...well, actually it is: 400 lets you build a myriad of interesting, competitive fleets. Perfect for league and tournament play.

With that out of the way, let's move on to the real issue:

How many points do you think is sufficient for some friendly, really epic FLEET battles?

I'm thinking like a core of 2-3 large ships, with several divisions of screening ships. A variety of upgrades. Plus a good number of squadrons of course.

As to no go completely overboard it should still fit on a 6x3 play area. And it should be possible to play it in a meaningful way in not too many rounds. Preferably 6, but not more than 8.

As little as 600? A 1000? Anyone have any experience with that kind of thing.

I did a 2 vs 2: 600 vs 600 points so far and it felt just right ... and there still was a bit room left.

So, 800 vs. 800 points should be quite right for intense fleet battles.

450 to 500 seems like a good spot. I like 400 but it still has a skirmish feel. Id like to do a game with 3 tables at 400pts each in a row like a mega battle and maybe 3 different scenarios. now thats epic.

I think a bigger issue is just how many ships the rules will support before getting painfully bogged down. Armada is a very granular game compared to others like Firestorm, Full Thrust and the like (though nowhere near the mentalness of thinks like Starfleet Command or, worse, B5 Wars).

We've played some decent sized games (600/800 a side) and it starts slowing down a fair bit, especially with all the fighters. Some of the "Historical Battles" i'm planning will be bigger than this, and thats why i'm strictly limiting upgrades etc.

My gut feel is that over 1000-1500 pts the game is going to REALLY start to crawl due to fighter swarms and endless activations. Some adjustments might have to be made, though i haven't given it much thought yet.

Have done a 450 points each game, allowed for great amounts of upgrades and big ships (i dispensed with squadrons... still not a fan). Agree with the above though, 400/450 didnt feel "epic" enough. Looking at a 650 next with at least 5/6 capital ships a side.

Somebody pull up the battle over endir

Count the ISDs

Tally the points

If brave, count the fighters

That's enough

As many ships as you and your mates own on the biggest table you can find :-)

Realistically though, I would start limiting upgrades at much over 600 pts for efficiency's sake.

The store i play at is talking doing a 4 player game with each bringing a 500 point fleet. So that should be between 6 to 7 capital ships on each side. And going basically a 1k point game with 2 players should reduce the planing.

If rebels go 1st it be rebal player 1, imp player 1, rebel player 2 and so on.

Somebody pull up the battle over endir

Count the ISDs

Tally the points

If brave, count the fighters

That's enough

Funny I was just looking at that yesterday.

33 ISD's it lists 9 unique I's and 8 Unique II's

You are looking at around 4000 points just in ISD's, without a commander squadrons or upgrades. Nor does that include any of the other Capital ships.

The store i play at is talking doing a 4 player game with each bringing a 500 point fleet. So that should be between 6 to 7 capital ships on each side. And going basically a 1k point game with 2 players should reduce the planing.

If rebels go 1st it be rebal player 1, imp player 1, rebel player 2 and so on.

You just need to play on a bigger table and play a bit longer game 8 turns. so the game does not look like two foot ball teams charging the line.

I dunno, have you guys tried putting together a 4 player game with each at 400?

Though if you're going to go over 400 points, for practicality's sake I'd suggest having a ship count at least. It's fine having more than that many points on the table but activations taking forever is not fun.

I think point limits are for tournament playing as things will be long.

No one but me and maybe one other HAS that many ships. . . . Mikael has 2 ISD's and about as much GSD's and VSD's as me and maybe the same amount of squadrons. . . maybe. . .

well, I was looking for an excuse to buy another gladiator and another guppy before wave 2 came out lol

Maybe enough points to run every Title out there and then at 150-200 points per player for Squadrons/Upgrades? (maybe a bit more for squadrons/upgrades to one team in case there is a big imbalance in number of titles between the two factions)

I don't believe it was mentioned (because it seems fairly obvious) but as fun as playing objectives for this would be, I would probably just bring it down to "Deathmatch" "Whoever kills more points in ships wins, tiebreaker is whoever kills more points in squadrons". Juggling objectives and their special rules not only takes time on its own but it would make planning take longer than just shooting at the ship you are most likely to harm and avoiding being shot.

When doing a 2 vs. 2 game do the effects that target friendly ships just target that individual players ships, or all friendly ships?

Is there only one Admiral between the two players on each side, or do they each have their own?

Do you use multiple objectives, one objective, or no objectives, to the death?

If I want to run one, what other things should I be looking at, to make it work?

I feel like the game could work just as well at 500 points. What I have really found to be stupid expensive are the Fleet Commanders. I wish there was a 5 point fleet commander that did absolutely nothing for your fleet. He would just fulfill the requirement to have a fleet commander.

I think a 2000pt game on a saturday would be fun 2 admirals with bubble pipes and pints battling

Bubble pipes?

I feel like this game will get bogged down at large scale. Doesn't really conduce well to epicness.

I've yet to play 400, but I can't imagine anything above 600 would be as smooth as it is now. 300 gets fuzzy with heavy fighters.

I've yet to play 400, but I can't imagine anything above 600 would be as smooth as it is now. 300 gets fuzzy with heavy fighters.

No 400 pointers under your belt... No Johnny Appleseed are you, hmmm?

Better get to it mang...you're missing out on alot of science.

I've yet to play 400, but I can't imagine anything above 600 would be as smooth as it is now. 300 gets fuzzy with heavy fighters.

No 400 pointers under your belt... No Johnny Appleseed are you, hmmm?

Better get to it mang...you're missing out on alot of science.

5x 400 point games 1x 500 point total team game

I've yet to play 400, but I can't imagine anything above 600 would be as smooth as it is now. 300 gets fuzzy with heavy fighters.

400 (even with everything being new) wasn't that bad. total: 6 ships, 11 squadrons.

I think wave 2 is going to discourage taking lots of small ships, as if you are in range an MC80 or ISD is too. Which means 8 dice incoming (or more), and most small ships melt when confronted by that. We'll see, but when a Glad goes poof in a single ISD forward shot, How do people think lighter ships will do? (A few small ships would be good, but they are going to need to maneuver very carefully. Neb B is actually the most survivable of the small ships, now, IMO. No redirects, but dual brace, so it's hard to knock out. It won't be feeling good, but it won't be dead.)

Asking how many points is enough in casual Armada is like chasing the horizon. It will always be a little more than how much you've already bought.