Just picked up pic related today so that my girlfriend and I could have a new game to play.
Also picked up a TIE Phantom and an A-wing as well, and played a few games. It was pretty fun.
What are your thoughts on the game?
Best units to pick up?
Are huge ships fun to play with in the game or completely OP?
Anyway to avoid getting into messes where everyone keeps passing each other?
>>47075980
A-wings are a little weak once you start getting a lot of ships, because they're overcosted for what they do.
The aces (Imperial and Rebels) are good expansions to pick up. If you do that, you might want something a little heavier for the Imps though, to match the B-wing
>>47076145
Oh, and rebel aces fixes the A-wings problems.
>>47076145
>>47076156
And whatever core set you didn't get is also a solid option as an expansion, since they're priced competitively with getting three ships separately and come with more stuff.
The newer core's damage deck is slightly better as well.
>>47076184
Not that it's really relevant for casual play, but also keep in mind that the new damage deck is the only tournament legal one as well.
>>47075980
>What are your thoughts on the game?
It's incredibly fun, games are well paced, and relatively inexpensive.
>Best units to pick up?
The aces packs are great value, but my personal favorite ships are B-wings, TIE Interceptors and the Y-wing. Value wise, Y-wings, the Hawk, Slave 1, and Z-95s are all cross faction playable with Scum if you pick up Most Wanted, which is also a good value.
>Are huge ships fun to play with in the game or completely OP?
I find them hit and miss, the big turret ships i find not fun on either side, but the Slave 1 and Lambda have been better off.
>Anyway to avoid getting into messes where everyone keeps passing each other?
The obvious answer is turrets, rear arcs, and bombs, all of which can discourage your opponent doing flybys and make them better for you. Alternatively, flying more mobile ships can let you dictate the flow of positioning more easily, while forcing stress or Ions can let you limit your opponents options.
>>47076233
>Dash and Ghost.
>Not fun.
You sir, you speak for your own kingdom!
>>47076233
I was leaning more towards the larger ships like the Assault Carrier and the Imperial Raider.
Rebels are scum.
Hopefully the Rogue One movie will gte a huge expansion adding more ships.
>>47076397
Imperial Veterans is looking likely to make TIE Defenders as awesome as they should be, TIE Phantoms are fun as all hell to fly, but not as strong as they were and have turret issues. Bombers are actually decent now with all the munitions buffs, and veterans may make them better than a doom shuttle as a vader carrier.
Huge ships aren't standard play legal, so my only experience with them is the scenario stuff in the transport expansion, which seemed more interesting than it turned out to be and took forever to set up.
How easy is X wing to get into for wargame novices? My gf has reasonable boardgame experience, but hasn't really done anything miniatures-based. Would sheer Star Wars Fanboy/girl-ness be enough to pull through?
>>47077276
Yes. It's only got 4 and a half phases once you get things set up and set up uses a point system that defaults to 100 points, with most ships being somewhere between 20 and 40 points and most modifications being between 1 and 7 points (And also limited to what your ship can carry).
Movement is entirely based on templates that slot into the front and back of the bases of the minis.
Attacking is based on distance measured by another template and 1-4 attack dice vs 1-4 defense dice depending on ship profiles and some circumstances like distance or obstacles.
You get one action after you move. Actions add extra dice, reroll dice, count certain dice symbols as if they were hits or dodges, let you move a little bit more in a few ways, and other simple things like that.
So basically, it's more involved than most boardgames, but not as crazy as wargames. Model count is low, with most people using between 2-4 ships, with 8 being the absolute maximum (Due to the cheapest ships costing 12 points) in a standard 100 point game.
X-wing is greatness.
I've been messing with the tie prototype of late
Oicunn w/ Gunner, vader
2x barons w/ crack shot, concussion missile, title, guidance chips
5-0 so far, really liking it.
You guys should post in /swg/, it's been slow lately and not many people talk about X-Wing anymore.
>>47077686
I love the TAP but most of my collection is Rebs and I'm having a hard time building lists where it can shine.
Right now my list for it is
"Redline" - FCS - Plasma Torps - Cluster Missiles - Guidance Chips - Extra Munitions
The Inquisitor - XX-23 Thread Tracers, Autothrusters, title, PTL
2x Black Squadron Pilot w/Crack Shot.
I've only flown it twice and I'm 1-1 with it.
>>47076233
>Not that it's really relevant for casual play, but also keep in mind that the new damage deck is the only tournament legal one as well.
Is this true? Our store tournaments have been letting people choose which damage deck they use. My understanding was that this was the official way to do it.
>>47076397
The epic scale ships are for epic play, but all of them other then the Tantive have a smaller ship with them, and some good cards for said smaller ships. So if you like Running Tie swarms you definately want the carrier because it has a good pilot and two more ties, if you don't it isn't really needed. Also in actual epic play the huge ships are pretty awful, they are easy to cripple and way too costly in points, if one team takes a huge ship and the other takes only small ships the small ship team will probably win.
Now then onto other stuff you should pick up, if you are just focusing on imperials and rebels for now, pick up an additonal xwing, the blister one, it comes with different stuff then the starter set, and same for the tie, a third tie is not a bad choice. Beyond that I would say try proxying things and see what you like, or just buy stuff because you like it if you arnt playing competition go for rule of cool.
Like my purchases went about like this.
