STAR WARS Armada: Armada Tournament - The road to Victory.

Round 1-3: 400 point fleets -1/3 2/3 rule for squadrons vs ships.

Round 4: 500 point combination fleet of remaining ships from rounds 1-3, with 1/3 2/3 rule.

Fleet build requirements: each player will bring 3 400 point lists to the game using the following restrictions.

1. Named ship cards (i.e. Home One), unique named cards (i.e. Captain Needa), and Unique Squadrons (i.e. Han Solo) may only be used once across any of the 3 fleets. Foe example no 2 fleet lists may contain MC80's with the Home One upgrade. Admirals are restricted by the same rules as unique named cards. An Admiral may only be used on one list, surviving admirals from the first 3 rounds may be used as a choice in round 4.

2. Fleet damage is documented on the fleet build sheet at the end of turn 6. After the end of round six and damage has been recorded the total hull points of ships will be added up and the total hull points of squadrons will be added up. Each player will roll a D10 twice to receive a percentage point roll from 10-100 for both ships and squadrons. This roll will determine the amount of hull points the fleet repairs before the beginning of the next round of play. The first roll will be the repair percentage of ship hull points and the second will be a value for squadron hull points. The Admiral may allocate the resources as they see fit across the fleet list. (I.e. An admiral's fleet has a total hull point value of 20 ship points. They roll a 3 or 30% repair roll. That admiral is able to repair 6 points of damage to his ships after the conclusion of the round.

Fleets that contain a ships or squadrons that was completely destroyed in the previous round cannot repair the destroyed ship or squadron and that ship or squadron is considered out of play for the rest of the tournament. For example, the Star Destroyer Avenger is destroyed in round 1 it cannot be used in round 2-4.

3. After the conclusion of each round 1-3 the Admiral will roll a D10 for each of his lists that contain damaged ships to repair damage dealt to the fleet. Damaged fleets do not prevent an admiral from selecting the fleet for the following round of play. If all of the ships in a fleet are destroyed then the fleet is considered destroyed and the entire list is out of play for the remainder of the tournament.

4. Round 4: The final round will be played with a 500 point fleet comprised of the remaining ships and squadrons of the previous rounds. Unrepaired Damage to the ships and squadrons will carry over to the combined fleet.

5. Complete destruction in rounds 1-3: in the event that a player suffers complete defeat I. Rounds 1-3 and is not able to field a 500 point fleet the player is considered defeated and their round 4 opponent will be awarded a by victory of 8/2.

Fleet Selection and Initiative:

Initiative: initiative will be determined by coin toss, the winner of initiative decides if they want first or second player. The second player chooses one of their 3 fleets and the first player rolls the a d10 to get a 10-100% value of "Intel" on his enemy's fleet (i.e. The first player gets to know up to the rolled percentage of his opponents ship classes before they choose their fleet) this is to simulate the attacker vs defender (1st player being the attacker).

Fleet Selection: Admirals will choose fleets based on the initiative and their own understanding of the tactical situation. Damaged fleets can be played in back to back rounds if the Admiral chooses to do so.

By games: in the event that a player is forced to take a by game they will select one of their fleets and roll a D10 per ship and squadron to determine damage. If a player rolls a 1 or 10% the ship is not damaged, if the player rolls a 0 or 100% the ship or squadron is destroyed. Rolls in between will be damage based on a percentage of hull point value of the ship or squadron.

Objectives:

Objectives will remain unchanged from the standard of play in accordance with tournament rules.

Opponent Selection:

Opponent selection will be unchanged from the standard tournament rules, round 1 will be random and MOV will determine subsequent rounds.

Thank you for reading. My goal is to bring a new level of strategy to our game and get feedback on this idea. I want to host a tourney in our local area using these rules (unofficial and unsanctioned of course). My belief is that these rules will force players to step outside of the "perfect fleet" idea and focus on the long game that I see armada as a game is capable of representing. I also think it would be epic to see how player make choices of sacrifice in the game to still achieve the end victory.

Please let me know what you think.

This is a worthy idea IMO. We're looking implement this in our area, and I was hoping the community could give the idea a more thorough review, and offer some critiques, as no idea is perfect.

