Siege of Coruscant Republic Overview Pt. 1

SWZ95 Siege of Coruscant

The future of the Republic is in peril! Chancellor Palpatine has been taken hostage, and the heroes of the Galactic Republic must act quickly if they hope to save him. In today’s transmission, we’re taking a look at some of the new pilots that Galactic Republic players can use to take on this exciting mission in the Siege of Coruscant Scenario Expansion.

The Siege of Coruscant includes new Standardized Loadout versions of some existing Galactic Republic ships.  They cannot be customized, but they have unique abilities or loadouts that you can’t find anywhere else.  While they are great for the scenario included in the product, they can also be mixed into your current squads.  Let’s take a look at some of these new Republic ships and how they can be used.

Republic squads have seen some success recently.  They tend to run a few Jedi to draw attention and score most of their points, while clones are added to support the list by making the Jedi stronger or scoring objective points.  This pack brings us three Jedi in the Eta-2 Actis, and seven new clones piloting ARC-170 Starfighters, Nimbus-class V-wings, and V-19 Torrent Starfighters.

Starting with the Jedi, all three are equipped with Ancillary Ion Weapons, which might remind you of the Nimbus-class V-wing’s “Esk” upgrade.  While this is useful in the included scenario for getting your Jedi into the bay of the Invisible Hand, an easy source of ion tokens on high initiative aces in standard play can be a lifesaver.  It’s best on Anakin, since Malice lets him guarantee a critical hit.  If Anakin can ionize an enemy ship and break its lock, he can potentially save one of his ships from being the target of a proton torpedo!  The following turn, he can easily train his bullseye arc on the ionized ship, before the Ancillary Ion Weapons are recharged for him to find a new target.

Astute players will notice that Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi have new pilot abilities on these Standard Loadouts.  They still have the same triggers as their other versions, but instead of removing a red token or gaining a focus token, both grant reposition actions to each other.  These make Anakin and Obi-Wan very dependent on executing good maneuvers and dodging enemy arcs.  None of the Jedi can survive getting focused on by opponents, especially if their maneuver gets blocked. Working together with careful planning, this duo can pull off some very impressive feats.

Obi-Wan, meanwhile, fears no buzz droid or bomb.  R4-P17 lets him do some interesting tricks, like flying over an asteroid and taking strain instead of damage.  Like Anakin, Obi-Wan must spend some time setting up shots and avoid getting shot at.  With only 3 hull, one bad defense roll can ruin your plans, so you must be conservative and risk-averse when running these Jedi.

Shaak Ti rounds out the Jedi in this pack.  With her new ability, players will want to run the new clones in this scenario expansion to take full advantage of it.  She can coordinate a ship at the end of each turn, giving it the ability to target lock or reposition in preparation for next turn, and then do it again if the first ship she coordinated is one of the new clone pilots that has the Born for This ship ability.  While Anakin and Obi-Wan are nipping at your opponent’s flanks, Shaak Ti needs to stay near her clone friends and depend on an evade action, force point, and the clones to keep her in the fight.

These new Jedi offer varied tactics for facing the overwhelming numbers of the Separatist threat. They don’t have face that threat alone, however, and in our next transmission we’ll be taking a look at the brave clones who will be flying into action by their side