I had picked up from forum threads that people considered the core box not quite enough for a proper game, so I made a mental allowance for that. What I did was buy the core set, a Gladiator, an extra Nebulon and the two squadron packs (1x Rebels, 1x Imperials). I figured that would give me everything I needed to play.

I haven't actually played it yet, but having now looked at the points for things and read in the book that a standard battle is 300 points, I'm already struggling to make up a 300 point fleet with what I have. I could spend even more money and get a couple more ships but then I'm getting more of what I already have because there isn't much out for it yet. Which means that when the later stuff comes out I will kind of have been forced to waste money by buying up the necessary points with not that much variety and then shelve it when I buy newer stuff, or forgo the newer stuff because I already have enough to play.

I can still afford to spend a little bit more on this, but I wish someone had warned me just HOW much you needed to actually play. I'm out by around £150 and I still don't think I have quite enough to play this properly. It's a beautiful game - both the rules and all the quality of the materials. But this is a LOT of money.

Why would you need to shelve it? Everything that's in the Core Set and Wave 1 will be playable later on.

Most people are picking a faction and sticking with it to save cash. I'm not because I hold a home game night for co-workers on Thursday nights and need enough to field 2 fleets in both factions and for demo purposes.

Try running a 180/200 point game. 1 Core set is more than enough to run one. Since you already own the core and a few parts of wave 1 you are set.

Most people are picking a faction and sticking with it to save cash. I'm not because I hold a home game night for co-workers on Thursday nights and need enough to field 2 fleets in both factions and for demo purposes.

Ditto. Even though I'm slowly getting other players into Armada, I'm still having to provide most of the ships. I also like having a variety of options.

wait, really?

you have a core set (Victory), a glad, and 1 imperial pack and you can't make 300 points?

Here, I'll help ya out

Victory - 1

*Skreeeeeeeeed

*veteran Captain

*flight controllers (victory expansion, but you can just proxy it)

*hangars

[113]

Gladiator - 1

*Wulf

*engine Techs (use wulf for Nav token spam to constantly enable)

*assault concussion missiles

*Demolisher

[88]

Howlie

4 Tie Fighters

2 Tie Interceptors

Rhymer

Bomber

[296 total]

alternatively,

2 Advance (not a bomber, but 75% of damage against capital ships; rhymer is not restricted to bombers)

Soontir

4 tie fighters

Rhymer

Bomber

[300 total]

I was beaten by a variation of this list (had 2 imp packs for howlie, 4 interceptors, rhymer and 2 bombers; chiraneau on Skreed & insidious instead of demolisher) using two space whales and 6 x-wings

I lost gallant haven and 6 x-wings against Skreed's flagship, 2 interceptors, and a bomber. **** is scary.

and you can easily go more capital ship heavy by scaling up to tarkin with Victory II and dominator or w.e; all sorts of things

point is, you don't need that much. what you have is perfectly sufficient

If you're looking to save money you could always limit yourself to one faction. Trying to buy multiples of all releases for all factions is definitely going to be pricey.

If that's not an option what you do have now is plenty (imperials) or close (rebels) to field some decently competitive and interesting lists:

For Example:

Imperials:

Vic II

Screed

Expanded Hangar bay

Gladiator II

Engine Techs

Assault Concussion Missiles

Demolisher

Soontir Fel

Howlrunner

Tie Fighter x 4

Tie Advanced x 2

293 pts.

You'd still be able to greatly customize this more to your liking too.

Rebels:

Neb-B Escort

Salvation

X17 Turbolasers

Intel Officer

Neb-B Escort

Yavaris

General Dodonna

CR90b

Dodonna's Pride

Tycho Celchu

Wedge Antilles

A-Wing

X-Wing x 2

B-wing x 2

This one could use a little more help (an Assault Frigate mkII or CR90 expansion would go a long way towards buffing your rebels) but should still be fun to run and offer some interesting options if pitted against the above imperial list.

Why would you need to shelve it? Everything that's in the Core Set and Wave 1 will be playable later on.

What I was getting at is assume I have a finite amount of cash (because I do. ). If I also need to buy stuff to get to 300 points then if I buy now, I'll have bought 300 points worth of very similar stuff. If I bought six months from now, I could have 300 points worth of more varied stuff. It all comes back to the finite money thing.

