Learning From Teaching Seven Wonders Duel

After writing, then reading my own basic and relatively in-experienced thoughts on 7WD, I had a chance to put some of my thought into practice, for what became a surprising and interesting night of play.

We (Meg and I) played 4 games on the trot.

The first was an experiment and one I felt was a little mean, because I intended to try some tactics that I had formulated while researching the game, and they were highly dependent on Meg’s known habits.

Knowing that any science cards Meg came across would likely be scrapped, I kept a look out for the two re-draw options available (Hades and The Mausoleum). Hades came up. I was then also on the hunt for Ishtar or the Law token. Ishtar also came up.

Game on.

I am known to fiddle around with science builds and even try some Progress tokens, so grabbing the first two green cards was no big surprise, but it cost me. By the end of the first age I had 1 resource build, but I had already decided to ignore my Wonders or pretty much any other game winning distraction. Long story short, I won the game with the first reveal of the Third Age (sweet revenge for the same happening militarily a few weeks ago).

It felt a little unfair at first, but then I considered it, I had no other chance of winning and the whole thing came down to having two of the four God/Wonder options I needed being available and then getting them. I would have changed tactics if the options were not there and I doubt it will be this easy again, but the Stars (Gods) aligned.

Games 2 and 3 were the two closest games we have had, with victory to Meg twice by 3 points in each.

In the second game I ignored greens totally, partly from fear of over playing them and partly due to limited options. My stash of Civil builds, monied up Gods and decent spread of resources was pipped at the post by a strong military effort and a similar spread. My only mini victory was some tricky play on my last turn, buying my last Wonder, repeating my turn and burning a 3 shield build that would have sunk me. I was confident going into the points tally but fell short 48-51.

Game 3 was higher scoring. I went strongly military, a by-product of buying the Strategy and Engineering Progress tokens, not able to pull out a win, mostly due to Aphrodite and Pyramids, I did put a lot of pressure on 57-60.

Game 4 is the interesting one. Another science victory, much like the first, but with a different dynamic. This time I actually got out all the symbols I needed with Ishtar and no other help.

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Science victories are hard to pull off and can lead to certain defeat if you chase useless tokens, have no help from Gods or Wonders or telegraph your intent (it only takes a couple of burned cards and game over), but with the Pantheon expansion, there are now a decent number of ways there.

Ishtar and the Law token duplicate the “wild card” dynamic. This is really powerful. It is not possible for your opponent to deny you of all the science cards, but highly probably they can strip you of the one or two you need to make a full set. The ability to fill the gap(s) with these two make it far more likely.

The Mausoleum and Hades allow for re-draws of discards, which are often (in our games) science cards and easily remembered. Re-draws can be brutal especially late in the game, making both science and military victories a real threat. Having two ways to get them almost guarantees one per game.

Nisaba allows you to “steal” the icon on your opponents science card (but not take it), which means there is no where for them to hide and of course she can also be used too break up a set in the making. Not at first a seen as a great option by me as Meg almost never takes green builds, Nisaba is the safety net the game needs when just discarding science cards becomes common. She will have her day.

There are also ways of getting Progress tokens and Gods other than the normal routes, using The Gate, Library, Theatre or Enki. With only three Gods per suit, it is easy enough to work out who is where, but Progress tokens have less than a fifty-fifty chance to get in play.

I feel I have woken the bear now with Meg. She will now be on the lookout for this tactic and will likely take more of an interest in the wonders of playing green. I am expecting some Progress tokens to come into play, especially the good early build options like Urbanism, Engineering, Architecture, Strategy or Masonry and some surprising re-draws and these will inevitably lead to a Science victory opportunity or two.

The thing that brings us back to this game is the depth. This is not just depth of options, but depth of perspective. I am sure we have not even started to tap the options available and I will bet that in the months or years to come our play styles will evolve regularly, but I also have no doubt that the game will retain its balance and enjoyability.

A Beginners Tactical Guide To Playing Seven Wonders Duel; Part 3

Building Wonders and Civil buildings and going to War are the most common and easiest paths to winning 7WD. But each of these can benefit from or be totally replaced by another path to victory if you employ a “progressive” frame of mind.

Progress Tokens

I will look at the progress tokens specifically, not by Age, because they need to be looked at from a different perspective.

To be honest, the green science cards have usually been burned for the easy coin, as much from ignorance as apathy. They seem expensive in the first Age, patchy to find and almost always at odds with more urgent war, victory points, money or resource demands. The First Age is the enemy of greens to new players, the following Ages are where they show their true power, but often the horse has bolted. Play the long game with science cards and by extension progress tokens and you can reap enormous rewards.

I like the greens, but have been disappointed by them often, which I put down to lack of commitment and understanding. Learn how powerful these combinations can be when employed in the right context and at the right time. Meg has not bothered with them yet, so I may have a small window of advantage.

The biggest point of confusion here is do you go for the science victory (6 different cards, but there are two “wilds” available) or the benefit of the progress tokens (pairs of the same token)? I would advise, if tempted to look at these at all, to go for the tokens (they really are powerful), depending on what is on offer and keep one eye out for the science win, which will get easier to achieve the more science cards you have. A victory is also a lot more likely if the two “wilds” of the Law token and Ishtar in play, but this is also be an obvious move to your opponent.

Getting progress tokens.

Progress tokens are gained by pairing any two science cards (also using a “wild” token Law or God Ishtar to make a pair), building The Great Library Wonder, getting a re-draw from the discards or through the Green God cards (Enki lets you pick from 2 and Nisaba lets you “borrow” a symbol from your opponent).

Science Cards (I will ignore the cost and VP on the cards as they are incidental)

• Mechanics/Engineering Age I and Age II then linked to Astronomy/Science Age III

• Transport/Herbalism Age I and Age II then linked to Astronomy/Science Age III

• Writing/Knowledge Age I linked to Age II

• Chemistry/Alchemy Age I linked to Age II

• Education/Academics 2x Age III

Pairing any two gets you a progress token, collecting all 6 gets a win.

The patterns are tricky. Early on, I got frustrated by the missing cards each round until I checked out the card layout in the back of the book. Some cards are only available early, some later, some only in one Age. Some are linked, some not, but most are not too expensive. They do still to get ignored, but the power of the tokens is awakening (A new, green Age?).

More advanced players look at all elements equally, choosing their path as opportunity presents, so my tip here is don’t railroad yourself down one path. Be open to other ways and look for sympathetic combinations from all sources. The strongest civilisations favoured all areas of endeavour, the ones that were masters of one, soon perished.

With the Pantheon expansion there are 13 progress tokens on offer. We have made up little quick reference cards to help us with the array of symbols. We both feel this is important because the power of these cannot be underestimated, so one player getting an edge here will sway the game until the other player gets on board with them. Can you win without them? Absolutely, in fact the jury is still out on them with us, but like Gods, Wonders and all other elements of the game, in the right place at the right time, they can swing the game.

Strategy. An extra shield every warfare card or effect played. If you get this early, a military victory is always a threat especially if you are ahead at the start of the Third Age. Playing a three shield card and Mars in the last Age can net 7 shields in 2 turns!

Poliorcetics. Your opponent loses a coin for every war track space lost. Already a drain, warfare now becomes a coffer killer. The cost of war normally is a one off, but now it becomes a constant drain (how would it feel to lose 8 coin in one turn?). If Meg employs this against my play style I am usually dead, or as often I don’t care because I am already broke! If I try it against her, it is a minor annoyance.

Architecture. Building Wonders costs you 2 resources less of your choice. A really powerful card if taken early, this one makes up for a lot of missed resources (the ones you likely missed while taking science cards!) and may even net you some.

Masonry. Building blue civil cards costs two resources less. A bit of a sleeper, this one makes grabbing those 7 point Civil builds in the last Age much easier and makes many of the cheaper ones free, possibly opening up linking chains for even more free points. Like the Architecture token above it is best taken early, but unlike that token, it has more chances of coming off.

Urbanism. Gain 6 coin and 4 more for every linked cost build. Again a great one to have earlier, the number of linked builds (18) can drain the coin reserve! Add this to Engineering below and linked builds become a game breaker.

Engineering. Any card with a linked symbol can be built for 1 coin. Again 18 chances in the game if you get this early! There is a reason some the better cards are not linked. Most civil, war and science builds are linked. Match this with Urbanism and you are being paid to build these cards.

Economy. Your opponent pays you for purchased resources when building. Particularly nasty if you have cornered the market on a needed resource. If taken early enough it could net you a lazy dozen or more coin, or as importantly, make your opponent cash in desired cards rather than pay you.

Theology. All future Wonders built have the “repeat turn” symbol. You can see a pattern here of taking some of these early, but this one can be a good late starter also. The Wonders all come in at about 9 VP or the equivalent, some with t repeat turn as part of their offer. With this you could have 4 of the more powerful ones and the repeat ability, chaining several of your builds in one turn. If taken for only one Wonder it is not great value, unless that Wonder opens up others or pushes a win. Use this with Architecture to potentially build 4 in a row (with RA, maybe even 5!).

Mysticism. Gain 2 VP for all unused Offering or Mythology tokens. Sometimes you end up with most of the offering and mysticism tokens, but do not get to them, or chose not to spend them. I have personally had all 5 mythology tokens and not been able to afford one useful God. Getting a full 16 points is highly unlikely (pointlessly wasteful), but a handy 8-10 can be some reward for missing out on Aphrodite :) and these are always in play.

Philosophy. 7 VP. Cannot get much simpler (or philosophical?) than that. Only 2 Civil builds, 1 Wonder and 2 Gods can match it.

Agriculture. 6 coin and 4 VP. Less game winning than Philosophy, Agriculture can be a welcome boon. There are few other ways short of a Wonder to get this much return in one place. These last two tend to be the ones new players grab and on balance they are two of the better options late game.

Mathematics. Gain 3 VP for each progress token you have. The bonus prize for hoarding all those green tokens regardless of their effect. I recently got a lazy 15 VP out of this token and only bothered with it because it was the best option Enki coughed up.

Law. This is a “wild” Icon used for making a science card pair or a winning set. Identical to and doubly powerful because of Ishtar, you now have 2 “jokers” in the game. If this comes up on the starting track, a science win instantly comes to mind. If Ishtar is also in play, (for me) it goes front and centre. You may not pull off the win, but you do get free pairs for more tokens regardless.

Getting too many progress tokens in their own right without any plan is often a waste of resources, because most work in concert with other possibly under developed elements.

The (unlikely) Science Victory

A science victory (I have had 5, Meg 0) is now vastly more probable thanks to the Pantheon expansion. Before this the chances of getting 1 of each of the 6 science cards was too easy to predict and never guaranteed, which often resulted in a waste of 4-5 builds for little return. The Law token helped, but again taking it often telegraphed your intent. It is also reasonably easy, even automatic for your opponent to “burn” your hopes right in front of you.

Switching late in the game to chasing tokens could help mitigate your pain, but not often by much and many progress tokens are better taken early, not later. The card spread is interesting with 2 chances at 2 different symbols in the Third Age, 1 of each of the others in the First and Second Ages, chasing pairs early, then a science win later is actually built in.

With Ishtar adding a second “wild”, Nisaba allowing you to take an opponent’s card icon for your own set and Enki adding a third token dispenser, science has opened up a lot more. Remember also the two re-draw options (Hades and the Mausoleum), which let you trawl through those long forgotten discards.