Some critiques that I see are:

• Point 2 reads a little confusingly. Maybe this is because you're using percentages and that will require rounding, etc. Also, while many of us do have d10s, and many of our games happen in game stores where dice are easy to come by, I still like using the dice that come with the game. Maybe it's easier to roll a number of red dice equal to the Motti-value of the surviving ships (1 for small, 2, for medium, and 3 for large). The total value of accuracy results can be used to flip over face-up cards, and the total nuber of hit and crit results you getcan be used to discard face-down cards. That has the virtue of using the dice we have, and not require much in the way of dividing and rounding. Maybe a similar mechanic for determining squadron hit points repaired, perhaps based off combined squadron value of the surviving ships?
• I'm not sure I understand what Point 3 is for. What does that D10 do? Wasn't repair covered under point 2?
• I don't really understand the intel aspect. I think it could be explained and worked out a bit better.
• I'm a bit ambivalent on the fate of the player with the bye. On the one hand, I want there to be some fairness, so that the person with the bye doesn't get too much of a leg up on the others. On the other hand, I like the idea that their fleet is able to hold a position (or travel to a location) without being attacked or suffering resistance, and so might even have the opportunity to repair more damage from a previous round (unless it's the first-round bye). Perhaps allow them to do repairs, but not get as many TPs and MoV.

The virtue of this system is that it helps put us back in the world of Star Wars, rather than being 'just' a game. Of course, I also prefer naming tables after systems, rather than numbering the tables.

Why would you run damaged ships in subsequent games? Surely the aim is to win the first three games with new fleets so that there is sufficient to build a 4th fleet from without using damaged ships...

Why would you run damaged ships in subsequent games? Surely the aim is to win the first three games with new fleets so that there is sufficient to build a 4th fleet from without using damaged ships...

Other than Round 4, you don't have to run damaged ships. You can run with one of the other fleets. You just have the option of doing so, if you think the match-up might be favorable, based on what you know about your opponent.

I think the idea of 3 lists that have the same unique card pool is very cool.

I think the tracking damage part would be better simplified a lot. Plus I think it's better if it's not down to a dice roll that is different for each player. There's already a ton going on in a 4 game tournament.

I think it could be: you must play each fleet once. And then damage is just maintained for the 4th fight where you choose which of your fleets you want to play. Or previously damaged ships come with say one damage card and destroyed ships come back with half hull?

I think it might be interesting if all 3 fleets have to use the same objective cards.. but that might be too restricting.

One of the issues with this sort of damage taracking is that you actually have to track the damage, and that's much harder than people realize. In a foupr round tournament that is already going to go for about 12 hours, this just isn't practical or fun. This is more of a campaign concept.

Also, players will be confused as to why their fleets aren't just spamming repairs after jumping to lightspeed, especially for ships with minor damage.

It is too complex. Too many issues represented. Damage tracking, multiple lists, etc. You are really just adding burdens to the Imperial player

It is too complex. Too many issues represented. Damage tracking, multiple lists, etc. You are really just adding burdens to the Imperial player

Could you explain why this is different for the Imperial player than for the Rebel player?

Imperial players are more likely to have HUGE stacks of damage on their ISDs, Interdictors and Victories, and have no ECMs to help mitigate damage except the ISD2.

Basically, they will just keep accumulating damage without a way to mitigate it or reduce it.

Imperial players are more likely to have HUGE stacks of damage on their ISDs, Interdictors and Victories, and have no ECMs to help mitigate damage except the ISD2.

Basically, they will just keep accumulating damage without a way to mitigate it or reduce it.

Okay, so Imperial ships on average have one hit point more than Rebel ships do (correcting for the fact that Rebels have one more small-base ship), and the Rebels do have better defensive upgrades. But is that really a vital difference that makes this system unworkable, to warrant an all-caps "HUGE"?

Also, what do you mean they do not have a way to reduce damage? They have engineering values just like Rebels do. The Interdictor even has the highest engineering value in the game. - which does make me think that perhaps the capacity to repair should be a function of the engineering value.

To add onto that, rebels can do great things without titles/aces. They have a dozen different builds that can work through their different titles/aces. While the Imperials usually want and need 2 titles/aces above all else. Demolisher and Rhymer.

So of you want to handicap the Imperial player severely go right ahead.

