DK ask if anybody was up for a game, and I answered the call. Due it being Star Wars day on Saturday, I suggested that we play a Star Wars themed game … so after a bit of whinging DK decided to set up a game of Armada. I was to play the Imperials, the forces of order and stability, while DK chose the Rebels, thru forces of chaos.
My forces were 6 squadrons of tie fighter (one being Howlrunner?), Boba Fett in Slave 1 and a Victory Class (small) Star Destroyer (3 command dials).
DK had 2 ships - one being the corvette that Leia was on board in episode IV (1 command dial) and a bigger one - a frigate I think (2 command dials), 5 squadrons on X-wings - one being Wedge Antilles and the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo.
The game works in 3/4 phases per turn -
1 - Ship Phase - reveal the command dial for your ships in initiative order - then either do the command or save for later. We always used it. There are 4 commands to choose from: manoeuvre (change speed, direction etc.); concentrate fire (extra dice when shooting); engineering (fix damaged stuff); command squadrons (move and fire with a number (depending on ship) of squadrons within medium range.
The big ships can fire and have to move in this phase - ending up on another ship or obstacle causes damage.
The command dials are picked in advance, so planning is vital for the big ships because you have to pick what you are going to do 3 turns in advance … what will you need after contact with the enemy. I mainly did manoeuvres as I didn’t want to crash the big old Star Destroyer. The corvette with only one dial could adapt each turn.
2 - Squadron Phase - move or fire with any squadrons not already activated in the ship phase. Obviously you can move and fire by activating in the ship phase.
3 - Tidy up and set command dials.
The game is played over 6 turns and in the scenario we try there were 5 objective markers - the player with the most objectives would get 75 points at the end of the game. Only on ship on each side could pick up objectives - the Star Destroyer for me and DK’s frigate.
I set up with my forces on the right of the battle space - which turn out to be a good place. DK was more evenly spread across the board. (Top above picture) We made the moves forward (Bottom above picture) and unfortunately for the corvette the swarming tie fighters and star destroyer were too much - however DK had picked up 2 objectives to 1, but he was down one capital ship. (Top picture below)
With the destruction of the corvette the squadron ships (including the Falcon and Slave1) came into their own - well they started shooting at each other. Unfortunately for me the tie fighters with only 3 hits did struggle against the x-wings with 5! The Falcon was also pretty lethal against them too - but Boba is also a tough nut. The final turns were the little ships blowing each other up … great work by the eventually wipe out ties was the destruction of the Falcon …. Ha ha ha and then in the final dice roll Wedge Antilles was vaporised …. More ha ha ha.
The final positions of the ships are in the bottom picture. So how did my placement help me - well DK was able to collect two tokens on my left basically unopposed, but I picked up one early on, and once the corvette was out of action I was able by the 5/6 turn to collect my second. However the 5th token was out on my right, so unavailable to either of us - but it meant no one got the 75 bonus points.
So how did the game end - well 56 points to the Rebels (for destroying all the tie fighters and super squadron Howlrunner), 115 points to the Empire (the corvette, the Falcon (including Solo), 4 squadrons of x-wings (including Antilles). So a good day for the Empire in dealing with the Rebel scum!
Once we sorted out an error in turn one we got to grips with the rules pretty well and the game flowed well - picking your commands 3 moves in advance is a pick of a pain to be honest, but makes sense for the big ships - I reckon DK should have attacked the Star Destroyer with the X-wings or take out the Ties earlier. I would have found in tough with out them - all gone at the end of turn 6, but it didn’t matter then. One thing I did find annoying was that DK had made some nice 3D asteroids and wrecked ships (and come to think of it the squadrons had this issue), but when using the movement tool they or it got in the way … so things got moved so this could have some impact on ranges.
The extra cards that improved a squadron (Howlrunner, Boba, Han and Wedge), were nice additions to the theme. And reminded me of Attack Wing.
Enjoyed it and would play again - teams with a capital ship each would be interesting.
Morts
