boarding actions are not really part of the SW lore though, ships are too busy pounding each other with turbolasers.

(I don't count that Clone Wars episode where the droids swarmed a republic cruiser in atmosphere, I have never liked that star destroyers can just park themselves in atmosphere)

I'm not sure that boarding actions are not part of the lore - that may just be your own headcanon speaking.

There are more things in Star Wars, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your video games.

To wit, I present you the Gamma-class assault shuttle , for which boarding actions are its reason for being. It was part of the old WEG roleplaying game, and also showed up in some of the literature. You should also note it's being depicted on the following card:

(though that may be the ATR-6 ... same difference.)

It also seems to me that boarding actions are what stormtroopers are really for.

Holy crap, good eyesight. Those things were cool in the video games. When one of them popped up you genuinely had to deal with them because they were such a threat to whatever the mission critical craft was.

I still say you just have to get them touching --not just range 1-- of a ship and spend, say, a "boarding" token to attach. Starting the second turn it can either deal damage, exhaust tokens, or void a command. That would make them suitably dangerous and force a reaction. Likewise, allow starfighters to attack the attached boarding ships. Once it's destroyed, the negative effects cease.

As for the ship itself, make it sturdy so that it can take some fire on the way in but slow moving. Or make it fast and light but an easy kill.

Heck yeah. Hope FFG makes it happen! Those ATRs were a PAIN to deal with...how the heck they fit so many turbolasers on them...I don't know!

Agreed with the first idea, sturdy, can take a bit of punishment but is rather slow.

Strictly as some sort of scenairio situation it has merit but the crew size mismatch certainly creates gameplay balance issues.

Most of the cards we've seen don't have any sort of crew value on them which might indicate boarding will not be a core mechanic of the game.

And since we're talking about space and not the high seas boarding is a bit more problemtic than laying alongside and swinging over.

It is certainly a fertile ground for those who might want to mash up the various mini games. Armada to close and cover for the infiltration craft, X-wing to get the troop craft into a docking bay, Assault for grabbing the prize, back to X-Wing to escape the docking bay to sufficient distance, back to Armada for final escape.

I will say that the X-Wing and TIE fighter games did have a LOT of missions where you had to hang around protecting an assault shuttle as it boarded and captured the odd freighter, Corvette or Frigate. So I'd say Boarding operations via some kind of dedicated fighter scale token wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility.

Hell, I'm of the opinion that we might get a second booster set of Fighters for both factions at some point anyway (Imperials could do with a Defender, and we know that FFG had Han and Chewie in the Falcon flying around in the GenCon demos.) so adding some boarding craft for that would work.

boarding actions are not really part of the SW lore though, ships are too busy pounding each other with turbolasers.

(I don't count that Clone Wars episode where the droids swarmed a republic cruiser in atmosphere, I have never liked that star destroyers can just park themselves in atmosphere)

Go and watch the opening scene for episode 4.

At that point the fighting part of the scenario is over.

Boarding would have to be initiated only after the target craft/vessel has been disabled. And to do that you'd need starfighters/assault craft/ capital ships sporting ion cannons.

@ Funk Fu: Actually, it happened all the time in TIE Fighter. Hot drop out of hyperspace with an Assault Gunboat or TIE Defender -hold down the W (cycle weapons) key (ensuring that you've used up all your warheads beforehand of course) zero in on a target with guns blazing and they'll be sitting ducks for the Assault Transports in no time.

Actually, my boarding experience with TIE Fighter has always been from an escort point of view...has anyone ever given any thought to how brave or crazy the pilots and crew of the Assault Transports/Boarding craft are?

Heck, I saw many go down in flames before they even hit the target.

All this talk! Can't stand it anymore! Going to put down some more flight time now! Hehe.

Would you really need the target ship to be disabled? I mean, so long as you were attached, I'm sure you'd cause all kinds of trouble. My understanding is that, even if the target ship jumped into hyperspace, the boarding ship travels with so long as it is atached.

Disabling the ship was taken for granted since it usually meant capturing the ship. Why not have it just cause damage?

If you really wanted it to capture then you would need a disabling requirement, yes. But plain old assault teams aiming to bust a ship up? Shouldn't be too hard.

It was to disable defences. Th video games are a bad example as due to hardware limits only a fraction of capital ship guns were used, but most capitals have way more than enough firepower to slag juicy transports on the way in. Not to mention you can't board at ALL with target particle shields up.

boarding actions are not really part of the SW lore though, ships are too busy pounding each other with turbolasers.

