I've already got 5 local X-Wing Players, saying "That's what I was waiting for."

I've been wanting a campaign mode for Armada since before I started playing competitively (even tried to design one). It's a great way to get a bunch of your stuff on the table in ways you normally just wouldn't be able to do. It will also be a great way to draw in players that might be intimidated by the advesarial nature of the base game.

All-in-all long overdue!

Maybe this will help light a fire under both the game AND the local community. I'm playing X-Wing right now because that's what there are players for, but I'd rather be doing Armada.

Well you can blame the company all you want..............this is the price we all pay when we rely on foreign companies to make the stuff we want. I live in Canada and it is the same thing. To save money companies out source foreign companies to provide for them their product. Maybe we should shop local companies that manufacture on site. So when the products that we want or need arrive from overseas, with a long delay we complain. Well if it is too much for the complainers

then find another company.

Wait, is this thread about the wait for new waves, or the next IFF podcast???

Wait, is this thread about the wait for new waves, or the next IFF podcast???

Seriously, those guys need to stop being so selfish and give us another three hour long podcast for free!

So, anyone else that this is shaping up to be a great year? 2 new waves and a campaign! My oh my, we may just become spoiled!

One new wave, split into two parts by production issues. You can't convince me the wave 4 ships weren't created before the Flotillas. Because they are both earlier product numbers.

One new wave, split into two parts by production issues. You can't convince me the wave 4 ships weren't created before the Flotillas. Because they are both earlier product numbers.

Why does it matter?

It is better for the meta's and for peoples wallets and keeps the game going over the long term. Sounds like good planning to me.

I agree, I'd prefer a guaranteed 2 ships every 4-6 months. I'm concerned that this is it for the year. If there isn't a release to coincide with the movie, then it will be just that much harder to attract people.

Gencon is less than three weeks away, let's see what they announce there.

Yeah, let's hope it's in the case so we can get a good look. At least I know I will be asking questions while at GenCon.

Yeah, let's hope it's in the case so we can get a good look. At least I know I will be asking questions while at GenCon.

Are you bringing an interrogation droid?

I agree, I'd prefer a guaranteed 2 ships every 4-6 months. I'm concerned that this is it for the year. If there isn't a release to coincide with the movie, then it will be just that much harder to attract people.

You as a player attracts people, playing the game, being enthusiastic, etc. All those 's attracts people.

I agree, I'd prefer a guaranteed 2 ships every 4-6 months. I'm concerned that this is it for the year. If there isn't a release to coincide with the movie, then it will be just that much harder to attract people.

Few games if any get that. Even X-Wing does not get that.

You as a player attracts people, playing the game, being enthusiastic, etc. All those 's attracts people.

Correct. These games are complex and have a relatively high barrier of entry of time and money relative to other games (Warhammer excepted). I hosted a game night at my house just last night, and despite there being a ton of other games out/being played, about 5-6 people wound up watching a friend and I get our Armada game in. Now they'd like us to demo it for them.

Be the change you want to see, as it were.

That's not ridiculous. Chewbacca riding a giant squirrel and fighting Nazi's is.

Who painted this masterpiece? Was it Bob Ross? I bet it was Bob Ross.

I actually have no idea. A friend of mine had it set as his backdrop on his PC so I googled "Chewbacca giant squirrel nazis" and it popped up

I agree, I'd prefer a guaranteed 2 ships every 4-6 months. I'm concerned that this is it for the year. If there isn't a release to coincide with the movie, then it will be just that much harder to attract people.

Few games if any get that. Even X-Wing does not get that.

You as a player attracts people, playing the game, being enthusiastic, etc. All those 's attracts people.

Correct. These games are complex and have a relatively high barrier of entry of time and money relative to other games (Warhammer excepted). I hosted a game night at my house just last night, and despite there being a ton of other games out/being played, about 5-6 people wound up watching a friend and I get our Armada game in. Now they'd like us to demo it for them.

Be the change you want to see, as it were.

Narration of what's going on and some great terrain pieces helps a lot!

I agree, I'd prefer a guaranteed 2 ships every 4-6 months. I'm concerned that this is it for the year. If there isn't a release to coincide with the movie, then it will be just that much harder to attract people.

