Ok so a while back I asked people to kind of vote or at least submit some ideas on some types of top X list I could make. It kind of backfired on me, the one that won with overwhelming majority was top 10 cooperative games. The problem is that, of all the genres of gaming I like, Cooperative games might just be the only one that I mostly avoid. I don’t think I could even come up with a top 5 list of cooperative games I like to fill the list. Rather than making a crappy list on a topic I care little for I chose the 2nd highest requested thing instead. The Top 5 Board Games I wish someone made. Rather a strange list, but apparently it’s a common subject for blogs.
In any case, this turned out to be a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be so here goes nothing!
1. Masters Of Orion
Ok so clearly Twilight Imperium is a bow to the classic PC game Masters of Orion designed by one of my all-time favorite game designers Alan Emrich. I have met the man and you will never meet a person that knows more about game design than him, but of all his creations Masters of Orion is the unquestionable king of PC games to me. If there was an alter, I would worship it! The fact that Master of Orion is actually getting a PC reboot is exciting news but as I wrote this on my list I checked to make sure that no one was actually doing a board game version and sure as shit, someone actually is. The information is sketchy at the moment but it is apparently one of the many announcements coming out of the Nurnberg Toy fair this year.
The last time someone tried to make a Masters of Orion (no 3) it failed miserably. Let’s hope this time someone has their thinking cap on.
Suffice to say I love space epics, but that love doesn’t come from movies, TV shows or books, it actually all stems from the original Masters of Orion. While it houses many clichés of the science-fiction genre it’s just one of those games that came at the right time for me, at that perfect, impressionable age. I would love to see a board game version, I just hope whatever is coming, it does it justice!
2. Star Trek Armada
With Star Wars X-Wing we did get a Star Trek version (Attack Wing) but the truth is that in Star Trek almost all of the classic ships from the show are capital ship and it just did not at all work as an X-Wing game. Star Trek is as much about the people as it is about the ships and I think the Armada rule set is really a perfect setup for a Star Trek game. In fact, more so than Star Wars in my humble opinion, .
It didn’t take much googling to find that people are already creating Star Trek Armada on their own. Get on it FFG!
I would love to see a Star Trek Armada, just tell me where mail my credit card!
3. Civilization
Ok so there have already been several tries and frankly they have all been disappointments to me. The original Advanced Civilization that kick started it all was a good effort, but ultimately it was overly complex and way too bloody long even for a Civilization game. Eagle games did one and again, I thought it was a gallant effort but that game had more rules holes than a fishing net. Finally when Fantasy Flight Games announced Sid Meier’s Civilizations I thought, for certain with Kevin Wilson behind the wheel and Fantasy Flight Games at the helm it can’t fail. In the end however it might have been the worst of the bunch, one of the few major disappointments coming out of FFG.
The classic Advanced Civilization actually got a new update called Mega Civilization which promises, I shit you not, a 12 hour game on the box! It looks great and all, but, please fuck off immediately!
We also got some quasi Civilization games like Imperial Settlers, Through the Ages and Nations. I actually liked those fine but they really weren’t comparable to the PC version, they don’t have that epic feel. Everything is very abstracted and while I like Nations the best of the bunch it still does not completely fill that gap for me.
A proper Civilization should really have that epic Twilight Imperium feel. It needs to be huge, dynamic, and have a true asymmetrical feel. I really hope that at some point in the future we will get someone to pick this up and try again, there is an empty space on my shelf for one big box game and its reserved for Civilization whenever and if ever it comes.
4. Legends of the Five Rings War Game
Legends of the Five Rings has probably one of the most quintessential game worlds upon which an amazing war game could practically design itself. You have the many asymmetrical factions, countless unique units to draw on, an epic map and quite possibly one of the most awesome themes in existence, Samu-Fucking-ri’s. The fact that this game doesn’t already exist is shocking, it’s so full of potential I can think of at least a half a dozen different genres which could make use of the theme. One of the most underutilized franchises that exists today. There should be movies, tv shows, board games, PC games… so much wasted potential! Instead it swims in obscurity as a CCG and a role-playing game which could be awesome but is based on a shitty system. Bah, it makes me sooooo angry I want to dragon punch a motherfucker!
Outside of the CCG and roleplaying game the only other application of the franchise was… of course Love Letter. These people seriously need to be stopped!
5. Battletech
Ok so back in 2002 they brought battletech back and when I say they brought it back, I mean they basically took the old version of battletech and re-released it. Some minor rules adjustments aside this 1980’s classic really didn’t age that well, it really needed a lot more than a minor revamp. Not surprisingly it kind of landed on def ears and while I’m sure there is a cult following out there that appreciates the efforts made what this game really needs is a proper, new edition of the game and it should be drawing on modern design.
Battletech was always more board game than miniature game, but it sort of landed in this odd midway area. It was too complex as a board game and far too light as a miniature game leaving it to live forever in limbo. Still it’s a fantastic franchise and there is real potential here.
The models aren’t terrible, but this game could do with a visual upgrade as well.
I personally would love to see it join the ranks of Attack Wing. We have already seen what ground battles can look like in a D&D version, I really think there is some real potential here. Ideally though it would draw inspiration from modern preprinted miniatures, rather just a conversion. Let’s be serious though, we are talking about giant robot battles, I will straight revoke your nerd license if that does not excite you!
In my last article I kicked things off by looking at the Nebulon B and sort of doing a thorough assessment of a single ship. Now part of the reason I did this is because, in as a whole I feel in order to become a good Armada player you really need to look deeply under the hood of every ship, every upgrade, every mechanic etc. in the game. Hopefully that article presented a sufficiently thorough investigation into one ship that might trigger readers to look at others with the same vigor.
My next article in the series I attribute to the relentless ass whooping’s I have received since I started player Armada. Despite all the frustration, confusion and failed attempts at becoming a good Armada player what I have found is that from failure comes the greatest gains. In today’s article we are going to look at some of those lessons. Some of it will be very specific, some very theoretical but for me its all-golden lessons learned through the very gratifying art of utter failure.
Don’t forget to assess your opponents list
This really is one of the most common reasons why I have lost games. I get to the table, excited, full of energy, I just want to get those ships on the table and start the epic strategy I have contrived after days of staring and thinking about my own list. In the end however no matter how you analyze your own list, the reality is that you are not going to win because of your list, you are going to lose because of your opponents.
When facing a commander like Screed you are going to have to adjust your thinking, failing to do so will put you at a huge disadvantage.
Knowing what your opponents list strategy is, what his individual ships can do, what combo’s and synergy he has and how that affects your list is absolutely vital to know long before you start setting down ships. You have to take the time to look, asses, think and adapt to your opponents list. This tip alone as seemingly obvious as it is, is actually almost never done. Even in tournaments it’s rare for my opponent to even ask me what I have, let alone actually come around the table and take a moment to look. Doing this improves your chances of winning dramatically, don’t ever forget!
Accept the Meta, Embrace The Imbalance
Meta’s always form, whether it’s the general competitive tournament meta, your local game shop or group meta or just casual games between you and your one friend. You have to adapt to the formation of metas and simply accept that in most cases meta’s are formed out of imbalanced elements of the game or more typically perceived imbalances. Players are going to try to find the best, most effective ways to win matches and the foundation of that is always going to be based on select elements of the game due to their efficiency and impact. In a sense this creates exclusion of many components of the game, while creating a sort of automatic selection of others. Not always a terribly fun approach to a game, but ignoring it is really is shooting yourself in the foot. Besides, meta’s change over time and it’s in this constant adjustment where the best players thrive, to be one, so must you.
Is he OP? I don’t know, What we do know is that a lot of people are running him and he is part of the meta, so adjust accordingly.
