I just finished my move to a new state (Arizona in the US) only to find out that Armada is almost nonexistent here. Even the FLGS holding the local store championship said they had only one person show up at their last tournament a few months ago. In light of this, I’ve decided to hold an Armada demo at the store to get more people interested in the game as well as try to start building a community here.

In holding this demo, I decided to revise the Learn to Play scenario to have more ships on the table for people to recognize, stop by, and ask a few questions (for instance, people will stop when they see a miniature of an ISD even if they don’t necessarily have an interest in gaming). I wanted to get some feedback on my proposed lists for the Empire and Rebels to see if improvements can be made as well as which fleet size I should use. I specifically chose these ships because they are either in the OT or are more recent canon additions that people would recognize (RO, Rebels, and BF2), with the same LTP rules applying (no commanders, upgrades, objectives, or obstacles) and no change to the squadron complement. I would appreciate any input or constructive criticism to help make this demonstration better so that I can get more players in my area into Armada. I have also attached my proposed flyer for input as well (specific information will be added at a later date). Thanks in advance.

298 to 298 Updated Learn to Play

Faction: Imperial

Imperial II (120)

Arquitens Light Cruiser (54)

Raider II (48)

Gozanti Light Carriers (28)

Squadrons: 6 x TIE Fighter Squadrons (48)

Total Points: 298

Faction: Rebel

MC75 Armored Cruiser (104)

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57)

CR90 Corvette A (44)

Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41)

Squadrons: 4 x X-Wing Squadrons (52)

Total Points: 298

OR

250 to 251 Updated Learn to Play

Faction: Imperial

Imperial II (120)

Arquitens Light Cruiser (54)

Gozanti Light Carriers (28)

Squadrons: 6 x TIE Fighter Squadrons (48)

Total Points: 250

Faction: Rebel

MC75 Armored Cruiser (104)

Nebulon-B Support Refit (51)

CR90 Corvette A (44)

Squadrons: 4 x X-Wing Squadrons (52)

Total Points: 251

Are you planning on playing on 3x3 or 6x3?

1 minute ago, Major Tom said:

Are you planning on playing on 3x3 or 6x3?

6 x 3. Sorry, probably should have added that.

I would be tempted to give each side an Admiral (probably Ozzel and Dodonna). Looks like a pretty cool set-up without the, though.

Agreeing with the admiral suggestion. My instinct would be:

• ISD-II w/ Admiral Screed, Arquitens Command Cruiser, Raider-I, 6x TIE Fighter
• MC75 Armored Cruiser w/ Admiral Ackbar, Nebulon-B Escort Frigate, CR90 A, 4x X-Wing

Ackbar/Screed gives players one (but no more than one) upgrade-based decision to make during their attack steps. Arq/Neb got promoted to be able to push squadrons around. Gozanti became a Raider because Raiders are cool, people will recognize them from X-Wing / Battlefront, and it parallels the CR90 more evenly. And maybe just run on a 3x3?

For a Demo I would go with the lower point total. Stick with an ISD and MC75 as your core ships. While I like the Arquitens I am not so sure it is a great ship for a demo. First of all it is hard to fly and second it is almost impossible to find in stores so if they like it they may be frustrated they can't get one. I would either sub in a Raider for the Arquitens OR drop both the Arquitens and the Gozanti and use a Quasar instead.

Using your lists as a base I came up with these alternatives. Commanders are optional.

Imperial...

Name: Imp Demo
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Moff Jerjerrod

Assault:
Defense:
Navigation:

Imperial II (120)
• Moff Jerjerrod (23)
= 143 Points

Quasar Fire II (61)
= 61 Points

Squadrons:
• 5 x TIE Fighter Squadron (40)
• Howlrunner (16)
= 56 Points

Total Points: 260

I decided to use the unique squads from the core set. Again commander is optional, I considered Motti here but thought he would make these ships too hard to kill while Jerjerrod is fun and he damages his own ships which can help speed things along which I find important in a Demo.

Rebels...

