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Rumor has it that Amazon will not receive Armada core sets until April 20 ... putting those sweet underpriced pre-order shipments into the dregs of Q1. Thanks to my friends, however, I was able to play this past Saturday night: a Vic-II with (I believe) six stands of generic ties versus a CR90A, Neb-B Escort Frigate, and four stands of generic X-Wings.

My Rebs had the initiative: I increased the frigate's speed, hoping to circle the VSD. I ended up bringing her head on towards the VSD's formidable front arc. It was the best I could do to avoid sitting in two VSD arcs but I paid for it with all of my forward shields. I brought the corvette around the other side of the VSD with two X-Wing squadrons and got stuck in with three TIE squadrons. Poor rolling saw my fighters whittled down as the VSD blocked the frigate from going anywhere, fatally trapping her in two of its arcs. Meanwhile, the corvette and surviving X-Wing squadrons cleaned up the TIEs while wearing down the VSD's shields. But I didn't have enough time and ended up losing by 19 points.

Here are some points I especially loved:

- as with X-Wing, FFG got the pace of play exactly right for the theme: the stately dance of capital ships spiced up with frantic fighter action -- it is measured but doesn't drag at all (at least with this number of ships)

- also like X-Wing, each ship feels very distinct

- position is everything! (yes it is a real miniatures game) in addition to arcs, there are screening tactics -- and not just with fighters: you can fire through other capital ships but you take a dice penalty ... this little wrinkle provides so much tactical depth; a classic example of design elegance

- similarly, the command phase and defense systems give you just enough to play with to give the capital ships "weight" without bogging you down into simulation-type micromanagement

I had a great time, even without using upgrades or the awesome objective system. Needless to say, I am feeling very good about pre-ordering two core sets and all the expansions ...

I had the same problem... I tried to maneuver my CR-90 to flank the VSD and instead I ended up taking a point blank shot from the front arc and full broadside... the VSD was equipped with Enhanced Armament and the Dominator title and my corvette didn't stand a chance. I agree with all of your points too, this is an extremely fun game to play and I feel like I'm playing a tabletop version of Empire at War, which makes it even better.

We're doing game night again this Saturday and this time we'll have two core sets instead of just mine to play with so we'll to play a full 300 point game.

If I get a chance to replay this one, I think I will let the VSD come to me and stock up on tokens as she approaches. Any Rebel strategy ideas SPJr?

The corvette being shotted early should happen less once we have some full games on a full 3x6 table. More room to maneuver, and Imperials will want to keep those SDs close to cover each other with their front arcs.

 Manchu wrote:
If I get a chance to replay this one, I think I will let the VSD come to me and stock up on tokens as she approaches. Any Rebel strategy ideas SPJr?

Remember, you can only keep one of each token and you can have a maximum tokens equal to your comand value. So for a CR-90, it's only one.

The main strength of the Rebels is their fighters, especially Luke. X-wings can easily one-shot a TIE squadron so you can use the Nebulon-B's two Squadron commands to clear the skies of TIEs and use its superior anti-squadron attack to help mop up TIEs, just be weary of your positioning to keep any leftover TIE squadrons outside of range one so they can't attack when activated. Luke can cripple a VSD because he rolls a black die, can deal double damage with a critical, can resolve a critical effect, and bypasses shields. Flank the VSD with the CR90 and once you get into a good position be sure not to out pace it because the VSD has a maximum speed on two. The rear of the VSD is weak with only one shield and with Concentrate Fire (and the CR90-B), you'll be rolling four blue dice. Just be sure to keep the VSD at range and don't give it more than one shot on each ship.

Take everything I say with a grain of salt though... I only have a handful of games under my belt, but after this weekend when I play a full 300 point game I'll update you with what I figure out.

I agree that the rebels strengths lie in their xwings. I can't wait for the other wings to be released, I think it will kick the rebels up a peg or two.

Messed around with the starter tonight. The balance isn't as bad as I thought it would be. You're right, I think the key to the rebel's success will be their X wings.

Yep, just keep your ships well away from the VSD and try to flank it while your fighters chip away at the TIE escorts. If you can lure them slightly away from the VSD the Nebulon-B can help too. The Imperial player often gets to choose between turning to pursue your capital ships or activate squadrons to move and fire them, which can be a tough choice with the starter set. Parking the VSD isn't ideal either

I've had games where the VSD did not get to fire its full frontal dice set once. On the other hand, when it does, the Rebs usually are in trouble.

Has anyone had any experience with the overload pulse upgrade?

It is powerful for fleets that have the numbers, but has two limitations; its blue dice range and the fact that you really want it to be the first shot of the turn.

Out of the two points based games I have tried with armada so far the pulse seemed to be really powerful. Forcing the discard of defense tokens if damage was to be avoided.

My findings after a couple of games with only the core set:

- Nebulon B support refit, I don't really see any reason to take this besides its cheaper. The escort frigate has more squadron and anti starfighter for only 6 points, with no difference in weapons, speed or upgrade options, unlike the other ship varieties.