It’s more than just understanding the meta though, its actively building lists and preparing yourself to respond to it. It’s really easy to throw your hands up in the air and proclaim something OP, but the purity and joy of overcoming a challenge by cleverly built lists and executed strategies is a feeling like no other. Challenge yourself to unravel the puzzles the meta presents and find solutions to overcoming it. Not only will you become a superior player but you are going to distinguish yourself because very few people get too far beyond filing complaints on the forums where their tears are collected by better players. If you must bitch, do so among the company of better players who if you are lucky will pat you on the back, offer advice and inspire you to try again.
Squads are vital, Don’t Ignore them
While I think there will always be effective ways to build all sorts of interesting and unique lists that exclude fighter squadrons, I believe they are really a core element of the Armada mechanic at this point. The game is really centered around the assumption that you will have fighters and the way fighter squadrons affect the game is in essence a sort of secondary battle which when resolved will allow the victor to push through to the heart of the main battle quickly turning the tide. In every match of Star Wars Armada I have ever played, in the end, when I asses the game I always come to the same conclusion. Fighter squadrons Impact and contribution is as vital as any capital ship. I have never played a game where squadrons didn’t play a key role in the victory of a game or the minimizing of a loss. Ignore them at your own peril but if you take any wisdom from this article, know that squadrons are like an insurance policy. You might not always need them, but not having them when you do is usually quite devastating.
The secondary battle of any match is the squadron battle, if you don’t bring squadrons you don’t get to participate. Its like an early Christmas gift to your opponent.
It’s a game of maneuvering, not dice
Oh this is so hard to admit and so difficult to accept, especially for an unlucky bastard like me. It never fails that you pick up a handful of dice, watching the look on your opponent as he awaits his inevitable fate only to find heart ache on the table. The dice gods are cruel and we curse them for their insolence.
Yes, dice do matter but if you end a match and blame the dice for your loss you will never, ever, be a good Armada player. Oh it’s hard, I know, believe me, if anyone has a complaint to file with the dice gods it’s me. In the end however no matter how you analyze, no matter how much you calculate and how much time you spend in church praying, its maneuvering not dice that will lead you to victory.
Dice stats do matter, but if you are basing your strategy on it, your gambling.
This is first and foremost a game of maneuvering and it’s a rare match indeed that you can’t trace back to tactical maneuvering errors. Sure builds are important, global strategies are important and certainly if you are just rolling blanks things aren’t going to go well. Maneuvering however is the great equalizer, it’s how you deny your opponent opportunities and create them for yourself. There is no better method to improve your game than learning to control the plastic on the table. Getting those ships into their arches, managing ranges, precision timing and the ability to think a turn or two ahead are all priceless skills.
More than that though as you learn to maneuver and become efficient at being exactly where you want to be, it opens doorways to new builds, to understanding advantages of less common ships and equipment and above all else it allows you the luxury of creating more efficiency within your lists as you won’t have to compensate for your own errors.
No question in my mind that if you learn to do nothing else but maneuvering like a pro you WILL win games.
Don’t give up
I’m not referring to Armada in general but specifically matches that have gone badly or turned on you. I have found that in Armada it’s not over until the fat lady sings and while sometimes you can have atrocious setbacks, every new round offers an opportunity for your opponent to make a mistake and you to make a comeback.
I have seen opponents rise from the grave and I have watched my self fall from seemingly impossible heights. If you stick it out, re-asses and continue to look for opportunities you stand a solid chance of finding them and making a comeback and this isn’t just some motivational or inspirational suggestion, it’s an object fact in Star Wars Armada for mechanical reasons.
It’s difficult to explain, I will do my best here. The thing about Armada is that setbacks usually take place for one of two reasons, your opponent executes a well laid plan and it worked, or you made a mistake and gave him an opportunity that he ceased. The thing about Armada is that everything always has a drawback, regardless of how the success was given birth. There is no action you can take that won’t ultimately present consequences for taking it and at its core this is why Armada is so mechanically well balanced.
Whatever advantage a ship has in one round, will be undone because he took that action in the next and this is the part you have to see on the board to understand how you will take advantage of it and turn things around. Every ship in particular has an optimal position that they are trying to get themselves in but ultimately that position will become a liability in future rounds when it has passed. Sure that Demolisher can shoot, move and shoot which can have deadly results for you, but he has to move and that position he is in when the smoke clears, is your new advantage, cease it.
Point here is that everyone eventually has to expose their weakness but it can be hard to see through the tears of a previous disaster, you have to wipe them away and look for the opportunities that result, they are probably staring you right in the face.
Strategy and Planning around the dice
Ok so I already said the game is not about the dice so this may sound contradictory but you do in fact have to have some sort of plan on how to handle dice because they are part of the game. You have to understand the threats and opportunities on the table and those are often represented by the potential of the dice. Here is how I see them.
First and foremost the black and blue dice you have to see as guaranteed hits, meaning when you are planning your strategy just presume whatever amounts of dice are being rolled, that is how many hits you can expect out of blue and black. This is a very statistically inaccurate way to look at it, but if you walk into a match with this belief and you make decisions based on that assumption you are going to be a lot tougher to beat.
Never roll red die at medium or short range, if you do, you’re doing it wrong. Ok again, hardly a realistic assessment, or even realistically possible to do but it’s how you want to see the use of your ships that are focused on red dice. Your job is to play keep away, you want to roll red dice without getting blue or black dice thrown at you from your targets. Clearly an impossible task but again if you approach the game with this attitude you will be a lot tougher to beat.
Always work on the assumption that your opponent will roll better than you. This is my favorite piece of advice because it mentally prepares you for what the game typically feels like even though statistically it’s probably not true. Aggression can and often will be rewarded, but reliance on out rolling your opponent NEVER pays in anyway shape or form. The game is about strategy, not gambling on your ability to roll dice well and don’t trick yourself into calling it “risk”. It’s not risk if you’re praying for good results for yourself and bad results for your opponent. Again, it’s a game about maneuvering so your job is to deny your opponent opportunities first and create them for yourself second. If you create opportunities for yourself while setting up your opponent for his you aren’t creating a strategy, you are worshiping at the altar of luck. Trust me, it’s worse than scientology, it’s a path that leads nowhere.
Finally don’t build lists driven by statistical dice assumptions or explosive possibilities. For example a Salvation with Slaved Turrets and a concentrate fire lets you roll 5 dice. That’s fantastic, but if the only reason you added that ship to your list is because you might get 5 double hit results for a staggering 10 damage be prepared to be disappointed. Don’t build strategies based on rolling dice because dice will disappoint you. Build strategies on consistency, reliability or as part of a larger tactical plan. For example the Salvation might be perfect if combined to be part of a larger strategy in which the reliance is less so on the dice but on the tactical maneuverability and advantage of the Nebulon-B. Rolling 5 dice and getting 10 hits, great!!— if you get them, but if you don’t, your strategy shouldn’t suddenly fall apart as a result.
Its a decent card and it can sometimes pay off, but its nothing to hang your hat on.
The Golden Rule
Ok this is a bit cliché but don’t forget that it’s a game and you are there to have fun. Competitive or casual it makes no difference, if you don’t like the list your running or the strategy you have built you aren’t going to win no matter how well thought out it is if all your trying to do is just get it done so that it’s over. The best players are always the most enthusiastic ones; those that love the game and want to be there win or lose. All and all victory is sweet, but it can leave you bitter if you didn’t enjoy earning it!
I have to admit that I don’t always take my own advice but I’m never surprised to find myself losing a match, then going back and making the stark realization that if I had, I probably would have done a lot better. Still I really believe in the advice presented here, I honestly think that if you follow it you will win more often and enjoy the game a lot more.
