John's Catch-All Post

Armada was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever, about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. The Wills signed it; and the Wills' name was good upon shit for 'change, for anything they chose to put their hand to. Armada was as dead as a door-nail.

Like I was going out any different from any way you've ever known me, Now to shoehorn in a Hamilton reference!

Where I Were

So, it's been a minute.  I haven't posted in ages, and the long and short of it was that we got no new content since RR2 and I knew I was missing Worlds 2024 (shout out to my daughter for being born the Saturday of it, so I GUARANTEE missing it was the right call.  Also, shout out to Stew's kid, sharing a birthday as well.  Happy birthday, bab!) 2023 was for intents and purposes, my last shot. I may try for 2025, but that's a discussion for the future with the wife.  Here, watch this 2.5 year old and 1 year old, and schedule her first birthday around my going to Milwaukee to play games for a weekend is..... well, it's not an easy sell.

Oh, we're doing ALL the hits

With all that knowledge, and 2023 being my last shot, I had run Leia because, well, duh.  If I'm going out, it's on my terms.

I realize i never did a Worlds write-up from then, so uh, real quick and dirty:

IF Pelta, Yavaris, Salvation, flotilla with Toryn and Munitions Resupply, 134 in X-wings and Norra, amusingly enough.

Game 1 I hit an Agate MC30, ended in a 5-6 IIRC.

Game 2 was Jake/Jacob (Charno?) from Utah who I can picture but it has been a minute and I can't spells his name. Nice guy, I'd hit him in a different tournament before (hence the memory). IIRC, 6-5 on time, Leia was in close range of an MC30 and was about to blow, but, time.

Game 3 I hit a CIS blob with 2 Munis and Fist, I got a few lucky crits and broke everything for a 10-1, losing (again IIRC) nothing.

Game 4 I hit... a guy (Canadian?) running Agate GH; I got blown apart when 1-2 things went wrong, then I had to go for broke to attempt to make day 2.  I didn't, but had fun, made top half with Leia, and then played My Father's Work the next day at Eric's house. I'm proud of my Top Half after having not seriously competed in 3 years.

I'd still replay that Leia list, and I've worn the Worlds shirt more than once, haha. Hooray, a write-up!

I was proud of what I did considering I had stepped VERY far back from the regular competitive scene. I haven't played more than a handful of times SINCE THAT Worlds, just, I have babies. I love them, but any game I scheduled (with usual sparring partner GP) was very often a "hey, when the kids are asleep?" and then we're logging on at 9 through no fault of anyone's.  Armada the game was fun, but the game has passed me by. My community still existed, but my priorities have shifted greatly, so I don't make it out there these days (sorry guys! Trying again potentially in a few months when the kid is 6 months old, but we'll see!). I still got a mess of opinions on things though. Not playing hasn't made me less opinionated, as I'm sure you can guess.

So when the Wills killed our game (and go read Summer's post for a nice version, Eric's for the grim and dirty, and the The Armada Podcast for even more "behind the scenes"), I'd already, I'd say, moved on.  A LOT of The Old Guard who I used to play with and liked picking their brains with had moved on, either from their game store dying/COVID taking it out behind the woodshed, their community of players dying, or just them getting bored of it.

Back in my day, we used to play Armada in the snow! Walking 15 miles to the game store!

And that's a digression I want to make clear as well, though I know Eric wrote it up on his end. IN MY OPINION: AMG killed this game. Not "lack of sales" but "lack of EFFORT." I'd have been saddened over "hey we tried and failed" but they didn't even TRY.  The only people who learned our rules were the people they hired as rules gurus, the events they attempted to schedule were half thrown together with garbage bonuses either too good (every squadron gets an extra die in its attacks) or too bad (your ships cant be targeted round 1), and their produced works can best be described as "contractually mandated."  I talked to several RR1 testers and watched the 2 week shitshow to test everything and get it all fixed.  That's not competent, that isn't real testing and real chances to see WHAT can happen, and they only hired like 2 groups for it.  FEEDBACK requires DATA, and POLLS require MULTIPLE ANSWERS, ya dumb robot. None of the testers under FFG were doing this for the chance at a free ship from the wave, we did it to make the product better (results may have been mixed, sorry if my testing caused a ship/card to be too good/bad).  But AMG hired out 2 groups for RR1, and they did alright.  It's fine.  I STILL have never met anyone who did RR2, which leads me to believe it was tested in-house under people who still, TWO YEARS AFTER GETTING THE GAME, NOT LEARNED THE RULES.  Anakin, man what do you even say.

