RitR Revisited - A Rebellion in the Rim supplement UPDATED v1.10

 

RitR Revisited has been updated to version 1.10.

CHANGELOG

V1.10: Updated to comply with Revised RRII (this is getting ridiculous, AMG—try playtesting a little next time). New layout/visuals. Some typo corrections and grammatical fixes (not highlighted).

Changes and additions in blue:

• Fighter Group Leader restricted to max 3 squadrons per activation.

• New options for random objective selection and reduced potency of veteran tokens.

• Suggestions for additional anti-snowballing options added.

• Tweaked the "Additional obstacles" option for Pivotal battles (remember that the final confrontation is also a Pivotal battle).

• Added "Hyperspace reinforcements" option to the Final confrontation.

• New alternate use for the Contain token, tweak for the Dodge keyword and added a new pass token option.

• Various points adjustments (see points list for details).

• Republic Arquitens changed to be more similar to the Imperial version (cost changed too).

• Kit Fisto added as a replacement squadron (with scatter).

• Grievous gets Intel instead of Grit (so his slaughter lambs can follow more easily).

• Advanced Transponder Net, Avenger, Hot Landing, and Hyperwave Singal Boost were added to replacement upgrades.

• Replacement Jyn Erso got a boost.

• Obi-Wan (Delta-7) was replaced by Jedi Escort (partly to provide a non-Ace Delta, but also bc Obi + Axe + Implacable was proving to be a bit much). He might return later (although he doesn’t like flying). 

• The following squadrons were significantly reworked (some other squads received minor tweaks): 

o Anakin (Twilight).

o All Eta-2 squadrons.

o Some further minor tweaks.

RitR Revisited - A Rebellion in the Rim supplement

 

Do you like playing campaigns?

I do.

I’ve collected a bunch of house rules, customization ideas, and additional content for RitR that I want to share with the rest of the Armada community. I’ve also included some ideas for running RitR with Clone Wars factions and playing CC with RitR mechanisms.

Get it here.

Changes for Armada going forward

The age of Armada 1.5 is upon us and it's a bright and glorious time indeed! 

If you have followed my "Armada 1.5" article series I've looked at every card in the game and made a running commentary of what I think of that card in the new meta - and what I would like for FFG/AMG to take a look at going forward. 

Here I've taken these scattered thoughts and structured them somewhat.

The basic idea comes from X-wing 2.0's system for updating points and upgrade slots every six months or so. FFG recognized that a game as complex as X-wing (or Armada for that matter) could never be perfectly balanced across years of releases. What's fine in wave 1 can be underpowered or overcosted (or vice versa) a few waves later, for example. They knew from experience that fixing imbalances purely through new releases both took too long and didn't always work (5 years and 8 waves and Demo is still being tweaked, for example).

If you're familiar with X-wing 2.0 you know what I'm talking about. If not I can explain it very quickly:

• Ships that are too popular might go up in price.
• More commonly ships that are underused go down in price. 
• Which upgrade slots ships have can also be tweaked (this happens more rarely). 
• Upgrade cards receive the same treatment and in some cases have variable costing implemented, are made unique, or subjected to other restrictions.
• As a last resort, FFG will turn to rules changes and/or errata. That's nothing special, I hear you say. True, but this happens quickly, sometimes before a particular archetype becomes problematic (Tripsilos - Tripple Upsilon shuttles is one archetype that died that way).

The updates aren't always 100% successful. As soon as one archetype is gently nerfed (or hammered into the ground) new ones will arise to take their place. But overall it's a system that works very well indeed. At its best, it creates much-needed rebalancing. Even at its "worst," it keeps the meta fresh.

I have long been a proponent of a similar approach for Armada. I had hoped we'd get something to go along with 1.5 but we didn't. Maybe AMG will? Or not. I don't know. Doesn't stop me from thinking about it 😅

Btw: I'm fine with the default cost being printed on the card. X-wing doesn't but for non-competitive purposes, it's nice to have a printed cost. 

Custom Corellian Conflict, part 1 (intro)

Stuff in the box

By now I guess everyone who's into SW: Armada knows about the Corellian Conflict campaign expansion (CC for short). It would be very strange if you don't, since the CC box is where you find all the "new"objectives and extra unique squadrons, some of which see a LOT of use in regular/competitive play.

But I'm not going to be talking much about those components. Instead I'll be looking at the actual campaign, and more specifically what can be done to A) enhance it and B) add more options. Your milegage on house rules may vary, but you're free to use any, all or none at all - no one is forcing you to do anything.

