Greetings Admirals,

As a lowly X-Wing Pilot I am planning to dive in soon to the Armada arena. I already have an idea after searching and reading through the forums about what to purchase first, but I have this one question: Do the expansions in Armada work just like in X-Wing where if you were a player of a singular faction (Rebels only for example) would you benefit from buying the opposite faction's expansions because of included upgrades?

In other words, is it worth buying Imperial stuff if I want to start out the game with a focus on Rebels? I am not trying to troll or anything. I did not find this information with a quick search through the forums and figured this was the quickest way to get insight here. Thank you in (TIE) advanced.

Depends on what type of play you want to do. If you're doing ofccial FFG tournaments then yes, you can't use porxy cards, so if you want fhkse upgrade cards, you need buy them. If you are doing friendly or store league you might be able to use Proxy cards. I know my local league allows it for our instore league, but not the FFH store Championships, regional, nationals, of world.

It can help , that is for sure. There are some upgrades that are limited to one expansion or another....

For a list of Upgrade Cards and which Expansions they're in:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/181502-list-of-all-current-upgrade-cards/

For the most part you can stick to either faction only if you don't have teh money to spend on both sides. There are a few cards on each side that would be more useful for the other but it's not bad. As a Rebel player I don't need anything from the Imperials but I wouldn't mind a few of their cards

Yes because each ship comes with different upgrade cards much like X-wing. In fact think of it as the same model.

Something that helped me is the following when deciding what to buy,

If the exp pack is

0-20 buy 3

20-40 buy 2

40- up buy 1

So far the upgrade cards and such have worked out for me.

Yup. There many upgrade cards included in both rebel and imperial expansions that can be used for either side. It is actually my real only complaint (albeit a small one) that ffg doesnt have another way to purchase certain upgrade cards. Take their living card game structure for example. You buy one expansion and you have all the cards you could need. Obviously its a bit more complicated with miniature games that use cards, just wish they had a standalone upgrade card pack you could buy... rant done... ha

I play primarily Rebel and was able to pretty much outfit my fleet as I wanted without ever buying a VSD or GSD expansion. As I recall, Flight Controllers was the only card from the Imperial side I wished I had. I believe there are two such cards that work vice versa (XI7 turbolasers is one that is good for both but only available in a Rebel ship).

I believe Wave 2 is configured similarly, with only one or two cards unavailable to a given side. Wave 2 does retroactively make some opposing-side upgrades from Wave 1 good, though. Off the top of my head, Advanced Projectors for the Imps and Assault Concussion Missiles for the Rebels.

The thing is, so far there is no such thing as a mandatory upgrade, imo. Particularly if you're trying to overcome real world constraints like financial concerns, it's definitely possible to build competitive lists using only the cards available to your faction. Buying cross faction just gives you more options.

Thank you all for the answers. I want to start out playing Rebels and budget is limited to start, but I will eventually expand out. I just want to start with a direct focus and go from there. This is vastly different from my X-Wing mentality where I get at least one of everything, no matter what, and get multiples for upgrades or ships I want to use more of (or have the option to in the future).

I play primarily Rebel and was able to pretty much outfit my fleet as I wanted without ever buying a VSD or GSD expansion. As I recall, Flight Controllers was the only card from the Imperial side I wished I had. I believe there are two such cards that work vice versa (XI7 turbolasers is one that is good for both but only available in a Rebel ship).

I believe Wave 2 is configured similarly, with only one or two cards unavailable to a given side. Wave 2 does retroactively make some opposing-side upgrades from Wave 1 good, though. Off the top of my head, Advanced Projectors for the Imps and Assault Concussion Missiles for the Rebels.

The thing is, so far there is no such thing as a mandatory upgrade, imo. Particularly if you're trying to overcome real world constraints like financial concerns, it's definitely possible to build competitive lists using only the cards available to your faction. Buying cross faction just gives you more options.

Using that list of upgrades I only saw three upgrades that were not available if I went Rebel only to start...the Flight Controllers like you said, the Ion Cannon Batteries (not even sure if I need those) and the Expanded Launchers (same).

Because of the Wave 1 feel and the options being somewhat limited, I think I will be just fine with Rebels only. I am really interested in the AF Mark II. It seems like a really cool ship that I can get behind, so I might grab a few of those along with one of everything else. Thanks again everyone.

Hmmm I should make a video on a buying guide. . .

Just an FYI...this is a really helpful bunch and I don't think you'll find anyone giving you a hard time for something answered before...so need to apologize or think you look like a troll for asking questions.

Welcome aboard to the game! It'll take getting used to the shoot then move as opposed to move them shoot, but once you do, I think you'll find this game to be very fun.

