is changed from a red to a black, and she trades escort for dodge 1, which helps her survivability immensely. I think she's going to be a valuable addition to a Biggsball, passing out adept to those generic X-Wings and Biggs, acting as a combination of fake Toryn Farr and fake BCC (add in both of those cards to really make those squads work). She's such a great squad, and for a pretty reasonable cost. Probably my favorite addition of this release, if I' being honest, and Rebels are my least played faction. 

Anakin Skywalker

The Chosen One. The Hero With No Fear. The pilot who already flies the best bomber the Republic has to offer. And now he's back with a vengeance to kill squads. His dice are almost identical to a regular Delta, except now his anti-ship has been upgraded to a black die. With a brace and a scatter, he's pretty par for the course for Delta aces, and his adept 2, counter 2, and dodge 1 help solidify him as a dogfighting ace. His ability to "splash" damage to two different enemy squads if he deals damage on his activation (so no triggering it on a counter or from an attack given by squadron Ahsoka) helps clear out enemy generics and low-hull scatter aces, which is very nice when you need to clear the skies quickly. And while he's very good, I'm going to have a hard time giving up Y-Wing Anakin for this. He's just too good to pass up on in a points-strapped GAR squad build, but I'm sure some will use him to his maximum effectiveness and prove me wrong, and I am looking forward to it. 

Final Thoughts

What a release, and not something I expected. While these are new, they don't feel necessarily overpowered or out of place, and I feel very "meh" about them for the most part. But this is a step in the right direction, I feel, and the fact that AMG is putting out new Armada content now and has announced a new organized play kit gives me some hope that at least Armada has a future. What exactly that will mean for the health and overall balance of the game remains to be seen, but this seems to be "good enough".