Out of the box the CC does 3 things:

1. It gives an incentive to build a fleet and then stick with it over the course of several games, usually expanding it to a 500 fleet point limit
2. It adds a very shallow strategic minigame, where players fight over planets and their resources, using those resources to refit and expand their fleets
3. It (usually, unless silly ppl decide to win on points instead) culminates in a 7 round mega-battle of 6 players, each running a 500 pt fleet, on a 9x3 foot table

This is all very good, but my experience is that things feel a little samey from the get go: 

• Fleets are a little larger, but the same stuff is effective in CC as in competitive play, so if you don't enjoy losing, you kind of have to build a competitive fleet.
• Fleets usually cap at 500 pts VERY quickly (sometimes in r2, often no later than r3), after which fleetbuilding is kind of dead.
• The strategic minigame is SHALLOW AS FUCK. The same planets get taken during setup, because some are stupid good and the rest are close to useless, and then things proceed along the same frack like 95% of the time.
• Some players, or usually one side, get bored before the final assault battle. Usually because one side gets an advantage r1, and things snowball from there. So in my experience most CC games die before ever doing the final battle (I've only done it ONCE, and that was only a simulation,  6 500 pt fleets, and not the result of actual campaign play).

So what I hope to do with this series of articles is: 

• Add some options to fleet building to keep it interesting and varied. Example: errata to some cards, additional squadrons, rules for discarding upgrades etc.
• Expand upon the strategic minigame to make it matter a little more. Examples: make all planet specials actually matter.
• Add some tools to hopefully limit snowballing/keep it interesting even if you're losing. Examples: no early base assaults, alternate rules for special assaults.

Soon to be a Hero of the Rebellion

I'm not doing a total conversion (but I might do a wholly new campaign from scratch if I find the time to finish what I started). If you're into total conversions, I recommend checking out Darth Veggie's WIP over at the FFG forums.

Here are some useful resources you can dl:

CC Rulebook (pdf): The rulebook in a convenient, digital format.

CC Map (original): Scan of the original CC map.

CC Map (enhanced): Same map, but digitally enhanced (found this online)

CC Manager v4.0 (spreadsheet): Great tool for tracking planets and attacks and fleets. You can even customize it to fit your games.

I'd also like to mention the Camping feature in Vassal. I use it all the time for tracking the location of base/outpost/presence stickers. Start Vassal, create a game, hit the Campaign button, and start dragging stickers over from the Pieces menu. Save and export the map. Next round, load the map, make any changes, save and export. Very easy to share a digital map on Facebook or whatnot, or just display it to the group if playing multiple games in a row in a common location.

Custom Armada: alternate rules, cards and models

XG-1 Star Wing, coming to Armada REAL soon!

Kuat Drive Yards

Kuat Drive Yards lets you create your own cards. Ships, including the ship cards and the ship (cardboard) tokens can be created and printed. Same for squadrons, upgrades, objectives and more.

Judging by the steady stream of new content, I'm probably not the only one who likes to dream up new cards - and "what if" versions of existing cards. It's easy to use, so it doesn't take a lot of effort to learn it and spew out new content. 

You can also look at what other users have made - the site has some filtering options - and get inspired. Just be warned: there is some gold there, but a LOT of rubbish, including stuff with no relation to Star Wars or Armada.

Arvel Crynyd - right before he slams into the bridge of the Executor

So what can this custom stuff be used for? Typically to have a good time with your mates :-D For example you could make a pack of extra unique squadrons and titles for use with the Corellian Conflict. Because you're tired of the same old squadrons being taken over and over - and becasue you want to do 600 point fleets.

Or you could redo some existing upgrades, because they are either too good/bad or because you find them to be not very thematic. Here is one such example:

Perfect for the Nebulon-B

Finally it could be because you want to use some custom miniatures. Stuff from the Clone Wars, for example. Or the XG-1 Star Wing. Or the Braha'tok-class gunship, also known as the Dornean gunship. Or the Assault Frigate mk 1. Or the Dreadnaught class cruiser. 

Which brings us to...

Mel's Miniatures

Assault Frigate Mk 1 vs Mk 2

To get ACTUAL custom miniatures in Armada, I would recommend Mel Miniatures. He has a wide range of stuff, from the Clone Wars era and into the TFA era. He does capital ships in all sizes (Executor included), as well as squadrons. There are even some small-scale fighters and smaller ships (like corvettes) for people who want to accentuate the size difference more.

ISD-I conversion kit

To bring these beautiful models into your games, you can either use them as stand ins for existing stuff: the AF mk 1 can replace a mk 2, for example. Or you can add completely new ships and squadrons to the game by using custom cards, such as those created with kdyards.com

Pair of Republic Venators, painter unknown

Diablo Azul's Shipyard

Finally a special shout out to Armada Shipyards. It's a site with lots of custom content, meant for use with Mel's minis (and others). It's a site that's been around for years, since the early days of Armada. Some of the stuff on there is pretty dated, but it's such great quality nontheless. It's also very fun to see the old imagined versions of ships we now have in Armada.

A medium-base ship, with command 4!