I honestly think boarding is best kept as a marginal part of the game and should use existing mechanics,

An idea I had - "Storm Trooper Boarding Party" - Offensive retrofit - medium or large ship only - black crit (not sure - ISD2 should be ale to take it! - if the defending hull zone has no shields, turn the damage deck cards over one at a time, until you have two crew results. Apply both to the defending ship.

Practically speaking, boarding a VSD or ISD shouldn't be a realistic proposition for the rebels. I carries an entire legion of stormtroopers! Also I suspect Imperial ship internal spaces are very heavily fortified, as much to suppress any internal disloyalty as anything else. And Imp vs Imp boarding would be better classesd as "siege warfare" rather than boarding.

So boarding at most should be limited to hit and run sabotage attacks that can basically be resolved as ordnance.

Not so sure I agree. Certainly an Imperial boarding action could always be done via Storm Troopers, and "reasonable" sized Rebel actions by Marines, but don't rule out large ship action. Making the boarding teams able to assault via base size and then setting the theme of the action takes care of that. An assault team of Rebel Marines could serve as a distraction while sleeper agents or sympathizers use their attack to wreak havoc ("man on the inside").

That said, I agree that even if boarding actions become part of the game, they shouldn't be viewed as a main tactical outlook. But I don't agree that they should just be resolved as ordinance. Giving them the ability to target upgrades (similar to Boba Fett from X-Wing) actually does introduce a new mechanic (to Armada) that has already arguably seen a fair amount of play testing in a similar platform. It's not just adding another weapon emplacement, it's a shot at taking out Ackbar, or Mon Mothma, or whomever. By leaving the ship but targeting upgrades, you can argue that point costs for the unit can be kept near the point cost of the upgrades it targets. Even come in lower, since it has to survive the trip to the enemy ship and then is only a chance to remove the upgrade.

--edit--

This would be a new mechanic (to Armada) that I do think could add to the game, but by keeping it narrowly focused, wouldn't becoming something you'd see everyone building lists around. It's a nice option, but nothing you can count on.

My approach would be to make Boarding Teams an offensive upgrade that allows for a special boarding action attack.

A boarding action counts as an attack from an arc (following standard range and arc rules) that can be made at range 1. You role a single black die, and on a <hit> result deal a face up damage card to the defender. On a <crit> result, you may instead discard one of the defender's upgrade cards.

The above would mean that you have to get even closer than short range to pull off the attack, then sacrifice your normal attack on the target. In return, you get a fairly consistent crit on the target (through shields no less), plus a reasonable shot at taking out one of the target's upgrade cards.

Another option would be for longer ranged boarding craft to be treated as squadrons. For these, they would get the Boarding Party keyword, that means that when attacking a ship, you may perform a boarding action instead. If you do so, remove the squadron afterward.

This option would allow for boarding actions with greater reach, especially when combined with squadron commands. As a balance, the squadrons would have to be relatively vulnerable and weak, and probably still relatively pricey. Another aspect to consider would be whether the removed squadrons count as detroyed for VP purposes - I'd edge towards yes, as it was probably a one way trip for the troops involved.

My approach would be to make Boarding Teams an offensive upgrade that allows for a special boarding action attack.

A boarding action counts as an attack from an arc (following standard range and arc rules) that can be made at range 1. You role a single black die, and on a <hit> result deal a face up damage card to the defender. On a <crit> result, you may instead discard one of the defender's upgrade cards.

The above would mean that you have to get even closer than short range to pull off the attack, then sacrifice your normal attack on the target. In return, you get a fairly consistent crit on the target (through shields no less), plus a reasonable shot at taking out one of the target's upgrade cards.

Another option would be for longer ranged boarding craft to be treated as squadrons. For these, they would get the Boarding Party keyword, that means that when attacking a ship, you may perform a boarding action instead. If you do so, remove the squadron afterward.

This option would allow for boarding actions with greater reach, especially when combined with squadron commands. As a balance, the squadrons would have to be relatively vulnerable and weak, and probably still relatively pricey. Another aspect to consider would be whether the removed squadrons count as detroyed for VP purposes - I'd edge towards yes, as it was probably a one way trip for the troops involved.

Funny, I have the exact same idea about boarding you have. I was just about to post my suggestion only to see you posted almost exactly the same. As for the boarding squadrons, perhaps only discard them on a failed boarding, in which case they count as VP's for your opponent. As it doesn't make sense for your opponent to gain VP's when you succesfully perform a boarding action.

My approach would be to make Boarding Teams an offensive upgrade that allows for a special boarding action attack.

A boarding action counts as an attack from an arc (following standard range and arc rules) that can be made at range 1. You role a single black die, and on a <hit> result deal a face up damage card to the defender. On a <crit> result, you may instead discard one of the defender's upgrade cards.

The above would mean that you have to get even closer than short range to pull off the attack, then sacrifice your normal attack on the target. In return, you get a fairly consistent crit on the target (through shields no less), plus a reasonable shot at taking out one of the target's upgrade cards.

