Building an Imperial fleet on the cheap: the $250 challenge

One concern about Armada is the cost of entry. I cannot deny that miniature wargaming overall can be an expensive hobby (especially compared to more "compact" entertainment, such as video games or board games). One thing in Armada's favor is that so far as miniature wargaming is concerned, it's much cheaper than a lot of the "large scale" competition such as Warhammer 40K or Flames of War (not to say it's bad to enjoy any of those games as well).

This short article's goal is to get newer players to a reasonable 400 point Imperial fleet at a cost of $250 MSRP or less. Why Imperials? Because that's the faction I'm most familiar with. John has a companion Rebel article if you like, but otherwise you're stuck with me 😉. This can be the start of an Imperial-only fleet or it can be the first Imperial fleet you build into (maybe you are going for both factions and you'd like to start Imperial or you went Rebel already and want to bulk out your Imperials?).

Why $250? Its a fairly round number. It's less than the cost of a gaming console but is still a good-sized investment. It should be enough to get you by for some time. I will note that you can find individual components cheaper online or perhaps at your local game store, but whenever possible I encourage you to buy your gear at the store where you play - that's how they keep their lights on and their doors open so you and your buddies can play there!

One quick note: FFG can have issues keeping some items in stock. This list assumes you can grab everything. If you can't, you'll need to riff off of what's available to you.

So let's get down to it!

Definitely not this many triangles though.

When it comes to cost of entry, the first big hurdle is the $100 core set. It's basically unavoidable, as the core set comes with numerous things each person needs to play: the deck of damage cards, the obstacle tokens, and the wave one objective cards cannot be found anywhere else (short of eBay, which is unreliable and the costs are quite high). The core set is a fun way for two different people to play around with the basic rules of Armada but it's unfortunately impossible to "split" unless you are only ever going to be playing against that other person, which is very limited. For that reason, the first $100 of our $250 budget is going into the core set.

Past that, I consider it mandatory to buy another dice pack. Being limited to only three of each color of dice is quite problematic and can make it impossible to resolve situations where larger pools of dice are involved, especially with extra dice added from concentrate fire, modification upgrades like Expanded Launchers, or objective effects like Opening Salvo or Most Wanted. You also get a ton of options available once you've bought the upgrade card pack and I consider that mandatory as well - it makes your initial purchases less concerned about what upgrade cards come with the ships and allows for a lot of replayability and tinkering with your initial models.

So our starting purchases already are:

• Star Wars Armada core set ($100)
• Extra dice ($10)
• Upgrade card collection ($25)
  

So we're already $135 in and we need a guiding vision for the fleet. The first big consideration here is we'll want a fleet that uses the Victory-class Star Destroyer from the core set. It's kind of pointless to drop $100 on what you need to get started and not use the ship that comes with it. Therefore, we're looking for a fleet that uses a VSD and preferably most if not all of the TIE Fighters that came in the starter so we can spend our remaining $115 budget wisely.

I also acknowledge that some new players get into the Empire looking to run a specific type of fleet. So what I'm going to present are three different options for a new player fleet that all come in at $250 MSRP or under: a learner fleet, a heavy metal fleet, and a squadrons fleet. Begin with whichever you like. The learner fleet will be the more well-rounded of the three, giving you a little taste of most everything and the other two will be for players getting in because either A) BIG TRIANGLES or B) TIE swarm. I'm also looking to keep complex combos or models that require experience out of these fleets. Newer players will master those in time but they're not good for beginners. The goal is to keep options fairly straightforward and prioritize learning the game while still having a good time. None of these fleets is going to win a tournament, but no new player is going to win a tournament regardless of their fleet, so that shouldn't be the goal.

Option A: Learner fleet
What else you need to buy:

• Gladiator-class Star Destroyer ($30)
  
• Arquitens light cruiser ($20)
  
• Quasar light carrier ($30)
  
• Imperial Fighter Squadrons I ($20)

This brings you up to a total of $235 MSRP.

Commander: Grand Moff Tarkin

Assault: Most Wanted (probably make the Quasar the MW ship and don't have it stick around long)
Defense: Hyperspace Assault (Demolisher absolutely 150% Demolisher)
Navigation: Superior Positions

Victory I (73)
• Grand Moff Tarkin (28)
• Expert Shield Tech (5)
• External Racks (4)
= 110 Points

Gladiator I (56)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Concussion Missiles (5)
• Demolisher (10)
= 76 Points

Arquitens Light Cruiser (54)
• Captain Needa (2)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 63 Points

Quasar Fire I (54)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Flight Controllers (6)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Reserve Hangar Deck (3)
• Pursuant (2)
= 70 Points

Squadrons:
• Howlrunner (16)
• 4 x TIE Fighter Squadron (32)
• 2 x TIE Bomber Squadron (18)
• Mauler Mithel (15)
= 81 Points

Total Points: 400

As noted, this fleet has a little bit of everything. You've got a short-ranged brawler in Demolisher, you've got a long-ranged attacker with your Arquitens, you've got the in-between chunky option with your VSD, and you've got a decent squad group with a carrier that throws blue dice. You'll get to play around with a little bit of everything here to see what you like and don't like.

