For the Star Wars gamer and fan this has been and continues to be epic time, it really does not get any better than this. Whether you’re just a fan of the movies, board games, PC games, role-playing games or just like collectibles there is something for everyone Star Wars related. I thought it would be fun to do a little break down of all the awesomeness that is here and coming our way in the near future.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The new Star Wars movies has everyone hoping for a revival given the generally accepted disappointment of the Old Republic era movies.
Naturally the best place to start is with the upcoming movie hitting movie theaters on December 16th. Brought to you for the first time by someone other than George Lucas, the Disney fueled J.J Abrams infused film continues the saga of one of the greatest science-fiction sagas ever made. The director who is often dubbed the reboot king has brought back franchise from extinction like Mission Impossible and Star Trek, not to mention some of the more interesting TV series like Almost Human and Revolution. I love this guy’s stuff, but Star Wars The Force Awakens is less a reboot and more a continuation of a story most of us nerds grew up with. The Force Awakens is more than just a movie to gamers however as it represents a new expanded place for some of our favorite games to draw materials for and its already begun.
Star Wars X-Wing: Force Awakens
Cleverly the new core set managed to add new and improved X-Wings and Tie-Fighters without making the old core set obsolete. A welcomed addition to X-Wing.
We have already gained access to the new X-Wing Core set that features X-Wings and Tie-Fighters from the new movies, with more on the way. As part of the next Wave for X-Wing we are going to glimpse a little closer into Force Awakens with new X-Wing and Tie-Fighter expansions as part of the set that will show case a number of interesting new pilots presumably from the movies. Without question you can expect in future waves to see more of the Force Awakens universe to join Star Wars X-Wing, but the important thing here is that X-Wing has plenty of new room to grow into thanks to the movies.
The most exciting element of the upcoming wave however is that epic play is going to grow. We recently got the Imperial Raider which opened up Epic play in a big way but perhaps the most exciting upcoming release is the Imperial Assault Carrier that not only features a new epic ship but a number of awesome Tie-Fighters too boot! It’s an exciting time to be an X-Wing player!
Star Wars Armada
A much needed expansion to Armada has rounded out the game but we are yet to see anything for Force Awakens!
While we are still waiting to see/hear announcement of Force Awakens ships for Armada wave 2 is no slouch in bringing us much needed content for this epic game of capital ship battles. Joining the ranks is not only a new Squadron set that includes some of the most iconic ships in the Star Wars universe like the Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon and Boba Fett’s FireSpray just to name a couple but we are getting some of the most iconic ships from one of the biggest fleet battles in Star Wars movie history (Return Of The Jedi). Ships included are the Home One, MC30 Frigate and The Imperial Class Star Destroyer, not to mention the Imperial Raider.
For Star Wars Armada fans wave 2 has a completion effect, rounding the game out to its destination of 400 points and bringing much needed diversity to list building. What will Force Awakens bring to the table? Well you can bet your bottom dollar that Fantasy Flight Games knows how to milk it and its not much of a prediction to proclaim that the next wave will include Force Awakens capital ships, the thing is, we don’t really know much right now about what that will be. Fortunately we won’t have to wait too much longer as it’s only 2 days as of this writing before the movie premiers!
The Star Wars Role-Playing Game
Edge of the Empire kicked things of and immediately made all previous Star Wars RPG games obsolete. Its nearly perfect!
Whether you are a fan of Edge of the Empire, Age of Rebellion or Force and Destiny (or all three) Fantasy Flight Games has been producing material for the game at a maddening pace. Dozens of books have been pushed out this year not to mention countless variety of supplements and expanded material with many more the horizon and now there is the question of how Force Awakens plays into all this. It’s a safe bet that we can expect a new core rulebook simply called Force Awakens kick starting a new era for the role-playing game and I’m sure I speak for many role-playing fans out there that the anticipation of the expected announcements is exciting. The prospect of playing in the new era may come sooner than we think thanks largely to the fact that FFG has already secured the rights to Force Awakens. Not enough excitement for you? Think about the possibility of linking all three games with Force Awakens and playing out the entire saga of Star Wars from the perspective of a single character of your own creation…. Ok that should do it!
Star Wars Rebellion
Rebellion is the unquestionable king of surprises this year, before we have even had a chance to get excited the game is already on the calendar for release early in Quarter 1!
The recent announcement of Star Wars Rebellion was perhaps one of the best surprises of the year. With virtually no knowledge that a Star Wars boardgame was even in the works, Fantasy Flight presented Rebellion, a game that lets you play out the original Star Wars conflict from A to Z, Death Stars Included. In the style of War of the Rings (quite possibly one of the greatest board games ever made) you and a friend will battle it out with the famous people, ships, planets and story of the Star Wars universe. The best part? The game is ALREADY AT THE PRINTER which means you will be playing it first quarter of 2016! Can I get a fuck yeah!
How does Force Awakens fit into it… well duh, EXPNASION! With the game already done and printing there is no doubt FFG will wait and see to ensure the game is well regarded and accepted, but assuming it is as awesome as it looks, A Force Awakens expansion in 2016 is practically assured!
Star Wars Imperial Assault
The familiar Descent-esque system brings the Star Wars universe to the cooperative dungeon crawler genre, but it boasts an impressive competitive skirmish mode that has gained a tremendous amount of popularity overshadowing the cooperative elements.
For the cooperative gamer, in particular if you were a fan of Descent, Star Wars Imperial Assault is an easy pick as it may quite possibly one of the best cooperative games ever made. Fantasy Flight Games isn’t pussy footing around with this franchise either. With countless mini expansions and two major expansions (Twin Shadows – At the Printers & Return to Hot – On the Boat) we already have enough content for Imperial Assault to last us through 2016 but at this point the games popularity is so huge a Force Awakens expansion is not only a guarantee it’s a shocker that they haven’t already announced it. If I had to guess, I would say they are timing it for the release of the films because you know, they are evil!