Their announcement killing the game reminded me of Heavyweights, because everything is tied up in the films of my youth, apparently.  Ben Stiller's insane Fat Camp Owner going over the PA and disinterestedly saying "Lunch has been cancelled due to lack of hustle. Deal." had about as much emotion and respect as AMG's announcement saying we could play some of their other Star Wars games.  You didn't put effort into the one we wanted, and your suggestion is to go look at the ones you ARE putting effort into? Really? Deadbeat Dad-ass ideology, not caring about the step-children you KNEW you were getting when you asked for the Star Wars license.

So I'm bitter about the Wills and everything they do.  I don't recommend Shatterpoint.

But I'd moved on. AMG had no new content, I had 2 kids, you weren't going to be getting articles. So the death of AMG's support had happened well after I went through all 5 stages.

Denial was quick, because, uh, having ONE kid made me realize that life was never going to be the same. I didn't have time for denial that "the game is dead to me" because I had a kid and new things to do.

What Anger, I like my kids.

Bargaining had happened (OK, I'll go play occasionally, it'll be fine, I'll still keep playing!), then we had our first winter with one kid growing up and an anxiety dog so my wife asked me to stay home on Friday nights for a bit (to help deal with both of them literally running around the house), and I had said "sure!" I can do Dad stuff, I can play online.... then I realized I liked hanging out with my wife on Friday nights where we didn't have to do anything or get up for work on Saturday.

Depression happened a few times, that's for sure. We'll get there.

But by the time of AMG's announcement, the game to me WAS gone (Or was it that I was?), and I had accepted that.

Acceptance

Where I Am

It's very sad watching the game you love die.  Eric and I have watched several communities and games we tried to throw together in Chicagoland die, as they just never took off, or the interest cratered. Watching something you love end is sad, as is potentially losing the community of weird Star Wars nerds you've grown to interact with daily, on Discord. The pandemic kinda solidified the community, as we couldn't go anywhere or do anything BESIDES talk to each other online, so it's scary to think about all of that stopping to exist. This is where I plug OUR discord, which is more of a catch-all for gaming and other interests of all types.  We have some Trek, some Armada, mess of GW stuff, video games, pick your poison.  It's got a lot of Armada nerds on it, so feel free to come join people you recognize.  It's not going to replace your Armada chat discord, but it'll help you move on.

I reiterate that I haven't played significantly since Worlds 23, so the game has died for me a little easier than a lot of other people. I've spent the last year and 3 months in order: raising one daughter (March 23 forwards), buying and moving to another house (packing in summer 23, moving in October 23), having a second daughter (March 2024, hence the October move), and raising 2 daughters since then. We had heard rumblings that AMG was killing Armada for good in January, so we started looking elsewhere.  My brother-in-law plays 40K, Eric and several friends used to, neither of us wanted to do the community building a new game (DropX, Infinity, Legion, pick your poison) would require.  We both have kids, and gaming these days is "when can I leave my child so I can go see nerdlets."  When they all hit 16 and want to go to the space mall and spend space dollars so they space don't have to see us, well THEN I'll have time and the pile of shame will..... shaddup.

So we've been looking at 40K.  I've built/started building a Guard army, Eric was going Nids, my BIL has Space Marines, and if I'm very lucky I'll get a game in before things move to 11th edition.  For me, 40K is a painting and building hobby, which is largely what I was missing from Armada.  I know other people are doing 30K, Kill Team, Dropfleet, Dropzone, Star Trek, and also a whole mess of games Truthiness ISN'T playing.

Truthi after seeing my jokes is going to become... well, you know the line

Where I currently am with Armada is that it's a great game that I made a lot of good friends with.  Before I continue, I would like to shout out our Armada community, as every one of these posts has before me. To steal a line from RealVeers, "the game broke before the community did." And I'm already making Cadia Stans jokes....

