Just had this thought while driving this morning. What would a game of Armada be like if upgrade cards were hidden (turned face down) until they were used?

This wouldn't work on all upgrades, as some like Rapid Launch Bays require actions at the start of the game. And others, like Early Warning System wouldn't be too much of a surprise as you'd want to use it at the start of a round.

But look at things like Ordnance cards. Does that Gladiator have APTs, ACMs, or External Racks? Or Fleet Support. Is that flotilla sneaking it's way closer because it has Slicer Tools or is it there to support that group of bombers?

Without having given it too much thought, it seems like a way to add a bit of surprise to the game, even if most of the upgrades are flipped up during the first round.

You could also add some other upgrades that allow you to 'scan' enemy ships.. forcing them to turn cards over......

Quick Premise something like this... you get a backed card holder for every slot a ship can take which goes next to the ship.... so you dont know what if any upgrade slots have been filled.

Instead of firing you can scan a ship instead with X Red dice, each accuracy scored forces the ship owner to turn an upgrade card over. For each hit you pick a card type and the opponet removes it off the table if the slot isnt used (ie you pick an officer slot and the ship hasnt got an officer equiped). For each Crit you pick a card type and if the slot is used then it gets turned over.

There is no range limit to a scan, however it counts as obsured if outside long range

X is related to the ship size(sqns scans are to weak to do more than detect the ship class at anything more than black range)

9 minutes ago, ArmadaMatt said:

Just had this thought while driving this morning. What would a game of Armada be like if upgrade cards were hidden (turned face down) until they were used?

This wouldn't work on all upgrades, as some like Rapid Launch Bays require actions at the start of the game. And others, like Early Warning System wouldn't be too much of a surprise as you'd want to use it at the start of a round.

But look at things like Ordnance cards. Does that Gladiator have APTs, ACMs, or External Racks? Or Fleet Support. Is that flotilla sneaking it's way closer because it has Slicer Tools or is it there to support that group of bombers?

Without having given it too much thought, it seems like a way to add a bit of surprise to the game, even if most of the upgrades are flipped up during the first round.

Could be a fun house rule. "Don't reveal the upgrades until you use 'em"

29 minutes ago, slasher956 said:

You could also add some other upgrades that allow you to 'scan' enemy ships.. forcing them to turn cards over......

Sensor Team!!!!

Fianlly a reason....... Rejoyce and sing Yub Yub.

3 minutes ago, Mad Cat said:

Sensor Team!!!!

Fianlly a reason....... Rejoyce and sing Yub Yub.

pretty sure someone else found a reason to use sensor team before at some point, probably @Ginkapo .

I still sometimes forget to use some of my upgrades as is though it could certainly make for an interesting game.

I used to play other miniature games. We would send in units with a cardboard card the same size as the base but no other info. At range x or when the unit fired, the actual unit was revealed. True fog of war. At times we even added a dummy card, cause false echos and such.

I've done this and it's quite fun. All cards, even things like rapid launch bays and whatnot work. You don't have to have the stuff set aside and visible on the table. Those ships/squads are off the table and only pulled in when utilized.

I've done totally blind, where you only reveal something when used (including commander). It can add a lot to both the offensive and defensive elements of the game.

I've also done a version where each player can force a reveal of one card per round at the start of the round as a 'scan'. We did some variations on this, but found this to be the best. We tried scan per ship on that ships turn, but this created issues with more ships having advantages. We did another version where every ship had to reveal one of it's cards each round...but you couldn't keep hidden info for long and MCUs were again affected differently. We did another one based on dice rolls, but it was too random. We did another one where you could scan a ship, but the ship owner revealed one card, and this created an odd game of hiding info behind cheap upgrades. We decided on each player got to pick one card from the enemy to reveal each round was simple, worked, and didn't really provide an advantage or disadvantage to any set up. If you got lucky and picked the RLB or Raddus or what not, then the attached hidden info was also displayed.

Squadron pilots are also secret until engagement.

We’ve played it. You reveal nothing except for the ship variant and squadron type at deployment. You only flip up / reveal cards when you use them. If you have Raddus or RLB then you keep anything they hid below the table or in a box until you deploy them.

You can also “hide” the ship variant until the first attack. Basically, just set all ships to the cheap variant until you attack and then flip it over or swap it if necessary. It’s fun watching an ISD barrel towards you without knowing if it’s gonna RLB 4 decimators, AvengerBT, ScreedFCT, or something else silly. It causes less rage tilting because you expect BS shenanigans

It is called double blind play. It’s a blast.

The last time I played it I had a fleet that deployed a single Home One and that’s it. The most amusing fleet was probably one that deployed 2 AFmk2 and a flotilla. One version of the fleet dropped an Admo with Raddus, one had Gallant Haven and RLB’d a bunch of bombers, and one version got its ackbar on.

1 hour ago, Church14 said:

It is called double blind play. It’s a blast.

I wondered if this already existed, but had no idea to search for it.

Very cool that several people already have played this and found it fun! I'll definitely be suggesting it to my Armada buddy! Keeping Raddus and RLBs hidden just sounds amazingly cool and thematic.

23 minutes ago, ArmadaMatt said:

I wondered if this already existed, but had no idea to search for it.

Very cool that several people already have played this and found it fun! I'll definitely be suggesting it to my Armada buddy! Keeping Raddus and RLBs hidden just sounds amazingly cool and thematic.

Depending on the game, double blind play may disguise even more. As someone mentioned, unit types can be hidden as well. In WW2 and basically any historical sim game, this makes sense. For Armada you could reduce it down to a blank large base tile until the ship shoots, but that doesn’t make much sense.

In battletech, it can be completely brought down to the point where 2 players submit their movements to a third party that determines if anyone can see each other. That’s usually a computer program now. So you don’t even know your opponents’ location until you get line of site on them.

1 minute ago, Church14 said:

In  battletec  h  , it can be completely brought down to the point where 2 pl  ayers submit their movements to a third party that determines if anyone can see ea  ch other.  That’s usually a computer program n  ow. So you don’t even know your opponents’   location until you get line of site on the   m  . 

I’ve GMd enough of these 3 map games by hand... They’re greatly immersive, but **** if it’s not a lot of work for the guy in the middle

4 hours ago, Mad Cat said:

Sensor Team!!!!

Fianlly a reason....... Rejoyce and sing Yub Yub.

😡 😡 😡 😡 😡

I think it is brilliant 😊

Also you will start playing quicker as you don't have to explain your cards to your opponents

I like this idea

A while back I theorised about a game of 'bluffing' X-wing, which could equally be applied to Armada.

All upgrade cards are hidden at the start of the game. While playing, you can claim that any upgrade card is any member of that class of upgrades (e.g. you could say a turbolaser is a TRC one turn, anXI7 the next, and an XX9 the turn after).

At any point your opponent can call your bluff. If they were wrong they suffer a penalty of some kind (e.g. lose two shields or suffer a face-up damage card). If they were right then you lose that upgrade card entirely...

Never tried it though!

I have thought this would be a great mechanic in X-Wing for years and would also be great in Armada. I also think ship titles should be required.