Star Wars RISK
Easy to overlook thanks largely to its poor title and association with RISK, this little nugget is actually a really great remake of Star Wars Queens Gambit set in the Return of the Jedi era!
Ok, bad title, very bad title and probably one of the reasons you probably didn’t give this one a second look. Look a little deeper under the covers however and you will discover that Star Wars RISK is actually a new edition of Star Wars: A Queens Gambit, a rare collectable and extremely well made game based on one of the worse Star Wars movies ever made (A Phantom Menace). This time however instead forcing us to play with Gungan miniatures Hasbro back tracked and created the epic battle over the second Death Star from Return of the Jedi. It’s called Star Wars RISK but has virtually nothing to do with the classic Yahtzee style dice roller. Instead Hasbro pulled out a miracle and actually created a great game that looks amazing managing to hit on some of the more distinguished top board game lists on the internet.
Now if I know Hasbro Star Wars Force Awakens: RISK is an inevitable follow up and while I’m not holding my breath they do have a good system to base a game on, the only question is, will the story support the 3 prong battle setup needed to re-create Star Wars: RISK? Here’s hoping that it does!
You wanted Excitement and as you can see from this list there is plenty for everyone here. Let’s just bloody hope the movie is as awesome as we all know it should be!
It’s been a while since I have written an article for this series but I have received a number of E-mails from what I have gathered are new x-wing players requesting more and since I don’t actually usually get requests I thought I would fulfill the ones I do have. I thought about what topics I wanted to breach and decided to talk about the frequently disputed elements of ordinance and ordinance based ships. Typically ordinance is an element of the game often labeled “not worth the cost”, a sort of standard mantra at least in the competitive and online conversations about them. Today we will get into some details about the problems with ordinance and ordinance based ships and some hopefully clever tips on how you can leverage them to your advantage.
Ordinance
Torpedoes, Missiles, bombs and the ships that use them are often seen as risky propositions in list building, in fact in the competitive scene you will rarely see ships fielding ordinance and ships like the Tie-Bomber are also very infrequently if ever used in competition. The reason is quite sound. Ordinance weapons are one shot use weapons and typically, for the cost, the effect or impact on the game is considered too small to justify it. At least that’s the theory.
So what are the listed problems or complaints about Ordinance?
Spending targets lock to fire them is just one of several issues with ordinance. Or do you, look closer, not all ordinance requires you to spend your target lock or focus.
The main complaint for starters is that you have to spend your target lock and really in the case of most ordinances this is the problem. As you can see above however this is not always the case, I point this out early because its a common oversight. You often only get one action so target locking someone which with primary weapons is used to trigger re-rolls is spent instead just to use the attack and rolling 3 or 4 red dice without a focus or target lock to improve odds means you are shooting at 50/50 odds. Even with various effects like getting two attacks, doing extra damage to nearby ships or triggering Ion effects there is a legitimate chance you will simply miss. By default hit or miss the ordinance is spent anyway. It’s like effectively shooting 3 to 5 points at a target. Consider the alternatives to spending 3-5 points on ordinance for something else like for example a push the limit (two actions – Focus and Target Lock) or Expose (increase primary weapon by 1), effects that can be potentially be used multiple times in a match. These effects increase your chances of getting more out of your primary weapons for the same price. Its a valid complaint in my opinion.
Perhaps the most common use of the Tie-Bomber is the cheaper, Scimitar Squadron Pilot coming in at 16 points Worth it until you see the dial.Not terrible, but this is no doubt the least maneuverable of the Tie class ships.
There is also the issue of the ships that shoot the ordinance or at least are designed to do it well like the Tie-Bomber for example. The stats on these ships are generally fairly mediocre and you typically are going to need to put more than one piece of ordinance to make it formidable on the field. That of course increases the cost. More than that, if you really want to get some guarantees you have to use special gear to allow you to do that like Munitions Failsafe, Extra Munitions or combining it with other gear like Push the Limit so you could at least roll the dice with a focus or special pilots. All this amounts to increasing costs for a ship that when it runs out of ordinance (assuming it survives long enough to shoot it) is a lack luster performer without ordinance.
For the ships that fall somewhere in-between, ships not really designed for ordinance but have the option it’s even less worth it. Putting ordinance on an X, A or B wing increases the cost of a ship but typically these ships gain far more benefit from its primary weapons when combined with gear more specifically tailored for the ship. Your far better off with an advanced sensor on a B-Wing than you are putting torpedoes on it. Again because you will be able to use advanced sensors throughout the match, while the ordinance is a one trick, one shot pony, the value is fairly easy to determine. You could of course do both but the costs mount and you really have to question the value of things like proton torpedoes where you can roll 4 dice at 50/50 odds one time during the match or rolling 3 dice with a focus (or 4 dice if you are close range) every time you shoot.
Even with its ability to shoot in a 360 degree arc you have to question the wisdom of using a B-Wing as a ordinance delivery system, especially considering the cost.
Some might argue that ordinance is all about player skill, if you are good, the impact of having ordinance at the table can be devastating and that to a degree is true, but X-Wing is not just a game of a skill, it’s a game of dice and when it comes to ordinance bad luck with the dice is going to have far more impact on you than it would if you were firing your primary weapons. Besides in the end, the argument that it’s “not worth it”, is a direct reference to point cost. Simply put the cost of mounting ordinance on a ship is going to weigh in at around 10-20 points extra and that is practically a whole extra ship which means that in order to get the value from the ordinance you really need to be able to do the work of 2 ships with your ordinance ship, that’s a tall order! That ordinance, no matter how good you are, simply cannot do it.
