Hey armada community, I just got into the game and picked up a few products. My friend and I are looking to make 2 lists with what we have, trying our best to keep it balanced and fun. I picked up:

1 core

1 isd

1 home one

1 gladiator

1 cr90

Rebel pack 1 and 2

Imperial pack 2

And the heroes and villains pack.

Any thoughts on where to go from here or any list ideas is appreciated. Been playing xwing a long time now looking to dive into armada.

Thanks!

Doug

The Assault Frigate is a blast to play with, IMO. The rebel player would probably need that or an MC80 to have any board presence, and I'd accompany it with an MC30c and/or the Hammerhead Flotilla to get the really exciting gameplay mechanic additions.

Have you tried Fab's fleet generator? You can plug in what you have and generate a variety of possible fleet builds.

http://armada.fabpsb.net/gindex.php

I'm going to second Megatronrex on this point. You have enough ships and squadrons, grab a fleet builder, throw something together and start playing!

I think the goal was for some of us with experience to put together something balanced. Ive been super busy this weekend, but if no one has made a stab at balancing for you Ill do it @Doug F.

Thanks for the help guys, I will try fiddling around Flabs generator. Any more tips are appreciated

My phone crashed while I was midpost on this, but it just restored so....

That's a very solid starting point. I would say throw a fleet together with something like:

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 400/400

Commander: Darth Vader

Assault Objective: Most Wanted
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes
Navigation Objective: Minefields

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Darth Vader ( 36 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- H9 Turbolasers ( 8 points)
= 178 total ship cost

Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (73 points)
- Captain Needa ( 2 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
= 79 total ship cost

Gladiator II-Class Star Destroyer (62 points)
- Demolisher ( 10 points)
- Assault Concussion Missiles ( 7 points)
= 79 total ship cost

4 TIE Fighter Squadrons ( 32 points)
2 TIE Defender Squadrons ( 32 points)

Against

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 398/400

Commander: General Dodonna

Assault Objective: Opening Salvo
Defense Objective: Hyperspace Assault
Navigation Objective: Intel Sweep

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
- Jainas Light ( 2 points)
- Leia Organa ( 3 points)
= 49 total ship cost

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57 points)
= 57 total ship cost

[ flagship ] MC80 Command Cruiser (106 points)
- General Dodonna ( 20 points)
- Home One ( 7 points)
- Raymus Antilles ( 7 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- Enhanced Armament ( 10 points)
= 161 total ship cost

CR90 Corvette B (39 points)
- Dodonnas Pride ( 6 points)
= 45 total ship cost

4 X-Wing Squadrons ( 52 points)
2 Z-95 Headhunter Squadrons ( 14 points)
2 Y-Wing Squadrons ( 20 points)

@Alzer

Thank you so much. I will put that together and give it a go!

Another idea is to go with a fleet that has bare or 1 upgrade ships. At the beginning, as you're learning, there's so much and it can be overwhelming. Just simply learning how to move your ships around and issue commands and shoot at each other is complicated even without upgrades. Add in some of your squads and start learning what they do and how they work for you and then once you feel like you're getting competent, start adding in upgrades on your ships. I've been playing for some time and when I christmas tree a ship I still have to stop and think about what order things happen and how to resolve all my upgrades.. and even then I mess up and forget stuff.

It will be much more fun for both you and your buddy to try simple stuff first. That's just my opinion though so if you really want to try out all your new upgrades have at it.. let us know how it goes!

@Doug F. I am sorry I am just getting this to you, but like I said it was an incredibly busy weekend and while Fab's is awesome, using it on a phone is less than easy.

That said, I agree with Durandal, 1 or 2 upgrades when you are learning is best. Unfortunately, given the limited collection if you want to play a 400pt game multiple upgrades are going to be required. Maybe that means would be better for OP to start smaller, but a balanced 400pt game is possible. Below is my suggestion for two fleets that are both as beginner friendly and relatively balanced based on what you have.

[ REBEL FLEET (398 points)

1 • MC80 Assault Cruiser - General Dodonna - Nav Team - Electronic Countermeasures - Leading Shots - Enhanced Armament - Defiance (164)
2 • CR90 Corellian Corvette A - Raymus Antilles - Tantive IV (54)
3 • Nebulon-B Escort Frigate - Leia Organa - Projection Experts - Redemption (74)
4 • Jan Ors Moldy Crow (19)
5 • Hera Syndulla Ghost (28)
6 • X-wing Squadron (13)
7 • X-wing Squadron (13)
8 • Y-wing Squadron (10)
9 • Y-wing Squadron (10)
10 • X-wing Squadron (13)
11 • Objectives - Precision Strike - Contested Outpost - Superior Positions (0)

[ EMPIRE FLEET (396 points)
1 • Victory I-class Star Destroyer - Sensor Team - Expanded Hangar Bay - Assault Concussion Missiles (90)
2 • Gladiator II-class Star Destroyer - Wulff Yularen - Ruthless Strategists - Engine Techs - Assault Concussion Missiles (88)
3 • Imperial II-class Star Destroyer - Darth Vader - Gunnery Team - Electronic Countermeasures (170)
4 • TIE Defender Squadron (16)
5 • TIE Fighter Squadron (8)
6 • TIE Fighter Squadron (8)
7 • TIE Defender Squadron (16)
8 • Objectives - Most Wanted - Hyperspace Assault - Dangerous Territory (0)

