Firestorm Armada – Setup

Firestorm Armada is typically played on a four foot by four foot area. Black felt purchased at a fabric store is inexpensive and looks good. Having it painted up to look like a Hubble Telescope picture is better. You could also have one of the Hubble shots made into a poster too if you wanted as they are freely available from the NASA website.

Each player then agrees on the number of points that they will play with and if they are playing a scenario. Typical small battles are done with 500 points. All of the Firestorm Armada fleet boxes (one battleship, three cruisers and 6 frigates) are 490 to 500 points, so if each player has one then you can be guaranteed an evenly matched game. The following sequence for setup will be done as if no scenario is being used. In the first softcover rulebook, there were scenarios but the new hardback edition does not, as it was saved for the new campaign guide.

Then the terrain is established. Terrain can be planets, asteroid field, nebula or gravity well. You can separate the playing field into four, two foot by two foot areas and take turns placing one terrain piece in that area or roll on a chart on page 26 (all page numbers are based on the new hardback rulebook pictured above).

Then deployment occurs. Each player rolls 2d6 and adds their fleet tactic bonus. The side that gets the highest chooses any edge and places a squadron within eight inches of that edge. The opposing player must place a squadron on the opposite edge within eight inches of it. Players may reserve up to half of their squadrons in order to shunt them in. At each end phase of any turn, players may choose to roll for shunting and deploy their squadron up to halfway into the board from their edge. There is a catch however and the ships may be delayed, out of the rest of the combat or destroyed! If both players wish to bring in squadrons from a shunt then the player that won initiative for that turn decides to roll for all squadrons they wish to bring on first or second.

The definition of a squadron depends on the size of the ship. Massive ships are models with two peg bases and are squadrons of one (dreadnaughts). Larger ones are also squadrons of one (battleships, carriers). Medium size ships are in squadrons of two to four ships (cruisers, gunships, destroyers). Small ships are in squadrons of one to six (frigates, escorts).

Victory is determined at the end of the game. Games can be a fixed number of turns or variable, where at the end of the agreed turns a die is rolled and that determines the end or not. Typical games are played for 5-7 turns, depending upon size of fleets. Victory conditions are known before the first turn commences. A die is rolled on a chart to determine which of six orders your fleet has, ranging from destroying enemy large and massive ships to conducting a successful boarding assault on the enemy command ship. Players may always opt to the basic “destroy at least 70% of the value of the opponents fleet value”. If at the end of the game one person achieved their order and the other did not then that player won. If not then it is based on the points value destroyed/captured/damaged.

That's setup. Next is stat cards.