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http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4357

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the Imperial Aces Expansion Pack for X-Wing™!

Imperial Aces features two TIE interceptor miniatures with alternate paint schemes, several highly skilled new pilots, a dozen upgrade cards, and all the tokens and maneuver dials you need to field these ships. It also includes a new mission that allows the Empire to utilize new, experimental technology in a high-intensity clash with Rebel pilots.

The 181st Imperial Fighter Wing and the Emperor’s Royal Guard

Fly your TIE with pride! The alternate paint schemes on the TIE interceptor miniatures from the Imperial Aces Expansion Pack allow you to wage your X-Wing dogfights while representing either or both of two of the Empire’s most recognizable TIE units: the 181st Imperial Fighter Wing and the Emperor’s Royal Guard.

Also known as the Saber Squadron, the 181st Imperial Fighter Wing was an elite TIE unit and one of the Empire’s premier fighter groups. Led by Soontir Fel, the group’s aces marked the wings of their TIE interceptors with distinctive bloodstripes as soon as they recorded ten combat kills. Because of the group’s elite composition, nearly all of its TIE interceptors proudly displayed these red, horizontal stripes, and they feature prominently on one of the TIE interceptor miniatures from the Imperial Aces Expansion Pack.

Woot!

fething awesome!

Holy gak!!! I want it! Twice!!!

Tom, how many are you getting?

Dammit. Just when my credit card thought it was over.

 timetowaste85 wrote:


Tom, how many are you getting?

All of them?

 Evil_Toast wrote:
Just when my credit card thought it was over.

Chilling tagline!

Money! Up! And! My! Shut! TAKE!!!

Screw getting it in the right order...GIVE ME THE SHINEHS!!!


EDIT: Now that I've actually read the announcement, one thing sticks out:

Imperial Aces also features a deeply strategic and engaging new mission, Cutting the Cord, which drops players into the middle of the Rebellion’s desperate bid to keep the Empire from developing a powerful prototype starfighter. If it gets its new flight system and long-range functionality online, this Imperial prototype would forever negate the individual superiority of Rebellion starfighters.

I'll concede that this is a bit of a stretch, but could this be hinting at the eventual inclusion of the TIE Defender?

The repaints are a surprise, but I was expecting some sort of mission/card expansion packs for X-Wing. I will definitely be getting this set!

Is this the off-set to the Rebel carriers/Transports? Timing seems about right.

Anpu-adom wrote:

Is this the off-set to the Rebel carriers/Transports? Timing seems about right.

Don't think so; the news says this set is for Q4 2013 (so, Christmas-y timeframe) versus early 2014 for the big ships based on FFG's GenCon briefing.

Courtesy of fellow Dakkaite Zweischneid:


That's not to say that things might not have gone better than expected and the release of the big ships is being stepped up, but with only a month's time between GenCon and now I find it more likely that these are the actual "Wave 4" ships that were hinted at when they said the two Rebel ships were not said wave.

I can't wait for this release since I am already a HUGE fan of the tie interceptor.

I like it. I wanted to buy a few more interceptors, and this a good way to get a few more, for a few bucks cheaper.

Pretty much all of the 'normal' interceptors are sabre squadron already.

And after playing Sontir with push it to the limit, I'm completely sold on this stud.

I'm getting a set of em for sure. I think i would have rathered them to be painted like the normal interceptors (i like my squadrons to be uniformed). Really like the pilots and upgrades though.

have already painted a pair of my Interceptors with bloodstripes to be fel and phennir...yup. Still going to get a pair of these...oh, ya...going to laugh at my friend that painted all of his interceptors, until I pass out from it.

Want!

 Krinsath wrote:
Money! Up! And! My! Shut! TAKE!!!

Screw getting it in the right order...GIVE ME THE SHINEHS!!!



I'll concede that this is a bit of a stretch, but could this be hinting at the eventual inclusion of the TIE Defender?

Second.

Most likely it is a reference to the Tie/Ad- the Avenger. Oddly enough, the Empire goes super elite as time goes on.

I think it's perfect. If they continue with staggered releases of this sort of thing and brand new minis then I couldn't be happier.

Gitzbitah wrote:
Oddly enough, the Empire goes super elite as time goes on.

I think that's a factor of who's generating the content. Lucas wanted the Empire to be unsympathetic for his films. The grown-up fans writing comics and novels, however, thought the Empire was super neato regardless. The result has been a kinder or at least more justified and rational Empire in the EU.

 Manchu wrote:
I think that's a factor of who's generating the content. Lucas wanted the Empire to be unsympathetic for his films. The grown-up fans writing comics and novels, however, thought the Empire was super neato regardless. The result has been a kinder or at least more justified and rational Empire in the EU.

I don't think that's it at all. I think it has to do with two things:

1) The video games. The TIE Defender only exists because the TIE Fighter video game needed an "elite" ship to keep up the inevitable advancement through the game. Sure, they went back and invented fluff to fit it into the universe, but it's really just a game mechanic given life by a desire to have every single thing with the Star Wars name be included in the "canon" universe.