Oh, as for a form of hard evidence to this, the faction team Vassal we did saw the most Imperial losses, most of them revolved around the lists that could not take Rhymer or Demolisher

Mikael, he Imperial players need to rush in to do the most damage, it is a brawl for you. That means more damage and if your repair rolls are low you are SoL, if you lose your titled ships or if they get damaged you will need to spend vital repair points patching them up. Are you going to prioritize Demolisher being repaired or your ISD?

Add on to that, how many games have you played where you did not lose a ship?

Given that Rhymer and Demolisher have certainly helped the Empire be more hegemonic at the top tables, I don't see a nerfing of them be all that much of a bad thing.

I'm certainly guilty of overusing them (used them both last night, and I didn't lose a single ship), and this would give me a great excuse to try new and different things.

2. Fleet damage is documented on the fleet build sheet at the end of turn 6. After the end of round six and damage has been recorded the total hull points of ships will be added up and the total hull points of squadrons will be added up. Each player will roll a D10 twice to receive a percentage point roll from 10-100 for both ships and squadrons. This roll will determine the amount of hull points the fleet repairs before the beginning of the next round of play. The first roll will be the repair percentage of ship hull points and the second will be a value for squadron hull points. The Admiral may allocate the resources as they see fit across the fleet list. (I.e. An admiral's fleet has a total hull point value of 20 ship points. They roll a 3 or 30% repair roll. That admiral is able to repair 6 points of damage to his ships after the conclusion of the round.

So there is a lot of back and forth on fleet damage tracking and why these ships would not just fully repair by the time the 4th round is ready to go. The way I invisioned this is that the fleets are fighting in close succession. Adding the rule that you must use each fleet once before the 4th round might work but I was looking at it from the aspect of making the player decide if they risk an already damaged fleet to reserve a fresh fleet for the final fight or spread the damage out across the whole of the fleet.

I could clean up the concept of damage repair and make it a fixed variable. Once the ship is damaged you have the opportunity to repair at the end of the round in which the ship was used. I think I might have made it a little wordy but the basic idea is that you get damage. At the end of each round you see how much is repaired. In round 4 you see what is left and make a choice of those ships what you will play.

A lot of the fun factor of this premise is on what the players are looking for this is designed to up the risk and reward for the players. I look at armada as a fun game, I am a very tacticle minded person and while the standard format is fun to a person like me it just comes across as a little repetitive after a while. I want to spice things up. This format depends a lot on the skill of the player. I consider myself a mediocre player at best. In fact I lose more often than I win. I just enjoy the game and want to deepen the experience a little.

Lyraeus - you always say that the list doesn't matter, that armada is a game where you can win no matter the list. This would put it to the test. Can a player survive to the end with enough ships intact to build a 500 point fleet that is viable against their opponent or will they be crushed into submission before they can get there. I don't think it would handicap the either side more than the other. If you manage to scratch an admiral and a few named squadrons off the table then you have to rethink strategy if you were planning to rely on them. Perhaps the admiral sees they are losing and wants to save the ship or squadron for the final round so they disengage, thereby making victory easier on his opponent while sacrificing other less important ships to his/her final plan.

All in all I think this could work, thank you everyone for the feedback. I like hearing other players opinions on the concept. I know it's outside the box thinking for our game but with time to hammer out the details it might be a viable structure for a one off experience.

Given that Rhymer and Demolisher have certainly helped the Empire be more hegemonic at the top tables, I don't see a nerfing of them be all that much of a bad thing.

I'm certainly guilty of overusing them (used them both last night, and I didn't lose a single ship), and this would give me a great excuse to try new and different things.

It's not that they're overpowered, it's that the ships and squadrons they are attached to have severe drawbacks that these upgrades were designed to mitigate.

Rhymer gives a huge bonus to your bombers, but he ALSO isn't terribly effective against squadrons and can be tied up severely by even the weakest enemy squads. Firesprays are better, but their relatively low 3 AS dice means they'll typically be shot down when engaging X-Wings or other dedicated anti-squadron units.

Demolisher makes a Gladiator extremely powerful, but without it that same ship costs almost as much as an Assault Frigate and can barely attack outside of close range, mwith no defensive retrofit and only a handful of shields and hull.

When you look at the Imperial fleet, it is designed around the idea of either bull rushing the enemy or tanking up to the enemy and inflicting damage before they can escape or retaliate fast enough to threaten Imperial ships and squadrons. And this means damage will occur if playing the fleet optimally. Some ships, like Devastator, are even dependent on being shot at to become more powerful as the fight goes on.