The X-Wing what makes it tick articles have been tons of fun to write but right now in my local gaming area it’s really all about Star Wars Armada. I like to write about what I’m thinking about and playing at any given point and since this blog is really my canvas it suits me just fine to write some articles for Star Wars Armada. Now I will admit that I’m a lot less comfortable about putting out what makes it tick articles about Armada than I was about X-Wing because I’m definitely no master of Armada, not that I was in X-Wing either but it was certainly a game I played a ton more before I started writing. I have a couple of tournaments under my belt at this point none the less and while I consider myself “still learning”, there are definitely some conclusions I have come to about the game.
With this first article I’m going to tackle one of the most commonly discussed aspects of Armada for Rebel players. The one that I find myself in discussions about regularly is the value of the Nebulon B ship for the rebels. The discussion is always about effective uses for this ship in a fleet, whether or not it’s worth it point wise and how it can contribute in competitive play. In a recent tournament I participated in out of 10 lists there wasn’t a single Nebulon B other than the one I put in my list, hardly a full analysis of the current meta but it certainly says a lot about the Neb-B’s status in competitive play at least in my area. I thought I would kick off the article series by exploring this rather iconic rebel capital ship.
The Nebulon B Problem
The Nebulon B is probably the most difficult ship to keep alive over the course of 6 rounds of any ship in the game, in particular when using the Salvation title card which needs to enter the fray to make use of its Title ability. It’s a really strange combination because it has both the best and the worst defenses of any ship in its class as well as the best and worst weaponry of any ship in its class. It also has some real vulnerability to select types of equipment that can just utterly devastate it while being ridiculously effective in select situations. It’s a real quandary, the kind of ship that can be a game changer in some situations and absolutely useless in others.
With 2 brace and 1 evade token it’s a ship that can mitigate damage extremely well under normal circumstances, better than any other in the rebel fleet without any special equipment cards. It has 3 shields when facing with its front arc which is extremely good considering its dirt cheap price. As well that front arc has real potential to do a ton of damage when combined with certain title and equipment cards, it really can out shoot far more expensive ships, in fact it’s been known to out joust victory class destroyers.
For Star Wars fans, the Nebulon-B is an iconic capital ship that draws us to it on theme alone, but how much value does it really have mechanically in the game?
The problems for the Nebulon B however are its extraordinarily vulnerable side arcs and the fact that in order to leverage that defensive and offensive strength of your front arc you have to be moving towards your enemy which in turn means at some point you are going to have to pass your opponents ships and expose your vulnerable sides. From the sides the Neb-B neither shoots well or defends well. With only 1 shield on its side it goes down shockingly easy once enemy ships set their sights on them and you aren’t going to do a whole lot with 1 red and 1 blue die when shooting even with equipment boosting them. It’s in particular vulnerable to commonly used equipment like Assault Concussion Missiles and Heavy Turbolaser Turrets and let’s not forget squadrons which can melt a Neb-B with very little effort.
This drawback is extremely difficult if not impossible to manage, really in a sense if you want to leverage its firepower you have to see it almost as a suicide ship.
Or do you?
I think in large part the current presumptions about the Nebulon B are largely driven by its miss use tactically and it’s really not surprising since it really functions opposite to everything a Rebel player would learn and understand about maneuvering and tactics with the Rebel fleet. I think Imperial players might have a better understanding of a front loaded ship. It’s a ship that is used in the exact opposite way of every other ship in the rebel arsenal, but more importantly it’s a ship that has extremely specialized uses and combinations that require very special care to both pull off and survive afterwards.
More than that though a Nebulon B ultimately borders on being useless without an investment so if you’re looking at the low cost of the Nebulon B and you are tempted know that a properly fitted and used Nebulon B is going to cost you about as much as a base Assault Frigate. You are far better of taking a Corvette for pretty much any purpose over a naked Nebulon B. So this is the first lesson in the use of the Nebulon B. Never, ever… ever use him naked. Of that I’m 100% certain.
A Nebulon B is only as good as the equipment you put on it and it begins with the Title Cards. There are 3 and as such there are really only 3 versions of the Nebulon B (with some subversions based on those core versions). You have the Salvation, Yavaris and Redemption, not having a title card on a Nebulon B is a waste of points, always, no exceptions.
The Versions of The Nebulon-B
There are variations on the Salvation build but typically you are looking to maximize your front arc shooting.
With the Yavaris you are effectively a support carrier, usually supporting specialized squadrons that can really make use of that double attack.
Finally the Redemption turns the Nebulon B into a mobile repair platform and support ship.
The Salvation
The standard tactic of the salvation is to arrive to the fight late shooting at already diminished fleets. By leveraging its doubling effect of the critical hits and the defensive front arc combined with two braces on the approach you have both survivability and considerable damage potential. After you strike you will be flying past the fight using its speed and maneuverability, hopefully using its rear arc and braces to escape and survive.
Putting him in a flanking position on deployment and gaining a Nav token is critical in round 1. You also want to make sure as he enters combat he does so by getting into long range and moving at speed 1 so that your approach is slow. Your primary fleet whatever it is, should already be engaged laying down fire on the enemy and softening up shields so when the Nebulon B gets into range it can attack ships that are already damaged.
Than after a round or two when you are about to clash with enemy ships and you are going to pass, you want to ensure you time it right to get a navigation command to speed up spending the nav token you held on to from round one to go from speed 1 to speed 3 in the same round, adjusting angle to ensure whatever shoots at you, shoots at your rear shields.
Finally making use of your speed 3 and double yaw you want to immediately start U turning yourself back into the fight.
With its side arc facing a Victory Class this Nebulon-B is in a lot of trouble.
Sound easy? It’s not, it’s so extremely circumstantial that odds of your Neb B making it out alive is slim to none, especially in a tournament where the Neb-B will be seen as an easy way to score points. The truth is that this first pass is likely to be your last so you have to make it count. There are however benefits to the Neb B being exposed. Someone is going to have to shoot at it and while they are shooting at the Neb B, they aren’t shooting at your other ships. 5 Hull is not that easy to chew through when a ship has two braces either so be sure that while your Neb B is getting ripped apart the rest of your ships are tearing into the enemy fleet and making good use of the redirection of firepower. That said, with certain ships and equipment, the defenses of the Nebulon B are worthless, Assault Concussion Missiles in particular will make short work of a Neb.
The real problem with the salvation as an advantage is that it’s an entirely luck driven advantage and the odds of it going off are not very good considering your investment and the almost certain loss of the ship. Statistically you have a 2 in 8 chance per die to roll a critical hit. Regardless of how many dice you roll, the odds of rolling a critical are offset by having the same odds of rolling a miss. It’s really a wash in that regard so you are really gambling here. Even with a concentrate fire and added turrets your average damage is not going to exceed 3 to 4 unless you get lucky. Not bad if the ship could survive and get more than one or two shots in a fight, but given its vulnerability you really have to question the investment on something so luck driven and ultimately fated to explode.
I don’t like to get too mathy, but doesn’t take more than a quick glance to realize your chances of rolling a critical are as good as a miss statistically offsetting the Salvation ability to turn Criticals into double hits with an equal chance of missing.
The Salvation can be a real threat if you roll well, which is true of any ship, but it has absolutely nothing else going for it beyond that and the point investment to make it a threat is about the same as buying a naked Assault Frigate. A naked Assault frigate will last longer in a fight and likely put out more damage than a fully loaded salvation.
I personally believe the Salvation version of the Nebulon-B is the weakest of the three versions for that reason. It’s entirely luck based focus and it’s really inability to help your fleet in any other way make this a gamblers ship.