Now with that said is there any circumstance in which it is worth it? I believe the answer is yes. Getting value out of ordinance is all about understand how you can leverage ordinance ships not against cost, but against strategical possibilities within the structure of your list and tactics of the game. Another words, a Tie-Bomber with Cluster-Missiles and Extra Munitions might not be cost effective, but if combined with a good pilot card and some bonus gear your opponent will have to address that ship or suffer the consequences. The concept is what I like to call, “rat trapping”, which simply means that you have created an obvious and immediate threat, this Is your trap and your opponent is the rat. He will walk right into your trap because he will see your munitions ship as a major threat and as such if you build the rest of your list with your trap in mind, the combination can be devastating.
With that said, let’s look at an example list.
The Tie-Bomber is arguably the worst of the ordinance ships and so let’s see if can create a list using it as a base for our rat trap.
Major Rhymer 26 (Push The Limit 3, Advanced Proton Torpedoes 6, Extra Munitions 2).
The ability to increase range makes using Advanced Torpedoes more viable for this Tie-Bomber that is unlikely to ever get someone in their arc at range 1 given its dial.
You might immediately see how dangerous and expensive this ship is. At 37 points its death on wheels for at least 2 rounds. You have push the limit to assure you can target lock and focus, you have advanced Proton Torpedoes that can fire at range 1-2 that combined with a focus all but assures you are going to get 5 hits (3 blanks turn to focus, you need only to roll 2 hits with a focus at about 75% odds). Extra munitions that turns a 6 point piece of gear into a 2 point piece of gear.
Now this is a vulnerable ship but there is no question that your opponent will do everything in his power to eliminate it early, he will see this ship as a major threat and rightfully so because it is. If allowed to shoot, it’s going to earn its weight in points. He is your trap and you want to leverage your trap by creating the rest of your list knowing what he is going to go for.
1 x Tie Phantom (Sigma Squadron) 25 + Fire Control System
3x Tie Fighter (Academy Pilot) 36
Most people go for the expensive Phantoms, but the Sigma Squadron Pilot at 25 points is dirt cheap for a ship that can cloak and rolls 4 dice even at long range. Especially when you consider its dial.Consider the Interceptor dial, a ship widely accepted as being incredibly maneuverable.The Phantom is pretty comparable to the Interceptor. The only real trade up is boost for cloak. Make no mistake its an arc dodger with fire-power.
All you need to do is position these ships (your core squad) away from Rhymer to ensure that anyone going for him, is going to have to turn their back to the rest of your ships. With some good piloting and careful use of the Tie Phantom and at least one clean shot with Rhymer you should be able to gain an early advantage against most lists.
Now tactically you have many options with this list. Once Rhymer uses his ordinance, he is your blocker. Crash him into stuff and make him a nuisance setting up shots for your other ships. If your opponent chases the phantom or the Tie-Fighter play the avoidance game, evade, cloak and bug out forcing him to waste shots and buying you time to get Rhymer into position. With Rhymer you want to target any low agility ships, or core support ships or big easy to hit ships. Make that those 2 (5 dice) shots count if your opponent doesn’t address Rhymer. Most importantly remember however that Rhymer is not your fleet, he is your distraction, he is the ship that will put your opponents ships out of position and into your trap.
Is this a good list? I suppose we could argue about it, but it does show how the Tie-Bomber and ordinance can in fact have its uses and while this list isn’t what one might call ultra- competitive, it does certainly have a lot more going for it than just reliance on ordinance. The ordinance in this list is really just a ruse if you will for getting the actual threat (1 Phantom and 3x Tie Fighters) into position. The hope is that your opponent will not realize that the munitions ship, that Tie-Bomber is not really the big threat.
The Conclusion
Ordinance is not terribly cost effective, in fact the argument that it’s “not worth it” certainly has some validity and I mostly agree with it. X-Wing list building and in general playing X-Wing is about creativity and fun for most of us, so if you simply step out of the competitive number crunching (Math-Wing) and think outside the box a little, ordinance presents an interesting challenge to players. Can you create a great list that works with ordinance, I believe the answer is yes. I have had success with the list above, not because it’s a great list but because it’s unusual enough that your opponent is stumped on how to address the challenge. Do you split your fleet, do you go for the Tie-Bomber or focus on the Tie-Phantom.
I think meta thinking is part of the reason ordinance has such a terrible reputation in the competitive circuit, in fact, I believe that if you took a list like this to a tournament you would probably do quite well simply because of meta thinking. When everyone is expecting one of three or four meta lists and they are facing something unusual, it throws chaos into the their tactical expectations and this your advantage. I personally love flying lists like this, the look on your opponents face is all the reward I need.
When it comes to the world of miniatures games Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars X-Wing took the genre by storm, launching what has become one of the most successful miniatures game on the market today. Its popularity is undeniable and really when you think about the concept, is it any wonder given the revitalization of Star Wars as a franchise in particular in gaming, but in media in general. Star Wars really is an I win button and Fantasy Flight Games is just clever enough to realize that it needs to be smashed…. repeatedly.
For me personally it came as a considerable surprise however to find out that Fantasy Flight Games was going to be making another Star Wars based collectable miniatures game so bloody soon. In fact, in a sense I was deeply concerned, after all, what does that mean for my beloved X-Wing? Is it getting replaced? Star Wars Armada has now been released and we are about to receive the second wave which will effectively bring the game out of its trial period as was the case when X-Wing’s core set and wave 1 ships where all that was available and bring it into an actual level of completion worthy of dedicated play. I feel doing a review at this point is probably going to be very effective as I believe with this new wave we will see an big influx of players considering the game. Without further delay, here is your review of Star Wars Armada.
Overview
Star Wars Armada is a strategic miniatures game of ship to ship combat and oddly enough despite Fantasy Flight Games making a second game with this concept in a short couple of years there is a surprisingly few amount of games out there in this genre as a whole. Star Wars Armada is a zoomed out version of Star Wars X-Wing where you step out of the dog fights of small star fighter battles and experience the whole battle on a capital ship level. Maneuvering the lumbering hulk like capital ships across a 6×3 battlefield is a very different experience from zipping around in small star fighters on the tight space of a 3×3 as is the case in X-Wing, but the two games share enough similarities that it’s a safe bet if you like one you will probably like or at least have an interest in the other. That said there are also significant differences between the two games that are certain to lead some in one or the other direction especially given the expense of the hobby ,for economic reasons alone, for many they will have to make a choice between collecting one or the other.
