On Thursday June 13, AMG announced the discontinuation of development on Star Wars: Armada and Star Wars: X-Wing. This came after a week of tense waiting when Asmodee quietly delisted all Star Wars: Armada stock from their store. Optimistic fellows hoped that this was a reboxing or some other sign of movement in the game’s development. Those were my hopes too.
Yeah. Anyway.
I hoped never to write this article, but it’s here.
This is an obituary for Star Wars: Armada as we know it and a look at what our future holds.
Admirals in the Night
Star Wars: Armada released in early 2015, three years after its lighter brother X-Wing. Under Fantasy Flight Games’ expertise, Armada combined some of the best qualities its audience wanted: cool miniatures, fun rules, and a popular intellectual property.
Its first year filled the roster with iconic ships and fighters from the Original Trilogy and included a few obscure ones too (I love you Gladiator-class Star Destroyer). Its growing fanbase counted X-Wing aces searching for new postings, Battlefleet: Gothic strays, and new players drawn in by the infamous Imperial-class Star Destroyer (me).
Its highs included a good balance between strategic planning and tactical combat, flavorful rules, and approachably pre-painted miniatures. The low points? Well, Demolisher needed like four nerfs and Rieekan treated enemy fleets like the Alliance to Restore the Republic’s Annual Taco Fiesta. And this was just the first two years.
Look, no game is perfect.
What followed was a consistent period of community growth and game development. Organized play got bigger and better. New physical releases shook up the meta every few months (sometimes in ways that needed rebalancing). Many of us thought they wouldn’t release a Super Star Destroyer and they did.
December 2020 began a new era with two Prequel Trilogy factions and a revised ruleset known to players as Armada 1.5. 1.5 is the current ruleset. It was generally well-received. Almost genius, in fact. They went out of their way to address core rules issues that were outdated or imbalanced the gameplay. And didn’t touch any of the stuff that worked. PAY ATTENTION, OTHER PUBLISHERS.
The blunderous pandemic years started with a transfer of the Star Wars tabletop properties to Atomic Mass Games (AMG). Things started off tense, especially when we learned that the reshuffle cost several key designers. I was too distracted by certain unprecedented and rapidly developing events to read into it. Nothing really worked for a couple of years, so I was happy to cut the new publisher some slack.
AMG’s stewardship of Armada marked a decline in development. It showed in the little things. It took ages before AMG’s website reflected the game’s presence. Documents were hosted on FFG’s site for a weirdly long time. No errata or balance changes. Player requests for communications – any communications – went unanswered. These aren’t the signs of an organized and dedicated effort to support a game. These are the clues in a Death of a Game video.
Eventually, Armada was put on a developmental hold while AMG tried to get things together behind the scenes. I think that was the point when I shifted my characterization of Armada from developmental challenges to on proverbial life support. Product restocks were always challenging. I only managed to get one Arquitens and never got the Super Star Destroyer. Stores were dropping the game due to reduced interest and stocking shortfalls. You know, it’s hard to convince newbies to start when you don’t know what the publisher is doing.
AMG never oversaw a new ship/squadron release while they had responsibility over the IP. The last wave of ship expansions did arrive during their tenure. Due to shipping delays. They were FFG’s last published work on the game. We received occasional event kits for organized play and the infamous print-and-play ‘expansions’ in PDF format. In hindsight, things were unenviable for a game that was defined by awesome models and approachability.
This sad decline ended last Thursday (at time of writing) when Armada and X-Wing were jointly discontinued in a terse blog post. That’s a long way to fall for X-Wing players who once played a game robust enough to challenge GW’s market primacy. There were more competitive X-Wing players here in South Africa than competitive 40K players. In South Africa. Most people don’t even know we exist. But we sure played X-Wing.
Armada’s slower pace and higher cost of entry was never going to match X-Wing in popularity, but we were just happy for a game of its kind. I liked pushing star destroyers around and making childish laser noises. I lined up my ships and squadrons in a row and admired the collection. I still beam with pride every time I show my meticulously organized card collection to people (I received an autism assessment last month, so yeah).
