Hello FFG people's. I had a few questions about what I should know when buying Star Wars: Armada. I played a ton of X-Wing (on tabletop simulator , and decided that I wanted to have the real life experience with this type of game. I loved Warhammer, and am obsessed with Star Wars, so this seems like a good fit.

Armada is only $60 on Amazon, which means the extra 40 I had saved up can now go towards expansions. I have a friend who also will be buying the game soon, so we will often play together. However, I want to be able to function just with my own stuff when I play with my family.

So what expansions would you guys recommend?

PS: I love the Empire

Thanks!

I got the same question

I saved up enough dough for the Core set + 2 or 3 small expansions and plan to spend annually around 150 to increase my collection (Imperials/Rebels alike for casual play, I live in NL and the game isn't big here).

From what I've gathered getting 1 squadron pack of each would give some diversity in squadron selection.

My 'gut' feeling for spending the additional $ 40,- would be to buy something like the Gladiator for the imperials and see if you can find a good deal so you can squeeze in an additional corvette and Nebulon B.

Here's how I did wave 1:

Core box

Rebel Squadrons

Imperial squadrons

AF mk 2

Gladiator

(at this point, you can have balanced, fun 300 point games against each other)

VSD

Neb-B

CR90

(at this point, you have one of everything up to the end of wave 1, and can have very varied games and a few power combos)

Check out the strategy thread in my signature for combos/tactics for people who don't buy many ship boxes.

Funny as I had the same start with Armada. I play the game with my brother on a regular basis, but as he has bought in on so many other TTGs I have to invest into both factions. In my LGS however I favour imperials most of the time, so similar situation like OP.

I agree with Ingaric, the squadron packs add a lot of tiny fun stuff to your game for a comparatively little buy-in, and it also helps to make the squadron phase interesting. Just playing with the core set means the imperial will not have anything with bomber available, and the rebell will only bring the "jack of all trades, master of none"-X-Wing.. you will need both packs however, so there goes another 30,- on top of your core set and you are still missing on ships.

Next steps should then be more capitals, a Gladiator and an AFII have been a great addition to my collection as they somewhat counter the weaknesses their factions had in the core game. Glad is speedy and maneouverable, AFII is sturdy and punchy. They are both fun to play with a lot of good options, and few lists fly without at least one of them so you are not investing into outdated hardware.

Depending on the wave-2 arrival date, one could also wait and buy rogues&villains to bolster squadrons or invest into the ISD and MC80 for the most iconic ships available so far.. but those will kill your budget for sure. Then again, its almost end of the year so you could lend on next years budget.. and its almost christmas as well.

Funny as I had the same start with Armada. I play the game with my brother on a regular basis, but as he has bought in on so many other TTGs I have to invest into both factions. In my LGS however I favour imperials most of the time, so similar situation like OP.

I agree with Ingaric, the squadron packs add a lot of tiny fun stuff to your game for a comparatively little buy-in, and it also helps to make the squadron phase interesting. Just playing with the core set means the imperial will not have anything with bomber available, and the rebell will only bring the "jack of all trades, master of none"-X-Wing.. you will need both packs however, so there goes another 30,- on top of your core set and you are still missing on ships.

Next steps should then be more capitals, a Gladiator and an AFII have been a great addition to my collection as they somewhat counter the weaknesses their factions had in the core game. Glad is speedy and maneouverable, AFII is sturdy and punchy. They are both fun to play with a lot of good options, and few lists fly without at least one of them so you are not investing into outdated hardware.

Depending on the wave-2 arrival date, one could also wait and buy rogues&villains to bolster squadrons or invest into the ISD and MC80 for the most iconic ships available so far.. but those will kill your budget for sure. Then again, its almost end of the year so you could lend on next years budget.. and its almost christmas as well.

I have about 35 on hand, looks like I could pick up both fighter packs.

In future plans, would you recommend buying another base set, or the gladiator and AFII?

I think both purchases would be about the same price.

My buying formula is, (at retail)

3 if the exp cost 0-20

2 if the exp cost 20-40

1 if the exp cost 40-up

Unlike X-wing the core set is more costing then pricing out the models, dice and ruler. I would say you only need one core set. Having extra dice is a plus so factor them into your costs.

(I did buy the 4th fighter set for both though)

If you are buying on online the following tend to be cheaper then Amazon.com

http://www.miniaturemarket.com

http://www.rollforcrit.com

http://m.ebay.com/itm/390986220769

http://stores.ebay.com/The-Dancing-Peanut

I have gotten items from all of the guy and can say nothing but good stuff.

As a fellow warhammer star wars super fan convert this is how I approached it...

First off the amazon price is a great price so I would go for it on the core set. As for buying the expansions...I'd play a few games first before ordering any expansions just to get a feel for each side. If you decide you truly are an imperial buy one of each expansion. Saves a little bit of money up front. If you do want to get more than I would go for the ships rather the squadrons because honestly we are all playing this game to have big ships fight in an epic fight!

One thing to note is you have to have your own damage card deck to particpate in any local events. These decks are only found in the core set. My friend and I found that out the hard way, it was our first time doing a event for any miniatures game outside of 40k.

Here's how I did wave 1:

Core box

Rebel Squadrons

Imperial squadrons

AF mk 2

Gladiator

(at this point, you can have balanced, fun 300 point games against each other)

VSD

Neb-B

CR90

(at this point, you have one of everything up to the end of wave 1, and can have very varied games and a few power combos)

Check out the strategy thread in my signature for combos/tactics for people who don't buy many ship boxes.

I'd get a cr90 and Neb B instead of the AF.

Having 3 titles instead of 1 for the two ships you already own gives a bigger set of options, imo.

I'd also take a 2nd set of imperial fighters. The xwings from the core set are enough for most rebel fleets with just one extra pack, but the imps could really use the extra bombers and interceptors.

If you like the empire I would go with a core and gladiator expansion. Gladiator is a fun imperial ship to fly.

The thing to know about squadrons is that someone in your meta needs to own and use B-wings, Y-wings or TIE bombers in order to keep all ship lists honest. Or for casual you could make a gentlemens agreement to bring a certain amount of squadrons. The bombers (not including X-wings) are more point efficient than ships. This means the enemy should bring fighter squadrons to at least screen and delay your bombers.

But the fighter squadrons are not efficient as anti-ship weapons. So if there is no threat of bombers, then all ship lists will have their way with lists that bring too many fighters.

For the fun and to save a buck or two, I'ld go

1 TIE fighter pack

2 Gadiator

3 Victory/ another TIE pack

4 what ever you didn't get in 3

5 If you want 3 Victories, get a second box set, this will also get you more dice etc.... Or start picking up one of each Rebel product. Gives you a second fleet to play and all the upgrade cards.

6 Shoot more Bothans

Jet.com sells a few Armada items and with their $10 to $15 off the first order with free shipping you can get a really good deal on a starter. A few weeks ago they were running the $15 off special and with that you could get the Armada core for just under $44. I didn't need a core so I picked up a Vic and a Neb for $26 total. I was happy with the packaging and speed of delivery. If you haven't purchased yet I would recommend you check it out.