Tarot-sized ship cards for Clone Wars factions

 

I just had to share some photos of these AMAZING tarot-sized ship cards I got from @petersaber over at the Armada Discord (link in sidebar). He prints these periodically, so do reach out to him if you're interested. 

I absolutely HATE the smaller ship cards (and to a lesser degree, the bigger upgrades) so I was thrilled somebody was making 'em in the old size.

Here are a few closeups so you can appreciate the quality. Look how he managed to get the new ship keywords in there as well (right under the image). Very clever.

The paper used is VERy sturdy and has a "plastic" feeling to it. No chance of tearing or getting bent. I'm guessing it can even tackle a coffee spill (not going to test that).

Got a couple of these cute alt arts as a bonus. Now I want ALL the squads in this alternate format 😅😅😅

Goodbye FFG, you'll not be missed

Several people have told me that it's not FFG's fault, it's Asmodee that's the big bad wolf. I'm sure that's correct to some extent but I find it hard to believe that FFG as a firm has absolutely no influence on anything beyond game design and playtesting. I'd also like to note that things were just as bad when FFG was an independent company. FFG or Asmodee. I don't know. I don't care. bad is bad. That's my point.

I was really looking forward to playing with the Clone Wars factions. So I preordered from my usual supplier. Two of each starter, 3 of each squad pack. A couple of card packs. Then I patiently waited, knowing that FFG never makes its own Armada deadlines. Like never ever in a million years.

Unsurprisingly, there was no wave 9 in Scandinavia before the holidays. I didn't even blink. Nor did I complain (much). Just a little bit of lamentation but overall a good feeling. With the pandemic and everything, a few more weeks (or months) wouldn't matter. Soon we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi, soon we will have revenge. 

We're now writing February. My supplier has finally gotten wave 9 from Enigma (the Scandinavian distributor). Good times! Well, not really. You see, he got only SOME of the products he ordered. Squad packs are in particularly short supply. I've heard similar stories from other places so it's not a unique occurrence.

Wave 9 (and 10) is the biggest, most important release for Armada since the Core and Wave 2. Not only are you late, FFG. You can't even be bothered to make enough product to meet demands. Wave 9 has barely reached my part of the world and already it's out of stock in most places. The image up top is from a major UK online retailer. Awaiting reprint. Bawhahaha. We all know that's going to take a long time. Never enough production capacity to begin with and with wave 10 supposedly coming soon...a Norwegian online retailer is estimating restock of Republic Squadrons in September. It's a guesstimate but still telling.

TL;DR. I put in my preorder. Stuff got delayed. I watched as online retailers ran out of product. Then my own supplier was short-handed. I'm sitting here with a SINGLE REPUBLIC SQUADS pack I got from my brother in Edinburgh. 😆😆😆😆😆😆

Well, thanks a bunch, FFG. I don't know what your problem is. Do you hate your customers and don't want their money? Or are you simply too incompetent to run a business? Small wonder your miniatures lines were handed to AMG. Whatever happens, it can't get any worse. Even if Armada was terminated it would be less of a disappointment than this.

I'll just go back to playing CC and RitR campaigns with my friends...

Ended the Clone War has!

Lord Sidious, the Sith Lord that orchestrated the entire war has been exposed and cast down. The same goes for his Jedi allies and the corrupt government of the Republic.

The grand Confederacy of Independent Systems rises to take its place. Headed by former Jedi Count Dooku and protected by relentless droid legions, the new galactic realm will reign for a thousand generations.

The CW final is over and Beanicus has defeated JJs Juggernaut.

Wave 10 Article: Heart of the Swarm (Separatists)

 

This article looks at the two teased Separatist expansions: Invivisble Hand (Providence-class) and Recusant-class. Both are meaty large-base ships with the Providences being the bigger of the two classes.

We have one FFG article plus some additional info "leaked" on Asmodee's product pages:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2021/1/25/heart-of-the-swarm/

https://store.us.asmodee.com/catalogue/sw-armada-invisible-hand_3370/

https://store.us.asmodee.com/catalogue/sw-armada-recusant-class-destroyer_3371/

Both miniatures look great. The Recusant is a bit weird-looking but in a cool way. I'm going to need 2 of each, I think. Yeah, 3 Venators and 2 of each of these babies.