Most people are picking a faction and sticking with it to save cash. I'm not because I hold a home game night for co-workers on Thursday nights and need enough to field 2 fleets in both factions and for demo purposes.

Similar here. I'm the only one here who is playing this game right now, so it's not about building up my own army, but about building a complete game.

Try running a 180/200 point game. 1 Core set is more than enough to run one. Since you already own the core and a few parts of wave 1 you are set.

I'll start off with that. But the book says 300 is the standard, so I feel I really need to get up to that for a proper game.

Being a miniatures person to begin with. This one seems way cheaper than a lot of the others.

In comparison I've bought

3 Core Sets, 2 Victorys, 2 Assault Frigates, 3 Gladiators, 3 of each fighter pack, 1 Nebulon, 1 Corvette.

And I want more.

subpoenaduece and ficklegreendice - thanks for those suggestions. I'm not quoting just because the posts are so long but both are very helpful.

Yes, I think I can just about scrape together 300points per side now. I still feel a bit limited with what I have - I think I'm going to spend a little bit more and then hopefully I'm done. I'll be honest, if I knew how much this was going to cost at the start, I might have looked at a different game. However, this does look like a very good game which I'm looking forward to playing this weekend.

EDIT: If I'm very lucky, someone else will buy a Core set too. Do we know when Wave 2 will come out? I would prefer to spend the extra money on new ships rather than duplicate what I have if it's not too long to wait.

Well, rejoyce! In wave two, the standard will be 400 points, so you can buy another Corvette and an Assault Frigate for the Rebs as well as one more fighter pack for each without regret.

subpoenaduece and ficklegreendice - thanks for those suggestions. I'm not quoting just because the posts are so long but both are very helpful.

Yes, I think I can just about scrape together 300points per side now. I still feel a bit limited with what I have - I think I'm going to spend a little bit more and then hopefully I'm done. I'll be honest, if I knew how much this was going to cost at the start, I might have looked at a different game. However, this does look like a very good game which I'm looking forward to playing this weekend.

trust me, you'll feel far less limited on the table top

or I hope you do because I don't want to spend all day making nigh uncountable fleets out of the core set, glad expansion, and imp pack contents. I could, but I have work to pretend to do

Some people in my area plan to split fleets with a friend and buy a model every couple of weeks until they get competitive. If you demo/promote a LGS see if the owner can give you a small break on models if you buy exclusively from them. There are plenty of ways to get what you "need" for the game, it may be that you just need to determine what will suit your situation.

I'll start off with that. But the book says 300 is the standard, so I feel I really need to get up to that for a proper game.

That's just the tournament standard. You don't need to use that point value to have a balanced and enjoyable game.

But honestly, with 2 fighter packs you should have plenty for a 300 point imperial list. I don't have any fighter packs yet and I can put together a 300 point list with nothing more than the core set and a GSD.

Keep in mind that when Wave 2 comes out, the points go to 400 for tournaments. But there's not going to be a ton of new Imperial ships added, just the ISD and Raider. So picking up a extra VSD now is not going to mean you have a bunch of stuff sitting on a shelf because there's no room. for it.

Plus in games like Armada and X-Wing a lot of the fun is having a bunch of lists you can try out.

For example, lets say you have the core, VSD, GSD, 2 Fighters, ISD and 2 Raiders.

You could do 2 VSD,s and a ISD with some fighters. VSD, GSD, ISD with some fighters. ISD, 2 Raiders, lots of fighters. 2 Raiders, VSD GSD and some fighters. GSD, ISD, Raider and some to many fighters. There's all kinds of ways you can mix and match those ships together and each list is going to play slightly differently.

Same goes true for the rebel side, so don't worry about buying something you'll never use again especially when you get to 400 point games.

Why would you need to shelve it? Everything that's in the Core Set and Wave 1 will be playable later on.

What I was getting at is assume I have a finite amount of cash (because I do. ). If I also need to buy stuff to get to 300 points then if I buy now, I'll have bought 300 points worth of very similar stuff. If I bought six months from now, I could have 300 points worth of more varied stuff. It all comes back to the finite money thing.

