New to Armada (3 year Xwing vet) and have done a bit of research but still struggling with list building. I am open to many play styles and own the following:

Starter, gladiator, raider, Archatin-imp cruiser, 1 gonzati pair, and an interdictor 1 heros and villians set and 5x jumpmasters (i thought intel sounded neat, thank you ebay). I have always loved the idea of the interdictor way back when it was first in the old Rouge squadron novels. I also like the idea of Kallus on a raider 1 with ordnance officers, and flechette torps on it as an anti squardron vessel. Again, totally new and kinnda clueless. Would love some pointers and suggestions.

Until then, Captain Rose signing out.

Welcome to Armada!

Take it slow with the rules, they're a bit different from Xwing. Smaller games at 200pts and 300 pts help a lot to start out. You can also pick an objective at random for your early games.

Take your Kallus raider with a few squadrons, will help out a lot. I Rec Howl Mauler 3 ties + jump master.

Here's a sample fleet at 200 points

GRZ Screed - 3 activations 3 squadrons

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 200/200

Commander: Admiral Screed

Assault Objective: Targeting Beacons
Defense Objective: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation Objective: Solar Corona

[ flagship ] Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
- Admiral Screed ( 26 points)
- Demolisher ( 10 points)
- Assault Concussion Missiles ( 7 points)
= 99 total ship cost

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Agent Kallus ( 3 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Flechette Torpedoes ( 3 points)
= 54 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
= 23 total ship cost

3 TIE Fighter Squadrons ( 24 points)

Card view link

This is based on your tastes. Not exactly most efficient.

This is a 300 version, and may require some things you don't have, but is closer to how I'd build a fleet for combat based on mostly things you have.

GQRZ Ozzel - bid7 s4 4 activations

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 293/300

Commander: Admiral Ozzel

Assault Objective: Most Wanted
Defense Objective: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation Objective: Intel Sweep

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
- Demolisher ( 10 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 90 total ship cost

Arquitens-class Light Cruiser (54 points)
- Captain Needa ( 2 points)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)
= 63 total ship cost

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Agent Kallus ( 3 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
= 51 total ship cost

[ flagship ] Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
- Admiral Ozzel ( 20 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
= 45 total ship cost

2 TIE Fighter Squadrons ( 16 points)
1 "Mauler" Mithel ( 15 points)
1 Valen Rudor ( 13 points)

Card view link

Fleet

My buddy @Snipafist and I write a blog about starting out and the best ways to use ships/Commanders/etc. He focuses more on the Imperial side, and I tend to mainline Rebel.

If you were looking to get a nice starter fleet going, https://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/2017/03/building-imperial-fleet-on-cheap-250.html

If you were wondering how to build your own fleet, we just got an article up about that today: https://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-basics-of-fleet-building.html.

From this point, I'll let him throw out any other links and such that he thinks might be helpful. Welcome aboard!

Yeah I find 250-300pt fleets are a good starter if youre already into tabletop games.

So one of the things youll find is that without pilot abilities the wombo-combo aspect of Armada is alot more subtle, and generally takes place on the upgrade cards. Its also alot less extreme with the shenanigans.

That being said, if youre into running an interdictor youll probably want other speed-2 ships around aswell, like that victory from the starter set. Id seriously suggest picking up atleast one imperial light cruiser pack soon, as Moff Jerjerrod there opens up some incredibly movement options that really make the Victory sing.

Interdictors also seem to be having more success in pairs, so consider that for down the road.

Whatever you do, dont ignore the squadron game. Id consider a lil under half of max squadron points to be the small effective screen an imperial player wants to run *IE atleast 50pts, probably more like 70* evenif you dont want to do alot of squadrons. If you do, then kit the Victory and the Gozantis towards that goal with things like expanded hangar bays, boosted coms, and flight controllers on the victory.

NVZ Moffy J - b1 (go 2nd), s4 (keeps bombers from killing you). Moffy J gives extra mobility to get double arcs.