If you have a couple of science builds mid to early Second Age, 1 or 2 green Gods available, Law is in play, you have the Great Library Wonder or a possible re-draw you are in a reasonable position to gain some tokens and regardless, you are getting closer to a possible science victory.

To be honest chasing a science victory from the get-go rarely works out (far less often even than a military victory). It is something that may present itself and then you can go for it, but more likely you will end up with a decent progress token, which is usually worth while and maybe another couple of middling value or a sympathetic pairing.

Like all things in 7WD, balance and flexibility are the key.

Our experience with science cards and tokens is a bit one sided. I am the only one who really gives them a go, often to my cost and have only pulled off 5 science wins (4 since the Pantheon expansion and 2 in one night). If Meg decides to chase a certain few when they appear, she may be a scary powerhouse in her preferred fields of endeavour (war, civil builds and finance), while I may be able to reverse my predictable short comings. I hope we both get more confident with the green wonders sooner rather than later.

A Beginners Tactical Guide To Playing Seven Wonders Duel; Part 2

Civilisation

Building is the core concept of 7WD, but the easiest route to victory points, especially in the first Age is through the blue Civil build cards.

Age I

In the first Age there are 9 VP up for grabs over three cards, costing a grand total of 1 resource and all of them are linked to future builds (2 linked again to even better builds). To put this into perspective, the Pyramids and Aphrodite at 9 VP are the single highest points sources in the game and cost considerably more with no flow on effect.

I have a habit of letting these little ones get away, much to Meg’s delight and future benefit.

Age II

In Age II there are 22 VP on offer over 5 cards. All but one of these are linked from, or to other cards so prudent building in the First Age and some luck can really snowball here. Again for context, 50 points for us can often win a game (top tier players likely hit 80+ regularly?), so just sticking to blue cards can get us a fair way there.

If you can get any of the Urbanism, Masonry or Engineering Progress tokens, blue card accumulation can be an even easier road to victory and put a lot of pressure on your opponent.

Age III

In Age III blue cards total no fewer than 36 points! Half of these are linked, so they are potentially free, but the better ones (7 points each) are resource reliant only, nearly as hard to build as many Wonders unless you have a good Progress token.

It is not uncommon for Meg to hit me with a game winning 30+ points from blue cards. This is a habit I have to break and to be honest and if I win on points it is often because I pay more attention here. Gaining is also denying in 7WD so 5 points taken is a 10 point swing. Even 5 points “burned” is better than nothing.

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War

Warfare (red cards and Gods) was and is part of civilisation (contradictions abound) and it plays no less a role in 7WD. The War track gives each player 10 spaces of “life” to preserve or conquer and wars cost coin to fight even if you don’t take a pro-active role. This can seem daunting and a grind (the Pantheon mixes it up a little more), but even the first move to war has an effect.

Most of our half dozen military victories have been Megs (2 in one night!). You can try to ignore it, but it does not go away, believe me.

The two counters don’t come painted and plenty have been done better.

Age I

Age I offers 4 single shield tokens. If they are all played, the lucky war minded player can actually strip their opponent of 7 coin and gain a potential 5 VP (for the cost of 0 to 6 coin), while also shaking their opponents confidence a little. Of these, 3 are linked, one to a third age build.

Meg often starts out with a single attack as soon as she can, just to strip me of 2 coin. One of my habits is to“burn” war cards, especially in the first Age. This rarely works out for me. The best deterrent for a war minded opponent is a little counter attack.

Age II

The second Age gets more aggressive, especially with the Pantheon expansion. Wonders can supply 4 shields over 3 cards, the Gods 2 on 1 (Mars) with Neptune hurting & helping financially, Minerva defending and the Age build deck has potentially 8 shields on offer. It is possible, but unlikely that you could win a military victory, or be close to it, in the Second Age.

Even if you are not war minded, you may need to fight back just a little. Remember each push back denies your opponent a potential push forward so 1 shield back is technically worth 2 to your attacker. Even “burning” the odd card has some benefit, but warfare unlike any other element of 7WD is an ongoing effect, so fighting back is stronger than discarding.

Sleepers here for us were the war oriented progress tokens. Strategy adds 1 shield to all attacks, potentially adding 10 or more to the game (enough to win on their own) and Poliorcetics strips even more coin from your opponent and keeps doing so unlike the initial arming costs, maybe up to 7-10 if taken early. These cards make warfare more than an annoyance to the unlucky defender. Employing both tokens early in the game could potentially cripple an opponent.

I have a long history of war gaming, but in 7WD, my record is poor. Meg is often pushing hard by now, not always with the win in mind, but knowing there are points, coin losses and psychological benefits. Recently I lost a game on the first card taken in the last Age. Ouch.

Age III

The third Age can be telling on the war track. 12 shields are on offer over 3 linked, 2 shield cards and 2 expensive and unlinked 3 shield cards. Wonders and Gods may still also be in play for potentially no fewer than 18 total shields (26 with Strategy).

If you want to go to war, even from scratch or if slightly behind, it is still possible to win or at least distract your opponent greatly in this Age.

If you are defence minded, placing Minerva on your side of the God track can save the day in the Third Age and is best played later in the game as she nullifies any single war card regardless of shields.

A tip here is getting the Engineering progress token, which allows you to buy any linked cost (white symbol) card for 1 coin. That could potentially be 8 shields for 5 coin! Add in Urbanism and Poliorcetics and you can also earn coin while taking it from your opponent!

Just mean really.

Recently Meg won a military victory starting from nothing at the start of the third Age. Being broke and chasing Temple points (I was a little in front there already), I gave her enough space to creep within striking distance, then clever buying of Gods (a good way of turn skipping and adding other effects) and a little luck got her over the line.

A Beginners Tactical Guide To Playing Seven Wonders Duel; Part 1

My wife and I are not experts at 7WD, but we have played enough to help out those just starting on this intriguing journey, so assuming I am talking to the 7WD curious or a recent adventurer, here is a very rough guide of what to expect, what to avoid or some things to ponder. I

will base this on the standard game with the Pantheon expansion, but most of the content is relevant without it. Italicised references are mine and my wife’s personal tactics or thoughts.

Building

First up, the game is about building.

Building leads to money, control and other benefits that, more often than not lead to victory points, and game victory or loss. Normally buildings are bought, but Wonders and the favour of the Gods are also important and while the paths of science and war are also relevant, they are reliant to some degree on the ability to build.

To build you need at least some of 3 brown card resources (stone/clay/wood) and or 2 grey card (papyrus/glass) resources. There is also the “reserve” or “trade” card option of the gold commerce cards for all of these resources which allows you to purchase them at a set 1 point each or for free.

Age I

In the first age, there are 2 of each base brown resource card on offer (1 free and one 1 coin) 1 of each gold “reserve” card and 1 of each grey. What does this mean? It means be quick and sure about your approach. Missing out on too many of these means you are not only going into the second age resource poor, but in all likelihood your opponent is not. It is possible to build some wonders with just these, so be mindful of your and your opponents options. If you are lucky enough to corner the market for your needs, then “burning” any others you come across is an option.

Meg tends to hoard the browns and greys, I have had a habit of chasing the reserve cards, but more recently I have been more mindful of the trap of relying on them (their ongoing cost and the reality that they have no effect on her purchasing costs make her life doubly easy). A middle road seems best. Buy the reserve card or cards for the builds that take 2 or 3 of a resource you missed out on, then actual resources for the builds that require 1 at a time at most.

Age II

The second age offers the three double brown core resources and one each of the grey cards. It also offers three commerce gold cards that fatten up the papyrus and glass options (2 of each) and the “wild” base resource card Caravansery, which is ideal for those mixed/complicated build headaches.

This is the Age of Wonders and Gods, a defining, but not terminal Age to lose. The Pantheon has vastly changed to role of this Age, adding in the Gods, which in turn opens up various other paths.

If by the end of the second age you are still resource poor you had better have a plan. A military victory is a possibility, but hard to pull off without the ability to build and a science victory even harder unless you grabbed what was on offer early. All things in 7WD are linked, which becomes more apparent the more you play.

Your only other source of resources now comes from building Wonders which is obviously a double edged sword. A lucky game might have you building a good source of money with a repeat turn (Hanging Gardens), or a Wonder that grants access to missing resources (Pireus, The Lighthouse) or even a look at the discards (Mausoleum), which gets more powerful the later you use it.

With the Pantheon available, there is also another lifeline. Baal stealing a card (no points for being nasty in 7WD, but some feeling of satisfaction), Astarte or Tanit gifting funds, Isis granting a free Wonder or Hades with a discard draw, but these can cost you.

The second Age tends to galvanise your tactics, so have something in mind, but also be flexible. It is not uncommon for a possible science or military victory to raise it’s head here with the variety of options coming into play, but it is also a time to ponder a strong points win.

By this time Meg usually has a well funded bank and plenty of resources. I have previously gone for the “bottomless well” of commerce cards, but then often lack the funds to use them.

Age III

Resources dry up in the third age. This is the age of progress and civil development, not base resource building. The resource poor better be well funded, on the war path or gunning for a science win because there is little hope otherwise. Progress tokens can offer a little help like reducing build costs or giving good returns like Urbanism, Engineering, Architecture or Masonry, but by this stage their benefit may be too little too late.

This Age has become more vibrant with the Pantheon for us. Several times, unlikely victories have been executed early in this Age and the feeling of pressure coming into the last stages is palpable. For example I have been sitting on a science win with 1 card needed and half the Age to play, but to no avail and once I kept Meg from winning a military victory with her in the end zone for most of the Age, but then still lost on points.

Age III previously had a feeling of pre-determination, but it has opened up a lot more with the Pantheon expansion, which has the ability to swing some elements of the game just enough to empower the cunning player. The Gods Zeus, Mars, Minerva, Ishtar, Nisaba and Anubis and the Law, Mathematics, and Mysticism progress tokens especially become quite powerful now, so I recommend you take a pause occasionally and look at your options.

Note; there are no “linked” resource cards, which means each has to be bought outright with no flow on effect.

How Would I Have Done It?

X Wing is a passion of mine, but like a lot of passions, it brings forth strong emotions and equally strong opinions.

Luke and Biggs on a secret mission in K Wings………..

What would I have done, if hypothetically, I was involved in the design space for the game, especially the second edition game, especially after sampling Armada?

Pilots would be separate from ships. The pilot ability would be transferrable with the pilot as fits to theme and ship type. Luke in a Y Wing, E Wing or A Wing, Vader in a Defender, Tie Fighter, Prototype, or Punisher? Why not, it actually happened. Pilots, especially generic or personalised ones could have unique skills and higher PS they earn over time or you could use the pre-made Legends from the films. This adds growth, greater flexibility, more options and raises legendary characters up to a bar to aim for. Pilot building would be a game in itself. It does not necessarily make for a more complicated game.

The bare ship would come as a basic package, with mods allowed up to a point. Basically, you could take as many mods as you spend points on that can be fitted to that ship, even by degrees, with the built in limit of points bloat. This also does away with Titles, Illicit, Tech and System upgrades, as modifying would be essentially the same. All the issues of limited slots, like the mess the X Wing became late game (“Renegade Refit” magicked up to take 2 mods to allow S-Foils etc., but losing Torps), could have easily been avoided by simply allowing another mod option available in a less limited space.

The 2e fix of absorbing many of these into the core ship has fixed the problem short term, but what happens after another couple of years of releases?. My main issue with Mods is not that they exist, but that they are limited, which makes no sense thematically.

