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For fans of Firestorm Armada, the journey across the black ocean has been a long and perilous one. From the classic editions of the game through to the Beta version, Warcradle began during the pandemic and the wait for news that continued through the quiet years that followed. Well, today we can announce that the wait in the void for news is over!

As our Studio team has continued to grow and go from strength to strength, we feel like we’re in the right place to do Firestorm Armada justice. You heard us correctly, Firestorm Armada is now under active development once more!

What does this mean? It means that we’ve heard your enthusiasm, and we’re thrilled to be able to announce that Firestorm Armada will be coming to a tabletop near you. Whilst we do not have an exact date to share, you can rest assured that you’ll be crossing the black ocean and entering the Firestorm Nebula soon.

Firestorm Armada takes the community to new heights, exploring brutal cinematic and combat in the galaxy’s most hazardous region of space. But what is this brand new setting? What is the story that Firestorm Armada will tell?

We’re excited to announce the addition of highly acclaimed author Richard Morgan to our development team for the Firestorm universe!

Richard Morgan, Key Narrative Writer



Well-regarded for his work on science fiction novels such as the award-winning Altered Carbon, Richard Morgan is developing the setting for Firestorm Armada as we tie the new and exciting narrative into every aspect of the game. From the scouring of the Earth by the Dindrenzi centuries ago to the mysteries of the A’Quan Sebrutan and the secrets of the Firestorm nebula itself, Richard is crafting a rich and compelling setting with us.

“Space Opera has always held a special place in my heart. Among the first Science Fiction I ever read were classic space opera tales like Poul Anderson’s Terran Empire sequence and Asimov’s Foundation novels.”

“In my earliest TV viewing, I watched enthralled as the USS Enterprise duelled Klingon battlecruisers and Romulan birds of prey. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion is an image burned deep into my consciousness and the DNA of my writing, for all that we never get to actually see it ourselves. So I’m delighted to be working with Warcradle Studios on a brand new Sci-Fi Tabletop Wargame - Firestorm Armada!”

“I now get the chance to evolve a universe of exotic alien races and white knuckle starship combat in a brand new, mysterious zone of space where humans form just one part of a complex political great game. I get to play with concepts and characterisation, world-building on an epic scale, but even better, I get to play with the lovingly designed and crafted starship models that form the basis of the game. And like that! - I’m kicked right back to those formative years of attack ships and battlecruisers and birds of prey! How cool is that? Think Warcradle are even considering letting me keep the models afterwards!”

Robin Cruddace, Lead Games Designer



Of course, the setting is only part of the exciting news we have to share. Let’s talk about the rules. We are delighted that Robin Cruddace, previously senior developer for Warhammer 40,000, is taking the helm as Lead Games Developer for Firestorm Armada. He’ll oversee the creation of a brand-new ruleset to perfectly capture the exciting, adrenaline-filled battles that will take place. The rules will depict the danger-filled nebula, lit up by incredible weaponry blasting across the gulf of space between the rival armadas. Squadrons of fighters swoop in and tear into each other as they vie to prevent waves of bombers and torpedoes from unleashing terrible damage on their allies. A tabletop miniatures game that takes players out to the stars in all its dreadful glory!

Firestorm Armada is going to be amazing! I was super excited to be asked to take the helm of this great game, and I can’t wait to get started. I know players are eager to immerse themselves in this fantastic setting, and that they are waiting patiently to see everything Warcradle has been up to - we aim to not only meet, but exceed those expectations.”

The game will come with an incredible new range of plastic miniatures with groups of destroyers, cruisers and battleships depicted in incredible detail. More of this will be revealed next year, but these are amongst the best miniatures Warcradle have ever produced. They’ll be worth the wait!

Stay up to date with the latest news and development process for Firestorm Armada on our Facebook Group, Instagram, X and our Discord.

Let's gooo

Fingers crossed for lots of glorious plastic

BEST NEWS!

I still have a bunch of my old Firestorm Armada models (and occasionally use them in other space games), as well as Planetfall stuff.

Will be interesting to see what the rules are like, and hopefully older models will still be "legal" (yes, I know, at my house I can play with whatever, etc., but always nice to have the "right" ones).

On one hand always room for more space games, on the other warcradel has said they are redesigning all the ships and totally redoing the lore as well as making a completely mechanically unrelated rule set and at that point i have to ask what is the point of calling it Firestorm Armada? the only answer i can see is to farm nostalgia but it really comes off as a cynical ploy.

Well here's hoping the new ship designs are good.

That's basically what they've done with Dystopian Wars and they've done good with that!!

In general they had to redo the models anyway from the old FA days and a lot of the concept art that they showed a few years back was really awesome. They've certainly got the feel for the setting and game and models so I think they'll be fine.

Plus far as I'm aware, they don't have any of the original Spartan Staff working for them. So whatever else it's likely hard to recapture the exact same thing because those staff are long gone. A "remaster/refresh" is likely the best way that they can put their stamp on it without being hobbled by the past.

