Yesterday, FFG published an X wing article called X-wing 101, in which Zach Bunn was given a fictional budget of $101, and asked what purchases he would advise (including the core set) that would allow a player to make a tournament-worthy Imperial list. He recommended the core set, the Imperial Veterans expansion, a TIE Defender and an A-wing. Their plan is to release a similar article for Rebels (and I presume for Scum).

I love this idea, and thought it would be interesting to apply the same to Armada. Given that the core set for Armada is roughly two and a half times the price of the one for X-wing ($100 to $40), and that the expansions tend to be more expensive, I think it makes sense to similarly multiply the budget. I'm also assuming that they're working off the official retail price from the website, so that should be a similar guidline for us.

With that in mind, I'll ask the same question as they did: "If your friend was interested in getting into Armada for 250 USD, what sort of fleet would you recommend building? What purchases would you recommend?"

I would need to remember what came with what, but I think you can swing an OK tourney fleet for Imperials for $220

$100 core

$50 ISD

$20 Gozanti

$20 Imperial Squadron Pack 1

$30 (?) Gladiator

That gives you an ISD/GSD/Goz fleet with a decent TIE screen. I'm less certain on upgrades that are available, but You should be okay

My local trolling Rebel fleet that is a pain in the butt would require:

$100 Core

$80 2xMC80 Home One

$40 2xRebel Squadron Pack 1

$20 Rogues and Villains

$240

Unfortunately, you have to have a Core Set for the rulers, dice, damage deck, etc, otherwise I would say skip it. However, since it's required, I would go with:

Core

GSD

2x Arq

2x Gozanti

2x Imperial Fighters 1

This should allow a solid fleet with 5 activations. 2 Arq to soften enemies up at long range before Demo moves in for the kill, and a mini Rhymerball with support. You're stuck with only 3 options for your Admiral, but with 5 activations, Tarkin wouldn't be a bad choice. Seems fun. Almost want to build up this fleet and see how it does!

I wonder if using Imp Fighters 2 would be any better? TIE Defenders are sweet, and that pack has the Jendon-Stele combo built in.

Where are you shopping Xindell?

For the purposes of the exercise, I was using MSRP (and not including tax). Obviously you could do better. But MSRP is:

Core $100

GSD $30

ARQ $20 x2

GOZ $20 x2

Fighters $20 x2

That's $250.

Wait, was this not supposed to be USD? No, it looks like it is.

Imps:

Core $100

ISD $50

Arq $20

Goz $20

Fighters x2 $40

Will have to think on the rebels.

This is with the plan to run Jerry in mind. So the VSD can be used as well (they're paying for it, include it in the list!)

Maybe run a seperate thread for Rebels? This is an interesting concept, which could be shown to new players?

[ EMPIRE FLEET (400 points)
1 • Imperial II-class Star Destroyer - Moff Jerjerrod - Gunnery Team - Reinforced Blast Doors - Heavy Turbolaser Turrets - Relentless (164)
2 • Gladiator II-class Star Destroyer - Engine Techs - Demolisher (80)
3 • Arquitens-class Light Cruiser - Dual Turbolaser Turrets - Hand of Justice (63)
4 • VT-49 Decimator (22)
5 • VT-49 Decimator (22)
6 • Maarek Stele TIE Defender Squadron (21)
7 • TIE Defender Squadron (16)
8 • JumpMaster 5000 (12)

1x Core
1x ISD
1x Gladiator
1x Arquitten
1x Rogues and Villains
1x Imperial Fighters II

Should be somewhere around $240, and reasonably competitive. Ordnance Experts are hiding in the Raider and MC30 expansions I notice. Maybe a useful lesson there.

PS. really need fleet lists as otherwise you cant see the deficiances with the build. Fabs Fleet Builder really helps for this concept.