While there are variations on a typical Salvation build, the most effect one would look something like this.
Nebulon –B Support Refit Salvation Intel Officer Slaved Turrets or Heavy Turbolaser Turrets or XX-9 or XI7 or Turbolaser Reroute Circuits
Which turrets you use will have various effects on different types of lists. Typically you won’t know what you will be facing hence Slaved Turrets are best to simply get extra dice. The combination of Intel Officer and Heavy Turbolaser Turrets is great against the brace heavy empire putting your opponent to a really hard choice. X17’s are great to prevent redirects especially effective against Rebel Assault Frigates counting on those Advanced Projectors. XX-9’s are wonderful for dishing out critical hits, great combined with Dodona in particular if you stick to the strategy of attacking late in a fight. It’s all very good and really up to preference, regardless of which one you choose you need one on the Salivation to really stretch the effectiveness of that one or two attack rolls you are going to get with it before it likely dies.
Intel officer is a great way to make your opponent pay dearly for using defense tokens. The harder choices your opponent has to make the more likely he is to make a critical mistake.
The point of the build is to ensure that when you maneuver into combat you are concentrating fire and rolling at least 4 dice, potentially 5 with salvation effect, intel officer effect and the effect of your laser turret which in combination can (if you’re lucky) be completely devastating especially when firing at a damaged ships. With good timing and maneuvering you will be in a position to do this two rounds back to back before you have to make that very risky pass exposing your side arc.
It’s good to point out that the Neb B can be sacrificed to cause additional damage by crashing into stuff and blocking movement if it’s lucky enough to survive added volleys in subsequent rounds. Suffice to say the suicide salvation can cause a lot of chaos and in a way this can be an effect of its own on the fight.
For me personally though the Salvation is a hard pass, its too many points dumped into a ship that is marked for death, in particular for tournament purposes where points are involved. On average it has been my experience that this ship just has far too little impact on a match to justify. I have never been lucky enough to see it cause the havoc the ability of the Title card suggests its capable of. In short, it looks good on paper, but fails in practice in my opinion.
The Armada battlefield can very quickly become completely chaotic, in an environment like that, the Nebulon-B can easily be picked off. This reality is one of the reasons why the Salvation Nebulon-B in particular is tough to survive with.
The Redemption
The Redemption build is really built to frustrate your opponent. It’s basically a ship that stays completely out of the fight but has a very noticeable impact on combat results by not only supporting the rest of the fleet with heals and tokens, but also potentially coming into the fight at the end to put those front arcs to use. This makes this version of the Nebulon a lot more versatile.
The strategy is simple. Keep your redemption Nebulon-B out of the fight at a maximum range that you can maneuver from your fleet but remain in range to use your primary ability. Hang back and repair ships that are in the fight while helping to manage the battle with command tokens.
The Nebulon-B is not the only ship that can leverage projection experts, but the Redemption is particularly suited for this task.
This strategy is exceptional with Assault Frigates, MC30’s and especially the MC80 which can be rendered nearly invisible with Redemption in range.
The Redemption Build
Nebulon B-Refit Redemption Leia Organa Or Raymus Antilles Projection Experts
The Redemption effect works on you as well as other ships so while its already helping the rest of the fleet by providing 1 more engineering for everyone (because everyone should always be within range 5 of you), it also gives you a total of 4 engineering. Leia Organa is great because you will be spamming engineering tokens hence you can pass an engineering command to ships that take too much heat in the fight regardless of their command level. This allows them to fix themselves in addition to the help you’re going to pass on with Projection Experts.
Projection Experts are going to be passing 2 shields each round and you will use the remaining 2 engineering points to recover 1 shield giving you a net loss of 1 shield each time you use it. In the first round you are going to pick up an engineering token so the first time you pass 2 shields you can recover them both with an engineering command and the token. It will take several rounds to really deplete the Nebulon B and frankly it really shouldn’t need them because it should be well away from the fighting anyway.
The alternative here is to use Raymus Antilles, which effectively allows you to pass 2 shields and recover 2 shields every round. I prefer Leia because you get more overall healing to you primary fleet by passing engineering commands. The Neb-B losing a couple of shield over the course of the match is really no big deal, besides it makes for a cheaper build.
Imagine the scenario here. You have an Assault Frigate that has its side shields down and 2 damage on the hull. The redemption kicks in with an engineering command. Leia changes the assault frigates command to engineering. Redemption passes 2 shields to the Assault frigates side, then the redemption recovers 1 of its shields. Then the Assault frigate acts. It has an engineering command, with 4 engineering it removes 1 damage and shifts one of its shields to the side arc from an unexposed area. Suddenly a ship with no shields on its side and 2 damage has 3 shields and 1 damage. If you take an engineering token with the Assault Frigate early, the recovery from the initial engagement can be even better.
With 2 shields coming from redemption and 2 more that it can produce itself, the MC080 becomes an insane tank even without any defensive equipment.
It’s extremely effective and frustrating for your opponent to watch all that damage get recovered. The redemption should really be called the demoralizer because that’s really the effect it has. This build is definitely approved, it’s easy to use, works reliability and best of all it doesn’t require to put the Nebulon-B in harm’s way.
The Yavaris
The Yavaris is a force multiplier and itself can be an amazing support ship, but requires expert skill (which I don’t have) to use. In fact, I would say avoid using her until you really get the hang of managing squadrons because to use Yavaris you have to understand how to do that well in addition to all the specialized consideration of getting her effect to really pay off. One small error in judgement with this ship and your delicately balanced build will cluster fuck into oblivion.
Yavaris should only be used with named pilots, that’s the first piece of advice. It’s an expensive toy on the board and you want to make sure whatever squads will get those double attacks will be able to maximize their impact on the field. An exception might be B-Wings.
The real trick to Yavaris is to understand that it’s a support carrier not your main carrier and in most fleets that use Yavaris, it should be a late arrival ship. You want those two or three fighters that it’s supporting to come late into a fight to shoot at ships that are already damaged to sort of finish them off. This is for two reasons.
Luke Skywalker is one good choice for Yavaris, but think about how much damage this guy can do with a double shot.
First it’s because the Yavaris is still a Nebulon B, which means you have to soft side arcs and since your managing squadrons you are likely to be put in a position to expose those arcs when you commit to ensure you are in the position you need to be to manage fleets. So you want to come in late into a fight to make a less tempting target. The second reason is that typically the squadrons Yavaris supports are going to have black dice and be bombers, so you want to be throwing those dice against ships with their shields down so that when you roll a critical hit it takes rather than bouncing.
That means that you need other fighter screens and ships capable of managing those squadrons to be up front keeping your Yavaris and its precious squadrons safe. It’s all very complicated and I feel inept here, I don’t feel comfortable really advising on tactics using this ship because either the Stars have to align for this work, or you have to be a fucking maneuvering tactical ace. In fact, it’s precisely because it’s so complicated to use that I don’t use it. At least not yet.
There are variations on the build as well and it’s hard to say which is best, I suppose it comes down to price.
Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (always for the 2 squadron command) Adar Tallon or Raymus Antilles XX-9 Turbo Laser (optional)
You must always take the Escort for the extra squad command and the 2 Anti-Fighter attacks. This will help you to clear for your squadrons if need be and of course to allow you to manage a minimum of 2 named squadrons.
Adar Tallon is really good as it can get you a 3rd attack with one of the squadrons in later actions or the squadron phase, this can be in particularly deadly if you combo it with Luke Skywalker for example. Personally I think it’s a little too pricey just to squeeze out one more attack. Raymus Antilles is the better choice in my opinion, it allows you to pick up much needed navigation tokens, extra squad commands and if you actually do get a firing solution you get that extra re-roll. He just works well with anything really. You can also do without either for a cheaper build and I actually think that might be the best version. After all, it’s a Neb B and you will be putting it in harm’s way so it getting blown up is a real possibility, quite likely really.