(I don't count that Clone Wars episode where the droids swarmed a republic cruiser in atmosphere, I have never liked that star destroyers can just park themselves in atmosphere)

Go and watch the opening scene for episode 4.

At that point the fighting part of the scenario is over.

Boarding would have to be initiated only after the target craft/vessel has been disabled. And to do that you'd need starfighters/assault craft/ capital ships sporting ion cannons.

@ Funk Fu: Actually, it happened all the time in TIE Fighter. Hot drop out of hyperspace with an Assault Gunboat or TIE Defender -hold down the W (cycle weapons) key (ensuring that you've used up all your warheads beforehand of course) zero in on a target with guns blazing and they'll be sitting ducks for the Assault Transports in no time.

Actually, my boarding experience with TIE Fighter has always been from an escort point of view...has anyone ever given any thought to how brave or crazy the pilots and crew of the Assault Transports/Boarding craft are?

Heck, I saw many go down in flames before they even hit the target.

All this talk! Can't stand it anymore! Going to put down some more flight time now! Hehe.

Well, the VSD expansion does come with ion cannon upgrades...

We see exactly 2 cruiser vs cruiser battles in the movies and one of them ends in a boarding action. Ships were boarding each other left and right in the x-wing and TIE fighter games. Granted they weren't huge capital ships, but that wasn't the scale of the game. I haven't read a ton of the EU books, but there are several instances where the rebels have Star Destroyers, that sort of implies boarding actions.

The whole idea of huge ships pounding on each other with tons and tons of guns most resembles the great age of sale battles IMO. Boarding in those battles was a really big deal. When you compare the size of a star destroyer with the size of the guns you shoot at a star destroyer. You ability to actually blow one up is pretty slight. Beating one down hard and then boarding it on the other hand...

I am one of the loudest voices that just comes out and says, sure that sounds great, but its not in the rules, lets trust the game. However, I would be a little sad if there was no boarding.

As a Reb -- no way I am getting captured by the Imps. I will suck start my own blaster first. While I would love to capture one of their ships and use it against them, those Destroyers carry far too many troops.

As an Imp: they're Rebs. I will shoot them until their inferior ships are dead. And I will never surrender. The HoloNet has left little doubt r/e the atrocities those anarchists are capable of...

As the mechanics are currently structured, I just don't see boarding and ship captures being a factor. Not unless one side hugely outnumbers the other.

I don't think it would be a central mechanic and frankly if it's not there that's fine. I just think it is 1) not out of the realm of reason, 2) fluffy, and 3) would have a great emotional impact on the game. Imagine setting up and realizing your opponent has to potential to coopt one of your ships? Either through parasitic like damage or complete force conversion? Just watching which way the boarding craft moved would be filled with meaningful tension.

This game looks like it's got at least a little in common with Twilight Imperium: Armada, which Fantasy Flight made a long time ago and is easily one of my favorite games... The boarding rules from that were pretty good, and I hope they'll consider finding a way to reuse them.

As a Reb -- no way I am getting captured by the Imps. I will suck start my own blaster first. While I would love to capture one of their ships and use it against them, those Destroyers carry far too many troops.

As an Imp: they're Rebs. I will shoot them until their inferior ships are dead. And I will never surrender. The HoloNet has left little doubt r/e the atrocities those anarchists are capable of...

As the mechanics are currently structured, I just don't see boarding and ship captures being a factor. Not unless one side hugely outnumbers the other.

Their are plenty of historical example where a well planned and executed boarding action by a corvette or frigate sized ship against a much larger Ship-of-the-Line or Man-o-War. It is the very thing that I could see the rebels doing. With dedicated command and control systems and life support I think it would e possible to take control of even a Star Destroyer. However this would probably not happen in the middle of a pitched battle. Said boarding actions usually involve guile or at least surprise, usually both.

I will agree that the mechanics of this game don't seem to include boarding actions.

There are two instances of boarding in the XW series. One on a corvette and another on a SSD. Both instances occur out of surprise and not in the midst of a pitched battle.

Hi.

Like everyone else on this forum, I´m looking forward to the release of Armada.

An avid gamer of naval and space miniature battle games, I´ve been looking for a game to pick up the torch after my last gaming passion in this genre, Battlefleet Gothic.

