Let's say I wanted to get into Armada and play a standard size game.

Is that 300 points? How much money is that, on average?

Let's say you were told to go out and buy '300 points of one faction, including core rules'. How would you go about it?

Right now I believe I need a core set, two packs of fighters and one of each ship for at least one faction. That's slightly short of 300 still and probably more short on the rebel side?

Do I need to get both factions to pickup upgrade cards for the other faction?

You can easily hit 300 on the Imperial Side with a Core Set and a VSD... Throw in the Squadrons if you really want. I mean, that's what I'm looking at with my Fleet Build at the moment...

Getting one of everything certainly increases your BREADTH of Upgrade Cards that you can pass between factions...

Is it absolutely Necessary? No. No it is not. You can pick and choose a fair bit to get more... The Rebel Side is a bit more in Ships, because their ships are (generally) Cheaper in points... But their Fighters are a little more expensive in some cases, so you get a bit more mileage out of their Squadron Box...

If I was going to go cheapest and only wanted 1 faction, i would do this:

Buy the Core Box

Sell the Rebel stuff

Buy 1 additional VSD

Buy 1 pack of Imp fighters

Sorted.

There are even cheaper ways, but it requires a bit more effort.

- Buy rules, rulers, dice and tokens from eBay/parts stores

- Buy 2 VSDs and a pack of fighters

Might not even be much cheaper though, depending on what you can sell the Rebs for,

In the UK right now i can see VSDs for £21, fighter packs for around £13ish, and £57 for cores (just a very quick look, no effort in finding lower).

Say you get £20 for the Rebels, that is a grand total of £71, and gives you over 300pts, all the rules, rulers tokens and cards.

I have two rebel parts of the core set plus a white whale and one fighters pack and I must have more than 400 points..

At MSRP:

Core set: $100

Imperials:

Gladiator Star Destroyer; $30

2 Fighter Packs; 4th

Victory Star Destroyer (optional); $40

Rebels:

Assault Frigate; $40

2 Fighter Packs; $40

Nebulon-B (optional but a great buy); $20

CR90 (also optional but still a great buy) ; $20.

I have 1 of everything Wave 1 and 2 cores and I can hit 600 points each side

The cost for 300 points of a single faction is about the same for both factions. All prices are MSRP, you can get them cheaper online, but not everyone likes to shop online and would rather buy from the LGS.

Either faction will cost you between $140 and $150. Getting either a VSD ($50) or Assault Frigate ($40), plus the core set ($100) will give you enough stuff for a 300 point list.

I'm not going to add to this...nothing more can be added that someone hasn't already mentioned.

Depends on how many friends you have and how you want to play.

If you are "on the fence" about Armada and not sure if you want to commit, find a friend that has the core set and ask for a demo game. Do note that a demo game is not 300 points and because of that, some synergies that work at 300 points simply cannot exist in a 180-point game. If possible, do a 180-point demo game just to get a grasp of the rules and then do a couple of 300-points games.

For casual play, I would say you only really need one core set (or someone with one core set) plus whatever ships or squadrons you want to fly with. I say one core set because you can pass the range ruler and maneuver tool around and since it's casual play, I'd split the damage deck in half.... unless you're playing with a CR90 swarm on both sides, it's unlikely you'll need even a third of the full damage deck.

One thing you have to remember is that things can get expensive (points-wise) really quickly. Sure a ship may not cost much and a couple of no-name squadrons are cheap, but once you add in your commander plus upgrades plus named squadrons, you might find that you're over the 300-point limit!


If you are committed to playing Armada on a budget but want to join tournaments, then a core set is a must. Unless you are flying with minimal or no-named squadrons, then the Squadron pack of your chosen side is a good start. With the core set and the upgraded squadrons, you can get a good feel of how you want to play. I would suggest going onto sites such as Fab's Fleet Generator, look at what you get with a particular expansion pack, and then decide from there.

Always remember though --- for casual play, you might be able to get by with proxies or by borrowing cards from other players. Check with your TO, game buddies, or gaming group to see if they allow this.

Pro Tip: A few months or years down the line, it's wise to never tally up how much you've spent on hobbies such as X-Wing or Armada....

Heh. So far, I've spent nothing, as my full Core+Wave1 has been funded by Trades

Trouble is, Armada will start to really take off, when the big ones are out. By then, both sides will have more choice. Having access to all three sizes of ships will make a difference.

Let's say I wanted to get into Armada and play a standard size game.

Is that 300 points? How much money is that, on average?

Let's say you were told to go out and buy '300 points of one faction, including core rules'. How would you go about it?

