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I'm about to get into Star Wars: Armada and have essentially no idea. Any advice for newcomers? (feddit.de)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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So, pretty much title.

A shop in Germany had a pretty good deal on some selected Armada packs and the game seemed like exactly my kind of vibe (big ships, slow movement that you need to plan ahead for, Star Wars from the 80s), so I just said eff it and treated me some Christmas presents. The order isn't even on its way yet, but I'm eager to try it over Christmas with my oldest. The point is that I have no idea about the game (beyond some rules videos I watched) and pretty much just bought what was on sale, so I probably ended up buying stuff you don't really need and am probably lacking some expansions that are considered essential. Also, I'd like to avoid frustration for my son and me, so if you have any advice on how to create more or less even armies with what I ordered, I'd be super grateful.

What I ordered is the base game, the expansion cards set, an MC30c frigate, a CR90 corvette, a nebulon b frigate, a rebel transport flotilla, an interdictor class star destroyer, an onager class star destroyer, an imperium class star destroyer, a pack of empire fighters and an MC75 cruiser. So, all in all, some larger vessels and a set of fighters for the empire and some smaller vessels for the rebels.

Does that work? Will this result in enjoyable games or was the selection that was on sale only on sale because it sucked? Any advice on how to start with what I got beyond playing the training scenario and just going with it?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I used to play Armada competitively.

Armada is a fabulous game with a rich set of lists to choose from due to the objective-based gameplay. The Rebel side is losing options with a lack of squadrons but that's fine.

If you want to find a list that may be competitive, you can check here: https://armadawarlords.hivelabs.solutions

Note that haven't played Armada competitively since 2017; so, things may have changed since then. However, back then, there was, in my opinion, a big problem with how tournaments were played. Because Armada is such a long game and because players expect swiss rounds (read: a full day of gaming), tournaments couldn't determine top 4 by W-L record alone. So instead, they implemented an 11-point scoring system which heavily favored tabling your opponent. As a consequence, competitive lists tended to be nearly identical.

That may have changed since then. However, if not, understand that you may have to adjust lists you find to suit the models you have. Regardless, the game is brilliant and a ton of fun. I would wager you will have a blast with what you've purchased.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Hey! Thanks so much for the info! And wow, that was a great, in-depth reply!

I really don't plan to play competitively... It's really just to have some of those big dinghies on the field and a nice time with a friend or my son, so odd rating schemes on tournaments or competitive lists gravitating towards an optimum doesn't really concern me. Yet. ;)

I would wager you will have a blast with what you've purchased.

Awesome! That's what I needed to hear! Thank you! :) I am still concerned about the lack of rebel squadrons though... And it seems that the rebel units I got are worth about 400 pts in total (which is the standard play size if I understood that correctly), so I hope I won't be annoyed by the lack of variety after a few matches. You saying it'll be good gives me peace of mind for now though.

To be fair, I have kept spending money after I posted this and ordered a 6x3 neoprene mat with a fancy space image to have something to play on and I'm looking for some Armada dice sets which seem to be no longer available in Germany, which is probably going to annoy me terribly as online people seem to agree that more dice are kind of required. I learned that custom dice are expensive though, so I'll just see how to deal with this.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

While by no means required, getting an extra set or two of navigation rulers can be really helpful. You can just put them together at different lengths so you don't have to mark and move a bunch of ships out of the way when you only want to move forward at a speed of 2 but the 4-end of the ruler is getting in the way.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Ah man, this comment... 😅

I now also ordered the Separatists' and Republic's starter sets as well to get more dice and additional rulers as well as those ships for maybe some smaller games. They're about 50 bucks each while dice and rulers seem to be unavailable and sell for about 20 each, if you can even find some. Man, I'm hyped for the stuff to arrive.