Author: Crabbok

Gen Con has come and gone – and with it tons of new information! Some of it I was able to Live Stream – and other parts I’ll still be breaking down over the coming weeks and even months!. Lets talk about some highlights!

X-Wing!

X-Wing had a few spoilers from Wave 7, but also the official reveal of Wave 7.1, which consists of 2 more expansions – the TIE/rb Brute, and the Heralds of Hope Aces pack, which contains 2 T-70 X-Wings and an RZ-2 A-Wing for the Resistance. Additionally we saw a preview of Wave 8, which is all Clone Wars oriented. Jango Fett’s Slave-1, the Tri Fighter, along with the Eta-2 and V-Wing! Plus we know there are more Aces packs planned for the future!

Legion!

Legion didn’t see as much as many had hoped, but it wasn’t without news. The reveal of Anakin Skywalker and Darth Maul showcased some great sculpts and some new mechanics! And the Clone Wars factions also got their Specialists expansions previewed! This is great news for Clone Wars players! Best of all, there was a confirmation that the next 4 expansions are all Empire and Rebels!

Armada!

The Clone Wars has begun! We’ve learned that the new single faction starters will be $99 but will also come with 1 medium and 2 small ships, along with everything else you need to get started included 4 squadrons. We got some previews of upgrades, ship cards, squadrons, and also the other packs. The Upgrade Card Collection will have every card in the game, re-sized, and updated – to include both points adjustments and errata. The dial expansion exists mostly because future ship expansions won’t come with command dials or speed dials anymore.

More Games!

X-Men were big this year! Both in Atomic Mass Games’ Marvel Crisis protocol, and with Mutant Insurrection from FFG. Twilight Imperium 4th Edition had a new Expansion announced too!

Stay tuned for more news!

Darth Maul and A New Hope!

Double Critial Episode 7 is up! This time we’re talking all about the Empire Strikes Back! (Yes I realize the irony that in the episode number doesn’t correspond to the film’s episode number).

Social Distancing has been really making me miss Armada! Thankfully I’ve got the Armada AI System that allows for solo play!

I gave the Rebels an extra 100 points, and ran an Arquitens based fleet, complete with Enhanced Armament and Darth Vader as a commander.

The AI doesn’t exactly fly an Arquitens Conga Line the same way I do – it tended to launch the ships directly at the enemy.

The Quasar, carrying Darth Vader, ended up speeding up to speed 3 and trying to run right past my fleet, leaving it’s squadrons behind!

Lot’s of squadrons were slugging it out, while double arc’d ships tried the same!

Here is a full video battle report if you are interested!

Double Critical is back with Episode 5! This time we’re going over Rogue One. We know there’s already alot of stuff from Rogue One in Legion – so we’re looking at what else from the film could make it into the game!

COVID-19 has certainly been interesting, and the resulting social distancing has forced alot of gamers to have to stay home and rely on computers and internet-based gaming to suffice. I’ve been taking this time to do more with my AI systems and fine tune some of my solo gaming systems.

Running an AI game with the Deep Space Station, I wanted to try something new. In this scenario, the rebels have to get two boarding teams aboard to successfully retake control of the station and claim victory! These boarding teams cannot however, board the station while the shields are still up though, so you’ll need to weaken at least one section enough to get your boarding teams through!

I also tried another tweak to the Armada AI system, which is to allow for 3 vetos during the game, in which I may override the AI’s decision. This is an optional rule I’m working with, similar to a rule I’ve made for the Legion AI system, that gives the player limited control over the potential bad choices the AI might be forced to do.

I decided to go with about 700 points for the Empire, which includes the station – vs 400 points for the Rebels. And considering the AI has performed poorly in the past. There is currently a battle report video of the game available in early access on my Patreon page for A-Wing supporters and higher!

In this episode we’re talking about 2 completely different subjects! Terrain, AND Lando! Why both? Because it’s the Double Critical! Honestly I didn’t think Lando could fill an entire episode on his own so that’s actually the more serious reason!