So I'm trying to use star wars armada to make gift for my soon to be more than girlfriend but because of a ex who raped her I can't be her first. She feels really bad about and she loves star wars so I'm trying to use this game to make a wedding gift for her. I want to use this game to make a big space battle under a wood and glass table can talk help me out on where to start I have about 300 dollar la to spend on ships

If you're after a display table then...

You can't go wrong with an ISD. And in my opinion big capital ships look great surrounded by lots of squadrons, so a few packs of squadrons wouldn't hurt. Of course you'd have to paint them which can be time consuming. Then another Imperial capital ship. Maybe even another ISD if you have the cash?

For the rebels use a Nebulon B frigate, 1 or 2 CR90 and GR-75 transports. Then, of course, lots of squadrons, particularly X-Wings. These are all iconic Star Wars ships. Maybe an MC80 (either type) if your budget goes that far.

For a background (if you're doing one) you might use: Yoga Direct Extra Wide Yoga Mat, Black from Amazon.com

They are fantastic mats to play on but I don't know how well they'd work as a display mat. I assume you'll glue the ships down? Even if you don't the grip on these mats are very good, plus you should be able to easily cut one down to size if you need to.

To paint: get an old tooth brush and water down some white acrylic paint (I used my old Warhammer paints) to about a 50:50 mix. Dip your brush in, then "flick" the bristles using you thumb or finger. The fine mist of white paint that comes off makes an excellent star field. Watch out for big white blobs of paint. If you get any of those quickly use a tissue to rub them off. This will still leave a faint white streak, however this can be covered with your nebulae (see below)

To do a rough nebulae, get as many hues of red, blue and purple as you can. You want both bright and deep shades of all of them. Water them down just a little then put a few blobs of paint on the area you want to colour. Spread these blobs out using your fingers. Be quite rough with this. The more paint you take off before it dries, the more subtle the effect, the better the end result will be. Layer brighter tones over deeper tones and try to make the different colours run together so that it's hard to tell where one colour ends and the next starts.

Of course, if you've done this sort of thing before, just ignore the above advice and do what you already know works.

Also, make sure you position the ships in an interesting way.

Have fun! Hope she loves it! And God bless!

Which bits do you need help on?

Creating the table itself?

How to turn the armada ships into a space battle?

How to create a thematic star wars battle?

I can prod appropriate people into this thread if uou give me a bit of direction.

A couple of core sets ($140ish?) would give you:
- A great amount of squad minis for classic X-wings (8) vs TIE (12) dogfights
- 2 Victory SDs,
- 2 Corvettes
- 2 Nebulons.

Then totally an Imperial SD. Coz... They are awesome. ($30-40 each)

Maybe a Home One and Liberty fighting it ($30 each)

Maybe a squad pack of each side for Y-wings, A-wings, Interceptors, etc (if you just want ties and xwings, the cores will have you covered). ($15 each)

And a Rogue pack for Han and Boba Fett ($15)

When I finally one day retire from the game, I totally have plans to create an awesome battle diorama with it all, capitals and squad wings (in formations using cotton bud stems), all on custom bases etc).

Seriously, good luck with the project, it sounds freaking awesome. Hope you find us worthy enough to see the final result, bet it will be epic.

*looks at his boring wood coffee table. *sulks and kicks it*

Much love and many prayers. May God bless your upcoming union.

You could try to recreate a scene from the movies perhaps. Toothpicks painted neon green and bright red would make great laser bolts flying between ships. Some squadrons exploding would be cool. Others have already made some great suggestions and you'll find lots of help in the painting/mod forum.

I'd suggest (if you're not going to play) selling the upgrade and ship cards on eBay which will help reduce the overall cost and/or allow you to get more bang for your buck. It won't provide immediate cash but you'll make some of it back.

Praying for y'all and I hope you share the end result.

If you do painting, you may wish to look at Mel's Miniatures and Tsalt's minis on Shapeways they are custom printed and have many more options including scaled miniatures if that interests you.

God Bless you two. You're in my prayers.

banners on the cheap (.com) is a good place to get a thematic background for cheap. the higher quality premium mats (3x6 foot) run about 30 bucks and you can customize them to be whatever you want.

