This blog is no longer active. Haven't been for a while.
Armada is pretty much dead at this point. It's still played, even Organized Play, and it's still getting some kind of support from AMG, but it's not a living, thriving game anymore. More like a zombie horse that keeps getting kicked.
Nothing new, really, just a variation by degree. I mean, after wave 7, how long did we wait for the SSD? Very long. And then we got the lamentable wave 8. And finally, after even more waiting, we got two new factions, which was great... except they are only half complete factions!
But AMG's support for the game has been WORSE than FFG's. FFG actually made new expansions. AMG doesn't. They've given us some half-baked "events" and a couple new print-out cards. And I don't see this changing any time soon, if ever. So the game is until proven otherwise, dead.
I'll keep playing the game locally, sector fleet battles, campaigns, and the occasional 400-pointer, but I don't see any point in running this blog anymore.
Signup deadline: Sunday, 27th February. Sing up HERE.
This is the place where we explore the what-ifs and could-have-beens of Armada. The place where we play with new versions of old ships and squadrons - and introduce completely new ones such as the Separatist Lucrehulk and Sith Infiltrator, the Republic Stealth Ship and Naboo N-1.
It's also where you'll find existing upgrades - with a twist - alongside entirely new cards. Even the objectives have been tweaked to make more of them useful to a variety of fleet archetypes (without shifting the advantage too strongly towards the 2nd player). Last, but not least, we're even experimenting with a few rules changes...
Important external links
Fantasy League RRG: Download the pdf here (latest version is 1.02)
VASSAL: Module download (latest version is 4.7.0fl)
TTS: Currently only implemented in the Development version which you can get here. You also need the custom database for the Fantasy League.
Card collection: All cards are available as a pdf here.
Where?
It's primarily a digital event on VASSAL and TTS (with support from @Valadian) but if you want you can easily print all the cards you need from KDYards and play on the tabletop!
Why?
Why not?
The changes are big enough that everything will feel fresh and uncertain, but not so big as to make it another game entirely. It's also an unique opportunity: AFAIK no one has ever attempted to host a world-spanning custom event for Armada.
Virtual plastic spaceships will go pew pew, mistakes will be made, dice will happen. It's going to be fun - don't miss out!
Phases and What to Make of Them
The Fantasy League isn't just ONE event. Every few months, a new Phase is initiated. Each phase adds new stuff to the game. In fact, phases are pretty much like new waves.
In Phase 1, only Empire/Rebel factions are playable, and the selection of ships, squadrons, and upgrades is limited.
In Phase 2, Republic/Separatist are added, and the first large base ships appear.
In Phase 3 there will be rogues & villains for all four factions - and more.
Phase 4+ is still on the drawing board.
Each Phase is a separate league event; scores are reset to zero. So even if you didn't win Phase 1 there is no reason why you couldn't be the Phase 2 champion!
What's new?
Let me give you some examples of what to expect:
Rules: The rules are largely the same, with a few big changes and a bunch of minor ones. If you want to know more about the various rules changes, check out the Rules Reference Guide, the YouTube videos below, or chat with me on Discord (links below).
Here is an example of a big change (highlighted in red): You can spend readied (green) defense tokens targeted by accuracy icons. But if you do, you have to discard that token.
Objectives: We're using the objectives that you're used to. But they have been tweaked with the aim of making more of them playable with the right fleet. Second player is pretty strong ATM so the tweaks aren't necessarily buffs; some objectives got nerfed.
Fleet Ambush is a good example: It's almost the same, but there is a restriction of deploying squadrons and the first player has to pass his first activation round 1. There is also a bit about deploying overlapping obstacles; that's because the rules now forbid this for all ships, not just Huge ships.
Ships: The ships in the first phase are tweaked versions of existing ships. Later new ships - both variations of existing ones and completely news ships - will be added.
This Vic is no joke: It can turn reasonably well, has goodish flak, a black die in the front, a salvo token, and an amazing upgrade bar. For a mere 79 points. Still a speed 2 ship that can easily turn into a point piñata.
Squadrons: Existing squadrons get tweaks and points changes, and new uniques are added. We'll eventually see new squadron types, including some multi-faction squads. Hondo and Gauntlets for all four factions. V-wings, N-1s, Eta2s, and LATT/i gunships for the republic. U-wings. More TIE variants. Dooku, Maul, and Ventress. It's quite the list.
