I have issues with games in general that have long setup/keeping times. Armada is one of them. This is because my gaming circles or people who would play games are largely made up of casuals. Long setup and keeping would intimidate them from the game as well as increase downtime

what methods do you employ in ensuring fast setup/takedowns? So far I only employed sirwillibald's cardboxes which I find faster to remove stuff from and order, and to keep everything into the core set box. Also I am looking at a setup time of within 5 min and takedown within 5 min.

I currently have one of everything except the victory exp pack

I only bring what I'm playing with. Then it all fits into the Old GW "Fast Attack" satchel I have.

can easily be playing within 5 minutes.

I found that putting all my tokens in a tackle box type container really helps to speed up set-up. I'm looking into investing in some sheets to hold my upgrade cards.

I also agree with Dras, only bringing what you need helps a ton.

I have my ships and squadrons in Battle Foam and so my squadrons are all assembled (and Painted). This saves a bunch of time.

Additionally, I also spend a few minutes during the week and presort my upgrade cards and Squad cards into a ready pack. When its time to deploy, I lay down the ship cards, and quickly put the upgrades by them.

I've also felt this game could really do with the addition of a chess clock, with each person getting a 1 hour block to play (or 1.5 hour). You get set up and deploy, First player slaps the clock to start his time, and reveals dials and move ship, after he is done ship the clock over to your opponents time till he is done, then he ships it back to you for your next activation. At the end, leave the clock with the player with the last squad activation until dials are set. If the guy with the running clock finish's his dials and his opponent hasn't, he ships the clock over to him so his time burns till he is finished, then back to whoever's ship activation it is.

If you run out of time, you lose.

I have three lunchbox sized mini carrying cases with foam slots that I bought used for $30 that I prepack with everything I need to play. I unzip it, dump it on the table, and organize. Pack up is "throw everything into a slot" It takes a few minutes to pack it initially, but since it can be done a night, or a week in advance it isn't bad.

Keeping them all on hand packed with a fleet also makes it great for quick pick up games. When a friend comes over, "Hey wanna play a quick game?" Pick two containers, dump them on the table, playing in 5 minutes.

I have my tokens seperate. Try a small Plano clear case. You have no idea how much time tokens take to setup.

Know where your models are as well and get a binder for your upgrade cards! The binder does wonders!

I have this binder and it is worth every penny. They have a non-zip one as well which is nice. I have 4-5 of most cards in the binder (2 of each Commander and title) and I have room to grow.

http://www.ultimateguard.com/en/binders-folders/zipfolio/mini-american-zipfolio.html

After having experimented with it, its just not the same game to be on a timer....

If I wanted split-second decisions, I'd play a different game...

I enjoy being able to set up,

play,

chat casually with an opponent,

not worry about whose time is whose time,

kick out some banter,

pop and get a drink when needed,

Answer inevitable rules questions from three tables over

There just isn't a fair way - unless you have pausing clocks - to go through all of the periods of time where both players are engaged and doing something... Because otherwise, based on list, you can easily run out your opponents time.

I agree with Dras. Don't time yourself, have fun, relax, enjoy the pace of the game. Having a good setup and a good takedown will help you immensely.

Oh and have a few lists made up so that you can pick one and go. List building can take forever

Just take a little time and get your stuff together before your session, then pop all of the tokens/dials/cards you will need into one of the numerous sealy-bag's that come with the game and expansions

You know that magic trick where the magician just slides the cards out in order on the table.

Yeah I do that.

You know that magic trick where the magician just slides the cards out in order on the table.

Yeah I do that.

Definitely use a tackle box or craft organizer for the tokens. I also keep my small bases + stands together, my medium bases + stands together, and my large bases + stands together (so 3 separate compartments), and same with the tokens. Makes it easy to find stuff but not have to bring every stand I own with me.

I also have a tournament carrying system to move from 1 table to another without having to put everything away.

Having a mini american card binder plus a standard binder also really helps, with cards organized by type and then by faction (where necessary).

Lastly, I have a foam tray for the rulers/movement tools and other game set up stuff, plus a dice bag with the damage deck in it.

Yeah, add another tick to the 'prep a tackle box with what you need to survive' kind of set up over here. I bought a super cheap bead box at Michaels (about $2) and I just fill it with what I need to play the game. Everything else goes in a larger bead box that holds extras remarkably well. Then just slide the cards in order, get a decent lidded tupperwear container to pack it all in, and you're set up in under 5 minutes.

My tourney box: MC80, Neb B, CR90, CR90. The bottom little container second from the right usually holds all the defense tokens i need for ace squadrons. If you've got those awesome 3D/woodcut card holders then you dance the tournament table jig all day long.

Build a list then bring nothing but the list.

I sleeve all my cards also and I find that you can put the upgrade cards and defense tokens and one of each command token inside the sleeve of the ship card. That way when you are setting you just pull all the stuff you need from one sleeve and then put it back into that sleeve to tear down.

along with having a carrying solution that allows you to have all squadrons and most of your ships assembled it is a really quick set up and take down.

I have seen someone put tokens and such into the craft circle cases that screw on each other.

It is definitely possible to have a 5 min setup and takedown....sort of. As others have alluded to, you need to do some prep work at home before and after your game time. Beforehand, you need to get all the ships, squadrons, cards, and tokens needed for a list into a box and ziplocks. Afterward I just dump everything into the box, and sort it out later at home.