Starter > Xwing > Ewing > Awing > Aces > Bwing > Xwing2 > Rebel transport > YT-2400 > Headhunter > Ywing > Starter2 > T-70 > Hawk > Falcon > Headhunter2
I basically bought into what I thought looked fun.
>>47078697
Correct new damage deck is tourney legal, there are some key differences in card ratios and crits that make the new one different then the old one.
>>47078697
Your store is right, >>47076233 is wrong. They initially said they were going to only allow the new one but people complained and they backpedaled to letting people choose. The old deck is really only better if you have no ships that rely super heavily on secondary weapons or their pilot abilities, though. The new one is much more forgiving.
>>47075980
I love this game. Very fun to play, easy and cheap to get into, and the tournament scene is filled with nice people who do a great job.
Best units depends on the kind of list you want to play. You'll get a long list of suggestions in this thread, and most are tournament-optimized lists. If you're playing casually with your gf, then really just buy what looks cool and try to weave them all together into a list. What you get will be fine.
Here are some expansion ideas (pick ONE).
For X vs TIE action, get a second box set, so both you and your GF each have the other game pieces. Then get one clamshell each of an X-wing and a TIE Fighter. That's five TIE fighters and three X-wings, which is a good basis for your squadrons.
Imperial players love TIE Interceptors, so Imperial Aces and a clamshell give you a total of three, which makes for a fine list.
Rebel Aces gives you a B-wing and an A-wing. Add a clamshell of each and you have two of each fighter.
If one of you want to go Scum and Villainy, then pick up the Most Wanted (Y wing and Z-95), plus three Rebel clamshells: the HWK, Y-wing, and Z-95. The minis can be used in rebel OR scum lists.
A large ship (millennium Falcon, YT-2400, JumpMaster5000, Lambda shuttle, V-49 Decimator, Slave One) is a great expansion. I've seen lots of X-wing+Millennium Falcon lists, and they do fine.
When you have a small collection, you field few ships with lots of upgrades. When you have a large collection, you can use swarms of low pilot skill, unupgraded ships.
>>47078630
As a long time poster on /swg/ I can say that x-wing posts sometimes get swallowed up or ignored. My starvation for regular x-wing discussion even drove me to check out the x-wing tmg sub on leddit. If we can have semi-regular x-wing only posting here without getting stepped on by people arguing about Kreia or what fighter they want to waifu then maybe that's okay.
Anyone know of X Wing sales for star wars day today?
>>47078697
it was originally but more recently FFG changed their mind and either is fine.
>>47078853
If you own table top simulator you can actually play xwing on it, and discuss it with people there.
>>47078858
my FLGS did 10% off all SW stuff. Mot much but it was nice.
>>47078858
My canabucks retailer is doing 20% off and they already pretty much do 10% off MSRP.
It's pretty legit. I'm probably grabbing the Decimator+Defender in preparation for Aces2.
So what's the people opinion of Armada? I really love big ships battles.
>>47075980
>Anyway to avoid getting into messes where everyone keeps passing each other?
No, not really. You'll get better about that with time. But don't sweat furballs too much. Bumps and nudges and eyeballing it are inevitable. Don't take it too seriously and Fly Casual.
Some tips:
Put a 1-straight manuever template next to a fighter that's in the way of a maneuver template to mark its position so you can put the template down. A 2-straight template can do the same thing for large ships. In a pinch, you can place any maneuver template into a blocking ship's nubs to mark its position so you can remove it for a moment.
For a straight move, if you're zipping past a bunch of blocking fighters, you can use the space outside the nubs to place your template.
If range is questionable, slip the template between the minis. If it can slide between them without bumping, then it's out of range. Some people cut a normal range template into a range 1 and a range 2 template so they can do this for any range.
A laser pointer can easily resolve firing arc questions. Get the kind that projects a line, not a point. Don't pay more than $5 (Harbor Freight, Amazon, and Miniatures Market all carry these).
Miniatures Market sells at the best discount and has a good reputation.
Plano Boxes are a good storage solution. Plano 5231 has a deep (2 inch) box with customizeable sections, including a deep section suitable for storing your cards, bases, and big ships. On top is a second shallow box (also customizeable) that is perfect for tokens and templates.
http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Scum%20and%20Villainy&d=v4!s!120:49,120,-1,-1,118:-1:-1:;125:105,0,-1,-1:-1:-1:;124:150,0,-1,-1:-1:-1:;115:143,-1:-1:25:&sn=Scum%20Turtles%20w%2F%20Headhunter
This is the current version of a list i've been working on. Its been doing extremely well against imperial ace lists so far, although i haven't gotten many games against rebel or scum lists.
>>47078837
>>47075980
IMO, for large ship action, unless you're super attached to Slave I and the Falcon (and, let's be honest, who isn't), I would argue that the YT-2400 and Ghost are more fun to fly as Rebel large ships. I haven't flown the Decimator myself, but also seems a lot stronger that Slave I, though maybe not as interesting to fly.
>>47078858
Weyland are doing 25% off pretty much everything.
But you know
>Weyland
I enjoyed playing it with friends.
None of them play it now though, and now I've just got all these ships collecting dust in my shelf.
I miss playing though, it was tons of fun. I'd like to get these sold now, but I'm not sure how I could safely ship these out, since they're pretty damn fragile.