The game looks great from any angle.
Components
Verdict: Tilt:
Pros: Without question the most awesome Star Wars components put into a game pretty much ever!
Cons: The core set comes up very short in providing everything you need to have a complete or even good gaming experience despite a very high price of entry. Not enough dice in the core set.
I tire of praising Fantasy Flight Games component quality and when it comes to Star Wars Armada they have once again hit near perfection square in the face. The miniatures and every component in the game from cards to tokens are of the highest quality. In fact the miniatures paint jobs are even better than X-Wing in my humble opinion and while I might question some of the aesthetic choices in terms of ships chosen like whale like Frigate for the rebels, it’s such a small quibble its barely worth mentioning. All and all the most recognizable Star Wars capital ships are already in the game and wave 2 adds even more of the ships from the classic original trilogy.
Now there are some issues with components, or perhaps better to say in regards to shortage of components that players getting the core set will immediately note. For one there is definitely not enough dice in the game, which is a bit frustrating given that these are specialty dice and the fact that many ships and situations will have you rolling 4 dice of the same color and the game only provides 3 of each. I really think it’s quite silly to skimp on such minor details that can have such a frustratingly big impact on the flow of the game. More to the point, it’s a cheap move to put a 10 dollar dice pack on sale the same day of release knowing full well that most players will break down and buy it because it’s necessary for the game. This practice is becoming common in miniatures games and it’s going to cost Star Wars Armada in this review.
The core set appears to come with a great deal, but the reality is that despite its price there is barely a game in the box. Be ready to spend money to get the full experience, lots of it!
I would also argue that the Core set as expensive as it is, is barely a game with the ships it provides. Now I’m not sure that this goes under component quality issues but frankly if you’re going to play you need to invest in components well beyond the core set to have a proper full experience, one might even say to have an experience worthy of the initial cost. That said, I’m not sure how they could have packaged it differently, after all the core set is already quite expensive and rightfully so since there are three large miniatures in the game with tons of components all absolutely necessary to play. Had they added more ships into a single box it would have likely been ridiculously expensive. It’s a double edged sword FFG can’t win.
In conclusion however with the few minor gripes this is still very much a near perfect score as far as I’m concerned, the components are all simply top notch even if perhaps there is insufficient components in the core set to have a complete gaming experience. It’s to an extent to be expected, to date I have never seen a miniatures game that is a complete experience with just the core set and this one is not any different. Collecting expansion packs is effectively, mandatory; if you intend to only get the core set you may as well skip it all together. If judged by the core set alone Star Wars Armada would not be on my top 10 best table top games list. Its addition is the result of purchasing and committing to the game completely.
Theme
Verdict: Tilt:
Pros: Perfectly captured theme in every definition of the word perfect. This IS Star Wars done in a way that is completely in tune with Star Wars Fans.
Cons: None, seriously.. Its perfect!
When it comes to Star Wars I’m always admittedly completely bias, I love Star Wars and a game in which I get to play out the fantasy of an epic capital ship battles in the Star Wars universe in a miniatures game is nothing shy of a dream come true. Still the question is whether or not the theme is presented well here and the answer is a resounding, abso-fucking-lutly.
Star Wars Armada handles every thematic element of the capital ship battles in the Star Wars universe with perfect precession ensuring not only the amazing art combines with amazing miniatures creating a smorgasbord of visual pleasure it manages to ensure the gameplay supports that fantasy.
Capital ships come in a variety of types and even each type has two sub-types offering plenty of choices but from a thematic point of view some of the most recognizable ships are already in the game including the Nebulan B, Corvette and of course the Star Destroyer. More to the point these ships act in a way that defines them thematically and as a Star Wars fan, I might say, thematically correct. The Star Destroyer is a slow powerful ship that while maneuvering poorly has immense firepower while the smaller, faster ships like the Corvette are able to zip around the battlefield giving them a maneuvering advantage they can leverage. Elements like these both play into the theme of the game but are matched by balanced mechanics and while certainly you will find people who will argue the finer points of balance of each ship or faction, largely it’s been my experience that Star Wars Armada is so thematic, that win or lose you have an amazing experience, the clearest sign you can have that the theme is done right. Regardless of what you think of the mechanics you can’t deny that Star Wars Armada captures the theme perfectly. That epic capital ship combat just sells itself.
While the core set and wave 1 had plenty of classic trilogy ships, wave 2 adds without question some of the most memorable ships from the Star Wars movies including the monster sized Imperial class Star Destroyer!
The theme gains a further sense of completion by the addition of the immediately recognizable squadrons of the Star Wars universe. I love the handling of the squadrons in Star Wars Armada because while they are tactically and strategically important, they are in a sense less relevant. It is a game of capital ship combat and while you use your fighters to protect your capital ships, to engage enemy squadrons or in attempts to bomb other capital ships the game cannot be won by squadrons alone. Capital ships are the hero’s here and the way the rules are managed this is ensured, yet the thematic presence of a Luke Skywalker or Howlrunner for example is such fundamentally important element in a game that to omit them would have been a crime against the fan base. Luckily FFG knows their fans well and many of the major player you might expect to be there, are.
As has become the norm for Fantasy Flight Games, the card quality is only surpassed by its artistry. These images will just put a smile on your face.
If there is anything to complain about in regards to theme in Armada I haven’t run across it yet. From cards to miniatures and everything in-between the game sings the Star Wars soundtrack with perfection.
Gameplay
Verdict: Tilt:
Pros: Amazing connection between theme and mechanics, everything works exactly as you hope. Squadrons handled brilliantly, giving them purpose but not stealing the show.
