Imperial squadron review: Mandalorian Gauntlet Fighter

As I come back around to start wrapping up the new Imperial things introduced in wave 7, let's talk about the Mandalorian Gauntlet Fighter.

It looks cool, anyways.

Imperial squadron review: TIE Phantom

Wow, we're at the final wave 5 Imperial squadron much sooner than I anticipated! It's time to cover the TIE Phantom.

We've made all kinds of improvements, like changing the billiards ball to a soda can!

Imperial squadron review: VT-49 Decimator

We're trucking right along through the Imperial wave 5 squadrons, which brings us to what is effectively a well-armed Imperial space truck, the VT-49 Decimator!

The segue was as bad as this picture is sweet!

Imperial squadron review: TIE Defender

Continuing our wave 5 Imperial squadron reviews, we have reached the TIE Defender.

Okay so hear me out, what if TIE Fighters had an extra wing and also its wings were each two triangles and those triangles had lasers?

Imperial squadron review: Lambda-class Shuttle

We're finally here at the wave 5 Imperial squadron reviews!

"It's just a model" (or in this case, an illustration, but it's still nice)

Imperial squadron review: Firespray-31

Wrapping up the Imperial wave two squadron reviews (the wave five squadron reviews are still a ways off, I don't like talking about something I haven't played a few games with first and I'm still working through those...), we have the Firespray-31, which includes both Boba Fett's (and later, Hondo's) Slave I and his innumerable generic cosplayers.

It's the recumbent bicycle of bounty-hunting ships: dorky, yet comfortable!

Imperial squadron review: YV-666, or "garbage trucks from outer space"

Time for a shorter review of another Imperial wave 2 Rogue squadron: the YV-666, or as it's known around these parts: "the dump truck."

It'll take out the trash! When it gets there... some day. Maybe.

Imperial squadron review: Aggressor Assault Fighter or "attack of the space ticks"

I continue my wave 2 Imperial squadrons reviews with the Aggressor Assault Fighter or, as it's known around here, "the space tick:"

I'm not the only one that kind of sees it, right? I think? The point is it's super weird-looking.

Imperial squadron review: Jumpmaster 5000

It's time for a wave 2 Imperial squadron review! Given the importance of Intel, the Jumpmaster seemed to be the clear place to start. So wear your pants backwards, put on some fantastically dated hip-hop and get ready to jump jump!

I mean if it's on a sticker, it has to be priceless, right?

Imperial squadron review: TIE Interceptor

Last but not least of the wave one Imperial squadrons, we have the extremely zippy TIE Interceptor!

It's like a regular TIE Fighter, only with more triangles.

Imperial squadron review: TIE Bomber

Time for us to focus on the TIE Bomber, the cheapest bomber squadron in the game:

Haven't I seen this airbrushed on the side of a van somewhere?

Imperial squadron review: TIE Advanced

Moving on to the second (and shorter!) review of the wave one Imperial squadrons, we have the TIE Advanced:

It was in Star Wars: A New Hope that one time ever, how could you not recognize it?

Imperial squadron review: TIE Fighter aces

One last bit of TIE Fightery goodness before proceeding on to other matters!

So we covered the basics (and then some) of TIE Fighters in my previous article. Here I'd like to briefly go over their unique counterparts...

For when only the Emperor's most committed masochists can get the job done.

Imperial squadron review: TIE Fighters

So let's begin with the smallest building blocks in an Armada player's arsenal: squadrons. We'll be moving on to ships as we get there. John tends to love his squadrons the most and there's definitely some meat there for Imperial players as well. I don't intend to focus on only squadrons, but I'd like to start with one particularly key squadron that's frequently misunderstood and underappreciated: the humble TIE Fighter squadron. This is a particular focus of mine, so get comfortable as this article is going to be long. Buckle up, prime your twin ion engines, and let's launch...

Proudly bringing green lasers and pew pew noises since 1977

Imperial Squadron Groups

Time to get hip with the new Clone Wars kids and break out the example Imperial squadron groups into their own separate thing. This is also a good chance to update them to 1.5 compliance, which means a max of 4 aces for 400 points. This is going to result in a fair bit of changes to these examples given how ace-heavy a lot of 1.0 Imperial squad groups got at higher points values.

So fancy!