The Rebels should keep the small ships hiding behind the MC80 while they keep it healed via the projection experts on Redemption and supplied with Nav tokens from Tantive IV, while the MC80 bosses the squads around and shoots the Imperial Ships. Remember that Leia can swap the squad commands on the MC80 to repair at a moments notice if the flagship starts to come under heavy fire (spoiler alert- it will). Jan Ors will let the X-Wings tank the Defenders and the Y-Wings bypass the Ties and bomb ships if positioned correct. Do not underestimate the Defenders. The X-Wings need to eliminate them quickly, otherwise the Defenders will wreak havoc on the tokenless generic bombers which form the backbone of the Rebel ability to damage ships. The bombers also need to be very careful of assaulting the Gladiator. 2 blue flak with ruthless strategists mean even one round can cripple your entire squadron wing. Hera will make 2 squadrons Rogue, acting as a mini carrier of sorts so the MC80 can activate the 3 X-Wings and Jan Ors (make sure to bank a squad token early) while Hera gives the Y-Wings rogue to bomb. This breaks my rule to never include intel, but with your limited collection you have 2 great Imperial ships (and the VSD :D) and an admiral that synergizes well with them, and very little to balance that out from the Rebel side. The H1 is very upgrade dependent, and a CR90 without TRC and Nebulon without the expansion only titles are pretty uninspiring ships. This fleet is not as simple as I would like a beginner fleet to be. It requires coordinated use of upgrades on the small ships. But if there is to be any sort of balance between these two fleets there isn't a way around it. The good news is, the way I have it structured the dials are incredibly easy! Dial in 1 Nav (token turn 1) and 5 Repair commands with the Nebulon, 6 Nav commands with the CR90 (Every turn use Raymus/Tantive IV to send a Nav token to MC80 which uses it to trigger Nav Team to get an extra click or change speed, then use dial for itself) and 1 Concentrate Fire (token turn 1) and 5 Squad commands on the MC80. If you do that, you will always have what you need since Redemption can switch the MC80 to repair as needed, and the Nav teams adding the extra click option means a NAV token is practically as good as a dial on the MC80. Final note- remember Defiance can add any color dice you like. If you are at long range, adding a blue dice gives you access to leading shots when normally you wouldn't be allowed to use it. If the roll is great already and doesn't need a blue dice for leading shots help, you can even add a black dice at long rage for extra damage!

The Imperials are much more straight forward. Try and put the VSD and ISD nose to nose with the MC80 while the GSD hunts the small bases or hovers around the squadron fight to use it's powerful flak. The Imperial squads are not numerous, but if used defensively can all be commanded by the VSD in one activation which gives them good striking power. Since the Rebels will be using their squads in 2 phases with a number of them waiting to be activated till the squad phase with rogue, the ability to strike first is a boon for the Imperials. Baiting the Rebel bombers to strike a ship and then counter attacking with all 4 Ties can take out maybe 2 Rebel squads (if you can catch them out of Jan range) while the flak starts to stack up as well. If you can kill the bombers, the damage and consistency of Vader Imperial ships will be too much for the Rebels. Don't be afraid to put a couple of damage on your own Defenders with Ruthless Strategists if it means taking out a squadron before it can bomb you. One fun trick in this fleet is giving the Gladiator a Nav token turn 1, and and then regenerating it each turn with Wulf Yularen after spending it for engine techs. You don't have to actually do anything with the token if you don't want to, even though it will allow you to change your speed by one. Just spending it and deciding not to do anything (and immediately gaining it back with Wulf) is enough to let you use your engine tech card. This makes the Gladiator a dangerous flanker.

All in all it's a pretty thematic matchup - Dodonna coordinated Y and X Wing bombers with a tanky Mon Cal flagship versus some lean and mean Darth Vader firepower.

@BrobaFett Thank you so much for the response. Not that I want to blow a ton of money, but if there is a ship or 2 you would suggest I pick up to balance out things I am happy to do so. We played with the core set first and had a good time. I am more than happy to add a ship or 2 to the roster to keep things simple.

11 minutes ago, Doug F. said:

@BrobaFett Thank you so much for the response. Not that I want to blow a ton of money, but if there is a ship or 2 you would suggest I pick up to balance out things I am happy to do so. We played with the core set first and had a good time. I am more than happy to add a ship or 2 to the roster to keep things simple.

If you want to keep things cheap some Arquittens (sp?) are a different kind of triangle for the empire and gives them some different play options but doesn't cost as much as some of the others. Adding a neb-B is cheap and gets you the titles for it. I really really enjoy the mc30 for another Rebel small ship. The transports aren't extra expensive and open up some different options for your fleets. You might want to get the Imperial Fighter Squads 1 to give the Empire some more options too. I don't want you to have to break the bank but a couple of these cheaper options would open up some stuff for you that can be pretty fun.

Honestly you can play the fleets i posted above until you are good with them before you buy anything new and not feel like you are missing out on much.

A really great way to expand the collection on a dime is looking for inexpensive promo upgrades on sites like ebay.

Especially turbolaser reroutes for your cr90s and XI7s for your big ships.

An extra salvation and yavaris title might be available as well as no matter how many nebs you have you cant have more than 1 of each on a table.

Ship wise, Hammerheads and GR75s are probably the best buy right now simply because they are flexible and can go in almost any fleet. And in the case of Hammerheads you get 2 in a box.

Gozantis are also a good buy for the Imps. I own 3 of each transport and all of them regularly see the table because i always like to have some small carriers to round out lists.

All that to say- play what you have, see what you dont like and what you do, and once you know what kind of ships fit your style go in that direction!

So I have no self control. I picked up the imperial fighter pack, an arquitan and quasar xpac. For the rebels I got a nebulon xpac, an assault frigate mk2, and a mc30