Wave 10 Article: Republic Reinforcements (Republic)

 

Yesterday we got some news about wave 10. Not just one teaser article but two!

Please note that this is the 2nd version of this article. Just minutes after posting another player over at the Discord pointed out that Asmodee had some additional spoilers for us on their product pages. A lot of my predictions were spot on but who cares when we have more accurate info? 😅

I'm going to take a look at each faction in turn. First up is the GAR - the Grand Army (no Navy in there?) of the Republic.

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2021/1/25/republic-reinforcements/

https://store.us.asmodee.com/catalogue/sw-armada-venator-class-star-destroyer_3369/

https://store.us.asmodee.com/catalogue/sw-armada-pelta-class-frigate_3368/

Two new ships. The large-base Venator and the small-base Pelta. Both are good-looking models but let us be honest: we're here for the Venator. That's a ship that is going to sell really well. Expect it to be out of stock a lot 😛 It's worth mentioning that the Pelta is a new sculpt. Looks like the "wings" are closed.

VASSAL CW TOP 16 ELIMINATION ROUNDS - ROUND TOP 8 DRAW

We're nearing the end of the Clone Wars. Who will crush their opponents and claim control of the galaxy?

There can be only 1!

Roald    1    JJs Juggernaut

RealVeers    2    CaribbeanNinja

cadetvw    3    Beanicus

Darth Veggie    4    MandalorianMoose

Deadline: Sunday 17th January 2021

VASSAL CW TOP 16 ELIMINATION ROUNDS - TOP 16 DRAW

The following players have qualified for the top cut from the EURO sector:

Top 5:

Player	Rank	W/L	TPs	MOV/SOS
RealVeers	1	3/0	25	557/5.56
cadetvw	2	2/1	22	523/5.33
Louis-André	3	3/0	21	259/5.11
ginkapo	4	2/1	20	378/4.67
Roald	5	1/2	20	300/4.89

Win big or go home:

Irishmadcat

18

1/2

13

290/5.00

Han's dice:

Darth Veggie

9

2/1

18

243/6.33

The following players have qualified for the top cut from the US sector:

Top 7:

Player	Rank	W/L	TPs	MOV/SOS
MandalorianMoose	1	3/0	27	840/5.00
JJs Juggernaut	2	3/0	26	641/5.89
Explosive Tooka	3	2/1	22	694/6.67
PT106	4	2/1	22	420/5.56
Mala	5	3/0	22	329/5.44
CaribbeanNinja	6	2/1	20	547/6.00
Beanicus	7	2/1	20	437/4.78

Win big or go home:

Tokra

8

2/1

20

431/5.44

Han's dice:

emfrank72

24

1/2

15

400/4.78

Here are the pairings for the first elimination round.

Deadline: Sunday, 10 January

VASSAL CW TOP 16 ELIMINATION ROUNDS - TOP 16 DRAW

emfrank72	8	Roald
ginkapo	6	JJs Juggernaut
Explosive Tooka	5	RealVeers
CaribbeanNinja	3	Irishmadcat
cadetvw	2	PT106
Beanicus	7	Louis-André
Mala	1	Darth Veggie
Tokra	4	MandalorianMoose

Link to the top cut (separate event): https://tabletop.to/vassal-cw-swiss-euro

Link to the Euro Swiss: https://tabletop.to/vassal-cw-swiss-euro

Link to the US Swiss: https://tabletop.to/vassal-cw-swiss-us

Major VASSAL update! Begun the Clone War has

 

​Vassal is a Java application used to replicate board games.

The Armada Vassal module is a top-down (2D) recreation of the Star Wars: Armada miniatures game.

It's not a substitute for the real thing, but a supplement, to let player hone their skills and connect with opponents across the globe!

Why Vassal?

