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I know they are both different games with star wars on the box.


I really want to get into one or the other but I don't know which one I want t get into. I already know that this is a really stupid question but. "Which game is more fun?" I played the basic game of X-wing and thought it was fun but haven't played armada yet and really want to before buying in.

Could some kind people give the pro and cons of the two systems? I already got the idea that ARmada is big buy in vs X-wing micro transations to get cards you want but not really ships you will use.

Armada and X-Wing both use the same approach of spreading important upgrades across every expansion so that you end up buying all of them. The only (very slight) difference is that X-Wing ships tend to be cheaper but bought in larger numbers.

Oberron wrote:
"Which game is more fun?"

That is an entirely subjective question, one that is impossible for anyone but you to answer.

Could some kind people give the pro and cons of the two systems? I already got the idea that ARmada is big buy in vs X-wing micro transations to get cards you want but not really ships you will use.

Well, the thing to remember is that they are two different game systems so directly comparing them is kind of difficult and since I enjoy both games greatly, I really don't have a list of cons for either. However, I can highlight differences between to two.

Armada:

Play area is 6'x3'

Moderate to high initial buy-in cost

After Wave 2, games have a time limit of 150 minutes

Tends to be more strategic; planning future move/commands is critical

No clearly defined metagame (currently)

Focuses more on combined fleet engagements; less emphasis on individual pilots

Games, including tournaments, are objective based

Small, but growing, player base

X-wing:

Play area is 3'x3'

Low to moderate initial cost (here is a price list of the top eight lists at Worlds earlier this month)

Games are typically 60 to 75 minutes long

A little more on the tactical side; planning ahead is important but the game state changes rapidly

Tends to have have clearly defined metagames for each wave; currently in flux with a new wave on the doorstep

Focuses more heavily on individual pilots

Games are often straight deathmatches

Pretty large player base in most areas, also still growing

In x-wing how hard is it to make a 'bad list' in a non-tournament style competitive environment

Oberron wrote:
In x-wing how hard is it to make a 'bad list' in a non-tournament style competitive environment

Very easy. Bring a single 12-point academy pilot to a 100 point game, and spend your other 88 points to bid for initiative.

Now, if your actual question is "if I put a reasonable amount of thought into making my list what are the chances that I'm hopelessly screwed just because of my list" the the answer is that it's fairly unlikely. In a non-competitive environment very few ships/pilots are so completely terrible that you have no hope of winning if you take them, as long as you put some thought into how you're going to incorporate them into your list and strategy. It's not like 40k where 95% of the units in the game are garbage-tier and you have no hope of winning against the good stuff, no matter how good your strategy is.

Do you live anywhere near a games store?

Put up a flier asking if someone with the games would mind playing a game with you so you could try it out. I met of my best friends because of a flier for X-Wing.

Social networking, the old school way.

Keep in mind that at least for X-wing, in home games where it doesn't matter, nearly every upgrade card can be downloaded online and printed out.

So for games between friends, the 'chase' of buying unwanted ships for their cards is not an issue.

 Peregrine wrote:

Oberron wrote:
In x-wing how hard is it to make a 'bad list' in a non-tournament style competitive environment

Very easy. Bring a single 12-point academy pilot to a 100 point game, and spend your other 88 points to bid for initiative.

Now, if your actual question is "if I put a reasonable amount of thought into making my list what are the chances that I'm hopelessly screwed just because of my list" the the answer is that it's fairly unlikely. In a non-competitive environment very few ships/pilots are so completely terrible that you have no hope of winning if you take them, as long as you put some thought into how you're going to incorporate them into your list and strategy. It's not like 40k where 95% of the units in the game are garbage-tier and you have no hope of winning against the good stuff, no matter how good your strategy is.

This. Some people like to say that "It's not your list, it's you", but I prefer "It's not your ships, it's you". Although there are some upgrade cards that are complete garbage, when it comes to the ships themselves even the Scyk is god for casual games. As for upgrade cards, you'll learn very quickly that Daredevil is terrible. Fortunately the Interceptor Pack also comes with Soontir Fel, so you're money wasn't wasted. Even upgrades like Marksmanship can be made to work for a friendly match.

 Crazy_Carnifex wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:

Oberron wrote:
In x-wing how hard is it to make a 'bad list' in a non-tournament style competitive environment

Very easy. Bring a single 12-point academy pilot to a 100 point game, and spend your other 88 points to bid for initiative.

Now, if your actual question is "if I put a reasonable amount of thought into making my list what are the chances that I'm hopelessly screwed just because of my list" the the answer is that it's fairly unlikely. In a non-competitive environment very few ships/pilots are so completely terrible that you have no hope of winning if you take them, as long as you put some thought into how you're going to incorporate them into your list and strategy. It's not like 40k where 95% of the units in the game are garbage-tier and you have no hope of winning against the good stuff, no matter how good your strategy is.

This. Some people like to say that "It's not your list, it's you", but I prefer "It's not your ships, it's you". Although there are some upgrade cards that are complete garbage, when it comes to the ships themselves even the Scyk is god for casual games. As for upgrade cards, you'll learn very quickly that Daredevil is terrible. Fortunately the Interceptor Pack also comes with Soontir Fel, so you're money wasn't wasted. Even upgrades like Marksmanship can be made to work for a friendly match.

