I posted this fun little thing on reddit a while ago, and I thought of sharing it here: Secret Armada.

Each player creates his fleet, but does not share the list. Upgrade cards are all facedown on a small deck next to the ship they're equipped to.

If you use a card, you immediately reveal it. For example, during turn 3 Imps do a bad attack roll. Imp player reveals his commander: Vader. Then does the Vader reroll. Rebels then reveal Lando, do his thing, and discard him.

Basically, when you have to do something card-related, you reveal the card. It creates some interesting situations.

"Reditect damage to the rear Shields" "Sir, it's not working!" "Sithspit! Those bastards are using Xi7 turbolasers!"

It's great fun, specially combined with Corellian conflict! What did your enemy buy this round? You'll find out when he uses it!

As suggested in the reddit topic: even squadrons or ships could be hidden with a third person helping around, for fairness. Hidden deployments! How many ships did your enemy bring? Hidden squadrons! Is that little Xwing actually Luke? Oh boy, oh boy!

That actually sounds really fun!

At the range armada is played sqn type and ship type would be in scan range so should be known. I.e. No hidden deployment of ship

sqns how ever... only deploy generics but mark each one up so you can say oh xwing 3 is wedge and 5 is Luke

This does sound fun!

I love the idea. This will be implemented in my next Corellian Conflict for sure

BTAvenger-1 with a RLB hanger full of firesprays would be great fun.

4 minutes ago, Jukey said:

BTAvenger-1 with a RLB hanger full of firesprays would be great fun.

This could make RLB actually interesting in a game... Although you need to set aside those squadrons, kinda killing the mystery. I guess it can have a special ruling?

1 hour ago, slasher956 said:

At the range armada is played sqn type and ship type would be in scan range so should be known. I.e. No hidden deployment of ship

sqns how ever... only deploy generics but mark each one up so you can say oh xwing 3 is wedge and 5 is Luke

Yeah, once a ship is deployed you should reveal it. But I imagine ships coming out of hyperspace at the beginning of the battle, so you wouldn't know the number of ships the enemy is bringing, which can change the way you deploy.

I like your unique squadron idea!

7 hours ago, Karneck said:

That actually sounds really fun!

5 hours ago, EagleScoutof007 said:

This does sound fun!

5 hours ago, Hawkwing said:

I love the idea. This will be implemented in my next Corellian Conflict for sure

Couldn't say it better myself.

How come I didn't came with such idea by myself

Great idea!

+1 for the use of the word "Sithspit"

There are several games that include rule sets for "Tactical Intelligence" which simulates a dog of war akin to what is described. This sounds like a lot of fun, and on the easier side of determining what the enemy knows.

I like the idea of squadrons all deploying as generics and swapping one out as the unique when it fires or uses a special ability (or defense token).

I will have to try this out, although I do suspect it will increase play time to an extent.

38 minutes ago, Fraggle_Rock said:

.. a dog of war...

Crying 'Havoc!' and letting them slip one presumes

Seriously though this sounds awesome, must try sometime

I have all my aces painted alternate schemes- even though that would tip my opponent off to which ones were which, I like that they have to use their brains to know it just like an actual admiral would.

Was tycho the green A-Wing with gold chevrons, or the blue one with white stripes. Definitely don't want to attack Shara on accident

42 minutes ago, BrobaFett said:

I have all my aces painted alternate schemes- even though that would tip my opponent off to which ones were which, I like that they have to use their brains to know it just like an actual admiral would.

Was tycho the green A-Wing with gold chevrons, or the blue one with white stripes. Definitely don't want to attack Shara on accident

Just mark a generic with a dry-erase marker on the bottom of the base. Give one each a "T," "S," and a "G" for Tycho/Shara/Green

I know which I painted which- but would my opponent remember?

That's the question that makes it fun!

1 hour ago, BrobaFett said:

I have all my aces painted alternate schemes- even though that would tip my opponent off to which ones were which, I like that they have to use their brains to know it just like an actual admiral would.

Was tycho the green A-Wing with gold chevrons, or the blue one with white stripes. Definitely don't want to attack Shara on accident

Run them as generics a couple of times before doing this To keep them guessing

This is a super cool idea!

If squadrons or ships are at range 1 then they scan the ship/squadron.

6 hours ago, Kendraam said:

Crying 'Havoc!' and letting them slip one presumes

Seriously though this sounds awesome, must try sometime

Heh, dog of war. I love it when auto correct kicks in. Thank you for giving me a good laugh today.

That is such a simple but cool, rule idea. Worthy of inclusion in the official rules for optional, enriched game play.

Like any good mechanic, you can make it as rich as you want for your own enoyment e.g. like the scanning suggestion. For myself, i would also allow each side one optional dummy upgrade card so as to keep the opposition from doing the maths and guessing what you might have up your sleeve.

Or a Force sensitive character instead of using their abilities, may make the opponent reveal a character card. Or...

We played something like this last game, where everything was secret other than the ship types until something was used, at which point it became common knowledge. It was really cool and we plan to play this way again.

The much less frequently used upgrade cards all of a sudden become really cool. Is that flotilla a bomber command slicer tool wielding menace? Nope he's got flaming jamming fields. The defensive retrofits like cluster bombs and QLTs are more likely to be activated during play simply because your opponent won't know you've got them until it's too late!!

Rapid launch bays become a real surprise! As do things like tractor beams.

The location of the Commander can also be a puzzle too

Amusingly, I could see Isard being valuable in this kind of game. Which of those Nebulons is Yavaris--the one stacking CF or the one stacking squadrons? Why does that ISD1 have a squadron command dialed in with a minimal squadron screen--BTvenger, perhaps?

I think we've always played like that here. There's nothing to stop us walking around the table to take a gander at the other guy's upgrades but it always seems...I don't know...ungentlemanly or something. Half the time I don't know who the enemy admiral is until turn 2.

It's also really easy to do this if you both have a tablet, as you can just keep your list on your tablet. We put out ships and squadrons because they need tokens, but everything else is hidden.

I'm contemplating whether we should try to keep unique squadrons as hidden info or not. It's more tricky because I've painted them and they have unique bases. It's possibly more trouble that it's worth - for example, how do you keep track of them on the map if you have several of the same type...

3 minutes ago, Jambo75 said:

It's also really easy to do this if you both have a tablet, as you can just keep your list on your tablet. We put out ships and squadrons because they need tokens, but everything else is hidden.

I'm contemplating whether we should try to keep unique squadrons as hidden info or not. It's more tricky because I've painted them and they have unique bases. It's possibly more trouble that it's worth - for example, how do you keep track of them on the map if you have several of the same type...

On 9/8/2017 at 6:52 PM, Church14 said:

Just mark a generic with a dry-erase marker on the bottom of the base. Give one each a "T," "S," and a "G" for Tycho/Shara/Green

etc.