Armada 1.5: The Rules Have Changed

 

Star Wars: Armada 1.5 is here, and with it, a new combined Rules Reference Guide and FAQ.

This comprehensive document:

• Combines all disparate rules into one document, so no longer do you need to search for what Contain does or look up how Space Whales move in the RitR document.
• Shows the errataed versions of all existing cards (more on that some other time).
• Adds some NEW rules/changes old ones.

It's that last bullet point we're taking about here.

There are four key changes, all of whom have both obvious and subtle impacts on the game, some of which we haven't fully appreciated yet:

1. The Activation Game

SAdv, Bail and Pryce are gone, victims of Order 66. They will not be missed. The Huge ship pass rule went the same way.

In their place: pass tokens. In form they are the same as the SSD pass tokens, but in function they are different. 

• Whomever has less ships get the difference in tokens - minus 1 if you're the 1st player.
• You can discard one (yeah, they are 1-use only) to pass your turn under the following conditions:
• The first player may pass their turn if they have activated at least one ship and they have fewer unactivated ships than the second player.
• The second player may pass their turn if they do not have more unactivated ships than the first player.
• A player cannot spend a pass token on consecutive turns during the same Ship Phase.

My own original suggestion to this was to ban the last ship to activate in a round from being the first to activate the following round. This allowed SAdv, Pryce and Bail to be in the game, same with the SSD, and achieve much the same. However, I actually think it's better they are gone completely, and the pass mechanic seems simple, elegant, and robust. Well done FFG.

2. The Evade Defense Token

Evade suddenly became a LOT more useful. Now you get to force a reroll both on close and medium, not just medium. Basically everyone became Mothma at close range (she's changed, drop to 27 pts and affect 1 extra dice at close).

Moreover, if the attacker is BIGGER than u, you can discard the evade (from green or red) to affect 1 additional die. So cancel 3 at extreme, 2 at long, and reroll 2 at close-medium.

This is incredibly useful vs attacks that have worked to produce a black crit or something like it, or a squadron that's rerolled 1 or more dice, only to see the attack fizzle. Obi-Wan is very strong combined with this, and Evade + Expert Shield Tech should not be underestimated.

Love this change to death. Smalls just became a lot more interesting. But I'm left wondering: with Evade buffed, why not do something with Contain, who is no the only utterly useless defense token? Not impressed, FFG.

3. Intel is the New Grit

Intel no longer hands out heavy to enemy squads. It gives friendly squads grit.

One word: THIS IS THE WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's how Intel should have worked since R&V. What utter bullshit we've been forced to deal with FOR SO MANY YEARS.

Suddenly small-medium squad screens can matter a little bit again (but don't expect to survive that Sloane/Rieekan ball - you'll just die slower and have the opportunity to fight back).

Truly excellent change. Truly astounding it took so fucking long. Longer than realizing flotilla spawn and unlimited relay was bad for the game. Jeeeeez.

4. Aces: Only Four there Are, No More (but may be less)

You can only take 1 unique squad WITH defense tokens per 100 fleet points (sometimes referred to as "aces"). So 4 at 400.

Uniques, such as Gold Squad, do NOT count vs this limit, as they have no defense tokens (but they have Jan fucking Ors).

Got to say I've mixed feelings about this one. Yes, it means we'll see more Biggs-Jan-balls and more TIE Int/RHD Sloane builds, but the number of different aces we'll see will be diminished. 

For Imps, for example, Mithel is still auto-include. Dengar is out and in with Admiral Chiraneau. Howl is attractive again, bc generic ints. Fel becomes attractive, since he can punish those wanting to kill generics. And Maarek, always Maarek. Some might do Jendon instead of Howl, or Tel or Ciena instead of Fel, but really, that's all you have to work with. Valen you'll only see in Valen+Ciena screens.

Rebels. Unlike Dengar, Jan is here to stay. Biggs to go with generic escorts. Lando bc he's just too sweet to ignore. Leaving little room for creativity. And Gold Squadron ALWAYS Gold.

So while I can appreciate wanting to bring in more generic squads, this is one fucked up way of doing it. It doesn't solve the underlying problem, which is costing/ease of command of aces vs generics. Aces are too cheap and too powerful and you can get so much more out of them with the limited number of squads you can lift in one activation.

But FFG didn't want to deal with this underlying structural issue, and instead give us this mess. Sure, we'll play with it, we've no choice, but it's not the way it should have been handled. They should have made the effort to make a Squadron Pack, with revised abilities and costs. They could even have kept the ace cap, knowing that a VERIETY of aces were competitive. THAT would have solved the issue here.

Mithel, Lord of Cheese

5. Non-recurring Exhausts

This is a relatively minor change. Basically some of the good cards - like ECM and Slicers - now cost you a command token to ready. It's not a big deal really, but it's nevertheless a nice touch.

Overall I give Armada 1.5 a B. Or an A, if you're willing to forgive the MASSIVE TURD that is the current state of Objectives in Armada. I'm not.

That all for today commanders. Dismissed.