Name: Rebel Demo
Faction: Rebel
Commander: General Rieekan

Assault:
Defense:
Navigation:

MC75 Armored Cruiser (104)
• General Rieekan (30)
= 134 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
= 44 Points

GR-75 Combat Retrofits (24)
= 24 Points

Squadrons:
• Luke Skywalker (20)
• 3 x X-wing Squadron (39)
= 59 Points

Total Points: 261

Rieekan I chose for 2 reasons, 1 point matching and 2 he is iconic to the original trilogy and recognizable. Dodonna is the obvious alternative, his points just didn't match as well but he might be more iconic then Rieekan. I would have liked to have kept the Nebulon B but for balance and speed of play I went with the GR-75 which is also iconic. This also lets you use the new tabling rules and each side only has 2 ships each for tabling purposes.

Is it a good idea to have an ISD II on one side and ships it one shots on the other?

4 minutes ago, Ginkapo said:

Is it a good idea to have an ISD II on one side and ships it one shots on the other?

Switch to an ISD I then? Just want to get an ISD on the table because it is (arguably) the most iconic ship in SW and it will get people to stop and check out the game.

9 hours ago, Ginkapo said:

Is it a good idea to have an ISD II on one side and ships it one shots on the other?

I think its fine, without upgrades it will be very spikey and with no Gunnery Team its damage potential in single turn will be limited. With that said during the introduction one of the first things to point out should be that the Rebel player probably wants to avoid that front Arc and the person running the demo should be giving some hints as to how you can fly to minimize your exposure. The CR-90 should be able to kite and play keep away from that front arc with some help.

Now, this is right course of action, instead of mourning we see all over the forum.

For a demo game, I would say to do not use special rules, so no commanders, ace pilots and upgrades. Sole concept of shooting first and then moving is complicated enough for new players (from my experience). I understand that it's tempting to put an ISD on the table to drag attention, but if you really have to, perhaps use ISD 1.

Generally, for demo games, I always felt that less is more and learn to play scenario from core game works quite well. And VSD is almost ISD.

Are you planning on doing 1 demo game everyone watches, or having line up and play demo games with you for a set period of time?

If you are doing 1 demo game, I would go with the 300pt fleets at bare minimum so you get a nice game out of it.

If you are doing many I would drop it. Like, to ISD + Goz + 6 Ties vs Nebulon + CR90 + Hammerhead + 4 X-Wings. That's slightly under 200 v 200 and is almost perfectly even in points, but with better ships than the core set learn to play.

Also, when I play Demo's simply because whiffing sucks balls, I usually just put Dual Turbolaser Turrets on everything. That way rolling 3 blanks with your neb isn't such a game-ruiner. Less salt = more fun. Sure it helps the rebels a bit more than the ISD, but in the end I find most people play the rebels in the L2P anyway for some reason (don't understand it at ALL)

30 minutes ago, BrobaFett said:

Are you planning on doing 1 demo game everyone watches, or having line up and play demo games with you for a set period of time?

If you are doing 1 demo game, I would go with the 300pt fleets at bare minimum so you get a nice game out of it.

I was going to have a set start and end time of when I will be there and planned ton doing one demo game that "reset" once all viewers had walked away from the table (to show a full fleet set-up for new viewers). I assess that over the course of two hours, some will arrive at the start, some will show up late or just see the table and stay for a while, with there being a couple people always watching.

39 minutes ago, BrobaFett said:

If you are doing many I would drop it. Like, to ISD + Goz + 6 Ties vs Nebulon + CR90 + Hammerhead + 4 X-Wings. That's slightly under 200 v 200 and is almost perfectly even in points, but with better ships than the core set learn to play.

Even if I only go with only one demo game, I really like this 200 point setup and will likely use it in future LTPs.

Based on the thread feedback, I'm looking at the following lists for a single demo game:

288 to 287 Updated Learn to Play

Faction: Imperial

Imperial I (133)

Moff Jerjerrod

Arquitens Command Cruiser (59)

Raider II (48)

Squadrons: 6 x TIE Fighter Squadrons (48)

Total Points: 288

Faction: Rebel

MC75 Armored Cruiser (134)

General Rieekan

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57)

CR90 Corvette A (44)

Squadrons: 4 x X-Wing Squadrons (52)

Total Points: 287

I think the 200 pt is a good number. I agree with your point on the ISD is what gets people's attention, but I find it hard to get folks to like the rebels when AST is on the table. Oddly enough, folks also love Ackbar on the AFII when I run demos....