I used to play a lot of Man´O´war as well as some Dreadfleet.

After reading all the previews of Armada, it dawned on me; theres no boarding actions?

I don´t expect a Corellian corvette to overtake a star destroyer, but perhaps an addition to the game mechanics would allow for smaller vessels like assault transports, to make hit-and-run attacks against the capital ships, and disrupt shields and weapons systems.

These transports could be represented by squadrons like the fighters.

Hopefully something like this would be implented down the line.

What do you think? Could this be viable?

Also a quick question:

In Team Covenants gaming demo of the game, did I hear the organizer say that cap-ship anti-fighter attacks, dismiss the first hit scored on squadrons?

Thanks.

A lot of people in this thread, keep saying it´s impossible for a corvette or a frigate to capture a star destroyer amidst battle. That is probably true, but as I wrote in my original post, I explored the idea of hit-and-run tactics, not capturing.

Surely a corvette being pursued and out-gunned by a star destroyer, would much rather try to disable the SD´s weapon systems from within, than take their chances of trying to out-fight a capital ship many times their size?

The Falcon was captured by the Death Star, but they infiltrated the station, rescued a prisoner and disabled the tractor beam in order to escape, only loosing one crew member. THAT is hit-and-run...

Hi.

Like everyone else on this forum, I´m looking forward to the release of Armada.

An avid gamer of naval and space miniature battle games, I´ve been looking for a game to pick up the torch after my last gaming passion in this genre, Battlefleet Gothic.

I used to play a lot of Man´O´war as well as some Dreadfleet.

After reading all the previews of Armada, it dawned on me; theres no boarding actions?

I don´t expect a Corellian corvette to overtake a star destroyer, but perhaps an addition to the game mechanics would allow for smaller vessels like assault transports, to make hit-and-run attacks against the capital ships, and disrupt shields and weapons systems.

These transports could be represented by squadrons like the fighters.

Hopefully something like this would be implented down the line.

What do you think? Could this be viable?

Also a quick question:

In Team Covenants gaming demo of the game, did I hear the organizer say that cap-ship anti-fighter attacks, dismiss the first hit scored on squadrons?

Thanks.

A lot of people in this thread, keep saying it´s impossible for a corvette or a frigate to capture a star destroyer amidst battle. That is probably true, but as I wrote in my original post, I explored the idea of hit-and-run tactics, not capturing.

Surely a corvette being pursued and out-gunned by a star destroyer, would much rather try to disable the SD´s weapon systems from within, than take their chances of trying to out-fight a capital ship many times their size?

The Falcon was captured by the Death Star, but they infiltrated the station, rescued a prisoner and disabled the tractor beam in order to escape, only loosing one crew member. THAT is hit-and-run...

I agree that they would much rather try that, but with the Star Destroyers shields all up it's not even possible.

Partcile shields stop ships passing through them. They have to be disabled (like the tantives were), voluntarily dropped (such as bringing in ships to a hangar bay) or otherwise bypassed (sneak attack from people already onbaord, such as the infiltration using the Falcons smuggling compartment).

It's not even a matter of preferene....shields up = no boarding.

I just realised this is why ships always had to be disabled in the videogames....huh. never made that connection.

There are two examples of capital ships having their hangar shields down during combat though....Anakin flying through the droid control ships hangar in Ep 1, and then Obi-wan and Anakin boarding the Invisible Hand via the hangar in Ep 3. It's been a while since I saw that, but doesn't Obi-Wan actually say something like "Aren't their shields still up"?

I'm with Extropia on this.

Boarding actions only took place after the target vessel was disabled by ion cannon fire -at least that's how it worked in TIE Fighter.

...a bit off topic here. I seem to remember that in one of the earlier missions in X-Wing VS TIE Fighter, the Interdictor Compellor was firing both its Turbolasers AND Ion Cannons at all the convoys it was pulling out of hyperspace...

Or is my memory faulty?

Hi.

Like everyone else on this forum, I´m looking forward to the release of Armada.

An avid gamer of naval and space miniature battle games, I´ve been looking for a game to pick up the torch after my last gaming passion in this genre, Battlefleet Gothic.

I used to play a lot of Man´O´war as well as some Dreadfleet.

After reading all the previews of Armada, it dawned on me; theres no boarding actions?

I don´t expect a Corellian corvette to overtake a star destroyer, but perhaps an addition to the game mechanics would allow for smaller vessels like assault transports, to make hit-and-run attacks against the capital ships, and disrupt shields and weapons systems.