So when you carry damage over, the Imperials are affected far more than Rebels, because their preferred strategies involve tanking damage.

One of the issues with this sort of damage taracking is that you actually have to track the damage, and that's much harder than people realize. In a foupr round tournament that is already going to go for about 12 hours, this just isn't practical or fun. This is more of a campaign concept.

Also, players will be confused as to why their fleets aren't just spamming repairs after jumping to lightspeed, especially for ships with minor damage.

Not to be confrontational, but what is hard about writing a number next to a ship on your list? When you repair you can erase or scratch out the number and write a new one. The tracking of damage is extremely important in live combat. You have limited resources and as a commander you must decide how to best facilitate those repairs and sacrifice a piece of equipment to save another.

I think a good example on a small scale is this a rebel mc 80 suffers 6 cards of damage. The player rolls a 4 on a d10. The ship has 8 hull points in total. A roll of 4 = 40%. 40% of 8 cards is 3.2, rounded up to 4. At the end of turn 6 round 1 the mc 80 can repair up to 4 cards of damage, bringing the total damage of the ship to 2 (6-4=2). Repeat this process for each fleet at the end of turn 6 round 2 and turn 6 round 3. After damage is repaired at the end of round 3 the commander builds their 500 point fleet out of the remaining ships and remaining admirals left alive.

This is a worthy idea IMO. We're looking implement this in our area, and I was hoping the community could give the idea a more thorough review, and offer some critiques, as no idea is perfect.

Some critiques that I see are:

• [*]

[*]I don't really understand the intel aspect. I think it could be explained and worked out a bit better.

i will work on the wording

Sure, it's a little more complex than a standard tournament, but I'm not sure why it's considered prohibitively more complex, especially if some of the wording is cleared up and some concepts ironed out.

Some critiques that I see are:

• [*] [*]I don't really understand the intel aspect. I think it could be explained and worked out a bit better.

On Intel: Unless you are running three identical list the Intel aspect can be very important. If you have an idea of what your opponent is running then you can choose the most appropriate force to meet the combat requirements. You don't want to send 3 star destroyers against a bunch of cr90 and get out maneuvered. If you know the enemy is running two or three mc80s, the SD's would be more appropriate. It's all about risk, reward, and the long fight.

i will work on the wording

I understand that part. I'm confused about the mechanic. Let's say I roll a 6 and I get to see 60% of my opponent's fleet. How is that 60% translated into what the opponent shows me? It might be better to have a table that says what sort of information to give, e.g. number and size class of ships, points share of ships-to-squadrons, or the complete specs on the largest vessel.

How about no RNG? Seriously.

Nobody likes RNG, nobody wants to repair for random values.

You should just track the damage. Either all damage, or shields respawn. I personally like all damage. Its just easier.

Just have 3 lists, play 3 lists. Day two, combine them into the 500 or 600 point game.

Given that Rhymer and Demolisher have certainly helped the Empire be more hegemonic at the top tables, I don't see a nerfing of them be all that much of a bad thing.

I'm certainly guilty of overusing them (used them both last night, and I didn't lose a single ship), and this would give me a great excuse to try new and different things.

Why don't you try playing a game without either of those units Mikael and see how you do. Play 3 games and see what occurs.

Lyraeus - you always say that the list doesn't matter, that armada is a game where you can win no matter the list. This would put it to the test. Can a player survive to the end with enough ships intact to build a 500 point fleet that is viable against their opponent or will they be crushed into submission before they can get there. I don't think it would handicap the either side more than the other. If you manage to scratch an admiral and a few named squadrons off the table then you have to rethink strategy if you were planning to rely on them. Perhaps the admiral sees they are losing and wants to save the ship or squadron for the final round so they disengage, thereby making victory easier on his opponent while sacrificing other less important ships to his/her final plan.

Yea, the list doesn't matter but no one in he area is at pt106's level of play. Not on the Imperial side anyway. Shmitty and Naboobo2000 are excellent players but Naboobo2000 is partially idealistic in his builds and is in a deep relationship with Gladiators while shmitty is primarily Rebels like I am. pt106 had a strong list that uses neither Demolisher or Rhymer and it wins a lot. That is amazing.