2) The "Empire is expendable swarms" thing isn't actually part of the movies. If you look at the starfighter combat we see things are pretty balanced and the Empire is killing the "elite" rebels just fine (other than the main characters). It's only in later EU sources that we get the idea that TIEs are expendable ships with no hope of winning outside of throwing a huge swarm at the enemy and taking 90% casualties. If anything X-Wing is just going back to the movie representation of the two sides: both have aces and newbies, and the X-Wing vs. TIE difference is about speed/agility vs. durability/firepower with no clear "best ship".

I think your first point has merit. The second one, however, is plain wrong. Think about the asteroid field scene in ESB. Or how Vader treats his senior officers in the same movie.

In the movies, the Empire is a racist bunch of totalitarians in black capes who ruthlessly throw away men and materiel and are capable only of brutal, rather ineffective strategy. What would become the EU started with an Empire run by an alien wearing a white uniform who was not only a tactical genius but also respected and cared for his underlings.

N.B.: Maybe reacting against this long-winded trend, a lot of contemporary SW comics are focused on the period between the two trilogies and show the Empire, particularly through Vader, at its most savage/least sympathetic.

 Manchu wrote:
I think your first point has merit. The second one, however, is plain wrong. Think about the asteroid field scene in ESB. Or how Vader treats his senior officers in the same movie.

In the movies, the Empire is a racist bunch of totalitarians in black capes who ruthlessly throw away men and materiel and are capable only of brutal, rather ineffective strategy. What would become the EU started with an Empire run by an alien wearing a white uniform who was not only a tactical genius but also respected and cared for his underlings.

N.B.: Maybe reacting against this long-winded trend, a lot of contemporary SW comics are focused on the period between the two trilogies and show the Empire, particularly through Vader, at its most savage/least sympathetic.

To paraphrase the Wired(?) report detailing the numerous failings of the Hoth operation:

This is why you don't put overall command of an operation in the hands of a religious fanatic.

Keep in mind the Sith mindset is that all things exist for their use as tools so of course a Sith-led force would exhibit that callous disregard and brutality. Since we only see the Empire around said fanatics it makes it hard to judge what actual doctrine would be, hence the EU's portrayal since, at its core, the Imperial forces are largely the same forces as the Republic.

As far as the incompetence in the ESB asteroid belt, having an unstable zealot in charge of an operation who's already shown a willingness to casually murder anyone who makes the slightest mistake is pretty detrimental to morale and efficiency.

 Manchu wrote:
In the movies, the Empire is a racist bunch of totalitarians in black capes who ruthlessly throw away men and materiel and are capable only of brutal, rather ineffective strategy. What would become the EU started with an Empire run by an alien wearing a white uniform who was not only a tactical genius but also respected and cared for his underlings.

But that wasn't the point. The claim was that the Empire is getting more elite (interceptor aces, TIE defenders, etc), not that the Empire is getting better morally. The Empire in the movies was always ruthless, but the whole "elites vs. horde" thing didn't exist until the video games had the (rebel) player character scoring dozens of kills every mission. If you just look at the movies the dogfight scenes have roughly even numbers, lots of 1v1 fights within the battle, and no apparent difference in skill or ship quality between the two sides. So an expansion of Imperial TIE interceptor aces is only a surprise if you're stuck in the video game and EU mindset of "Imperials are a horde of terrible ships", if you only consider the movies it's exactly what you would expect.

Because why wouldn't the Empire cultivate ace pilots? They want to win the Civil War as badly as the Rebels, and just because TIE ships have huge shortfalls doesn't mean that their pilots don't gain combat experience. As Peregrine said, you see plenty of Rebel pilots get brought down in the movies.

I think it would be great if the Rebs also get a repaint expansion themed as Rogue Squadron. It seems logical.

@Peregrine: I don't think the movies bear out your point. It's hard to say how many TIEs were scrambled at Yavin but we saw hordes of them at Endor. And from Yavin to Endor, Imperial weapons development (keep in mind, in view of the loss of the first Death Star) resulted in the nimbler but just as fragile TIE Interceptor.

@AegisGrimm: Just going by the movies, the Empire arguably never realized the full extent of the threat posed by the Rebellion. For example, the Emperor says his best troops were mobilized on Endor. He had no reason to lie -- those really were his crack units laid low by teddy bears. The logic of the Empire is clearly "might is victory" and might is defined by volume and scale. The Rebellion worked on the opposite principle.

These look pretty awesome. Definitely gonna be adding these to the collection!

 Manchu wrote:
It's hard to say how many TIEs were scrambled at Yavin but we saw hordes of them at Endor.

Unless you're going to claim that there were invisible TIEs we see a whole six of them enter the dogfight above the death star (plus Vader and wingmen in the trench), and we never see more than a single TIE engaging each rebel ship. And in those duels the TIEs are an even match for the X-wings. The poor anonymous rebel pilot is killed almost immediately, and Biggs and Luke get in trouble and have to call for help from their wingmen (with Luke even taking a hit which probably kills anyone who isn't a major character). So if anything it's the rebels that rely on superior numbers to win a fight

And at Endor we see a lot of TIEs in the initial moments of the battle, but after that we again see a lot of 1-2 ships vs. 1-2 ships and no swarming.