Corporate decision making is a tragedy with a long tail. When it goes wrong, the reverberation travels like a whip: the tail end cracks the hardest. Employees and consumers will always bear the ugliest disappointment for forces they can’t readily influence. It’s a theme so overdone that I roll my eyes when a 40K author makes a point out of it.
Her Story
But this isn’t just about the game of Armada. It’s also about the people who made it great. Yeah, it started off as a game to me but it graduated to far more. I can trace a straight line between Star Wars: Armada and my current job. And another line between Armada and years-long friends. Another one between the game and my rising well-being.
Fuck timelines. Here’s a story.
Armada caught me in late-2015 and didn’t let go. Its intuitively designed rules conveyed the feel of fleet combat without being overbearing. It was the only game of this kind to gain traction since Battlefleet: Gothic (sorry, Dropfleet fans, but I don’t think our loss is your gain).
Like many 40K players, I was taken by the light(er) rules and broad appeal. It was never difficult to introduce someone new to Armada or X-Wing. Most people’s exposure to wargames in 2015 were Games Workshop properties or codgety historical gamers. They were neither ready to commit to the material nor social investment involved. But Star Wars? Lots of people know Star Wars. It’s a short jump from a board game to wargaming when Star Wars is on show.
This was my landscape. I got to see people trying wargames without feeling like they had to develop whole skills to get an army onto the table. My girlfriend hates sprues and played Armada with me.
My engagement with Armada was always about maintaining my collection and playing occasional games. I had a casual relationship with the game and it never absorbed my energy the way competitive 40K does. I can safely say that I always looked forward to Armada games. 40K and Kill Team didn’t always treat me with that courtesy, though I still love them.
Tabletop games floated me through my university life which coincidentally, also began in 2015. I think I lived a whole life from undergrad through Masters. And when I graduated, the world was up on its ass and I had no clue how to support myself or where to go in life.
Things changed in 2022. That year, I submitted an idea to Goonhammer – my favorite tabletop gaming publication (said without coercion). I was in the want-a-new-game headspace that people with lots of unpainted models get into. So I started reading Goonhammer’s Getting Started articles. I noticed a frankly shocking lack of representation from my favorite and wrote in with an offer to write it.
I was ecstatic when the answer was affirmative. I was even happier when I was told I’d be getting paid. My first working years were in academia where we ground our asses off for kind words and a pittance. This definitely shaped my view and self-esteem. Don’t tell Rob, but I thought I was gonna work for free and would have been okay with it. I’ve gotten better about that.
That’s how Goonhammer’s Star Wars: Armada content worked. It was mainly one very enthusiastic girl. Reined in by editors and indulged by readers.
My first (modest) paychecks from this site showed me that there was still a place for writers (this was before the big ChatGPT kerfuffle). The next time I slipped into despair over my financial life, I contacted a writer friend and asked for an hour of her time. That call gave much-needed scaffolding to my activities at Goonhammer. I began work as a freelance writer a few weeks later. I was a writer and my first ever portfolio items were Goonhammer Armada articles. I ought to be blacklisted for that, but editors actually took me on.
I credit Star Wars: Armada and the fine fools on this site with starting my career. I was a confused girl and everything was scary. Things are still kinda scary but I’m doing work that I’m profoundly passionate for. I’m not three-Super-Star-Destroyers rich, but my work-play balance is pretty great. Yes, a lot of this is due to the efforts of the people around me and my own work. But it started with a spaceship game.
Last year, I commemorated this stage of my life with a tattoo of my favorite ship, the Gladiator-class Star Destroyer. I don’t regret it one iota.
Onwards
“Star Wars Armada is dead,” was a common quote in our fanbase during the AMG years. Whenever I heard it, I never saw it as absolute truth. However, I didn’t cleave to optimism so strongly that I thought we’d ever challenge Games Workshop like we did in the mid-2010s.
By the time I started writing Armada for this site, the game was already on life support. Armada, X-Wing, and Legion had been shunted to AMG. It was clear that the studio had limited resources and favorite properties. Crisis Protocol and the later Shatterpoint had their hearts. Legion receives regular and substantial updates from all corners of the Star Wars universe. X-Wing kept receiving products and rules changes (albeit not always well-received). Armada was the neglected property of the lot.