The XX-9’s are optional but personally I think they are just perfect if you adhere to the rest of the strategy here. You are coming in late, you have squadrons doing double damage on your target during squad activation hopefully by the time you get to the shooting phase the shields your shooting at are going to be down. It can be a real finisher and it’s quite cheap.
Conclusion
I firmly believe that the Nebulon-B is a very difficult ship to use well, but in a sense Star Wars Armada battles are all about risk vs. reward management. There are few guarantees and anything you put on the table is going to have its drawbacks. The Nebulon-B when fitted with purpose and used to good effect, sometimes with a bit of luck can be a real game changer. It never ceases to surprise me how something as seemingly insignificant like a well-timed Engineering Token, or well-orchestrated maneuver can quite literally mean the difference between a crushing defeat and an overwhelming victory. Star Wars Armada can really swing and ships like the Nebulon-B that are well equipped can really turn the tide of a battle.
Still that said, of all the ship in the Rebel arsenal I think the Nebulon-B comes with the greatest risk of backfiring on you. It’s a very unforgiving ship, one small mistake and your toast which is why I typically use it very sparingly. It’s certainly not a ship to build your entire list around, but it’s cost effective enough to splash in there for an extra boost in very specialized areas.
I have very little confidence in luck based mechanics so of all the Neb-B builds, I think the Salvation is perhaps the riskiest but provides perhaps the greatest reward while the Redemption is undoubtedly the most reliable yet pays in moderate dividends. In a way that is the center of balance for the Nebulon-B, it really runs the spectrum of risk vs. reward. Amidst there you also have the Yavaris which I think is perhaps the most specialized and most difficult to use ship and again, I think this is a nice feature as it gives players who get deeper into the game and have more confidence an option to take on some more complex builds that use more complex tactics.
I whole heartedly disagree with the current Meta assessment that the Nebulon-B is somehow useless or doesn’t carry its value. It really offers something for every type of player, whether you like reliable low risk ships, if you’re a high risk gambler or if you are looking for a deeper tactical challenge. The Nebulon-B fits the bill for all three types of players, giving everyone something it can be used for and I think that makes it a really great ship in the Rebel fleet.
I doubt I hit on every point here with the Nebulon-B but hopefully there is sufficient information here to give my readers something new to try with the ship. Good luck in your battles and keep an eye out for future What Makes It Tick articles for Star Wars Armada.
Seeing as the last article triggered no less than 19 E-mails with questions and comments regarding ordinance I thought I would ride the momentum and write another one addressing one of the questions most of these e-mail more or less implied. Keeping in mind I’m no master or final authority on the topic, here goes nothing.
Question
Is there any ordinance that is a notch above the rest or better in some way? Something that might not be labeled as “useless” or “not worth it”?
Answer
In my personal opinion I actually think most ordinance is quite a big notch above primary weapons. I think the thing about ordinance is that you typically have to make an ordinance list and create synergy to gain the full value of ordinance and it’s in this element costs mount and you really have to weigh lists against the alternatives. You definitely can’t simply splash ordinance into a list in most cases. You are effectively creating a list built around a strategy driven by the type of ordinance you have selected. I have also noticed that many people miss-read and miss use ordinance, often skipping over a critical element of a piece of ordinance, something I have often been guilty of myself. I think perhaps a more specific breakdown could be helpful. My point however is that I don’t actually believe ordinance is bad, though I do agree that it requires a lot of scrutiny and there are quite a few limitations and “on the fence” points where you really have to consider value vs. alternative.
Torpedo’s Torpedo’s were effectively the first ordinance introduced into X-Wing in the original core set. Torpedoes typically require you to spend your target lock, so they put you in a position where you might be rolling dice without a focus token which is typically bad. It’s especially bad for one shot items that cost between 2 to 6 points. When it comes to torpedoes as ordinance you are pretty much always looking to create synergy effects to help ensure that when you shoot you get your points worth in damage caused. This is why early ships like Garven Dreis and Dutch Vander where such a great combo for using torpedoes. The question is are they worth it, well, yeah, I think they are.
In this synergy combo Dutch Vander target locks, which in turn gives Garven Dreis a target lock and vice versus Garven Dreis takes a focus action, so when he shoots his torpedo, spends his focus, he immediately gives it to Dutch Vander who in turn does the same thing (shoots torpedoes with focus). Effectively allowing you to Target Lock, shoot torpedos with a focus all in the same round for both ships. Both ships are 6 pilot skill which ensures you can use them interchangeably. A really great combo and example of how synergy combined with ordinance can be very effective. The problem? You have selected 50 points worth of ships around synergy designed for a single torpedo shot from each ship. Once you shoot it your left with a base X-Wing and base Y-Wing unless you dump more points into them. This is where great combos like this really lose their luster, it is a great combo but you have to question its value when compared to alternative ways to spend 50 points and the plethora of ways you can create synergy between ships.
A sound rule for creating synergy based on ordinance delivery is to ensure that the synergy continues after the ordinance has been spent.
That said I think the reputation of Ordinance being “not worth it” stems from Torpedos specifically because of the core mechanical problem with them. You must spend your target lock and they are one shot effects. Aside from the one shot thing unless you target lock one round and shoot the next, you will be doing it without a focus unless you find a combo like the one shown above to alleviate that issue. I agree that this is an issue with torpedoes specifically (not necessarily ordinance in general). It is valid to say that if you are going to shoot a torpedo without a focus, in most cases your better off shooting your primary weapon with a focus even if you are rolling less dice instead.
Let’s look at how some of these torpedoes can impact a match.
Proton Torpedoes for example allow you change 1 of your focus into a crit. While the crit is nice, when you roll 3 red dice with a focus using your primary weapon your odds are not really much improved by rolling 4 dice without one. This is typical of shooting ordinance without a focus. That said however you do flip one focus to a crit and most importantly you can shoot at range 3 without your opponent getting an extra agility with 4 dice. That is the benefit here and it’s a pretty big one because in the opening round of a match you will be at range 3 in almost all cases for at least one round on the approach. A couple of even moderate Proton Torpedo hits against an opposing fleet in the early stages of a match may be all you need to soften up your opponent and domino yourself into a victory. I do think it’s a bit pricey at 4 points, but If you use Proton Torpedoes make sure that by round 2 they have all been fired at range 3. This is there secret, 4 dice, range 3 no agility bonus for targets. If you do it with a focus, you are practically assured of some successful hits.
Advanced Proton Torpedoes are probably the trickiest if not most difficult ordinance to use in the game next to bombs, but they can be made to effectively guarantee 5 hits. You have to be at range one, you have to spend your target lock and the only benefit of its special effect is to flip blanks into focuses (3 of them), which, If you don’t have a focus makes the special ability useless. Now you do roll 5 dice which can be devastating. The assumption here is that you target lock on the approach and focus on the round you have someone in your sights at range one. With a focus you are 100% guaranteed 3 hits and extremely likely to get all 5. It’s not always an easy task to get into range one and get someone in your arc, especially for ships that can fire torpedoes since they tend to be less maneuverable and far easier to arch dodge. At 6 points it’s among the most expensive gear cards in the game as well.
Again this comes down to combos and building synergy is all about reducing or eliminating the core problem created by the base gear in the case of Advanced Torpedoes especially. In this case its arc dodging, easily solved by Nera Dantels for example who doesn’t cares about arcs when shooting ordinance. Another fine ship for shooting short range torpedoes is Major Rhymer, same cost, he increases your range to a 1 to 2 making it much easier in particular for the dial friendly Tie-Bomber. Just a couple of combination in which this little piece of ordinance can be used to greater effect.
