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my FLGS has the Rulebook and i thumbed through it and i was liking the system.
a guy i work with wants to play a Ship based combat game. I have as well. my FLGS and I have been looking at Dystopian Wars. i also was looking at Firestorm Armada. the problem i am coming to, i Play Warmachine and Malifaux, the SteamPunk Scene is getting a little old. i really would like to Play Dystopian Wars but a Simple Space combat Game is something i would like to play as well. so i guess it comes to, has anyone played Noble Armada? do they likfe it? Should i look at Firestorm Armada instead? i will be getting Dystopian Wars as well, but i want to hit up a Space combat game come April-ish. if the System for Firestorm Armada is similar to Noble Armada i may convice my buddy to play Firestorm. he likes the look of Noble Armada. Noble Armada is nice, but i like the Ship designs of Firestorm Armada better.

I would also like to Consider Price. i don't plan on getting alot for Firestorm or Noble, my main Ship Based Combat will be Dystopian Wars. because it looks amazing, especially since they added land combat as well. so is Firestorm Armada going to be a little more Pricey ? should i look at Noble Armada instead? whats some suggestions here?

i am Moving cities in about 8mo to a year so my new FLGS that i goto will hopefully have a larger crowd for these games. thats the problem with my area is small town, with main crowd having low income we already converted a bunch of peeps to Warmachine so adding more games is going to really stretch. i am thinking of only picking up Dystopian Wars. the city nearby that i work at has a couple LGS so i am going to check the popularity with them as well.

i am looking for Opinions before i buy.

I have been playing Battlefleet Gothic for a long time, and love it (and the rules are free on GWs site).

I recently picked up Noble Armada, and like it just as much. Noble Armada has a touch more bookkeeping than Gothic, the ships last longer in the fight, and it has more 'crunch' than Gothic.

I, however, am not a fan of the ships, so the group I'm playing with are using whatever ships we like, and just consistently calling a frigate a frigate, for example. I'm going to use Gothic ships for my Hawkwood fleet.

I do know that the rulebook is also available as a .pdf either on rpg now or drivethrurpg, which I believe is cheaper than the actual book, if you're looking to save a couple bucks.

I don't know if that helps any, but I passed on Dystopian Wars because I didnt like the victorian/steampunk, and passed on Firestorm because I didn't like the mechanics.

Gothic and Noble Armada are my systems, and I like the system enough that I preordered the Starfleet version.

Dystopian Wars is on my list i like the Steampunk/Victorian feel, and from what i read of the Noble Armada Rules i like the system in it. i do agree that the ship kinda fail. and if you didn't like the FireStorm System then i am wondering about Dystopian Wars. i can almost bet it uses the Same or very similar system as Firestorm.

i may Look at BattleFleet Gothic

A lot of people do like the firestorm/dystopian mechanics. I preferred Gothic because it causes you to have to think turns in advance, since the facing of the targeted ship impacts how effective your shooting is. I feel that provides more tactical opportunities in the game.

With Gothic, some of the fleets can be unbalanced, and there is really no good campaign system for it.

Noble Armada has a campaign system built into it, and the fleets appear to be fairly well balanced. I haven't played it a ton, nor against all fleets, but it seems a fairly even playing field.

Sorry to necro-post, but I don't really see any other NA threads out there, and I wanted to give you my input on the system.

Noble Armada is a well-done game. I've recently started playing it and I would like to point out a few of its key features:

The rules are vastly easier to learn than other space-combat games I've seen so far (but not to the extent that it feels like a moron's game).

The game is inexpensive to start up: I found a pair of fleet starter boxes on ebay for 26 dollars each (including shipping to AK). The rules come in either a hardback edition for 30 dollars, or an online PDF form for 15-20. The main rulebook includes all the basic fleet lists as well, so its all you need. The starter fleets can get you anywhere from 1250-1500 points, depending on how you build the fleets. (500 is generally the smallest game, 2000+ are the largest). For 70 bucks I was able to put two full-sized fleets against each other. Definitely good price-wise. The models look pretty good too, and have an ingenious flight-stem that uses a ball-joint and is resistant to breaking off (the bane of many space-navy game models).

I actually prefer this system's "Alternating Activation" method of play rather than the "I-go-you-go" style. It rewards smart movement and shooting choices. The movement system sufficiently keeps things semi-predictable in that you can generally estimate where a ship will be in a turn or two, allowing you to plan ahead.

Best of all... this system not only makes boarding actions fun, but rewards you for them! The way this system is set up, you get only half points for destroying the enemy's ships. You get full points, however, for capturing them in a boarding action! This keeps things interesting, as it adds another level of complexity on a strategic level. The rules for boarding are quite easy, making this part of the game fun and entertaining. Ships close to short range and fire grapples that pull the two ships together... good times to be had!



Having played both BFG and Noble Armada, I have to say that Noble Armada is the game I'm sticking with. Low price-point and fun rules are what keep me interested in this game, and those same reasons are what make the game easy to get friends into!

Either game is a good choice and they are quite different from one another.

Firestorm does have a pretty good set of rules for DIY ships so it's pretty easy to port over your favorite fleet from any game into this game. Even though the game does not have the lance mechanic of Gothic everyone gets to use the exploding sixes mechanic which can make for some incredible explosions. The scale tends to be pretty big so if you like to paint big ships (the Aquan squid dreadnaught is a monster!) this is the game for you.

ACTA anything is a good system. The rules are pretty intuitive and it does handle really large scale engagements pretty well. If you like bigger games, ACTA works quite well. Also, the fleet boxes for Noble Armada are a steal. I got mine online for around $25 w/shipping.