During this obnoxious development hold, Armada was kept alive by the enthusiasm and care of its players. Reddit and Discord communities nurtured new players, set up narrative events, and homebrewed content in the absence of news from Sector Command. The community cultivated a thriving (albeit disunited) 3D print and homebrew movement for a game that was near-death.
Is a passionate core of homebrewers and discussion groups the same as official, global support? No. Not even close. But it evokes the spirit of Battlefleet: Gothic players who have kept their game alive long after it was discontinued. Despite its age, BF:G has seen a spike in popularity with improved access to 3D printing and unofficial e-commerce. And we Armada fans look set to share that questionable honor of beloved-fleet-games-kept-alive-by-sheer-willpower.
What I’m saying is that Armada isn’t dead until we let go for the last time. Development has ceased, but if I look at the miserable state of development since 2020, that changes little. If anything, we have less to grieve for than X-Wing players who were jerked around by questionable rules and bumpy support before being Kristi Noemed behind Docking Bay D-94.
In an unfortunate way, AMG’s dreadful handling of the property actually left us better-prepared. Four years of development drought was sufficient time for players and small businesses to fill the void with excellent 3D prints, narrative campaigns, and balance fixes. The discontinuation of Armada’s development merely confirms a lifestyle we’re already accustomed to.
The future of Armada is tense, to put it mildly. I have thoughts on where it may go.
Tournaments Without Borders
AMG has stated their willingness to continue organized play support for Armada and X-Wing. This consolation prize raises practical questions about how you can maintain a tournament scene without product releases or restocks. I don’t doubt for a moment that a core of wonderful players will keep participating in organized play. It’ll just be exceedingly difficult for new players to filter into the high level tables without ways to get new models.
Tournament play will also stagnate in the absence of development. No balance updates. No revised rules. No products. A vibrant meta is stoked by official support. The all-powerful stamp of Official Sanction is hotly accepted in competitive play. Even when the developers give something mind-bogglingly stupid their sanction.
Bring It Online
Without products to line shelves at FLGSs, we can expect public Armada games to wane. As with other ‘dead’ games like Warhammer Fantasy Battle and BF:G, the game will be kept alive in smaller clubs and homes by les grognards. Local groups will feature an old fart who is always happy to introduce new players to this great game. This character doesn’t talk much otherwise, but don’t get them started on the injustices wrought on their favorite game by its last publisher. And if you’re interested in playing a round with this person, they’ll be your friend forever.
I’m describing myself. The old fart is me. I’m 29.
Armada still has a thriving online community supported by Vassal and Tabletop Simulator. Online Armada tournaments have been a fixture for years and the entry barrier to digital play is much gentler. Online games are probably enough to satisfy the itch to find players and get a game. But it won’t satisfy people like me who enjoy wargaming for the presence of physical models. Social interaction can be nice too, I guess. But I’m here for the spaceships.
The Invisible Hand
Without product releases or restocks, we’re going to see a major shakeup in the physicality of Star Wars: Armada. It’s already happening.
Armada communities are (rightfully) frothing because the forces of supply and demand have turned the remaining stock into scalper-bait. Venators-class Star Destroyers are selling for upwards of $400 on EBay because they just became ultra limited edition. People waiting on restocks to bulk out collections or get one crucial expansion for their fleet have been formally left to dry by AMG’s announcement. It’s every captain for themselves and droids don’t get an escape pod.
This is probably the worst time to get into Armada. The playerbase is fractured and grieving. New stock is scattered and hard to come by. The scalpers are celebrating in ewok tree houses as the debris of our game splinters across the planet.
It’s probably the best time to get used Armada models, though. Expect grieving old-timers to sell off some very impressive collections on buy-and-sell groups in the coming months. Treat them well. They’ve been through so much. My collection is staying right where it is, but I completely understand the desire to offload it and look elsewhere.