As for scrapping a Fleet together, you do realize that the rebels will have a far better chance at this than the Imperials right? This is due to the Imperials having to brawl. They have to get into the fight where as the rebels consistently want to stay at range and snipe with red dice.

If an Imperial player wins and if they lose too many things, their handicap is far bigger than a rebel players mostly because a rebel player can build lists with no titles and no aces and still do great. Imperial lists have troubles with that.

How about no RNG? Seriously.

Nobody likes RNG, nobody wants to repair for random values.

You should just track the damage. Either all damage, or shields respawn. I personally like all damage. Its just easier.

Just have 3 lists, play 3 lists. Day two, combine them into the 500 or 600 point game.

With the random-value repair, I think Marauder1983 is trying to capture an unknowable contingency for realism's sake.

If I were the organizer of this, what I would do to reframe what I think Marauder1983 is trying to achieve, is to drop the label 'tournament'. A tournament implies a level playing field in which it is people's competitiveness that is being tested. I don't think that's precisely the objective that he's going for.

I once ran an epic X-Wing event (with prize support from a tournament kit), with alternate rules. (Imperials were attempting to stop Rebel blockade runners.) Due to imperfect play-testing, it wasn't the most balanced set-up (GR-75s tended to be toast; CR90s were really hard to kill), but because it wasn't a "tournament", and just a set-up that was playing out a narrative scenario, nobody really complained that it wasn't perfectly balanced.

Given that Rhymer and Demolisher have certainly helped the Empire be more hegemonic at the top tables, I don't see a nerfing of them be all that much of a bad thing.

I'm certainly guilty of overusing them (used them both last night, and I didn't lose a single ship), and this would give me a great excuse to try new and different things.

As thecactusman17 stated, it's not them being overpowered,they are from that. It is about the fact that Imperial lists have a reliance on them because they allow Imperial lists to counter basic Rebel play. It is hard for an ISD to catch a swarm of CR90's that is where Rhymer and Demolisher excel.

Why don't you try playing a game without either of those units Mikael and see how you do. Play 3 games and see what occurs.

That's a good suggestion. I've been needing to try something different from my usual. I just haven't had (/made) the time to really think of a new list.

But as you know there's a lot of discussion about Demolisher and Rhymer being overpowered. If what you're saying is true, that the Empire is dependent on those two unique cards for being competitive, then I'm not sure how you get around the conclusion that they are overpowered. You're just saying that without them the Empire is underpowered - in the current meta, anyway.

Blail - Mike is correct in his assessment of my reasoning behind the non fixed repair number. I would like to do the same for shields personally but that doesn't seem to fit a defense that regenerates over time on its own, in theory at least.

Lyraeus - I believe you contradicted yourself in your last post. if the list doesn't matter then the end game should be just fine. Yes the rebels have more small ships and could snipe from a distance but if an imperial player has 7 or 8 glads with all engine techs, those little cr 90's will be in for a world of hurt. I believe FFG put a significant amount of work into building a balanced game where aces and named ships can add to the battle but not be a make or break asset. IF that is untrue as you surmised in your last point then the system is broken. I choose not to believe that. You are very good at sniping with TRC's it is a tactic that works very well for you and your style of play. I am a bull in a china shop and run ISD's down peoples throats. Everyone has a tactic that they enjoy, and every tactic has a counter.

**Edit** Thinking about this I might have to buy a fourth ISD if this thing kicks off - Insert menacing laugh.

I have taken some of the points the community has made and Mike I believe tournament might not be the proper choice of titles, perhaps just calling it an event would be better. Make the prizes go to the best (highest ranking) imperial and rebel players. maybe even honorable mention prizes to the runner ups. depending on the level of interest of course.

See the next post for the revised content. I expanded the damage rules and added examples to clear up confusion, the intel section now has an example, and a few other areas have receive touch up based on feed back.

Revised Event Format - keep the feedback coming, it only helps me improve the idea.

Round 1-3: 400 point fleets -1/3 2/3 rule for squadrons vs ships.
Round 4: 500 point combination fleet of remaining ships from rounds 1-3, with 1/3 2/3 rule.

Fleet build requirements: each player will bring 3 400 point lists to the game using the following restrictions.