Cons: Complex strategies put this out of reach of casual gamers. Very sensitive and unforgiving mechanisms that punish mistakes without mercy.
Theme and components should theoretically not be that difficult to get right, especially when you have a license like Star Wars to work with. Really I fully expected Star Wars Armada with Fantasy Flight Games behind the work to master this part of the game. Gameplay however no matter how fancy looking a game is always going to be a challenge and very easy to screw up.
Fortunately Fantasy Flight Games got it mostly right here, though I have to admit there are quite a few quirks with Star Wars Armada that prevent it from reaching perfection in the same way they did with components and theme.
Let’s begin with what Armada got right. Without question the game has tremendously streamlined gameplay with well-defined rules despite a fairly steep learning curve and well-designed mechanics. Some of the highlights include a very creative use of movement tool that allows capital ships to maneuver around the map in a very thematically correct way. It creates plenty of tactical and strategic choices for you, in particular given that you may fire from two different firing arcs by default with each ship. Where those arcs end up pointing is a vital element of play and the many ways a firing solution can be manipulated from offensive equipment and crew cards, to defensive, defense tokens, there is just a lot of options and choices taking place. Each move and counter move makes up a strategic and tactical level of play that is unmatched in any miniature game I have ever played which includes Star Wars X-Wing. It goes into depths that will take dozens of games and hundreds of hours to explore. In a sense the complexity of the tactical options creates the dynamic gameplay and the amazing amount of content and replay ability.
There is also the structure of placing orders, in which you must plan ahead sometimes as much as three turns in advance, giving the game an element of pre-planning and prediction which unlike X-Wing leads to more long term strategies over the course of a game. The use of squads is also brilliantly handled giving them just enough influence on match ups to where they can’t be ignored, but not so much that they become overwhelming or steal the thunder from the games focus on capital ships.
I think overall list building even with the minimal amount of material provided at this point is incredibly challenging, deep and interesting, making the preparation for matches as much fun and often as complex as actually playing. In fact in many ways, far more strategy is determined in your pre-game decisions than in the previous X-Wing which is far more reactive. I love the fact that whatever choices you make there are no “hard” counters, in fact due list building includes selecting missions that generally favor your list, any match up can be dramatically changed just based on which mission you actually end up playing or even something as simple as deployment and initiative. Play the same match twice and change nothing but initiative and you will have two completely different results.
The main point to make here is that there is a tremendous amount of game here leading us into wave 2. It would be difficult to point to any specific mechanic and say “this is the reason the game is great”, combined however what you have is a deeply engaging strategic and tactical experience that is unmatched in the genre. That said there is really very little competition in the epic capital ship space combat genre to compare Armada to, but FFG has set a very high standard here.
The game does suffer from couple of minor issues for the lack of a better word which leads me to recommending it only if you as a gamer don’t actually see these particular problems as issues. It’s more of a personal preference thing rather than a problem, but I believe for many X-Wing players this will be a point of contention.
First and foremost is the fact that the game is considerably more complex and takes longer to play. Not to mention that it requires a very large table to play on. It goes without saying that as gamers when it comes to the complexity of games we all have our preferences but Star Wars Armada really reaches into that “pure gamer” level depth to the point where it becomes very unattractive to casual gamers. A typical Armada game can take upwards of 2+ hours especially at the new 400 point scale and requires considerable explanation of the rules which have many intricacies that go well beyond the casual spectrum, in particular since so many of the mechanics are very strategically sensitive, meaning that if you make one small error in judgement it can cost you the entire game. This results in the game really catering to the committed and experience gaps will have dramatic effects at the table. Notably the road to experience is long and can be quite frustrating. It will take dozens of games to really get a handle on the basics and dozens more to become proficient in understanding the many subtle effects of the mechanics. Suffice to say, its not for the feint of heart and a far cry from the simplicity and approachability of X-Wing.
At first glance the game appears no more or less complicated then X-Wing, but this game reaches elitist veteran level depth even as early as the 300 point limit during wave 1.
The large table size requirement might be an issue for many, 6×3 is a very large dining room sized table and this is very much an absolutely, non-negotiable necessity. Play with anything less and capital ships will be flying off the tables. Know this going into it.
Now none of these things are really marks against the game as far as I’m concerned, they are simply notable things to consider before getting into Armada. The fact that the game is complex, time consuming and requires a large table are just features of the game, they aren’t good or bad, they just are and it’s a matter of preference whether or not you see these things as obstacles. You can’t pick up a game knowing it intends to be deep and complex, than complain that it’s too deep and complex. There is one issue that is very clearly a negative in my opinion which ties into the complexity however which I do think is a mark against it.
The game is incredibly unforgiving, I mean, super ultra-sensitive to the point where moving a single squad half an inch in the wrong direction can be traced back to the reason you lost a match sort of sensitivity. This is a very deeply strategic game with a lot of rules, sub-rules to rules and special equipment that alter the rules with incredibly intricate and very sensitive mechanics, all things that ultimately lead into the complexity of the strategies and tactics involved in Armada. They are well defined and very streamlined, but trying to juggle all this information while playing the game is a brain buster to the point where it can be uncomfortable. Consequently the result is that even the most minor oversight, the tiniest error in judgement can throw off your strategy and cost you the entire 2+ hour game. The sensitivity is so extreme that the game becomes very unapproachable to less experienced, casual and even intermediate gamers.
You could argue that at least up to wave 1 this game was still semi-approachable, but wave 2 is raising the ante through the roof with tons of special powers and unique abilities that will raise the bar far out of the reach of casual gamers.
Star Wars Armada suffers from a tremendous amount of “gotcha” mechanic situations as well. The gap between experienced and casual gamers is very wide and because the game is 2+ hours long and incredibly sensitive in terms of actions and consequences, less experienced players will spend a lot of time playing games in which they are effectively victims. In fact I think unless you are heavily invested in learning these intricacies, really studying the game, Star Wars Armada isn’t going to offer a very good gaming experience. Casual play is really not a thing here.
