Star Wars Armada: Super Star Destroyer

The Super Star Destroyer Expansion Pack arrives to swell the forces of the Galactic Empire with the first ship of an entirely new class—huge ships. The pre-painted, beautifully sculpted Super Star Destroyer miniature within this expansion is the largest miniature yet created by Fantasy Flight Games, measuring over 24 inches from tip to tip.

Of course, such a huge miniature serves as a stunning reminder of Imperial might on the battlefield—and it’s also a fully functional warship that you can add to your Imperial fleets. With four unique ship sheets, an assortment of tokens, and twenty-four upgrade cards, including iconic commanders like Admiral Piett and Emperor Palpatine, any rival fleet will tremble to face the might of your onslaught.

Uh, so that's quite big then...

Outside of the mighty Death Star, there are few symbols of Imperial might and oppressive power more iconic than the Super Star Destroyer. One of these mighty ships served as Darth Vader’s flagship during the Battle of Endor, terrifying enemy pilots and demanding the attention of the entire Rebel fleet before it was eventually brought down.

No matter where your Imperial fleet is deployed or what your mission may be, the Super Star Destroyer is certain to be the centrepiece of your armada. Measuring over two feet from tip to tip, the Super Star Destroyer is the largest miniature ever produced by Fantasy Flight Games, but this capital ship’s commanding presence isn’t purely based on its size. It has the firepower and strength to back up its size.

In our announcement article, we explored many of the new rules associated with the Super Star Destroyer and its brand-new class of ships: huge ships. The Super Star Destroyer boasts six devastating firing arcs, and with the ability to make three attacks every round, any Rebel fleet can be pummeled into submission. And what’s more, every time you resolve one of the command dials assigned to the Super Star Destroyer, you’ll also take a matching command token, giving this symbol of Imperial might even greater flexibility in battle.

The Super Star Destroyer is an impressive and dangerous starship no matter how you choose to field it, but any Imperial commander has options to explore within the Super Star Destroyer Expansion Pack. There are four distinct variants of the Super Star Destroyer, two of which can even be played in a standard tournament game. The Star Dreadnought Command Prototype and the Star Dreadnought Assault Prototype clock in at 220 and 250 points, respectively—commanding over half of your available points before you’ve even assigned upgrades. Still, the firepower they command could be more than worth it.

Two brand-new commanders arrive to lead your fleet in the Super Star Destroyer Commander Expansion— Admiral Piett and Emperor Palpatine himself. Whether you’re using Admiral Piett to boost the power of all your command tokens, or you’re cutting through your opponent’s defenses with Emperor Palpatine, either of these commanders can prove to be a formidable opponent for the Rebel Alliance. But these aren’t the only upgrade cards included in this expansion pack. 24 upgrade cards are available for you to harness, and twelve of them are entering Star Wars: Armada for the first time, including new officer upgrade cards for Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader.

Much in the same way that Emperor Palpatine destroys your opponent’s defence tokens as a commander, you can use him as an officer on your ship to create weakness. Whenever an enemy ship or unique squadron has the audacity to attack a ship with Emperor Palpatine aboard, it must spend one of its defence tokens, leaving it exposed for your crushing counterattack!

Alternatively, you could motivate your own troops to greater efforts by bringing Darth Vader onto your ship as an officer. When a nearby friendly ship is attacking, Darth Vader lets you discard one of the ship’s commander or officer upgrade cards to reroll any number of dice in its attack pool! This upgrade fits naturally with Darth Vader’s own Executor II-class Star Dreadnought, which has ten dice that you can reroll in its forward firing arc—plus four slots for officer upgrade cards that you can sacrifice, potentially rerolling all of your attack dice multiple times over the course of the game.

Aside from its gallery of iconic Imperial villains, the Super Star Destroyer Expansion Pack also comes with four title upgrade cards, allowing you to declare your Super Star Destroyer to be one of these deadly ships from the Imperial Navy. You may use the Annihilator to wipe up enemy squadrons and prevent them from harrying your forces. Or, you may use Eclipse to ensure that any enemy ship that overlaps you will suffer the consequences by taking a faceup damage card! You might even christen your Super Star Destroyer as Darth Vader’s Executor, allowing this mighty star dreadnought to take any number of command tokens of any type—no longer fettered by your command value. No matter what the title of your Super Star Destroyer might be, you’ll soon be able to crush the Rebellion, once and for all.

The might of the Imperial Navy has never been so clearly displayed as with the awesome power of the Super Star Destroyer. How will you add this symbol of interstellar might to your own fleets?