I’m preparing to play my son at home and was thinking about all the negative “Armada is dead” talk floating around here. While I understand the problems that would cause for store and tournament play I suspect that there are a fair amount of folks like myself that would still go on to play this wonderful game indefinitely and don’t need tournament play to have fun with it.

Of course, I wouldn’t look forward to it but if they announced that Armada was dead tomorrow it wouldn’t bother me a bit. Nobody can take the ships I have away, the rules and balance are in a great place and having nearly every ship in my collection, I can come up with fleet combos that will stay fresh for years to come.

In fact, I would see it as a blessing that the game never got to X-Wing status with its power creep, 2.0 conversion kits and too many ugly fan-fiction Expanded Universe ships that do nothing to immerse me in the Star Wars universe. From what I understand, you can’t realistically field an x-wing...in X-Wing. Crazy.

It would be like Carcassone or Catan to me - I pull it off the shelf, have a great time with it and revel how fortunate I was to discover one of the greatest tabletop games ever made.

Viva Armada!

Absolutely the case.

14 minutes ago, Cboerger said:

I’m preparing to play my son at home and was thinking about all the negative “Armada is dead” talk floating around here. While I understand the problems that would cause for store and tournament play I suspect that there are a fair amount of folks like myself that would still go on to play this wonderful game indefinitely and don’t need tournament play to have fun with it.

Of course, I wouldn’t look forward to it but if they announced that Armada was dead tomorrow it wouldn’t bother me a bit. Nobody can take the ships I have away, the rules and balance are in a great place and having nearly every ship in my collection, I can come up with fleet combos that will stay fresh for years to come.

In fact, I would see it as a blessing that the game never got to X-Wing status with its power creep, 2.0 conversion kits and too many ugly fan-fiction Expanded Universe ships that do nothing to immerse me in the Star Wars universe. From what I understand, you can’t realistically field an x-wing...in X-Wing. Crazy.

It would be like Carcassone or Catan to me - I pull it off the shelf, have a great time with it and revel how fortunate I was to discover one of the greatest tabletop games ever made.

Viva Armada!

If the choice is pump it (expansions) out and ruin this game, or one or two well thought out expansions, the latter will be the better call every time. (And yes, even mothballing would be better than wrecking the balance of the game.)

I'm cautiously (I mean couldn't really be more cautious at this point) optimistic that the "Something Big" or Wave 8 will be grand. Hopefully it will be, and we can continue to enjoy this epic little game.

Also remember that "Armada is dead" is a free space on Armada Bingo, so you're always gonna hear it for free.

I find it very confusing myself that we've just really started into Store Champs season and folks are still lamenting the game state. We've had a lot of crazy lists flying around here recently and it makes the game far more enjoyable. My local meta was covered in Sloane Aces and BTA nonsense until W7, but now it's just a total glorious mess of creative lists and various admirals. I can't honestly say that i can think of anything the game needs at this point to give us more variety (notably I'm not a game dev though ? ) and i think that's a great place to be.

39 minutes ago, Alzer said:

and i think that's a great place to be.

40 minutes ago, ovinomanc3r said:

Yeah! Hugs on the beach for everyone!

Wait...

3 hours ago, Cboerger said:

I’m preparing to play my son at home and was thinking about all the negative “Armada is dead” talk floating around here. While I understand the problems that would cause for store and tournament play I suspect that there are a fair amount of folks like myself that would still go on to play this wonderful game indefinitely and don’t need tournament play to have fun with it.

Of course, I wouldn’t look forward to it but if they announced that Armada was dead tomorrow it wouldn’t bother me a bit. Nobody can take the ships I have away, the rules and balance are in a great place and having nearly every ship in my collection, I can come up with fleet combos that will stay fresh for years to come.

In fact, I would see it as a blessing that the game never got to X-Wing status with its power creep, 2.0 conversion kits and too many ugly fan-fiction Expanded Universe ships that do nothing to immerse me in the Star Wars universe. From what I understand, you can’t realistically field an x-wing...in X-Wing. Crazy.

It would be like Carcassone or Catan to me - I pull it off the shelf, have a great time with it and revel how fortunate I was to discover one of the greatest tabletop games ever made.

Viva Armada!

My problem is that I don't have a built in opponent like you do (your son). So, as releases dry up, local players dissapear, and I'm left with no one to play with. The scene here was dubious to begin with, but right now it's about untenable, with even the local shop not having a store championship. ?

5 hours ago, Cboerger said:

I wouldn’t look forward to it but if they announced that Armada was dead tomorrow it wouldn’t bother me a bit.

Hm, contradiction this is.

I think @Darth Lupine has it right. It's not so much about the game itself, but about the players. A game that is not supported by its publisher is going to shed players over time. While old games like chess, checkers, and go might not suffer from that, Armada is in a different category than that. It needs new stuff, and TLC from FFG, to stay alive. It's not getting those at the moment. I'm sure that it will sometime soon, but we've been left too much time to wonder, which sheds players.

