16 November 2020 | Star Wars: Armada

Mechanized Might

Your First Look Inside the Separatist Alliance Fleet Starter for Star Wars™: Armada

"You may fire when ready."
   –Count Dooku, Star Wars: The Clone Wars

The Separatist Alliance is on the offensive, deploying their massive droid armies to planets throughout the galaxy in an all-out effort to destabilize the Republic. Before they can get these troops on the ground, however, they must first win the fight in space. To do this, they make use of massive battle fleets, hoping to overwhelm the Republic with warships.

Pre-order your own copy of the Separatist Alliance Fleet Starter at your local retailer or online through our website with free shipping in the continental U.S. today!

With Star Wars™: Armada exploring the Clone Wars for the first time, you’ll soon have the chance to take command of these formidable Separatist navies with the Separatist Alliance Fleet Starter!

On top of adding more ships to your collection, this Fleet Starter gives you your first taste of the Separatist Alliance faction, inviting you to begin building your Separatist fleets with iconic characters and upgrades. Everything begins with a Munificent-class Frigate miniature and two Hardcell-class Transport miniatures that form the foundation of your fleets. The Separatist Alliance is well known for its starfighters, of course, and you’ll also find four squadrons of Vulture-class Droid Fighters ready to launch into battle.

Alongside these miniatures, you’ll also find all the tools you need to outfit and equip them for any scenario. Not only do six ship cards outline two different variants of each capital ship, but two squadron cards invite you to field either generic Vulture-class Droid Fighters or the more powerful Haor Chall Prototypes. Finally, 20 upgrade cards give you the power to assign some of the Separatist Alliance’s most iconic characters and weapons to your ships.

Join us today as we take our first look at the Separatist Alliance Fleet Starter!

Corporate Clout

Secretly bolstered by an array of corporations, the Separatist Alliance stands in stark contrast to the Galactic Republic. Rather than ships crewed by Jedi and clones working for a common cause, the Separatists’ deep pockets give them the freedom to fight with faceless fleets of mechanized droids. Still, organic beings make up a large chunk of the Separatist high command and it is not uncommon for them to dictate the faction’s larger strategy.

Both droid and organic leaders are cunning in their approach to the defining space battles of the Clone Wars, as evidenced by the two commanders who can lead your first Separatist fleets. As the leader of the entire Separatist Alliance, Count Dooku spins his machinations across the galaxy. When he leads your fleet, you begin the game by choosing three command tokens of at least two different types to place on his card. Then, at the start of each ship phase, you discard one of these tokens to force each enemy ship to gain a raid token matching that token.

While Count Dooku thwarts his enemy’s plans, the super tactical droid Kraken puts his ships in position to inflict maximum damage. Once per activation, he gives friendly ships the chance to change one die to a face with any one icon if another friendly ship is at close-medium range of the defender. This gives that ship great freedom to adapt to the circumstances, potentially pushing through extra damage, triggering a critical effect, or improving its accuracy.

Whether you choose an organic or droid commander, Separatist capital ships themselves are remarkably flexible and the Munificent-class Frigate is a prime example. On the one hand, it can act as an excellent Comms Frigate, especially if it is equipped with a Hyperwave Signal Boost that helps it stay in close contact with friendly squadrons.

Such a signal boost allows Separatist droid starfighters that rely on AI like the Vulture-class Droid Fighter to operate at peak efficiency during the Squadron phase. Rather than randomly seeking out targets, these ships can act as though they were activated by a squadron command and hunt down enemy fighter squadrons by adding an additional die to their attack pool. At the same time, unique versions of the Vulture-class Droid Fighter such as Haor Chall Protoypes are even more intelligent, anticipating and reacting to enemy movements with extra attacks.

While the Munificent-class Comms Frigate is coordinating starfighter squadrons, the Star Frigate variant has its own uses. The valuable Defensive Retrofit upgrade slot invites you to boost its durability in a variety of ways and two potential titles can make the Star Frigate even more hearty. Deploying the Tide of Progress XII gives you a ship that can repair itself on the fly by discarding a faceup damage card with the Ship trait before it is even dealt and resolved. Similarly, the Sa Nalaor can evade damage while it is moving at top speed.

In addition to their seemingly endless supply of droids, Separatist fleets can also leverage the expertise of organizations like the Techno Union to their advantage. In this regard, none are better at repairing a damaged ship than Wat Tambor , who provides you with a wealth of engineering points. This advantage becomes even more pronounced if your ships are filled with Battle Droid Reserves that can make your fleet the finest in the galaxy. Not only do these droids let you flip any number of damage cards with the Crew trait facedown, they also reduce the cost of discarding facedown damage cards by one, helping you get the most out of Wat Tambor. With their corporate overlords to oversee them, not even the Grand Army of the Republic can stand in the way of the Separatist Alliance's droid fleets. 

Show Your Strength

Bringing down the Republic is no easy task, but the Separatist Alliance has the ships and droids to do it. Mass your fleets and strike at the heart of the Republic with the Separatist Alliance Fleet Starter!

The Clone Wars come to Star Wars: Armada on December 4. Pre-order your copies of these expansions at your local retailer or online through our webstore—with free shipping in the continental United States—today! 

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