These transports could be represented by squadrons like the fighters.

Hopefully something like this would be implented down the line.

What do you think? Could this be viable?

Also a quick question:

In Team Covenants gaming demo of the game, did I hear the organizer say that cap-ship anti-fighter attacks, dismiss the first hit scored on squadrons?

Thanks.

A lot of people in this thread, keep saying it´s impossible for a corvette or a frigate to capture a star destroyer amidst battle. That is probably true, but as I wrote in my original post, I explored the idea of hit-and-run tactics, not capturing.

Surely a corvette being pursued and out-gunned by a star destroyer, would much rather try to disable the SD´s weapon systems from within, than take their chances of trying to out-fight a capital ship many times their size?

The Falcon was captured by the Death Star, but they infiltrated the station, rescued a prisoner and disabled the tractor beam in order to escape, only loosing one crew member. THAT is hit-and-run...

I agree that they would much rather try that, but with the Star Destroyers shields all up it's not even possible.

Partcile shields stop ships passing through them. They have to be disabled (like the tantives were), voluntarily dropped (such as bringing in ships to a hangar bay) or otherwise bypassed (sneak attack from people already onbaord, such as the infiltration using the Falcons smuggling compartment).

It's not even a matter of preferene....shields up = no boarding.

So there is no mechanic in the game that involves depleting shields?

Hi.

Like everyone else on this forum, I´m looking forward to the release of Armada.

An avid gamer of naval and space miniature battle games, I´ve been looking for a game to pick up the torch after my last gaming passion in this genre, Battlefleet Gothic.

I used to play a lot of Man´O´war as well as some Dreadfleet.

After reading all the previews of Armada, it dawned on me; theres no boarding actions?

I don´t expect a Corellian corvette to overtake a star destroyer, but perhaps an addition to the game mechanics would allow for smaller vessels like assault transports, to make hit-and-run attacks against the capital ships, and disrupt shields and weapons systems.

These transports could be represented by squadrons like the fighters.

Hopefully something like this would be implented down the line.

What do you think? Could this be viable?

Also a quick question:

In Team Covenants gaming demo of the game, did I hear the organizer say that cap-ship anti-fighter attacks, dismiss the first hit scored on squadrons?

Thanks.

A lot of people in this thread, keep saying it´s impossible for a corvette or a frigate to capture a star destroyer amidst battle. That is probably true, but as I wrote in my original post, I explored the idea of hit-and-run tactics, not capturing.

Surely a corvette being pursued and out-gunned by a star destroyer, would much rather try to disable the SD´s weapon systems from within, than take their chances of trying to out-fight a capital ship many times their size?

The Falcon was captured by the Death Star, but they infiltrated the station, rescued a prisoner and disabled the tractor beam in order to escape, only loosing one crew member. THAT is hit-and-run...

I agree that they would much rather try that, but with the Star Destroyers shields all up it's not even possible.

Partcile shields stop ships passing through them. They have to be disabled (like the tantives were), voluntarily dropped (such as bringing in ships to a hangar bay) or otherwise bypassed (sneak attack from people already onbaord, such as the infiltration using the Falcons smuggling compartment).

It's not even a matter of preferene....shields up = no boarding.

So there is no mechanic in the game that involves depleting shields?

Of course there is, but you stated "hit and run instead of trying to outfight the Destroyer".

You'd have to outfight the Destroyer THEN board it, thats my point. Or at very least get enough damage on it, without being destroyed in return.

There is a pretty good reason the Tantive was fleeing, and not trying hit and run boarding attacks.

Hi.

Like everyone else on this forum, I´m looking forward to the release of Armada.

An avid gamer of naval and space miniature battle games, I´ve been looking for a game to pick up the torch after my last gaming passion in this genre, Battlefleet Gothic.

I used to play a lot of Man´O´war as well as some Dreadfleet.

After reading all the previews of Armada, it dawned on me; theres no boarding actions?

I don´t expect a Corellian corvette to overtake a star destroyer, but perhaps an addition to the game mechanics would allow for smaller vessels like assault transports, to make hit-and-run attacks against the capital ships, and disrupt shields and weapons systems.

These transports could be represented by squadrons like the fighters.

Hopefully something like this would be implented down the line.

What do you think? Could this be viable?

