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This will only appeal to a very select few of you.

I've found a massively fun table-top game based on fleet level conflicts in Star Wars - Star Wars Armada. I'm way late to the party - games been out a few years. Essentially you assemble two fleets, each controlled by one person, and you play a match through 6 rounds with game objects (destroy certain opposing ships, capture objectives to score points, etc). The variety comes in with the ships, how they play, what abilities they have. You select cards that modify the ship abilities at the cost of points - and the fleet is limited to a point total. There are also squadrons that don't have modifiable abilities but do have their own special things they do. The large ships are all painted and really well designed. Squadrons just come in a gray or white-ish color. Some people spend time doing lots of their own custom painting but that's not in my wheelhouse.

For me, it's a ton of fun, and I've barely been able to get out and play it much with other people - I'll actually set-up and play both sides myself at home and it's still fun.

It's a long-ish game - games take ~2.5 hours to complete in general and set-up is probably 30 minutes if you don't do a lot of advanced preparation.

But, it's engaging in a way that video games haven't been in a while - to me at least. My kids think it looks great but are too young to play. I'm investing now with the hope that they'll enjoy it later and then I'll have everything needed (before it's out of print and impossible to get).

In general, I've also started researching and buying more board games. It's not something I had looked into for a while and there's really interesting options out there for games.

Do you have to buy all the additional ships I see online, or is the core set plenty enough for most to play?

The core set is, unfortunately, not enough to play. It comes with 1 imperial ship (Victory Class Star Destroyer) and 2 (smaller) rebel ships (Nebulon B and CR90 Corvette). Then there's a dozen or so squadrons (7-5 ratio for Tie Fighters to X-Wings I think). You probably read this already.

You can't do much with this when playing. It is ok to run a skirmish on a 3'x3' playfield but none of the objective based games could be played (they're all based on 400 point fleets and these fleets max at around 180 each) and the balance of the game is tilted toward the Empire in general for the core set.

Unfortunately, like most games with expansions, there are also upgrade cars that are only available when you buy the expansion sets. By no means are they required but "collectors" would likely want to get them if that's their personality.

You could certainly just buy a few expansions to balance things out and have enough to have fun with.

Personally, I think I own almost 2 of each ship at this point, 3 of some smaller ones. There's only one or two tha I have 1 of as I don't see any reasonable way to use two in a single game unless you played the same side against itself (Empire vs Empire).

I've spent a lot on this game but have thoroughly enjoyed every penny even without playing a significant numbers of games.

I am definitely considering this.

6'x3' game setup on my dining room table.

Core set 50% off on Amazon if you want to give it a shot.

Star Wars: Armada - Core Set https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1616619937/ ... fCbK89YPBM

My wife got this for me for Christmas. My oldest boys and I have played a few times. It’s a lot of fun but can be somewhat complicated. I’d really like to find a flowchart of some sort for what’s supposed to happen in each round and in what order. I just ordered an Imperial Star Destroyer, the Profundity, a star field game mat, and the Rogues and Villains expansion. I’ll probably paint my squadrons at some point because my OCD demands it.

ISD and Profundity are good expansions to start with.

Assuming you got the large size format star field: 6' x 3'? That's what you play on for the full games. You only play on 3' x 3' with the learning game in the core set.

If you ordered 3' x 3' all is not lost, you can order another 3' x 3' with a starfield or a planet (I have the one with Hoth in the corner) and they pair up perfectly.

Rogues and Villains is another good expansion as are either of the "Squadrons 2" packs for either side. The original squadron packs are still awaiting re-print and are hard to find. I'd recommend looking for one more ship on the Rebel side - probably something like the Assault Frigate or an Mc30 as you now have two larger ships on the Imperial side that throw a lot of dice and either of those will help counter that, and possibly something small like a Raider or Arquieten on the Imperial side to give them a small ship to play around with.

I can honestly recommend everything but if you want to just get a little more look for that. Ebay is a great second hand location for stuff as are groups on Facebook that trade/sell Armada items (I can send you a link to one if you want). You'll often find people selling large groups of stuff for good prices.

Painting - I haven't done it. I'm not familiar enough with hour it works myself.

My best advice for understanding the flow is to watch some games on YouTube. Master of the Fleet and Crabbok are the two I'd recommend. I can also try to answer any specific questions.

Have you seen these:

https://www.shapeways.com/shops/mel_miniatures

I have. Mel's is probably the most popular 3D printing unofficial add in site I'm aware of.

I've avoided buying anything from there as they're just cosmetic and don't fundamentally add to the game.

But they're cool.

The Victory Star Destroyer and Interdictor Star Destroyer are both on sale on Amazon at this time (< $18 each). The reason to buy a second version of a ship that is in the core set (Victory) is that the cards that come with the expansion are, in some cases, unique. The admiral card at the least will be, but so will some upgrades.

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Armada ... +destroyer

https://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-Flight-G ... +destroyer

There's also the Nebulon-B expansion for the rebels for ~$10 right now:

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Armada ... C51JSC0WYF

I understand you love star wars but you should look into a board game called twilight imperium. massive game that is a blast to play.

I have - it's on the list of things to consider buying in the future. Need a good group of people to play that. I had a chance at buying the Third Edition at a good discount but had read enough about the things that were corrected in the Fourth Edition that I held off.

I've picked up a few massive scale boardgames that somewhat work with solo play (which is beneficial but not required) like Mage Knight and Gloomhaven.

dakshdar wrote:I have - it's on the list of things to consider buying in the future. Need a good group of people to play that. I had a chance at buying the Third Edition at a good discount but had read enough about the things that were corrected in the Fourth Edition that I held off.

I've picked up a few massive scale boardgames that somewhat work with solo play (which is beneficial but not required) like Mage Knight and Gloomhaven.

we started a few years ago with king of tokyo and betrayal at house on the hill. slowly moved towards twilight imperium. have a great group.

I'm going to regionals in San Diego next month (2/2) - it's not some big thing as there's no qualifying, you just pay to reserve a spot and then go. Winners get an entry into Worlds, but I won't sniff anything near that - should be a fun day of playing though (3-4 games depending on the number of people that show up).

Dak, if you haven't already, you should check out Star Wars Rebellion. Takes a very long time to play but well worth it. It's a bit tough to play through the first few plays, but great replay value and the strategy is great. The also have an expansion they came out with that brings the Rogue One characters into the mix.

Anybody played X-Wing? I just ordered that.

Downing11 wrote:Dak, if you haven't already, you should check out Star Wars Rebellion. Takes a very long time to play but well worth it. It's a bit tough to play through the first few plays, but great replay value and the strategy is great. The also have an expansion they came out with that brings the Rogue One characters into the mix.

I have it. Hard to find someone willing to sit down and commit the time. Only been able to play a handful of times.

LetsGoPeay wrote:Anybody played X-Wing? I just ordered that.

I have some Version 1 stuff but haven't done anything regarding upgrading to the new version. Quicker games than Armada but I mostly prefer the big ship game.

The Imperial and Rebel Fighter Squadron 1 packs are going to come back in stock soon. Been out of stock most places over a year.