Or, what should I buy?

Greetings! after a loooooong absence from Armada I have decided to finally get my butt in gear and start getting my fleet put together. My buddy and I each got the core set and split the contents between us. He got the Rebels, I the Imperials.

The advice I seek is this:

I only own the Imperial contents of two core sets, so, Two Vics and a bunch of Tie/Ln's. What, in your opinion, would I need to pick up to not get completely destroyed at my LGS?

Welcome back! Personally, I would pick up an Imperial Star Destroyer expansion first. The cornerstone of most Imperial fleets. Not gonna create a full listing of priority, but I think that is a great place to start.

Thanks for the quick reply! I imagine I should get the standard one vs the Chimaera, although, that has the refits everyone seems to be using?

1 minute ago, toyship said:

Thanks for the quick reply! I imagine I should get the standard one vs the Chimaera, although, that has the refits everyone seems to be using?

Either is honestly great.

I would credit the Chimaera with better upgrade cards, and ultimately recommend it for that reason.

Excellent! I shall begin assembling a shopping cart!

Also....

An extra pack of dice. Probably 3 extra between your buddy and yourself.

Plus, some extra maneuver tools. Construct one to just speed 2.

If you're playing that you need to actually have the cards in order to play something, I'd also consider the two campaign packs somewhere down the line, as together they will triple you objective choices plus give you some other cool cardboard.

Definitely get the Onager-class SD. Fun ship and a cheep but good commander. Plus linked fire control which replaces a defense token with a salvo token. VSDs are a viable platform for it. Campaign boxes too for the objectives and upgrades. Hmm I think i just got some more list ideas... 😎

The first Imperial expansion I'd recommend is the Imperial Fighter Squadrons I, because you're going to need more than TIE Fighters to counter Rebel squadrons.

Second: The Imperial Star Destroyer, because reasons .

Third: 1 or 2 Imperial Assault Carriers because most Imperial ships are expensive so you'll want to at least one Gozanti for a cheap ship activation. (FYI: You're not allowed to run more than two flotillas.)

Fourth: Buy at least one Rogues and Villains expansion and split it with your Rebel friend. The 4 Bounty Hunters are very powerful squadrons and even the generic Firespray and Jumpmaster are good.

Fifth: The Onager SD pairs perfectly with an ISD or 1-2 VSDs. The OSD can take out any Rebel ship in a few turns with its Special Battery if it has a Star Destroyer keeping enemy ships away from its flanks.

What to buy? Anything that you can find in a shop!

Seriously, there are no bad expansions, just a lot of products that are out of stock. So, if you see something you don't yet own, buy it.

Places to buy from: a local game shop; a less-local-but supportive game shop; second hand; FFG directly; and, finally, if you can't find them anywhere else, an online or other big company.

If we don't support our local shops, they really won't be around for us to play in.

If you can find one (or two) the Arquitens Light Cruiser would be a decent addition. It comes with the best Admiral for the Victory-class, Moff Jerjerrod, plus some handy upgrades, and is also a useful ship in its own right.

However, just about anything will work - there are very few 'duds' in Armada, so honestly get what appeals and you can find for sale!

37 minutes ago, Hedgehogmech said:

If you can find one (or two) the Arquitens Light Cruiser would be a decent addition. It comes with the best Admiral for the Victory-class, Moff Jerjerrod, plus some handy upgrades, and is also a useful ship in its own right.

However, just about anything will work - there are very few 'duds' in Armada, so honestly get what appeals and you can find for sale!

I'm a big fan of the Arquitens, but you're recommending the most difficult to find ship expansion in Armada. That's like suggesting someone start their comic book collection with Amazing Fantasy #15. 😆

16 hours ago, toyship said:

Or, what should I buy?

Greetings! after a loooooong absence from Armada I have decided to finally get my butt in gear and start getting my fleet put together. My buddy and I each got the core set and split the contents between us. He got the Rebels, I the Imperials.

The advice I seek is this:

I only own the Imperial contents of two core sets, so, Two Vics and a bunch of Tie/Ln's. What, in your opinion, would I need to pick up to not get completely destroyed at my LGS?

Honestly, I'd hit up ebay or one of the buy/sell/trade groups on facebook. With FFG's reprint policy being as bad as it is AND a global pandemic disrupting the supply chain, it may be easier to get a solid collection second hand. I admin one of the largest FFG B/S/T groups out there. Even in just the last week I've seen 3 or 4 Armada collections for sale at great prices. https://www.facebook.com/groups/StarWarsXwingSwapandSell/

If you're still looking to buy new, it really depends on what you find fun.

ISD and the chimera packs are great in value for large ships as they give you access to all 4 ISD variants. (with multiples of the kuat and cymoon). They also give access to some more powerful upgrades.

For small ships, Arquittens go along way, and get you JJ who can change the way Imps maneuver. (those VSDs start doing MEAN things with JJ at command. Who's up for doing donuts in the parking lot?) (they will be ard to find, which is why collecion hunting may be the way to go). Personally I think the raider is trash, but it can be fitted to flack squads really hard. With a small to medium fighter clump they do well. Gladiator is almost a must. Demolisher is a powerful tool and the commander basically allows an auto crit.