I'm more concerned that my local Armada scene seems to have imploded (it wasn't very large to begin with), and that was right after wave 3 was announced. Not even wave 4 have generated renewed interest. So not sure if 'new stuff often' is the key to a healthy gaming community.

I agree, I'd prefer a guaranteed 2 ships every 4-6 months. I'm concerned that this is it for the year. If there isn't a release to coincide with the movie, then it will be just that much harder to attract people.

I'm more concerned that my local Armada scene seems to have imploded (it wasn't very large to begin with), and that was right after wave 3 was announced. Not even wave 4 have generated renewed interest. So not sure if 'new stuff often' is the key to a healthy gaming community.

Yeah, FFG needs to step it up a notch in terms of marketing for the game.

This is actually an issue across all of gaming as it starts to truly evolve away from the nerd shadows, you start hitting the big-boy scale you need to get creative on how you integrate your verticals and incentivize your channel.

If they were smart they would get some data science in there to figure out how much a core set is worth to them. In other words, an expansion is intrinsically worthless without a core set and a core set is likely to generate (X) amount of average revenue in expansion sales. If they worked with their channel (e.g. FFG -> distribution->Retail ) to get some meaningful downstream data they could adjust pricing accordingly. If you have this information you can shift some of the cost off the core set and amortize it across the right expansions. You may end up raising the cost of expansions by, say, a dollar to 3 dollars but reducing the core set cost by a significant margin. If the model stays true and you combine it with some awareness activity you not only lower the barrier to entry but also give growth a kick in the pants (because remember a core set generates X in expansion revenue)

I agree, I'd prefer a guaranteed 2 ships every 4-6 months. I'm concerned that this is it for the year. If there isn't a release to coincide with the movie, then it will be just that much harder to attract people.

I'm more concerned that my local Armada scene seems to have imploded (it wasn't very large to begin with), and that was right after wave 3 was announced. Not even wave 4 have generated renewed interest. So not sure if 'new stuff often' is the key to a healthy gaming community.

Yeah, FFG needs to step it up a notch in terms of marketing for the game.

This is actually an issue across all of gaming as it starts to truly evolve away from the nerd shadows, you start hitting the big-boy scale you need to get creative on how you integrate your verticals and incentivize your channel.

If they were smart they would get some data science in there to figure out how much a core set is worth to them. In other words, an expansion is intrinsically worthless without a core set and a core set is likely to generate (X) amount of average revenue in expansion sales. If they worked with their channel (e.g. FFG -> distribution->Retail ) to get some meaningful downstream data they could adjust pricing accordingly. If you have this information you can shift some of the cost off the core set and amortize it across the right expansions. You may end up raising the cost of expansions by, say, a dollar to 3 dollars but reducing the core set cost by a significant margin. If the model stays true and you combine it with some awareness activity you not only lower the barrier to entry but also give growth a kick in the pants (because remember a core set generates X in expansion revenue)

Speaking of picking up Armada for new players...

...the Core set is NOT a sexy piece of kit.

IMO it would have benefited from coming with a second Imperial ship, something that didn't handle like a brick. And no, I don't dislike the Vic, it's a great ship, but there is no...variety in models - or gameplay. Do any of you remember running games with only the 1 Core set? How boring was that? Or 2 Core sets? Almost as dull. Do you also remember how great the Glad was when wave 1 was finally there? A SECOND Imp ship! Woot!!!

And you HAVE to have a Core. No other way to get the core components. That's just cruel. Esp. vs. players who want to play only 1 faction.

The price of the core set is maybe a issue (125$ CAN), but after showing the game to maybe 20 of my friends, the majority of them really like the game but no one have decide to buy the stuff. The total price of my fleet frighten alot of people's (nearly 1000$ CAN, I have 2 models of everything and even more) but I think the time consumption (3 to 4 hours per game) frithten even more people's. Playing this game is a little commitment and you have to be prepare for it. It's my favorite game of all time but I can understand my friends who like to play, but not necesserly be ready to pay that amount of money for playing some times. Even with good will, I'm playing around 3-4 times per month maximum (life issues restraining me - work,girlfriend, friend, family, etc...). So even with a one side fleet (Reb or Imp), the total amount of investment should turn around 500$ if you really want a nice fleet with many combination. No problem for me but it's not the same for everyone.