And from Yavin to Endor, Imperial weapons development (keep in mind, in view of the loss of the first Death Star) resulted the nimbler but just as fragile TIE Interceptor.

Sure, but that doesn't mean that it's a weak and expendable ship. It just means the designers made a choice to focus on speed and agility instead of durability. If anything the TIE interceptor is even more of an elite ship than the X-wing since it requires a skilled pilot to avoid enemy fire entirely and doesn't have the X-wing's shields to give it a chance to survive a mistake. Kind of like how the rebels designed the A-wing, which makes the exact same decision with similar results.

Want 2 now. Damn you why must I wait till Christmas.

 Peregrine wrote:
Unless you're going to claim that there were invisible TIEs we see a whole six of them enter the dogfight above the death star

Unless you're going to claim the Death Star was defended by six TIEs ...

 Peregrine wrote:
If anything the TIE interceptor is even more of an elite ship than the X-wing since it requires a skilled pilot ...

Skilled pilots ... or numerical superiority.

 Peregrine wrote:
Kind of like how the rebels designed the A-wing, which makes the exact same decision with similar results.

Nah. The A-Wing is comparably fast (traditionally, faster) and nimble -- but also has shields and a hyperdrive.

 Manchu wrote:
Unless you're going to claim the Death Star was defended by six TIEs ...

I don't know, I would have thought it would be kind of silly but the rebels didn't exactly send out a lot of fighters either. And if you're going to assume off-screen TIEs then you can also assume off-screen rebel ships to balance the numbers. The only way to get a swarm of TIEs vs. elite rebel ships is to arbitrarily declare that there were a lot more off-screen TIEs than off-screen rebel ships, with no evidence to support it.

And, again, the rebels are the ones who are able to focus multiple ships against a single opponent. In the entire battle the only time we see multiple TIEs engaging a single rebel ship is Vader and his useless wingmen.

Skilled pilots ... or numerical superiority.

Numerical superiority that we don't see in the movies. When we see interceptors in combat we see the same kind of leader/wingman tactics that the rebels (like pretty much everyone since the invention of air combat) use.

Nah. The A-Wing is comparably fast (traditionally, faster) and nimble -- but also has shields and a hyperdrive.

Sure, but less firepower once its limited supply of missiles is gone. Obviously they aren't the same ship, but there's no good evidence that the A-wing is an "elite" ship while the interceptor is a "horde" ship.

We're basically putting a lot of thought into what amounts to a children's movie... but hey, we're geeks.

I always saw the TIE as the best fighter the imperials could put together for the money, and met their vision of wars to come.

They had just finished fighting the clone wars. A 'typical' war. Vast armadas fighting for real estate over planets. You needed fighters to fend off the bombers of other capital ships. So, provided you have the docking space, why build fighters with hyperdrives?

That brings us to the second point, as the 'new' authority in the galaxy, you need to be everywhere at once. You need garrisons on every planet. You need escorts for every convoy. You need manpower and material. Lots of manpower and material. You need something that is cheap and effective. Something you can mass produce and put in the hands of your soldiers. TIE's fit the bill. They're cheap and easy to produce, and their agility make them more than a match for the majority of fighters in the galaxy.

The problem is, the rebellion changed the face of conflict. The rebellion, fighting an insurgency, can choose the time and place of the engagement. They can afford to be 'elite' with their material. They only need to be one place. The imperials need to be everywhere. Attacking the rebellion only scatters it, further needing more manpower and material to hunt them down. Would the imperials like TIE Avengers garrisoned everywhere? Hell yeah. Can they afford it? Hell no.

All in all. The point is, Imperial Pilots were just as good as rebel pilots. Their ships were slightly outclassed because of economic realities, poor choices in how the next war would be fought, and simple imperial overconfidence. However, TIE's are just as 'elite' as rebels and stand good chance of being 1v1 dangerous to an x-wing.

 Peregrine wrote:
And if you're going to assume off-screen TIEs then you can also assume off-screen rebel ships to balance the numbers.

I think there's a shot of the entire Rebel force flying from Yavin 4 past Yavin Prime on the way to the Death Star. There's no similar comprehensive shot of the Imperial forces involved.

Numerical superiority that we don't see in the movies.

You need to re-watch RotJ. There are literally hordes of TIE and Interceptors bearing down on the Rebel fleet once the Imperial fleet comes around from behind Endor.

Sure, but less firepower once its limited supply of missiles is gone.

Well it hunts shielded targets (also it has no missiles -- you're making kind of an ambivalent point about the laser cannons). My point was, the Interceptor is not designed with pilot survivability in mind. Heck, it doesn't even have a life support system. You're going to put your best pilots -- even the Emperor's own royal guard -- in an eggshell-strong, shieldless crotch rocket of a space plane? Yep, that's the Imperial view on the elite -- use 'em, we'll just get more when those inevitably die.