Capital ships form the critical foundation of any Star Wars: Armada fleet. As of Wave 1, the Imperial Navy has two excellent capital ships to choose from. Today, let’s take a look at the Victory-class Star Destroyer.
IN SHORT: It may be slow and take an entire game just to turn around, but do not underestimate the Victory’s resilience or its frontal attack power. It will take its lumps and then smash the enemy’s face in.
STRENGTHS: With 8 Hull, plentiful shielding, and 2 Redirect tokens, the Victory can easily sop up massive damage before going down. Ignoring any special rules, a frontal assault against a fresh Victory must inflict an astounding 17 points of damage to blow it up (3 shields from the front, left, and right hull facings plus those 8 Hull points). Add in a Brace token, and the Victory is sticking around for a while, during which it can generate 2 shield points each turn with an impressive Engineering value of 4.
Considering this fortitude, the Victory’s base price of 73 points is an absolute steal. Point for point, it is the most resilient ship in the game as of Wave 1.
The Victory also sports a wide and very deadly front firing arc with 6 attack dice (3 reds and 3 more either black or blue depending on the variant). Seriously, who wants to be on the receiving end of that kind of firepower? It also comes equipped with a minimum of 2 red dice in every arc, ensuring that if the enemy can target the Victory, the Victory can fire back.
WEAKNESSES: Sure, the Victory is great at going head-to-head with opposing ships. It’s when faster enemies start maneuvering around to the sides and back that things get dicey. With its top speed at a puttering 2 and only 1 maneuvering click before Navigate commands are considered, the Victory is very much the slow, plodding behemoth.
To make a bad situation worse, its rear hull zone is a clear blind spot. With only 1 shield and 2 red dice, ships that get in behind the Victory or even manage to flank it are very difficult to dislodge.
Also, while it has red dice in every arc, its lack of Evade tokens means it is at a defensive disadvantage in any prolonged long-range engagement. Opponents with Evade tokens can ignore select die results, but the Victory must take every hit on the chin, and those hits will add up despite its raw resilience.
Fortunately, the Dominator title is a good (if expensive) way to help deal with these problems, giving one Victory per list the option of firing an extra two blue dice in any of its arcs. A nasty surprise to be sure, but one that costs 12 points and consumes shield energy with each blue die fired.
COMBOS: The Victory can be kitted out in a huge variety of configurations, but my favorite application is squadron support. With a base Squadron value of 3 and the ability to take the Expanded Hangars upgrade, the Victory is a clear choice for getting the most out of Imperial TIEs. Add in Grand Moff Tarkin dishing out command tokens, and a single Victory can easily support 5 squadrons per round.
This ability is extremely valuable for Imperial fleets because of the lower cost of basic TIE squadrons when compared to Rebel counterparts. In general, it takes a higher Squadron value to make Imperial fighters as effective as Rebels fighters.
Fortunately, the Victory can be customized for a variety of squadron support roles. Combining its already high Squadron value with Expanded Hangars and Flight Controllers gives any TIEs a huge edge in anti-squadron combat. Plus 1 blue dies for everyone? Yes, please!
And let’s not forget the love a Victory can dish out to bombers. With Admiral Chiraneau onboard a Victory with the Corruptor title, enemies will find it very challenging to pin down your bombers. Even if engaged, they’ll still be able to move distance 3 when activated!
LISTS FOR FUN: Victory’s are tough, right? And Admiral Motti makes ships even tougher … so here comes Admiral Motti’s Meat Lovers Pizza!
Victory I-class Star Destroyer (73)
– Admiral Motti (24)
Victory I-class Star Destroyer (73)
Victory I-class Star Destroyer (73)
TIE Fighter Squadrons x 7 (56)
TOTAL: 299 points
It may not be the flashiest list out there, but 3 stock Victory I-class Star Destroyers flying under Admiral Motti means your opponent has a terrifying 30 Hull Points to chew through. That’s a lot of meat on those pizza slices, and that kind of damage is simply not going to happen in most games. Plus, with triple front firing arcs of doom instead of 1, the Victory’s can be positioned to help defend each other’s blind spots, mitigating (to a certain degree) their largest flaw.
After adding the meat, garnish the list to taste with squadrons (I chose TIE Fighters, but it’s really a matter of preference) and take objectives as you see fit.
7 TIE Fighter Squadrons (6 for a more aggressive initiative bid) provide significant anti-squadron firepower to cover the Victory’s from bombers, and the Victory’s come equipped with more than adequate Squadron values to keep those TIEs running at their peak. 7 squadrons won’t stop a determined enemy squadron push, but all they really have to do is dampen it so that the Victory’s can handle whatever gets through.
And besides, playing 3 star destroyers in one list is just plain fun. At the end of the day, isn’t that the point? 🙂
SUMMARY: The Victory may not be the fastest ship or the prettiest ship (far from it on both accounts), but it is a rock solid workhorse for the Imperials and is currently the safest place to put our commanders. This article merely scratches of what the Victory can do on the tabletop.
Check out the complete list of Star Wars: Armada articles here.
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Thank you for the tips, I will try some of these tactics in the future. I do appreciate the massive front firing arc of the victory class, but it is quite annoying to be double teamed by a CR90 and a mark II assault frigate. It is a simple task for a CR90 to get in the rear firing arc when the star destroyer is occupied by an assault frigate.
True, but a Victory is roughly the same cost as an Assault Frigate before upgrades. So a Victory versus both a CR90 and an Assault Frigate (taken without any additional context) is an engagement where the Imperial player is heavily disadvantaged in raw points. The Victory is powerful and resilient, but it needs support due to its lumbering nature. That’s one of the reasons I like fielding them as carriers. For example, TIE Bomber Squadrons don’t have to be used offensively. They can prove to be excellent deterrents to a CR90 trying to swing around a Victory.