Also a quick question:

In Team Covenants gaming demo of the game, did I hear the organizer say that cap-ship anti-fighter attacks, dismiss the first hit scored on squadrons?

Thanks.

A lot of people in this thread, keep saying it´s impossible for a corvette or a frigate to capture a star destroyer amidst battle. That is probably true, but as I wrote in my original post, I explored the idea of hit-and-run tactics, not capturing.

Surely a corvette being pursued and out-gunned by a star destroyer, would much rather try to disable the SD´s weapon systems from within, than take their chances of trying to out-fight a capital ship many times their size?

The Falcon was captured by the Death Star, but they infiltrated the station, rescued a prisoner and disabled the tractor beam in order to escape, only loosing one crew member. THAT is hit-and-run...

I agree that they would much rather try that, but with the Star Destroyers shields all up it's not even possible.

Partcile shields stop ships passing through them. They have to be disabled (like the tantives were), voluntarily dropped (such as bringing in ships to a hangar bay) or otherwise bypassed (sneak attack from people already onbaord, such as the infiltration using the Falcons smuggling compartment).

It's not even a matter of preferene....shields up = no boarding.

So there is no mechanic in the game that involves depleting shields?

Of course there is, but you stated "hit and run instead of trying to outfight the Destroyer".

You'd have to outfight the Destroyer THEN board it, thats my point. Or at very least get enough damage on it, without being destroyed in return.

There is a pretty good reason the Tantive was fleeing, and not trying hit and run boarding attacks.

Because it was a consular ship on a diplomatic mission?

I never stated anywhere, that shields could be up or down before boarding tolk place.

I merely afsked if boarding could be a viable tactic.

Ruling it out entirely because of shields being up, have nothing to do with the question I asked.

Well....i dont think it is personally, no (for a multitude of reasons).

Some others do think it is.

I'm pretty sure it won't be in the game rules, but homebrew is always an option.

Thats about my final view on this one

Well....i dont think it is personally, no (for a multitude of reasons).

Some others do think it is.

I'm pretty sure it won't be in the game rules, but homebrew is always an option.

Thats about my final view on this one

Disabling the shields in one area of the target ship, before boarding would give even more tactical flexibility to the game. It would compel imperial players to guard the weak rear of their VSD's even further. :-)

I do like the idea, though i'm not at all sure how to work it mechanically. I guess you could base the "boarding power" on remaining hull points or something...thats likely the easiest method. Though how you'd roll for effectiveness or the like i have no clue offhand.

Can't find it right now, but someone mentioned earlier sabotage from within.

A crew upgrade in the form of a hidden saboteur perhaps?

I do agree that it is dificult to work out the in-game mechanic though.

Can't find it right now, but someone mentioned earlier sabotage from within.

A crew upgrade in the form of a hidden saboteur perhaps?

I do agree that it is dificult to work out the in-game mechanic though.

I believe this fits the "fluff" and flavor of the movies, other canon material, and even the EU stuff.

Yeah, the boarding actions in the video games were cool... But how many times did Star Wars characters find themselves in a position to run around inside an enemy ship wreaking havoc?

Saboteur : In game mechanic terms, make it a pricey upgrade. Totally off the top of my head, call it 12 points. Arguably, Rebel only. The Reb ship owning the upgrade spends either a Command Token or Disc to activate the Saboteur. They immediately resolve 1 Black Dice against one ship of their choice. Shields count as normal, but defensive tokens may not be used. (Intended to finish off a ship that is already badly mauled.)

Can't find it right now, but someone mentioned earlier sabotage from within.

A crew upgrade in the form of a hidden saboteur perhaps?

I do agree that it is dificult to work out the in-game mechanic though.

I believe this fits the "fluff" and flavor of the movies, other canon material, and even the EU stuff.

Yeah, the boarding actions in the video games were cool... But how many times did Star Wars characters find themselves in a position to run around inside an enemy ship wreaking havoc?

Saboteur : In game mechanic terms, make it a pricey upgrade. Totally off the top of my head, call it 12 points. Arguably, Rebel only. The Reb ship owning the upgrade spends either a Command Token or Disc to activate the Saboteur. They immediately resolve 1 Black Dice against one ship of their choice. Shields count as normal, but defensive tokens may not be used. (Intended to finish off a ship that is already badly mauled.)

Maybe not so pricey, but discard the saboteur after use?

It would make sense that the person wouldn´t be allowed to sabotage the ship for long.