Best thing I've found with armada is that unlike xwing (so far anyways) is that you don't need multiples of a ship that you won't use just for multiples of a card that is almost "must have"... There are many useful upgrade options and none so far that are clearly above and beyond other cards that you must buy X number of Y ship to be competitive due to upgrade cards.

It would be easier to have a partner who collects Imperials so you can just trade for the cards you like. Fortunately, expansions usually contain upgrades that synergizes well with the ships that they came with so there's really no need to buy into both factions.

I think you can build without buying the other factions ships. At least until you get a taste for what you are missing. It's been much better than X Wing is.

If you have a partner to go with, it's so much better. You can be competitive either way, but you may find yourself building against your ideal play style.

I play primarily Rebel and was able to pretty much outfit my fleet as I wanted without ever buying a VSD or GSD expansion. As I recall, Flight Controllers was the only card from the Imperial side I wished I had. I believe there are two such cards that work vice versa (XI7 turbolasers is one that is good for both but only available in a Rebel ship).

I believe Wave 2 is configured similarly, with only one or two cards unavailable to a given side. Wave 2 does retroactively make some opposing-side upgrades from Wave 1 good, though. Off the top of my head, Advanced Projectors for the Imps and Assault Concussion Missiles for the Rebels.

The thing is, so far there is no such thing as a mandatory upgrade, imo. Particularly if you're trying to overcome real world constraints like financial concerns, it's definitely possible to build competitive lists using only the cards available to your faction. Buying cross faction just gives you more options.

Using that list of upgrades I only saw three upgrades that were not available if I went Rebel only to start...the Flight Controllers like you said, the Ion Cannon Batteries (not even sure if I need those) and the Expanded Launchers (same).

Because of the Wave 1 feel and the options being somewhat limited, I think I will be just fine with Rebels only. I am really interested in the AF Mark II. It seems like a really cool ship that I can get behind, so I might grab a few of those along with one of everything else. Thanks again everyone.

If you use the Space whale honestly Gunnery team is gonna be more valuable than flight controllers.

Welcome by the way and enjoy the stay

For the moment, there is nothing quite like Autothrusters, where you buy the Starviper because otherwise your A-Wings and Interceptors are worthless. Assault Proton Torpedoes would be really nice on Gladiators, and you can only get them through MC30s...but it's not like the other option (Assault Concussion Missiles) is bad .

I play primarily Rebel and was able to pretty much outfit my fleet as I wanted without ever buying a VSD or GSD expansion. As I recall, Flight Controllers was the only card from the Imperial side I wished I had. I believe there are two such cards that work vice versa (XI7 turbolasers is one that is good for both but only available in a Rebel ship).

I believe Wave 2 is configured similarly, with only one or two cards unavailable to a given side. Wave 2 does retroactively make some opposing-side upgrades from Wave 1 good, though. Off the top of my head, Advanced Projectors for the Imps and Assault Concussion Missiles for the Rebels.

The thing is, so far there is no such thing as a mandatory upgrade, imo. Particularly if you're trying to overcome real world constraints like financial concerns, it's definitely possible to build competitive lists using only the cards available to your faction. Buying cross faction just gives you more options.

Using that list of upgrades I only saw three upgrades that were not available if I went Rebel only to start...the Flight Controllers like you said, the Ion Cannon Batteries (not even sure if I need those) and the Expanded Launchers (same).

Because of the Wave 1 feel and the options being somewhat limited, I think I will be just fine with Rebels only. I am really interested in the AF Mark II. It seems like a really cool ship that I can get behind, so I might grab a few of those along with one of everything else. Thanks again everyone.

If you're going with AF Mark II, see if you can trade for an Ackbar. Should't be hard if any Rebels in your area pick up 2 MC80s

Expanded launchers and ACMs are in the core set

I predominantly play imperial, but I have at least one of every expansion so far (except the AFII... but that will be remedied soon ). If you don't want to purchase more than your preferred faction, you can find many of the upgrade cards on sale through other vendors online (marked up, of course), and there's also a trade thread on this forum, too, where people are looking to get rid of some excess cards. Haven't seen any negative feedback yet on that trade thread, seems like the Armada community is pretty stand-up.

Again, thank you all for being helpful and friendly! I will eventually expand out into the imperial side, but I wanted to start with the focus of Rebels and go from there. My play time for games is limited with full time work + school + children, as I am sure it is with many of you.

Hmmm I should make a video on a buying guide. . .