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 299/300

Commander: Moff Jerjerrod

Assault Objective: Most Wanted
Defense Objective: Hyperspace Assault
Navigation Objective: Solar Corona

Interdictor-class Suppression Refit (90 points)
- Interdictor ( 3 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points)
- Engineering Team ( 5 points)
- G-8 Experiemental Projector ( 8 points)
- Targeting Scrambler ( 5 points)
= 118 total ship cost

Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (73 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Spinal Armament ( 9 points)
= 96 total ship cost

[ flagship ] Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
- Moff Jerjerrod ( 23 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
= 48 total ship cost

3 TIE Fighter Squadrons ( 24 points)
1 Valen Rudor ( 13 points)

Card view link

Fleet

This is a Interdictor list with a bunch of different strengths. It has two uses of speed control. It has Moffy J for extra mobility. Increased firepower on every combat ship. Objectives meant for helping out against more powerful damage fleets, and squadrons to keep you from dying to bombers.

The above isn't a bad fleet to start off to use the most peices you have. Bumping it up to 400 is easy as well, adding a Demolisher kitted similarly to the one previously linked and some more squads.

Also, you are correct to think Intel is useful, but you will find it moreso in heavy bomber fleets where you want to ignore squads and push damage to ships. In order to build an effective bomber list you will need to invest in some Tie bombers.

This helps:

http://armada.ryankingston.com

Play around with the fleets and upgrades with that for a bit. In terms of running the actual game, I had half a dozen battles with the core set before I was completely comfortable with it.

Good luck!

Congratulations on the promotion, Captain. We here on the flag bridge work a little differently than down in the hangar bay, but driving a task force around requires the same precepts as your squadron days. Remember to think about where you're going, where the other guy is going, what he's going to do when he gets there, and how you can make his life a living hell between here and there. Get in his head, and stay there.

The suggestion fleets above are all solid training squadrons. I wouldn't deploy either the G-7X or the Grav Shift Reroute on your Interdictor until you get a feel for deployment and obstacle use. Remember to pause and think whenever in doubt, and ask questions. To quote an esteemed inventor, "Asking questions isn't stupid; that's how you stop being [uninformed]." I also heartily recommend you expedite procurement of an Imperial class unit. The firepower and durability are unmatched, and come in handy if the Rebel scum in your sector plan to deploy those accursed Mon Calamari battlewagons of theirs.

I also second the recommendations to practice with lightly upgraded ships, the better to become familiar with their native capabilities, and to practice many different objectives. Not every mission is a smash and grab, Captain. Learn to use your strengths at your opponent's weakpoints.

Out of character, welcome to the game, and remember to have fun. Experimenting with things because I thought they were cool unveiled many a combo for me. And remember you're pushing plastic spaceships around a table from a universe of magic space wizards. If you're not having fun, figure out why and fix it. Even if your hobby is gardening, you should have fun with it.

A bit out of date, but:

http://xwingtactics.blogspot.com/p/new-players-guide.html

Welcome to Armada, Captain Rose and welcome to our lil community! May you have lots of fun, even if you're an imperial

5 hours ago, geek19 said:

My buddy @Snipafist and I write a blog about starting out and the best ways to use ships/Commanders/etc. He focuses more on the Imperial side, and I tend to mainline Rebel.

If you were looking to get a nice starter fleet going, https://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/2017/03/building-imperial-fleet-on-cheap-250.html

If you were wondering how to build your own fleet, we just got an article up about that today: https://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-basics-of-fleet-building.html.

From this point, I'll let him throw out any other links and such that he thinks might be helpful. Welcome aboard!

I think John did a pretty good job covering the basics. Early on I'd focus on the starter set games if you haven't played (m)any of those yet and then consider growing out a bit and trying the "full" game. We've got a few similar articles and links intended for people at the very beginning stages of Armada should that be helpful.

The important part is don't rush it. Take it at your own pace. You'll learn and get better. There are two (to my knowledge) functional and regularly-updated blogs (ours at Cannot Get Your Ship out and the @shmitty, @Truthiness, @BiggsIRL alliance at Steel Squadron which have both already been linked, above) that you can use as resources.