I think this really works against Armada as a game, FFG could and really should have made this a much simpler or at least split the rules between normal and advanced rules to make it a more all-inclusive to appeal to a broader audience. It is after all Star Wars which suggests just by the franchise alone that it should be for the masses, but really this is a very niche product made for a very specific, hardened veteran type purist, one might say elitist type gamer.
In conclusion, despite the steep hill towards experience and competiveness, I think it’s a wonderful game mechanic and has tremendous gameplay. The fact that it filters out the broad audience that Star Wars has access to is unfortunate and I think it will keep Armada from being the global success that X-Wing was, but I still think there are going to be sufficient board and miniature game veterans who will embrace and appreciate the depths of Armada.
Longevity and Re-playability
Verdict: Tilt:
Pros: Tons of options already with the game growing exponentially with each new expansion.
Cons: Expansion and longevity are dependent on collecting which can be expensive.
I’m going to make this short and sweet, even before wave 2 which will in effect double the content available for the game, Star Wars Armada has infinite re-playability. Its strategic depth is very tender and every tiny decision you make has wide sweeping consequences that even if you played with and against the same list dozens of time, no two games would be alike. This pushes you to perfect and analyze, ultimately leading to the road of trial and error the vary basis of replay ability. There is this rampant learning curve, not so much of the rules but in the depth of this strategic game that there is no amount of games you could play that would feel too much or would result in you not learning anything new. Each game is jam packed with experiences and while this hill is steep for the committed it’s well worth making the nearly infinite climb.
If there is any drawback or issue as far as longevity is concerned its going to be the cost. It may not be easy to sustain the constant and relentless release schedule of FFG.
Conclusion
Star Wars Armada is an epic gaming experience; it really deserves praise for presentation and scale. If you’re a fan of the genre or Star Wars theme, this is an experience you simply cannot miss. Its important however to understand that this is a gamer’s game, its very unapologetic about that and as such if your not ready to fully commit to the hobby, its really not worth it to dip your feet. Its expensive and demands commitment, if that doesn’t intimidate you, your ready, if it does, look elsewhere.
I debated a lot about writing an article about list building because it’s a subject difficult to breach as it is largely based on preference and is always highly debatable. Any list I put together can be argued for or against and as such, suggesting lists to players is almost kind of a politically incorrect idea. Still, when I was a new player I found I lost a lot of my matches not because of what I did during the game, but the mess I created before the game while building my list. I’m going to focus more on general list building advice, things to consider, things to avoid and a few general lists that you always have to consider when building your own.
Getting Started With List Building
Naturally, your ability to build solid lists is going to be limited to the collection you have, so realistically speaking until you have collected a fair amount of ships and associated cards that come with them, it’s going to be difficult to build lists that are going to be competitive against players with a wider selection. Being competitive however isn’t about building really strong lists, but more about avoiding building weak ones and building counters to strong ones. What I’m referring to here is the concept of “people use what works” and as such, most X-Wing players are kind of predictable and so what you will be facing can sort of be predicted.
There are going to be three types of list you always have to be ready for, these lists come in many different forms, but they pose kind of general strategies that you always have to consider when building your own lists.
The Swarm
The swarm is typically done in Imperial lists, though these days it’s possible to face rebel swarms as well. The jist of the swarm is a list with a lot of, weaker ships, that when combined can create pretty significant firepower. They are in essence lists that rely on the statistical truth that the more often you roll shooting dice, the more likely you are going to succeed.
While considering building lists to face Swarms, don’t overlook the importance of good asteroid placement. Swarm lists depend highly on staying in formation and asteroids make that difficult.
A very common form of this list is the Tie Swarm and when building any list you always have to consider “how will my list deal with a Tie Swarm”.
You have to imagine facing 8 Tie Fighters, coming down the center of the table, singling out one target and focusing all their firepower on that one target. Strictly speaking, with 8 ships shooting at a single target you are facing a minimum of 16 dice, broken down into 8 rolls which will yield an average of 8 hits, but you can expect divergence where you could end up with 10+ hits. Very few ships in the game can stand up to that kind of firepower.
Preparing to deal with swarms via list building is difficult, but the one strategy that you must always assume that you may need to employ when facing them is splitting up your squadron. In essence you want to make sure that your list can split up and still be effective and this should always be considered when building any list. If your list is less effective when it splits up, you are going to have a problem against swarms, so always make this assertion about what may need to happen when building your lists.
The Big Guns or Alpha Strike Lists
There are many forms of big gun lists, but in general a big gun list is one which there is a ship or ships, that can produce a lot of dice and or high odds of rolling hits (via re-rolls etc..) in a single round. In essence these lists are made for simply focusing on a target and taking it down in one shot. Very often these lists are built on a 360 degree firing arc, either because of the ship (like the Falcon for example) or because of the gear used. It’s not always the case but the point of the list is to get a target in range and roll lots of dice and do big damage in one shot.
Many ships like the YT-1300 can be turned into pretty efficient alpha strikers and can shoot at 360 degree’s. Dealing with them is not easy, but alpha strikers are usually point heavy so taking them out efficiently can often yield you a quick win. It’s often an all the eggs in one basket situation.
You MUST always assume you will face Alpha Strikers. Dealing with lists like this must be assumed when you are building your own. How will your list deal with big Alpha Strikers. The solution for Alpha Strikers is all about having the means in your list to circumvent or reduce dice odds. You want to have something in your list that will throw a wrench into someone’s plan, a ship, effect or equipment that will reduce the effectiveness of a ship that can alpha strike.
Some examples of that are pilots like Biggs Darklighter, who forces ships to target him, allowing you to control who get’s shot (controlling the range) or having something like R2-D2 fixing his shields can buy you the necessary time to counter an alpha striker. Other ways is just using straight maneuverability, staying out of the fire arcs of Alpha strikers. Ionization is another method, controlling an Alpha Strikers movement can be very effective. Countering it with your own Alpha Striker is another method.