3 hours ago, Alzer said:

Yeah! Hugs on the beach for everyone!

Wait...

If it's your time to go, dying from a death star blast while you're hugging Felicity Jones is not a bad way to go ?

I still enjoy the game a lot. Just finished my play the waves challenge with my friend. I'll keep playing the game even if it stops getting support from FFG.

Actually, if they stop supporting the game, then it's finally going to be time to buy into some shapeways stuff. I only havn' t because I don't want to buy an aftermarket ship only to see it officially launch later.

Who has the "no one to play with within 3 hours drive problem" ?

1 hour ago, Blail Blerg said:

Who has the "no one to play with within 3 hours drive problem" ?

Closest shop is 45 minutes away, no action. Closest shop actually had a scene is an hour and a half away...and they're the ones cancelled championships, so it's kaput. Next one is over two hours away....yeah no. ?

Well I regularly drive 10 hours at least once a month to play in tournaments....closest player to me is over 2 hours away.....There is a tournament 4 hours the other direction but they only do 2 rounds and I hate that format.

Thankfully, the probably only 2 store champs that I am attending are on the same weekend so makes it worth the drive.

8 minutes ago, Mogrok said:

Well I regularly drive 10 hours at least once a month to play in tournaments....closest player to me is over 2 hours away.....There is a tournament 4 hours the other direction but they only do 2 rounds and I hate that format.

This makes me feel better. I am planning on playing in as many SCs in state as possible, most of which are about a three hour drive away. Even I thought that was a little crazy until I read this. That’s some love of the game!

Around here things have started to go the other way. We have several stores that are holding Store Championships for the first time. Last I checked there are at least 14 SC within a 5 hour drive from me, of those I believe at least 4 are first time hosts and I can only think of one store that dropped off. This isn't to brag but to show that there are areas where the scene is relatively healthy. I say relatively because very few of those stores run any Armada tournaments other than the Store Champs. Some of us are working on changing that.

A couple stores do have "Star Wars Nights" and you occasionally see Armada then but seeing casual Armada being played in store is still a rareity. The vast majority of my games are either played at my buisness where I can host multiple games or at a friends house. We are trying to get more games played in stores just to raise visibilty more.

Many stores carry the game, some carry the whole line others carry just a few items, others do not carry Armada in store (yet) but will happily order it for you.

Anyway I am sure geography, population density, and other factors play into the health of different communities. All I can suggest is keep checking game boards in your area. I have found a few players that way. You will go months without anything but then someone will just post looking for other Armada players and you have to jump. It took me ages to find someone I could reliably get games in with. Now we have a nice group of about 8 in a relatively small geographic area. 6 of us are less than an hour away from each other, the other 2 are just barely over an hour from me.

I have been persistent to say the least, probably to the point of being an annoyance to some of my Non-Armada gaming friends. I havn't converted many but I have made inroads with a few. I will even offer up an say I'll try your game this week if you will try Armada next week (using my stuff of course). Let them fly the factions and ships they most want to and show them a fun time (don't annihilate them) and try and give them a reason to play again.

Sorry for the long post, just trying to give a positive story. The game is strong and it needs advocates because FFG isn't advocating for it. I think the first job for an advocate is being positive, at least with new players. Kvetch all you want with seasoned players that are in the know .

Keeping the positivity going... Although I've been collecting for a few months, I've only recently started playing Armada at my local store. Have really enjoyed getting into it and meeting everyone. I played my second game last night and couldn't have had a better time.

Sad to hear that the game seems to be waning in some areas, but it seems to be gaining momentum in others.

The fact that the game can grow in popularity despite being dumped to bottom priority by FFG is proof of why their ignoring it is both insane and shrewd. Shrewd to know they can lean on fans and the fun and balanced system. Insane that they aren't running with it and expanding it beyond just new ships once a year. So much missed opportunity.

Glad to hear yall are having a blast!

I dont know of any store champs in NZ at all and there is 1 regional I know of in Auckland. Thats an 8 hour drive north for me. I can only guess to how any south island Armada players feel. Im in the north island. Im looking at running a small event possibly but the local stores that stock Armada dont want to offer any support.

5 hours ago, XR8rGREAT said:

Im looking at running a small event possibly but the local stores that stock Armada dont want to offer any support.

I don't understand why this is the case.

The kits are cheap enough that even at $5 an entry, you break even at 4 players...

(Considering the CAD and the AUD are almost parity, the math still works out, too)

I mean, at smaller player values. its even BETTER, as 1x kit will do 2x Tournaments of 8 Players or less...

If you have players, you're basically turning $20 into $160 for something thta takes 4 hours (Fleet Patrol) and essentially runs itself.

Its like printing money

2 hours ago, Drasnighta said:

I don't understand why this is the case.

The kits are cheap enough that even at $5 an entry, you break even at 4 players...

