Question about pregame, setup, and information available to players

By Gibarian, in Star Wars: Armada Rules Questions

I'm just wondering how much of the opponent's fleet information a player is entitled to see before the 1st/2nd player decision is made.

Full, unfettered observation of an opponent's fleet and objectives?

Comparing Armada to X-Wing (not always a good idea, but tempting nonetheless) that would seem to be the case. The player with the lower fleet total would be allowed to look at their opponent's list, and, more importantly, their selected objectives before deciding who they want to be 1st/2nd and which set of objectives to use.

Super-strict RAW reading, I'm not quite sure what happens. Each player lays out their fleet components on their side of the table, but there's no comment on whether or not a player can wander around to the other side and peruse their opposition in-depth. Permission to read objectives isn't explicitly given until after the 1st/2nd player decision has already been made. But it seems like a bizarro-world interpretation to prohibit players from moving around, bending in for a closer look, busting out a set of opera glasses, etc.

The only reason I'm wondering is that the lenient/common-sense interpretation makes an initiative bid even more powerful than I'd already thought it was. Previously, I'd assumed that the deciding player still had to undertake a bit of a gamble, deciding 1st/2nd and possible objective outcomes blind. But if they get to consider all six potential objectives before deciding whose set gets used, that's even more of an upside to bidding below your fleet limit.

"1. Each player places his or her fleet outside of the play

area next to their assigned player edge. Both players

reveal all ships, squadrons, and upgrade cards in their

fleets. Players do not reveal their objective cards."

That is from the Tournament Rules, the RRG says essentially the same thing but is less explicit.

Once your opponents fleet is revealed to you, it is open information. Your opponents objectives are not revealed.

Edited by ScottieATF

Awesome, thank you. I really need to read the tourney pack. Only played casual games so far, but tomorrow is the first local event and I ought to be prepared.