Just checking... Anyone have any favorite house rules?

Our big one is super simple, but I think should have been included as an original rule, without question...

Rather than a MAX of one third of points be spent on squadrons, we require a MIN of one third. We are all huge Star Wars fans, and can't understand how you can have a vast Star Wars space ship battle without clouds of TIE fighters and X Wings zipping around.

What about everyone else? Any good ones?

Shield dials don't count for measurement - only the rectangular base. </troll>

My Gaming Group doesn't have any house rules...

... We adhere to Tournament Rules, although we're often fairly lax on timing outside of an actual tournament... We experiment with all different types of lists, and rarely play the same thing twice, so even if we completely demolish our opponents, it'll be different even if we rematch right away.

Armada, to us, is too young and too well balanced to need that House Rule kick in the pants. But I am interesting to see what suggestions come.

House rules are for GW games.

Just checking... Anyone have any favorite house rules?

Our big one is super simple, but I think should have been included as an original rule, without question...

Rather than a MAX of one third of points be spent on squadrons, we require a MIN of one third. We are all huge Star Wars fans, and can't understand how you can have a vast Star Wars space ship battle without clouds of TIE fighters and X Wings zipping around.

What about everyone else? Any good ones?

I really dislike tournament play. I want to play Star Wars for the sake of Star Wars. That means having swarms of fighters that are determining the course of an epic battle in which the rebellion is vastly outnumbered. With that in mind, we often play games at unbalanced point levels and I absolutely LOVE this house rule:

http://dockingbay416.com/ideas-to-fix-the-squadron-problem-in-star-wars-armada/

Fighters can move and shoot during the squadron phase but at 1/2 their normal move. So a B-wing can go 1. A Y-Wing 2. A Tie Bomber 2.

My Gaming Group doesn't have any house rules...

... We adhere to Tournament Rules, although we're often fairly lax on timing outside of an actual tournament... We experiment with all different types of lists, and rarely play the same thing twice, so even if we completely demolish our opponents, it'll be different even if we rematch right away.

Armada, to us, is too young and too well balanced to need that House Rule kick in the pants. But I am interesting to see what suggestions come.

This is what me, my buddy, and my cousin do. We're kind of our own subset because we mostly play with each other outside of local tournaments. Working overnights really bites into my chances to go to the weekly game nights. :/

Aside from using DA's custom cards and Mel's custom ships, we use the flagship rule for battles over 800 points.

Only your flagship can have more than one upgrade.

NONE

I always win.

cant think of any reason to have any other house rules

yeah. not like xwing where ive wanted house rules. armada... doing well.

DerErlkoenig and I play a variant called Don't Drop the Baby. If it isn't your activation, you are holding the baby. If you drop the baby each of your ships takes one face up damage card. The secret is to grease up the baby before you pass it over.

My favorite house rule is to not use house rules...

Fighters can move and shoot during the squadron phase but at 1/2 their normal move. So a B-wing can go 1. A Y-Wing 2. A Tie Bomber 2.

I want to say one thing...

Play as you want , have fun , go to bed at night happy with a STAR WARS FEELING that keep you smiling.

Happy saturday to all of us star wars geeks :-)

DerErlkoenig and I play a variant called Don't Drop the Baby. If it isn't your activation, you are holding the baby. If you drop the baby each of your ships takes one face up damage card. The secret is to grease up the baby before you pass it over.

**** it, that's why she seems so slippery after I take my turn!

I thought she was just pounding hamburgers and milkshakes.

#parentingWin

#hashtagsDon'tWorkOnForums

#hashtagsAreStupidAnyway

#longLiveTheEmpire

Let the Wookie Win

boarding actions still working on this one, fighters in the bays if you want, very useful for B wings. and mission is everything (no points for killing ships or fighters)

Back in Wave I, we played a house rule of 400 point fleets, because 300 just didn't feel epic enough. Now that Wave II is out, we've talked about upping it to 500 for casual play. It's amazing what an additional 100 points can do for the scale of the game.

That said, as I've mentioned before, I'm not adverse to standard/tournament play rules. But I agree with many others here that, for my play group at least, thematic enjoyment is just as important a part of gameplay to us as the technical aspects of the game, so we've appreciated seeing some of the cool story missions/scenarios to come out on the forums.