One fix that came to mind was to make mods unlimited for any eligible ship, with a max of one of each per ship, effectively making the above happen and making more sense. All ships would effectively be “Vaksai” Titled, but why would they not be in reality? A whole squadron of Engine Upgrade and Vectored Thruster X Wings? Sure, but at what cost? Maybe Luke or Wedge get the better ships, but the Rookie has to make do.

EPT’s would be replaced by Squadron Tactics. These would cost per ship on the same or a compatible type (such as Vader’s Advanced mixed with Tie Fighter wingmen) as a pre-planned and practiced signature tactic or tactics available for that unit. They could be supplemented by cheaper wingman only talents, limited to a pair or three pilots in concert and can be faction specific, mimicking the tactics of the faction adding flavour.

This fixes a couple of things. The contradiction of a unique pilot talent then elite pilot talent would be replaced with the more logical “shared tactical doctrine”, which would also make building squads off the same type of ship more logical. It could even be possible to have a “make your own veteran squad tactic” mechanic.

Combined, the above changes would make buying ships and pilots separate exercises. Players of small games could expand their pilot range, with a mix of ships, while players of massed battles could buy just the ships with generic (base) pilot profiles.

Ordnance would be more lethal and accurate when a Lock is made, but the Lock is contested, not automatic (like every fighter scene in every movie I have seen). It seems odd that Missiles in 1980 are more likely to hit than ones in a sci-fi universe after a lock has been achieved.

Droids would be like pilots, with a suite of uses (repair, manoeuvre, targeting etc).

Crew would be more powerful and repeatable.

Repairs would be possible (especially with crew/droids), rather than just specific actions from specific pilots at odds with the game as a whole. Repairs would be subject to a test roll and could even go pear shaped, but should always be possible. Repairs are one of a Droid’s or Crew members main functions, but only a couple have any ability there and it is limited.

Initiative and pilot based actions like Locks/Rolls/Evades would be pilot skill contested, not fixed.

This looks on the surface to be more complicated, but shouldn’t it be? The core concepts are there for simple play, just as now, but a lot more options are available for advanced gamers, without the power creep and oddness of some combinations and the many contradictions introduced.

The game attracts thousands of competitive and non competitive players flaws and all. Would it not be better to open that space to a more malleable and logical game, while keeping the core concepts the same. I do not play video games, but even I can see some merit in adopting a more realistic “tool box” layering approach that these often take. Tournaments could have a set PS starting point with more points and better skills with wins, casual games can wheel out the Legends of the game/stories.

The simplicity of X Wing, I feel actually creates it’s own complications. Often artificial limits are used to regulate, control or herd players in certain directions, which in turn create more “painted in corners” problems for the designers, that need further “fixes” in a more limited space. Imagine if a similar idea to 2e’s app or points list system was applied to upgrades specific to ship type from day one.

The game is brilliant in concept, but in application, it is limited, sometimes frustrating and short sighted (but I still play it!). I think the draw for me to a more basic Bare Bones form is to glorify what works, which is the elegance of the core design, but to mitigate the problems that came after.

What would you have after the dust settled?

Wedge with high skill, a good Droid, Rolls and Boosts available, in Red squadron with a couple of bolted on tactics, some mods on some X Wings, some not. he could then switch to an E Wing or even fly something bigger (where some of his skills would not fit).

Just a thought ;)

Bare Bones Armada?

So I guess it had to come to this.

Armada.

Bare Bones.

The problem of illogical and over powered upgrades seems less of a game breaker in this space and there seems to be a concerted effort to keep it that way (1.5 upgrades, often employed campaign limits etc), but I am still tempted to take out the “big one”, Titles.

Titles make and/or break many of the ships in the game, but do they really do any harm. Hammerhead Corvettes for example are not considered that useful, unless you have a a few and a Title and some Titles seem stapled on to some ships (Gladiator=Devastator, Nebulon=Yavaris etc), but overall, most upgrades in Armada including Titles, seem well proportioned and are often replaceable with something similar. They also do not seem to define all the ships, many are fine as they are in one of their offered forms.

Upgrades are simply not as “twitchy” as they can be in the smaller scale game.

Possibly the perfect balancer is on the way. The Rebellion in the Rim campaign pack has some strict limits. Limits that seem to put the game in the right place for me.

Small 200 point fleets on 3x3 mats (optional), a single upgrade per ship and no squadron limit, but a limit on Aces per fleet.

Perfecto!

Added to these highly desired restrictions is a campaign feel that gives a lot of relevance to your games.

My collection, small as it is, has just the right feel for these small battle games.

The Empire has allocated;

• 1 Imperial class Star Destroyer to tower over all others, rueing it’s exile to the fringe of civilisation, which it intends to “pay forward”.

• 1 Onager, likely used in early iteration Testbed form, cruising the Rim testing out it’s usefulness on the unsuspecting. It’s upgrade points will be used promoting it to full Star Destroyer.

• 1 Victory class Star Destroyer, relegated to edge of the Empire peace keeping where it becomes a relatively big fish.

• 2 Gladiators, each capable of anchoring a small fleet or supporting a big gun. One will be the flag for my Hunter fleet, the other will support the Victory.

• 2 Gozanti flotillas. These will add much needed fighter control and support to the Onager and Hunters.

• 2 Decimators.

• 2 Lambdas.

• 4 Villains

• 24 Squadrons.

The Rebels have cobbled together;

• 1 Pelta as fleet command and fighter support.

• 1 Assault Frigate as the “big gun” of the fleet, used too extricate the hopelessly engaged. Roughly equal to the Victory class, it’s Whale like presence is reassuring.

• 1 MC-30 angry little attack fish. The finisher and basically the opposite of the Assault Frigate.

• 2 Nebulon-B’s for support and sniping.

• 2 CR-90’s. You’ve gotta have your icons zipping around causing problems!

• 2 Hammerheads, split between brawler and sniper duties.

• 3 GR-75 Transport flotillas to get from here to there and control those fighters.

• 6 Rogues. Powerful in small fleets, these will fill in each fleet’s role perfectly.

• 16 mixed Squadrons.

Points wise, with campaign limitations taken into account, they make up roughly 4x 200 point fleets per side, with a distinct feel to each.

The Empire has the Enforcer (VSD), Dominator (ISD), Destroyer (OSD) and Hunter fleets (2x GSD), the Rebels have the Striker (MC-30/CR-90/HH), Defender (Pelta/Neb), Raider (Neb/CR-90) and Marauder (AF2/HH) based fleets.

Enough for a solid fleet, but possibly not enough room for those awesome squadrons (not painted yet).

Funny thing about Armada;

Many are put off by it’s high entry cost, but I have reached gaming completion within a month*, while X Wing has cost 10x as much over a much longer time. Sure I may add some more ships (Raider?), but nothing that will break the bank. With relatively little effort, I have most of the Pilots I like, most of the ships they flew, almost 2000 pts of ships in one period, 1200 in another, 2 campaign packs and a card pack coming that covers every upgrade.

Maybe if TFA era ships appear (I hope), things will get ugly, but still, I spent almost as much on the three new squadron packs for X Wing as I did on my entire Clone Wars fleet.

* with excess as the Clone Wars fleet, purchased rationally, but was then overtaken has been side lined.

Is Bare Bones X Wing Enough?

Hi again. This old pearl.

Bare Bones has to justify itself to many old hands, but I feel it does.

Most first encounters start with some dismay regarding EPT’s and to a lesser extent Mods, then Titles. Using them is fine, because they are fun to play, especially when you know how to milk the synergy out of them.

What is not so much fun is the predictability that comes with having the ideal EPT/Pilot/Mod/Title forced on an opponent.

Of equal frustration to me is the railroading of winning builds over those weaker or less “on trend”. With FFG withdrawing support for 1e, the die is cast, leaving us with a dead space for future fixes and tweaks. Lets face it, there are ships we want to like but cannot and there are a few we want to hate, but use regularly, because no one likes to lose all the time!

Balance is the key, but it comes in layers and in those layers of detail (needed for top tier pay-in) comes the Devil. Each added layer needs a counter balance (I would argue it does not, but the tourney circuit needs them). Each counter balance adds it’s own issues, the next fix adds more etc.

Lost somewhere in here is story, identity with source and for some, enjoyment.

Sentimental favourite. Sentimental, but not solid starter.

How do we make BB more involved?

Taking EPT’s as the prime example of where the fun is, but it all went wrong.

Each named pilot has a special ability. This is usually, pretty much always, a solid support of their “legend” as seen by the developers. With few exceptions, they feel right and define the preconceived pilot’s role in the game term for Star Wars cannon.

Then there are EPT’s. These are added special traits that can double down, contradict or simply nullify a pilot’s inherent ability. A unique story element and squad member now has several clones, many with stronger other abilities or a cheaper points cost, making the original, the zero point irrelevant.

Mods and Titles are similar but often less justifiable. These are more often than not designed to add to a ship a feature it does not natively have it or to fix a perceived balance issue. These are often just made up excuses for points changes, ability increases and upgrade exceptions and a response to the growing game. They become semi-mandatory, effectively changing the ship permanently (as seen in 2e where many have been built in, which is better), so the whole “build to preference” thing goes out the window in favour of a “build right or die” feel. The dual kicker of having near mandatory upgrades and effectively spoken-for upgrade slots just jars with me.

The balance/counter balance/counter-counter balance build is a game in itself. In fact it is effectively the game, but to me, it is not Star Wars.

So why not just give up on X Wing, especially 1e?

I still love the elegance of the base system, the beautiful ships and the “feel” of 1e.

As a late-comer, or rather an extremely occasional fringe player*, I have a lot of catching up to do. Fully diving in led me on a sorry path of min/maxing, opportunities lost to try things now out of use and much rail roading, so to enjoy it for myself, I looked for ways to diffuse the grind.

Stripping away these “disruptors” left me with a simpler game, one with it’s own simple balance and reduced action bloat**. Suddenly the pilot’s, all of them, had a place in the greater game, especially with 120 point squads*** and cheaper ships. Instead of individual build tricks, squadron play has floated to the surface again and most ships/pilots have found their place. We fixed the couple of EPT linked abilities to simply meaning Pilot Abilities.

True some ships are a bit crap, even boring to fly. This has two benefits though. They are flown to their strengths, not modified to fit a different role and secondly, the better ships stand out for what they do well, which is often balanced out by points cost and what they do not do as well.

X Wings are tough brawlers with synergic pilot/droid combo’s flown in squads together for support, Kihraxz have tricky pilot and Illicit combo’s and the Interceptor is the only ship able to Evade/Boost/Roll without a (rare) pilot ability but no TL and sure the E Wing is dear, but it is the only fighter with a Droid and Systems slot making it exactly what it should be, an advanced, expensive development test bed.

It is not so much about what is missing, but more about what is special, unique and defining and how it is used in a group dynamic. It is definitely not about filling mechanic holes or satisfying tournament players.

:)

*I went Attack Wing instead, keeping in touch with the concepts, but not the game itself.

**Sometimes I think the core concepts are developed in a vacuum, balance retained naturally, then the tournament biased upgrades in another space entirely.

***The points increase fixed the point cost issue for the Defender, E Wing, Fang and Viper, allowing for decent squads of these with Aces.

Seven Wonders Duel The Giving Gift

We will know when we are over 7WD. It will be when the minor inconvenience of set up outweighs the depth and involvement of the play.

