Lit Fantasy Flight Games and the Star Wars TCG

Gah, I left it in the car - but from what I remember, typical FFG - that is to say, very good.

 

What? No Royal Starships?! Though I guess it would actually count as a Space Transport. I sadly could not get a copy because they had sold out at my local store and I forgot to reserve a copy, though guess I will order one online.

 

Illustrations: Oh, they are a plenty. One of my favorites: an illustration for the "Bad Press" talent where a reporter with a hovercam is recording a stormtrooper squad smacking down locals. There's an Imperial officer pointing a blaster at a Gran who looks like he's talking his way out of the situation. Oh, and a Wookiee negotiating, i.e. smashing a table.

Starships:
Baudo-class star yacht
Curich-class shuttle
J-type diplomatic barge
MC-18 light freighter
Kappa-class shuttle

 

The Baudo was also in Far Horizons so I am not that surprised that it showed up again and with the Indulgent they already have a big star liner covered.

 

Spoiler

 

I'm guessing that's the Skysprite from Survivor's Quest - two-seat Aethersprite?

 

So, I finally played Armada. First did the tutorial to get the swing of it. Thank God I have a buddy who has a knack for figuring our game rules & mechanics, I'm not sure I could have figured it out on my own. It as quite an experience! Details below.

Playing as the Rebels, I deployed an Assault Frigate Mk.II A, two standard Nebulon-B frigates, a standard CR90 corvette, Wedge Antilles X-Wing, Tycho Celchu A-wing, a standard A-wing, a Y-wing, and B-wing. My buddy deployed a VSD II, two Gladiator-class Star Destroyers, a TIE Advanced, two TIE Bombers, one TIE Interceptor, and three TIE Fighters. Thusly, we deployed our ships and commenced battle.

We didn't get as tactical as I'm sure we will eventually get, as we were still learning and really just wanted to get into firing range. My Assault frigate and two Neb-B's moved to the center, with the corvette on the flanks. He chose to hold his VSD at long distance firing range and instead charge in with his two Gladiator-class Star Destroyers. My fighters engaged his, while he chose to use his fighters against my Neb-B's. In the end, my squadrons savaged his, destroying all of them. My squadrons all survived, albeit with reduced numbers. I destroyed one Gladiator-class and knocked out the shields on another, plus managed to damage the VSD from behind, but I lost all three frigates.

General observations:

1. As always, your luck rolling the dice helps, but they developed mechanics to help alleviate this.
2. Your initial moves are CRITICAL. By that, I mean that once your cap ships are tangled it is impossible to move quickly into new firing arcs, so choose well!
3. Rebel capital ships are designed to fire at a distance. The Gladiator, as close range, is a brutal opponent.
4. VSD II is a solid ship, though if you get behind her she is a weak target. Good long range ship though.
5. Rebel assault frigates are tough. Mine lasted until the final round, suffering repeated barrages. But they lack the advantage of black dice, which are close range and deal the highest probably of damage.
6. Neb-B frigates, if deployed at range, as surprising solid. But don't get exposed one your broadside, they have weak shields.
7. The CR90 is a plucky ship. My only complaint is that they should be better at killing fighters.
8. As to be expected, Rebel squadrons have an advantage over Imperial ones. Wedge is a beast!
9. Fighters, even Rebel ones, can hurt capital ships, but not as much as you might think. It would still be fairly tough to do that, unless you have several squadrons and they are not harried by enemy squadrons.

The game takes a fair amount of time. We didn't attempt to use the bonus cards, as we were focused on learning the basics. Defense tokens are cool to use, plus I love the command dial system. Another example of you having to think a few moves in advance, giving tactics value.

I think the thing that strikes me the most about the game is how tactics are important and the mechanics have helped make luck of rolling less important. Though, admittedly, my luck of rolling was atrocious last night. My poor Assault Frigate, positioned brilliantly, was shooting like crap thanks to my luck. It was comically bad, but my buddy & I had a good laugh. I can only assume it was crewed by Elomin.

Can't wait for the next wave of expansions. The ISD looks crazy strong on the bow firing arc, though apparently my beloved MC80 is wickedly deadly at medium & long range. The MC30c and Imperial Raider look cool, but I want me some big ships!

My hat goes off to Fantasy Flight Games. It is a joy to play, the variables allow for very unique fleets & battles, and overall it was a fun night!

--Adm. Nick

P.S.

I typed this on my iPad, so apologies in advance if I have more typos than normal.

 

Actually it really should not be, it has a blind spot the size of half the ship

 

Well, there's the wave of suicide corvettes in the final Alliance battle in Balance of Power that end up essentially destroying the SSD once you take out the bridge shields...

 

In XWvTF? I think it was three bomb filled dreadnaughts to take down the shields, a bomb filled corvette to take out the bridge, then a wing of B-Wings to finish the ship off.


Seems a tad overkill in my opinion, but it is a suitably epic finish to a campaign.

 

Though those did not have their own shields up, nor where they rigged as bombs.

 

Personally, I would either attribute that to the Executor being protected by planetary shields or by some quirk of hyperspace than to say that an SSD can shrug off being hit with three massive objects at near lightspeed. Otherwise, it shouldn't be possible to kill an SSD at all.

 

Or the ISDs struck a glancing blow

 

I'll need to check my old notes, but I could have sworn that they were CR90s, not Dreadnaughts. In any case, it was one right after the other, suicide runs with the ships laden with massive explosives, and it's really the 'bridge shield' that's being taken down (although that's immaterial for the gameplay) - or at least reduced to about 2%. You still have to physically destroy the SSD - no cheating by flying your A-wing into the bridge.

 

I could have sworn that happened at Fondor.

 

K-Wing preview:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2015/6/29/slam-and-bomb/

 

Looks like not only is the K-Wing still going with the incorrect appearance, it has stolen the SLAM from the Missile Boat. Thanks K-Wing.