>>47079010
Scum Slurry is good stuff! The y-wing is pretty much my favorite ship and has continued to impress in every wave since 6.
>>47079134
I agree completely... but frankly if you're a beginner and at all into star wars you'll want to get the most iconic big ships in the series.
>>47079145
>But you know
>>Weyland
No, I don't. What's up with them?
>>47079272
Basically, don't order anything from them that you can't stand to wait a few months before it might turn up.
Anything that says "available to order" basically means "out of stock until we get enough orders to order more in". Even when they say they have X amount in stock you can never be 100% sure.
You can't question the prices, but fuck me Amazon has spoilt me when it comes to decent delivery times.
>>47079145
>>47079350
Ahhh, ok good to know.
Miniatures Market has an excellent reputation and is 25% off pretty much all the time. Not as good as the 33% off they were until last month, but still very good. Amazon's prices seem to be -25% as well. I guess I can save $6 by buying from them and saving the shipping.
>>47079350
>>47079398
Not to sound like a shill, but buying from a local shop tells the owners that people play the game, which causes them to help you connect with other players and host tournaments and other rad shit. I think that paying MSRP (at least some times) is worth it if you have a LGS that'll react to your custom.
>>47079549
I absolutely agree.
In my case, my FLGS only stocks the core set and about a million clamshells of the fighters from the new movie. So I mostly buy online.
If you play at a game store, then buying a clamshell every time you go is a good way to pay $4 of "rent" for using their space, tables, and facilities. Game stores usually are on a glide path to bankruptcy, so supporting the good ones is a great way to keep gaming alive.
>>47079134
>>47079233
In defence of Slave 1, it's an absolutely great ship in the Scum faction (Perhaps not top tables of a tournament quality, but it that's what you're getting in your casual games they're way different from mine). If you're interested at all in Scum, get your hands on one. Boba, Kath and Emon are all great pilots with completely different strategies, and the box itself comes with a stack of great upgrades.
>>47078837
>If one of you want to go Scum and Villainy, then pick up the Most Wanted (Y wing and Z-95), plus three Rebel clamshells: the HWK, Y-wing, and Z-95. The minis can be used in rebel OR scum lists.
Just to clarify, the Most Wanted pack includes two Z-95's and a Y Wing. So if you buy that box plus a Z, a Y, and a HWK, then you'd end up with a Hawk, two Y-Wings, and three Z-95's. Plus the cards to play them all as either rebels or scum.
https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/5/4/these-are-your-first-steps/
I DO MY OWN FUCKING POE REPAINT AND NOW THESE FUCKERS WILL HAPPILY SELL IT TO ME WITH A BUNCH OF OTHER SHIT I WANT
>>47081716
hooray for more integrated astromechs.
not terribly excited for the spoilers though.
When it comes to the large ships I'm not so much interested in Millenium Falcon or other named pilots and stuff, I've always liked playing as the kind of generic troopers.
The store we we're at yesterday had K-Wings, and I haven't seen anybody mention them, how do they fair?
Same question for TIE Defenders and TIE Punishers?
>>47081819
I'm pretty hyped for PS9 Poe. It's a small change but one that will hopefully give rebels a true ace to compete with Vader and Soontir now that he can equip a non-VI EPT.
>>47081907
As a follow up; I used to play Tyranids in 40K, so having a big swarm of cheap TIE fighters is appealing to me.
>>47081907
If you're into generic pilots, some of the best ships for that are TIE Fighters, B-Wings, Jumpmaster 5000s and Y-Wings. Note that lots of the Imperial "unique" pilots are not named characters but rather just callsigns with higher pilot skills and special abilities, if that appeals to you.
>>47081920
Except Vaders basically been married to the Veteran Instincts EPT ever since the Raider came out.
>>47081907
Defenders are going to become really good generic runs once the vets pack comes out thanks to their better than free mod that lets them evade for free. I already run a list with 2 of them as wing men for a punisher, and now I can run that even better. The punisher though is one I generally want to run with pilots, Redline is great for missile boats.
>>47081925
My friend used to run a swarm list similar to this with good effects
https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v4!s!49:-1,-1,14,-1,-1:-1:-1:;58:140:-1:15:;58:140:-1:15:;12:27:-1:-1:;12:27:-1:-1:&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron
He used Sabers with VI and no Autothrusters since this was before Imperial Aces and Scum. But it was definitely a great little list. If you're just starting out you'd probably have to proxy a lot of cards instead, but when you're collection expands enough, this is definitely a decent list.
>>47082024
I've seen a lot of people running Predator on him.
>>47081920
It's a very small, but nice change. I'm just thinking that black one suits Ello Asty more and the new poe, I'll just use cool hands or something for the elite pilot.
Not sure on Rey either. if feels like I'm basically getting lone wolf for a ship that doesn't really fly solo most of the time.
>>47082635
>Not sure on Rey either. if feels like I'm basically getting lone wolf for a ship that doesn't really fly solo most of the time.
Well, NOW it doesn't. Before it flew Solo all the time.
>>47082554
In casual or tournement play? Although I can definitely understand the line of thinking there. Last years GenCon finals were Paul Heaver and a guy running Vader with Lone Wolf weren't they? Similar reasoning.
Does anything think Imperial Veterans will change anything for Tournement play? I think Palps Aces are unlikely to be touched, but we might see that outlier build of Chirpy + Rexler make a comeback.
