Armada Event Format - "Galaxy of Heroes"

 Armada Event Format - "Galaxy of Heroes"

A long while ago, my friend Nathan and I came up with a "Jank" format for an Armada event. There was a banned card list, and there was also a "Jank List." The Jank List featured upgrades or ship chassis (like the Combat Interdictor) that rewarded players with victory points if they were used. There was a cap on how many victory points could be mined this way, and there were conditions on how they were used (it wasn't enough to utilize only one NK-7 Ion Cannons in your fleet; you had to have at least two copies of that upgrade equipped in order to score the "Jank VPs."

Anyway, since then, we hit COVID, and now that we're back to playing in-person, all of the events I've run have been standard format, casual tournaments. But I want to switch it up a little without simply increasing the point cost of fleets, or always doing the Jank tournament, as much fun as that one was. I spent a decent amount of time thinking about what defines Star Wars, and honestly, I kept coming back to "heroes" and "plot armor." A lot of Star Wars is written in a way that is convenient for the heroes, who always overcome the odds. To that end, I thought maybe throwing a bit of a spotlight on the hero who flies in to save the day could be fun. So I've come up with the following:

• Each player may choose one squadron or one ship to be their fleet’s “Hero.”
• If a player selects a ship, that ship must be a Command 1 ship, must have a unique Officer upgrade equipped to it, and zero other upgrades equipped to it.
• The Hero does not count against the fleet point total for fleet-building purposes.
• The Hero is hidden information, included only on the fleet sheet submitted to the TO.
• Six objective tokens will be placed on the mat for this format (that is in addition to any objective tokens placed by the chosen Objective.
• **The Strategic ability does NOT affect the objective tokens specified to be Deployment tokens.
• The Deployment tokens DO satisfy the prerequisites for Moralo Eval’s ability.
• After fleets deploy, each player will secretly choose 1 objective token and submit their choice to the TO.
• The chosen objective token is the only objective token off of which a player’s Hero may deploy.
• When the Hero deploys, it can be at distance 1 of their chosen objective token.
• If the Hero is a ship, the player sets its speed dial upon deploying it, but does not set a command dial.
• The Hero cannot be deployed until round 3.
• In order to deploy the Hero, a player’s ship or squadron must be destroyed. Once that entire attack is resolved, the Hero ship or squadron may be deployed as per the rules outlined above.
• The Hero can make one attack on any legal target after it has deployed. After that attack, if it is a squadron, it is activated for the round. If it is a ship, it is considered to have completed its activation this turn.
• *A Hero squadron or ship is worth double fleet points if destroyed (this does NOT include the Officer upgrade equipped to the ship).
• *A Hero ship cannot be chosen as the Objective Ship for Intel Sweep.
• Banned cards: Admiral Raddus, Blockade Run

And that's it! I'm hoping it means we get to see upgrades and squadrons we all enjoy, but haven't gotten to see much of because we could rarely justify the points (*staring hard at Kit Fisto, Han Solo, Hera Syndulla, and on and on*). Plus, it doesn't change the rules of the game so wildly that it'll be difficult to play several matches while remembering the changes. People can mostly, I think, play their game with a little wrinkle thrown in. Looking forward to testing this out soon!