That will be a ways off.

Last night, I was a little behind in points and Meg had the war token literally on my door step.

The next two cards available were a three shield sitting on top of a two shield, both well within her purchasing range, but not mine (loaded as usual) and a science card that she would not be interested in usually.

Game over normally*.

I had just played Anubis, deactivating my own Wonder (12 coin and a repeat turn), so I rebuilt it using the war card, giving me another 12 coin to fill my depleted coffers and a repeat turn.

Then I built another wonder (Great Library) entirely with coin, drew the Law Progress Token (bringing me to 5 Science symbols) and then had another turn.

I looked longingly at the last needed Progress card, which I would have to buy as well**, but I was a single coin short!

Looking desperately for an answer, I remembered I had Astarte and her seven coin/VP sitting off to one side (with Aphrodite, my only hoarded VP assets of any consequence), so I was fully costed out, buying the last card to win a Science victory with only five cards to play and the enemy “at the gates”!

That is the power of the Gods and highlights the added options available to you!

Other games have come down to Mars pushing the war token the last step, the Gate card allowing another Science victory or Minerva holding off the enemy just in time etc.

This expansion has really made the game more open and balanced.

Meg still does not take Progress cards/tokens nor look for Science victories, but in her own words, “If it falls that way, I will follow”, something that was never going to be the case before.

It would be an exaggeration to say we use the Gods more often than not to win games, but it would be a total lie to say they do not have a small influence at least on most games.

*Of note is how she got there. Mars, Piraeus and a free to her two shield card coming from near nothing in the third age. As she said later, without Mars her Wonder and a couple of lucky cards, there was little chance of a military victory so late in the game, but without Mars, it was very unlikely as the turn sequence was in my favour. Again the Gods come into play.

**My habit of taking commerce cards biting me again without funds.

It's A Wonder

Well, Meg and I have been through the usual suspects game wise, but one in particular has become a staple of our diet.

Seven Wonders Duel.

This is not a review or how to play, just us sharing our thought on the game.

The full game with the Pantheon expansion, which we feel makes the game deeper in several ways. The score cards are laminated for infinite re-use (you never know).

We have finally given it a go after a bit of a miss-fire early. I tried to teach it to Meg after a long day at work and failed to convince, although I got it better after reading the rules and playing through once, so I felt it was a “second go and it clicks” game.

A couple of dozen games of Catan, some Carcassonne, some with friends and we felt it was time to try again.

This time it clicked for both of us.

After a couple of weeks of three games a night when we can, both of us agree that it is clever, deep, tactical and decisive. We both have different styles. Meg tends to accumulate base resources and money, my path is less focussed, often trying various ways of winning (often at once), then generally achieving little. My preference was for the gold commerce-resource cards, which are great, if you have any money. We have had a couple of military wins, but no science wins and only I bother with progress tokens, much to my peril.

Even after a few games of the base set we had noticed a few patterns;

• Science victories are rarely worth the effort, most green cards being cashed in.

• So progress tokens tend to be ignored.

• Military victories were too telegraphed, making them a financial annoyance, but rarely decisive.

• The guilds did little for us, often being cashed in.

• When Meg won she usually had the most civil cards (blue) and money.

• When I won, I had usually denied her these.

• We both have favourite Wonders we go to again and again.

This in no way reduced our enjoyment of the game, but it did tend to make the games a little deterministic, rarely did anything stop the leader coming into the third age from winning.

*

Tentatively, we decided to try the Pantheon expansion.

The first game was a little confusing, but the core principles were still intact, so no harm done. I actually got 4 of the 5 theology triggers, putting the gods I liked where I wanted then promptly lost most to my better healed spouse who then won the game convincingly. She felt they did little to add to her win, I begged to differ.

Jury was out, but we chose to continue.

The next night and three longer feeling games later, we are converted!

*

What the expansion does, other than add some more wonders and progress tokens, is open up play style options. Last night (night three of the new game), we had 2 military and 1 science wins out of 4 games!

In three of the games, the winner of round two, did not win the game, in one game both a military and science win were on the cards and in another, a military win came from nothing in the last age.

For us the Pantheon offers the following;

• A turn order pause. Picking a God lets you strategically skip a turn. I actually did this buying a dead duck God in the one game, switching the order and then went on to win (my 1 game!).

• Access Progress and Military options in more dynamic and meaningful ways* and balance out the game’s weaker, less popular or more predictable elements

• Mess with the deck a little more, often duplicating existing effects (re-draw discards etc), but sometimes adding new options.

• Mess with your opponent a little more (take or trash a card/wonder, steal their favourite God out from under them).

• Allow several new tactics that are not game breaking, but are habit breaking, such as disabling your own Wonder to re-activate it or use the discards more aggressively.

• Generally make you think more creatively and with less complacency.

• Makes each Age distinctly different in dynamic with a new element in each and each Age can feel decisive.

• The Temples offer a more meaningful way of turning the game in the third round (21 possible points!), where the guilds generally did little, and they also make 1st Age selections more important.

• Lets you pre-plan a strategy with a little more likelihood of it coming off, but equally it may swing in your opponent’s favour. For example, if the Law progress token and Ishtar come up, I usually go for a science victory.

• Seems to make the game longer than just the extra elements should take, meaning we are thinking more!

• The game still feels clean and on point, helped by the made-to-fit board topper. It is clear that this expansion was pre-planned and made to fit a deliberate opening.

• It rounds out the economic/military/civil/science/religion aspects of ancient civilisations.

Perfect?

Nothing is, but the list of negatives is short and maybe a little picky.

• The God cards are huge, making the game physically bigger by half (5 French Tarot sized decks and the Pantheon “fan” do add up). This has been alleviated to some extent by us adding a three row card stand for the God decks and they look cool standing up there, looking down on us…. .

• There is a little more to do, but nothing that is not considered worth it in balance.

• More symbols, more options, more combinations. Both edges of the sword. A new reference sheet would have been nice, especially as our rule book and ref sheet from the base game are not consistent.

If you add this expansion, you cannot ignore it’s physical presence, but you can effectively ignore it mechanically just like any other element of the game. We played one game where only one God was taken and to little effect, but several games where they had a telling role and one where they turned the game completely.

You can also optionally use Guilds not Temples still or both for even less 3rd Age predictability.

A resounding yes to this, falling into the “the game is better with it” camp of expansions.

The Agora expansion does not appeal. Meg is in a very happy place with this game and so am I. The Agora expansion looks like an entirely different beast. If we feel like that game dynamic, I feel we would look at something else entirely. Possibly the Agora instead of the Pantheon expansion for a political/hard edged experience?

I also recommend the “Folded Space” insert that fits both perfectly (unlike my Wingspan one).

*For example, my taking Ishtar to pair for a progress token, which then makes another pair (Law token), which then allowed for a second token (Strategy), which gave me 3 Progress elements to go with my other 2 and an extra shield per War action (which was how I got both a Science and Military win options at once).

Another example was Meg taking Isis (from my side using a 4 coin offering), allowing her to build a Wonder she could not have previously, which then resulted in enough repeat turns and the resources to build two more, all in the third age, coming from behind to win.

Middle Of The Road Crossover

Last purchase made for Armada (until some more Gladiators turn up).

The Assault Frigate Mk2.

I must admit to having a bit of a crush on this one. It is the one that most often caught my eye when perusing the interwebs an even though it’s Star Wars pedigree is thin and acceptance mixed, it to me is the ideal “Angry Space Cow” to be the centre piece of my rag-tag Rebel fleet.

I really do not want, or even like the bigger Rebel ships*, nor the feel they give my game ideas, but the Frigate, being a small medium ship, actually shorter then the small base MC-30, still fits into my small vs big fleet. The smallest line ship in my Imperial fleet is the Gladiator, which is close to the same size, so big small overlaps with a bulbous but relatively small medium.

Role wise, it also fills a tactical gap. The “Ackbar” style fleet of long range broad-siders is a thing, but basically missing in my fleet. The AF2 adds just enough of that option to be viable, without influencing the feel of the Rebel fleet too much. It also supports squadrons, which as I have said before is why I am here.

The AF2 has unique stats, boasting the same shields an an ISD, but the hull of a smaller ship. It has good Engineering and decent overall performance and lots of upgrade options. The Pelta is more of a cheap command/carrier ship or even cheaper brawler, so they both have a role to play as needed, but I now have options.

As far as command pecking order, the Rebels now have several solid options. They can go for a solid fleet commander (Pelta), stand off brick (AF2) or elusive outrider (CR-90), or to honest any of the build not prone to getting too close to the big stuff and popping (Hammerheads/MC-30).

I just need another Gladiator or maybe the Interdictor to balance the fleets.

*Home One is a favourite, but the model is too small and the ship too big. The MC-75 was close, fitting the look best, but again not the size limit and the MC-80L does nothing for me. The Starhawk is cool, but completely out of the parameters set, seemingly only made for tournament balance. I have found Armada, much more so than X Wing, has allowed me to cut lose a lot of ships that just do not interest me.

*

On a side note, a trend I have seen while researching Armada is the familiar Title upgrade dominance of the meta.

Titles in Armada seem more in line with the overall ship/crew dynamic rather than the sometimes arbitrary bonuses to a ship only in X Wing, but I think for the first period of Armada, Titles will be avoided. They seem to make or break a ship’s build (more like EPT’s in XW), which is not what we are looking for yet (especially before the 1.5 card upgrade pack arrives) and the game’s depth is plenty for now.

On Bases.

Looking around for ideas, with a mind to removing the very obvious bases from view as much as possible, I have taken an idea from X Wing. I will be painting most of the bases black (some not, for use with orbital or terrestrial games), but leave the stems clear.

Black stems can stand out a lot, as do clear bases. With X Wing I now paint the base and the first stem black, but leave the second or third stems clear, enhancing the “floating” effect, while taking away the less than completely clear, reflective base edge. I forgot to black pen the front edge of the card, but you get the idea.

In Depth Look At Rebel Fighter Pilots In Bare Bones

Bare Bones 1e X Wing makes some game effects and mechanics more powerful by it’s very nature of reducing or removing other options. Take away Mods, EPT’s and Titles and suddenly base Pilot Abilities, Systems, Droids and Illicit upgrades have to do/be more, so they tend to become relatively more powerful.

A Wing Pilots

Arvel Crynyd has an ability less prone to big ship counter measures (Anti Pursuit Lasers), so the idea of bumping is not so risky and most ships are lacking the manoeuvre options to avoid that (stronger).

Gemmer Sojan. Again in a less manoeuvrable game Gemmer has a better chance of staying in range 1 and the effect of +1 agility in BB is exponentially more useful (stronger).

Jake Farrell. Jake’s ability makes him one of the few non Interceptor pilots who can Boost, Evade or Roll, but has Lock as well (stronger).

Green Squadron Pilot looses their EPT option, making them potentially less effective (weaker).

Tycho Chelchu. Tycho is a tough one. There are fewer ways to get stressed for A Wingers in BB, but also fewer ways to mitigate stress. In effect Tycho has the Defender’s white K turn ability with some extra uses (even).

The loss of Test Pilot, takes away the A Wing multi EPT action stacking, so Darth Vader and co have little competition, but the individual Aces are still strong.

X Wing Pilots

Luke Skywalker. The passive “Use the Force Luke” Focus to Evade is a little better, and many attacks are less potent, making this one pretty well balanced, probably closer to the developers intent (even).

