Is Armada any good? (or why we should all play Armada)

The ships look great, as does the theme/concept, and it seems well supported.

Does it play well though? I know very little about it. Are there other games it compares to that I might have tried/played (Man O’ War, X-Wing etc.)?

Have people, that have had the chance, enjoyed their games? Is it good enough to play frequently?


(by Roger Dixon)

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Its a good fun game. Easy to get into and you can fight interesting battles at low points using just the ships from the starter set.
As you gain experience, you can add different ships to your fleet and increase the points level of games to allow inclusion of ship upgrades.
The recently released Seas Aflame supplement adds fliers, fortifications, new scenarios and a campaign mechanism as well as a wider selection of ship upgrades. When added to the magic supplement , there is a huge variety of options for your games.
The game is easy to learn and starting at low points levels means that you only need 4 or so ships in a fleet, making it easier to learn the mechanics.
Highly recommended!

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wow! Someone did rigging on the ships?!

Yeah its a fun game and a little bit addictive. And a game doesn’t take very long usually

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@KoshtraBelorn & @DreadNort (I’d missed the rigging!) Thanks for the info.

I suppose what I’m really trying to get at is, what type of fun is it? What’s the weight of the game play? Is it a satisfying experience - do you feel tactics and strategy (or lack of) are rewarded accordingly.

It might be too early (& this prolonged by events) to tell, but does it feel like a finished version or a promising work in progress. It’s a bit hard to tell if it’s the new hotness or has more solid potential.

(more ships off Twitter by Roger Dixon)

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not enough experience with the game to give a full review, but I would compare it to a slow version of X-Wing
fast gameplay, tigh rules, easy to learn but catches the flair of classic naval combat, which means not as deadly as one might expect and slower paced with the need to play against the game (the wind) as well as the opponent

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From my own experience.

Early games are characterised by concentrating on basic manoeuvring and trying to avoid colliding with your own ships or running aground. After a handful of games, basic movement becomes more natural and you can move on to thinking in more detail about your own tactics. As these become more familiar, you can start tinkering with the various upgrades to optimise your fleet for your own style of combat.

The game was not designed specifically for tournaments but there is a guide for TOs and suggested map pack to assist in running an Armada event: https://www.manticgames.com/mantic-games-free-rules/

The recent supplements, Seas Aflame and the Magic Deck, extend the rules and add more scenarios, as well as introducing a campaign system…

It was unfortunate that Armada was introduced as lockdown set in and so there have been few tournaments so far. However, Mantic will shortly be running an Armada event.

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@kodos & @KoshtraBelorn Thanks - that helps me get more of an idea of the game. It sounds promising!

I couldn’t tell from the contents listed, whether the rulebook contains the rules for all the factions or just the core game rules? I’m assuming it does, like the main Kings book.

I know games aren’t cheap, but £30+£20+£15 to get the rules for the ‘full game’ was a bit higher than I was expecting. I could go digital but that feels like worse value.

(Edit: Looks like you can get it down a bit by shopping around - £22+£17+£12)

(TK vs EoD - from the Mantic blog)

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I think it’s bloody amazing personally…

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The rules for the different fleets come with the ship models (the Kingdoms of Men cards available separately, given mantic don’t make ships for them).

There are rules available on the subscription version of EasyArmy

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Thanks @Sceleris, I’d not considered EasyArmy for Armada. I currently have a Kings subscription, but before I expand it, what can you see once you’ve subscribed, or more importantly is anything missing?

EasyArmy’s great but I do like to be able to thumb through a rulebook.

(by Sceleris - popped up in my image search!)

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Pourquoi?

So you get a fleet builder (with all relevant options), digitized ship cards of the fleet you built and all the associated special rules.

It is (currently) the only way to get ship stats of models you don’t actual have - so ideal for proxy or 3rd p fleets .

[Hope you liked the dwarves!]

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@Sceleris Thanks - v useful info! Looks like a few more £s headed towards EasyArmy.

I’d honestly already selected that image as the best I could find before realising it was yours from the forum.

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well the game is easy to learn whilst being incredibly tactical and requiring you to think ahead. There’s amazing dramatic moments with broadsides, outflanking your enemies etc.

I also hear that at least one of the people writing it is super cute and awesome, as is at least one of the people casting the miniatures.

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Sounds promising! Fits with Kodos’ description of it as a slow X-Wing (slow isn’t a criticism).

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I’ll second that as well @MarkG and @kodos.

I’ve played quite a bit of X-Wing and it’s all about planning ahead and movement and outwitting your opponent. Deceptively simple rules opening up a whole lot of complexity in gameplay.

Haven’t played Armada yet but the rules definitely look promising.

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I’d missed this Counter Charge - very good intro on Armada, but also on some of the design choices, and Mantic’s production bandwidth.

Found it through this Armada article on Dash28:

I hadn’t realised it was based on a tried and tested system - so that’s reassuring. It was also interesting to hear how the inclusion of Dwarven (non sail) ships shaped the overall rules.

(by Maciej Kulesza - from the Mantic blog)

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I heard that too.

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must be true then

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Sounds like what I was hoping Vanguard would be.

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