Most people are picking a faction and sticking with it to save cash. I'm not because I hold a home game night for co-workers on Thursday nights and need enough to field 2 fleets in both factions and for demo purposes.

Similar here. I'm the only one here who is playing this game right now, so it's not about building up my own army, but about building a complete game.

Try running a 180/200 point game. 1 Core set is more than enough to run one. Since you already own the core and a few parts of wave 1 you are set.

I'll start off with that. But the book says 300 is the standard, so I feel I really need to get up to that for a proper game.

I don't think anyone here has a (near) limitless amount of money. FFG is going to put out more ships (Wave 2 is coming out July-ish), so you're always going to be in the situation where new stuff is coming out. I guess I'd just suggest that you buy only what you can afford, and slowly build up your ships as you can.

300 points is the current "standard", but it will go up to 400 once Wave 2 comes out. That's really more for tournament purposes, so if you're just playing casually, just play with what you can afford to.

Some people in my area plan to split fleets with a friend and buy a model every couple of weeks until they get competitive. If you demo/promote a LGS see if the owner can give you a small break on models if you buy exclusively from them. there are plenty of ways to get what you "need" for the game, it may be that you just need to determine what will suit your situation.

UK. We don't have FLGS. :/ And being British, they wouldn't be F if we had 'em.

I don't think anyone here has a (near) limitless amount of money. FFG is going to put out more ships (Wave 2 is coming out July-ish), so you're always going to be in the situation where new stuff is coming out. I guess I'd just suggest that you buy only what you can afford, and slowly build up your ships as you can.

300 points is the current "standard", but it will go up to 400 once Wave 2 comes out. That's really more for tournament purposes, so if you're just playing casually, just play with what you can afford to.

woah, Wave 2 in "July-ish!?"

I've barely broken out my Wave 1 stuff

woah, Wave 2 in "July-ish!?"

I've barely broken out my Wave 1 stuff

That's what our very own Deep Throat said, prior to his/her Wave 1 announcement I might add

well crap

I'm nowhere near used enough to my models for Wave 2 to hit that soon

might just build stuff outta what I have...or maybe get a third whale

Being a miniatures person to begin with. This one seems way cheaper than a lot of the others.

In comparison I've bought

3 Core Sets, 2 Victorys, 2 Assault Frigates, 3 Gladiators, 3 of each fighter pack, 1 Nebulon, 1 Corvette.

And I want more.

knasserII, thankfully objective bidding is important in this game so having 290ish points is perfectly acceptable.

As people have pointed out you have both fleets capable of getting to 290-300 points. Don't give up yet!

I bought multiples of everything, because I have more money than time or sense.

woah, Wave 2 in "July-ish!?"

That's what Newt said...

Of course every time Newt comes up I think of Monty Python...

"I got better."

Oh and to help put it in perspective a bit. Here's a few accessories for other games.

Flames of War 'range finder' which is basically a ruler with 1, 2, 4, 6 inch sides for quick measuring, that's $15. They also offer an artillery template that's a 6 inch square that's also $15.

You can go all the way up to the Devastating Bombardment template, that's a square foot plastic template that only costs $41.50 (More than a VSD I would like to point out.)

For Warhammer you can get a set of 3 templates 2 circles and a flamethrower for $13

Warmachine templates cost $10 for a set.

So while Armada and X-Wing can be expensive, you have to consider how much other games cost too.

To be honest, I'm more of a private gamer and collector anyways.

When I game I plan on doing it at 400 points. Sharing my fleets with my friends (because they have none) and just playing with the unlimited rounds rule set they have in the rules reference.

I'm not here to be competitive or play with many different opponents.

I do enough of that at work

I think it's inexpensive.

seeing some of the people splurge makes me feel better about my own purchases

I got 2 Nebs ( )

A corv

2 reb fighters

a fattie...and then another fattie at my LGS because I couldn't wait any more

and then a victory and 2 imp packs just in case some crazy bastard apart from me doesn't want to play with star destroyers all the time

also, ofc instead of being productive I went ahead to chart out a 400 point list

Yeesh, it's hard to fit in 3 fatties! But 2 fatties and an escort frigate, especially the yavaris alongside haven, now that's just interesting