It's a shame to lose the old Spartan stuff, but then again FA did need a huge refresh of its model line anyway (at least a good chunk of fleets would have benefitted one even under SG days). Heck the old SG died almost on the week or month that they launched a big FA update Kickstarter (I think or it was another Dystopian, my memory is hazy)

Finally! It's been years since they teased concept art.

Robin Cruddace? I thought he was still at GW. Hopefully his rules writing has improved.

Looking forward to getting some ships. I bought a ton of Spartan Firestorm ships on clearance as a pandemic hobby.

My bank account isn’t ready for this, if they capture the feel I will be happy.

The first hit what I love about space games, but there was room to improve it.

I’m also in need of a space game!

This is a pleasant and unexpected surprise.

The game was solid and the miniatures were excellent.

While I understand that might have no bearing on the new version, I'll remain hopeful as things develop...

Holy crap I have everything from the Aquan Prime and most of it even painted.

I wonder what the more ancilliary fleets will be like, as I played RSN, Works Raptor and Ba'Kash Zenian league (mostly focussing on RSN), which I liked the aesthetic of all three more than any of the main fleets.

 Overread wrote:
That's basically what they've done with Dystopian Wars and they've done good with that!!

Eh.

I have but one wish: Do NOT remove the exploding dice mechanic from the game!

Could it be be unfair?,yes. Was it satisfying?, YES.

 FrozenDwarf wrote:
I have but one wish: Do NOT remove the exploding dice mechanic from the game!

Could it be be unfair?,yes. Was it satisfying?, YES.

I quit all Spartan Games because it made them into nothing more than pelting each other with dice and waiting for who will be the first to spike a random potshot into a free battleship kill and insta winning.

But fret not, Warcradle actually figured out how to fully integrate exploding dice into the game as a balanced, mathed out, cornerstone mechanic, not something tacked on at the end with no consideration for how it affected play. After two successful games I doubt they'll remove it.

 Platuan4th wrote:

 Overread wrote:
That's basically what they've done with Dystopian Wars and they've done good with that!!

Eh.

They've done great models for the sea game and whilst I I'm still sad that they cut the land parts I can appreciate why and they've got cool airships!

I will admit that the ground game so far hasn't really caught my eye. A few models here and there but not a whole army as yet has really made me want to buy into them. But I haven't yet seen many in real life (only the two launch models at Salute last year).

The original spec for land and sea theatres might have been overly ambitious (back in the Spartan days).

Anyone know if there are plans for RSN and Works Raptor?

That's assuming those even exist at all. I remember the lore (and rules) that Warcradle posted a few years ago was quite the departure from Spartan days.

It's brand new lore using some of the same names and aesthetics. RSN seems to be alive and well judging from concept art, albeit not listed in the core 6 factions - I assume they remain a Dindrenzi subfaction.

Also how many factions we get is likely based more on sales than anything else. If sales do well = more factions.

Also nothing stops them taking subfactions and lifting them up to larger forces with a new edition - again if sales prove strong.

One nice thing about Firestorm Armada (or FSA as the cool kids like to call it) is how each faction had a distinct aesthetic.

Too many games just go for a single near future industrial look and they suffer for it.

 lord_blackfang wrote:

 FrozenDwarf wrote:
I have but one wish: Do NOT remove the exploding dice mechanic from the game!

Could it be be unfair?,yes. Was it satisfying?, YES.

I quit all Spartan Games because it made them into nothing more than pelting each other with dice and waiting for who will be the first to spike a random potshot into a free battleship kill and insta winning.

Same, I didn't like the exploding dice. Also I disliked the non-linear scaling of attacks. that's why I did't get into Planetfall despite liking the minis and setting.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
One nice thing about Firestorm Armada (or FSA as the cool kids like to call it) is how each faction had a distinct aesthetic.

Too many games just go for a single near future industrial look and they suffer for it.

For me the two big things were firstly the designs and variety
The second was the size. A lot of space games have pretty tiny models - even BFG had fairly small models in comparison. Being able to put a big chunky battleship or dreadnought down on the table was great in FA. Plus its a space game; the board is typically much more empty of terrain features compared to ground wargames. So you've all this space to play in why not fill it with fleets of impressive looking space ships!

I found size to be a problem

In space games ships don't occupy the models' actual volumes, so the models can overlap, and bigger models make this more or a problem.

FSA did have a brilliant incentive for you to keep some distance by making shooting strongest in the second range band rather than point blank, but models overlapping in situations where ships were not intended to be touching was still a much bigger issue than in BFG due to size.

 Overread wrote:

 Platuan4th wrote:

 Overread wrote:
That's basically what they've done with Dystopian Wars and they've done good with that!!

Eh.

They've done great models for the sea game and whilst I I'm still sad that they cut the land parts I can appreciate why and they've got cool airships!

I will admit that the ground game so far hasn't really caught my eye. A few models here and there but not a whole army as yet has really made me want to buy into them. But I haven't yet seen many in real life (only the two launch models at Salute last year).

I'm not a fan of the newer aesthetics on the majority of their versions.