![Doesn+t+really+matter+what+end+it+comes+out+of+either+_cff121bb1d1e30a6f3b8f870482fbde8[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/RqIApuM.png "Doesn+t+really+matter+what+end+it+comes+out+of+either+_cff121bb1d1e30a6f3b8f870482fbde8[1].png")
>>47082653
How does swarm Imperials work? I was thinking one Basic Tie, two Tie/FO and two Tie Interceptors and then upgrades to round out to 100.
Disclaimer I heard about this game a week ago and haven't actually bought anything yet.
>>47083440
Usually it involves Howlrunner with swarm tactics to make sure that ties hit first.
Also watch this videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3OjjNUu1hA
>>47079162
That man shot torpedoes at a tie fighter, it was very personal.
I don't care what anybody says, the best Rebel list is Three Amigos.
>>47083666
more like triple satan
What're the chances that FFG is going to release more starfighters like the D-Wing and A-9?
Or are we pretty much only going to get what we've got.
>>47077276
It's simple enough. The average wargame has you looking through a 100+ page manual for what all your abilities are and stats on all the ships and tons of little numbers and upgrades. X-Wing plays it much more simple than that. 5 stats all printed not only on the card but also on all the little cardboard bases. How you move is all universal so if you learn one ship, you've learned how to play in general. Upgrades are all done through very clear cards.
In short, it is a game that starts off easy to learn and gains complexity through little things and upgrades more than complex base mechanics.
>>47084087
There's likely a wave 9. These updates to older ships is just a pitstop while they take a small break from the mass amount of stuff that just came out with wave 8, just like the aces packs of old.
>>47083666
>Three Amigos
Which three amigos? I've seen several lists that call themselves that.
>>47083440
There are two general classes of TIE swarms. The first is the plain swarm: no named TIE pilots but you get an extra fighter. The second is a named swarm: ALL named pilots. There's an in-between happy medium that uses howlrunner and some other mass-buff pilots but that's it.
Then you keep them together and in formation. Point all at an enemy and concentrate fire until it's dead. Repeat as needed.
This was my first list, and it was surprisingly hard to play. The trick is that you need good plannig and traffic control skills or they'll keep bumping and/or getting in each others' way.
The other things to watch for are Predatory Tactics (that eat up low PS pilots) and lists that like to go first and try to eliminate TIEs before they can fire.
>>47077276
I picked it up yesterday, and my gf (she's never played any table top games) and I played the quick start rules and easily played that, then we looked through the rulebook and played 2 games with the more detailed rules.
Now were just going to use the points and upgrades systems, but compared to say 40k, its much simpler to get a handle on and a lot faster to play a pick-up game.
>>47084232
Formations are by far one of the hardest things to learn.
Every kind of turn requires a different configuration of movement lengths based on which ships are inside the turn and which ones are towards the outside and if you fuck it up even a little bit or one gets blocked by something, you'll basically never get them back into a complete formation..
>>47084232
Three X wings with Wedge, Luke and Biggs.
>>47084087
We'll see but I think it's likely. TFA didn't include many new fighter designs, and the new movie is an immediate prequel to ANH and so might not have all that many new fighter designs.
FFG will likely do an equivalent of Aces or Veterans for Scum as a balance fix. Most likely beneficiaries are the Scyk Interceptor and kihraxz fighter. Scum need a huge ship... perhaps Jabba's pleasure yacht?
You might see some kind of rebel fix to slightly buff the X-wing to put it back into contention and probably something else.
On the Imperial side, people have been asking FFG for a TIE Avenger and Assault Gunboat for years. The ships that needed tweaks are getting them in Imperial Veterans. The shuttle from TFA needs to be done.
They're starting to hit the point where adding more ships will degrade the game as a whole due to bloat, so we'll see what happens next. I'd love to see stuff like modular containers and other scenario stuff but other than going to the prequels I don't see where the next wave will come from.
>>47084137
Wave 9 was confirmed by Alex Davy in a recent interview.
>>47084376
There are still plenty of ships left in the EU for future waves.
>>47084376
I mean even on the Imperial side it'd be nice to see things like TIE Predators, TIE Sentinels and TIE Oppressor, other ships like ARC-170 and 1-7 Howlrunner, just to give a little more diversity.
Does anyone want to see prequel ships?
I want to see prequel ships.
>>47084592
Seperatist droid fighters would be neat.
>>47084616
Yeah, I'd like some of those.
There's a decent selection of prequel ships really.
If you were in charge of the prequel Core Set, would ships would you put in? Would have to be a Jedi Starfighter and two droid fighters for me.
>>47084592
yes. Arc 170 is my ship-fu
>>47084942
I'd probably put the naboo N1 in instead of the jedi fighter. Its more iconic as a starwars ship. Plus it means the core set isn't just 2 agile light fighters vs a better agile light fighter which is a little boring as an intro thing.
>>47085373
Yeah, was debating between the two really - suppose the contrast is a better fit for the core box yeah
whats the points cost on the VT-49 Decimator?
>>47088295
Starts at 40 and only goes up.
>>47088363
Thanks, how would a base Decimator and 5 Academy Pilot TIE Fighters do?
