I tended to demo X-wing and it usually sparked in a lot of players eyes. When I set up Armada, admittedly I have a basic understanding of rules and haven't branched out due to lack of players into the more advanced stuff. I get this glossy deer in the headlights look or a straight up how much does it costs for the starter and after each and every time I see a giant wince of pain. Is there any way to make is easier for folks to get into the game?

I find X-Wing and Armada scratch very different itches. I had the opposite reaction to X-Wing when someone demo'd it for me. Too many tools and just too twitchy for me. Armada is for someone who likes slower and more deliberate decision making. It rewards planning mulitple turns ahead far more than X-Wing. It reminds me a lot of the 40k/Fantasy divide before GW blew up Fantasy. Some people will like both, but a lot of people are going to gravitate heavily toward one or the other. Perhaps reach outside the pool of X-Wing players?

The sticker shock is not something that can really be avoided unfortunately. The expansions themselves are far more manageable, but the core set is a doosie.

I can't remember who wrote it up, but the minimized fleet of:

VSD (2?) + Howl + Ties vs AFMK2 + CR90 + Luke + X's sounded pretty good. Small enough to finish a game in an hour or two, probably.

err. 200 point lists? =)

step 1. Gesture towards the Imperial Star Destroyer in all its glory

If they start to complain about the price, repeat step 1.

Step 1: Prepare a demo game with ISD

Step 2: Invite new player to play as Imperials

Step 3: Let him win

Step 4: Entice him with sweet trappings of Imperial romanticism, power and glory.

Soon you'll have him joining the Imperials

^ This.

Any demo game should have the new player pew-pewing puny rebel ships with the massed guns of his ISD.

Vader in his TIE is also cool.

O yea... Forgot to say this.. Be sure to put Vader on the ISD and every moment that the ISD moves, play the Vader Song.

I think one of the biggest things is to just have the game visible. Offer intro games at your LGS when there's a decent crowd there (we have a set club night). Play against people who already play the game just so people see it being played. And be willing to slow your game down a bit so you can chat with anyone who comes over. Most importantly, chat with anyone who comes over. A lot of people will come and look, but won't engage in conversation. I used to see it at GW all of the time. But if you engage with them, you might find yourself having a nice conversation and that may turn into an intro game or a future player.

The starter set sticker shock is tough, and there's no way around it. You can't split the set with another person because you only get one damage deck. But once they get over that, the expansions aren't too bad. You can have a decent fleet for under $200. Use that argument with a WH40k/AoS player and they'll sing your praises.

Awesome. Keep em coming -scribbles on notepad-

I think one of the biggest things is to just have the game visible. Offer intro games at your LGS when there's a decent crowd there (we have a set club night). Play against people who already play the game just so people see it being played. And be willing to slow your game down a bit so you can chat with anyone who comes over. Most importantly, be chat with anyone who comes over. A lot of people will come and look, but won't engage in conversation. I used to see it at GW all of the time. But if you engage with them, you might find yourself having a nice conversation and that may turn into an intro game or a future player.

The starter set sticker shock is tough, and there's no way around it. You can't split the set with another person because you only get one damage deck. But once they get over that, the expansions aren't too bad. You can have a decent fleet for under $200. Use that argument with a WH40k/AoS player and they'll sing your praises.

And show them a shiny ISD

If they hesitate due to the price... Redirect their thoughts to the IDS...

Ask them to embrace it. It's their destiny. And this is the game that they've been looking for

When you think about it, $100 for the starter set, $50 for an ISD, $30 for a GSD, $20 for a fighter pack. You can easily make a 400pt list out of that. And a lot of LGSs offer some kind of membership discount or rewards program, so you can drop that a bit. Our club is $15 for the year, 15% off, so you're talking $170 before sales tax. You could fit in another fighter pack or R&V.

Compare that to a Space Marine army where you have to spend a minimum of $80 on troop choices alone, never mind the rest of your list.

Those X-Wing players are hard converts, though. $40 to get in, $15/30 for extra ships. Find someone who wants to play the other faction, and you can get double the starter ships, a large ship and two more small base ships for $100, so you have some options. If you have lots of people that talk about liking X-Wing but it not having enough "depth" or "strategy", those are your potential converts. Otherwise you might have better luck elsewhere. Warhammer players still grumbling about Age of Sigmar are a great target.

This is how I bring people in.

Hero that link just leads to a dilapidated cabin in the woods with a sign saying "Armader hur, pleaze leaf cell fone outside"

Working as intended?

Hero that link just leads to a dilapidated cabin in the woods with a sign saying "Armader hur, pleaze leaf cell fone outside"

Working as intended?

Absolutely! But yeah, in all seriousness, the best way to get players in and keep them is to be nice and welcoming.

I feel you on the GW-crapping thing. Best company I've ever worked for. How sad it is to see what they've become.

That was my first issue to grapple with Armada, too. The GW demos are set up to be super fast with lots of excitement and dice everywhere. You could essentially ignore the rules (well, severely water them down) just to get dice in the person's hand and get them moving models around a table. Armada is a lot trickier, because it's not just rolling dice. You have Defense Tokens and Commands. Giving an intro without command dials or defense tokens takes too much out of the game to the point where it's completely different. It would make it faster, sure, but you wouldn't be playing Armada. That, and a VSD-II shooting at a CR90 and Neb-B with no defense tokens would make for a really short game.

This is how I bring people in.

I like this. Very similar to the intro list I used recently, except mine was without upgrades/names and with additional squadron types (someone posted it a month or two ago). For our second game, I let my trainee build his own fleet with admiral and ship titles, but no other upgrades (~375 point lists). Third game was open to all upgrades, and he was hooked. For our most recent 4th game he brought his own newly purchased Rebel fleet -- successful indoctrination!

edit: Used a modified Superior Positions or Most Wanted objective (only the setup portions) for the first 3 games.

I usually avoid objectives, admirals, upgrades, and unique pilots. Keep it simple. Show off the mechanics. I used to use 2x VSD against an AFII, CR90, and Neb-B with a mix of TIEs and X-Wings for wave 1. I haven't done a wave 2 demo, but I'd be very tempted to throw in an ISD and/or MC80. Never under estimate the power of nostalgia.