How to play Armada: The Scenarios!
7th Oct 2020
Rob Burman
Ahoy there! Good to see you back for another of our Armada rules previews. After yesterday’s blog, which explained how you build your fleets (read that here), today we’re talking about the different sorts of scenarios you’ll be playing.
There are 10 different missions in the rulebook, each with their own unique rules and conditions for winning. With the scenarios we wanted to have a mix of more typical naval objectives and slightly more fantastical missions that represent the magic and monsters of Pannithor – something we’ll be expanding on in the future too.
Games of Armada are usually played on a space at least 48” x 36” for small games featuring 2-4 ships per side. The scenarios assume this minimum size of playing area when describing their set-up but work best with a 48” x 48” area. Larger games can, of course, be played on even bigger areas and can have many more boats!
The 10 missions included in the book are:
- Maritime Patrol
- Capture the Kraken
- The Vortex
- X Marks the Spot
- Hunt the Flagship
- A Storm is Brewing
- Attack Waves
- Flotsam and Jetsam
- Treaty and Treachery
- Plant the Flag
The standard mission to learn the ropes is Maritime Patrol, which is a challenge to see how many of the opponent’s ships you can destroy. It’s designed for only three to four boats, with a total points of about 100. It’s also recommended to play your first games without any terrain – just so you can get used to moving around, without smashing into stuff!
Of course, once you’re comfortable with Maritime Patrol, then it’s time to start getting onto the more complex (and fun) missions! Capture the Kraken is one mission that will be familiar to those of you that have played the Capture the Giant scenario in Vanguard. Here a rampaging Kraken is raging across the sea and players score points for wounding the beast. However, you’ve also got to watch out for your enemy because you can score points for taking out Medium, Large and Extra Large ships.
Meanwhile, X Marks the Spot is a typical tale of treasure on the high seas. Two small islands are placed on the playing area. Each is packed with the elusive treasure of Don Silva! At the end of each Turn ships within 3” of the islands will score VPs. Smaller ships will find it much easier to get closer to the islands but can only carry so much. As a result, they’ll need to offload their treasure to the larger ships. However, if a ship is a ship is destroyed or surrenders as part of a boarding action, then the enemy will snag all the VPs! You’ve got to balance gathering up treasure and then protecting your precious bounty.
Each of the 10 missions offers a totally different experience and we can’t wait to see your battle reports!