• It's 100% free.
• Always up to date with the latest releases and previews.
• Easy to use.
  • If you can use a mouse and a keyboard you're good. Simply put, every game piece has a right-click menu with all available actions.
  • As you play, you can learn hotkeys for important actions (which are visible in the right-click menus) to greatly speed up play.
• You can automatically set up your fleet based on export from the major list builders. Very fast and convenient.
• Lots of automation and reporting reduce bookkeeping to a minimum and speed up play.
• Support for Corellian Conflict and Rebellion in the Rim.
• You can play from home (convenient and safe).
• You can save games and continue later.
• You can log games and review them later.
• GREAT community! Easy to find games and always friendly and casual.
• You can join ongoing games as an observer and watch.
• Get inspired by the lists you meet online and the talented players behind them

The only real drawback: you try something on Vassal, then decide to buy more FFG plastic to try it IRL 🙃

------

Module version 4.0.0 is available!

Download: http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Module:Star_Wars:_Armada

Checksum: cc62cc18

THIS VERSION OF THE MODULE IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH ANY PREVIOUS VERSION!!!

REMEMBER TO UPDATE YOUR VASSAL INSTALLATION (this was built with Vassal 3.4.8)

OVERVIEW

• Clone Wars factions added: Republic and Separatist.
• Graphical enhancements for Empire and Rebel factions.
• Standard-sized maps (6x3) contained in the main module (no need for map pack). There are 20 maps: 10 SW themed and 10 generic space.
• Mini-maps (3x3) moved to the main module bc of the popularity of RitR/task force games (no need for map pack). There are 5 maps, all of them generic.
• All extra maps put into one unified Map Pack (ArmadaExtension_MapPack_4.0.0.vmdx).

CRITICAL BUGFIXES

• Vassal 3.4.X (used to build Armada module version 3.13.0) broke some auto-reporting functionality. This is fixed in Vassal 3.4.8 (used to build this module version).

OTHER BUGFIXES

• Sending facedown damage cards to the discard pile will never report the name of the card.
• SSD can now take Salvo tokens (Local Fire Control).
• Fixed some spelling errors in card names (but exogorth SHOULD be spelled "space slug").
• Scatter token is no longer upside down - I bet you've been waiting for that fix for 5 years :-)

MAJOR NEW FEATURES

• UNDO has CTRL+Z assigned as hotkey (new functionality in Vassal 3.4.X)
• Spawning a command stack from ship card now sets the name of the stack = default name of the ship.
• Many report formats have changed: Ship/Squad reports are typically prefixed with PlayerName. Changes in value (hull, speed, shield, etc.) typically follow a from X to Y format.
• All Empire/Rebel ships now have proper images for ship models (Chimaera added as a separate model).
• All Empire/Rebel ships have 2 alternate color schemes (the default one is always spawned from Shirmpbot and Quickspawn - you have to get these from the Pieces menu).
• All Empire/Rebel squadrons now use a unified top-down appearance.
• All Empire/Rebel aces and uniques have alternate color schemes to aid with identification (might tweak colors some more later).
• Starhawk can take 6 defense tokens (Agate + Title).
• MC30/75/80 can take 5 defense tokens (Agate)
• Quickspawn for CW factions added.
• Focus tokens (placeholder tokens) implemented (work about the same as Chaff, but are not removed on round refresh).
• RitR Commander Abilites exist as game pieces for ease of reference.
• Map Pack reorganized: It now contains maps with alternate 6x4 and 8x4 formats, as well as 9x3 (CC final battle). Additionally, there are some standard 6x3 maps with extra border area, for those big battles with lots of cards. Pack also contains some old 6x3 maps that have been retired.

OTHER NEW FEATURES

• Added new scans of damage cards with the right game text (been wanting to do that since forever).
• All errated card images added (Rhymer, Relay, TRC, etc.).
• Superweapon card back added.
• Added RitR version of Base Defense objectives.
• Some rescaling of cards to make the text more readable.
• Some low-quality card images replaced to improve readability.
• The module now has red/blue ignition tokens 1-3 that are flippable to change color.
• Many tokens have been replaced with better-quality ones.
• Pass token added (from the SSD, but looks like the new pass rule will use the same tokens).
• Squads defense tokens can only be Brace, Evade, and Scatter.
• Added missing strategic campaign tokens.
• Sounds have had their base volume reduced (so your ears won't bleed).
• Maps have the Star Wars: Armada logo in the corner (it looks nice).

TO-DO

• Add proper images of CW ships once physical models in hand.
• Replace all remaining Upgrade cards once the Card Pack hits.