Excellent idea! I was searching around the last few days for such a guide on youtube for a buying guide or getting started guide....but all I really saw was unboxings or batreps... Unboxings are neat to see what you get, but the people opening them are just as inexperienced as I am it seems like for knowing what truly goes well with something or to try and speak to any type of helpful strategy. A simple list of potential builds you can achieve with core + expac X Y or Z would be really helpful.

The core rulebook says the standard is 300 points, but it just got boosted to 400 if I am not mistaken. Is it going to go up further with or after Wave II or is 400 the target? Still trying to catch up a little bit with the Armada news. It also looks like Wave II will hit later this month. Looks like less Lego this year for Christmas and more Armada!

400 is the going to be the limit

The reason why I chose Armada and not X-wing was when I went to the game store, most the X-wing players had 100 points of each ship (more or less) 'just in case' and were towing them around in a large plastic box so they could prepare a hard counter to the favoured tactics of whomever they were drawn to play against. This, apparently, is how 'friendly' games go.

The armada players had armies that were all transported in the game's core box, had a selection of different ships on the board and were laughing while they payed.

While I don't want to encourage anyone to join the Rebellion*, I'll chime in with the others. Sure, there are a few cards here or there that you'll miss by staying loyal to one faction in your purchasing. I only buy Imperial, and - just like X-Wing, I'll mention - I trust that any card that's only in Rebel expansions now, will eventually come out in an Imperial expansion at some point in a following wave.

The reason why I chose Armada and not X-wing was when I went to the game store, most the X-wing players had 100 points of each ship (more or less) 'just in case' and were towing them around in a large plastic box so they could prepare a hard counter to the favoured tactics of whomever they were drawn to play against. This, apparently, is how 'friendly' games go.

I'm not sure how that is. At tournaments, you bring your list and have to stick with that list for the duration. Those people (I've never noticed them) who scout out and then build, are probably just n00bs, who don't know what other people fly from expensive experience. I wouldn't worry about them.

Now, there was a guy I played against in an ad hoc game once. I had arrived ahead of time and set up my stuff, just keeping my actual build out of sight. I put out a few conspicuous cloak tokens that I happened to have, among the other neatly arranged tokens and movement templates. The guy totally fell for it: built against the TIE Phantom, and got clobbered by TIE Bombers slinging ordnance. Much fun.

But I'm glad you're playing Armada.

* Actually, I do - so that I can crush them!

Greetings Admirals,

As a lowly X-Wing Pilot I am planning to dive in soon to the Armada arena. I already have an idea after searching and reading through the forums about what to purchase first, but I have this one question: Do the expansions in Armada work just like in X-Wing where if you were a player of a singular faction (Rebels only for example) would you benefit from buying the opposite faction's expansions because of included upgrades?

In other words, is it worth buying Imperial stuff if I want to start out the game with a focus on Rebels? I am not trying to troll or anything. I did not find this information with a quick search through the forums and figured this was the quickest way to get insight here. Thank you in (TIE) advanced.

Hm, in my opinion this question is highly decided on the way you plan to play armada.

-> Care to play on official tournaments or in bigger game stores with strict enforcement of the "you have to own each upgrade card" -rule?

[_] If your answer is yes, you will need an official upgrade card for each upgrade you would like to bring. In case you know already which ships/upgrades you will play for sure, check if they are available in bundles or if some LGS is giving rebate if you buy everything with them. For upgrade cards alone, consider ebay!

[_] If your answer is no, chances are your local gaming community will accept proxy'd upgrade cards if they are well made and if you are not going overboard with it. Your shopping plan should orientate along which models you want, not which upgrade cards each carton holds. Again, separate parts of the core game or certain other models are available on ebay, so have a look!

With either answer, enjoy your gaming experience!

[_] If your answer is yes, you will need an official upgrade card for each upgrade you would like to bring. In case you know already which ships/upgrades you will play for sure, check if they are available in bundles or if some LGS is giving rebate if you buy everything with them. For upgrade cards alone, consider ebay!

I don't go to any tournaments that allow proxied cards.

I don't buy any Rebel ships.

I still win most of the tournaments I attend.

I am not an Armada god.

Having the best build is not a guarantee in winning this game. Having a suboptimal build is not a foregone failure. There's a lot more to this game that the ships and cards you bring to the table.

So, I don't think it's useful to imply to the OP that if he doesn't have certain cards that he shouldn't go to no-proxy tournaments. He should totally go to standard tournaments, because they're fun to play in.

The first few he goes to, he's going to get his rear kicked, but not having the right cards is not going to have anything to do with it. It's going to happen because he's new. Since he's probably going to have his rear kicked, he should just bring his funky rebel build and go down in flames with it. Wash, rinse, repeat until he gets better.

Besides, until he has a good number of games under his belt, he's not going to know what's good anyway.