-Fighters die easily, not sure if we were doing it right but they have no defensive options (except heros)

- 6 turns seems to short for any decisive result, this might change once list building and playing style is practiced a bit more. But in the games played imperials lost both times because the TIE fighters were destroyed.

- (wishlisting) They have done faction specific ships again. It would have been nice if some of the ships (nebulon B, corvette as examples) could be used by either faction.

First thing to know about Overload Pulse is that the effect of exhausting all defense tokens is done after the defender is done first using his own defense tokens. Any remaining unexhausted defense tokens are then exhausted.

So Overload Pulse makes following attacks more powerful, and is best used on ships that haven't used any defense tokens.

The Nebulon B Support refit, and most other cheaper versions of ships are there as more of a baseline, build your own variant. Most upgrades are only 3-13 points, so tacking on upgrades let's you build your own variants.

The Escort Frigate is 6 points more expensive for that extra squadron attack die and squadron value, making a ship that's good at pushing around fighters and attacking other fighters. However, if you want another ship that puts out firepower with a cheap upgrade, it's a better option.

Fighters are best used with the squadron command. In fact, that's the only reliable way to use the offensively. Otherwise you have to place them in spots where ships might move, or not, and they can be engaged and destroyed that way. I think it will be some time before players learn how to hold back and spread out fighters to better effect, and not rush in to engage.

 Vertrucio wrote:
First thing to know about Overload Pulse is that the effect of exhausting all defense tokens is done after the defender is done first using his own defense tokens. Any remaining unexhausted defense tokens are then exhausted.

So Overload Pulse makes following attacks more powerful, and is best used on ships that haven't used any defense tokens.

Can you point out the rules for this please. We had a look in the book and it seemed to us that the exhaustion was done before the defender spent tokens.

Caved in and ordered mine from Amazon - they still have a few sets left for £60 whereas Wayland have them up for £70 + delivery. Eagerly awaiting it. One question to those in the know as it were and I am certain it has been asked already but I can't for the life of me find it: is it worth buying additions to the starter set in the same vein as X-Wing? With X-Wing I bought 2 starter sets so I had additional ships, tokens, dice etc. I appreciate buying 2 Armada starter sets is probably overkill but is it worth/necessary to buy the extra dice set, extra Star Destroyer, Nebulon B etc. that are also being released individually?

I bought two core sets ... but I don't think it is a MUST like in X-Wing. It will be nice to have more dice (one core set does not have enough - only three of each color) and another movement tool. But you will eventually be able to buy these separately from the core set.

If you want more ships, a discounted Core Set is probably the cheapest way to do it. But keep in mind that you will want the expansion versions to get different upgrade cards, just like in X-Wing.

I see, cheers for the heads-up! I shall probably get the extra dice set then for a kick off.

Personally I think the second set is worth it. I grabbed two (would never consider a third) but once you consider the additional cost of the models (I'm tempted to run at least 3 of each of the core set models in more than a few fleets), the additional fighters, the cost of an additional measuring stick (which will be nice to break down into smaller rulers), and the additional dice it's kinda an easy decision.

And if you ever want to be the guy providing you need that second damage deck. And it'll be good to have the second deck just in case you lose a card or two

For a slightly larger game, we went to 200 pts and split up 2 battle boxes. 2 frigates and 1 corvette versus 2 VSDs is how it generally breaks down.

2 SDs became much more potent than 1 when they can support each other with either fanning or intersecting front arcs. It's also a lot harder for the Rebs to keep frigates alive when the side shields can come into play more.

I also feel like 6 turns (when turn 1 is generally just a 'move forward' turn) is not enough to decide most engagements. It's very 'meta' then to take a couple of the more resilient capitals with deeper hull totals since 2 almost-dead VSDs gives up fewer points than 2 completely alive frigates and 1 dead corvette.

And then finally, I found it surprisingly hard to maneuver to avoid front arcs or get back arc on the star destroyers. The shoot-then-move mechanics makes the attacker more prone to suffer a turn of fire 'first'.

I did not think being almost dead gave up any points.

... which is why I think the Imps have it a bit easier. I managed to get both my ships behind a VSD this past Saturday night and in fact never gave my opponent a single forward-arc shot. But I paid for that by having one ship out of range to do anything for half the game.

And I only managed this because the VSD deployed from the center of the opposing edge. If he had started from a corner, I doubt I could have gotten around.

 Manchu wrote:
I did not think being almost dead gave up any points.

It doesn't. If you can snipe a corvette and have engineering lined up, you're probably in good shape to win as the Imperials.

 Manchu wrote:
I did not think being almost dead gave up any points.

... which is why I think the Imps have it a bit easier. I managed to get both my ships behind a VSD this past Saturday night and in fact never gave my opponent a single forward-arc shot. But I paid for that by having one ship out of range to do anything for half the game.