This is Thane. He's dangerous and cheap. And he has colorful dice and a squadron evade. S-foils is a new keyword for B-wings and X-wings that let them get +1 speed if they remove a die.
Upgrades: We got some old upgrades that have been modded and a few entirely new cards. The cost of some cards has changed.
Ion Missiles are new, same with the Audacious Arquitens title. Lando is the same old, but with an additional effect.
More info
YouTube video of me talking about the Fantasy League format:
Another YouTube video, this one gives an overview of Phase 1 content:
Event format
The Fantasy League is a... league event 😅
Rounds: There is only 1 "round" which lasts for the duration of the phase. Each player can play and register any number of games during this round, but you don't sore points equally for all of them (see below).
Opponents: Players are expected to arrange their own games; there are no TO-controlled pairings.
That said, you're encouraged to play a variety of opponents, not just your IRL buddy over and over. A few games against the same guy is OK (not going to set a hard cap) especially if you use different lists, but if you play vs 1 or 2 people only you're doing something wrong.
Lists: You can use the same list for every game, iterations of the same list, or wildly different lists. It's up to you.
Scoring: Scoring works a little differently. We use the standard MoV/TP table.
The following restrictions apply:
You have to play a minimum of 4 games.
If you play 6 games, only your best 4 games will count towards your score.
Example: You go 9-2, 8-3, 4-7, 2-9, 10-1, 6-5. The 4-7 and 2-9 are ignored for scoring purposes, so your score is 10+9+8+6=33.
For each game beyond 6 you play, you score 1 additional tournament point, regardless of your score. If you play more than 6 games, only the 6 first games count towards scoring. So you can't play 20 games and cherry pick the best 4.
Continuing the above example, if you played 10 games, you have 33+4=37 TPs.
Schedule
Signup deadline: Sunday, 27th February.
The event starts Monday, 28th February.
The event ends Sunday, 24th April.
Phase 2 will begin shortly after phase 1 ends. It adds CW factions and large ships to the game. Phase 3 will start this summer. Details to follow.
AAR: You only have to include your list; the rest of the questions are optional but do please make the effort as the feedback will directly impact future Fantasy League phases.
VASSAL info
To play in the Fantasy League, run this module version and you'll see the new cards. When you want a standard game, just run the standard version.
You can use Shrimpbot to generate setup vlogs. Get the text export of your fleet, paste it into a text editor and remove any custom cards (new upgrades and squadrons).
Use !vassal to generate a vlog, load the vlog as normal, then add the custom pieces by dragging them from the Pieces menu. It's not 100% but still saves time and effort.
TTS info
First you have to load the module (currently only the Development version has support for custom databases). Then you need to additively load the Fantasy League database.
If you've correctly used additive load on the Fantasy League database the fleet spawner will spawn all custom cards without issue!
The only thing that isn't fully implemented is scoring: the crippled rule isn't in effect and non-VP token scoring isn't implemented. So you'll have to manually calculate scores.
It's time to find out who is the ultimate Vassal Armada 3-round Swiss Champion of 2022!
We did the same thing last year, and with over 30 players it turned out to be a great event. The only difference this year is that the CW factions are fully revealed and integrated into he game.
Lists are invisible to other players until the event starts. Do NOT include your objectives unless you want everyone to see them.
Format
For this 1-day event, there is a single Swiss group across all time zones!
Standard 400-points
3 round Swiss
Each Swiss round runs for 2h 15min and then ends IMMEDIATELY.
You CANNOT start a new round if the timer has passed the 2h mark.
The current round is NOT played to completion when the time is called. Finish the current activation (ship or squadron), then hard stop and tally the score.
Report the result to the TO in the appropriate tourney channel or as a PM (Green Knight#5600) on Discord so pairings for the next round can be done in a timely fashion.
Schedule
Signup deadline: Sunday, 20th March.
Fleet submission deadline: 30 mins before the tournament starts, 10:00 am EST/14:00 GMT
The event takes place Sunday, 20th March.