Wedge Antilles. Fewer tokens and bonuses means taking away one agility is brutal by any measure (stronger).

Hobbie Klivian. Hobbie is also balanced by the sparser environment. Less stress, but fewer ways of reducing it (even).

Jek Porkins. Worth the risk more in BB? (even-stronger).

Tarn Mison. Tarn is pretty capable still and TL’s are still or even more important (even).

Wes Janson is like Wedge, stealing those ever more precious tokens (stronger).

Garven Dreis. Garvin is the true wingman/mentor, made rarer by BB (stronger).

Biggs Darklighter. Biggs has a tough time here. His ability is still strong, but ways of mitigating his risk are fewer. A good Droid and wingman are his only real friends (even).

Droids and Pilot Abilities are soo important to X Wing players. Without these, the X Wing is back to day one (minus Expert Handling etc), but so are most of it’s opponents.

B Wing Pilots

Ten Numb loses nothing in BB. The System slot gives B Wings a huge edge in BB, offering several benefits unavailable through missing Mods or EPT’s (stronger).

Ibtisam, unlike the X and A Wing pilots, B Wing jockeys can easily find stress in their dial, so manoeuvres with benefits are golden (stronger).

Keyan Farlander is much the same as Ibtisam, making the most of his dial’s strengths (stronger).

Nera Dantles. Nera has a strong ability and as Systems allows some of the very few Ordnance boosts in BB, she is less prone to wasting it (stronger).

The eternal optimist.

Y Wing Pilots

Dutch Vander. Dutch is similar to Garvin, but more Ordnance minded helping others with those twitchy Torpedoes. (even to stronger)

Horton Salm. Horton gets a re-roll in a landscape of few re-rolls, especially for Ordnance (stronger)

Neither Y Wing has an EPT slot naturally, but no Mods hurts some. Droids tend to give the main boosts to the point of being defining, so relatively stronger.

E Wing Pilots

Coran Horn. Coran has the benefit of his Droid and Systems slot, so much of his advantage is intact. This gives him a real edge over EPT or Mod reliant “Push The Limit” style pilots (stronger).

Etahn A’baht. Etahn still has his role to play, helping his boss and others land the killing blow. Again, with Droids and Systems included, there are plenty of options (even).

The System and Droid slots together, make the E Wing strong in contrast to other ships, which helps balance out their higher cost.

Z 95 Pilots

Airen Cracken. Airen’s wingman like ability makes his Z95 ideal as an escort…….or wingman. The Z95 is a bit of a brick without a Mod or Droid to help out, but is cheap enough on an even playing field (even).

Lieutenant Blount. Blount’s ability is often tied to “effects” based Ordnance, which helps a great deal in a less reliable delivery framework (stronger).

The Z95 like the X Wing is well nerfed without mods or EPT’s for re-positioning (the Scum Z95 has Illicit upgrades, making it more unpredictable), but the Rebels do have good pilots and should fly in teams. In Rebel hands, the Z95 tends towards cheap Ordnance delivery.

Sabine’s Tie and The Attack Shuttle

Sabine Wren (Shuttle and Tie) adds a Boost or Roll option before moving. This is useful two ways. Boost is now limited to Pilots only on Tie Fighters and she has it effectively as an Advanced Sensor slot (stronger).

Ashoka Tano (Tie). Tano is like many of the “wingman” pilot’s very useful in a reduced meta (stronger).

Captain Rex (Tie). Rex brings his own ability, "Suppressive Fire”. The lack of Mods, Crew, and Illicit reduces this ship’s other build options, but these were often not taken (even).

Zeb Orrilios (Shuttle and Tie). With no EPT slot to lose, Zeb is about as useful as before, maybe more so on the Tie with 1 more hull (even).

Ezra Bridger (Shuttle). Ezra gains some utility in this cleaner environment. Two Focus are hard to come by, but not so stress with a dial like the shuttle’s. Overall Ezra is relatively better (stronger).

Hera Syndulla (shuttle). Hera is always good. Deciding where to use her is the biggest issue. On the VCX she makes a difference, but the shuttle does allow her a change of scenery (even).

Sabine’s Masterpiece Title is one of those that is hard to ignore. One house rule is to allow the EMP Emitter (Illicit) in her build, but not other Illicit’s or the Crew option (pre-Masterpiece?).

The Armada Is Arriving

The Armada ships are arriving and I have to say, they are gorgeous.

A little smaller than I thought (which is good), they are as detailed and as well painted as the best X Wing ships. There is a lot more in the box, game and “bits” wise, and one ship goes further so the higher price is justified.

An X Wing in for scale, because I have found very few “Scale” helpful images on line, in fact there seems to be very few X Wing + Armada sites, most have chosen their flavour and gone one way only. All of these are small base ships, but the bigger ones of those. The still to arrive Imperial class Star Destroyer is 20cm long (for 1600m), roughly twice the length of the Gladiator (right) and many times it’s volume. The reality is it should be double that again, but FFG have managed to successfully fudge the scaling for practicality (like X Wing’s Huge ships) . Even the giant 2+ ft SSD is actually 16km long so it should actually be over 100 times the length of a 6cm (150m) CR-90.

Most of my collection will live here in common sense land, with the ISD and Onager noticeably-intentionally much larger. It seems the medium sized ships are fairly consistent with each other (about 1/3000 scale or so with the larger ones reduced and smaller ones (especially fighters) increased proportionately. The Death star would likely be the size of a soccer ball, way too small, but big enough for what it is.

The Invisible Hand (bottom) is a large base ship, but they are on taller stems, so I dropped it onto a smaller one for photography. Don’t let the kids near it!

The fighter detail is amazing. I appreciate the base colour as a good start for basic painting, but the moulds are deeply cut enough for another coat and wash.

Something that threw me was it’s card sleeve needs. The older ship cards are Tarot (70x120), the newer ones standard. The older upgrades are X Wing 1e sized (mini American), the later ones standard also and the card pack is all standard. If I had the original Core set (now coming*), I would need some square 70mm as well, so I’m glad I dodged that bullet (really don’t want a Victory class-ha ha, see below).

It will be a looooong week or more before the rest arrive.

Enough time to digest the rules.

*I went to get just the cards for Luke and Howlrunner, some more dice, a CR-90 and another Imperial Fighter pack 1 (just for the Tie’s) and realised I had spent more than half the value of a core set, without getting the other two ships, better fighter balance and all the other stuff. Nice one FFG, you win :).

Controlling The Feel Of Your Game

I am a completist, which is a sanitary term for an avid and blinkered, maybe even obsessive, collector. It is my blood (or neurosis). To combat this engaging, but often expensive compulsion, I try to have a plan. If I successfully get all my ducks in a row, then maybe, just maybe they will stay where they are put.

Plan 1.

Plan but do not buy. This is actually pretty satisfying, but has the obvious trap of “well you have sorted it, so why not just dive in”. This has been done, but has led a couple of times to “weak moment plunging”.

Plan 2.

Plan to control the collection, with logic, selecting the wanted items based on some sound criteria, such as “only what is in the movies” or “only what feels right”, or the ever popular “a good representation of the game mechanics/period/story, but no more than that”. Some areas of interest actually help out here. I hate cross-pollinating irrational interactions, so with a little knowledge, I can often draw some lines in the sand.

Plan 3.

Get it all, but have stopping points. Buy from the start with full intent, but with a limited level of collecting such as “one of each” or “X” number of points in a balanced fashion.

Ahh the good old days with only two of these four!

For X Wing, I started with the “one period” - TFA. This was impulse driven (5 very cheap core sets as 1e dries up) and in the hope I could contain it to just the ships from this period. As it turned out, this would have worked well with the almost perfect fit for the conversion kits and subsequent release of the 2e expansions and a decent increase of ships, but…….

Scum seemed like a safe addition, adding a variety of extra upgrade slots and ship types and blurring the timelines a little. This led to a small Imperial and Rebel showing (in fairness I was sent the wrong core box by mistake), then more , more again until the original period outnumbers the TFA. Epic fail, although just try and get that collection out of my hands!

Expanding to 2e has actually become a case of relatively safe 2e for TFA and 1e for early period and Scum for both, with the ability to upgrade all to 2e (conversions bought but not unwrapped), but no great compunction to do so. This has also allowed me to put the breaks on at new Rebel and Imperial ships not supported by 1e.

Not learning anything clearly from the X Wing experience, I decided to get just the Separatist and Republic factions for Armada. This had several benefits. The fleets were well matched, less big vs small like the first movies. The factions were known to me, but not well enough to feel the need to fill every hole and finally they are new, so I could literally get them all quickly, without fear of blow out in the early stages. In hind sight, I should have skipped these guys in favour of the earlier period, but I had the wrong plan.

So getting the last pack that my first distributer did not have, I purchased Imperial fighters #2 because it was in stock (rare at the moment) and cheap enough. Just in case I said, probably a waste I said. Makes good sense of the freight I said.

This of course led to a smallish purchase of original period ships, BUT this time i had a real plan and I really intend to stick to it……………seriously :).

Starting from the smaller Fighters and Squadron classed single ships, I decided to do only small ships for the Rebels, because it feels right and a mix of very large to big-small ships for Imperials, because again it feels right. The only fly in the ointment is purchasing the older Core at the very end, because it was way cheaper than another pack of fighters, a Corvette, a couple of separate Pilot cards and some other bits. I now have the Victory class that I did not want, but at worst I will spray it gold and present it as a trophy for something ;0.

Getting back on track, when it comes to collectible games, I think it is really important to take ownership of your version of the game. We are not collecting for the maker, or even for our friends, but for us to live out our table top imaginings. Make the game yours. You bought it, you own it, so own it.

Do I care if someone else is not interested in my take on X Wing 1e? FFG don’t even love it anymore, so who else matters? My toys, my investment. I am even working on a massed battle game using most of the collateral, just with simplified rules and a solo applicable turn sequence. Bare Bones feels right for my take on the game, while 2e is fine as is (X Wing advanced).

Armada for me is going to hero the smaller ships and the little skirmishes that make up the larger picture and it will keep the Imperial “Big Bad”, big and bad. FFG (Asmodee) has normalised epic battle between the Rebels and Empire, which is not accurate to the history of Star Wars, only for the needs of a healthy tournament environment and good sales.

In a much older post I asked whether the story or the game is more important. For me the story and simulating it is most important, so that’s where I go game wise. I cannot stand mixed timelines, blurred story arcs or inappropriate mating of A and X for a gaming edge.

So I don’t.

This has been a trend in my gaming life. I tried to give Flames of War a go once, but was put off by the odd scaling, need to own toys just to use them when realistically, they would be miles behind the lines. Then there came the problem of Brits vs Brits or Late war germans vs early war Americans and other inconsistencies. My own WW2 collection is period accurate, because I want to simulate the war’s different periods properly, not just win games with unlikely multi Tiger battering rams.

How do you go about collecting your stuff?

Armada Fleet Analysis (Rebel and Imperial)

So, looking at the Rebel fleet, with an eye to representing the tactical options available to the Rebels and the game as a whole, have I managed to come through (remember, very new player, skimmed the new rules, not received 90% of my ships yet).

Rebel

GR-75 Transports (2=4) Support Plot Driver

The GR-75’s (2 flotillas to actually look like a thing), are support only ships, pretty useless in combat on their own, but good for squadron or larger ship support and excellent scenario drivers (Hoth anyone?).