Another option would be for longer ranged boarding craft to be treated as squadrons. For these, they would get the Boarding Party keyword, that means that when attacking a ship, you may perform a boarding action instead. If you do so, remove the squadron afterward.

This option would allow for boarding actions with greater reach, especially when combined with squadron commands. As a balance, the squadrons would have to be relatively vulnerable and weak, and probably still relatively pricey. Another aspect to consider would be whether the removed squadrons count as detroyed for VP purposes - I'd edge towards yes, as it was probably a one way trip for the troops involved.

Funny, I have the exact same idea about boarding you have. I was just about to post my suggestion only to see you posted almost exactly the same. As for the boarding squadrons, perhaps only discard them on a failed boarding, in which case they count as VP's for your opponent. As it doesn't make sense for your opponent to gain VP's when you succesfully perform a boarding action.

That would depend on how much of suicide attack you consider them to be. If you only remove them after a failed attack, the main risk is that they will just become too good at projecting boarding actions to a long range. I suppose that in turn will depend on the speed of the boarding shuttles - I'm currently thinking they should be speed 2 (weren't the TFA resistance shuttles heavily modified B-Wings after all?).

Speed 2 would make sense. I doubt they will become too good at any rate, since you still discard them on a miss. Out of the top of my head that's a 25% chance on a black die? Say they cost 10 points, that's 25% chance per boarding attempt to just hand your opponent 10 points, not to mention the wasted invested energy of getting the assault transports near the enemy ship in the first place through squadron commands and/or fighter escorts. I did some quick math and on average the boarding craft will do 2.33 succesful boardings if it can reach an enemy ship for 4 turns (any more seems unlikely) and will have a 69% chance of failing a boarding action during those 4 attempts. Hardly overwhelmingly effective.

I do think the removal of upgrade cards should be restricted to ship upgrade cards only, so no assassinating of (Admiral) Darth Vader.

I wouldn't have a problem with admiral cards being discardable. It wouldn't necessarily mean that the admiral has been assasinated after all - just otherwise occupied. Lord Vader can be a bit hands on about dealing with complications after all

I like the special attack idea. Have a troop transport or shuttle attacking like a bombing attack with one black die to a hull facing with shields zero. Only the boarding attack can burn a defense token ,by rolling an accuracy , do a hull damage rolling a Hit. or flip up a damage card rolling a Critical. the critical and hit does both, The attacker takes 2 points of damage if a blank is rolled. This Boarding attack can only be made under a fighter activation command.

The Minutae of Boarding Actions has always turned me off them.

Make it simple.

Everything in the game so far is straightforward if not simple...

The Minutae of Boarding Actions has always turned me off them.

Make it simple.

Everything in the game so far is straightforward if not simple...

Can't get much simpler than rolling a black die.

The Minutae of Boarding Actions has always turned me off them.

Make it simple.

Everything in the game so far is straightforward if not simple...

Can't get much simpler than rolling a black die.

But if I need a Card of Results that mean different things... Especially if there's an ACC involved somehow on that black die...

Additionally, how/when do you roll that Black Die? I mean, is it an attack, subject to attack effects?

The closest thing I could imagine to a Boarding Action mechanic would be an Crew upgrade called "Boarding Party", which would probably use a critical effect (black, if I had to take a guess) to choose and discard an opponent's ship's upgrade, then discard the Boarding Party.

Personally, while boarding actions are a cool idea, I like the game without them if it would require FFG bringing in a whole new game mechanic. An upgrade slot that allows for some effect during an attack would be the best way to fit a boarding party into the current Armada system.

An offensive or team slot upgrade with a black critical effect would also be a nice simplification. The competition for how to use a black critical should also act as a balancing factor in that regard too. (Sure, discarding an upgrade would be nice, but would it be better than 1 extra face up damage, or 2 extra damage?)

Boarding Parties

Black <crit>: The defender must discard a random upgrade.

Nice and simple

The Minutae of Boarding Actions has always turned me off them.

Make it simple.

Everything in the game so far is straightforward if not simple...

THIS!!

BFG was a lot more complicated game than Armada (haven't played Halo so I'm not sure). The game already takes 2+ hours to play (especially when you factor in setting up and discussing the game afterwards). I like that its simple and it flows VERY well (something other games get crippled by). If you want these extra rules, then play those other games (and I don't mean that in a snarky offensive manner). I mean sure they could make a crew upgrade card that did something like that, but then it adds extra rules and could be abused by fast ships like glads/CR90s with engine techs. Then you could say that it had to be the same size class or such and then the text on the card gets longer and longer.......

I like the simple explanation provided earlier about overlapping damage being in part from boarding parties.

For the more creative types (with more time on their hands than me), I think it would be cool to incorporate games of IA to represent boarding actions.

An offensive or team slot upgrade with a black critical effect would also be a nice simplification. The competition for how to use a black critical should also act as a balancing factor in that regard too. (Sure, discarding an upgrade would be nice, but would it be better than 1 extra face up damage, or 2 extra damage?)

Boarding Parties

Black <crit>: The defender must discard a random upgrade.