The community has always been the best part of this game, along with talking to each other and the camaraderie.  I put together an entire series of shirts just to thumb our nose at AMG for killing our game, and because I knew they weren't going to. I made some great lifelong friends here. Heck, several were invited and came to my wedding, even! I remember Minnesota Worlds, meeting and talking with Brooks and Jimmy, playing Ian AFTER the final match, Blessed GR, getting into playtesting, seeing what our efforts could do, etc etc.  I remember all the good times I've had writing this blog, feeling very Hamiltonian (I don't do a LOT of edits to these on jump, as I know what I mean to say a lot of the time and apparently you lot enjoy my rambling. My constant streak of needing to fix what I MEANT is... less Hamiltonian).  I've watched as the game passed me by (skills wise), but rejoiced in the friendships and family I was replacing that all with.  I remember the early days of getting into Leia, proving she CAN work, having fun, being the Leia Guy, wrecking face with her, GETTING wrecked with her, and discovering the fun I was having in the game. I remember getting the ticket to Worlds 2020* by making top half of GenCon. Then it became Worlds, uh, 2023. The online gaming, the vassal events and tournaments and everything. I've got a lot of good memories of the game, moreso than Warmachine/Hordes (mainly because I played Armada longer and was more involved in the community.  My WMH memories are just few and far between, not bad ones).

I remember people KNOWING who I was at events, because I Wrote A Blog.  I felt like a, as pompous as it is to say, a Steward of The Game.  People referred to my articles when new people came onboard! I was respected and listened to, which is a weird feeling to have! In the online community of the blind, I was the one-eyed man! Wait. Basically, it was nice to see people look to us for takes on stuff, and it was nice having people entertained by the stolen and dad jokey-jokes. Many, many stolen jokes at times.  It was nice being able to say (privately) "I helped make so-and-so!" and nicer when a lot of these cards were good and fun for the game. Because FFG always sorta tried, even if they were run hamstrung from jump and never had all the time they wanted.  I always felt like they cared about us, even if we were their weirdo goth child who they were like "doing good, champ!" We were feral, demanding new stuff all the time, gollum cherishing every ship we got.  Looking at YOU, Combat Interdictor fans.

We were a niche game amongst niche games, but damn if we didn't make it count every time. I'm proud of this community and who we are.

Shoehorned in only a bit, but do you really care?

Where We're Going 

Currently, all the articles should be updated to the last legal RR2.5 standards. Sorry it took a while to get the pictures uploaded, I....didnt.... care. Huh, yeah, that sentence sure happened. "Guys new Vult Skerris is kinda worth using!" So? "New Draven stinks!" Obvious. "These great cards with increased points are still good and worth using!" Helpful. So helpful, John.

I have no desire to put up homebrew of my own, nor do I plan on referring you to any OTHER homebrew currently in design or out there existent. We've never trucked in it before, and given that we don't know how the dust is settling or which one of the Balkanized communities is going to come out on top, it's not worth my time saying that I like THIS class 546 over THAT class 546. You all have fun, we're leaving this as an FFG/AMG only (as far as I know) site.

Should you go to Worlds? I mean, yeah, enjoy your time with Armada in its last hurrahs.  AMG hasn't done shit for you before, why would they start now? Them being incompetent doesn't mean you can't enjoy the game you've always loved. Go to Milwaukee if you want/can and have a shot of Malort for me. Chase it with an Old Style and pretend we shared the Chicago Handshake together. If you're in Cincinnati let me know and we can share a real one.

Last time I had one, the Cubs had just made it to the World Series. I shotgunned the beer, it was delicious

What about Worlds 2026? And so on? I see several people claiming that THEY'RE gonna save Armada with their homebrew and THAT'S gonna make things great and we're FINE, TRUST ME BRO.  My only caution is that event space costs, man, and someone is gonna have to pay for the tables and chairs.  I'm not gonna tell anyone "don't try to save the game", you do you, but "what do I homebrew next" should be on the backburner and "what events am I paying for, what prizes if any am I giving?, how am I ensuring butts in seats ENOUGH to NOT have to charge an additional $50 per ticket for Worlds" etc.  Because Adepticon and Armada before were like $40+$40? Plus hotel (it's been 2 years). Doing some back of the envelope math, if renting space is $10K (this is not an unreasonable number per friends in the industry), that means you need 100 people to pay 100 dollars to break EVEN on rental.  And man, I enjoy Armada.  I don't know if I $100 enjoy Armada for like 4 games, man. That's your logistics, and THAT'S what you new Saviors of the Game should be working on.  I don't give a shit about your new GARquitens if I don't have a place to run it. Adepticon may be giving you guys the space next year, but what about in 2? 5? 