Start round 1: 10:30 am EST/14:30 GMT
"Lunch" break: 1:00 pm EST/17:00 GMT
Start round 2: 1:30 pm EST/17:30 GMT
Start round 3: 4:00 pm EST/20:00 GMT
Times adjusted for daylight savings (from the 13th in the US but not until the 27th in Europe).
Every effort has been made to ensure that people from all across the globe can play. West Coast players have to get up real early. CET players have to stay up a bit late. These are the best times I could find 😅
Module version 4.6.1 "VWC2022 - The women and the children too" is available!
Download (takes a day or so to update): http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Module:Star_Wars:_Armada
Checksum: dee4d371
OVERVIEW
VASSAL World Cup 2021 OFFICIAL VERSION.
CLICKABLE action buttons.
FULLY hotkeyed maneuver tool.
Assorted bugfixes.
VASSAL version update.
COMPATIBILITY
Armada 4.6.0 was built using Vassal 3.6.3. ALWAYS update to the most recent versions of both the module and VASSAL!
Do NOT use VASSAL 3.6.0-3.6.2 due to CRITICAL movement bug!!!
CRITICAL BUGFIXES
Fixed the mega-annoying bug that prevented auto-zoom on pices using mouse-over.
OTHER BUGFIXES
Fixed Shu Mai round 5 token spawn (for real this time). The problem wasn't Shu Mai, but the actual r4 token.
MAJOR NEW FEATURES
ACTION BUTTONS: New on-ship base buttons. Currently implemented: place/notch man tool, range/distance. More to come.
INTERACTIVE MAN TOOL: New left-click functionality added to the maneuver tool (the old ways still work). Push the green/red fields to add yaw to that joint. Super simple!
FULLY HOTKEYED MAN TOOL: Click any segment on the man tool, and you can use CTRL+UP/DOWN ARROW to move from segment to segment. Combined with CTRL+LEFT/RIGHT ARROW it's possible to dramatically speed up man tool use. I recommend unchecking "Use arrow keys to scroll" under File --> Preferences --> General or you might run into trouble!
Updated the help section with new links, rules, and more.
OTHER NEW FEATURES
Munitions/Parts Resupply now spawn 5 tokens in one go.
CW officers can now spawn appropriate tokens from the card.
CW commanders can now spawn appropriate tokens & dials from the card.
Sabine Wren can now spawn prox mines.
Taskmaster Grint can now spawn command tokens.
Recusant can now hold 4 command tokens (Nova Defiant title).
Nova Defiant (title) can quick-spawn a Command 4 stack.
EWS and Swivels now spawn chaff and focus tokens respectively. Why would you not just use the ship-based menu for this? I don't know. But it was requested so there you are.
NEW VASSAL FEATURES
For God's sake uncheck "Center on opponent's move" under File --> Preferences --> General or you WILL GO MAD!
To load your fleet, use "Load continuation" under Tools and NOT "Load game or log" under File.
Adjust "Mouse drag threshold" under File --> Preferences --> General down to "2" or something to enable fine manipulation.
Mute in-game sounds by unchecking under File --> Preferences --> Sounds.
ALT+Click will "flash" red rings around that point. To draw your opponent's attention to something.
SHRIMPBOT SETUP SCRIPT
As of writing the bot is still at 4.4.0 so you'll have to manually replace the ship models (the other components are fine) with new copies from the pieces menu. Ard plans to update the bot soon (TM).
TO-DO (in order)
+/- buttons for shields, hull and speed.
Fix hull/speed box layout on some ships.
Buttons for squads.
Obstacle outlines.
Make shield dials toggleable (easier to resolve obstacle overlap corner cases).
Add CW victory tokens.
Add alternate color schemes for all remining Republic Pelta and Seppie ships.
Update some alt color schemes for GCW factions.
Add better quality card images as they become available.
NEW VASSAL FEATURES
For God's sake uncheck "Center on opponent's move" under File --> Preferences --> General or you WILL GO MAD!
To load your fleet, use "Load continuation" under Tools and NOT "Load game or log" under File.
Adjust "Mouse drag threshold" under File --> Preferences --> General down to "2" or something to enable fine manipulation.
Mute in-game sounds by unchecking under File --> Preferences --> Sounds.
ALT+Click will "flash" red rings around that point. To draw your opponent's attention to something.