Nice and simple

That is fine. Having a *standard* upgrade that just happens to have the 'name' of a Boarding Action.

I'd be cool with that.

But it hardly adds a boarding action mechanic that some people are clambering for.

NBot me through.

How about, lets say, Boba Fett, upon activation gets to damage a nearby ship or squadron.....

What do Y'all think of that as a boarding party?

I do agree that whatever the route taken, it should be kept simple. Myself, I prefer the idea of this being a new unit over just the addition of an upgrade. It provides new miniatures, as well as altering the face of the engagement. I also think it fits in with the proposed line of thinking that we'll be seeing more smaller ships to build larger fleets. Just done as upgrade card on existing ships that inflicts damage, you could call it guided missile as much as boarding action. Forgive me, but if boarding actions ever get included I want them to be their own thing, not just another already existing effect with new art/name on the card.

With a straightforward approach to the mechanics, it stays simple and can add to the game in a new way.

However, as much as I've warmed to the idea, I do still find myself going back to if it should be brought into the game.

As has been said, the minutia involved in this type of action would have to be largely glossed over or it could bog down what is already not a quick game. It's probably best left to a wish-list.

I have been thinking on this mechanic in great detail this past few days. I do agree that it should have a unique mechanic or it doesn't have any reason to exist.

Boarding should paralyze a ship including upgrades. Eventually, as recognized by failed rolls, etc. the boarded ship becomes captured and becomes a part of the opposing fleet. That would be a nasty turn to be sure!

Boarding should paralyze a ship including upgrades. Eventually, as recognized by failed rolls, etc. the boarded ship becomes captured and becomes a part of the opposing fleet. That would be a nasty turn to be sure!

Now this I can't agree to. A unit that instantly "kills" a capital ship just by docking with it? A fire-fight in a hanger or hallway doesn't stop gunnery teams a quarter mile away (referencing an Imp SD). The only way I could see a boarding team taking a ship is if the miniature came with a "damage" card that represented gained ground. For each successful boarding action, place a "gained ground" card.If the total number of "gained ground" cards equal the total hull points of the target, the ship has been seized.

But this would be balanced by a failed attack roll resulting in either the destruction of, or loss of a point of the boarding ship.

This also makes boarding too clunky of a mechanic (imo). If it's in at all, I think it needs to be simple. House rules are fine, but I doubt boarding has a home in the official ones.

--edit--

I would also say that if the boarding unit fails enough attempts that it is destroyed, all "gained ground" markers would be removed as the boarding teams were killed.

And again, I think this makes it too much of a back and forth, extra dice rolling for what you'd add to the game.

I guess my biggest problem is how do you resolve a boarding attempts? I could see a successful attempt doing 1 face up damage card. A raider might be easy to board, but an Imperium class with its Storm trooper contingent should be an exercise in futility. All the rebel ship descriptions stress the work put into lowering crew size, this should make them very easy to board. In episode Star Wars episode 4 we saw how a CR-90 / Star Destroyer boarding action plays out. We need any rules to reflect this and not let the CR-90 swarm in and burn down the village because of an upgrade card on their activation.

I want to see a way that works, but it needs to make sense with the other mechanics in the game.

That's why I was thinking just the removal of an upgrade upon a successful attack. It's a one shot deal, commando style. The unit is essentially "used up" in the attempt.

No, no, no. That's not what I mean. Boarding is not instantaneous. The affected ship continues to function, trying to repel boarders and maintain an engaging presence, probably at reduced capacity due to the invading force. If the opposing forces are repelled carry on. If not then the ship is considered captured.

Sorry Raging, just the way you phrased it, by opening with it being paralyzed and then going on to the capture, I inferred it that way.

I get the idea of a fight (over turns) to take a ship, but then I call into question can the target ship continue to use its starfighter defense to try and shoot the boarding vessel off its hull? Can other ships or squadrons also continue to target it? If not, why not? Its out there for turns. Does the ship size of the target also affect the ability to damage the boarding ship? It should. Boarding a Gozanti should be infinitely easier than taking a Star Destroyer. So much so that a Star Destroyer should be pretty much beyond the ability to board. Which puts Admirals out of touch.

Making the boarding a one shot surgical strike would allow you to take away upgrades on the round they board, if the attack succeeds, and then it's done. Having a turn count means you'll likely never see the effect of a boarding party. How likely are you to get to and board an enemy ship in 2 turns? I expect you won't be able to even try till turn 3 on average, meaning any boarding action over turns will only see 2 or 3 effects, if even successful at all.

But making it a one shot deal means you have the chance of removing an Admiral (or any other upgrade) from the game on the 3rd or 4th turn, and that can still shift the balance immediately.

I don't know...I'll keep checking back here, because as I said, I do like the idea, but I think I've voiced pretty much all I have to say on it. I'm not against it, but it would have to stand on its own merits, adding to the game without hurting the game.

Like I said...pretty sure this will (and perhaps should) stay on house rules.

But always interested in what the rest of you think!

We're good mate! Still friends. Until you pull up in a Pickle with little nasties. Then? Well. . .