I'm brand new to Armada as well. Here are some online resources I found helpful while learning the game and how the various ships/squadrons/upgrades work together:

Can't Get Your Ship Out

This is a fantastic blog. The articles are long but don't let that discourage you (the guys are pretty funny which makes their posts very readable). If you like Agent Kallus and the Raider, then try this article from their site: Imperial Ship Review: Raider Corvette.

Norsehound's Tactical Guides

A great set of guides offering a solid overview of each ship, which upgrades are good for it and how to utilize it in your fleet. Most of these guides are short and sweet so you won't feel overwhelmed with info.

While the Concentrate Fire blog is now defunct, it has an excellent series of posts on the Interdictor:

Playing the Interdictor Without Experimental Retrofits?

Trying out the Interdictor

Interdicting Objectives

Interdictor Battle Reports

Interdicting a Tournament

I found the above series of posts by Shmitty invaluable when designing a Interdictor-based fleet for my Corellian Conflict campaign and I've referenced them again and again.

If you're going to use the Interdictor, especially with the Grav Shift Reroute, then these posts from the Steel Squadron HQ blog on how to manipulate the obstacles for various objectives will be essential:

Obstacle Placement Part 1

Obstacle Placement Part 2

Hope that helps and welcome to the game!

4 minutes ago, Yipe said:

I'm brand new to Armada as well. Here are some online resources I found helpful while learning the game and how the various ships/squadrons/upgrades work together:

Can't Get Your Ship Out

This is a fantastic blog. The articles are long but don't let that discourage you (the guys are pretty funny which makes their posts very readable). If you like Agent Kallus and the Raider, then try this article from their site: Imperial Ship Review: Raider Corvette.

Norsehound's Tactical Guides

A great set of guides offering a solid overview of each ship, which upgrades are good for it and how to utilize it in your fleet. Most of these guides are short and sweet so you won't feel overwhelmed with info.

While the Concentrate Fire blog is now defunct, it has an excellent series of posts on the Interdictor:

Playing the Interdictor Without Experimental Retrofits?

Trying out the Interdictor

Interdicting Objectives

Interdictor Battle Reports

Interdicting a Tournament

I found the above series of posts by Shmitty invaluable when designing a Interdictor-based fleet for my Corellian Conflict campaign and I've referenced them again and again.

If you're going to use the Interdictor, especially with the Grav Shift Reroute, then these posts from the Steel Squadron HQ blog on how to manipulate the obstacles for various objectives will be essential:

Obstacle Placement Part 1

Obstacle Placement Part 2

Hope that helps and welcome to the game!

@Snipafist: they think we're funny. Don't tell them I'm just stealing jokes from old Muppet Show reruns! (Picture of the authors below)

I have a 7 and 10 year old, so my sense of humor is skewed toward the juvenile

And who doesn't love the Muppets? I grew up on that show! Oh man, I'm so old...

The synergy squadron team from heck for the Empire is Dengar, Soontir Fel, and Ciena Ree if you're going for an anti squadron screen. Scatter keeps them afloat, Dengar boosts counter, Ciena Ree takes away a die, and Soontir Fel damages anyone who doesnt attack him. If you don't own Ciena's card or the Corellian Conflict then then I suggest substituting Howlrunner for early games.

If you go on Youtube and search "Crabbok", he has a video for basic listbuilding and another for advanced listbuilding that may be helpful

2 hours ago, Audio Weasel said:

If you go on Youtube and search "Crabbok", he has a video for basic listbuilding and another for advanced listbuilding that may be helpful

As much as I like most of Crabbok Videos (I am not that big into fan theories) I do feel that he should have placed squadrons closer to the start instead of going through all of the ships first. Anyway here is the video.

