Star Wars: The Force Awakens ships in X-Wing and Armada?

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is still a few months away, but huge swathes of licensed products are just around the corner, September the 4th to be correct. We already know this means more ships for Star Wars X-Wing Miniature Game, and possibly Star Wars Armada, are on their way, not only because Mr Christian Peterson of Fantasy Flight Games told us but because some of the new ships leaked on line last week.

So with what little we know about The Force Awakens can we start predicting which ships will make it to X-Wing and Armada? Of course we can, let rampant speculation commence!

T-70 X-Wing

This is one of two ships we definitely know are coming to X-Wing due to the leaked images we showed last week. This is the new X-Wing design seen in the Force Awakens trailers, not only do the wings now split along their length but so do the engines (which I really don’t understand how that could possibly work).

We know these ships are coming to X-Wing and they are different to standard T-65 X-Wing we already have. We know that it know gets a boost action and rumours suggest a different stat line.

Poe’s X-Wing

The safe money is on Fantasy Flight Games releasing the T-70 X-Wing as part of the core set and as a separate X-Wing pack, most likely with different named pilots and upgrade cards. But what if Fantasy Flight where to do something a bit left field and make the separate blister pack a different paint job. I say this because images of Poe’s X-Wing for Lego have emerged and it’s a striking black and orange colour, something that hasn’t been seen in any other imagery yet either.

If we follow the release history of X-Wing so far then this would probably be releases in an Aces pack (like Rebel Aces, Imperial Aces and the Scum & Villainy pack) but we may be taken by surprise. Expect the same basic ship stats but with extra pilots and upgrade cards.

Update: Poe's pilot card appears to be confirmed in the Core Set, this doesn't mean we won't be seeing the modified X-Wing, more that I wouldn't expect to see this soon.

Millennium Falcon

We already have the Millennium Falcon, but the YT-1300 in the Force Awakens is different, it has a square radar dish. This means it is feasible that we may see a new version of the Millennium Falcon but with a slightly different model and new pilots. I personally can’t see Fantasy Flight Games doing this but you never know.

First Order TIE Fighter

Another ship we have definitely seen is the First Order TIE Fighter. These look the same as existing TIE Fighters but with a striking black and white paint scheme.

From the back of the box images of the new Core Set, we can see that these are a new ship, named the TIE/FO, but what we can’t make out is if there are any differences to the statistics.

First Order Special Forces TIE fighter

If you have been paying attention to the other game and toy releases for The Force Awakens, or were eagle eyed enough while watching the trailer, you may have noticed a second kind of TIE Fighter. From a distance it looks like a regular TIE, but it has two large gear-like features at the end of it solar panel spurs, is shown with a fetching red mark on it and the lasers emerge from a small turret at the bottom of the cockpit.

The rest of the internet is claiming this is the First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter, suggesting that this is the First Order’s equivalent to the TIE Interceptors or TIE Advanced. There’s a lot of scope for new pilots with one of these ships but will the Special Forces TIE look distinctive enough on the table.

The really interesting thing to consider is that in the Force Awakens trailer the Special Forces TIE is clearly shown firing a turret laser from the back of the ship. Will we get TIE Fighters with a rear firing arc? It would certainly be something different.

Stealth TIE

This ship, that I’m calling the Stealth TIE, just because it reminds me of a Stealth Bomber, is a TIE Fighter Concept art that leaked in July.

At this point the ship is simply leaked concept art and has not been sighted in any trailers or products. It is certainly a cool looking ship and would make an interesting variation on the TIE Advanced or TIE Interceptor.

Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle

We’ve seen this is in the trailer and a LEGO set has been seen so it must be real. Kylo Ren, the Sith chap with the crucifix shaped light sabre, has his very own shuttle and its subtly different to that of the exiting imperial shuttle.

There’s not a lot more to say about this ship, will we get an upgraded version of the famous space cow? The only thing that stands out to me is that the guns on this ship are much more prominent than on the Imperial Shuttle. Will we see a shuttle with even more red dice?

First Order Star Destroyer

The only ship mentioned here that could be making its way to Star Wars Armada is the new First Order Star Destroyer. It is without a doubt a different ship to the existing Star Destroyers, with a more forward located bridge and a nose that reminds me more a typical seafaring vessel. At this point it is different in appearance only, and nothing exists to claim it would act differently to a regular Star Destroyer in the game.

First Order Shuttle Escort

In the above image we can clearly see a Star Destroyer, a Shuttle and four other ships. To me these look like some form of escort shuttle or fighter.

It will be interesting to see how these are used in the film, to me the shuttle would be escorted by TIEs, so why does this shuttle have four, seemingly reasonably large, non-TIE ships flying in formation?

Mystery TIE Shuttle

A few months ago, some concept art leaked online of a TIE Shuttle. The image is a little blurry but you can clearly see the distinctive TIE cockpit on a larger ship, with a shuttle like ramp.

My guess is that this is a complete red herring. This is probably an early concept sketch of what became Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle