Perhaps the Archives are Incomplete - CW Campaign Thoughts

FFG Campaigns & Me: A Love Story

A Quick Backstory

When I first began playing Armada, the Corellian Conflict was close to release and really tickled my fancy. Bringing lingering consequences to games/decisions sounded awesome. All of a sudden, there’s an additional consideration when determining whether to throw my ships headlong into an enemy fleet or play things safe and spout fickle red dice from long range.



At this point, I was a very casual player, my games were played on a dining room table and often we wouldn’t even use objectives - instead the goal was to roll dice, fly ships and essentially live out our childish fantasies. So, when the Corellian Conflict was released, I couldn’t wait to get involved and take my relationship with Armada ‘to the next level’ (we still aren’t exclusive).


Corellian Conflict

My first interaction with Corellian Conflict (CC) was wonderful and when I look back it really benefited me in two ways. Firstly, it connected me with 6 other local Armada players in the St. Louis region (including Irate Pooka of It’s A Trap fame) and it served as the inspiration to see me further my Armada knowledge.



All of a sudden I wasn’t flying lists that seemed ‘fun’ or thematic, yet turned out to be strategically lacking. Those mistakes could be overcome pregame as I now had teammates to listcraft with, discuss tactics, etc. - you could say it felt great to be part of a team (something that’s rare in FFG mini games).



However, whilst the new expansion was absolutely a net positive for Armada, they are not perfect as each campaign expansion has its challenges.



For instance, a common complaint following the release of CC was a lack of ‘rubber banding’ (Rubber banding is a term from the video game world, used to describe systems that promote parity through buffing losers or debuffing those in the lead. If you’ve played Mario Kart, you’ll know what I mean).

Early victories for a particular side could see a campaign ‘snowball’ with the victorious team gaining crucial momentum and resource points, before continuing to dominate their now wounded opponent.


Rebellion In The Rim

Being aware of this complaint, when RitR was released, I was really excited. Perhaps the smaller fleets would allow for reduced snowballing? Maybe the rework to the scarred/casualty system would allow long-term casualties without punishing you too much for having a bad game?



Well, RitR was released and delivered. The smaller format made for quicker games, the new map featured really interesting planets/scenarios and the sector system created additional depth. All in all I played/started (scheduling is the bane of campaign play) several iterations of the RitR system.

Alas, eventually, once the honeymoon phase and initial allure wore off, I found RitR lacking too!



Locally at least, the system lent itself to a meta that I was sad to see and whilst I'm not sure that I blame the game system for this, it happened. This meta saw at least one large-base ship be crucial in almost every successful fleet. In my mind, RitR was going to be the place for smaller task forces of CR90s, Peltas and Hammerheads, to duke it out with Quasars, Arquitens and VSDs.

Unfortunately in practice we found that it came down to the nature of diminishing damage output and how that couples with small fleets. For example, if I have three small base ships and one dies, I lose 1/3rd of my offensive output. If my opponent's ISD loses one third of it’s health… it's got a nasty bruise and a few damage cards, but ultimately the ISD’s damage output isn’t hindered.



Additionally, upon reflection, the RitR system introduced an increased level of bookkeeping. I was ignorant to this when playing the campaign as Irate Pooka took ownership of the organiser role, but, between the one-use-only objective cards, the new Strategic Effect tokens and the XP system, the campaign was harder to track/manage at times.



All-in-all, I consider RitR to be a step in the right direction. However, like Corellian Conflict it has its flaws.


What Next? - An exercise in speculation

With Clone Wars releases on the horizon, perhaps a campaign expansion is on it’s way too? And, while we’re speculating, I think it only makes sense to lay out some items that I’d love to see, and design thoughts that might make for a brilliant experience.
Campaign Companion App

In recent years, FFG has rolled out a series of official apps to accompany it’s game systems. Imperial Assault saw an app become a digital game master, allowing for efficient cooperative play, X-Wing saw a list builder created and FFG even released an app-focused LOTR game.



Earlier in this piece I touched on the housekeeping challenges that an increasingly complex campaign brings. Well, perhaps a campaign app is the solution? Each campaign could be created/joined much like you might join a fantasy sports league and with the app recording game results, housing lists, tracking of the campaign map, etc.


Setting & Time

I’d imagine everyone who is reading this has seen the prequel trilogy. As you know the Clone Wars kicked off with the first battle of Geonosis and ended with Darth Vader’s dispatching of the Seperatist Council on Mustafar. According to google, the Clone Wars waged for several years and it’s my understanding that the weapons/ships/equipment used evolved throughout that timeframe. Nailing down a particular moment may be tough but perhaps our Clone Wars expansion could be set ‘late war’ and therefore allow for the introduction of the Arquitens and Victory Class for Republic use?