And I only managed this because the VSD deployed from the center of the opposing edge. If he had started from a corner, I doubt I could have gotten around.

What speed are you setting for your ships? I think that's going to be almost as huge of a decision as what you actually bring on a game to game basis. Right now, with the limited fleets I could see maxing speed on multiple corvettes to get those angles. Their ability to be fast but also react quickly due to low command is impressive.

Also objectives and large tables are going to be a big deal too. Not sure how much actual ship death we're going to see thru the first wave. In a way though it makes sense as in the Star Wars universe no one is ever stuck in an engagement and can leave whenever they feel like so most fights wouldn't be super decisive outside of fighter losses.

 sourclams wrote:

 Manchu wrote:
I did not think being almost dead gave up any points.

It doesn't. If you can snipe a corvette and have engineering lined up, you're probably in good shape to win as the Imperials.

Honestly I'm hoping this gets addressed but as I haven't played much with objectives maybe it isn't a huge deal but half points for half damage seems reasonable to me.

 Hulksmash wrote:
What speed are you setting for your ships?

Started at 2 on the CR90 and 3 on the Neb-B and never adjusted them. The VSD started closer to and pointed at the CR90. The Neb-B is the ship that spent half the game effectively out of the action.

One aspect of 'shoot then move' that is going to be strong is how it opens up kite strategies. Assault Frigate II is going to be insane when you give it enhanced armament, and circle the battle at long range, objective allowing.

It'll be able to outgun the VSDs at that range, while shoving fighters in the way if the VSD gets closer.

 filbert wrote:
Caved in and ordered mine from Amazon - they still have a few sets left for £60 whereas Wayland have them up for £70 + delivery. Eagerly awaiting it. One question to those in the know as it were and I am certain it has been asked already but I can't for the life of me find it: is it worth buying additions to the starter set in the same vein as X-Wing? With X-Wing I bought 2 starter sets so I had additional ships, tokens, dice etc. I appreciate buying 2 Armada starter sets is probably overkill but is it worth/necessary to buy the extra dice set, extra Star Destroyer, Nebulon B etc. that are also being released individually?

I ordered a starter set at the weekend from Amazon. It was £51 something, which seemed a reasonable price. The expansion sets mostly were to be released later in the month. A second starter is good value compared to the separate ships but no doubt the separate packs have different cards in them.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
no doubt the separate packs have different cards in them.

That is correct. And it is pretty essential. You must take a commander in regular play and the core set only has one commander for each faction (Grand Moff Tarkin and General Dodonna). This is especially rough for the Empire as Tarkin (while a good commander) costs 38 points -- i.e., one point less than a CR90B. You will need to get the VSD expansion (Admiral Motti, 24 pts) and Gladiator expansion (Admiral Screed, 26 pts) to have more commander options.

 Manchu wrote:
Rumor has it that Amazon will not receive Armada core sets until April 20 ... putting those sweet underpriced pre-order shipments into the dregs of Q1.

I contacted Amazon about that and after a bit of back and forth they agreed to let me cancel my pre-order, order through one of the third party vendors that had them in stock, and then Amazon refunded me the shipping and cost above what the pre-order was for (in Amazon credit).

I was pretty happy. I got my set already and used the credit to get my daughter some Nintendo DX game she wanted.

Wha? I have never had any trouble canceling a pre-order with Amazon, certainly never had to take the refund in Amazon credit. In fact, Amazon never charges me for pre-orders until the item ships. Did you perhaps place your pre-order through a third-party selling via Amazon in the first place?

 Manchu wrote:
Wha? I have never had any trouble canceling a pre-order with Amazon, certainly never had to take the refund in Amazon credit. In fact, Amazon never charges me for pre-orders until the item ships. Did you perhaps place your pre-order through a third-party selling via Amazon in the first place?

No, you got me wrong, they refunded me the difference between the higher price I paid (including shipping) and the pre-order price. Effectively allowing me to get the game sooner at the pre-order price from a 3rd party vendor.

I canceled the pre-order. Re-ordered at the higher price plus shipping. Amazon gave me store credit for the difference.

Oh that's really nice of them or maybe you have a silver tongue. I am content to wait on mine a bit longer (really cannot beat $54!) thanks to my friend having a copy.

DOOMONYOU wrote:

 Vertrucio wrote:
First thing to know about Overload Pulse is that the effect of exhausting all defense tokens is done after the defender is done first using his own defense tokens. Any remaining unexhausted defense tokens are then exhausted.

So Overload Pulse makes following attacks more powerful, and is best used on ships that haven't used any defense tokens.

Can you point out the rules for this please. We had a look in the book and it seemed to us that the exhaustion was done before the defender spent tokens.

Critical effects are resolved in the Resolve Damage step, which is after the Spend Defense Tokens step. The Blue Critical needed for Overload Pulse to work is thus resolved after defense tokens are used.

It's still a powerful ability, but at just 8 points, it would be too powerful if it basically forced an opponent to always take full damage, or get rid of his most useful defense token.