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Old 10-02-2016, 07:52 AM   #1
SolemnGolem
 
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Default Star Wars Armada

So I picked up this game recently, largely because the store near me overstocked on several big capital ship models and they're discounted (which I've been told is nearly unheard of for this game and its higher price tag).

I only bought the ships I cared about, meaning the Imperial Star Destroyer, the Victory Star Destroyer, and the Interdictor Cruiser for the Imperials, and the Nebulon-B Frigate, Corellian Corvette, and two Mon Calamari Cruisers for the Rebels. I also sprang for the expansion starfighter pack for both sides.

There are some really ugly ships that are specific to this line: an assault frigate for the Rebels which looks like Apple designed it (all curves and compactness), as well as two chimera star destroyers for the Empire (one that has two prows, the Gladiator, and one whose name I have forgotten which has two TIE Interceptor panels on the side). I can't see myself ever paying money for those, although I've been told they fulfill a coincidentally "invaluable" and "useful" tactical function in the game, so unsurprisingly anybody actually playing the game competitively would have to buy them.

I'm a bit sad that the TIE Advanced is the model from A New Hope rather than the sleek dagger-panel model from TIE Fighter though.
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Old 10-08-2016, 10:08 PM   #2
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Default Re: Star Wars Armada

The rule that requires carrier support for rebel fighters is weird.
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Old 02-06-2018, 02:03 AM   #3
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Default Re: Star Wars Armada

A very late bump.

I've played the base game a few times, and the game design is nice. I am not even attempting to get into the meta, though, because I don't want to buy up all the cards and ugly extra ships. If I continue playing it with my friends, I may mod some custom 3D printed things.

I did buy some TIE Avenger (aka TIE Advanced) and Assault Gunboat models from Shapeways. URL: https://www.shapeways.com/product/QV...li=marketplace

They are very nicely made and serve as a good reminder of happier days with the TIE Fighter video game from 1994.

All my cards are sleeved, so I may be able to just color-print off some modded cards.
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Old 03-23-2019, 08:23 AM   #4
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Default Re: Star Wars Armada

Another irregular bump.

The TIE Fighter video game is actually purchasable from GOG.com (link).

Shapeways does some very nice pieces from the TIE Fighter series. I picked up five Modified Nebulon B Frigates (link) for the Imperial side (as all normal Frigates in-game appear to be Rebel). I'm toying with the idea of getting some Strike Cruisers as well, although their whole "lumpy cucumber" aesthetic I think fits a little better with the Rebels than the Empire.

Anybody who's been following Armada at all knows that the seemingly impossible has happened, and they've announced the release of a Super Star Destroyer model (initially scheduled for Q1 2019, it appears this has slipped to Q2 at earliest). One of the biggest problems was of scale, which they appear to have addressed by applying a somewhat flexible interpretation - just as the Corellian Corvette in-game is way too big to fit into the ISD's hangar bay as per A New Hope, the Super Star Destroyer is "only" 2-3 times the length of the Imperial Star Destroyer.

It still makes for a miniature that measures about 2 feet end to end, which strains both the scale and mechanics of the game, as well as the definition of "miniature" perhaps. It's likely to retail for around US$200 on release - some (very patient) preorders were discounted to US$160.

I think once I pick up the Super Star Destroyer, my investment in this line of ships will be complete and I'll have my coffee table "pew!pew!pew!" fleet done. FFG has announced that the SSD is the lead of a new class of ships (being the "Huge" class, spanning two bases of the Large class ships), but I can't easily imagine what other ships would be listed in that class, or whether I'd be interested in buying them.

I do need to figure out the painting of my 3D printed models though. They would likely need some surface coat of a binding as well, since the models tend to powder easily if they're brushed roughly (one of my Mod-Nebs partially eroded when somebody put a towel over it by accident).

Last edited by SolemnGolem; 03-25-2019 at 07:59 AM. Reason: Fixed broken link
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Old 03-28-2019, 01:26 PM   #5
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Default Re: Star Wars Armada

If you don't have a tinkercad account, you should go make one. It's free and, if you're a maker, it's easier to use than blender or any of the other Light-CAD software I've ever tried to make things with to print.
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Old 07-31-2019, 07:59 PM   #6
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Default Re: Star Wars Armada

Late bump:

The Two Foot Long Poodle Killer Super Star Destroyer is now at various gaming stores, although allegedly they shouldn't actually sell it until Friday.

I put in my order last weekend and the store was nice enough to give me a discount: US$175 instead of US$200. I strongly suspect this will be my last purchase of the actual game official pieces, as I have all I need for my coffee table fleet. There may be several 3d-printed acquisitions to bring it in line with my head-canon of OT and TIE Fighter PC Game pieces.

(Canon purists are welcome to put in their two cents about this. I'll save the change and buy a TIE Avenger with it!)

FFG has also announced, just today, two more ships for the game line. However, both of them are very distant from the mainstream SW media, and fall very much into "huh? That's actually Star Wars?" territory for me.

An Onager-class Star Destroyer (imagine something as ugly as the Gladiator, and then add a hammerhead to its front) for the Imperials, and a Starhawk Rebel ship that looks like a laser pistol.

I'm getting the SSD. The outlook of me getting the Onager and Starhawk are not very good though.
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Old 08-07-2019, 08:29 PM   #7
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Default Re: Star Wars Armada

Likely final bump (from me at least): The SSD is mine. It is large. It is glorious.

People online seem to complain about the fact that its engines are painted blue, instead of the red in the movies. But I'm not sufficiently hard at core, so I'm okay with it.

The SSD is not to scale with the ISD (or any other ships) because if it were, then it would be significantly larger than the official play area. But it's surprisingly close to scale with ISD models used in different games.

The board game Star Wars Rebellion has about 7 ISD models which seem to be near-scale with the SSD, at least if you go on the (perhaps arbitrary) assumption that the bridges are roughly similar sized.

The SSD has enough space near its bridge for you to gently lay down an ISD by the bridge structure, and compare the two. The ISD is sort of nestling in the SSD's shoulder like a tiny baby squirrel in your collarbone.

End-to-end, you can lay about 11 or 12 ISDs to equal the SSD in length, which is apparently close to canon (ha! ha! whatever that means nowadays). But the actual mass or volume displacement of the SSD is much, mich larger than a mere 11x multiplier.

Great fun, and this is my last official ship purchase of the gaming line. I may buy a few 3D printed Strike Cruisers from Mel's Miniatures - but if so, I would likely give them to the Rebels, as their aesthetic suits their side better than the "angry triangles" of the Empire.

Last edited by SolemnGolem; 08-07-2019 at 08:47 PM.
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