(Considering the CAD and the AUD are almost parity, the math still works out, too)

I mean, at smaller player values. its even BETTER, as 1x kit will do 2x Tournaments of 8 Players or less...

If you have players, you're basically turning $20 into $160 for something thta takes 4 hours (Fleet Patrol) and essentially runs itself.

Its like printing money

Because, Dras (and I'm only talking about local to me, as it is what I can refer to), stores have limited table space, and (again, at least here), the owner can reap a ton of cash running things like a Pokemon sealed booster tourney and packing every table, than running Armada and risk only three players showing up. That's at my nearest store. At the second nearest, aside from the above, Legion has taken a larger chunk out of the player base, and while the owner there is considering running a Legion store champs, Armada is not even a consideration, seems like.

22 hours ago, Darth Lupine said:

My problem is that I don't have a built in opponent like you do (your son). So, as releases dry up, local players dissapear, and I'm left with no one to play with. The scene here was dubious to begin with, but right now it's about untenable, with even the local shop not having a store championship. ?

This is true for me, and many others I suspect, as well. It's great to have a game like this on the shelf if you have a regular opponent with you who will happily sit down for a casual game of it (bonus points if that opponent lives under the same roof, like a son or brother or spouse).

But for those of us who don't have an opponent like that, we're reliant on local players, and many of those local players want to invest their time and money in games they see as thriving and games that have a buzz of excitement around them. So when Armada starts to be perceived as dead, a lot of those players start spending their time and mental energy thinking about other more active games, like LEGION or X-WING 2.0, and in some cases they even look to sell off their Armada collections to support diving into that other game harder.

There used to be about 10 semi-active players in my city, and two years ago our OP Seasonal Kit tourneys used to bring in between 12-20 people typically. Our Corellian Conflicts used to fill up the six spots almost immediately, with excess players asking to be 'waitlisted' for the next campaign. In the past six months, I was only able to find three players interested in doing a CC, and the last Seasonal OP kit event had two people show up. Some of my best friends used to be as enthusiastic as Armada about me, but one of them has sold their collection and the two who have kept their ships are spending their time on X-Wing practicing 2.0 now...

So, I agree in principle that a game like Armada is very well-balanced, offers a lot of diversity to fleet-building and game play, and could at this point be enjoyable for a long time to come even if it remained unofficially supported. The big issue, though, is that it's the kind of game that is utterly dependent on having an enthusiastic opponent to enjoy it with... and for those of us without a family member or close friend filling that role, the game will just collect dust.

On 7/4/2018 at 7:18 PM, Blail Blerg said:

Who has the "no one to play with within 3 hours drive problem" ?

Possibly further, unless I can get my father or good buddy (who lives 45 miles away) to play. And I can reliably say that about any game I own. Buying online, the shipping is sometimes cheaper than the gas I'd burn to drive a 60 mile round trip to the store that even carries Armada.

I don't have many players in my region as well, infact there are not many xwing or any other sort of game players.

One tactic I did was to buy both sides of the table ( yup a bit expensive) and invite friends over to play the game. Everyone have the same drooling reaction when they first see the miniatures and some of them became repeat players and now one of them got his own set. It takes some time but believe me, people want to play Star Wars games and for the most of first comers, they are sick of playing ps4 or xbox and they love to have a go in real life.

40 minutes ago, LostFleet said:

I don't have many players in my region as well, infact there are not many xwing or any other sort of game players.

One tactic I did was to buy both sides of the table ( yup a bit expensive) and invite friends over to play the game. Everyone have the same drooling reaction when they first see the miniatures and some of them became repeat players and now one of them got his own set. It takes some time but believe me, people want to play Star Wars games and for the most of first comers, they are sick of playing ps4 or xbox and they love to have a go in real life.

Honestly you can have some decent list building capabilities for both sides with just 300$ and that doesn't account for sales at 300 points.

12 hours ago, LostFleet said:

I don't have many players in my region as well, infact there are not many xwing or any other sort of game players.

Boy that sounds like me locally. I know of maybe 2 people within an hour who even play Armada. There are 6 of us still actively playing X Wing (if it wasn't for these guys, I'd have given it up long ago). But even games like Blood Bowl (and other GW stuff minus 40k) struggles to pull people out to the few LGS's locally. And that's a shame. People clearly buy the games, but they can't or don't want to play openly. ****, I'm enjoying painting more now than playing anything.

I plan on attending a few Armada SC's. I haven't touched the game in months. I'll get beat up for sure, but I'm hoping to run into old friends and enjoy the game. If I don't... The game may just collect dust.

9 hours ago, Stasy said:

The game may just collect dust     . 

To prevent that I am trying to achieve a weekly schedule, like a poker night, so far nowhere near achieving that but if I get to hook a few more people into the game I will come close.

@TallGiraffe well definetely and since this is the only game I play, I dont feel bad about it.