Is it worth it?.
We are back to the question is it worth it. Well I can say without hesitation that getting a 5 point hit on an opponent for 6 points is well worth it, always, especially if you choose your targets wisely. Since both ships have torpedo slots you can use Extra Munitions to turn 12 points of gear into 8 points of gear to potentially get two 5 dice shots. Not bad at all in my opinion.
Fletchette Torpedoes are also an interesting piece of gear because it’s so cheap and because its effect is guaranteed. Many people miss that there is no requirement to successfully hit to cause stress with Fletchette torpedoes, you simply need to fire it, so it guarantees that a ship with 4 hull or less will receive a stress as a result regardless if you get additional damage. If timed right this can be devastating and really Fletchette torpedoes are a reactive piece of equipment and one of the few that you can splash thanks to its low 2 point cost. You use it when the time is right, when giving your opponent a stress can cause critical problems. In X-Wing such opportunities happen quite frequently, in fact, it’s kind of a rare case when having a stress doesn’t cause you problems. For 2 points it’s a dirt cheap piece of gear to drop on rebel fleets in particular who have some many ships capable of firing torpedoes. I believe it to be one of the most cost effective torpedoes in the game when you understand how to leverage the impact a single unexpected stress can have on an opponent.
Now that’s not all of the torpedoes and perhaps I will do more articles talking about them in the future but suffice to say the reputation for ordinance being useless even when measured against Torpedoes is debatable at best. Missiles on the other hand, their reputation as useless is not deserved at all in my opinion. I will concede that missiles, like torpedoes require synergy and often very specific list building combos to be effective but missiles can be used to devastating effect and it doesn’t take much to make it so.
Missiles
The thing about missiles in my opinion is that almost every specific missile has a specific ship and in some cases, pilot that it’s really fantastic with. For the rest they may be so so or just plain bad, but that’s really the case with any equipment card. That might explain the reputation again here of ordinance being not worth it, but put the right missiles on the right ship and you can produce combos that are crazy game changers.
Cluster Missiles. The fact that you get to shoot twice in one round is already a substantial advantage to this equipment which I think is pretty good for almost every missile capable ship that mounts it. Cluster missiles however are fantastic on the Tie Bomber for several reasons.
Part of the reason is cost. 2 Cluster missiles with 1 extra munition on a low end (Scimitar Squadron) Tie-Bomber means that your Tie Bomber can potentially shoot 8 times in 4 rounds for a combined total price of 26 points. That is dirt cheap! Now grant it you have the “spend target lock” issue but there are a number of ways to address that from Squad Leader, Howlrunner or simply upgrading one of the ships to a Captain Jonas.
Proton Rockets. God I love the proton rockets. First and foremost you don’t need to target lock nor do you spend your target lock when using them which means when you shoot them you always shoot with at least a re-roll. Now there core ability is to increase their firepower when placed on high agility ships making it capable of getting it up to 5 dice. 5 dice if you can combo it to get a focus is … devastating even if you shoot it only once. Where do you put it?
The maneuverable and flexible A-Wings are the obvious and best choice, it goes without saying. It in particular works with an Airen Cracken with squad leader (great way to support ordinance ships in general). Perhaps less obvious is putting it on a Z-95. Sure you’re only up to 4 dice, but a bandit with proton rockets is 15 points. For all the complaints that ordinance is too expensive, that is dirt cheap and you can easily fit 4 Z’s in this fashion for 60 points and still have 40 points to play with.
On the Imperial side you really don’t have a good spot for them at the moment unfortunately. There is the Tie-Defender, which is already a bit too pricey in my opinion to mount missiles on it. The Tie-Advanced could do it, but it has the same issue as the defender, its already a bit pricey as is.
Tie Bombers can be fitted with them cheaply enough, but getting a Tie-Bomber into range 1 and in arc requires some doing and you may as well spend the extra points on a more powerful range one weapon if you are going to try it. In general though there is other ordinance that is fantastic for the Tie-Bomber for the same price.
The final one I will talk about is Homing Missiles. For 5 points you have a 2-3 range ordinance with 4 dice that does not require you to spend a target lock and prevents the use of evade tokens. This is a fantastic missile that works on almost every ship. One of the toughest things to do is to get a bead on high agility ships with evade and homing missiles are a great response. When you shoot a homing missile at range 3 you deny your opponent the bonus agility on top of everything.
Homing missiles have some really great synergy ships that they work particularly well on. Take for example the Z-95 combo of Airen Cracken with squad leader and 2 bandit pilots. You target lock with all 3 ships, then shoot with Airen Cracken in turn giving the other 2 ships 1 focus token each. Now you are shooting 3 Homing missiles, 1 with a target lock you can spend for re-rolls and the other 2 with focus and target lock re-rolls. That 12 dice with a high probability of hits and if you do this at range 3 you are not only denying evade tokens but the bonus for range to agility.
Grant it this is a 60 point combo but these ships continue to have great synergy after their ordinance is fired which is one of the rules you want to govern your ordinance/ship synergy selection.
Is it worth it. Well its debatable whether spending 60 points on Z-95’s is worth it, but if you get the hits early on this combo can really domino a match.
In conclusion. Well it’s hard to come to a conclusion. Ordinance is very expensive and being a one shot weapon requiring synergy to be effective even as a one shot weapon makes this the always questionable choice. There are a lot of great combo’s and lists one can build, it becomes tough to justify ordinance but in the same token I hope I have shown that its hardly “useless” as its often implied to be. There is a lot of potential to create complete havoc against your opponents with ordinance so unless you are an ultra-hardcore competitive player they are certainly viable. In competitive play I still agree with the general consensus that ordinance has yet to find a place in the meta, but in the same token the competitive meta excludes a great deal of things in X-Wing, excluding far more than it includes. To measure ordinance against competitive play is not really reasonable in your house games and it’s in house games the majority of X-Wing games take place.
I hope you found this article helpful and keep those questions coming, I’m always happy to have some fodder for more articles.
The Top 5 Table Top Games of All Time By The Crew
In my last article I posted for the first time some opinions of my personal gaming group, a rowdy and varied bunch and despite them doing little but pointing out some favorites to my surprise there was a considerable amount of interest in the article. This article actually broke some blog hit records. I also received several e-mail questions about my groups interest and some questions regarding how we deal with differences of opinion in terms of what board games we play and other curiosity questions. Among them where several requests asking to know what my gaming groups favorite games are. This of course prompted this article. I have for a while thought it would be fun to actually dedicate an article to my gaming group anyway so this is a perfect opportunity. I asked each member of my group to give me their top 5 table top games of all time.
Strange as it may seem when I put the request to them I realized that I have very little clue as to what I would actually see on these lists. I can probably guess a couple of the number ones, players tend to be fairly vocal about their all-time favorite, but I’m uncertain what I’m going to find on these lists for the most part. I have known these guys for several years and we certainly discuss games to a great extent, but I don’t recall this topic ever truly being breeched. I’m often made fun of by my gaming group for making bold claims after playing as they would say “any game” and claiming it to be “the best game of the year” or “best game ever” and that sort of thing. In fact, in a funny way, this is my opportunity to put them to task on their picks and so with my usual arrogant and hopefully at least slightly amusing commentary I’m going to look over their list and “comment”. I suspect however that I’m probably going to like most of their picks, the truth is that they are right, I’m a gamer and I love to love games. When you’re a fan, it’s hard to hate!
