MC75 HOT TAKES!

Fresh fish! Get your fresh, fishly takes here!

I say we preview! - Admiral Raddus, if he was a blogger

So, let's start with the cards

Yes, this will do well....

Mmmm, so many upgrade slots! So much health! SO NOT AMAZING TOKENS!

I like these a lot.  MANY great upgrade slots, a pretty solid maneuver pattern (it's identical to a Gladiator's, or an ISD/Assault Frigate's with better speed 1 turning), but with no Engine Techs/Nav Team slot means if you want to turn better, you're either Madine-ing (who looks good for these!) or using the Nav Command.  ECM can slot in nicely in that Defensive Upgrade slot, and I would strongly consider Damage Control Officer in that Officer slot (2 contains does not a healthy ship make....)

The danger/worry here is in over-upgrading your ship with killing-ness (External Racks and APTs! Rapid Reload and External Racks! Ordnance Expert everywhere! Intel Officer because sure why not!) and neglecting the fact that you have 2 "real" defense tokens.  So, you know, don't do that.

Regarding Commanders, Sato will love that double ordnance one, Madine would be happy with either of these (again, its a better Assault Frigate there), Leia can use either of these (but I wouldn't, RIGHT NOW, of course), Dodonna loves that double ordnance one....

Basically the only commanders I can think of who wouldn't be ecstatic about these are Mothma and Cracken, and they just got Hammerheads last wave! So they'll be fine.

Right NOW, I'd build the Ordnance Cruiser with an eye towards exploiting those black dice and black crits.  Ordnance Experts in the Weapons Team slot, both Ordnance slots filled, ECM to keep it alive as you move towards whatever you need dead.  As for the Armored Cruiser, that's a nice Rebel Avenger/Boarding Troopers I have there.  With an Ion Cannon slot, I can put Leading Shots in there, and External Racks in the Ordnance slot.  You don't roll ENOUGH black dice to put Ordnance Experts in the Weapons Team slot, nor do you double arc enough ships at range for Gunnery Team to be worth it.  So, you COULD do Flight Controllers (and I'm not saying it's a bad plan!) but I really think Cham or Boarding Engineers/Troopers could be worth it.  Boarding Troopers before you double arc something can flip 3 tokens before your attacks happen, and you'll want BOTH attacks.  Or if you have something half dead, Boarding Engineers can flip 4 cards before you (again) double arc it.  I like that idea on punishing a wounded ISD and finishing it off.  Cham Syndulla COULD, but the best status debuff to a ship is dead.  Boarding Engineers/Troopers help that better than Cham does.

(side note: Raddus and Profundity have been spoiled for a while, I'm not planning on talking about them here.  Expect eventual articles on them)

Speaking of boarders!

Rebellions are built on wrecking your s***

So these raid tokens prevent your ability to use that command (however they get removed, as I have to believe they eventually CAN be).  Jyn probably won't want to be on that MC75, but a Hammerhead that comes in and wallops something before running away? Sounds great! She'll be a good way to get some damage in or stop an ISD in its tracks/prevent it from navigating out of the way before your MC75 comes in afterwards brawling.

She ALSO triggers on Capture the VIP (and technically your opponent's Blockade Run, if they put it in their fleet for some reason?).  So if you get the dream off, her ship first gets the victory token from Jyn (50 points) and then blows up the opponent's ship, stealing the VIP token as well (for ANOTHER 50). Scoot away, and you've got 100 points.  It's going to be something very interesting to strategize around to ensure you get it, and I love the little thematic bit.

When this triggers, expect to hear from the Waaaahmbulance.

New black crit! This seems fun, but not necessarily AMAZING.  For 2 points, though, rolling a bunch of black dice and then dealing unscatterable, unbraceable, unredirectable damage to whatever ship is near looks enjoyable enough.  That's right, when this damage is dealt to the nearby friend, they can't scatter it (flotillas, scatter aces) or brace it down (all sorts of others).  The defender picks the hull zone, then eats damage into it.  That's IT.  You're most likely only going to get 4-5 black dice base, so you'll probably only get 2, maybe 3 damage into the friend next door.  But! for 2 points, that's solid.  And for Sato, there's a LOT more black dice possible.  Fun, worth trying at least once or twice, that's for sure.

The twins!

Hey weapon team friends! I can see using these guys on either MC30 Scouts (the red ones!) or as Eric pointed out, on an Enhanced Armaments-and-Intel-Officer-equipped Assault Frigate with Ackbar.  6 red dice out the side, 7 if you concentrate fire, and you REALLY hate one defense token, with the ability to reroll the reds that come out blank.  I'm very excited to try that monstrosity out just to see what I can do with it and how I can wreck lives in a non-squadron sense.

That symbol in the lower left? "MC" in Aurebesh, the Star Wars language

Speaking of Ackbar and fish (it all comes around!), this is a card I'm VERY excited about.  Task Force Mon Calamari! All the Mon Cal friends! Garm might actually want to try out MC30s with these! With an MC30 using a friend's version of this, it can gain 4 engineering points from just a TOKEN (3 halved is 2 base, then add in 2).  The benefit is that all of your ships can repair on the same turn, just keep them within 4 of each other!

The downside is that you're then not taking the Admonition, Defiance, Endeavor, ETC titles on your ships.  There's always a cost, and in this case it's your ability to use the famous titles that have been keeping your MC30s alive for so long, or your HMC80 super angry.  These are also 10 points each, which is cheaper than Admo+Defiance, but is that enough? Well, that's up to you to decide!

I'm ecstatic about trying these ships out, and I can't wait for them to hit the table soon!