REVIEW: Star Wars Armada

[Kage]

STAR DESTROYERS...review over.



I've played a lot of miniatures games in my time and Armada could be one of the best.

In typical FFG fashion the models are ridiculously nice.

For those X-wings players this is nothing like x-wing apart from how ship upgrades work.  I never really did like X-wing.  The models were great but the game just seemed to be missing something.  Every time we played someone said "wouldn't it be awesome if they had Star Destroyers."  Plus the games just seem to be a miniatures version of "hack and slash".  Whom ever pulled the "u-turn" maneuver at the right time would win.  The day I found out this game was coming out I sold all my X-wing stuff.

And I have not been disappointed. 

The game is played on a 6'x3' table.


FFG has done a very good job of making ships feel like WWII battleships.  Star destroyers are slow and lumbering, they take a long time to turn.  In fact our first game my buddy ran his Star Destroyer off the board.  He didn't slow down and he just couldn't turn it fast enough.  The rebels ships are very fast and can out maneuver the VSD's.  On a side tangent someone should have told Lucas that Space is a vacuum and SD's would be able to turn and go just as fast as X-wings.  And all his ships would only be able to fly straight!

There are also fighters in this game.  Fighters are like a little mini-game all in themselves.  With the core set you only get Tie Fighters and X-wings.  Tie fighters are not much threat to Rebel ships but X-wings are a big threat to the VSD's.  When wave 1 comes out things will get very interesting as both sides will get bombers and anti-fighter squadrons.  Fighters also come with heroes like Luke Sykwalker and HowelRunner. 

One unique aspect that Armada has that I wish my main miniatures game (FOW) had is Firing arcs.  Each ship has 4 hull zones which has different armaments and shield ratings.  Even the arcs themselves are different from ship to ship.

Another aspect that is different from most miniatures game is that you shoot first and move 2nd.  I find you have to plan ahead more this way.  Along with the fact that fighters can either only move or shoot.

One negative point to this game is that fighters are very very fiddly.  There are no shield or damage tokens like in xwing.  Everything is on the ship or fighter.  It is impossible to keep the fighter in the same position as you try to adjust the health or activation of a fighter.  Especially if they are in a packed group.  As long as you aren't playing someone that is OCD about this kind of stuff it should be fine.

Anyway I could write about this forever but i'm sure you can find better reviews on BGG. 

So far I've given this game   
I probably would have given it 10 if it were not for the fiddly fighters.

I will be doing a demo at the Prairie Game Expo, mostly likely in the evening.