Rebel and Imperial fleets fight for the fate of the galaxy in Star Wars™: Armada, the two-player miniatures game of epic Star Wars space battles!
Massive Star Destroyers fly to battle against Rebel corvettes and frigates. Banks of turbolasers unleash torrential volleys of fire against squadrons of X-wings and TIEs. Engineering teams race to route additional power to failing shields. Laser blasts and explosions flare across the battlefield. Even a single ship can change the tide of battle.
In Star Wars: Armada, you assume the role of fleet admiral, serving with either the Imperial Navy or Rebel Alliance. It’s your job to issue the tactical commands that will decide the course of battle and, perhaps, the fate of the galaxy.
However, battles between capital ships are fought on a massive scale all their own; the more powerful your ships, the harder it is to adjust their actions on the fly. Capital ships can’t easily vary their speeds or execute hairpin turns like the starfighters that buzz around them, so successful admirals must learn to master every aspect of the ships in their fleet and learn how best to implement their strategies well in advance of the initial engagement.
The Armada Core Set contains ten unpainted squadrons, three pre-painted capital ships, nine custom dice, dozens of tokens, nearly one hundred cards, and an innovative maneuver tool that adds a unique feel to the way your capital ships must accommodate for inertia as they maneuver throughout the battlefield!
At the game’s heart are its capital ships—massive war machines that can exceed a kilometer in length and whose crew can number in the thousands. These ships are sophisticated and complex. Their defences, armaments, and engines all run from separate systems. You and your opponent must balance all these systems throughout your battles. Accordingly, emerging victorious will require more than just raw firepower. It requires a keen tactical mind.
Armada balances the awesome scale of the Star Wars galaxy’s ships and space warfare with intuitive ship designs and accessible rules for issuing commands and resolving combat that make for rich, engaging, and highly tactical play experiences.
Each pre-painted capital ship is divided into four sections: front, rear, left, and right. While a ship has a single hull value, which indicates how many hits it can take before it’s destroyed, it has separate shield values for each of its sections, and each of these sections also comes with its own firing arc and attack value, indicated by a number of dice.
Meanwhile, each of your capital ships features multiple layers of defences. The first is its reinforced hull. The next is its shields, which vary in strength from section to section. Finally, each ship comes with a number of defence tokens. You can spend these each round to trigger their associated effects. For example, you can angle your deflector shields so that a shot fired against your front section might be absorbed, instead, by your left section. Some tokens even allow you to take evasive maneuvers to avoid attacks fired at long range.
As Rebel and Imperial fleets collide, thousands of crew will heroically perform their duties, thousands more will die, but you are the one whose decisions will determine the course of the battle and help decide the fate of the galaxy. Command your fleet, win the battle, and play your part in the Galactic Civil War!
| Average Rating (5 Reviews): | |
08 February 2021 | William
Loved the set would definitely recommend to others
Was this helpful to you? Yes / No
This review has not been appraised.
11 January 2021 | Anthony
A solid game system that involves strategic planning of key commands that improve your ships abilities. The models are quite good, however the Rebel ship molds are from the old diecast versions from the 80's, which is partly why they aren't to scale ( i had the same corvette and Nebulon when i was a child). The fighters are unpainted but "good enough" quality for the scale.
There are enough models to play a 180-200 point game (half of a full match up) and the learning game teaches you the structure of the turns and get's you used to shooting and moving etc. The rules reference is concise and compact. They have since updated the rules, Armada 1.5 is available for free online and fine tunes the rules further for a really thought out and fun game.
The core set is a perfect place to begin, you will likely need more of the dice and possibly the upgrade card set before you decide which faction you like most or another player with a core set so you can have a 300-400 point game. Glad i gave this a try as it has alot of elements that i loved when i was a kid.
They have also released the prequel factions, so for younger people who grew up with those, interested in a well made battle system (the hardest bit is movement in crowded spaces) and some reasonable quality models, this is worth a try and holds some resale value incase you dislike it.
Was this helpful to you? Yes / No
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
24 July 2020 | Andrew
I was bought X-wing at the start of lock down and was immediately hooked! I found Armada and wanted it so bad. Took the jump last week and was hooked all over again!
Was this helpful to you? Yes / No
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
26 May 2020 | Mark
You can't play the game without this set. Comes with everything you need to get started. In reality you need a lot more though to make the most of it. You can collect further expansions overtime, the more the merrier. Rules are quite complicated but that stops it getting boring fast.
Beware! Some sites (amazon for me) sell foreign language items but with English adverts. Darkstars were all the real deal and in English.
Was this helpful to you? Yes / No
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
04 June 2019 | Fiona
Great game and the game pieces are really detailed, playing with my children was fun.
Was this helpful to you? Yes / No
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.
