Rule the skies with Imperial might!

The Imperial Veterans Expansion Pack for X-Wing™ is on its way to retailers throughout the United States and scheduled for release on Thursday, June 30th. Availability in other regions may vary.

With its newly repainted TIE bomber and TIE defender miniatures, eight veteran pilots, and its arsenal of thirteen new upgrades, Imperial Veterans adds fantastic new depth and flexibility to your TIE bombers and TIE defenders. You gain new ways to successfully conduct your bombing runs, batter your foes with volleys of cannon fire, and seize control of the battlefield.

In our previews, we looked at how the expansion's new Title upgrades allow you to incorporate either ship—or both ships—into a wider range of play styles than ever before. For example, you can play your TIE bomber to its classical strengths, relying upon new upgrades like the Long-Range Scanners to get greater value from your ordnance, or you can scrap your ordnance in favor of the TIE Shuttle Title and transform your bomber into a support vessel that can reliably assign focus tokens and target locks to your other ships with its Fleet Officer and Systems Officer crew. Similarly, the TIE/x7 and TIE/D Title upgrades promote two vastly different uses of your TIE defender.

Still, for all these ships, pilots, and upgrades add to your games of X-Wing, they are not even the sum total of the expansion. There is also a new mission, Disable the Relays, which introduces a perfect scenario in which to practice flying your new ships. More than that, it marks the first (and likely only) time that you will find Rebel scum manning the controls of a TIE defender!

Disable the Relays

Coming out of a barrel roll, the elite Imperial pilot throws down the throttle for a burst of speed while chasing the stolen TIE defender. Infiltrating Rebel operatives have managed to steal some ships in the chaos of a base invasion. The Imperial pilot grimaces; these Rebel scum think they can get away with anything.

–from "Disable the Relays"

While X-Wing missions are often overlooked in favor of the streamlined simplicity of tournament-style one-hundred squad point death matches, it would be a mistake to discount them entirely. After all, as with Disable the Relays, most missions play to the strengths of the ships with which they release, meaning they provide excellent opportunities to practice your flying. More than that, though, each mission comes with a unique set of rules that promotes a different style of play; sometimes, these rules can even overwrite a modest portion of the game's core rules…

This is the case in Disable the Relays, as you will find the game's basic squad-building rules slightly altered and the Rebel player gets to fly the expansion's TIE defender.

This change, along with a unique victory condition plus a change to the way both the Rebel and Imperial player get to "fling" bombs along a maneuver template, ensures the mission provides a play experience completely distinct from standard tournament play.

Of course, you will also have plenty of options to practice your TIE bomber and TIE defender maneuvers, to test your pilots' unique abilities, and to experiment with the expansion's different upgrades, but one of the greatest joys the mission will deliver may very likely be the opportunity to build a sixty-point Rebel squadron to fly alongside a TIE/x7 Glaive Squadron Pilot.

Would you support your Glaive Squadron Pilot with the Rebels' traditional strengths in action-sharing, using pilots like Garven Dreis , Esege Tuketu , and Airen Cracken to give it free access to focus tokens and additional actions? Would you fly Kanan Jarrus to reduce the impact of enemy fire? Or would you go for the jugular with Jan Ors , adding extra dice to each of your Glaive Squadron Pilot's already considerable attacks.

Meanwhile, the fact that the Rebel player gains a TIE defender impacts the Imperial player's squad selection, too, as does the fact that neither the Rebel's TIE defender nor the Empire's TIE bomber can have ion tokens or tractor beam tokens placed upon them. Knowing this, you might counter the Rebel TIE defender by getting behind it with Countess Ryad or Maarek Stele in a TIE/D equipped with a Flechette Cannon , or you might expect your opponent to fly the defender in a relatively straight, back-and-forth pattern, then counter that flight pattern by adding a couple more TIE bombers with Long-Range Scanners and some Concussion Missiles .

However you approach the mission, Disable the Relays is bound to present you with a unique—and uniquely satisfying—hands-on lesson in flying your new ships from the Imperial Veterans Expansion Pack.

Level Up Your Starfighter

No matter whether you play your TIE bomber and TIE defender through Disable the Relays or in a more traditional, one-hundred point dogfight, the Imperial Veterans Expansion Pack is bound to expand your ships' options and lethality. Experiment with new builds, rout your foes with new tactics, and hone your veteran instincts.

The Imperial Veterans Expansion Pack is scheduled to arrive to United States retailers on Thursday, June 30th. Be sure to get your copy!