SHRIMPBOT SETUP SCRIPT
As of writing the bot is still at 4.4.0 so you'll have to manually replace the ship models (the other components are fine) with new copies from the pieces menu. Ard plans to update the bot soon (TM).
TO-DO (in order)
+/- buttons for shields, hull and speed.
Fix hull/speed box layout on some ships.
Buttons for squads.
Obstacle outlines.
Make shield dials toggleable (easier to resolve obstacle overlap corner cases).
Add CW victory tokens.
Add alternate color schemes for all remining Republic Pelta and Seppie ships.
Update some alt color schemes for GCW factions.
Add better quality card images as they become available.
Armada 4.5.0 was built using Vassal 3.5.8. It should be compatible with module versions 4.0.0+ and Vassal 3.5.0+ but ALWAYS update to the most recent versions of both!
CRITICAL BUGFIXES
Republic Pelta now has LoS dots. Duh!
OTHER BUGFIXES
Fixed Shu Mai round token spawn.
Fixed Ketsu squad card spawning off-table.
Fixed Kraken/TF bug in quick spawn menu.
Ahsoka squad card now spawns Ahsoka squadron (instead of generic Delta).
Ahsoka's name is now Ahsoka on the squadron (instead of Ashoka).
Republic Pelta titles no longer appear in the Rebel Title dropdown (or vice versa).
MAJOR NEW FEATURES
Clone Wars micro-sized ship cards were replaced by old-style tarot cards by @petersaber.
OTHER NEW FEATURES
Vassal automatically makes you a better player and connects you with fun opponents.
- All 4 factions have access to non-flotilla Fleet Support slots (Arq for Imps, Neb for Rebs).
- All 4 factions have a large-base ship with a Fleet Command option.
- Rebel Pelta has no fleet command slot (but the PH title adds it). Rebels also have better access to FC from other cards (Phoenix Nest & Liberator).
- Expect to see players experiment with SSDs. They are cheaper and can bring a defensive retro.
- Expect to see SHs, maybe even non-Agate ones. The SH1 can run ET, the SH2 can have Def retro.
- The Onager has been points-nerfed. That hurts the Onager (duh) but also opens some possibilities for slower ships. I hope.
- Rebels can bring Quasars if they take the Phoenix Nest title.
The astute observer can't fail to notice CW factions haven't been touched much. That's deliberate. They have less stuff, it's not yet played to death, and overall what they do have is pretty decent. If you want to play with more nimble Clams, Asajj Ventress, or LAAT/i squadrons, head over to the Fantasy Series!
Builder support
You can use any builder you want as long as you comply with the custom format.
Read more here. Contribute to the prize pool here.
Points for this tournament:
Entry: 1
Completion: 1
Top 8: 1
Runner-up: 1
Winner: 2
Special challenges: 1 point each (2 max)
A New Hope (Rebel challenge):Only play with the Republic faction & use each commander only once (one must be Leia). Post-Endor cards banned, including the SH, E-wings, and Agate (ask if you're uncertain).
Going Commando (Unaligned challenge): Running only squadless fleets across all 6 games.
Heart of the Swarm (Separatist challenge): Only play with the Separatist faction & use each commander only once.
Objectively the Best (Unaligned challenge): Only use each objective card once across all 6 fleets.
Republic Reinforcements (Republic challenge): Only play with the Republic faction & use each commander only once.
There Can Be Only One (Unaligned challenge): Only use each unique card once across all 6 fleets.
The Empire Strikes Back (Empire challenge): Only play with the Empire faction & use each commander only once (one must be Vader). Post-Endor cards banned, including the Onager, Romodi, and Sloane (ask if you're uncertain).
We finally wrapped up our RitR campaign by making the 2nd pivotal the final battle. People were pretty much fed up playing the same lists over and over against the same lists over and over.
Observation: if teams don't attack enemy bases, each act has too many rounds. And 3 pivotals are 2 too many. In this regard, the number of battles in CC is much, much better. I think we played 5 rounds and then had the final battle. With RitR we had 6 rounds and 2 pivotals and were still supposed to play 1 more act.