1. Named ship cards (i.e. Home One), unique named cards (i.e. Captain Needa), and Unique Squadrons (i.e. Han Solo) may only be used once across any of the 3 fleets. For example no 2 fleet lists may contain MC80's with the Home One upgrade. Admirals are restricted by the same rules as unique named cards. An Admiral may only be used on one list, surviving admirals from the first 3 rounds may be used as a choice in round 4.

2. Fleet damage is documented on the fleet build sheet at the end of turn 6 on each round. After the end of turn six and damage has been recorded the total hull points of ships will be added up and the total hull points of squadrons will be added up, only remaining ships are counted. Each player will roll a D10 twice to receive a percentage point roll from 10-100 for both ships and squadrons. This roll will determine the amount of hull points the fleet repairs before the beginning of the next round of play. The first roll will be the repair percentage of ship hull points and the second will be a value for squadron hull points. The Admiral may allocate the resources as they see fit across the fleet list. Shield damage will repair automatically after the round is finished.

In the event that the admiral is able to fully repair ships and/or squadrons and there is unused repair points available the admiral may not use those repair points are lost. Ship repair points cannot be used to repair squadrons and squadron repair points cannot be used to repair ships.

The repairs will be repeated for all lists at the conclusion of turn six in rounds 1-3. So the fleet fielded in round 1 will repair after turn six round 2 and turn six round 3.

Example 1: An admiral's fleet has a total hull point value of 20 ship points at the end of turn six. They roll a 3 or 30% repair roll. That admiral is able to repair 6 points (20 X .6 = 6) of damage to his ships after the conclusion of the round. An Admiral then rolls a second D10 for squadrons. The admiral has 30 points of Squadron Hull value. They roll a 9, 90%, equaling 27 points. The admiral has taken only 3 points of damage to his squadrons so as a result all of his squadrons are repaired. (the excess repair value is nullified)

Example 2: on a small scale is a rebel mc 80 suffers 6 cards of damage. The player rolls a 4 on a d10. The ship has 8 hull points in total. A roll of 4 = 40%. 40% of 8 cards is 3.2, rounded up to 4. At the end of turn 6 round 1 the mc 80 can repair up to 4 cards of damage, bringing the total damage of the ship to 2 (6-4=2). Repeat this process for each fleet at the end of turn 6 round 2 and turn 6 round 3. After damage is repaired at the end of round 3 the commander builds their 500 point fleet out of the remaining ships and remaining admirals left alive.

Fleets that contain a ships or squadrons that was completely destroyed in the previous round cannot repair. The destroyed ship and/or squadron is considered out of play for the rest of the tournament. For example, the Star Destroyer Avenger is destroyed in round 1 it cannot be used in round 2 or 3 if the admiral plays the list again and the avenger may not be used to build the final 500 point fleet.

3. Damaged fleets do not prevent an admiral from selecting the fleet for the following round of play. If all of the ships in a fleet are destroyed then the fleet is considered destroyed and the entire list is out of play for the remainder of the tournament. Squadrons may only survive if at least one remaining ship survives.

4. Round 4: The final round will be played with a 500 point fleet comprised of the remaining ships and squadrons of the previous rounds. Unrepaired Damage to the ships and squadrons will carry over to the combined fleet.

5. Complete destruction in rounds 1-3: in the event that a player suffers complete defeat I. Rounds 1-3 and is not able to field a 500 point fleet the player is considered defeated and their round 4 opponent will be awarded a by victory of 8/2.

Fleet Selection and Initiative:

Initiative: initiative will be determined by coin toss, the winner of initiative decides if they want first or second player. The second player chooses one of their 3 fleets and the first player rolls the a d10 to get a 10-100% value of "Intel" on his enemy's fleet (i.e. The first player gets to know up to the rolled percentage of his opponents ship classes before they choose their fleet) this is to simulate the attacker vs defender (1st player being the attacker). The second player will be allowed to reveal his choosing of ships to his opponent. (Base class only). Squadrons will not be revealed by intel.

Example 1: Player 1 wins initiative and rolls a D10. The D10 reveals a 4, 40%. Player two has a fleet consisting of 2 Nebulon B’s (Yvaris is one), 2 MC 30’s (abmonition is one), 2 CR90’s, 1 X wing Squadron (wedge), and 1 Y wing Squadron (dutch). Player two has 6 ships, (6x.4=2.4 round up to 3). Player two chooses to reveal that he is fielding 2 cr90’s one A and one B, and a Nebulon B Escort Frigate. Player two is not required to give the fact that the ships are named or what their armaments are.