Fighters, at least a single squad pack 2, which will give you access to Jendon/Steel/Morana 3 of the most widely used imp aces. Squad pack one for your cheaper ties (bomber, interceptor) If you go the fighter path, a quasar is a MUST. It also comes with a couple copies of the disposable capacitors which allows your VSDs to threaten at a much longer range. I'd also pick up the corellian conflict and rebellion in the rim expansion for the other aces and objectives included.

Really, bottom line, if you see something that looks fun, get that and make a list around using it. Armada is in a really good place right now, it should be possible to make a functioning list out of almost anything.

Thanks for the extensive reply! I actually ordered the Chimaera last night, and I am totally looking into squads and Arquitens. Starting to think of a list based on a Cymoon ISD and two VSDs...sounds like Jerjerrod is the man to be looking at for the Command position.

2 hours ago, Darth Sanguis said:

Honestly, I'd hit up ebay or one of the buy/sell/trade groups on facebook. With FFG's reprint policy being as bad as it is AND a global pandemic disrupting the supply chain, it may be easier to get a solid collection second hand. I admin one of the largest FFG B/S/T groups out there. Even in just the last week I've seen 3 or 4 Armada collections for sale at great prices. https://www.facebook.com/groups/StarWarsXwingSwapandSell/

Most of my fairly extensive fleet was bought through that group. It's an excellent place to buy and sell ships.

Generally I paid £20/£15/£10/£5 per large/medium/small/core set or common ship. The latest lot, once I sold off almost all the ships I didn't want, got me a H1MC80, an AF, a Raider, an Arquitens, a Pelta, another CR90, and my 8th and 9th Nebulon for a total price of *cough* £15.
If I manage to sell the excess Nebulons, then the rest will end up even cheaper.

Made a great choice in the Chimera first. Really can't go wrong with ether ISD as a first choice beyond the vic's. I'd probably go with a fighter 1 pack first over 2. Quantity especially with what would be my next suggestion is its own quality. Which brings us to the light carrier. Works really well with the vics with disposable capacitors which turns vics into extreme long range threats and the carrier its self presents a cheap hull to command fighters from. Next I'd get a Gladiator which presents its self as a nasty brawler and a must for any imperial admiral. Escorts would get what I can get they seem to be the first to go when there is a reprint 1 arquiten for Jerjerode is very much a must too though do work well together in a swarm. Raider is possibly the toughest single ship in this game to master, but if you learn its positioning makes a nice picket ship or one vicious little surprise for a turn. Heck its funny to watch what happens with a raider 2 with dcaps and heavy ion batteries.

These days, I think your top priority is a 6-foot long stick to push your units around on the table from a safe distance. Alternatively, you and your buddy can each get 3-foot long sticks.

Very much depends on what you can find. ISD, Flotilla and Squadron packs are probably the best go tos to get you going. I prefer the chimera ISDs to the base ones.

Arquitens have seen a major resurgence lately with some of the commanders and upgrades. They can be quite mean. The Onager has been an excellent ship in my opinion with a good suite of upgrades and one of the new top imperial commanders. Gladiator remains solid as ever. Quasar is popular in certain builds, but not all. Interdictor is good in certain builds but not all. Raiders have some niche roles.

Honestly, I dont think theres an imperial ship id consider bad. Some ships might force you into certain builds, or to be too predictable in what you bring to the LGS each week, but you can make most things work.

On ‎5‎/‎13‎/‎2020 at 9:17 PM, toyship said:

Thanks for the extensive reply! I actually ordered the Chimaera last night, and I am totally looking into squads and Arquitens. Starting to think of a list based on a Cymoon ISD and two VSDs...sounds like Jerjerrod is the man to be looking at for the Command position.

Cymoon & 2 Vsd's is a solid enough fleet, it'll do you good as a long range fire platform. Might suggest Vader over Jerjerrod as the commander though - Cymoon needs all the dice modification it can get, & with the engagement ranges you're aiming for the Vsd's should be about agile enough to keep people in arc without need of jerry. (Vader comes with the original ISD pack, although there's probably a few individual cards floating around on ebay)

Heartily recommend VSD2's over VSD1's. Also try to get your hands on some Disposable Capacitors (they come in the imperial light carrier expansion - which is a pretty nice expansion to have anyway).

You may want a Gozanti flotilla (very useful for activation padding, commanding squadrons, & passing command tokens) if points allow. Although it's a very useful ship you will almost certainly want to buy 1 or 2 of at some point.

For fighters you'll only need a light screen to keep any enemy bombers off your ships. The Ties you have from your core sets will do okay for this, although consider fighter pack 1 at some point to give yourself a few more options.
Corellian conflict campaign pack is a decent purchase (as long as you already have fighter pack 1) as it contains some really nice aces, & has some more objectives that you can use.