I have played Runebound and Talisman a plenty, in fact there was a time when Talisman was less a game and more a full time hobby for me. I was 11 and Talisman back then qualified as a “serious business” effectively leading me down the path to Dungeons and Dragons for which I’m eternally grateful. I readily understand the appeal of adventure games and Runebound definitely is the modernized version of Talisman. Certainly not my bag today but I can understand how casual gamers would be attracted to it. It’s easy, not terribly confrontational and especially in the case of Runebound can actually be quite challenging. Talisman for me personally makes for a great family game, I play it with my 6 year old daughter and she loves it.
Adventure games like Talisman have come a long way but this classic still has a strong following today. Its been reprinted by FFG and on Steam you can play it online in a digital version.
As for Munchkin, I will never fault anyone for loving munchkin though it’s more akin to a social activity then an actual game. It’s beer and pretzel fun and I will happily spend an evening with friends playing Munchkin anytime.
Lords of Waterdeep is perhaps the only game on this list I would consider a proper gamers pick (=elitist comment). With the expansion scoundrels of Skullport, Lords of Waterdeep really is a gem in the rough, it made my own top 10 worker placement games list and was among my favorite games of 2012. Pick definitely approved.
RISK. Ok I’m sorry but for fucks sake! Don’t get me wrong I do understand the appeal of simple dice chucker war games, but with nearly 60 years of game development history we have done better a thousand times over. It’s clear that I need to introduce Player 1 to some modern war games that easily replace RISK. Even among the RISK franchise, vanilla RISK doesn’t stack up at all. Lord of the Rings RISK, RISK Legacy and RISK 2210 A.D. all outshine the original by miles. Even among other Milton Bradly classics you can get more mileage out of the likes of Fortress America, Shogun (Ikusa) and Axis and Allies. There are so many far better games then RISK I nearly had a nerd attack when I saw this on the list. Pick most certainly and absolutely not approved!
Lord of the Rings RISK is widely regarded as the best version of RISK ever made.
Player 2
1. Game of Thrones the Board Game
2. Cutthroat Caverns
3. Sheriff of Nottingham
4. Summoner Wars
5. King of Tokyo
Everything about Game of Thrones, whether it’s the books, the show, the card game and most certainly the Board Game is objectively fucking awesome, if you don’t believe so, know that I hate you. This game grows on you too, I recall five years ago it sat somewhere towards the bottom of my top 10 best table top game of all-time list and today it sits in the number 2 spot firmly. It’s a magnificent design that embodies not only clever mechanics but most importantly one of the strongest thematic connections of any game I have ever played. It’s a game that tells a story and not just any story but a Game of Thrones story. It creates memorable experiences every time and is without question one of the most cut-throat and challenging games I have ever played. If you can win at Game of Thrones, you’re a better man than I! Respect.
While GoT was easily predicted Cutthroat Caverns is a real surprise. I’m quite fond of it myself but I rarely think of filler games as Best of material. It kind of falls into the same category as Munchkin for me, where with a beer in my hand I will happily play it anytime.
Sheriff of Nottingham is one game I can definitely get behind as a top game pick. My exposure to Sheriff of Nottingham is minimal but It falls into the same category as Galaxy Trucker where it’s a game you play that is just plain and simple fun. There is no explaining why you like it, it’s not like you can objectively say this or that mechanic is innovative or somehow overwhelmingly genius. You simply play for the joy of it.
To date I have not been able to find a negative review for this game, it seems unanimously liked.
Summoner Wars has been catapulting in popularity since release to the point of saturation and it’s no surprise as it is without question a very challenging and deep game, understanding why someone likes it is easy. It’s one of the most played Iphone and Android app games in both shops and was the top seller in 2015. It was nominated for the golden geek awards for Best 2 player game, best card game and most innovative game of the year in 2010. Golden Geek awards are effectively one of the largest player choice awards for board games today, to be nominated really is a great honor for a game. Its status as a smash hit is unmistakable and objectively this is a fantastically designed game. That said I have no real love for it and I submit that in the case of Summoner Wars as is sometimes the case with my personal favorites, I’m the odd man out. I don’t dislike it but it just doesn’t scratch an itch I have, but a respectful pick none the less.
King of Tokyo. What can be said, gamers love rolling dice, gamers love big monsters and gamers love games about fighting each other. King of Tokyo is a fuck you simulator but does it with a comedic almost family friendly way. It scratches an itch every gamer assumedly has, its simplicity and quick pace can potentially cater to pretty much everyone. It’s universally liked, I don’t think I have ever read or heard a negative thing said about it ever and it does not surprise me to see it pop up on someone’s list. A little simplistic for me personally but I’m a self-admitted arrogant elitist so there you go!
It looks like a kids game but has some umpf to catch gamers interest. I really think that’s its appeal. Besides it has big monsters, its pretty much an auto-win!
Player 3
1. Star Wars Armada
2. Game of Thrones: The Card Game 2nd Edition
3. Lords of Waterdeep: Scoundrels of Skullport
4. Warhammer 40k: Forbidden Stars
5. Galaxy Trucker
Star Wars Armada should be on every serious gamers list in my opinion. It’s a true challenge even for the most experienced gamers, driven by an awesome theme and in my not so humble opinion quite possibly one of the most brilliant designs to come out of Fantasy Flight Games yet. It easily makes my own top 5 list and I’m not at all surprised to see it pop up as a number one pick for a member of my gaming group.
Game of Thrones the card game is a new beast in our group and there is a lot of buzz around it right now, deservingly so. I have played a lot of FFG card games and quite frankly I haven’t been terribly impressed. Game of Thrones the card game is quite possibly the first FFG card game that instantly caught my interest creating the imminent urge to add it to my collection. It’s tough to know how I will feel about it six months from now, but right now, I can’t stop thinking about it.
Lords of Waterdeep, our first cross-over and I’m really not surprised to see it pop up again. This is a game with real legs, it’s had ample opportunity to fall out of favor but it really just sticks with you. As I write this, I realize we haven’t played it in a while and I really, really want to play it right now!
Its got a great theme and the appearances of a Ameri-Trash game but make no mistake this is a light weight Euro game .
Warhammer 40k: Forbidden Stars is another one that makes my own top 10 list and I’m not surprised to see it here. I think in 2015 it stands out along with Star Wars Armada as one of the most memorable games of the year. I even considered it for Gamersdungeon game of the year, it would have easily had it if it were not for that awsomesauce of a game, Star Wars Armada. It has that Twilight Imperium spirit where each time you play you discover more depth, new strategies and ultimately new potential. I foresee us having a long and lasting love affair with this one.
Galaxy Trucker. I have to admit I was a bit taken back with this choice and it’s not because I disagree, quite to the contrary I truly love this game but objectively it’s essentially a game of silliness and luck. You build your ship and run it through a gauntlet of hazards over which you have zero control to see if the hastily put together scrapheap of a ship you constructed can survive. Why do gamers like this game? I believe it’s for the same reason we like to see youtube videos of monkeys throwing poop. Sometimes silly fun is all the reason you need to play a game and Galaxy Trucker has this sort of quaint appeal that taps into our inner child who really just wants to see a monkey throw poop. Galaxy Trucker just does that with impeccable precision and a science-fiction quirkiness most nerds can get behind. I don’t want to play it all the time, but I consider it a precious part of my gaming collection and I can say with all honestly that I will cull a lot of far more serious games from my collection long before I consider getting rid of this one. Great hipster pick, I love it!
There are a lot of expansions for Galaxy Trucker that attempt to make this more of a gamer game, but frankly the original version is so fantastic its just best not to fuck with it. Why fix it if it ain’t broke.
Player 4
1. Star Wars Armada
2. Game of Thrones: The Board Game
3. Munchkin
4. Epic Spell Wars Of The Battle Wizards
5. Cutthroat Caverns
What a smorgasbord of fuck you games that will put a smile on your face.