Player one uses this information to surmise that his opponent has at least 6 ships and chooses one of his lists with that information in mind. Player one chooses to field a list with 5 gladiator star destroyers.

Fleet Selection: Admirals will choose fleets based on the initiative and their own understanding of the tactical situation. Damaged fleets can be played in back to back rounds if the Admiral chooses to do so.

By games: in the event that a player is forced to take a by game they will select one of their fleets and roll a D10 per ship and squadron to determine damage. If a player rolls a 1 or 10% the ship is not damaged, if the player rolls a 0 or 100% the ship or squadron is destroyed. Rolls in between will be damage based on a percentage of hull point value of the ship or squadron.

Objectives: Objectives will remain unchanged from the standard of play in accordance with tournament rules.

Opponent Selection: Opponent selection will be unchanged from the standard tournament rules, round 1 will be random and MOV will determine subsequent rounds.

How about no RNG? Seriously.

Nobody likes RNG, nobody wants to repair for random values.

You should just track the damage. Either all damage, or shields respawn. I personally like all damage. Its just easier.

Just have 3 lists, play 3 lists. Day two, combine them into the 500 or 600 point game.

With the random-value repair, I think Marauder1983 is trying to capture an unknowable contingency for realism's sake.

If I were the organizer of this, what I would do to reframe what I think Marauder1983 is trying to achieve, is to drop the label 'tournament'. A tournament implies a level playing field in which it is people's competitiveness that is being tested. I don't think that's precisely the objective that he's going for.

I once ran an epic X-Wing event (with prize support from a tournament kit), with alternate rules. (Imperials were attempting to stop Rebel blockade runners.) Due to imperfect play-testing, it wasn't the most balanced set-up (GR-75s tended to be toast; CR90s were really hard to kill), but because it wasn't a "tournament", and just a set-up that was playing out a narrative scenario, nobody really complained that it wasn't perfectly balanced.

Given that Rhymer and Demolisher have certainly helped the Empire be more hegemonic at the top tables, I don't see a nerfing of them be all that much of a bad thing.

I'm certainly guilty of overusing them (used them both last night, and I didn't lose a single ship), and this would give me a great excuse to try new and different things.

As thecactusman17 stated, it's not them being overpowered,they are from that. It is about the fact that Imperial lists have a reliance on them because they allow Imperial lists to counter basic Rebel play. It is hard for an ISD to catch a swarm of CR90's that is where Rhymer and Demolisher excel.

Why don't you try playing a game without either of those units Mikael and see how you do. Play 3 games and see what occurs.

That's a good suggestion. I've been needing to try something different from my usual. I just haven't had (/made) the time to really think of a new list.

But as you know there's a lot of discussion about Demolisher and Rhymer being overpowered. If what you're saying is true, that the Empire is dependent on those two unique cards for being competitive, then I'm not sure how you get around the conclusion that they are overpowered. You're just saying that without them the Empire is underpowered - in the current meta, anyway.

I am entirely willing to state that is a perfectly reasonable assessment of the Imperial meta.

Remove their two most powerful upgrades and the Imperial meta is entirely underperforming. Which we've seen time and time again. Winning Imperial list design is almost entirely dependent on those two upgrades. VSDs can't win without Rhymer, all ship lists can't win without Demolisher or at least could be strongly improved with it.

Then it would seem to me that it would be extremely important for the imperial players to protect those two. Which is why the option to field a fleet that is already damaged twice in order to protect certain assets.

This is what I mean:

An imperial player can build one of the three lists with both Rhymer and Demolisher in the build. Choose not to field that fleet at all by deploying a slightly damaged fleet in round 3 if there is enough of the fleet left. Thereby protecting the two move valuable ships till the final 500 point battle.

Sometimes you have to lose the battle to win the war. The player could use the damaged fleet to take out key targets on his opponents list rather than going for the objective victory. Using the damaged fleet as pigs to the slaughter in order to take out Homeone or Yvaris for instance, or to attemp to kill the admiral of the fleet.

This is where I love the strategy. The rebels are more flexible and have a greater variety of fighting tactics, the imperials on the other hand are brawlers and can be used in that manner. Victory through attrition.