What would be a great addition to the Star wars Armada rules would be boarding actions. I play the new HALO fleet battles game, and it has a great set of rules for boarding actions. The Imperials have assault shuttles. I am sure that someone can research one for the Rebels

since both sides have marine or ship based forces, this could really add some playability to the game. Every fleet based game I have played from

Battle Fleet Gothic, Sails of Glory, Close Action, Starfleet Battles, have rules for boarding actions.

I've brought up this idea myself as a mission type objective. I say that because I want to make clear I like the idea.

However --

It really doesn't make much sense in the lore or mechanics of the game. We're talking ships with crews that number in the thousands. And that's not even a factor until after you have taken down their shields, and disabled the vessel. Combine those with combat resolution at the end of the sixth turn, and suddenly a boarding action becomes a mechanic that would rarely be able to be employed, and even more rarely resolved.

It might have a place in X-Wing where crew numbers are easily manageable, but if it was added to Armada I just don't see it working.

Here's hoping for wave 4

Well to be fair, it doesn't make much sense that capital ships can be repaired by the space station in the middle of a battle. What is cool should always trump what makes sense, in my opinion. Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story.

Wraith squadron (X-Wing): When attacking a ship, you may set Wraith Squadron aside for four turns. When they return, roll a blue die. On a hit, the ship is destroyed, on any other result, you take control of the ship.

I think it's important to make a distinction between full-scale boarding actions (just trying to overwhelm the enemy ship with marines to take complete control of it) and hit and run attacks (where you send in a small number of your best troops to mess things up and GTFO afterwards). You get a mixture of these in various systems (Battlefleet Gothic has both, for example).

It seems that a full-scale boarding action in the Star Wars universe doesn't happen often and usually only after capturing/disabling a ship(see: Vader boarding the Tantive IV in a New Hope). Hit and run attacks there's really no evidence for or against. I'd be amenable to some kind of squadron (or flotilla?) that represents soldiers trying to get through for a hit and run attack and I imagine you could resolve it a lot like Battlefleet Gothic did - you get a chance at a critical, and if you succeed you apply a critical effect to the target. So your marines hit their engines, or took out some crucial crew, or whatever.

I won't say it can't be done. I'll even go so far as to say it can be done brilliantly. That said, we still land on should it be done? The wraith idea, while interesting, means points into a unit that once it's gotten to get to its target, in 4 turns it's points carved in stone. What are you going to charge for this squad, 50 points? And even if you put it out cheaply, it becomes an insto-kill target that they'll throw everything at. Even if you made a generic assault shuttle that rolled a die and the result was taken as is (damage, crit, or team killed on blank), I can still envision whole lists made up of dozens of boarding actions. You'd have to balance that with their cost, and I'm not sure there's an effective way of doing this.

Hmm...devil's advocate though --

How about a boarding action that, rather than doing "damage" or taking the ship, allows you to roll a die. Upon a successful roll, you may choose one upgrade card assigned to the target per crit or damage icon shown, and this upgrade is removed from play?

It really doesn't make much sense in the lore or mechanics of the game. We're talking ships with crews that number in the thousands. And that's not even a factor until after you have taken down their shields, and disabled the vessel. Combine those with combat resolution at the end of the sixth turn, and suddenly a boarding action becomes a mechanic that would rarely be able to be employed, and even more rarely resolved.

Where the lore is concerned, I'm not sure I agree. In the Clone Wars, there's frequently combat aboard ships. Also, many of those thousands of crew are functionally-speaking non-combatants. I would agree that in terms of mechanics, coupled with a reasonable understanding of what it's modelling, it might be tough to justify.

But, as rmb43 is arguing: It would be "cool", and "cool" tends to trump "common sense" in Star Wars.

I would say that attacking a Star Destroyer, each with a legion of stormtroopers aboard, might not be the best idea.

And when it comes to FFG artwork entrails, I give you this:

Notice the assault transport coming up to the Pride's port side.

So Rebels get -

Obi Wan Kenobi - Upon activation you may discard this card to board and destroy any enemy ship that is within 1.

Imperials get -

Battle Droid - Upon activation you may discard this card to board any enemy ship that is within 1. That ships gains 3 shields.

The Star Wars universe isnt exactly fair with regard to boarding...

So Rebels get -

Obi Wan Kenobi - Upon activation you may discard this card to board and destroy any enemy ship that is within 1.

Imperials get -

Battle Droid - Upon activation you may discard this card to board any enemy ship that is within 1. That ships gains 3 shields.

The Star Wars universe isnt exactly fair with regard to boarding...

Lemme guess, you're a prequels fan.

When I mentioned The Clone Wars, above, it didn't mean that I wanted Jar Jar and "roger roger" (though, we can guess what happens to a ship with Jar Jar on board).