3D print stores, Etsy, and aftermarket sellers though? Well, the discontinuation of a game is really very extra bad for small businesses based on selling aftermarket stuff to the game’s enthusiasts. But conversely, they’re about to become the only suppliers of new Armada kit. I’ve seen prominent figures in the community making headway with printers to produce new cards. The 3D modelers and 3D printers that kept Armada homebrew alive seem prepared to walk this future with us. I just hope it’ll be good enough, and that we’ll be there to support them.
A Player-Led Game of Fleet Combat
Our cherished game’s teething problems are well-known. Even when it was under development, Armada received few balance changes. It’s better balanced to start with than some competitors, but shortfalls in post-release support have left us in a dejected position very much like the Emperor’s Ten Thousand.
As ever, angry nerds on the internet were happy to fill that gap. Armada has always been buoyed by passionate voices who are ready to rebalance and ‘fix’ the game. They just disagree on the approach. These players aren’t just a passionate few anymore. They’re the game’s future.
My main worry about player-driven maintenance of discontinued games has always been disunity. Without the word-of-god style authority held by a publisher, players tend to splinter off into whatever changes they think is best for their context. This challenge of continuation has plagued much better-prepared publishers than AMG.
I applaud any attempt to establish player-driven continuation of a game, no matter how questionable the implementation. It’s laudable that they tried because it speaks to care and foresight when a publisher makes plans for the inevitable end of their game. After its development ended, Gwent implemented a player voting system for future changes that’ll last until the servers are shut down. Do I know how it went? No. But I’m glad they tried.
Armada, though? We got dropped on our asses. Not from a great height or anything, since support was so rudimentary anyway. But we didn’t get a plan or a kind goodbye. Which means it’s time for the remaining playerbase to decide whether to play the game as it was in its final state, or put our trust in a homebrew and aftermarket community to guide the future.
I for one will be taking a cautious middle route. I’m nowhere near printing out my own Lucrehulk-class Battleship, but I’m keeping an eye on Armada Legacy, a community-driven effort to rebalance the existing game and develop new content. Since AMG’s discontinuation, they’ve announced their intention to ramp up support efforts. A website, further revisions, and partnerships with small vendors are in the works. This is one of the better-organized and presented efforts at player continuation, but expect others to pop up as well. And when you see them, give them a nod and a try. Anything to get another game of Armada in, right?
Upwards
I know I framed this as an ‘obituary’, but it doesn’t have to be that tragic. Yes, I sat in my bed with a few favorite models and had a good cry. I traced the outline of my Gladiator-class Star Destroyer tattoo and reminisced about all the friendships and growth I found in this game. I’d be a fool and a liar if I said that the announcement didn’t hurt like hell.
However, our fanbase is well-adapted to a lifestyle of disappointment and dismay. There’s room to see the game’s discontinuation as a release. Our fanbase won’t have to suffer the indignity of playing sad oboe in this mismanaged orchestra of tabletop history any longer. We won’t have to tune into another publisher stream and watch Legion and Crisis Protocol get banger after banger while we get PDF expansions. We can stop wondering if active development will resume because we have the answer.
If you really want to see every stage of grieving (plus a few yet codified), try any X-Wing community right about now. For the fleet admirals among us? All I can do is thank people profusely.
I thank our steely bloggers and wonderful subreddit for being a welcoming space to new players.
I thank the 3D modelers and printers for bringing the quietest parts of Star Wars lore to life on our tabletops.
I thank prominent members of the community who have reached out to me after reading my nonsense to ask questions, offer insights, and connect in ways I didn’t think possible (you know who you are).
I thank the passionate developers who made a game that so perfectly conveyed the feel of. My childhood self would have lost her mind at this game. And as long as my collection exists, I can still play.
I thank my readers and editors for always sitting through these smashingly-long pieces of writing. I’m truly nothing without someone to indulge my love for spaceships.
I thank Goonhammer for treating a strange girl’s verbose email as worthy and giving me a chance. That chance became the job that supports my dear, disabled girlfriend.
This isn’t goodbye. It’s thank you for all the good times. I want to see what happens next and who I’m going to play against when the dust settles. I honestly can’t wait to see where it goes.
Because… look at us. We’re the captains now.
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