For coming back to the topics , the number of release is fine for my point of view. As already said before in this thread, It's giving us the time to try all the new stuff at the time. And the way they are doing this, each time that i'm thinking a way to improve the game between the release time, they (FFG) release someting that look like what I was planning to do. For example, 5 months ago I bougth a Interdictor from a previous game of SW and decide what the caracteristic should be use by it, cause this ship was really missing in that game. I made my own version Class-1 and Class-2, with the base design and all what it need to play. A lot of work and time but I was happy with the result and it was working well. And you now what happen the last month, the Interdictor is there with caracteristic that look like the one that I made and even better! They want us to wait just enough for the great stuff, and think about it... and it's ok with me

Another example, whit my friend, we where thinking a way to use the map of Star Wars Rebellion (board game) for a campaign mode. Bammm!!! FFG came with The Corellian Campaign. I beleive FFG is a great company who's listening it's clients (by the way, this site is the propriety of FFG and I'm pretty sure they use it at advisedly) and know what it's good for the game.

Armada is the best game ever and it's really not dead.

P.S. Sorry for my english, I'm from Québec (Canada), I speak french usually

I think it might be a good move to have a reduced cost "Faction Starter" that has everything the core set has except it only has like 1 ISD or 1 Liberty. That might be more attractive to some folks.

I think it might be a good move to have a reduced cost "Faction Starter" that has everything the core set has except it only has like 1 ISD or 1 Liberty. That might be more attractive to some folks.

Yeah that idea has been kicked around before but it has limited appeal I think.

The problem is that we have no real idea what the highest volume adoption methodology looks like.

For example, I know for a fact the below exist:

1 - People buy the starter because the ships look cool and Star Wars (impulse)

2 - People have seen a demo and have a rough idea what the game is like and want to try it on their own terms (low info level)

3 - People actively looking for a miniature game at the fleet scale, already have experience with minis games and have done research via reviews etc. Possibly existing x-wing players looking for something different (good info level)

4 - People have played a couple of games with a friends kit and has a pretty decent idea what the game is about and which side suits their style (fully introduced)

I'm sure more exist but these are examples from personal experience and discussion

The single side starter would probably appeal to #3 and #4, are 3 and 4 of a high enough volume to justify a single side starter? Is a single side starter even WORTH stocking for a FLGS if there is zero Armada community visible (which is a case where you would WANT to lower barriers to entry in the first place)

If you have an even semi-established scene they would make sense, but I think lower barriers to entry should be lower for all types of buyers.

Can you imagine if you are in group #1 and you impulse buy a single side starter? You bring it home and realize that not only you can't play with it but that its really not even a game on it's own.

The current starter set is a self-contained game (possibly the crappiest version of said game, but still)

I think the upcoming campaign set is where FFG will really pour some gas on this thing. I can see the starter being sold together with the campaign to push the non organized play, livingroom with a buddy casual crowd that simply has no interest in reaching outside their circles to find someone to play with to adopt the game and that should increase the eventual competitive player base.

If the campaign set comes with obstacles, and objective cards all a player would need is a damage deck and a range ruler. Everything else they can pick up separately.

If they put the essentials into the campaign box I think FFG could hit a new market. One where people pick up the things they want and have a campaign system to go with it. Eventually they would need the starter kit for the other objectives and upgrades but this would still allow new players to cherry pick how they want to play.

The starter set always has great deals online, to an informed buyer it's hard to see it as much of a barrier. It's only a barrier to knee-jerk reactions from people thinking it's $100 instead of $60 which isn't hard to get. I'm only planning on playing Imperials (at least to start) but I don't see it as a big deal to have a couple small "leftover" Rebel ships. It lets me give demos to other potential new players and that's well worth any savings I'd get over a theoretical single-faction starter.

"after showing the game to maybe 20 of my friends, the majority of them really like the game but no one have decide to buy the stuff"

Yeah, I've seen this issue in several minis games over the years. Everyone is afraid to commit and maybe get left dry if not enough other people do, so nobody ends up buying and everyone is the poorer for it.

I get their reasoning, I'm stuck in a variant of it here too. I'm interested in buying into Armada but I can't justify it unless I've got reliable opponents which I don't have. Trouble is, I don't know any other prospective locals that are thinking of joining so I can't try to band together with them. If I could get some friends interested we could potentially work something out together but in the end it's just easier to join a game with a well established group.