Free advice: IF you can get Worlds 2026 off the ground, keep it normal.  AFTER that and you prove you didnt bankrupt yourself making a slew of 20-50 year olds happy, THEN you can add your homebrew.

Personally, and this isn't a happy opinion to say....

MORE Last Jedi references! More of them!

(Here's where we hit the Denial!) Let the past die. Seriously.  The game WAS great. IS great. Enjoy it while you can, but the omnipotent FFG designers knew what they wanted the game to be and strived for balance, especially from listening to all of us playtesters with our own goals. I can't be sure that whoever is taking over the game after AMG has that same design feel and plan; designing games is hard damn work. Any employee of a game company can tell you that. It's rough to say "give up" but as Eric has pointed out, a lot of these games just don't survive having no support/product. I see what people are lined up to do, but are like 4-5 events a year in a game that's only going to increasingly get harder to get into and get other people into worth it? When the guy over there can convince them to get into 40K or Infinity instead?

I'm not denying your feelings. It IS sad, kinda like a shit high school graduation.  You don't know if you'll ever see some of these people again, as Mark is going to Juliard (Legions Imperialis), Tim is going to the University of Kentucky (regular 40K), and Jeremy is going to Louisville (Shatterpoint, and L's Down, as my wife would say). Part of not wanting to leave the community and the game we have is that the future is scary, and will you ever find someone THIS cool again? You will, but you're going to have to go do the work and find a new community to enter AND fit into. Extroversion, the stereotypical nerd's natural enemy. But, as your parents have told you, it's worth it, just go be yourself, etc etc.

Denial is easier. The game WON'T die, I don't have to do new things, I can stay in my cocoon/bubble and nothing needs to change. Come on, man, that's not a life worth living. You gotta try new things. What if you had never tried shawarma after the Avengers? Or Indian food? What if you never told the girl or guy you liked etc? Life is new events and new experiences.  Some times AMG rips your heart out, sometimes the Cubs come back from a 3-1 series deficit, and sometimes things turn out ok in the end. Just gotta BELIEVE.

You're going to have to discuss possibly with your gaming community where they're going, and if you want to follow them or move to a different game entirely.  Maybe bring a friend or two with you? The best part of gaming for me has been showing off my painting work to friends, and then discussing games and occurrences.  Lot easier to start a new game with a friend as you can bounce off each other.  As for gaming, I'm moving to 40k, with all my copious time as a father. It's a game and a system THAT WORKS FOR ME, which is the most important part/thing for you and where you go. Yes, I bought the speedpaint.  I sold out, feels great. I have like 40-50 Cadians to get to, plus tanks. I don't have "run a niche game/community" in me, because it's been filled with "raise my kids instead." They're cuter than you guys anyways, sorry. I don't have "wargame weekly" in me these current days, but I do love the building and painting.

As for the blog, I have no plans on taking it down, nor leaving the slew of discords I'm currently in for Armada.  If you want to write an article about something, feel free to let me or Truth know about it. As for me and my house, though, I believe we'll go into the West. I don't have anything left to write about for Armada, which is a terrifying thing to realize and probably why I've been delaying hitting "publish" as I make the edits for this all, and reread it "One Last Time." (Bonus Hamilton ref for you lot). This blog, man, we spent 7 years of our lives writing for this, helping people and making goofy jokes. It's been a hell of a ride, I wouldn't trade a minute of it.

Cheers reference, very timely

I'm gonna miss Armada, something something the friends we made along the way.

We go out, as we came in

Life's like a movie

write your own ending

keep believing

keep pretending

we've done just what we set out to do

thanks to the lovers

the dreamers

and you

Love to y'all.