>>47088295
It's expensive and dies to focused fire quite easily thanks to its 0 agility. I don't like them.
what do you guys think of the tie punisher, just got one and haven't gotten to play with it yet
>>47088623
It's fun to fly but not a top-tier competitor.
>>47088418
Could do very well if flown very well.
>>47084592
I'm totally down for the Eta-2 and the Belbullab.
>>47084376
They just announced a box with another Falcon in it.
I'd say that's a pretty clear statement of intention to grind the game out to the bitter end. We'll be having this same conversation ten years from now, just before they announce the third Lambda Aces pack.
>That guy who plays Dash Rendar
Fuck that guy
>>47075980
>Just picked up pic related today so that my girlfriend and I could have a new game to play.
>Also picked up a TIE Phantom and an A-wing as well, and played a few games. It was pretty fun.
>Phantom
Before you get too ingrained in your habits for piloting that Phantom, they've updated the rules for decloaking. They're a bit different than what is bundled in the Phantom's packaging.
This changes how how they fly.
>mfw no tie crawler model
> $4 away from free shipping at Miniature Market
I'm putting together a Scum and Villainy set. Already getting Most Wanted, IG-2000, and StarViper. Shipping judaism is making me consider getting one more.
What's the better ship, Hound's Tooth, Punishing One, or Kihraxz Fighter?
>>47089575
Get a 2nd IG.
>>47089575
>What's the better ship, Hound's Tooth, Punishing One, or Kihraxz Fighter?
You also want to consider what cards come with each ship, rather than just the ships themselves.
So I'm slightly new to this game. I've only played twice and neither game actually finished. But now I'm making strides to make the game a bit more ridiculous. So, as neither of my friends plan on doing anything remotely tournament related, we're really just gona get drunk and make engine noises with our mouths while we play without getting too crazy about it. So I had the genius idea of just going balls to the wall with ship upgrades and go way beyond the 100 point limit (we balance it by allowing them the same max value that I end up at).
Without caring much about focusing on super OP ships, I've just decides to focus on three fully upgraded ships (Slave I, Punishing One, and Mist Hunter) mainly based on that I feel those two would be the most comfortable working with Fett. So I'm looking for advice on how to best equip each ship efficiently. The general strategy is to have Fett clear up the stragglers on his own while Dengar uses his turret radius to flush enemies in Fett's direction. Zuckuss just expedites between the two when need be.
I've lurked a bit for what works best for each ship individually, but, not exactly a setup for utilizing the three all together. Ideally I'm looking for a main 'all purpose' setup but I realize I should have some backup upgrades to swap out for different situations (swarms, ace heavy pilots, capitol ships, etc)
So, sky's the limit. No max value. What are some configurations I should be considering for these three ships that'll work best with what each ship specializes in?
>>47084315
it works better calling it trench run, as of course Hobbie, Wedge and Wes are the three amigos
>>47089862
You're gonna get fucking slaughtered by TIE fighters my dude
>>47089737
That I'm not concerned with: I only play casually, so I printed copies of cards from the Y-Wing, Headhunter, and Slave-1 packs. I also snuck in Glitterstim and Cloaking Device, because they're cool and unique to Scum.
So, if I buy a ship, it's exclusively to use the ship itself.
>>47089898
So that's it? The only way to beat a swarm of low level ships is another swarm with more ships?
Assume they're drunk and an idiot. And have no clue on how to navigate five or more ships, let alone fourteen, all at one time. What could I equip defensively and offensively to grease my odds? Assault Missiles? Proton Bombs? I mean, these guys aren't really the tryhard type to actually know how pull of any kind of facerolling tactics or moves. They might not even think about the TIE zerg.
Still, what if they do? What could I equip to give me a better chance. Humor me. Anyone?
>>47091981
Arc dodge them. Take the title for the Mist Hunter and abuse the barrel roll. Use Zuckuss and roll 5 red dice at range one. I haven't flown the Mist Hunter that much yet, but Zuckuss has been doing quite well overall.
You really wanna take out Ties though, take Dengar with Title, Wired, and Zuckuss crew. Wired and Zuckuss is a fantastic combo. Keep the Tie Swarm in arc and preferably out of range one of you. Enjoy popping two Ties a turn as their green dice don't work. This combo also works really well on Boba Fett, who loves being in the middle of a brawl.
Boba also does decently with PtL, Gonk/Rec Spec, and EU.
Crackshot swarms are a whole other beast.
The two ships that will absolutely slaughter a swarm of anything no questions asked though is Dash Rendar or a Tie Phantom named pilot. Both of them can absolutely solo 100 points of low-PS generics if flown properly. They're the meta's pressure valve if swarms get a bit too uppity.
>>47078933
>Armada
I see no one has responded to this.
It's fun. I have pretty much one of everything and it is an enjoyable game. I think the most major thing to look into though is if your local area has at least a decent community.
I still think the game needs another two waves before it will really get going though. I'm excited about flotillas. They'll add a lot of depth to the overall game, even if that's all we get with Wave 3.
As for the game itself, it is very, very unforgiving. Combat is fast and brutal, and the big ships can pop a small one in a single attack. Close range brawlers will vaporize even large ships if they get both their attacks on it. Most games are won and lost in the deployment stage. Dice are, if anything, even more unforgiving than X-wing. No green dice to screw you over, but fail one big attack roll and you might have just lost the game instead of win it.