Right now I believe I need a core set, two packs of fighters and one of each ship for at least one faction. That's slightly short of 300 still and probably more short on the rebel side?

Do I need to get both factions to pickup upgrade cards for the other faction?

1 Core set

1 victory star destroyer expansion

1 gladiator expansion

2 imperial fighter squadron expansions

$151.45 before shipping

As for 300 points, this will get you way beyond 300 points between ships and squadrons.

I have a related question:

I'm not looking to have every possible combination of ships, but what is a good number of each wave 1 expansion to have to get a good amount of options?

Assume 1 core box.

Again, this depends how you define "options" which really boils down to how you want to play. At the very least, you'd want one of each expansion so that you know what your options are, then buy more of each particular expansion you are using or want to expand on.

It's useless recommending buying the squadron pack if you fly mostly ships, for example.... but you might want to buy at least one squadron pack, have a few games with the squadrons included, THEN decide if squadron play is for you.

Again, this depends how you define "options" which really boils down to how you want to play. At the very least, you'd want one of each expansion so that you know what your options are, then buy more of each particular expansion you are using or want to expand on.

It's useless recommending buying the squadron pack if you fly mostly ships, for example.... but you might want to buy at least one squadron pack, have a few games with the squadrons included, THEN decide if squadron play is for you.

I may have picked a poor topic to hijack. I'm not searching for the cheapest solution to get a fleet.

I assume at least 1 of every expansion because you'd at least have every option available. But what are pretty common numbers of ships you see used in matches? I see people mention vette swarms similar to tie swarms in x-wing. I'm fine with that as long as it's reasonable it would be used. I just don't want to end up with the equivalent of 6 HWK's because it's feasible to use but nobody ever would?

Thanks

I've heard of the 'Vette swarm, but I've never seen it... Honestly, I've never seen more than 3 of any one thing at a time - and that was Gladiators in an All-Gladiator list...

That may change come 400pts, but for the moment... That's my Anecdotal.

So, 3 gladiators... That's a start.

Let's say I wanted to get into Armada and play a standard size game.

Is that 300 points? How much money is that, on average?

Let's say you were told to go out and buy '300 points of one faction, including core rules'. How would you go about it?

Right now I believe I need a core set, two packs of fighters and one of each ship for at least one faction. That's slightly short of 300 still and probably more short on the rebel side?

Do I need to get both factions to pickup upgrade cards for the other faction?

That is WELL over 300 points.

(CORE) VSD 1: 73 points

(EXP) VSD 1: 73 points

(EXP) GSD 1: 56 points

10 TIE Fighters: 80 points

4 TIE Bombers: 36 points

4 TIE Advanced: 48 points

4 TIE Interceptors: 44 points

Total points: 410

No upgrades and that is Wave 1 and Core for Imperials.

(CORE) Nebulon-B Support Firgate: 51 points

(CORE) CR90 B: 39 points

(EXP) Nebulon-B Support Firgate: 51 points

(EXP) CR90 B: 39 points

(EXP) Assault Frigate MKii B: 72 points

8 X-Wings: 104 points

4 A-Wings: 44 points

4 Y-Wings: 40 points

4 B-Wings: 56 points

Total Points: 496

Rebels have over 80 points more from their sets.

No issues having enough points for even a 400 point game on each side.

I've had the pleasure of fighting against a CR90 swarm. I think it was 6 or 7 ships with Mon Motha and that was it. It was like being buzzed with flies.

Do you WANT to fly a 'Vette swarm? If the answer is yes, then buy what you need.

Its going to be around $200+ to get 2 standard faction sets in Armada.

Core Set $100 (though there are many places where you can get it for $80)

1 big expansion (medium ship) or 2 small expansions (small ship) $40 for each faction.

1 fighter pack expansion $20 for each faction.

I have said this before but the cost of entry is more than X-wing where $120 can get you 2 standard playable lists for 2 different factions. However compared to other miniature games it is about slightly less than average cost.

Let me add this thought if your supplying Ships for others to play with it's nice to have 2 sets of dice per player. My two cents at this point are,

4 ships that retail 00.00 - 19.99

3 ships that retail 20.00 - 39.99

2 ships that retail 40.00 and up

Seeing the game is going to 400 points in a couple of months all of those options are viable for ships, (also at 300 you are a little thiner on upgrades to ships but this idea works well) Especially Squads I do see that your buying to core sets so that's less ships your going to want to pick up, if it's cheaper buy the VSD cards from the exp online you really don't want to miss out on them. Buying 2 more Cr-90s and Nebs will give you enough upgrade cards but you still might want to search ebay.