Hammerhead Corvettes (2) Striker Brawler

A versatile mini MC-30, working best in unison (3 or more). Great forward, weak everywhere else.

CR-90 Corvette (2) Flanker Sniper

Good long range ship with the best movement in both fleets. The Raider will not be added, allowing this ship to keep it’s place.

MC-30 Frigate Striker Brawler

This one is toothy, but can be fragile for it’s size and cost. The game ender, it has several shapes to it’s deployment, all potent. Looking at it’s base stats it looks a little like a mini Home One, side strong, but the black dice make it more of a close fighting Home One.

Pelta Frigate Command/Carrier Brawler

The Pelta is the most command capable ship available to this fleet, but it is also a carrier or can be a simple brawler, much like a tougher, slower, less toothy MC. It is slow, leaning it more towards the carrier/command application and is especially good with Squadrons.

Nebulon-B (2) Sniper Escort

The Nebulon could be used as a flak escort or a long range sniper. Good front and rear, weak to the sides, it’s almost the polar opposite of the MC-30. Both good options to have.

Fighters Versatile Tough Wildcards

The main reason I got into Armada was to use massed fighter’s and small ships. The iconic Rebels define all of the roles available, with the wildcards of YT’s, HWK, Scurrg, Lancer and VCX. House rule is the single ship squadrons or Rogues are exempt from the squadron limit.

The roles the fleet offers are comprehensive and versatile, but not overly deep. Lean towards fighters and you lose larger ship options. Get too focussed on long range sniping and close brawling will pay, but get too melee minded and you may not get the chance to do it. This means the Rebel player has to be tactically versatile, the Imperial player acting as the counter player.

There are over 700pts above, plenty to roll out various versions of a 300-500pt Rebel task force.

IF I go into bigger ships, the Assault Frigate and Home One would be the logical and favoured choices, but that us honestly, really, truly….yeah really, where I do not intend to go…really.

Imperial

Imperial Class Star Destroyer Intimidator Fulcrum

This is the crux of it. Incredibly versatile, powerful and a focus magnet, the ISD is the Imperial fleet. Everything else pivots off this. It can be a command ship, carrier, brute, super escort or a little of all of these at once. When the new card upgrade pack comes, this one will have more options available to it than pretty much any other ship in the game. Can one ISD be as powerful as it needs to be in this meta? Hope so, but if the feet is built to (1) support/protect that ship and (2) throw up some nasties that the big distractor hid, then fine by me. That is the idea. This is my big bad Death Star 1 scenario device.

Gladiator Class Star Destroyer Brawler Escort

Equally at home close to a friend or even closer to an enemy, the Gladiator has weathered the changes to Armada and garnered a solid reputation. I like this a lot more than the VSD, because it knows what it is and does not try to look like a poor mini clone of it’s big sister.

Onager Class Star Destroyer Super Weapon Second Fulcrum

I can play this as a secondary Imperial style flag ship, a scenario driver, long range sniper or fleet balancer. The idea of the “super weapon that has to be taken out before “X” happens” is as pivotal to my Star Wars ideas as the ISD menace above. This is my Death Star 2 or fleet exodus scenario driver.

Victory Class Star Destroyer. Gunship Escort Filler

The often maligned, but work horse VSD is getting added against my better judgement. The ship is annoyingly small for it’s form factor, but for practical reasons I am getting a Core set, so it is a filler, that I intuit, will grow on me and does add scenario and build options. Often the things I look forward to least end up being the best return.

Assault Carriers (1 = 2) Sneaky Flanker Support

These little ships do three things. Firstly they make the ISD look genuinely massive*, secondly they make a good fighter enabler and thirdly they give you a quiet, almost invisible little platform for your nasty electronics tricks. I might even try a little wide flanking bomber group.

Fighters Tricky Swarmy Mean Wildcards

Several Mercs, some unique fighter types and lots of cheap ones. Fighters and their bigger brethren are sooo important to my small scale game plans. The Shuttle’s Relay, the Decimator and Merc’s Rogue, the Ace fighters will all add spice and variety to the otherwise predictable fleet. House rule is the single ship squadrons are exempt from the squadron limit.

Like the Rebels, there are over 500 points of ships, with less versatility of roles, but more focus.

The little Raider, apart from being very hard to find does not appeal (odd as it is my favourite X Wing huge ship and truly gorgeous in both formats). It is a ship that offers Rebel-like capabilities to the Imperial fleet, which is something I am trying to avoid (role blurring). Each ship/fleet should have it’s own role clean and clear. When I start to balance out the capabilities of both fleets, I know the rot has set in (X Wing anyone?).

I have also read it is one of the toughest ships to master and when mastered, offers similar benefits to other, easier to use ships. Too much trouble to bother with. The two Decimators will play the role of light escort/close assault boat well enough and the Gladiator is the close in king.

What, no Raider? Sorry busy feeling like a big fish, hunting down Scum.

Choosing to keep flavour and role definition in hand has helped me build two decent fleets easily enough. Going bigger with the Rebels generally duplicates the smaller ships and escalates the scale of the conflict, which negates the menace of the lone ISD*.

Going into small ships for the Empire dilutes the differences between the factions and, if you look at the battle scenes in the movies, contradicts what you expect to see (rows of SD’s with shuttles and fighters flitting between).

The roles of close in brawler, fleet support, fleet command, tech and ordnance options, super weapons, broadside or nose strong, fast, slow, manoeuvrable, ponderous, big, small and those all important wildcards and characters are all represented, they are just not available in equal quantities to both sides. This is how it should be. The reality is, I am not playing in a large community nor competitively, so most games will be introductory, followed by some deeper exploration.

Mission complete.

The Separatist and Republic fleets are still a work in progress, so those I will leave for a while.

*I am trying on some level to retain the feeling of the massive ISD towering over all of it’s tiny enemies. The VSD is too small for the Star Destroyer look (it should be 6x longer than the CR-90, but is barely twice as long, while the ISD is 3-4 times longer which looks ok even considering it is meant to be 10x longer). I am more ok with the Gladiator, because it looks different and the Onager which is also quite obscure and big enough, but I am not keen on dwarfing or matching the Imperials big gun. It just does not feel right. The fighters of course are abstracted.

Ok, So This Happened

I came into some money from a photo job that I honestly thought I would never see, so I paid my bank account back for my recent purchases just as they started to arrive.

A clean account and actual ships in hand.

Lovely. My spurge seems to have been blessed, with sales and rare ships popping up fortuitously. I was even home when the posty came.

Armada is not just a different game to X Wing, it is a deeper and more mature game.

This is jazz where X Wing is pop (and Attack Wing Country-Rock?).

I can see why it is less popular. The higher entry point, deeper rules, more game time required, the less intimate scale and coming a distant second in the release race, but to be honest, if I had gone this way first, I would have likely stayed here at the expense of X Wing and Attack Wing (and likely Fed Commander). Remember also I am Trekkie at heart.

The maximum comfortable size for X Wing for most, this is two small pieces on the Armada map.

I love the Star Wars swarm against the capitol ship vibe and always have. It is Star Wars (actually in the name).

X Wing is sometimes frustrating for me because it cannot be played solo as is and is too small in scale to do big battles. I am less interested in Luke Skywalker’s one on one theoretical battles against a myriad of foes, than his role in bringing down the Death Star and Tarkin/Palpatine/Vader commanding a lowly X Wing Raider?!

All of the characters are there and in context.

Like X Wing, it has gone through some power creep and the problem of points printed on cards, which I like by the way, but for the price of one X Wing ship you can get (soon) the near 300 card upgrade pack that replaces all of the out of date cards and like Attack Wing, the builds seem a little squishier, less twitchy or potentially catastrophic. It is naturally more about the flying.

Also for the price of one X Wing ship you can get 24!

How did my resolve hold out?

Not well, but not too disastrous either.

I have easily limited myself to the smaller Rebel ships (MC-30 added to strengthen the fleet and complete the small ship offering), with a second Transport pack, because I am more interested in scenarios than tournament games. The bigger ships played an immensely important but climatic role in proceedings. The Rebels were best at and most commonly found executing raids, scouting missions, evacuations, etc. so a small ship, fighter heavy fleet makes so much sense.

I then added the Onager as a super weapon/filler and pre-ordered the last Separatist ship, because they looked a little thin one ship down (even with all those fighters). The Onager adds Super Weapon upgrades only leaving Experimental’s un-accessed. In some parts of the world, using 2-3 Super Weapon ships in a fleet is ruining the competitive circuit with boring and unfair long range sniping antics, but one against a fleet of small ships offers a tactical challenge, something for the Imperial and Gladiator to escort/protect and a scenario driver. The other reason for the Onager is I really only like the three Imperial ships I have (ISD, Gladiator, Onager) and the fighters, so I guess I would make a lousy Imperial tournament player.

Long term I can see Home One-maybe (although this would unbalance the fleets so maybe the Interdictor to round out the Imperials and Upgrade options), probably the Rebel Fighters II (Ghost), any new Clone wars fighters (Obi in an Eta-2 please) and maybe the Raider if I can get a reasonably priced one.

Longer term, TFA period would be an instant buy.

Ironically, the higher entry point disguised the lower end point for me.

One final point is the smaller range of ships seems to have been better supported by FFG. There are a few rare ships (Raider), but on the whole, you can enter now and get up to speed without issue. X Wing has still got some holes to be filled, forcing me to buy 2e or Spanish language ships and second hand cards or, in the case of the Star Wing, just give up.

Late Inclusion (Or Hello Cameron Diaz)

There are a lot of great Armada blogs out there. Reading them has bough to my attention that I;

• Don’t know enough about the game yet to make fully informed decisions

• I have underestimated the “layers” involved in this game. It is simply deeper than X or Attack Wing.

When building the Rebel fleet, I really wanted to keep it at “minnow” level compared to the Imperial whale (Killer Whale that is). I topped out at the Pelta Command/support ship, ideal for….command…and support, the Nebulon-B brawler, 2 Hammerheads and a CR90 butterfly (as fastest ship in my game). All of the little rogues and squadrons are also my secret crush, so lets keep sight of that.

I avoided the only other small Rebel ship available because, to be honest, it seemed too strong, specifically against a lone ISD build, making the Rebel fleet all about delivering this angry beast like a giant missile. The other ships I do have coming offer elements of an MC-30 (Hammerheads, Nebulon), but nothing is as brutal and down right mean. Nothing is as unbalancing.

This left a hole in my “representative of the Armada game” fleets and I have also become aware of failings in my plan to run huge swarms and a Star Destroyer only. Game mechanics flaws.

The ISD needs a support ship and the fleet/game just needs more depth.

The fix is elegant.

The Imperial Gladiator Star Destroyer (GSD) is a bigger than average, small base escort with several nice personality traits, like the Cameron Diaz Ogress to Mike Myer’s Ogre (see Ogre reference in previous post for a loose connection there).

• First up, it is well respected, balanced and lethal, even after several waves of game growth.

• It sits in the “much smaller than an ISD, but chunkier than my Rebels” camp, so it is still menacing.

• It has the MC-30’s strong side weaponry, but unlike the MC, it will actually have more ships to shoot at and does not unbalance either fleet.

• It is tougher than the MC-30.

• It adds tactical elements I am missing, It gives the Imperials some flank strength other than fighters.

• It looks like the mother to my little Decimator escorts (Ogrelings), as the ISD looks like their dad, aaaawww. I do not like the look of the other small, rounded off Imperial ships, happy to leave that shape to the Republic.

