FUNDAMENTALS OF TACTICS - GiledPallaeon Guest Post

Hey guys, John here to let you know we brought back GP to write a longer article about some fundamental tactics of the game and thinking and.... you know what, i'll just let him take it from here, ha!  See you soon from us all...

"I remember when this show was about community college" - Building Your Community

So ages ago, I promised a way to build a Rebel fleet that was just like Community, Dan Harmon's original show with intense fans who got way into a well-written, hilarious series that rewarded frequent watching and was unfairly canceled before its time.

And now I get Pickle Rick t-shirts from edgelord teenagers, but I'm NOT BITTER!

Well, we're not doing that today.  Today we're talking about how to build your very own Armada Community.

Gear up for battle: Armada peripherals for the player looking to upgrade their game and storage

Okay so you are getting familiar with Armada but you're still carrying your stuff around in the core set box and and you figure it's time to upgrade your game components and storage. Well I'm here for you! Welcome to my armory...

I'm pretty sure at least one of these launches Nerf balls.

Fleet building 101: the basics of fleet building

First and foremost, I (Eric) am going to be moving into a new house this week so my availability is sketchy at best. I'm hoping to be able to get one more article in this week when I have some downtime but I make no promises. I'll do my best, though. On to the article!

John and I have been dancing around the topic of fleet building for a little while and I figured now that I'm caught up to wave 3 of the Imperial releases it's time to at least get the basic parameters established for fleet building. I'll do my best to explore the considerations that go into it at higher levels but this is not an exhaustive guide. Everyone makes fleets differently and so if you're successful and your process doesn't follow my recommendations exactly, then good for you. Anyways, let's get to it, shall we?

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.

Building a Fleet for Cheap 2: Rebel Boogaloo!

So this was a subject that Eric and I have been talking about for a little bit.  Eric got his out previously, so I figured I'd throw mine out as soon as possible. Maybe you looked at all those Rebel articles I've been writing, and you said to yourself, "I want to free the galaxy from the tyranny of the Galactic Empire!  I'm sick of all those guys in my meta playing Imperial on Imperial and not learning how to dodge CR90 shots!  I want to be the very best, like no one ever was!"

Well welcome to the Rebellion, let's learn along with Finn.

The fun will never end, it's Rebellion Time!

Squadron keywords/mailbox #2

Our second request comes to us from Mark. He writes:

Hi guys,
Just started my Armada habit. I can quit whenever I like, right? Would it be possible for you to offer advice about [squadron] keywords and their tactical applications? I think I understand the rules themselves, but it'd be nice to get an experienced take on this side of the game.
Cheers from Blighty,
Mark

That I can do while John works on a "how all this mess becomes a bomber wing" style update! I will note as an aside that if you want more in-depth discussion of combining keywords with other statistics and fleet dynamics, I'd strongly recommend reading up on our individual squadron review articles, where we go into more details; a quick summary all in one place is definitely a useful resource however, and I'll try to cover the high points.

It's time to bullseye some womp rats, I guess?

Armada 101: working your way up from starter box games tips and reminders

Last Thursday we had two new players in for Armada (our local community continues to grow, which is always a good thing), and being the odd man out, I assisted them with rules and fleet building and such for their first non-starter box game. They had many questions and made numerous mistakes (which is normal and nothing to be ashamed of) and it prompted me to think of many pieces of advice and clarifications for players in similar situations where they're starting to come to grips with "regular sized" games. So without any further ado, let's get to some general-purpose reminders/tips/clarifications for new players!

Run, run, run, jump! I can be a backpack while you run!

Armada 101: faction breakdown

This is the second post (the first being my post on what I consider to be the core features/selling points of the game) of what I hope over the long run will be a series of posts I like to think of as "the basics" or "Armada 101." Stuff that people considering Armada or very new to Armada can make use of in terms of just grokking the basic elements of the game before they dig into something even more detail-oriented, like a squadron or ship analysis.

This time around, I'd like to answer a question I get from many new players: which faction should I choose? Some players intend to use only one faction (for example, John plays only Rebels) and others would like to focus on one over the other (for example, I'd say I'm about 90% Imperials 10% Rebels). Focusing on one faction can also make Armada more affordable, especially earlier on. I do come across the occasional "splitsies" player who do manages to more-or-less evenly play both sides but in my experience such people are a rarity.

First and foremost, there is no "bad" faction. Both Imperials and Rebels can field competitive fleets and have a great variety of competitive builds. Both can be fun to play as well, so there's no "good, but boring" faction either. The two factions do have tendencies in their designs, though, that differentiate them from one another and can appeal to players of different temperaments. I'd like to discuss at least some of those features with an eye towards helping new players decide which faction seems like it would appeal to them most. I would like to note that all comparisons are made as of the writing of this article, so as of wave 5.

Why play Armada? What makes it unique?

This topic was our very first request received for an article topic and for something so elementary I hadn't even considered it. Given we're focusing on articles for newer players, this kind of article is for the newest of the new players: those who haven't even played Armada yet!

So, what would I consider the defining elements of Armada as a miniatures game?