Just returned - what happened?

By YankeeTeddyBear, in Star Wars: Armada

So, I took a year off from Armada as I handled "life" and career. Now I've come back, went to resume the old plan to build out the fleet and seek out players in my area outside Indianapolis and it's like someone erased the game from every game store and even the forums here appear to have slowed. So, at the risk of asking a taboo topic or being dumb, can someone clarify:

Is Final Fantasy Games still publishing / restocking Armada expansions that are sold out (nearly everywhere)?

Are local "events" still happening anywhere and will there be regionals/nationals for Armada any more? I got 4 figures set aside to "catch up" as well as learning how to use all the new stuff, but it seems few folks are still into it?

Thanks in advance for letting me know...

On 3/1/2020 at 11:39 AM, YankeeTeddyBear said:

Are local "events" still happening anywhere and will there be regionals/nationals for Armada any more?

Before COVID-19 hit us super-hard, local events were totally happening. My friend even attended a local Armada tournament (in the U.S.) with 18 players as late as February 29. But at this point it really depends on how COVID-19 pans out.

But yeah, some of the problems you've mentioned (restocking sold out expansions) have been problems for a while, long before COVID-19 spread beyond China.

There seem to be a lot of people setting themselves up to play either on Vassal or Tabletop Simulator during the lockdown.

As to your other point, yes, supply has been shocking and support for the game in general inadequate.

On 3/1/2020 at 11:39 AM, YankeeTeddyBear said:

So, I took a year off from Armada as I handled "life" and career. Now I've come back, went to resume the old plan to build out the fleet and seek out players in my area outside Indianapolis and it's like someone erased the game from every game store and even the forums here appear to have slowed. So, at the risk of asking a taboo topic or being dumb, can someone clarify:

Is Final Fantasy Games still publishing / restocking Armada expansions that are sold out (nearly everywhere)?

Are local "events" still happening anywhere and will there be regionals/nationals for Armada any more? I got 4 figures set aside to "catch up" as well as learning how to use all the new stuff, but it seems few folks are still into it?

Well, you were playing about a year ago, yeah? So you remember how slow the news and physical releases trickled in for Armada for several years previous to that? Nothing has changed! Which is both the good news and the bad news. :)

Yes, they’re still making and releasing Armada. This has actually been a good year, in fact; we got the SSD, a new Campaign (Rebellion in the Rim) with new Squadron pilots and objectives, and a new large based ship for each side (Starhawk Battlecruiser for the Alliance, Onager Star Destroyer for the Empire, which is possibly the most fun and inspired design they’ve yet made). They’ve also announced plans to expand Armada to the Clone Wars era... which was supposed to happen by the end of the year, but, y’know, with the epicenter of a nearly unprecedented global pandemic inconveniently located in the same country as FFG’s major production facilities, I think we may just need to be patient on that front.

I have heard some people complain of issues finding and buying some expansions. I have seldom had these issues, as I have a well-stocked LGS, and Armada has never been incredibly popular in my area (not to my knowledge, anyway). There was a time when certain squadron packs were hard to come by, but when they finally restocked, I overbought a little to guard against scarcity. Judging from my store’s shelves, most everything must be available somewhere, if you’re willing to dig a bit.

Yeah it's been a lot better since the SSD hit. We did have a delay for the Hawk and Onager, but folks have been leveraging their new play pieces.

Onager is pretty straight forward, Starhawk is a little trickier to build for/around.

BUT the comms were improved, and my local scene was down to three people two years ago (from like 10) and now we have a large core group of 7-8ish with (before COVID19) at least 2 events a month.