You have to make sure you’re addressing your ships’ firing arcs. You have to manage your command stack, the list of upcoming commands for your ships. There’s a lot to think about in Armada, and a pile of decision points to address. As my weakened TIE Fighters were picked off by the last Corvette and the X-Wings started to descend on the last Destroyer, I played out a bold gambit and stopped short, letting the Corvette overshoot me into my left firing arc while my fighters distracted it trying to “flee.” When the fighters turned against the Corvette and weakened its shields, the Star Destroyer stepped in and obliterated it. As the game progressed, I used the momentum of my charge to pursue and bring a rebel Frigate into two of my remaining Star Destroyer’s firing arcs – showering it with a barrage of turbolasers and bringing it down. Fighters in Armada are a nimble and deadly weapon, capable of rapidly wrecking undefended ships. My fighter cover was insufficient to keep the rebels from getting at the rear shields of one of my Vindicators, blowing it out of space. Rebel ships, however, are simply too fast. I opted for a bold strategy, bringing my two initially separated Star Destroyers together into a pincer that captured and crushed a Frigate and a Corvette. My fleet of two Vindicator-class Imperial Star Destroyers with accompanying TIE Fighters went up against a swarm of rebel ships: two Corellian Corvettes, two Nebulon-B Frigates, and several squadrons of x-wings. The heart of Armada lies with your capital ships, and in my time with it I used them to great effect.

The prospect of pitting fleets of Star Destroyers, Frigates, and swarms of fighters against each other was too good to ignore – while X-Wing Miniatures is a thrilling dogfight game, my heart has always lain with larger scale tactical struggles.

When Star Wars Armada was announced just a handful of days before Gen Con 2014, I knew I had to get my hands on it at the show.

Star wars armada custom ships