Well, I have just recently started playing Armada and have no idea of what the meta is or anything and need some help making a fleet list. I currently have the core set and a Gladiator, what do I get from here.

It's a good start if you aim to play around 300pt. I would add 2 Imperial Squadrons and another Gladiator.

With what you have, you could come up with something like this:

[ EMPIRE FLEET (299 points)]
1 • Victory I-class Star Destroyer - Admiral Screed - Gunnery Team (106)
2 • Gladiator I-class Star Destroyer - Wulff Yularen - Engine Techs - Assault Concussion Missiles - Demolisher (88)
3 • Gladiator I-class Star Destroyer - Engine Techs - Assault Concussion Missiles (71)
4 • Major Rhymer TIE Bomber Squadron (16)
5 • TIE Bomber Squadron (9)
6 • TIE Bomber Squadron (9)

This is not the most optimised fleet you could build under a VSD1+ 2x Gladiator format (you would otherwise need upgrades which are in other expansions) but it will be nonetheless a decent and fun list.

The idea with this list is to close in the distance with your opponent as quickly as possible and unleash a lot of black dices at short range. You will however be vulnerable to fighters. Hence you may want to swap the Bombers for Tie.

Thanks, I got the core set so that won't be a problem, so if/when should I get an ISD?

Thanks, I got the core set so that won't be a problem, so if/when should I get an ISD?

As soon as possible. They are significantly better than the VSD but they need to be supported

Alright, so are raiders worth taking, every list I end up making has a severe lack of anti-fighter. and should I get the ISD or Gladiator next, I have around $50 left so I could buy a fighter expansion as well as a Gladiator?

Made this as the fighter alternative to the list you just posted

Get the ISD next as it gives you the option of playing the more common 400 point games even if you have to cram in a few not really needed upgrades to pad the list out. ISD+VSD+GSD should be ok with 1 pack of fighters.

Example 397/400.

ISD-II Motti, ECM, Gunnery Team, XI7, Intel, 171

VSD-I Flight Controllers 79

GSD-I ACM, Engine Techs, Demolisher, Veteran Captain 84

Rymer, 1 Tie Bomber, 2 Tie Fighters, 2 Tie Interceptors 63

[EDIT] or 5 Tie Fighters + Howlrunner if you haven't got the fighter pack yet 56

Technically instead of padding in unneeded upgrades I could bring Tie Fighters.

Armada is about capital ships. Hence, fighters are a bit underwhelming when compared to what they are meant to achieve in the SW universe. In my opinion, fighters/bombers will either totally trash you or more likely play virtually no role. Hence, I do not leave port without a modicum of anti-fighter tools (mostly Tie ) but I otherwise do not rely too much on them. Tie fighter especially are meant to die while holding off enemy fighters from your precious capital ships. By themselves, they are unlikely to do much damage... but in an attrition game against other fighters/*bombers, they are dirt cheap.

Ordonance Experts + Screed is overkill. No need to re-roll your black dices if you can use Screed to select the crit that trigger the Assault Concussion Missile. It is best to spend your points on Engine Tech which basically makes your short-ranged Glad at Speed 4 with a lot of manoeuvrability. The faster you close the distance, the more damage you will deal.

Armada is a game about positioning. Anything that helps you move/react is good.

Armada is about capital ships. Hence, fighters are a bit underwhelming when compared to what they are meant to achieve in the SW universe. In my opinion, fighters/bombers will either totally trash you or more likely play virtually no role. Hence, I do not leave port without a modicum of anti-fighter tools (mostly Tie which are meant to tie enemy fighters rather than destroy them) but I otherwise do not rely too much on them.

Ordonance Experts + Screed is overkill. No need to re-roll your black dices if you can use Screed to select the crit that trigger the Assault Concussion Missile. It is best to spend your points on Engine Tech which basically makes your short-ranged Glad at Speed 4 with a lot of maneuverability. The faster you close the distance, the more damage you will deal.

Armada is a game about positioning. Anything that helps you move/react is good.

Didn't really think about that, speed 4 gladiator+Dominator+Screed sound amazing. I had only looked into Gunnery team and Ordnance Team.

On top of it add Wulff Yularen .

Give your Glad a manoeuvre order on the first turn and then bank the token. In the subsequent turns, spend the token and use Wulff to always regenerate the manoeuvre token, meaning you can activate engine tech every single turn. This also frees up your command dial which you can use to spam the focus fire order instead for an extra black dice

The Veteran Capitain allows to do something fairly similar for fewer points (one use only) but I do not think the card is in your set.

While I would agree that fighters are underwhelming, bombers can utterly trash things. The game is ultimately about the capital ships, yes. If all of your ships are destroyed, the game ends. But if you can fly bombers in to destroy your opponent's ships, you never have to risk your own to score a victory.

I think the big thing to decide first is how you want to play. Do you like having really big ships that can dish out the pain and take plenty of fire in return? Do you want to have smaller ships that dodge around and sucker punch people? Is your favorite historical ship the U.S.S. Nimitz and you want to have tons of squadrons? Are you playing for fun or do you want to be competitive? Once you've figured out how you want to play, we could give a better answer of what to play. And there's more than one way to do it, too.