• It is a flak platform if desired, ideal for the scale and feel of my games.

• It is a mini carrier if desired, see above.

• It is a suicide fire ship if desired, see above.

• It is a delaying sacrificial escort if desired, see above.

• So it adds several scenario options.

• It allows me to field more Imperial upgrades and tactics (some actual synergy).

• It negates the need to track down the rare Raider, my intended escort ship.

Big by comparison, but dwarfed by the ISD.

Is this the end?

I feel not, but I like when starting something new, to have realistic feel-good end points in mind so I can stop contented at these points. Having no plan usually ends badly. As an example, I would have likely only done the early movie ships in X Wing 1e if I had seen the longer picture, leaving fewer TFA for 2e (only). This is roughly where I got, but with a lot of double dipping and blind purchasing. Alternatively, I may have simply done Armada!

The reality is, I often retrospectively see a better, cleaner path, but knowing myself, I do try to crystal ball the chaos, sometimes failing dismally :). See how my plan to do the Clone Wars fleets only failed within days of purchasing them.

Butchers Bill

So, after a flurry of activity, I have purchased the following;

For the Clone Wars I have two even forces coming in at 4-500 points,

• Both Base sets,

• A large flagship for each (Invisible Hand for Separatists). I have missed the second Sep. large ship as it unbalances the forces (they have more fighters) and for some reason it was the only one not reduced by the seller, so maybe it was a sign?

• The Pelta transport as a scenario driver and support ship (and balances out the fighters)

• One fighter pack for the Republic and two for the Separatists, to make a nice big droid swarm.

To me, the Republic are the elite straight guys, the Separatists are the swarmy back stabbers, but in battle they go toe to toe. This fits both the period and the game perfectly. I may add to it in the future, but to be honest, I know little enough about this period, so there is little compulsion to get obsessive, although second version fighter packs (Jango Fett, Naboo fighters etc) would be automatic.

*

For the original period, I have made very asymmetrical forces as I feel fits the period,

• Imperial class Star Destroyer (it’s bigger, meaner and fits the “big bad” role better). This ship opens the door to pretty much the whole Imperial cast and weapon arsenal and is tough.

• Pelta, Nebulon-B, CR-90, a pair of Hammerheads and Transports, making a neat and balanced little infiltration/strike/evacuation/outpost defence/decoy force with tons of options. All the ships are small base. There are too many for the ISD to take on single handedly (which seems odd to me, but it is what it is), but lots of ways of making a Rebel squadron for different tasks. I have only missed the MC-30, but the Hammerheads are similar in role and you get two for 25% more.

• Imperial fighters I and II and Rebel fighters I, with Rogues and Villains (4 for each). I have resisted the Rebel fighters II because I feel it is not necessary. IF2 gives the ISD a Decimator and Shuttle escort, with Phantoms and Defenders for more fighter options.

• All the major characters are represented (half in Rogues) and plenty of other upgrades, which is fine until the upgrade card pack is available*.

There is no base set, because I did not want the Victory class Star Destroyer (not mean enough) and with the other two base sets, I do not need the collateral. The newer sets (or online) also contain the up to date rules.

The scenario options are numerous, but themed specifically to fit the dark days of the Rebellion, usually comprised of a rag-tag fleet of small ships “on a mission” with a monstrous ISD and swarm of fighters to contend with. Nothing in the Rebel fleet is useless, but also nothing competes with the ISD’s table presence. It reminds me of the game Ogre from my past, with one modifiable brute (with aggressive fleas in this case) taken on by a variety of smaller adversaries.

As I have mentioned before, I fully intend to ignore the tournament rule limits on fighters and play the small ship heavy version of the game I want. To me, this is Star Wars.

*To round off this set i will get the card upgrade pack, which will allow me to field all of the available options in one set or the other. If something is un-usable, I may get a ship to serve, but probably not.

On The Horizon...Armada

I have been trying hard, without much success, to resist Star Wars Armada. I have plenty of other capitol ship games including most forms of Star Trek and Epic X Wing, but Armada has that elusive Gnats vs Elephant dynamic that so epitomises Star Wars and avoids the one ship only dynamic of the denser Star Trek games.

X Wing has become patchy. I bought the three new squadron packs, mostly to use the ships in 1e, but struggled to get excited about the Tie/rb and Guild Tie. My lean towards 1e for Empire era and 2e/Epic/Huge* for TFA period is not at all set in stone and I do have all the conversion kits, but I feel the Resistance and First Order will probably be on the on-going radar, but not the other factions.

Looking at the options, the standard core set with a handful of extras and some fighters would net me (with a smallish budget) a decent 400 point fleet for each, with some variation, but what to get?

This stumped me for a day or two. Getting some of the older ships and some popular packs was problematic and where and how I purchased them became messy. Splitting freight between six different distributors effectively cost e a ship.

Then a thought struck me.

The Clone Wars are a period I am aware of and even quite like, but have not touched in X Wing. The thought of hordes of “junk” Drone fighters is not appealing (I purchased most of my horde of Tie fighters etc cheap in 1e clear outs and do not want to dilute that good fortune with expensive and small cannon fodder), but in Armada a 150pt swarm comes in at the price of one X Wing ship. The reality is that the Clone Wars had a lot more toe to toe fleet battles than the Rebel or Resistance periods, so it even feels right.

The Separatist and Republic ships are gorgeous, the rules, cards and small ship sculpts are a cut above and the feel of this period is more even. I have the dual advantage of covering a neglected period and the system dynamic in one, reasonably contained fashion. It also helps that this period for me comes with a lot less baggage character and depth wise. The ships are even “generic” enough to be occasionally repurposed, something the distinctive shape of an Imperial Star Destroyer precludes.

Purchasing was a dream.

One supplier was having a clearance, netting me the two core sets, two flag ships and the Pelta, plus three fighter packs (two Droid to balance the Pelta), for a pair of 400+ point fleets with most characters represented, all at overseas prices and flat rate Australian shipping.

*

Then another insidious idea emerged. I have been looking at the other fighter packs for a tiny ship “Travel” version of X Wing (normal bases, little ships), but felt it was a bit much to buy a pair of packs just to use 4 ships from each. With an original Core set, four fighters (Rebel 1, Imperial 1 & 2 and Rogues- ironically some of the problem packs) and a few small ships, I can play a big bad, ponderous, Star Destroyer with a swarm of Ties vs the Rebel flea circus “Minnows” in multiple scenarios. I even get extra dice and movement gauges.

To me the original Rebel period lends itself (repeatedly) to a rag-tag fleet of small stuff vs the Imperial monster feel, so scaling down from my original idea (adding a huge Star Destroyer, Home One and MC-30), this will do the trick. I am fully aware that a fighter heavy fleet is not tournament legal and maybe even flies in the face of the Armada ideal, but having done it properly in the Clone Wars, I can now do small delaying action/hunt for the hidden base/decoy/base evacuation or raiding/strike party scenarios with;

A CR-90, Nebulon-B, Falcon, Outrider, Scurrg, 12 squadrons of fighters, maybe some Hammerheads and Transports vs a single Star Destroyer, 16 squadrons, 4 small ships, maybe a Raider, some Gozanti or a Light Carrier and some Scum Mercs. This makes two 3-400 point scenario friendly fleets (if fighters and Aces are allowed over the tournament limits - see Battle of Yavin, Evacuation of Hoth etc for precedent) from a Core set and a few cheaper packs and it’s all very Star Warsy. With the new upgrade card pack (which is hard to justify for Clone Wars alone), I can now get most options on the table with these few ships.

I also get to mine these resources for my mini X Wing set.

*Something I also would like to share soon is an idea I have for a solo X Wing massed battle game, using a card activation turn sequence and d6’s, but the X Wing ship stats and dials intact.

X Wing Reduced Upgrades: Empire

After analysing the Rebels in Bare Bones, we need to look now at their arch-enemy, the Empire.

I won’t repeat the logic or processes behind the Bare Bones idea as that has been done to death, so lets jump into the ships.

Tie Fighter (Cheap/pesky, fun)

The humble Tie, may seem to be a little barren in BB. With Mods and EPT slots gone you have a ship….and a pilot. Looking at the whole landscape though, Pilot abilities are now far more important on the scale of things because the layers of dice and action modifiers are gone, leaving the ship and pilot as the solid base, with occasional other upgrades available like System, Illicit, Crew etc. The Tie pilots, many of whom have quite potent abilities, are now very good “raw” bangs for you buck. Getting a bonus attack dice on a sub 18 point ship is better value than putting an expensive EPT on a dearer pilot, so the swarm is back and at 120 points it is even bigger! What is it they say about the size of a mosquito, “it is insignificant until you share your bed with one all night”, try 10! Youngster’s Ability is re-worded to “A friend at R1-3 may perform any Action as a free Action” .

Tie Interceptor (Strong, very fun)

In much the same boat as the Tie Fighter, the Interceptor plays the role of Yin to the X Wing’s Yang. Fast and with the best action bar in the BB universe, the interceptor revels in manoeuvre and so do it’s pilots. Only the Royal Guard (red ship) pilots have purely offensive abilities, the rest are arc dodgers extraordinaire. The Interceptor should strike fear into the hearts of it’s enemies and in the BB game, it is back to being the manoeuvre king, but not, as has been the case, a nearly untouchable one. There are only a very few ships that can Boost, Roll and Evade and these are exceptions to the rule and conditional (like Jake, R7-T1 on an E Wing etc), so the removal of Mods and EPT’s has re-empowered and reinforced the Interceptor’s role. It feels really good to know that ships like the Interceptor, A Wing and Viper are unassailed in their natural space.

Tie Advanced (Average, fun)

The Advanced has never really been more than a decent ride for Darth Vader. On paper, it is a more enjoyable to fly, defence over offence equivalent of the X Wing or Kihraxz line fighters, but like the X Wing, it fell into obscurity in the early days of 1e. Adding the Title still only seemed to see Vader used, but in BB, the Advanced may be slightly stronger than the base X Wing and Kihraxz. Pilots are mixed, leaning towards offence, probably in response to the 2d primary. In BB only 4 Imperial ships boast 3 Primary, so the Advanced is average. The base frame of the Advanced boasts Evade, Shields, Roll and Lock, which places it into the territory of true line fighters, with an Imperial flavour. As a house rule, the Advanced can take Advanced Targeting Comp (only) and at full price.

Tie Defender (Strong/expensive, fun)

The Defender, like the E Wing was accused early on of being too dear, so a couple of very strong Titles were added. These became mandatory. Removed, the Defender sits again at the top of the points pile for a small base ship, so what does it offer? The best balanced fighter, with a decent choice of pilots with Cannon and Missile options. What it lacks outside of pilots, are the Mods that allow it to turn better, which is it’s only real weakness. Again, a ship that has a flaw that cannot be easily fixed, giving it unique character.

Tie Aggressor (Versatile-unique, average)

With primary Turrets now weaker, upgrades are more potent. The Aggressor is the only ship that can take a Unguided Rockets and the only Imperial with a Turret upgrade, two upgrades it was packaged with, but rarely got to use. As the only true multi-role ship in the Imperial arsenal, the Aggressor sees a lot more table time. The generally bigger squads in BB can usually find room for some ordinance platforms and the Aggressor is a double win. It can snipe behind a screen of friends or swoop in and unload a decent payload.

