Hi, I'm just curious if anyone has thought to try and substitute space battles in Force and Destiny (or EotE and AoR) with the Star Wars Armada game. I understand the cost is higher and the battles would take longer - but I was considering it as a way to spice up space battles or even just use the amazing miniatures as set pieces.

Leave a comment with your thoughts - I'd love to read em

Well if your space battles will regularly include Capital ships, sure go with Armada if not go with X-wing. Now I would first ask my players if they are ok with going to a completely different dice system to roll space battles. Not to mention I don't know how you would deal with players with high piloting. I would personally just do space battles in system but if your group agrees to this then go ahead and do it. I'll just warn you now it might be more headache than it's worth.

However. If you want to use the models simply to show the players where they are in spacetime then go for it.

Replacing entirely (Ok, instead of running this combat normally, we'll play X-wing/armada, you'll be in the YT-1300) is probably not a good idea. Not only are the game systems too different, but it also kinda punishes certain options. So like you may find the player's killed outright in the opening turn (because the board games don't assume any one ship is more important than any other) or that the player that chose to be a Pilot has essentially wasted his character because the talents and abilities don't translate to the other game system.

Furthermore, X-wing and Armada are really only intended for 2 players. So the rest of the party just kinda has to sit and watch... not fun.

If you really wanted to incorporate the other games into your RPG, try something like running an AoR campaign, and use X-wing/Armada/Imperial Assault as a kind of shared universe, like how Agents of SHIELD references and reacts to the events in Marvel films, but doesn't really directly interact with them. So you could do the same thing. Running a fleet battle or ground engagement the players aren't directly participating in as one of the other games, and then reference that as a "battle" and allow the outcome to impact the RPG narrative.

GM: Maj. Drake walks in, his scarred face looking even more tired than usual. "OK team, I've got some bad news, one of our convoys was intercepted by the Imperials last night, and we lost all three transports and the food they were carrying. If Operation Round Hammer is going to move forward, we'll need to be able to feed the troops to execute it. Your team drew the short straw this time, there's an Imperial Depot in the next system over, you're going to rob it. And this won't be a cakewalk, there's a Storm commando training base nearby, so expect things to get hairy."

Player 1: ... All three transports? Isn't that exactly what happened in our game of X-wing last night?

GM: Yep... quite the coincidence huh?

Player 2: Yeah... nice going Steve, because you blew a game of X-wing we're gonna have to face Storm Commandos!

GM: If it makes you feel any better you were probably going to do that anyway, Steve's loss last night just makes it slightly more his fault then it would have been.

Excellent points and arguments guys!

I liked your guys' thoughts about using X-Wing and having them more as miniatures during regular RPG play and also the suggestion on having outcomes from the other games contribute to the RPG narrative. Very creative thinking!

I think I'm going to try and take your thoughts and implement them the way you both described. Trying to substitute space battles with two different systems would not of been easy for my players in ways you both described.

I will say that the Armada minis seem ready-made to interface with the FFG combat system. The capital ships' bases are already divided into quadrants, with shield-counter dials on the base. The movement ruler is divided into five sections, does a good job (in my opinion) of simulating the mass & momentum of capital ships, and the squadrons of fighters would be relatively easy to interface. It's not perfect, but it goes a long way toward lending some verisimilitude to your cap-ship battles.

I'd hazard that most campaigns don't have PCs playing significant parts in a capital ship engagement, but for a purpose-built naval campaign I think it would be a lot of fun. Then again, I like using minis in tabletop RPGs; your mileage may vary.

If you want a probably cheaper option you can buy some of the old wotc star ship miniatures.

There is actually a rules converstion document that has some great rules for incorporating X-Wing into your tabletop RPG. It spells out the roles characters can assume while the pilot fly's the ship and the skills required to perform the role. We gave it a try in our last session and the group consensus was that it was really fun.

Our GM foudn the document and I cannot find a link to the document online but if anyone wants the document, I am happy to send it to you.