Armada: Top tips for creating a Basilean Fleet

Did you know you can now pre-order single ships for Armada? That's right, next month we'll be releasing individual ships for the Basileans and orcs before following it up with dwarfs and Empire of Dust in August.

We're making the single ships available now because, as people become more experienced with the game, it's likely they're going to want to start customising their fleets a little more with options that aren't available in the starter or booster boxes.

Oh, and if you're not experienced with the game, check out Ronnie's video below, which introduces the basics... and includes Ronnie swearing a bit when his ships get sunk. Oops!

Anyway, enough of that. Let's get on to some top tips for creating a Basilean fleet that the Hegemony would be proud of. Thanks very much to the Armada RC for putting these lists together! Oh, and in case you're wondering, we created the lists using Easy Army's list builder, which you can subscribe to here.

ETERNAL CREED

The premise of this list is to keep your Elohi ships alive. Deploy the Elohi in two distinct battle groups, each supported by a Gur Panther. As the first battle group passes the enemy ships, they will start Repair actions. The second battle group should keep the enemy occupied while the first are repairing and getting back into position. Then the Second battle group can start repair actions. If the Sloops are in range of the Elohi when they do the repair action, they will be repairing a minimum of 9 damage, and a maximum of 14! The veteran Gunbrigs will sail at a steady pace and fire long range IDW at the enemy, hoping to cause some critical hits, and generally being a nuisance.

RIGHTEOUS FURY 

This list is all about long range devastation. Concentrate the Gunbrigs on a single target, and hope for some critical hits. The Master Gunner can be used first round to increase the chances of a hit. The Elohi will close in and keep the enemy fleet's attentions fixed firmly on them, while the Gunbrigs continue to pound away. As the game progresses, either the Elohi or Gunbrigs can break away to grab vital objectives. With the remaining points, I decided to go for a Hex Scroll. This can cause severe disruption to an enemy admiral’s plan.

HEGEMON TYRANNY

This last list features the XL ship, which isn't on Easy Army yet - so you'll have to use your imagination a little.

The Dictator can be an absolute beast on the High Seas. With 114 SPs, and equipped with the Aegis Shield, it will take a considerable amount of attention to sink this vessel. Also with a CS of 9, it can easily unleash a devastating Broadside into smaller ships, and then initiate a Boarding Action to finish them off. The Elohi will need to draw some of the enemy fleet away from the Dictator so it isn’t overwhelmed, and can perform a mixture of attacks and then repair actions to remain in the game. The Ocarina of Korgaan is a fantastic item to seize the initiative as fleets close, and will be invaluable to really punish your opponent if used at an opportune time.

Plenty of tips there for aspiring Basilean naval commanders. In tomorrow's blog, we'll be covering the marauding orcs.