Tie Bomber (Varied, dull)

There is no doubt that ordinance get the rawest deal in BB. Without Guidance Chips, Munitions Failsafe, Extra Munitions, or a Systems slot, the Bomber only has it’s and supporting Pilot abilities to fall back on to make the most of it’s load, so team work is vital. Ordnance is generally an all or nothing proposition in BB, but what it does add is Stress, Ion and area damage, all rarer and more important in BB. The value of ordance may be debated, but what is certain, is the Empire can always do with some decent killing power, which the Bomber (with support), can offer. Tomax Bren has a useless EPT tied ability, so a house ruled “May flip used upgrade” is used, giving him a soft Failsafe/Munitions option and Rhymer’s ability is slightly reduced without Long Range Scanners.

Tie Punisher (Alpha killer, dull)

The advantage the Punisher has over it’s smaller friend the Bomber, is a Systems slot, which aside from a Pilot ability, is the only real payload insurance available. The Punisher can be the mine field layer with Deathrain, and Trajectory Simulator/Mapper, or a launch platform with Accuracy Corrector and Redline or a bit of both with Fire Control System. The Punisher is the only ship of it’s type in BB and versatile by comparison, making it powerful for it’s surprise value alone and in the larger squads, always in the mix.

Decimator (Strong support-tank, ponderous)

Often called the Imperial Falcon (or un-fun party bus), the Decimator is cemented now into a role of support-tank. Like the Falcon, loss of Engine Upgrade and Title plus a nerfed Primary, does make it feel like a slow moving target blimp that relies on it’s three Crew slots, but Crew can be brutal. Ysanne, Mara, Palpatine, Rebel Captive, Vader all like this ride and up to three can take it. Surround it with a screen of fighters and let it do it’s thing.

Lambda Shuttle (Mixed, ponderous)

This ship a little sad without Mods, but it does have 2 Crew and a System slot. The Decimator lacks Systems, so the Lambda can eke out some relevance and for scenarios it is solid. Use it as a cheaper Decimator and maybe it can be of some use.

Tie Phantom (tricky, fun)

Only recently re-introduced to BB, the Phantom was too tempting to ignore. Reduced heavily without it’s Mods, the Cloaking ability is still potent, unpredictable and mysterious. Boasting a 4 Primary, Systems and Crew slots, it’s build is unique to any faction, let alone the Empire. Cloaked, it offers 4 Evade, one of only a few ways of getting that much defence naturally in BB. The Phantom is definitely reduced in BB, but in this nerfed environment, it plays the role of wild card for the Empire.

The Advanced Prototype

An early decision to remove the Rebels timeline has proven to be pointless and unpopular. Adding in the Ghost and co, means the Inquisitor is also back in the game. A variant/love child of the Interceptor and Advanced and adding a couple of capable pilots, the Prototype is a good way of mixing up a standard Empire squad without straying from it’s roots. It is also a ship that is relatively unaffected by the BB reductions, strong in it’s own right from the get go.

*

The BB landscape is a mixed bag for the Empire. The core strengths of the faction (agility, speed and Pilot abilities) are intact, so many ships are stronger by comparison (Int, Adv, Fighter, Aggressor, Punisher), where others are missing their Titles (Defender, Decimator) or Mods (Lambda, Bomber). As should be the case in BB, each ship has it’s place and all are relevant.

X Wing With Reduced Upgrades Long Review; Rebel

After a few months of sporadic Bare Bones* play and considerably more analysis, I feel it is time to look at the fleets and how they are stacking up, both in comparison to each other and to their “Full Noise” elder system sibling.

The Rebels first with (in brackets) their relative strength and flying experience.

B Wing (Strong, interesting)

Likely the toughest small base ship in this form of the game, the B Wing is mostly untouched from it’s FN version. The loss of EPT’s hurts most equally, but it can still access the Systems, Ordnance and it’s strong Pilots, which keeps many of the best builds largely intact. The System slot in particular becomes the Ordnance safety net with Accuracy or Thrust Corrector or Fire Control System. They are quite expensive, but make sense for the points and function well straight out of the gate (possible the strongest no extras ship in BB).

A Wing (Weak, fast and fun)

On the surface, A Wings without multi EPT slots may seem even more pointless than before, but remember, everyone is in the same boat. Gemmer, Tycho and Jake have strong pilot abilities, which without EPT’s or mods are now the dominant forms of action and dice control. The A Wing is the fastest ship in BB (Green 5 and Boost) and cheap enough for this form. Without Vectored Thrusters, only Jake can Barrel Roll, making him unique, which is fine.

X Wing (Varied options, average)

The poor old X Wing has lost the multiple ways it could re-position (FFA, Vectored Thrusters, Engine Upgrade, Expert Handling, S-Foils etc), so has to rely on squad tactics (wingman synergy) and unique Droid abilities. Again, most ships are in the same boat, so with a wealth of Pilots, and Droid options, they are still capable if a little dry to fly. In the realm of Star Wars Cannon, the X Wing was never a spry butterfly, rather a solid ride for good characters, so is it really far from the truth? If the A Wing is the light scout, the X Wing is the solid line fighter.

Y Wing (Strong, dull)

The Y Wing has no EPT slots to miss, but does feel some pain from missing Mods. Like the X Wing, it is a repositioning wasteland and needs it’s droids to either help with flying (R2) or shooting (various). Where it now shines again though is as a turreted gunboat in a less dynamic environment. Turret Primaries are nerfed in BB (R1-2, no mods), so Twin Laser or Ion Turrets on a Y Wing brings an old foil to the front of the line. Boring yes, but effective.The second build as missile carrier (or optionally bomber) fills a vital scenario or squad role, which is encouraged in BB.

E Wing (Average, fun)

The expensive and fragile E Wing most missed some of the defensive boosts Mods and EPT’s can offer, making the choice of Droid important. You can either go full bore offence or try for a balancing build like R2-D2, R5-P9, R5-D8 or R2-F2, but R7-T1 offers the Boost option. The Systems slot is generally Advanced Sensors, but Thrust or Accuracy Corrector could help offensively. Compared to the X Wing, they have more move options and the Systems slot. Compared to their full version, they feel more fragile and limited in options, but again, so do many others. BB squads are also often 120 points, so a 4 E Wing squad is possible.

Z95 (Weak-cheap, average)

Like the X Wing, the Z95 is in some pain without any repositioning options. The two pilots offer some small relief, but without Mods or EPT’s the humble Z95 becomes a well priced filler ship with the Rebels.

ARC-170 (Strong, average)

The ARC is already a tough and versatile ship. No Title reduces it’s Primary weapon strength, but not it’s dual arc usefulness and without the B Wing Title, it is the only Droid + Crew Rebel ship giving it several manoeuvre benefits over the similar Y Wing. This ship is still strong in this reduced meta, with some excellent pilots.

HWK 290 (Mixed, dull)

Like Pilot abilities, Crew float to the top as powerful dice and action modifiers. The HWK is not crippled without it’s title as it’s role as long range sniper and support is if anything, reinforced. The Rebels play team sports and the HWK is a great, economical scrum feed with highly thematic and synergic Crew (Jan Ors, Kyle Katarn), who can no longer bank Focus tokens. If anything Bare Bones puts the reins on over capitalising this real estate.

YT1300 (Strong, dull)

No “Fat Han”, but a reasonable “Dieting Han”. Losing the Falcon Title, Engine Upgrade, EPT’s and modified Turret Primaries*** leaves us with a tough ship, that can be made tougher, or supportive, but not a table dominating power house. C3-PO, R2-D2, Chewbacca, all make it tankier, while Leebo Crew can add a Boost (Engine Upgrade). Gunner and Luke make it toothier, but limited compared to FN builds, especially without the free defence mod of the Title. This is one of those cases in BB where incredible just becomes balanced goodness with a role to play.

YT2400 (Strong, interesting)

Much the same as above, with it’s native Pilot and Crew abilities at it’s core. Because of their cost, both of these ships tend to become squad defining, but their role changes to support/tank, rather than an unlikely uber fighter. The question is, does this reduce the game or enhance the story?

VCX-100/Sabine’s Tie/Attack Shuttle (Very Strong, very interesting)

The “Rebels” timeline was at first excluded from BB to keep the original movie only feel pure, but facing the facts that this is not realistic, it has been included again and with much happiness for all!! The Ghost, it’s crew and sister ships are a force to reckoned with out of the gates, so much so that BB probably makes them more powerful in their current company. No EPT’s, Mods or Titles do have an effect (especially to Sabine), but realistically, the power of this group comes from within. The Sheathepide is excluded in favour of the Shuttle, as the Shuttle is more relevant to the ethos of BB, early rules simple.

*

The game’s name-sake ship is the big loser here, going back to it’s originally boxed form minus included mods. More Pilots and Droids help, but it is now a fairly boring, medium tough ship. In BB though, it is not alone. Some ships (B, E Wing) are not effected greatly, some can even be built to optimum level with what is available, others become settled in a more defined role (A Wing, Y Wing, YT’s) and others (HWK, Z95) reduce the very real temptation of over spending on them, becoming fillers or reserves.

Bare Bones champions squad tactics, which it is felt plays more to the story than the game. Looking at the Battle of Yavin, individual ship antics played second fiddle to individual pilot characteristics in a squadron dynamic. All of the above perceived weaknesses (in comparison the full X Wing) lean towards that idea, so less is actually more. We feel it is in the interests of the spirit of the game, not just the game.

*

*Bare bones is 1st edition X Wing played with some upgrade classes (EPT, Title, Mod) completely stripped out with selected other mods along the same vein also removed, in an effort to reduce the multi layered synergy and action stacking that defined the later game**. Sometimes, later X Wing felt like a pill taken for the side effects of another pill etc. A lot of these things have been directly addressed in 2e, further validating the removal of these “band-aid” measures.

Native Pilot abilities and core ship stats are now much more relevant. Where a Pilot ability was one of up to four layers of dice modification or Action economy, it is likely now half or even all of it. This takes away the very real possibility of an impossible to kill target ship or an equally impossible to avoid damage dealer.

Modifications in particular can tend to make all ships seem equal, spoiling the Rock-Paper-Scissors balance at the very core of the game’s design. Titles were also, for the most part, a way of artificially balancing or enhancing ships in the later meta. If a ship does not have Boost or Roll natively, then unless a unique element such as a Pilot or Droid do, it has no way of getting them.

System, Illicit, Crew and Droid slots make each faction unique, Crew and native Pilot abilities are empowered and Ordnance are seen as all or nothing alpha killers.

The resulting game is clean, straight forward and still engaging, especially for new players who now only need to learn to fly better, not tackle expanded squad building as well.

**If the later game as a whole is analysed, as many have, almost without exception a half dozen or so Elite Pilot Talents, Modifications and Titles are considered mandatory on many/most ships and consistently make up most top 10 or 20 upgrade lists. This damages the game in several ways.

• If they are mandatory, then the slots they take up are effectively spoken for and predictable.

• If you are ignorant to this, but your opponent is not, then you are stuffed before you start.

• Many pilots are simply ignored as not viable, while others almost always get a go.

• It takes a lot of practice to perfect the multi layered synergies that are on offer, which becomes a further hinderance for new players.

• Many builds make effectively generic ships, nullifying their weaknesses, but in turn their character.

***Turret Primaries are limited to range 1-2 that do get the R1 mod. This makes them a good reactive, point defence weapon, but not stable enough for long ranged attacks. Dual or wide arc weapons do not suffer this restriction.