So the interceptor pack isn't that great aside from fel? Man I was planning on focusing on imperials and wanting to try a list with the lamda shuttle and interceptors trying to usher the enemy into the lamda's firing arc.

Oberron wrote:
So the interceptor pack isn't that great aside from fel? Man I was planning on focusing on imperials and wanting to try a list with the lamda shuttle and interceptors trying to usher the enemy into the lamda's firing arc.

The interceptor itself is fine, the problem is that it also appears in the imperial aces expansion and has some very powerful cards there. So if you want to use interceptors you need imperial aces, and only need Fel's pilot card out of the original interceptor expansion.

Oberron wrote:

 Crazy_Carnifex wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:

Oberron wrote:
In x-wing how hard is it to make a 'bad list' in a non-tournament style competitive environment

Very easy. Bring a single 12-point academy pilot to a 100 point game, and spend your other 88 points to bid for initiative.

Now, if your actual question is "if I put a reasonable amount of thought into making my list what are the chances that I'm hopelessly screwed just because of my list" the the answer is that it's fairly unlikely. In a non-competitive environment very few ships/pilots are so completely terrible that you have no hope of winning if you take them, as long as you put some thought into how you're going to incorporate them into your list and strategy. It's not like 40k where 95% of the units in the game are garbage-tier and you have no hope of winning against the good stuff, no matter how good your strategy is.

This. Some people like to say that "It's not your list, it's you", but I prefer "It's not your ships, it's you". Although there are some upgrade cards that are complete garbage, when it comes to the ships themselves even the Scyk is god for casual games. As for upgrade cards, you'll learn very quickly that Daredevil is terrible. Fortunately the Interceptor Pack also comes with Soontir Fel, so you're money wasn't wasted. Even upgrades like Marksmanship can be made to work for a friendly match.

So the interceptor pack isn't that great aside from fel? Man I was planning on focusing on imperials and wanting to try a list with the lamda shuttle and interceptors trying to usher the enemy into the lamda's firing arc.

The packs not bad- it comes with two of the best Interceptor Pilots (Soontir and Tur). It is just very light on upgrades, and the two talents that it includes are some of the worst in the game. Grabbing it plus Aces is pretty good, as Aces comes with some essential upgrades (PTL and Royal Guard TIE. Shield Upgrade and Targeting Computer are also "Good Enough" upgrades for friendly games).

as for your plan, the problem with it is that you are using the Interceptors to support the shuttle, when things should be the other way around. A smart opponent will just punch through the Interceptor and flank the Lambda

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:


Armada:

Play area is 6'x3'

Moderate to high initial buy-in cost

After Wave 2, games have a time limit of 150 minutes

Tends to be more strategic; planning future move/commands is critical

No clearly defined metagame (currently)

Focuses more on combined fleet engagements; less emphasis on individual pilots

Games, including tournaments, are objective based

Small, but growing, player base

X-wing:

Play area is 3'x3'

Low to moderate initial cost (here is a price list of the top eight lists at Worlds earlier this month)

Games are typically 60 to 75 minutes long

A little more on the tactical side; planning ahead is important but the game state changes rapidly

Tends to have have clearly defined metagames for each wave; currently in flux with a new wave on the doorstep

Focuses more heavily on individual pilots

Games are often straight deathmatches

Pretty large player base in most areas, also still growing

Excellent rundown of the games

Are you a Squad Leader or an Admiral?

xwing can run the same amount money or more if you wish to run upgrades from one release and the ship of another. nice thing about armada so far (not that it will not change) is if you bought one of everything your just as competitive as the guy who's going to buy 6 Imperial Raiders in wave 2.

 EmpNortonII wrote:
Do you live anywhere near a games store?

Put up a flier asking if someone with the games would mind playing a game with you so you could try it out. I met of my best friends because of a flier for X-Wing.

To expand on this: it's going to be a lot easier to find people to play X-Wing with than Armada. Part of that is just because Armada is new, but also because Armada requires a bit more effort to set up a game (you need twice as much play area, and need to schedule twice as much time). It's pretty easy to just walk in to a FLGS and pop off a game of X-Wing with someone you don't know.

Can you play armada with just the small ships or do you have to use the bigger ships to make it work? Serious question. I'd like to actually field an army of the scum and villainy ships ( falcon, outrider, fire spray, ig88 etc) but do I have to have the battle ships too?

buckero0 wrote:
Can you play armada with just the small ships or do you have to use the bigger ships to make it work? Serious question. I'd like to actually field an army of the scum and villainy ships ( falcon, outrider, fire spray, ig88 etc) but do I have to have the battle ships too?

Yes, you need the big ships, they're the entire point of Armada. The rules might technically work if you remove the cap on how many points you can spend on squadrons, but it won't make any sense and probably won't be any fun either. You'd be essentially turning all of your opponent's capital ship weapons and upgrades and stuff into blank cards because their only way to interact with squadrons is to roll their 1-2 anti-squadron dice.

Armada is epic. I wouldnt touch xwing if it wasn't for one of my kids going crazy about star wars atm but I would buy Armada no matter what. And I am star wars hater tbh though try to find my inner kid lately to be able to share enthusiasm with said kid.

The only thing I hate about Armada is constant picking up stuff, manouver tool and the tokens. Really sometimes I think that just pen and paper would be times better.