Anyway. Rebels managed to win the base assault (3rd battle of the last round) with a small margin. Something about an allied CR90 and some flotillas that just refused to die. This loss took away our ally source. I'm confident we could have gotten it back next round but since we went directly for the final assault that didn't happen. It brought our scores close, 11-10 Empire-Rebel. And with Rebels guaranteed to do a Demo of Force, we could at best get a small win. Kind of weird that only the assaulting team can score more than 1 point. Another little RitR quirk.
It also so happened that we hadn't really read the rules all that well, so we were a little surprised when the Rebel team triumphantly declared they now could use TWO ally tokens (as if ally tokens aren't OP, to begin with). One to upgrade a large ship. And one for the regular ally effect. That felt a little gamey - and very much like a clever trick to get an advantage.
But whatever. We grumbled a little but went ahead with the battle. We used our Shipyard token to upgrade to larges. Mostly for fun. The VSD turned into an ISD. That was a pretty good conversion. I dumped some squads and both flots to take a near-naked Onager. Without superweapons. The Testbed was the only large I could afford lol.
Rebels went with 2 small-hunting Liberties for their large upgrades. A very good tactic IMO. The battlecruiser in particular was loaded to pick our puny ships to pieces (in the actual battle it would contribute absolutely nothing at all).
EMPIRE R8 (2nd pivotal)
Fleet: Where Did All The Gozanti Go? Commander: Commodore Drok Lodt (BJØRN) Abilities (6): Master Navigator I (flagship), Master Coordinator I (flagship), Ion Techs (fleetwide), Ordnance Expert (fleetwide) XP: 1 Conditions: None Assault: Most Wanted Defense: Abandoned Mining Facility Navigation: Infested Fields Gladiator I (56) [FLAGSHIP] [VET] • Skilled First Officer (1) • Ordnance Experts (4) • External Racks (4) • Demolisher (10) = 75 Points Onager Testbed (96) • Ordnance Experts (4) = 100 Points Raider I (44) [VET] • Instigator (4) = 48 Points Squadrons: • Maarek Stele (21) [VET] • Colonel Jendon (20) [VET] • TIE Interceptor Squadron (22) = 52 Points Total Points: 275/275
Fleet: Dat New ISD Commander: Fleet Captain Lex Ander (ALEXANDER) Abilities (6): Master Gunner I (flagship), Master Navigator I (flagship), Ion Tech (fleetwide), Ordnance Expert (fleetwide) XP: 1 Conditions: None Assault: Most Wanted Defense: Contested Outpost Navigation: Infested Fields Imperial II (120) • Expert Shield Tech (5) • Gunnery Team (7) • Linked Turbolaser Towers (7) = 139 Points Arquitens Light Cruiser (54) [VET] • Expert Shield Tech (5) • Linked Turbolaser Towers (7) = 66 Points Gozanti Cruisers (23) • Comms Net (2) = 25 Points Squadrons: • Howlrunner (16) [VET] • Soontir Fel (18) [VET] • TIE Interceptor Squadron (22) = 45 Points Total Points: 275/275
Fleet: Never Got To Fully Pimp My Ships Commander: Flotilla Commander So Tham (THOMAS F) Abilities (6): Ambush Gunner II (fleetwide), Ion Tech (fleetwide), Master Engineer II (fleetwide) XP: 5 Conditions: None Assault: Opening Salvo Defense: Contested Outpost Navigation: Infested Fields Arquitens Command Cruiser (59) [FLAGSHIP] [VET] • Reinforced Blast Doors (5) • Dual Turbolaser Turrets (5) = 69 Points Arquitens Command Cruiser (59) [VET] • Expert Shield Tech (5) • Dual Turbolaser Turrets (5) = 69 Points Raider II (48) [VET] • Iden Versio (6) • Disposable Capacitors (3) • Heavy Ion Emplacements (9) = 66 Points Squadrons: • Ciena Ree (17) [VET] • Valen Rudor (13) [VET] • Tempest Squadron (13) • TIE Interceptor Squadron (11) = 54 Points Total Points: 258/275
REBELS
Eirik (261/261)
Commander
- Master Gunner III
- Ion Tech
- Master Navigator I
[flagship] MC80 Liberty Battle Cruiser (103)
- Intel Officer (7)
- Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
- XI7 Turbolasers (6)
- Sensor Team (5)
= 128 total points
CR90 Corvette A (44) (V)
- Jaina's Light (2)