Alternatively, maybe the designers go with an earlier focus - If I had to put money on it (I wouldn’t wager much!) I’d expect them to theme the initial expansion around a conflict that we saw in the show. Geonosis/The Arkanis Sector, could make sense.


Scale

I’d like to see a CW campaign expansion utilize an escalation model such that fleets begin small (a la RitR) before growing to full fledged 400+ point powerhouses. Throughout the Clone Wars series we see politics come into play with public sentiment for the war and senate funding fluctuating over time. This would provide a really cool thematic justification for the scale of the campaign changing as the campaign wages on.



Perhaps a huge Republic defeat early in the campaign might inspire the senate to provide more ships to the Republic players. On the other hand - this support is finite and maybe too many devastating wins for the CIS, results in these reserves being gone for good.





“Esteemed representatives of the senate, his fleet is broken and OP. Plus, he rolled really hot while my red dice were cold. I need another 100 points of stuff or else we’re toast.”





Now for the tough part, how to implement something like this into a miniatures game? - well, if I knew that I’d be working at 1995 County Road B2 West, Roseville, MN.

All in all, while this could be tough to manage, I trust the FFG designers and think that an escalation format might allow for the players to feel as if they’re being reinforced as the galaxy turns to all out war around them.



The Big Bang?

A further option is to see the campaign begin with a large scale fleet battle (similar to the Pivotal Battles from RitR). This could represent a large clash in the first days of the war, like the Battle of Geonosis, before the individual player task forces/fleets are built to reflect small-er forces, assigned with various planets to patrol, sector deployments, etc.

From there, the campaign can get into a traditional rhythm as the initial large fleet is split up to form the smaller detachments.


Additional Content/Cards

When I reflect on the campaign expansions that we’ve received so far, often they bring new content to the game but do it in a fashion that doesn’t require new miniatures or plastic components. Instead we see new titles, squadrons, cards, etc.



Below is a sort of quickfire round of potential concepts:


Additional Titles

It’s tough to speculate on this without knowing which titles we’ll see for the teased Clone Wars ships. I’d imagine obvious choices such as: Obi Wan’s flagships may get a mention. Additionally, Yullaren’s Resolute, Grievous’ Invisible Hand, and other commonly occurring ships from the cartoon will arrive.

What of lesser known options? Heck! Technically the Tantive IV was Bail’s ship throughout the Clone Wars. Does that come to the republic in some fashion?





… probably not as I can’t imagine the Consular and CR90 will both be Republic ships.


A Confederate Barriss Offee

I’m not sure that we’ve ever seen two versions of a unique card/character be available for two different factions, with two different effects. FFG aren’t against it though - look at X-Wing.

This would be pretty darn cool! Who knows what sort of effect Bariss could have? Perhaps her knowledge of the force/jedi could make her adept (see what I did there?) at countering other force users in some fashion? Or, perhaps she can impart devastating raid/sabotage effects on her Republic opposition.





Spoiler Warning! Although, the episode came out in 2013. You’ve had your chance!


A Bounty Mechanic

For those that play Legion, you may know where I'm going with this but I could enjoy a similar mechanic coming to Armada. Often objectives create victory conditions that reward points for the purpose of scoring. Perhaps the presence of bounty hunters in a fleet could do the same for Armada?
I wouldn’t want to see this be powerful enough to decide a game. We’re not going for a golden snitch here (shout out to Harry Potter and the rest of the Gryffindor quidditch squad!). Instead, a mechanic that scores 20 points to a successful bounty hunter or so.




Additional Unique Squadrons

I’ve got to imagine that eventually we could see a huge array of Jedi come to the game in the form of squadrons. Consider the Republic in X-Wing for instance, we have unique pilots appearing in multiple instances across various airframes (space frames?)



On the other hand, an expansion like this could provide a wealth of options for the CIS in the form of bounty hunters. I’m sure the big marquee names like Jango Fett will come in the form of a squadron expansion, but what about a young Boba, Aurra Sing, Sugi, Clone Wars Dengar?, etc.











I know, I know, we didn’t see much of these guys piloting but we need candidates for CIS uniques!





A final thought when considering unique squadrons - perhaps we see unique non-aces arrive on the scene. Similar to Saber Squadron and Rogue Squadron, we could see the 104th Wolfpack and other more ‘elite’ squadrons come to the tabletop.




Wrap Up



On the whole, I’m certain that we’ll get a campaign expansion set during the Clone Wars, at some point. We know what our first 8 Clone Wars era ships will be and following those releases and a second squadron expansion, I’m not sure where the designers can go.



I mean, GCW era ships being converted for our new factions will only provide content for a wave or two, and there aren’t that many ships that we saw on screen in the canon, that aren’t in the initial 8, so expect a Clone Wars campaign.



Will that campaign overcome all of the challenges of it’s predecessors? Probably not.

Will I start a wealth of campaigns, eventually finishing some? Probably.

Will I have a blast regardless? Absolutely.