For example, some people prefer a pair of ISDs as a carrier fleet, others three VSDs. Some like a balanced fleet with an ISD, VSD, GSD and small fighter screen. Some like a lot of GSDs and Raiders. These lists aren't necessarily better than the other, but they have vastly different play styles. Start with an idea of where you want to go. Or sell a kidney and just buy four of everything.

So I've been thinking about getting into this game and after reading this thread I'm even more interested! My ideal play style would be to have at least 1 ISD that is either acting like the carrier with another hard hitting ISD or to have a smaller ship be the carrier to screen a hard hitting ISD with maybe a Raider. Is this list possible?

If you want to go to a carrier strategy , you should know that this is not the easiest/most optimised way, but personally I find carrier lists fun to play. They are just unlikely to win in a tournament.

That being said, you could go for something like this:

[ EMPIRE FLEET (396 points)]
1 • Imperial I-class Star Destroyer - Wulff Yularen - Expanded Hangar Bay - Boosted Comms (126)
2 • Victory I-class Star Destroyer - Boosted Comms (77)
3 • Gladiator I-class Star Destroyer - Veteran Captain - Engine Techs - Assault Proton Torpedoes - Demolisher (82)
4 • Major Rhymer TIE Bomber Squadron (16)
5 • Dengar Punishing One (20)
6 • TIE Advanced Squadron (12)
7 • Soontir Fel TIE Interceptor Squadron (18)
8 • TIE Bomber Squadron (9)
9 • TIE Bomber Squadron (9)
10 • TIE Bomber Squadron (9)
11 • TIE Bomber Squadron (9)
12 • TIE Bomber Squadron (9)

How it works:

Bunch your bombers into a group

Major Rhymer (in the center): He is the linchpin of your strategy. He basically allows your Tie Bombers to use their anti-ship armament up to medium distance. He gives the range your bomber group needs to be effective because your Bombers are only speed 4 and catching up with a fast ship is hard.

Dengar Punishing One (12 o'clock): He flies point. His first role is to provide the Intel key word which basically means that any enemy squadron at range 1 is now heavy. Hence, it allows your bomber group to fly through any fighter screen your opponent may throw at you because Heavy squadrons cannot lock down and engage enemy squadrons. He also gives Counter 1 to your whole bomber group which fits nicely with Soontir Fel.

Tie Advanced ( 1:30 o'clock): He is there to provide the escort key word which means that any squadron that attacks your bomber group must target him. He acts as a body guard/tank to protect Major Rhymer.

Soontir Fel ( 10:30 o'clock): He is the best buddy of the Tie Advanced because any enemy squadron that does not attack him (because for example of the Escort key word of the Tie Advanced) suffers automatically one damage. Now attacking him directly is also a bad idea because he has now Counter 3 thanks to Dengar. During the activation phase, he will roll 4 blue + a re-roll which really hurts. Him, the Tie Advanced and Dengar are here to kill enemy squadrons.

Tie Bombers: (3 to 9 o'clock): They are your anti-ship damage dealer.

The Tie Advanced is bit of an option. You may want to replace it with a straight Tie Bomber.

In terms of the ship you will spam squadron order every turn. Use Wulf Yularen to always replicate a squadron token on the ISD thus effectively bumping its Squadron value to 6. You have your Gladiator for direct ship-to-ship combat and to fool around

A nice bomber list but you have forgotten to include the mandatory admiral.

I would drop the Vic-I to a GSD-I to save points for Motti then swap 1 or 2 pairs of tie bombers for Firesprays to make up for the loss of squadron commands. Flight controllers on the ISD-I could help in sweeping away a stronger fighter opposition adding 6 extra blue dice a turn. Intel is geat and all but with only one Tie advanced Dengar may only last 2 turns.

A nice bomber list but you have forgotten to include the mandatory admiral.

You are 100% right... I had forgotten about that one. I keep forgetting that Wulf is not an admiral... The white uniform on his card confuses me.

I actually used Wulf as my admiral for my first 2 games before finally playing someone who knew the rules.

I would rather downgrade the Glad than loose the Vic. Maybe something like this?

[ EMPIRE FLEET (396 points)
1 • Imperial I-class Star Destroyer - Admiral Motti - Expanded Hangar Bay - Boosted Comms (143)
2 • Victory I-class Star Destroyer - Boosted Comms (77)
3 • Gladiator I-class Star Destroyer - Assault Proton Torpedoes - Demolisher (71)
4 • Major Rhymer TIE Bomber Squadron (16)
5 • Dengar Punishing One (20)
6 • TIE Advanced Squadron (12)
7 • TIE Advanced Squadron (12)
8 • Soontir Fel TIE Interceptor Squadron (18)
9 • TIE Bomber Squadron (9)
10 • TIE Bomber Squadron (9)
11 • TIE Bomber Squadron (9)

Personally, I'd drop Fel for two more bombers. Even with him, you're not going to cut your way out of a dedicated fighter screen. Use the escorts to keep Dengar alive, and simply fly away. Those two extra bomber dice will be nice to have.

So I've been thinking about getting into this game and after reading this thread I'm even more interested! My ideal play style would be to have at least 1 ISD that is either acting like the carrier with another hard hitting ISD or to have a smaller ship be the carrier to screen a hard hitting ISD with maybe a Raider. Is this list possible?

Yes, of course.