Point here is that you have to assume that you will be facing pilots with a high pilot skill that can do a ton of damage in a single round and have a plan on how you are going to deal with that situation when it comes up. Any list not able to deal with Alpha strikers is a weak one.
Maneuverability Lists
The final type of list you will certainly face are lists built around insane maneuverability. There are many incredibly maneuverable ships like Tie Interceptors, A-Wings, E-Wings and many more that can when combined with different types of equipment and specialized pilots produce unpredictable and impossibly agile ships that will stay out of your range and firing arcs at their leisure. You have to assume you will face such lists and have a plan for how to deal with them. Any list that assumes that ships will simply fly in front of you to shoot at them is certain to see a lot of losses.
Ships like the Tie Interceptor are extremely agile and can be difficult to keep in firing arcs, but they are just Tie-Fighters as far as dice statistics go, one clean shot can take out a 25+ point unit. Expose that fragility by forcing them into vulnerable positions by splitting up your forces and covering multiple angles.
The trick to dealing with agile lists is understanding that in most cases, agile ships give something up for that agility. For example Interceptors are incredibly agile, but fairly weak with only 3 hull, catch them once and they are dead. A-Wings are very agile but don’t have much firepower, so that agility while keeping them safe doesn’t offer much in the way of firepower threat. E-wings are very agile and have a lot of firepower but are very costly even for what you get.
The end result is typically agile lists, will have fewer ships and or less firepower, it’s the agile lists akiles heel. To put it simply, agile lists are best dealt with through focus fire and disruption of their advantage either through 360 firing arcs, using your own agile ships or Ionization. In particular ionization spells doom for most agile ships and the nice thing is that ionization based ships are generally dirt cheap.
For the most part however agile lists need to be dealt with on the field, there are things you can do to your build, but typically any list is capable of handling maneuverable lists through strategic positioning on the field, but you must assume you will face such lists and have a plan.
How I build Lists
Given the advice above let me tell you how I build lists, which, I will admit right out of the game is simply my preference. I make no vows or promises of success, but I find when I fly lists that play on my strengths in the game, I do better even if the lists themselves are not terribly strong.
I work on lists using a three step process.
First, I choose a single ship around which my fleet will rally. This is usually the ship that creates synergy or is somehow important to the strategy of the list, the gimmick of the list if you will. For example using a Han Shoots first, or a Vader Doom Shuttle, a stealthy Phantom or a synergy based B-Wing. Whatever the case may be, the point here is, that this ship, is what will define the strategy of the list.
One of my favorite new modification for X-Wing. There are some great combinations this card can be used with to base lists on.
I find this easier to do because once the ship (or concept if you will) is chosen, what else belongs in the list becomes very obvious. You start seeing the combinations and possibilities more clearly and the list practically builds itself. Without this I feel kind of lost and find it more difficult to sort of construct a force that works together.
The second thing I do is called “fat trimming”. This takes a bit of experience but I will give you an example.
Let’s say I want to add a ship to a list for an Ionization effect and I chose something like Horton Slam which allows me to re-roll blanks at range 2-3, a good ship to have when using Ionization effects. But he costs 25 points + equipment. I will pose the question, how important is it that I have a high pilot skill and the re-roll effect for this list? Can I get away with a Gold Squadron pilot for 18 points instead? This will of course depend on the type of list I’m building, but the idea is to really question the necessity of having more expensive pilots for certain goals of the list. Sometimes it’s vital, sometimes, it’s not. Trimming what is not is important because every point counts and you want that fleet as lean as you can get it. You can often end up with sufficient points to add a whole separate ship when trimming the fat and more importantly come up with more efficient squadrons. I do the same thing with equipment, I question the necessity and most importantly the value of equipment for a particular ship. I make sure that every piece of gear I have is something that is absolutely vital to the ship and strategy. If it’s not, it gets cut or replaced.
The third and final step is what I call the maneuverability test. Every list I make, must have a natural flow to maneuverability. I think about deployment and consider how these ships will enter the game, what position they will be in and try a few different configurations.
I find that by doing this I often find places where more cuts (trimming) can be done and sometimes where I have trimmed too much. Consider that pilot skill defines when ships will move, when mixing different pilot skills the result can be that certain ships must move too soon, while others move too late in the sequence that will be your turn. I want my fleet to move in a natural expected way on my turn and often I find that if the sequence of events aren’t efficient, there is an awkwardness to a squadron that makes it difficult to pull of a strategy.
For example let’s say I’m using a Firespray combined with interceptors and the Firespray has tactical jammers on him. If the interceptors move first, it can be difficult for me to guesstimate the position of where the firespray will end up on his move. As such, I might find that, while less effective combat wise, a lower pilot skill on the firespray is preferable for him to accomplish his main task in the fleet (as an obstacle).
These little details are important, I really need that movement to happen in a comfortable sequence and often making the adjustment makes the ships cheaper, allowing me to create more synergy and effects in other ships, or adding a whole extra ship into the fleet.
Final Thoughts
List building is actually more complicated than the game itself when it comes to Star Wars X-Wing, in fact I would say most people lose games more often because of bad list building than they do because of how they actually play. This can be frustrating for new players, but if you really consider the types of lists you will be playing against, and have a strategy or method if you will for building lists that works for your style of play, you will eventually find that you can build a wide variety of effect lists with a wide range of ships.
World Champion Paul Reavers B-Wings where outgunned and out numbered, but yielded him the victory. It wasn’t the list, but the player’s skill that played the biggest part of this win. You have to make your own lists and learn to play them, the list alone will not be enough.
In fact, my personal strategy of choosing a single ship to represent the core strategy of a list is a very effective method for me and I think can be for pretty much anyone. It gives you a solid start and foundation for creating a list, and makes building the rest of it more natural and almost obvious.