I'm also less of a fan of how they make squadrons work, and I absolutely despise the fact that Rogues and Villains exist in a fleet action game. But Han Solo and Boba Fett sell copies, so that's what we got, instead of actual military vessels. That's a personal peeve though.
I don't like it as much as X-wing personally, which is odd since I thought I would like it more before it came out. Big ships are fun right? They are, and flying an ISD as it bears down on your enemies is a blast, but the game itself is a lot more of a commitment.
Aside from a somewhat abortive demo game to teach me the rules, I've only played one real game. I decided to play Scum, which had the least number of ships, mostly because I'm not wildly fond of Rebel and (especially) Empire ships, and I'd rather go with something new (to me, anyway) than go with recognizable franchise stuff. (I do like the original Star Wars films, but I kind of feel like Star Wars has been beaten to death like a pop song that's been overplayed. I'd prefer it if the game had original ships, or was based on a lower profile franchise, but this is what folks are playing, and game mechanics are more important than what the ships look like anyway, though I do really hate that folks are playing with Luke Skywalker and shit--I want to imagine cool space battles in my head without having them tied so strongly to specific, well-established characters.)
Anyway, for an hour or so, I read over the ships and cards, and assembled my squad. It was a 100 point game and I was playing against a team of two people with considerably more experience than me (I didn't want to be in somebody else's shadow, and wanted to learn he ropes on my own). I decided to go for bulk. I ran 3 of the cheapest Z-95 and 2 of the cheapest Y-Wings. I equipped the Z-95s with good missiles and glitter stims, putting all much punch up front to hopefully decimate my enemy in the first round of engagement. I put dual laser turrets on my Y-Wings, which were intended to take a beating and continue to dish out damage as the game progressed, regardless of which way my ships were facing.
If I had a little more experience under my belt, I think I would've won with relative ease. My opponents were a maxed out Star Viper, which could shrug off stress and maneuver the fuck out of me (I think it was something like 46 points), and an A-Wing and Bigg's X-Wing. They huddled around Biggs to keep from being annihilated by my missiles, and I foolishly held back, trying not to waste my best stuff on Biggs.
>>47092578
In the demo game I had played, my ship had been taken out in a single shot, but I was flying a TIE Interceptor and was hit with a torpedo, so maybe I overestimated how squishy ships were. (It wasn't a full 100 point game. I think it was a base-level Interceptor with only a shield card on it. I was on the same team as somebody with more experience, so I accounted for half of our forces.) Because of that, I pew-pewed Biggs instead of just nuking him like I should've.
Over the course of two rounds of engagement, I lost a Z-95 and a Y-Wing, but killed Biggs and the Y-Wing, bringing the game to my remaining Y-Wing and two Z-95s and the Star Viper, all in good health. I then proceeded to missile the Viper (getting lock-on was a bitch given my much lower initiative and the Viper's maneuverability) and take him down to a single point of hull with a critical. The critical turned out to be something he could just shrug off though (I think he took a point of stress or something, which his ship cancel without penalty). At that point, however, my ships were scattered and one was stressed from glitter stim and flying in the wrong direction. The Viper then managed to engage me in a series of one-on-one fights, and eliminate my ships one by one, before they could even shoot (due his superior initiative and comparatively devastating attack).
Still, I had that fucker down to a single hull point with 3 of my ships remaining on the board, and a critical on him that he got lucky with. I consider that a success for my first real game.
>>47092578
>>47092714
Anyway, I've been thinking about what I might fly for my next game, and I've been messing around with this online squadron builder thing. I'm trying to learn as much as I can from my last game, and I've decided that I'd rather have fewer missiles/torpedoes that I actually have the opportunity to target early in the game (and thus take out an enemy ship or two before they have a chance to do real damage to me).
I'm sticking with Scum (though am I wrong in thinking they look a bit weak compared to the other factions?) and am basically going for a devastating attack at a high initiative rank. With the Swarm Tactics of my Kihraxz fighter, all 3 of my ships will be attacking at pilot skill rank 9, and the fact that my squad is 99 points will allow me to go before other folks of skill rank 9 (as I'm pretty confident whoever I'm playing will use all 100 of their points).
On the first round of engagement, I plan to Glitterstim with my Z-95 and Kihraxz, which allows me to be devastating with their Missile Attacks (4 attack dice which hit on eye-focus icons and the ability to change a blank to a hit with my guidance chips). Meanwhile, my Y-Wing can torpedo without needing targeting lock (allowing me to choose the most optimum target after my other two ships have fired) and can use my Overclocked Astromech to apply a focus token to that attack. At range 2-3, my attack is formidable, but if I'm at range 1, I can destroy all creation with either my Advanced Proton Torpedoes (5 dice, 3 of which I can change to eye icons, which turn to hits when I use the focus point I got from my Overclocked Astromech, and another of which I can change to a hit thanks to my Guidance Chips) or my Autoblaster Turret if they're not in my firing arc (3 dice, thanks to my ship's special ability, with focus, and I get to ignore my enemy's defense dice).
EVALUATE MY SQUAD?