I think you got an interesting set up. The mass of Jumpmaster should be fun. Still I would also recommend getting Imperial Pack 1 as well. Rhymer is basically the Howlrunner of Armada. The Gladiator is good, also the interdictor is not too bad too. If you still don't have 400 points then a simple Star Destroyer would do. Either a Victory or Imperial, also another Gozanti flotilla won't hurt.

you could switch out the gladiator with the Arquitens if you like

Admiral Motti Interdictor w/ Glad and Raider 1
Author: Bourne

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 400/400

Commander: Admiral Motti

Assault Objective: Blockade Run
Defense Objective: Capture the VIP
Navigation Objective: Solar Corona

[ flagship ] Interdictor-class Suppression Refit (90 points)
- Admiral Motti ( 24 points)
- Interdictor ( 3 points)
- Wulff Yularen ( 7 points)
- Engineering Team ( 5 points)
- G7-X Grav Well Projector ( 2 points)
- Grav Shift Reroute ( 2 points)
= 133 total ship cost

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
- Demolisher ( 10 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 82 total ship cost

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Instigator ( 4 points)
- Agent Kallus ( 3 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Quad Laser Turrets ( 5 points)
- Flechette Torpedoes ( 3 points)
= 63 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
- Suppressor ( 4 points)
- Admiral Titus ( 2 points)
= 29 total ship cost

1 Soontir Fel ( 18 points)
1 "Howlrunner" ( 16 points)
2 TIE Advanced Squadrons ( 24 points)
1 "Mauler" Mithel ( 15 points)
1 Dengar ( 20 points)

Welcome to Armada!

Don't be afraid to try any type of list. Armada is a game where any fleet can work, as long as you know what you want to do with it. If in the future you want to try out any lists you made, the fleet build sub-forum is EXTREMELY helpful and there is always someone to help (or almost always). I think some of the lists above are good starting points. Hopefully you'll make many rebel ships crumble against the imperial might!

10 hours ago, Frostthorn said:

New to Armada (3 year Xwing vet) and have done a bit of research but still struggling with list building. I am open to many play styles and own the following:

Starter, gladiator, raider, Archatin-imp cruiser, 1 gonzati pair, and an interdictor 1 heros and villians set and 5x jumpmasters (i thought intel sounded neat, thank you ebay). I have always loved the idea of the interdictor way back when it was first in the old Rouge squadron novels. I also like the idea of Kallus on a raider 1 with ordnance officers, and flechette torps on it as an anti squardron vessel. Again, totally new and kinnda clueless. Would love some pointers and suggestions.

Until then, Captain Rose signing out.

If you're new to Armada, first thing you should do is play a game or 2 without any upgrades so you understand the basic round structure, movement, and attacking. Run some boring squads like Tie Fighters. No need to gunk up the game play by looking to see what every squadron keyword does.

Once you feel confident with that, do what the others are saying. Read what other people think. Play 200-300 point games with upgrades.

I think you overdid it on the jumpmasters (that's your X-wing leaking in) and you'd have been better off with the straight Imp. Fighters I pack which you should consider at the top of the list for your next collection addition.

Big thing to remember coming from X-wing -- you alternate activating any one of your ships with your opponent activating any one of theirs, the ship shoots and moves. This can cross your wires a bit from X-wing where all the ships move and all the ships shoot in more or less the same order every turn. It can be easy to misunderstand where things are going to be.

Don't fall back on X-wing to resolve rules issues -- particularly critical results.

All the rest of the advice here is "solid."

9 hours ago, Yipe said:

I have a 7 and 10 year old, so my sense of humor is skewed toward the juvenile

And who doesn't love the Muppets? I grew up on that show! Oh man, I'm so old...

Reminds me that I wanted to do a "Who on the forum was born before Episode IV?" thread...

I suspect it is a small number...

Oh and Captain Rose, welcome to the "winning" side.

6 minutes ago, CaribbeanNinja said:

Reminds me that I wanted to do a "Who on the forum was born before Episode IV?" thread...

I suspect it is a small number...

Oh and Captain Rose, welcome to the "winning" side.

I was born before A New Hope, I also do a lot of RP games, and other board games, and many many PC/Console games, with grand strategy games being a big favorite, and man have I seen some changes over the decades <gulp> nothing hits home like typing a sentence out like that Kids these days! no lugging your entire desktop over to a mates house(Including the ginormous monitor), and then spending half the day getting them dang things to recognise one another over a LAN network before you can even play anything. Going to a phone box to make a call, even better actually having to physically leave your home and go to the local library to get real books to do your homework! big big changes.

Not much to add other than, welcome to the community Cpt Rose, glad to see you're starting with the Imperials, give them Rebel scum a good kicking.