When I mentioned The Clone Wars, above, it didn't mean that I wanted Jar Jar and "roger roger" (though, we can guess what happens to a ship with Jar Jar on board).

Yes we can:

"Jar Jar. Lick this card and flick it into your opponents' face while spouting nonsense in a racist accent. If your opponent becomes annoyed, choose 3 of his ships and remove them from the game while saying "Mesa sorry!"

Okay, joking aside, I'm warming to this idea the more I think about it. I mean, as I said from the start, I've always liked the idea, just didn't really think it fit.

But I think Snipafist is on to something. I like the idea of being able to remove an upgrade card from a target (I could see this being huge) on a successful assault. There are entire fleet builds that center on one or two cards. This would give you a surgical shot at cutting the heart out of those builds.

I've brought up this idea myself as a mission type objective. I say that because I want to make clear I like the idea.

However --

It really doesn't make much sense in the lore or mechanics of the game. We're talking ships with crews that number in the thousands. And that's not even a factor until after you have taken down their shields, and disabled the vessel. Combine those with combat resolution at the end of the sixth turn, and suddenly a boarding action becomes a mechanic that would rarely be able to be employed, and even more rarely resolved.

It might have a place in X-Wing where crew numbers are easily manageable, but if it was added to Armada I just don't see it working.

Actually, starwars is filled with boarding actions. Heck part of the first scene of the first starwars movie involves stormtroopers boarding a rebel ship. Then we have the prequels where jedi strike teams are seen boarding ships, and the clone wars animated series shows boarding actions on a massive scale as Venator's are overrun by battledroids in several episodes in a matter of minutes. You only need to take over the bridge and engineering to have effective control of a ship, not fight every single defender.

But I think Snipafist is on to something. I like the idea of being able to remove an upgrade card from a target (I could see this being huge) on a successful assault.

X-Wing has that now, in the form of the Boba Fett crew card. There's even an image to explain its use:

Ship shields in the star wars universe don't keep out slow moving ships, Fighters fly through them when lunching or recovering and still hold air in. or stop A wings from flying into a command deck The only example of a shield keeping ships out was the BIG one on Endor

even the BIG Rebel one on Hoth did not keep the ground army out.

Selective memory you have, hmm? The Executor's bridge shields were down, and Anakin deliberately targeted the hangar generator before they boarded Grievous' flagship. Heck, Anakin flew into a hangar while torpedoes were detonating against the shields outside, clearly demonstrating a ship's ability to raise/lower portions to let things in and out.

But I think Snipafist is on to something. I like the idea of being able to remove an upgrade card from a target (I could see this being huge) on a successful assault.

X-Wing has that now, in the form of the Boba Fett crew card. There's even an image to explain its use:

Yes, but I'm thinking the unit would be used up in the attack, not continue in the combat. I think you'd have to limit the number of times it could be used since it wouldn't be character assigned, but an entirely new ship/tactic.

I always imagined that overlapping was a combination of collision, close weapons fire and boarding parties.

I would think that to do boarding actions correctly we would have to be keeping track of crew left alive on the ships as they take damage. That could get really tedious really fast.

On the plus side it would be another use for tractor beams. "If you match speeds with a ship in range 1 that you have tractored, you may launch a boarding action.

I always imagined that overlapping was a combination of collision, close weapons fire and boarding parties.

Boarding parties could be an upgrade: Any enemy ship that collides with this ship suffers 2 face-up damage cards instead of one face-down

About all that I'd want to see of "boarding parties" is a card to remove an upgrade, for a substantial upgrade cost.

This has been a mechanic my game group has been testing for DA some time. Its actually pretty neat, but I am starting to think toptal vessel destruction or takeover is less important then maybe inflicting a critical hit or even flipping a face down damage card. ATR-6

Dang it Wes, you beat me to it. lol I just had that same thought. Perhaps a boarding party could have the option of doing several things? If no damage is present, inflict 1. If damage is present, you may turn over one damage card and apply the effect. Or, remove 1 upgrade from play.

I think it is still up in the air on where to go with it, but so far the rule as it is is how we have been playing it. So far it has only managed to work to actually take a ship out of the game once. But the mear threat of these craft boarding a ship has kept most players fighters busy. So are they working? In some ways more then others.

In Halo , which has ships just as big ,and same for BFG, Hit and run can include placing demo charges, taking out the bridge, hitting the hangar with a raid. You can also have designated anti-ship boarding parties, so if the raid is repulsed the boarders are forced back on their ships and are expelled from the ship. You could imagine a group of

rebel marines setting demo charges on the blast shields of a bridge, They go off, anyone not wearing a suit is going to have a real bad day...........hope you can breathe vacuum, Great way to equalize a battle, when an Imperial 1 or 2 has it/s command structure vented to space Or a raid sets demo charges in a hangar bay, All that nice ordnance, fuel sitting around just to go boom