>>47093135
So I'm feeling pretty confident about the first round of engagement. I'll unleash devastating attacks at initiative rank 9 and will have a powerful defense thereafter (thanks to two of my ships being glitterstimmed, and my Y-Wing possibly having a focus token to use on defense--not that that amounts to much on 1 die--but mostly just being durable). My real concern is what happens on the next round. In my previous game I had 5 ships, which could collectively take a lot more punishment than these 3, and after the first round, all 3 of my ships are likely to be stressed, and two of them will have blown their load. If I don't really hurt my enemy right off, I might be in some real trouble, though at least I can be fairly confident of shooting first in any round.
>>47092578
you have a fucking problem with Imperial ships buddy? then you have a fucking problem with me.
>>47093507
TIE fighters are gay.
>>47078933
I love Armada way more than X-Wing personally. They really nail the feeling of the big ships and create an ocean worth of depth in terms of tactics. The nature of the game though makes it a lot harder to recommend to people. Play time can double that of a game of X-Wing (I average about 2 hours from setup to fully taken down), it is a much more complicated game in terms of all the rules you have to learn, and the price being a decent deal higher to start makes it less appealing to just casually pick up. That being said, I've found it all worth it with my community. There's so many kinds of lists that get ran with only 2 waves so far.
>>47093520
Your best 30pt build for a rebel ship GO.
>>47094234
Depends what you like to fly. Probably Jake the Snake.
>>47092378
I disagree with the unforgiving-ness of it. Saying most games are decided by deployment is ridiculous. Sure if you really fuck up deployment, you could screw yourself over. It doesn't take a seasoned veteran though to avoid an incredibly stupid setup. And the dice are way more forgiving in this game. There's so many ways to rig your dice and there's statistically just flat out more potential for damage than on an X-Wing dice pools, even before you count green dice as a massive statistic against your odds of hitting.
This list is mostly just for fun, but would it legal for standard competitive play?
>>47095283
Nah, can't use the superbig ships in anything under 300. Unless something changed.
>>47092578
>>47092714
>>47092714
>>47093135
I'd also like to say that measuring out moves is obnoxious as shit: picking up ships so you can move through their space, constantly bumping the lightweight models slightly out of position leading to arguments when you're within a hair's breadth of hitting another ship or asteroid, and so forth. I think I'd prefer if the game were hex-based.
>>47092578
>Star Viper
>>47092714
>Star Viper
Sorry, he had a B-Wing. Was getting my models confused (like I said, I'm still very new to this).
>>47093135
Your core concept is sound, if a bit risky. Alpha strikes can be very powerful, but you also have to be able to finish and take care of ships that can either absorb your strike or dodge it.
N'dru is a great pick. He can solo a more expensive ship and makes for a good trade. I prefer homing missiles so you can ignore evade tokens and keep the target lock to reroll your dice.
Your talonbane is not good. Talonbane does his alpha strike at range 1 then dies horribly. Any points spent not facilitating the use of his ability are square peg round hole problems. VI or crack shot plus cloaking or glitterstim is all you need.
Kavil is similarly overladen. Kavil likes turrets, make the most of that. VI or Predator, engine upgrade, and unhinged makes him very scary.
Now, you have 2 trade ships and a dodgy ship, but nothing to really close. So once you get your rocks off, you'll be chasing ships down and likely getting killed by attrition.
If you want alpha strikes, the jumpmaster torpedo boat is the gold standard. Deadeye, totpedo of choice, extra munitions, chips, overclocked or agromech, and optional crew for a mid 30 point ship. N'dru, Talonbane, and Guri kitted for durability (lone wolf, autothrusters, sensor jammer) would also be solid.
>>47096283
Thanks for your reply.
>Your core concept is sound, if a bit risky.
Yeah, I do feel a bit vulnerable to the whims of fate.
>I prefer homing missiles
I figured it was better to mix things up, since I have homing missiles on my Talonbane. Also, the assault missiles might screw with my opponent's strategy, if he wants to stay clumped, and given a choice of targets, I'm hoping that I could line up a decent one to get splash damage on at least one enemy and not on any of my ships.
>Talonbane does his alpha strike at range 1 then dies horribly.
You think? I mean, I've got a good attack at range 2-3 with my homing missiles, so a point-blank primary weapon attack isn't necessarily what I'd be trying to arrange, since it would make me more vulnerable to counter-attack. But at range 1, I do get to roll 4 dice for my primary attack, and apply glitterstim to attack and defense, and he's roughly as durable as N'Dru (can take one more point of damage overall, but has one less shield). Also, I'm looking to definitely strike before enemies, so I want the 9 pilot skill and the swarm tactics to boost Kavil to 9 (meaning I can't buy into veteran instincts like N'Dru). I was also hoping that Talonbane's good attack score would serve me well once I got off my alpha strike.
Or were you meaning that my primary attack is good enough that I shouldn't bother with missiles? Because I'm not confident of my ability to close to range 1 in the first round, at least not against an ideal target. Still, if I save 5 points on missiles and combine that with saving 6 points on Kavil's advanced proton torpedoes (which I got partly for versatility, but mainly because I don't have enough points to get another ship and not a lot of other places to put those points on my ships), and scrape up a spare point or two somewhere, I could get a cheapy ship to pad out my numbers.
continued...