It’s important to get good at list building but I think it’s a bad habit to copy other lists. This is still a skill based game and simply taking a championship list is not going to be sufficient to help you win because it’s understanding and knowledge of how to run that list that makes a difference. Its far better to create lists that feels natural for your play style.
Since Fantasy Flight Games took over the Star Wars license for making board, card, miniature and role-playing games, there can be only one thing said about it. Perfect. There is absolutely no doubt that across every platform they have produced not only the best version of a Star Wars game in that class be it Board, Card, Miniature or Role-playing games, but they have done it by such a wide margin I can’t even remember what we had before it.
Let’s go over the list shall we.
Star Wars Edge of The Empire Role-playing game
Up until I played Star Wars Edge of the Empire, role-playing in the Star Wars universe was always a frustration for me. Every system I tried from old West End Game version, to more modern D20 versions by Wizards of the Coast, nothing did the trick. These systems always failed miserably in some element of presenting the Star Wars universe. Some of the these version of Star Wars RPG’s managed to get some things right, like the Saga system’s combat system was not all together terrible but they fumbled other things like ship to ship combat or messed up balance between force and non-force users. There was always a problem.
Star Wars Edge of the Empire has grown to include a ton of material, but the truth is that the core book alone already makes this one of the best RPG’s ever made
Then came Star Wars Edge of the Empire and what can I say about it other than not only is it hands down one of the best Star Wars role-playing games ever made, it may just be one of the best role-playing games in any genre ever made. It’s simply exquisite, it works on every level, it’s got depth where it’s needed, it’s streamlined, it handles every element of the Star Wars universe flawlessly, simply put, it just can’t be done any better. A++ to Fantasy Flight Games for finally making a Star Wars RPG we can actually play without frustration.
Star Wars Card Games
There have been many and frankly, they have been miserable failures across the board. There has never been a good Star Wars Card game until Fantasy Flight took over and not only did they produce Star Wars The Card game, a fantastic living card game but they gave us Empire vs. Rebels as a bonus.
This catchy Star Wars Card Game is filled with a variety of depth and strategies, but it’s quick and painless to setup and play. More importantly FFG maintains it’s living card game strategy as opposed to the presumptuous and often over priced CCG style games.
Both are amazing games that represent the Star Wars universe in perfect splendor capturing its many nuances with style. More importantly I don’t see how it would be physically possible for the art to scream STAR WARS any louder, the game is worth buying just for the illustrations and collectors of Star Wars Memorabilia do just that. Awsome job, another A++ for both games.
Star Wars Board Games
Now I will say this, there have been some pretty awesome Star Wars board games in the past. Queen’s Gambit, Epic Duels, even Star Wars RISK was actually quite fantastic. When it comes to Board Games toping games like the elaborate Queen’s Gambit wasn’t going to be easy but as always Fantasy Flight Games was more than up to the task. It took a while but the result is Imperial Assault, a game I believe will be in the top 10 on board game geek within the next year or so, already debuting at number 37. Now this is a kind of cross over game, one could say it’s a miniatures game but the truth is that by those standards so would Queen’s Gambit be. The truth is that if you’re going to make a Star Wars game, it very clearly needs to have miniatures in it, it’s just part of the allure of that franchise and it needs.
Queen’s Gambit is an as impressive to look at as it is fun to play, but unfortunately it’s out of print and has become something of a collectors item making it very expensive to pick up these days.
That said Imperial Assault not only blows any Star Wars game that came before it out of the water, but it does so with style, balance and experience. It’s a fantastic game that offers immense amount of replay ability and I suspect like the Arkham Horror series, this one is going to see a ton of expansions.
Star Wars Miniatures
Without question Star Wars X-Wing is not only the most successful miniatures game in decades, but it may very well rise to be one of the most successful miniatures games of all time. It’s simple to learn impossible to master mechanics and infinite replayability made accessible by taking the work out of the hobby with pre-painted miniatures has paved it’s way with gold. It is hands down in my humble opinion one of the best products Fantasy Flight Games has produced to date and with each expansion they release the game is improved 10 fold. It just gets better and better and better with no end in sight. Now with a third faction released, the game has already immortalized its iconic status, if nothing is ever released for it again it would still be a near perfect game. To say I love it would be an understatement, if I was stuck on a desert island and was forced to choose a single form of entertainment to take with me, Star Wars X-Wing would unquestionably be that entertainment.
I will probably never stop praising Star Wars X-Wing, easily one of the best games ever made.
Star Wars Armada
So why should you be excited about Star Wars Armada? Well if it isn’t obvious already, Fantasy Flight Games kicks ass at making Star Wars games and Star Wars Armada is slated to be the biggest, most epic and most iconic Star Wars game to ever be made. If they succeed, they will have done more for the Star Wars franchise than the last three movies did.
Star Wars Armada is as ambitious as it is elaborate and expensive, it’s going to have to be one hell of a game to get my money.
War on a massive scale with all the fittings of Star Wars X-Wing, but bigger and more elaborate. Now I don’t usually do hype, I believe very firmly that objectively speaking no matter how excited I get for something, I recognize the possibility that I will be terribly disappointed, but I can say that if Armada isn’t the crowning achievement of Star Wars based games coming out of Fantasy Flight Games, my disappointment will reach epic proportions. It has all the markings of an amazing game, designed and produced by an amazing company at a time when they are on a hot streak of perfection. It’s the perfect storm for success, but it may also be the perfect recipe for disaster. I reserve my opinion until I play it, but to say that we should be anything by hyper excited would be selling the potential short.
Fantasy Flight Games is an amazing company, they have done for gaming what Quentin Tarantino did for movies, they showed us that games can be awesome again, that the status quo can be changed and that it’s still possible to invent new things or take old things and make them new again. They have done an amazing job and they have earned every bit of praise for their accomplishments. For me personally if I’m looking for a new game my first stop is always Fantasy Flight Games official website, there are so many diamonds in their product line I feel like I should just mail them my credit card.