I do have a tray of generic tokens as everyone has mentioned....helpful during the game.

If you want to make lists on the spot, then it's going to be a much slower process. I recommend SirWilli's big upgrade card box....

After having experimented with it, its just not the same game to be on a timer....

If I wanted split-second decisions, I'd play a different game...

I enjoy being able to set up,

play,

chat casually with an opponent,

not worry about whose time is whose time,

kick out some banter,

pop and get a drink when needed,

Answer inevitable rules questions from three tables over

There just isn't a fair way - unless you have pausing clocks - to go through all of the periods of time where both players are engaged and doing something... Because otherwise, based on list, you can easily run out your opponents time.

Not sure how someone could run out my clock... if they are taking too long to roll shields, or count damage cards out, or resolve a crit... Ship the clock over to them. They can ship back when done.

And while a nice relaxing game is fun, so is getting more than 1 game in on game evening or even finishing a game.. The game store closes. I know one guy that I doubt has ever actually counted VP's up, as his games generally only go to late turn 5 before the game store is yelling pick up.

That isn't the experience I want.

To every rule there is an exception. There is always going to be someone who is just slow. Maybe buy them a clock and tell them to carry it around for *their* games. Even playing with a squadron heavy list in casual environments I don't typically have an issue finishing games. My friends will come over and we will pack 3 or more games into a night, playing at regular pace. But we are all familiar with the game, and understand that moving at a fairly brisk pace makes the whole experience better for everyone.

That said, I have played opponents that have made me crave the clock. But I guess what I am saying is that most players, given enough time and experience, will find themselves not having an issue with time constraints.

I'd reinforce the idea of having tokens and whatnot sorted. I use two Plano cases: one for tokens/dice, the other for cards/command dials/speed dials. The ships are in Feldherr foam trays. Once I have enough trays for all of my ships and some extra storage boxes (which probably won't be until after Wave IV drops), then I'll have the trays sorted by faction to make it easier.

But if I'm headed to a tournament, I put just the trays I need in an old Battlefoam bag (the LE black Flames of War one, since I have a name patch on the front) with the Plano cases and whatnot. I also have two FFG 3' x 3' mats I roll up into a carrying tube (from the Flames of War Tank Aces league), which has a shoulder strap. It's a pretty decent setup, and easy to carry.

I'm going to agree with others that boxes to sort your tokens help a lot. Jewelry boxes (check your local hobby/craft store) are often the best - they're cheap and if you're lucky you can find one with rounded bottoms so it's easy to slide the tokens out. Past that, I've found having a binder on hand with binder pages full of sorted cards (ships use one size of page, squadrons another, and upgrade cards the final type) makes finding those very easy. Much better than flipping through a pile you dug out of a box somewhere.

If it's a tournament, then bringing only the components/cards you need to cut down on the clutter is good. A carrying tray helps too.

Thanks guys! I have sorted my tokens into planos as well. regarding the cards, is a binder or sirwillibald's boxes better/more efficient? I have not made boxes for them yet they are categorized in the ziplocks right now. Both for ship cards wise and thr sorted upgrade traybox.

Ultimate Guard make some Upgrade Sized pages, and the regular pages too. They are side loading, which makes the cards far less prone to slip. They hold the FFG sleeves which is nice too.

I play at home and have two friends that borrow my stuff, I have a small A4 box for each of us and we leave our cards, ships, dice and tokens in the boxes, I have put our names on them so, set up is just a matter of handing out the proper box to each player. I think I'll add a small tackle box as shown previously into each box.

For tournaments I just use a very cheap plastic "IN" tray and put everything into that. I was using these prior to the boxes, but we bought some storage shelves and I needed something I could stack into a small cupboard.

I also purchased a second vinyl mat, I can hope to find a fourth player that may join us, and on that I used a tape that is used to section off a whiteboard into a grid, and marked up each players deplyment zones, play zone and such. Much akin to a real life version of the Vassal board. That also helps speed up the setup as the only thing that needs to be measured is the distance between obstacles.

Thanks guys! I have sorted my tokens into planos as well. regarding the cards, is a binder or sirwillibald's boxes better/more efficient? I have not made boxes for them yet they are categorized in the ziplocks right now. Both for ship cards wise and thr sorted upgrade traybox.

I have found nothing better or faster than SirWilli's big upgrade box. Here's a pic of mine:

I used to use separate ziplocks, then SirWilli's separate upgrade type boxes, but found having to open another container to obtain or store a card of a different type to be cumbersome. With a 5 minute time limit, seconds matter. The big box lets you flip and select super-efficiently. Find, take, done.

Ships I use his boxes, though bags would be fine too. With only two categories of ships it's not as big a deal to have to open/close two containers.

And I still throw everything for a fleet into a ziploc at home for ultimate setup speed - ship & upgrade cards, defense tokens, squadron cards. If you want to spend a few more minutes on cleanup again SirWilli's tray makes it so much easier...

Just make sure you dont leave your squads at home.....

I can set up from total storage in 15 minutes. So I'm not usually the slow one, but some players take over 30 minutes.

This game just has so many parts to set up that its really hard. In Xwing, I'm more optimized, but Armada has tokens on cards and shield dials and dials and speed dials and dinky fighters and 5 different rulers and objective cards and reminder cards. And two mats. Ugh.

I have no idea how to speed things up for you. I just keep my tokens in some easy containers and thats it. Everything just comes out fast from normal storage.