Hello, first post on the forum and first Mantic game I am going to play. Got the starter and the booster fleet boxes, as well as the flyers… any help on how to build my first fleet? I am spoiled for choice, but I want to build a cool Corsair fleet or something similar.
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Welcome!
hobby tip; Make sure you paint the sails separately before gluing them on. 
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welcome to the forum we have fun and games
Your best bet is to have a look at this from another member of our hobby collective GAMING Archives - Scarhandpainting.com if you scroll down there is a faction chat that includes the salamanders and there are also some gaming tips in general for the game so it’s worth a look.
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That is helpful! How about fleet building? I am only getting the starter and booster fleet, so I don’t know what else to really do besides add all the ships. Where should I build from here? Should I go for more big guys?
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I would honestly stick with what you have for the time being.
A basic introductory game is around 150 points, then you can build up to 200 and 250 points for larger games.
The salamander box and booster come to 171 points with no upgrades and running them as regular crews.
So you have a lot of options to try out you can drop out some ships or lower the crews for the intro game and then add in upgrades to see how they work.
Once you’ve played a bit you may find that you are missing something that you can add to your fleet or that you like certain types better than others.
With the sallies being very solid there aren’t really any bad choices so you have a lot of flexibility in there
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In general collection size tiers go like this:
Basic: Starter + Booster
Standard: 2 Starters + 2 Boosters + 1 XL ship + 1 Fliers booster
Advanced: 2 Starters + 2 Boosters + 2 XL ships* + 2 Fliers boosters + 2 Support Ships of all kinds.
- For fleets that have access to XL and have Named XLs.
Basic is where most people start the adventure and is allows for a lot of fun. You have some limits when it comes to list building, but you can totally play a bunch of games without sweat.
Standard is where most people end up, getting more options and that sweet XL ship to get an edge.
Advanced is where freaks like me end up when they want to have it all, along with a wide range of options for some borderline strange list building shenanigans. Let’s call it “you have everything at that point”.
It is not necessary to jump from one tier to the other in one go. It is something to aim for, like if you are not sure what to purchase next while on Basic, anything from Standard (Booster, Starter, XL, Fliers) would do.
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Thanks! So far I am Basic + the flier booster. Probably will pick up a second starter box or the XL ship next.
Havn’t even built my first list yet, but so far I am excited to dive into a few games when I get my models
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Got my ships after a long wait! Pretty happy so far, but a few questions:
Is there any list builder outside of mantic’s subscription service?
and is there any instructions so I know exactly what goes where?
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Do a search for “mantic blog armada” - I have found some instructions there.
I dont know any other list builders, I suppose you are down to unit cards and pen & paper in that case. 
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Alright, had my first game of armada today! I took one of every ship basically, and some thoughts:
Played way, way too aggressive with everyone. I was scraping thr board edge come turn 4 because I was just going forward. The herald actually almost caused my tyrant to float off the board. Also was out of position a lot, and the dwarves pummeled me
Komodon should be played slow and steady in the back, just looking for crits
Red hot shot is amazing on paper, but I never got it to work once, sadly. I did by accident when I thought my light guns were in range, and would have been devastating, but I realized I was out of range and took it all back.
If you roll well, a broadside from a tyrant with red hot shot could one shot a ship
I like the herald, but I almost didn’t need +1 movement. Again, almost went right off the board edge, but that is poor planning on my part
J’koor uk was a beast, but I noticed that the nerve checks are actually pretty bad. Again, first time playing, but it seems weird that I could lose a ship if I don’t roll a 5+, even when I am close to more friendly ships than enemy ones
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Congrats on your first game mate. We’ve all been there. Personally I feel like I make a mistake each and every game, remember about what not to do from there on and somehow a different mistake finds a way to sneak in the next game. All the time. Good you took notes and remember how things worked - be sure to test the alternative approaches next time and see where it takes you.
Playing overly aggressive is bread and butter for newer players. Do not feel bad about it. Better to overstretch and play full aggro at the start so that you learn what not to do IMHO.
Also - I advise waiting for like half a dozen games before judging capabilities of your ships. Sometimes they seem to work differently than intended, until things finally click into place and everything seem obvious from then on.
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yea, looking forward to more games! Just finding them lol.
But yea, I was a bit surprised by how far battle speed gets you off the board! Next time going to remember that I can go slower. I think next time I try, I am going to deploy obliquely to the enemy, all to give my guns more time to fire.
For what it’s worth the game usually revolves around who gets to Rake enemy ships from the Stern and within 3", so keeping at distance is only prolonging the inevitable. Most games I played (except for particular scenarios) are fact closing ins, sharp turns, rakes, slow come about for another turn of point blank fire exchange.
This is obviously a bit different for particular fleets, but having a single solid point blank rake being better than long term long range fire is pretty universal.