Obstacle deployment: asteroids do not concern me, admiral!

I've been putting this one off for a while, but let's get to some deployment articles! First and foremost, let's talk about the first deployment step, the obstacle deployment step. I've found it's not uncommon for newer players to not really appreciate how much of an effect obstacle placement can have on the game and I'd like to remedy that. In short, asteroids may not concern Darth Vader, but they concern the rest of us.

If you're looking for the newer Rebellion in the Rim obstacles, check out this other article.

Turns out Sith Lords are not good bosses

Pass tokens: a how-to for those who wish to not-do

With 1.5 now out in the wild for a while and me finally caught up on both Clone Wars Separatist articles and revisions to literally dozens of other articles where 1.5 changes made a difference, it's time for an article about an altogether new 1.5 mechanic: pass tokens.

Only the finest old memes in MS Paint for our lovely readers.

The Spend Defense Tokens Step and the Fine Art of Not Dying

This is something of a companion article to the attack sequence article I've linked to countless times already, but its focus is flipped: we're looking specifically at things that keep your ships and squadrons alive when you're attacked. For the sake of brevity I passed over the minutiae of the Spend Defense Tokens step in that article, but we're going in deep this time around.

You gotta keep your angry red death balls all nice and cozy-like, you know?

Overlapping, or "demolition derby in space"

Despite becoming a Chicagolander through osmosis occurring over more than a decade, I was born and raised in northwestern rural Illinois (where my high school mascot is a pretzel) and let me tell you city slickers that demolition derbies are awesome. Just a whole bunch of the most junked up barely functional cars all smashing into each other and driving around with pieces hanging off and smoke blowing around as they throw mud all over the place and get into loud crashes while the crowd screams until there's only one quasi-functional car left standing. If you've never been to a demolition derby, I highly recommend it. And with that said, on to the article...

Oh man, 137 is really getting taken to Pound Town.

Commands in Armada

Following the success of the attack sequence article, I wanted to cover something else in Armada that tends to produce a lot of headaches: everything involving commands, particularly when different commands are possible in one activation or when a token and dial are used together. This element of the game can be confusing for the same reason the attack sequence can be confusing - it's not really spelled out in detail in the learn to play book and it incorporates elements from several different parts of the rules. Anyways, let's begin!

The cut will be done in moments, you may commence your article.

The attack sequence and you!

I'm taking a break from writing up the General Tagge article to talk about the attack sequence and how it works. I've mentioned it in a few posts (primarily the ordnance upgrades article) and John recently covered it somewhat in his Ackbar article and it should probably all be in one place for easy reference. In short, the attack sequence in Armada can be very important and it's frequently misunderstood. Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy, though, and I'd like to catch you up to speed and provide some examples!

This is how Imperials feel when Ackbar uses his add effect on an HMC80 broadside in step 3.

A quick primer on Raid

Given Raid is making a comeback in Rebellion in the Rim, it seems like the right moment to have a short rules article on exactly what raid does, as I've seen a number of different people get it wrong lately when discussing the new stuff.

Kills ants, roaches, and squadron commands with minimal hassle!