I need help with fleet designs and how to make it look like it does in the movies and stuff I have the base game the really small emperal raider and the and extra red one from the base game sorry I'm still trying to learn the names and I want it to look like luke and han are the heros. Its going to take about a year for me to get the rest and finish it without her knowing so I will keep y'all updated

About the table itself: I made an Armada board with my wife from 4 wooden planks and she painted a star field with some nebulae on it. It looks gorgeous and took her only a can of black, some other paints and about 3 hours to do it. My point is that you will come out much cheaper if you have someone who can paint the board itself. And you can be very creative with what you want to see as the background of the battle.

http://www.stormthecastle.com/diorama/military-dioramas/make-a-military-diorama-of-aircraft-battling.htm

Hey OP, I did a small bit of searching online and found a very simple tutorial in creating an aerial diorama. I know this is for fighter planes, but in star wars, ships behave very similarly to atmospheric fighters and so many of the same maneuvers are used.

By tapping into the WEALTH of knowledge available on the internet in regards to military scale dioramas I think you could apply those lessons to Star Wars using Armada miniatures and create something truly fantastic.

I know that my plan for my minis to create a table for them like this one here someone made out of a scale model of the alamo.

Keep in mind though that Armada models are not scaled properly.

No, but they are scaled to be recognizable at a distance of 2 meters or so, which I would consider the more important trait when trying to do something like the OP is considering. You don't want to have to put your face to the table to realize those little specs attacking the ISD are X-wings.

You could do it in a perspective way. Like the X-Wings and the Vette is attacking the ISD from "up". You could create the illusion of distance if you're looking at it from the right direction

Thank you any ship ideas or fleet ideas??

When are you planning on finishing collecting the ships? If before wave 5 hits, I'd say: 2 Imperial Class Star Destroyers, 1-2 Victory Class, 1 Gladiator, 2 Imperial Raiders, 3 Gozantis, and 1 Interdictor (this is what I would drop) 2-3 Imperial Squad packs and Rogues and Villains. For Rebels 1 Home One, 1 Liberty, 2 MC 30s, 1 Neb-b, 4 GR 75s, 4 CR 90s, 4 Reb Squad packs.

Note: the core set comes with one Neb b, cr 90, and vic star destroyer

These are max numbers!

Thanks

Presumably battle on endor is the one to research.

I neither know where to begin with that

Thanks

So I'm trying to use star wars armada to make gift for my soon to be more than girlfriend but because of a ex who raped her I can't be her first. She feels really bad about and she loves star wars so I'm trying to use this game to make a wedding gift for her. I want to use this game to make a big space battle under a wood and glass table can talk help me out on where to start I have about 300 dollar la to spend on ships

If that's all you want them for you my get more for your money with printed stuff like mel's and other sites. You'll have to do a little painting, but you won't be paying game piece prices to use for a craft piece

my recommendations, Remake the Battle of endor. I would use..

(if you buy online from a place such as Minituresmarket.com you can get a decent discount)

3 Imperial Star destroyers (120$)

2 imperial fighter packs (30$)

1 Home one expansion or liberty expansion (40$)

2 cr90 (30$)

1 nebulon-b (15$)

2 rebel transport (30$)

2 rebel fighter packs (30$)

Total 300$ (give or take depending on where you buy, shipping etc.)

this will make a nice balanced fleet that will look just like in the movie "Return of the Jedi"

if need less I would 2 Imperial Star Destroyers and 1 each of the Cr90 and Rebel transport

if you want more, I would add 1 Liberty or Home one expansion (so you have 1 of each) and more Star destroyers (unless you like any of the other expansions)

So I'm trying to use star wars armada to make gift for my soon to be more than girlfriend but because of a ex who raped her I can't be her first. She feels really bad about and she loves star wars so I'm trying to use this game to make a wedding gift for her. I want to use this game to make a big space battle under a wood and glass table can talk help me out on where to start I have about 300 dollar la to spend on ships

If that's all you want them for you my get more for your money with printed stuff like mel's and other sites. You'll have to do a little painting, but you won't be paying game piece prices to use for a craft piece

By the time you get FUD and bases, Mel's might be more!

That's awesome thanks