......that is the question.

My Star Wars journey has begun with the X-Wing miniatures game. I'm not disappointed, in fact I feel I made a good choice. Really feels like dogfighting in a galaxy far far away. Originally my intention was to buy the starter set of each game, with Armada being next followed by Imperial Assault.

Such was my enjoyment of X-Wing that I got a couple more expansions, completely forgetting the original plan.

Now I find myself with enough money in the bank to buy the Armada starter set, but I'm hesitating as I also want to continue getting expansions for X-Wing.

So here I am on the Armada forum with the hopes of being convinced to take the leap and get into this game.

Already I've read some good reviews.

Just like X-Wing has captured the feel of starfighters dogfighting, I've read that Armada has captured the feel of massive mighty starships lumbering through space while pounding each other.

I've also read that this is less bookkeeping than X-Wing. At the moment all the cards, tokens, movement dials, range marker etc aren't too much of a problem. When games get bigger, I can imagine it'll get a bit irritating. Apparently Armada is much better and has less of all that.

You the players can confirm or deny those reviews.

One last point:

IMPERIAL STAR DESTROYERS!

What say you on whether or not I should get into Armada as my in next buy?

This is the wrong forum!

Sorry all

Now I find myself with enough money in the bank to buy the Armada starter set, but I'm hesitating as I also want to continue getting expansions for X-Wing.

So here I am on the Armada forum with the hopes of being convinced to take the leap and get into this game.

You're in the Imperial Assault forums ;-p

Unless you want to convince me to get Imperial Assault first

I own both Armada & Imperial Assault. They are both great games worth exploring.

If I had to choose 1, I would pick IA.

Don't get me wrong; Armada is a great game. It is very much a more advanced version of X-Wing. It's a meatier game that I've heard is the Chess to X-Wing's checkers. Unfortunately the core is little more than a starter set, and it really requires Wave 1 to be a complete experience. It is also being said that it really needs Wave 2 to fully shine, but Wave 2 has been pushed back with no solid release date in sight.

IA on the other hand is a complete game right from the core. It is 2 complete games to be precise. The Campaign is a great Star Wars RPG in bite-size form. The Skirmish I've heard is a lot like battlefront, as you compete to win the field. The expansions just make it better, with the much anticipated Twin Shadows arriving any day now.

Armada offers a more complex version of X-Wing gameplay. IA provides a totally new experience and would broaden your collection. My suggestion would be to go with IA

OK, I found Arnie funny at first but now he's getting on my nerves. Suppose I deserve that for posting a topic in the wrong forum.

Dumb dumb knucklehead!

But

I do appreciate not being flayed alive.

Thank you admiralcrunch

Frankly, Wave 2 is what I'm after for Armada since that has the ISD. It is a little disappointing that the release is pushed back. I've just watched a video which looks like it might replace X-Wing for anything bigger than a 150 point squadron clash. But that suits me fine. Still I want to know I can buy ISDs, preferably before I'm old and decrepit.

With Imperial Assault I've no such expectations, except for Stormtroopers which I believe are available now. It'll also blend in well with games of X-Wing, where my YTs drop off a team at an Empire base. The characters fight it out in IA by before having to dodge Ties back in X-Wing.

The only reason I was saving IA until last was because the starter was the more expensive.

OK, I found Arnie funny at first but now he's getting on my nerves. Suppose I deserve that for posting a topic in the wrong forum.

If a good-natured troll post is the worst that happens when you make a mistake on the Internet, I'd say it was a good day.

Now for a real post;

So one of the things I'm noticing in Armada is that squadrons can actually be overlooked altogether in favour of a high-activation ship list that can blitz your opponent in the first couple of turns.

Basically in Armada, you can put up to 1/3 of your total points into squadrons. So right now in a 300pt match, that's 100pts of squadrons (if you want) and 200pts for ships.

Regardless of all other victory conditions after the 6 game rounds are up, if you wipe out your opponents ships (meaning capital ships, not squadrons), then you win. By having a high activation list (a lot of low-cost ships), you have the advantage of sitting there while your opponent's low-ship-count commits to movement, then the rest of your list can go in and hammer it.

Going 300pts in ships vs 200pts in ships in a match gives you a decent shot at going for the tabling victory if you can go all in. That's why a Screed/Gladiator list can forgo squadrons; the missiles they take do a lot of free direct damage that can overwhelm a ship in one round of shooting.

In a casual setting I don't see this as much, but I've noticed it creeping into the tournament meta, which has kept me out in favour of Imperial Assault currently, as I feel we lose a bit of "Star Warsy" theme by making squadrons optional, and possibly a liability. Maybe something in Wave 2 will change this, like the pass rule that the new Imperial Assault FAQ has.

Food for though at any rate. I'm not saying don't get Armada, just be fore-armed.

Unless you want to convince me to get Imperial Assault first

I do!

OK, I found Arnie funny at first but now he's getting on my nerves. Suppose I deserve that for posting a topic in the wrong forum.

If a good-natured troll post is the worst that happens when you make a mistake on the Internet, I'd say it was a good day.

All I can say is if that was a troll post you're my kind of friendly troll. Was funny....at first.

Squadrons won't be overlooked by me.

As a Rebel I'd have lots of Nebulon-Bs and CR-90s with an Assault Frigate or two and maybe Home One. Plus lots of squadrons. With Empire I'd have ISDs and launch Tie swarms. So it looks like I'll have the best of both. Though obviously I could change once I know the game and rules.

I'm not a power gamer, I'm a narrative gamer. I'll also be collecting what I want then work out points later. Probably get Empire first since I'd like the ISD Trilogy.

Thanks for the reply

Armada felt too much like X-Wing but didn't have the same excitemet for me when playing it. Because it had so much in common with X-Wing it left me feeling disappointed. IA on the other hand is a completely different game so I dodn't bring as much baggage to the game. I love playing turn based tactical squad combat video games like X-Com, Wasteland 2, or Card Hunter and IA really manages to translate those to a board game.

Armada felt too much like X-Wing but didn't have the same excitemet for me when playing it. Because it had so much in common with X-Wing it left me feeling disappointed. IA on the other hand is a completely different game so I dodn't bring as much baggage to the game. I love playing turn based tactical squad combat video games like X-Com, Wasteland 2, or Card Hunter and IA really manages to translate those to a board game.

When I played Armada a few times it just had no excitement. IA and X-Wing are loaded with tense and exciting moments where Armada is more thoughtful and pensive but nothing is particularly surprising.

The price for the core set of Imperial Assault is WAY cheaper than when it first came out. I would recommend at least getting a core on Amazon or eBay, you won't regret it. There's SO MUCH in the core set, it's really a good deal.

Armada looks like a great game, and I'll probably get it in a year or two.

IA core and Armada core were the same price when I bought them and you don't need any expansions for IA to play the full game (in campaign, but you're a narrative gamer, so I assume that's the preference). You *can* buy 1 of each of the expansions for IA, but it's not required as the figures just replace tokens included in the core. Armada requires more purchases that are more expensive to even get up to the recommendations for 300 point games that it was designed for.

Armada requires more purchases that are more expensive to even get up to the recommendations for 300 point games that it was designed for.

Armada was designed for 400 point games and will move to that once Wave 2 launches.