As a preamble, I designed a small-scale game a bit like a cross between Armada and X-Wing when I was young. I used all of my old Star Wars fighter micro-machines, drew out a full-page paper with attack values, shield facings and values, four arcs, etc. for each ship, but because I was 10 and had no clue what I was doing, the game was bad. Really, really bad. We never did figure out how to represent maneuvers, either. But I still played it a ton with on of my brothers and we wished someone would release a real game like that some day, but hopefully less bad.
Needless to say I was hooked from the very first article announcing the game, but my desire to own it grew and grew as time went on. What really made me convinced I had to own it ASAP was the stuff coming out at GenCon (especially the Team Covenant video). The video wasn't even showing all that much game-play, really, but I watched that thing over, and over, and over, pausing at key moments to try to read cards and game text. I then almost making myself late to work as I ran through Facebook posts and forums looking for spoilers from any source possible. I felt like a kid again, which I do often, but not to this extent!
The video, though, really stands out in my mind because of how badly I wanted to play Armada after watching. It wasn't a case of "oh, well, this looks interesting, might try it out" or even a case of "I really want this now." I felt almost frantic to play it, I was so excited. The punching through shields on one side, the squadrons zipping around, the different range bands for different weapons--it all just felt like Star Wars. It was the game I have been waiting to play for years, the one I had never been able to design, and it looked so much better than X-Wing (which I also love).
I am happy to say that the game hasn't disappointed me in the slightest. It is my favorite game by far, and it leaves me eager to play again every single time I play, win or lose.
I just love it, and I always have, even before it was released, as cheesy as that sounds.
P.S. Nobody let my wife know I wrote this. I better go write her something even better before it is too late and she thinks I am leaving her for Armada...