Tips:

1. Grand Moff Tarkin is there to help you deal with situations as they arise. When in doubt, navigate or repair tokens are probably best. Don't forget to keep the squadron commands coming for your Quasar and use the Pursuant title when they're not (usually to repair or navigate). Your VSD can help with squads now and then as well but mostly wants to look out for itself.
   
2. Skilled First Officers are also there on your Command 2 ships to help fix problems. Don't forget about them!
3. Your VSD flagship is slow and can't go toe-to-toe with actual large ships so keep it protected unless it can bully other ships. If something big comes your way, gang up on it.
4. Between Howlrunner and Flight Controllers, your TIE Fighters activated by your Quasar can throw 5 blue dice on the attack.

Option B: BIG TRIANGLES
What else you need to buy:

• Imperial-class Star Destroyer
• Chimaera Star Destroyer

This brings you up to a total of $235

Commander: Grand Moff Tarkin

Assault: Advanced Gunnery (on the Kuat)
Defense: Contested Outpost (triangle party!)
Navigation: Intel Sweep (your call on the ISD-II or VSD for objective ship)

Imperial II (120)
• Grand Moff Tarkin (28)
• Reeva Demesne (4)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (6)
• Sovereign (4)
= 176 Points

Victory I (73)
• Minister Tua (2)
• External Racks (4)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
= 86 Points

ISD Kuat Refit (112)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Darth Vader (3)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (6)
• Assault Concussion Missiles (5)
• Relentless (3)
= 137 Points

Squadrons:
= 0 Points

Total Points: 399

Some people just want to get as many big triangles on the table as fast as possible and I understand that. You're playing as the Empire, you want Imperial-class Star Destroyers, you want more than one, and you want them now. This is not a well-rounded fleet. This is a beatstick big plastic fleet that will primarily teach you how to run larger ships with lots of dice. You have no small ships. You have no squadrons. You have only 3 deployments. But I see lots of new Imperial players looking to build fleets like this from the get-go so there's no harm in starting this way so long as you realize you are going to need to branch out and learn the other elements of the game eventually.

Tips:

1. Grand Moff Tarkin is back for basically the same reasons as the Learner Fleet, but in this case he also helps keep your Electronic Countermeasures readying by providing repair tokens.
2. The Sovereign title on the ISD-II should not be forgotten about - it lets you turn Tarkin's tokens into whatever type you like, which can come in handy for giving the ISD-II a concentrate fire token to trigger Gunnery Team or the Kuat a squadron token to use the Darth Vader boarding team.
3. The VSD is a little helper triangle while his two big brothers do most of the heavy lifting. He can run as support for either but be aware of his lower speed.
4. With Relentless, the Kuat ISD only needs 2 command dials and Skilled First Officer can discard the top one. This makes it very easy to command on a dime, which can be important for your close-ranged bruiser ISD.

Option C: TIEs for days
What else you need to buy:

• Quasar light carrier ($30)
• Gozanti Assault Carriers x2 ($20x2= $40)
• Imperial Fighter Squadrons I ($20)
• Imperial Fighter Squadrons II ($20)

That brings you to a total of $245

Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn

Assault: Precision Strike
Defense: Contested Outpost
Navigation: Superior Positions

Victory I (73)
• Grand Admiral Thrawn (32)
• Minister Tua (2)
• Reserve Hangar Deck (3)
• External Racks (4)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
= 121 Points

Quasar Fire I (54)
• Admiral Chiraneau (10)
• Flight Controllers (6)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Stronghold (5)
• Reserve Hangar Deck (3)
= 82 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Bomber Command Center (8)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Vector (2)
= 37 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Hondo Ohnaka (2)
• Comms Net (2)
= 27Points

Squadrons:
• Maarek Stele (21)
• Colonel Jendon (20)
• Mauler Mithel (15)
• Howlrunner (16)
• 4 x TIE Fighter Squadron (32)
• 2 x TIE Bomber Squadron (18)
• TIE Interceptor Squadron (11)
= 133 Points

Total Points: 400

This is for folks who want to get a bunch of squadrons on the table ASAP and clocks in at 11 total squadron bases. Thrawn is in here to help you do squadron commands while also doing other dials. I'd generally recommend having Thrawn issue your squadron commands rounds 2, 3, and 4 while your ships do other things (usually navigate or repair). The ships in this fleet are offensively weak (your VSD packs the most punch and everything else is trying to leave) so you're mostly going to be learning how to handle the squadron mini-game until you decide it's time to branch out a bit and get some combat ships. Another Imperial Fighter Squadrons I pack for additional TIE Bombers opens up some other options too.

Tips:

1. You've got two Reserve Hangar Decks in your fleet to resurrect TIE Fighters or your Interceptor. Don't forget about them.
2. The Hondo Comms Net Gozanti can command squads but also is happy to support your Quasar or VSD as your squads get reduced down.
3. Keep your Bomber Command Center Gozanti as safe as you can. The rerolls for Maarek and moreso the TIE Bombers really help.
4. Maarek and Jendon are your multi-role core here and they do great against ships or squads working together. Generally you'll need more help against ships so try to send them to help your TIE Bombers.
5. Admiral Chiraneau on the Quasar helps keep your bombers moving but don't neglect to use it to keep hopping Mauler Mithel around too.