- Ezra Bridger (3)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 56 total points
GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
- Bright Hope (2)
- Comms Net (2)
- Ahsoka Tano (2)
= 24 total points
Squadrons (53/263):
1x Millennium Falcon - Lando Calrissian (23) (V)
1x Kanan Jarrus (19) (V)
1x A-Wing Squadron (11)
2nd Expeditinary Fleet (274/200)
Rebels - Author: CTS
- Squadron leader
- ion tech
- squadron group leader II
Assault Frigate Mark II B (72)(V)(Flagship)
- Reinforced Blast Doors (5)
- Adar Tallon (10)
= 87 total points
GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
- Wedge Antilles (4)
= 22 total points
GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
- Bomber Command Center (😎
- Ray Antilles (7)
= 33 total points
Squadrons (132/200):
1x Norra Wexley Y-wing Squadron (17)(V)
(S) 2x Y-Wing Squadron (20)
1x Y-Wing Squadron (10)
3x X-Wing Squadron (39)
1x Moldy Crow - Jan Ors (19)
1x Scurgg H-6 Bomber (16)
1x A-Wing Squadron (11)
Name: Roosh flying circus
Faction: Rebel
Commander:
- Master Engineer I
- Ion Tech
- Ambush Gunner II
- Infiltration I
CR90 Corvette A (44) (V)(Flagship)
• Hondo Ohnaka (2)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 53 Points
CR90 Corvette B (39)
• General Draven (3)
• Reactive Gunnery (4)
• SW-7 Ion Batteries (5)
= 51 Points
MC80 Star Cruiser (96)
• Expert Shield Tech (5)
• Auxiliary Shields Team (3)
• Spinal Armament (9)
= 113 Points
Squadrons:
• Corran Horn (22) (V)
• Hera Syndulla (28)
• A-wing Squadron (11)
• Rogue Squadron (14) (V)
• E-wing Squadron (15)
= 90 Points
Total Points: 307 (inkl Ally token for command ship upgrades)
NOTE: The MC80H1 model is a LIBERTY. The AF1 is an AF2.
I don't have a ton of pics for this one. But this image from the start of round 3, before ships start popping says it all. Rebels set up in two separate groups, thinking they could lure the ISD out of the fight and also take down our dual Arq/raider fleet quickly and then sweep into our flank.
We were very happy to see the rebel bomber ball in the corner! The ISD/ARQ/Goz combo, along with most of our squads should be able to deal with them decisively, if supported by my Instigator. It was also pretty obvious the rebels had (again) spread out too much and would be tail-chasing much of the game.
Overall we had the better deployment and the better plan. During the game, we did some things right and some things not right at all.
Some key points:
1. Our 2 Arqs + Iden-Raider jumped from speed 1 to 3 first round, leaving a big portion of the Rebel fleet out of the fight for the entire game...
2. The Onager used a dust field and its speed to FLANK the Liberties 💪 and do quite a bit of damage before going down. Pleased with that one.
3. Insitgator jumped in at the right moment and did Instigator-things. Some spot-on squad play sealed the rebel bombers' fate. Also real pleased with that one.
4. Demolisher changed its mind. Instead of going right to make sure the potato died, it ended up boxed in by the Onager, forced to stay slow, and eventually getting killed by rogue squads, a TRC90, and the BC in turn 6. I think we need to go back to 2015 to find Demolisher play THAT bad 😅😅😅
5. Wedge officer + Demo being stupid let the AF circle around and live (with 2 hull, no shields, and no defense tokens). Should have put the ISD further to the right, but the obstacle you see in the pic kind of precluded that.
In the end, we lost a bunch of squads, Demo, and the Onager, plus the brave Arq in the right corner. Rebels lost 2 CR90s, the Star Cruiser, and a ton of squads. In all, we won by less than 20 points. But a win is a win. Got us 1 more CP, for a 12-10 total.
And that's it. RitR was fun some of the time, tedious at other times. The strategic rules have a lot of interesting ideas but the overall finish isn't polished. Overall, RitR left me with a bad taste in my mouth and I hope I'll never have to play an unmodified version EVER AGAIN. CC isn't nearly as deep but RitR is so deeply flawed I need a separate blog post to talk about it all...
