What is this new Hovercraft? Let’s find out!

Tomorrow sees the release of the new Resistance Starter Army, and with it the brand new Hydra Relay Hovercraft! But what is it and why should you want it in your army? That’s what we’re here to find out!

Hydra Relay Hovercraft

This is a new Commander, so it’s a bit of a support role. Let’s look at the stats:

The Hydra is a pretty nippy, with a 10″ move. Of course, you mustn’t forget that the Hovercraft don’t go in any transports, so you’re going to have to be careful with that 10″ to make sure you’re getting stuck into battle. Once you’re there though, it’s great at relocating.

A decent Armour 13 and 3 Damage Points with Resilient means it’s the hardiest of our new Commanders, and although Evasion +1 isn’t full Skimmer stats, it’s still very handy.

A Double Rocket Battery is a nice weapon, a simple 2 shot version of the standard Resistance profile. However, thanks to the Hydra’s advanced targeting, those missiles stay effective at a longer range, giving it a pin-point long range of 18″ Countered. It’s a good sniper!

The big news here is the Scanner Array though, a unique special rule for this Hovercraft. It allows you to pick a single enemy unit each activation, and for the rest of the round, all friendly units re-roll hit rolls of 1 against that unit’s squad. That’s a big deal! It’s less useful against aircraft since they tend to only have squads of 1, but against Standard choices or even Infantry units bunkered down in a Garrison, it’s super useful.

The separate version of the Hydra comes with the option to change the turret, making the Circe Attack Hovercraft!

Circe Attack Hovercraft

This mean looking hover-tank is completely different to what the Resistance have had access to previously.

As with the Hydra, the Circe doesn’t have a transport, but moves fast on its own. It also benefits from the Hovercraft rule, which means it will move on Turn 1 with the rest of your Hovercraft transports. Very handy!

It’s definitely faster than your Hannibals, and while it’s not as well armoured, it does benefit from Resilient and the Evasion bonus too, as well as an extra Damage Point! All in all, it’s pretty tough really. Just watch out for multiple shot weapons, making Resilient less useful.

The 180mm Vengeance Cannon is a nice mid-way point between the Hannibal and Alexander, adding a longer range, an extra point of Energy, and Devastator 2 against Skimmers and Tanks. Note that the Vengeance Cannon isn’t all-powerful, so it doesn’t work especially well on Walkers. Choose your targets wisely!

It also has a great Flamethrower. A primary weapon on other vehicles, this is more like a nice bonus. A 9″ range means it doesn’t even have to be that close to occupied Garrisons to get its full use, so we recommend pushing it for tank hunting, and any infantry killed are a nice bonus.

 

So there we have it! Two brand new hovercraft, each very different. Who is excited to add these to their Resistance armies? Who wants a whole army of hovercraft (me)?

These will be going up for pre-order tomorrow (Friday) on the TTCombat webstore, and there are still a few surprises left as well!