There are a couple of upgrade cards you might want to pick up on the secondary market (saves buying a whole ship when you can grab the cards on Ebay - usually fairly cheap)
Xi7 turbolasers & Gunnery team are the ones that spring to mind as most relevant to the ISD + 2 VSD build, although I may have forgotten one.

I'd mock your list up before you commit to buying anything to see how many of what stuff you need (you might have to make some hard cuts to stay under 400 points)

Although... If I can diverge you from your ISD + 2 VSD plan for a moment ISD + Onager when properly kitted out makes for a mean, nasty fleet. It's probably not something to go for right off the bat (Onager has a bit of a learning curve), but it might be something to keep in mind for the future. (Onager could also replace the ISD, & pair with some VSD's if wanted). So far for the imperials the only ship I've enjoyed more than the Onager is the Interdictor.

Looks like the Light Carrier is pretty much a must have if one plans on working with VSDs as I do. I really dig the Victory for some reason.

How good is the Light Carrier in play? Worth it as a carrier or should I just use one of my VSDs as a heavy carrier? Or both? Can you have too much carrier? Squadron-heavy Imps would definitely be an interesting way to go...

The Onager looks sweet, and as you say, it looks like quite the learning curve. Placing that token right seems tough and potentially frustrating.

Revised purchase list is definitely Imperial Squadrons 1 and the Light Carrier.

44 minutes ago, toyship said:

Looks like the Light Carrier is pretty much a must have if one plans on working with VSDs as I do. I really dig the Victory for some reason.

How good is the Light Carrier in play? Worth it as a carrier or should I just use one of my VSDs as a heavy carrier? Or both? Can you have too much carrier? Squadron-heavy Imps would definitely be an interesting way to go...

The Onager looks sweet, and as you say, it looks like quite the learning curve. Placing that token right seems tough and potentially frustrating.

Revised purchase list is definitely Imperial Squadrons 1 and the Light Carrier.

Light Carrier is a pure carrier. It's light in the sense that it breaks once most things look at it. It is easily the most vulnerable ship at any range because of the lack of defense tokens. So it needs Boosted Comms/ relay Lambdas to stay as far as possible from enemies while commanding squadrons and/or a good distraction. It makes up for this with it's high squadron command, your squadrons are it's guns that will punish any attackers. So it can be strong but requires a certain style of play. The expansion itself is already great for giving your vsds a turbolaser and offensive retrofit that complements them.

3 hours ago, Muelmuel said:

The expansion itself is already great for giving your vsds a turbolaser and offensive retrofit that complements them.

Not to mention the potential for Boarding Troopers.

BTs + Vader + Exrax on a VSD-1? Dirt cheap, and it hits hard if you get into range.

6 hours ago, toyship said:

Looks like the Light Carrier is pretty much a must have if one plans on working with VSDs as I do. I really dig the Victory for some reason.

How good is the Light Carrier in play? Worth it as a carrier or should I just use one of my VSDs as a heavy carrier? Or both? Can you have too much carrier? Squadron-heavy Imps would definitely be an interesting way to go...

The Onager looks sweet, and as you say, it looks like quite the learning curve. Placing that token right seems tough and potentially frustrating.

Revised purchase list is definitely Imperial Squadrons 1 and the Light Carrier.

I haven't found it too bad getting my Onager in place against either the Starhawk or the MC80. The range spot is fairly forgiving and you can still carve up an opponent with red dice so long as you have planned for rerolls when the die go wrong. I wouldn't fancy it against a Madine Liberty though.

Double Onager against a heavy slow fleet is glorious. I recently played an 800pt battle, with my SSD , double Onager and Demolisher pitted against a Starhawk, MC80 assault, MC 80 command, Pelta and large fighter wing. Tabled my opponent, which has never happened before.

If you're not attending official tournaments, you don't have to use the physical cards. And you can usually borrow any you don't have if/when you go, so don't buy something just for the cards! (Buy things for the ships - they're all good.)

Onagers: placing the Ignition token is the easy part; having the ship pointing where it needs to be pointing is the hard part. It really helps being first player so the enemy you want to shoot is still there. Well worth getting one though!

On 5/14/2020 at 4:47 PM, namdoolb said:

Although... If I can diverge you from your ISD + 2 VSD plan for a moment ISD + Onager when properly kitted out makes for a mean, nasty fleet. It's probably not something to go for right off the bat (Onager has a bit of a learning curve), but it might be something to keep in mind for the future. (Onager could also replace the ISD, & pair with some VSD's if wanted). So far for the imperials the only ship I've enjoyed more than the Onager is the Interdictor.

Have you tried a build with both OSD and Interdictor? Quit fun! I even through in Corvus with Iden and Vader

16 hours ago, EagleScoutof007 said:

Have you tried a build with both OSD and Interdictor? Quit fun! I even through in Corvus with Iden and Vader

I'll do you one better... I've tried a build with an Onager & 2 interdictors.

It was glorious.