>>47096561 continued
Kavil, on the other hand, does have a bit more stuff on him than is strictly necessary. I end up feeling like I'd rather play a 95 point game than a 100 point one, as I end up spending my last few points somewhat sub-optimally (not wasting them really, but not getting the most out of them). Still, my thought with the advanced proton torpedoes is that I'm devastating if I can get to range 1 with somebody in my sights, and pretty good at range 1 against somebody outside my firing arc. 3 extra points for plasma torpedoes gives me range if I need it, though I do worry about putting too much stuff on Kavil and making him the best target to get ganged up on (though at least he's tough enough to take some punishment).
>Kavil likes turrets, make the most of that. VI or Predator, engine upgrade, and unhinged makes him very scary.
Isn't unhinged less optimal with a turret boat? And using an engine up grade to boost would deprive me of a focus I could otherwise use to boost my attack.
>If you want alpha strikes, the jumpmaster torpedo boat is the gold standard.
As far as the Jumpmaster goes, I was avoiding big ships until I actually got to see one played. It costs more too, but I feel like I could spare the 5 points, especially in exchange for the durability it provides.
I had considered a Star Viper, but it's considerably more expensive than a Y-Wing and and in order to make it durable, it seems like I'd have to sacrifice some of my initial punch.
In any case, you've given me some stuff to think about, and I'll probably go back and play around with the numbers a little and see where that leads me.
>>47096561
>You think?
Yes. I've done this myself. The main problem with Talonbane is that he dies easily, trust me on this. Even with a cloaking device this is still the case. You build him with crackshot and glitterstim and leave it at that, he's a one shot supermissile.
>>47096855
Duly noted.
I might ease off my "I shoot before you and annihilate you with an alpha strike" shtick a bit and free up some points to better prepare myself for a longer game. I do like a good shtick though.
>>47091981
Use a combination of Headhunters and X wings with ion torpedos and assault missles. Lt Blount is especially useful if you have bad luck with dice. Use the ion to control their movement and assault to wipe them out with aoe
>>47088623
you should call that image the Kossak-wing.
COME ON AND SLAV.
If I wanted to pick up single cards, like accuracy corrector, auto turrets, or whatnot, where's the best place to do that? Just keep an eye on E-bay or something?
>>47097114
Just buy multiple kits with them. Are you afraid of spending money? :^)
But yeah that's a good place. Also some people at your store may be up for a trade too. You never know.
>>47093135
Kavil wants a turret, not munitions.
Talonbane WILL be to focus of your opponents first shots. Don't give him missiles he might not fire off.
>>47097114
The x wing miniatures wiki has images of every card face and there's a BGG thread with every card back. Print them out, either two sided on cardstock or on basic paper glued together and laminated.
>>47093135
https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Scum%20and%20Villainy&d=v4!s!135:140,-1,128:-1:-1:;120:18,162,-1,-1,118:-1:-1:;112:98,14,128:-1:25:;115:-1,-1:-1:-1:&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron
Try this.
>>47097250
Well, I was intending to go before my opponent, so that he wouldn't get the chance to deprive me of my chance to fire a missile, but there may be an argument to be made that his primary attack is good enough that a missile isn't worth the added expense.
>>47097344
Errr, replace Push the Limit with Predator or any pet really, even Veternal Instincts
>>47092215
Nice. How's this for a Slave I Anti-Swarm setup? What about the munitions? The bombs and Missiles were picked solely on their AoE propeties against a swarm. The blaster was to make my primary arc attacks more effective at Range 2- 3. Thoughts? Freedback for anti-zerging on these three?
Also, with Gonk taken on Fett, what would make some nice alternatives for Zuckuss and Dengar?
>>47097670
Too many points. A whole extra ship is better for killing swarms.
VI, engine, slave I, proton/seismic/thermal, munitions, glitterstim, and your choice of Gonk, Zuckuss, 4-LOM, or tactician. Cannons and missiles are nice, but your primary is good enough with boost, rerolls, crew, and potential glitterstim. Use your PS10 large ship boost to dodge arcs and drop bombs on anybody who tries to chase.
>>47094772
Except with the exception of Engine Tech Demolisher and CR90s, your ships are surprisingly rigid in Armada. Where you place them at the beginning is incredibly important. Perhaps "most" was the wrong word to use, but compared to X-wing, learning deployment in Armada is fucking essential.
Also that "more potential for damage" is part of my point for the unforgiving nature of it. That cuts both ways. You can easily fuck up with a CR-90 and get destroyed instantly by a ISD or Mon Cal. That sort of situation is a lot less common in X-wing.
>>47097927
He's building an anti-swarm list. VI does nothing for him. He should take PtL and either RecSpec or Gonk.
But yeah the munitions for the most part are a bit much. I'd keep the glitterstim though, for that turn when you're in front of 6 Tie fighters.
>>47097927
I'm >>47089862 and will be doing a game with a higher point value. So, really no such thing as too many points on this occasion.
With that in mind, against a TIE zerg of low pilot skills everywhere will Veteran Instincts even necessary then? Or stay with Push The Limit. Seems like overkill to have a pilot skill of ten when the highest they have is jus PS1.
>>47098066
If it's all PS1 and you know that, then outmaneuver is the way to go. Reduce agility and one shot ships more easily. Points efficiency still matters in larger games, since your secondary weapons alone buy you a whole ship.
>>47097344
Being able to shoot 360 is nice, but it seems like most turrets have underwhelming attacks.
Which fighter is closest to the f 14?
>>47102083
T70 x wing
>>47093921
not
>EEEEUUUUURRRGGHHSSHHAAAA...