Star Wars Armada I would have picked for Player 4, there was no question this one was going to get plenty of cross-over but there are members of our gaming group that like me love a great challenge.
Game of Thrones barely needs mentioning at this point, I’m not surprised at all at its reappearance.
Munchkin I would not have expected to find on this particular players list, but it’s certainly cool to see a gamer put something as deep as Star Wars Armada and something as simplistic as Munchkin on the same list. Then again, I have said it many times, gamers are a weird breed. We like what we like, whether it’s a deep and obscure 9 book fantasy novel series or a Youtube video of a dog pooping on a baby, what entertains us probably seems quite random to the outsider. Munchkin has been around a long time and I don’t think I have ever met a gaming nerd who didn’t get a kick out of it, it’s a parody of our nerdy childhoods.
Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards I totally understand and really I was wondering more where player 4 was going to put this on his list rather than if. Epic Spell Wars is not just about playing the game but how you play the game, how you visualize and experience the silliness. If you get a bunch of funny people together in a room with the giggles to play this, this game is like comedic fuel on a hilarity fire.
The simple act of combing three silly cards to form a spell has a surprisingly large amount of laughter built into it. Especially if you have ever played D&D and other fantasy roleplaying games. Don’t be fooled though there is actually some game here as well, Epic Spell Wars is far more than just a silly romp.
Cutthroat Caverns I’m actually really surprised at, in our group we’ve had some fun with it but I didn’t realize it was liked this much. I suppose I shouldn’t be, my gaming group loves “fuck you” style confrontation in games and looking at these lists most of these games are really quite mean. I thought we might see one or two mellow Euro games on these lists, we have played plenty but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised about how much the gamers in my group like to fuck with each other.
Player 5
1. Advanced Squad Leader
2. Star Wars: X-Wing
3. Star Wars: Imperial Assault
4. Terra Mystica
5. Ticket To Ride
Advanced Squad Leader is at quick glance very firmly in the extremely complicated spectrum of games. Simulation games are an extremely niche type of gaming, historical war gamers in particular are their own breed entirely. It being on the list has certainly peeked my curiosity.
Its not a pretty game and its definitly as complicated as it looks. Simulation games typically come with hundreds of pages of rules and tables, this one is no different but it is widely regarded as one of the best war game simulations ever made.
Star Wars: X-Wing is the number one game on my own list and frankly I was surprised it made so few lists in this group given how often we play it but I’m not surprised to see it on this particular players list. He is certainly the most competitive X-Wing player among us. I love X-Wing so yeah, rock on!
Star Wars: Imperial Assault is a cooperative game that I have only played a couple of times. I generally don’t pay much attention to cooperative games but Imperial Assault has a skirmish mode which certainly is worthy of pushing some miniatures around. There is no doubt about its popularity among gamers in general though, shortly after its launch it slammed into the top games on boardgamegeek and its been sitting pretty at number 11 beating out every game chosen by all other players in this top 5 list except the next one.
Terra Mystica is a heavy Euro and its overwhelming popularity is one of the many mysterious of the universe I simply can’t explain. Its effectively a victory point simulator lacking any semblance of theme, which is not too unusual for Euros, but still, its beyond me. This one was on my top 5 most overrated games and while I’m always happy to give games another go despite my clear superiority and elitism, this is one I find a bit agonizing to play.
Yes it does look like Settlers of Catan but don’t make the mistake of thinking this is an easy game. This is a very heavy Euro which if you ask me crumbles under that weight.
Last on the list is Ticket To Ride and this is one I can definitely get behind. Its a very simple game with a pretty basic premise, really a fantastic game to use as a way to lure new potential gamers into the hobby. Its one of the few games I consider missing from my collection.
Player 6
MC Siege Of The Citadel
Game of Thrones The Board Game
Star Wars Armada/Star Wars X-Wing (Epic)
Star Wars Imperial Assault
Sheriff Of Nottingham
I actually had to look up Siege of the Citadel, at this the moment I saw the list I had never heard of it. This was a big surprise for me, I wasn’t even aware this player owned the game. This is an old school game which gets an automatic bow from me, but from the looks of it, it has uncanny similarity to the dungeon crawl board games that have grown into massive popularity these days. Officially on my must be played list.
Like many old school games this one too is getting a new edition. Despite having never laid eyes on it, it has an uncanny familiarity. Hard to believe I missed something that looks this cool.
The rest are all cross-overs already mentioned and while I was very curious about this particular players list, none of those choices really surprise me. All solid choices for any top game list, I would gladly play any of those anytime, anywhere!
Player ME
Ok it’s my turn, though I think for readers of my blog this probably come to much of a surprise.
1. Star Wars X-Wing
2. Game of Thrones: The Board Game
3. Star Wars Armada
4. War of the Rings
5. Twilight Imperium
As you can see nothing has changed since October when I last updated my top 10 best table top games.
X-Wing remains my favorite though perhaps through saturation and overplaying it I find myself considerably less excited about it at the moment. X-Wing however has some serious legs, a new expansion rolls out and suddenly I’m making lists in my sleep.
X-Wing just gets better and better which for me is really what puts this over the top into the number one spot. I never thought I would see the day that miniatures games make it back on my best of list.
Game of Thrones: The Board Game, again, what can I say here it’s the premiere thematic epic that I could never betray. The fact that over a decade after release this game is actually climbing the list speaks to the respect and love I have for this game.
Star Wars Armada. I precursor this by saying that when I find a game that is deep, complex and challenging that I actually can’t figure out and I regularly get my ass handed to me in, it just makes me love it that much more. I love games that I have no answer to, games that have challenged me beyond my ability to rise to it. It just makes me want to play it more. Armada in my mind is no question the best game of 2015 but I think in 2025 I will look back and see it as the game of the decade.
War of the Rings like Game of Thrones has this incredible connection to the theme and because it’s a two player game it has this intimate, mano a’ mano challenge. I have never won a game of War of the Rings and like Armada, it just makes me love it that much more. It’s a work of art to look at, it’s got a definitive storyteller element and everything you love about the books and movies is in here. It’s really the Disneyland of board games, there is magic in this box.
As much a visual story experience as a game, War of the Rings deserves every word of praise it has ever received.
Finally we have my old love Twilight Imperium, toppled in recent years from the number one spot after holding it for well over a decade on my personal best of list. She is still a beauty and I would never kick her out for eating cookies in bed but she doesn’t have that spit shine on her anymore either. I think TI3 remains the ultimate and best X4 boardgame by a margin so wide there are no contender’s insight. Its complex, its deep and if there ever was a game for the elitist gamer, this is most certainly that game.
TI3 will always be a classic for me, its a game I have played more times than most of my collection combined. I know it as intimately as any game I have ever played.
And that’s that. I would like to thank my gaming group for participating and making this article possible. Its definitely been one of the more fun ones I have done in recent months. If nothing else its clear to me that while we all have our personal favorites for the most part there are very few games on this list I would not agree to play. Sure they might not be my favorites but truth is that gaming is all about variety, playing the same game over and over will very quickly cause that game to cease being your favorite.
Torpedo’s were effectively the first ordinance introduced into X-Wing in the original core set. Torpedoes typically require you to spend your target lock, so they put you in a position where you might be rolling dice without a focus token which is typically bad. It’s especially bad for one shot items that cost between 2 to 6 points. When it comes to torpedoes as ordinance you are pretty much always looking to create synergy effects to help ensure that when you shoot you get your points worth in damage caused. This is why early ships like Garven Dreis and Dutch Vander where such a great combo for using torpedoes. The question is are they worth it, well, yeah, I think they are.
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