None. (I may just repeat this in a few days. . . Hmmm)

This time I will give you why.

This game has amazing balance, fantastic depth, and a unique style of play that requires all of its rules to remain intact.

When you start messing with the rules in any way, this balance is thrown off. On top of that, any new player you add in to your group now only knows and learns to play with your new game (because it is no longer Star Wars Armada. It is your version of a game, like Attack Wing is to X-Wing). New players who grow into your version of this game are now in an up hill battle to play competitively if they so choose so or go somewhere else to play. All for the sake of the rules creator to play at his version of what he thinks the game lacks.

Personally, I think people who add house rules that change rules have not played the game enough or put Armada through its paces.

I'm with the other naysayers here. No House Rules.

I'm trying to build an Armada community and not just a small group of friends who like to play a game in their own idiosyncratic way.

But, I don't think that means that we can't have special games with special rules in order to play out a certain scenario. That, or incorporate things like DiabloAzul 's rules for special ships that have not been released.

(I just picked up a model for the Immobilizer from the old WotC game - it's close to being in scale - and it's about a third of the price from Mel's FUD version - and so I'm looking to do a game involving it soon, using DA's rules and stats for it.)

None. (I may just repeat this in a few days. . . Hmmm)

This time I will give you why.

This game has amazing balance, fantastic depth, and a unique style of play that requires all of its rules to remain intact.

When you start messing with the rules in any way, this balance is thrown off. On top of that, any new player you add in to your group now only knows and learns to play with your new game (because it is no longer Star Wars Armada. It is your version of a game, like Attack Wing is to X-Wing). New players who grow into your version of this game are now in an up hill battle to play competitively if they so choose so or go somewhere else to play. All for the sake of the rules creator to play at his version of what he thinks the game lacks.

Personally, I think people who add house rules that change rules have not played the game enough or put Armada through its paces.

I understand what you mean, and I disagree.

Yes, if you play in a tournament, play by the rules.

Yes, if you are teaching a new player, use the rules as written. You're not there to confuse anyone.

If you are building a community and a regular game night, then it will make things much clearer if you play by the rules.

My group of friends and I rarely play tournaments. The biggest rules that we change have to do with the squadrons, because using squadrons, even unique ones, doesn't really feel like squadrons in the movies. Granted, you can play X-Wing to get much closer to that feel (which we also house rule/use the Heroes of the Aturi Cluster ruleset, which you should check out here ).

The point is to have fun, and if everyone around is up for something a little different, even an unbalanced *gasp* match in which the underdog needs to rise up through force of will and a healthy dose of dumb luck, then where is the problem? After all, the rules are meant to be broken.

Yeah, as a veteran gamer who has served as a play tester for major published games and who has designed games myself, as well as having gamed for 35 years or so, I appreciate how great Armada is but I also feel I have a decent understanding of how to implement rule changes that A) do not unbalance the game while still B) improving the game.

For example, the "min of 1/3 points on squadrons, rather than max" house rule A) applies to all sides equally and does not unbalance the game towards one player or one faction or one strategy while B) actually ensuring that the ships we know best from Star Wars (X-Wings, TIE Fighters, TIE bombers, B-Wings, A-Wings, TIE Interceptors, Y-Wings, TIE Advanced, and a host of heroes) are far more represented on the field. The idea of a game with only a few squadrons (or even NONE AT ALL) per side seems like A) it is minimizing a key aspect of the game because of a wrinkle in how the scoring/win system deals with ships vs squadrons while more importantly B) not capturing the feel of a Star Wars space battle.

I think a good house rule can really tweak a game to more accurately be the game that YOU want.

And btw, I do have to add... games designers are not only looking for the most awesome game experience possible when making a game; they are often taking other considerations (for example, average anticipated game time, average anticipated experience of gamers... even production costs) into... well, consideration when designing a game. Just because a mass produced game was produced does NOT mean it is an ideal and perfect system for a particular group of gamers, ESPECIALLY when you get to a veteran group who might not have some of the shortcomings of the "average" expected player of the game.

After all, the rules are meant to be broken.

No. They're meant to be followed so you can preserve the game experience as intended by the developers.

But yes, you can do whatever you want with your models and your group of friends.

After all, the rules are meant to be broken.

No. They're meant to be followed so you can preserve the game experience as intended by the developers.

Antidisestablishmentarianist!