Noble armada: basic game size?
- Thread starter tneva82
- Start date
Depends how long you want to play for. With a bit of terrain you can do squadron sized battles (750 points) in about an hour/hour and a quarter.
The fleet boxes should take about an hour to play, and give you a variety of units (scouts, galliots, carrier + fighters/bombers, destroyers/frigates) to experiment with. If you want to expand those battles add a cruiser or another blister of destroyers to your game (which will put you at 1750-2000 with some upgrades).
Fleet box is a perfectly good starting point, and a cheap one. I've got three myself.
The fleet boxes should take about an hour to play, and give you a variety of units (scouts, galliots, carrier + fighters/bombers, destroyers/frigates) to experiment with. If you want to expand those battles add a cruiser or another blister of destroyers to your game (which will put you at 1750-2000 with some upgrades).
Fleet box is a perfectly good starting point, and a cheap one. I've got three myself.
About 1000 to 1500 points, I'd say.
If you want a point-of-reference, a destroyer-class ship is a raid level. Cruisers are battle, as are carriers once you've stuffed them with attack craft (they're raid when empty*).
Destroyers work out at about 200 points a pop if you throw in the odd light escort ship, troop upgrade, or occultist to fill out the points, so five of them; 1000 points.
The game is easier to play at slightly larger levels, though; less bookwork as you get critical levels rather than masses of seperate criticals, and there isn't the (largely redundant) crew stat to track. So going up to 1500 points isn't much more work, and allows you to put in a cruiser or something to be a centrepiece.
* Except for the Hazat and Hawkwood monstrosities which aren't carriers so much as warships with a flight deck.
If you want a point-of-reference, a destroyer-class ship is a raid level. Cruisers are battle, as are carriers once you've stuffed them with attack craft (they're raid when empty*).
Destroyers work out at about 200 points a pop if you throw in the odd light escort ship, troop upgrade, or occultist to fill out the points, so five of them; 1000 points.
The game is easier to play at slightly larger levels, though; less bookwork as you get critical levels rather than masses of seperate criticals, and there isn't the (largely redundant) crew stat to track. So going up to 1500 points isn't much more work, and allows you to put in a cruiser or something to be a centrepiece.
* Except for the Hazat and Hawkwood monstrosities which aren't carriers so much as warships with a flight deck.
Okay dokay.
One fleet I'm definetely getting is decatos(love the models. Especially dreadnought which makes me go "drool"). What would be nice 2nd fleet? Something that has as different playing style to Decatos as possible preferably! Been trying to figure out playing styles but help from more experienced players would be nice.
ATM depating over between Li Halan and Al-Malik.
One fleet I'm definetely getting is decatos(love the models. Especially dreadnought which makes me go "drool"). What would be nice 2nd fleet? Something that has as different playing style to Decatos as possible preferably! Been trying to figure out playing styles but help from more experienced players would be nice.
ATM depating over between Li Halan and Al-Malik.
li-halan definately different as a stand off fleet with decados being brawlers.
Al Malik are ok at smaller size games but as soon as the opponent starts bringing hull 5 ships they dont have a chance so wouldnt use them unless you want to beat up on someone all the time.
Al Malik are ok at smaller size games but as soon as the opponent starts bringing hull 5 ships they dont have a chance so wouldnt use them unless you want to beat up on someone all the time.
Greg Smith
Mongoose
All of the noble house fleets tend to be quite similar in play style - often standing off at range and using broadsides. Variations in style can be achieved by using different fleet make-ups with carriers or galliots.
More varied fleets will be coming in the Fleets supplement.
More varied fleets will be coming in the Fleets supplement.
Greg Smith said:
Down our way, Hazat plays nothing like al Malik
Greg Smith
Mongoose
All the games I played at the first tourney seemed to be mostly broadside and shoot.
That said, a good amount of terrain can disrupt that.
That said, a good amount of terrain can disrupt that.
All the fleets have differences in playstyle but they're more subtle. One thing to note with the two you're suggesting is that both want to stay the hell away from Decados - house Decados isn't quite as in-your-face as Hazat, or the Vuldrok, but they definitely loose out on an extended range scrap to the two listed. Up closer, where blasters and slug guns are king, their enemies are so much scrap metal waiting to happen.
Li Halan tend to have the edge in range but a lack of manouvrability (although not speed) - this means line astern firing broadsides, concentrate on the biggest target you can reach and try to cripple it with precise laser fire. Keeping the range open is vital, not least because enemy boarding parties are a threat - you have a lack of boarding troops and no dreadnought-class ship able to flail in every direction with multiple heavy turrets - and your cruiser and grand cruiser both have a pulse gun turret which is a lot weaker than the corresponding enemy's heavy blaster or torpedo turrets. They have some of the scariest laser broadsides going at destroyer level, though; one or two Maximum Firepower! bursts will clear even capital ship shields and then follow up with the rest of the fleet and watch the critical hits roll in.
Al Malik also play very differently. They also want to keep the range open. Yes, the stealthship offers some bizzare ninja options when closing but the rest of the fleet is ill-suited to support it. They can take out heavy capital ships, but they need to plan for them; the scout trait is a must - either bring explorers or else a psychic - because redirected fire turns rockets from an unpredictable annoyance to a real threat. I'd recommend concentrating at the smaller end of the market - frigates and destroyers - because you can fight in a very 'loose' fashion - you can fling odd volleys at any target and know the shields aren't an issue, and attacking from multiple angles makes it a lot easier to avoid gatling laser fire. One of the nice things about Al Malik is that even their explorer class can potentially hurt an enemy dreadnought. Not much, admittedly, but a weapons or engines critical at the right moment can swing a battle. If they have one secret weapon that supports this tactic, it's their fighters and bombers. The Mumit torpedo-bomber is agile enough to avoid gatling laser arcs and those things pack a filthy amount of ordnance.
Greg Smith
Mongoose
There are downlaodable previews in the Fleets page on the main site: http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/miniatures/noble-armada/rulebooks/fleets-of-the-fading-suns.html
and the Vuldrock boxed set page: http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/miniatures/noble-armada/vuldrok-star-nation/vuldrok-fleet-box-set.html
and the Vuldrock boxed set page: http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/miniatures/noble-armada/vuldrok-star-nation/vuldrok-fleet-box-set.html
Greg Smith said:
To be fair, for at least half the people attending that tournament, it was their first or third game ever
We are running a campaign at the club at the moment, and the differences between the fleets have become highly marked (or, at least, they would if my Hazat fleet did not comprise 50% ships from other fleets ).well broadsides are the main weapons unless trying to board which is what matt is doing I guess. not much in the way of forward weapons so if you do want to just shoot, broadside and shoot it is. which creates problems for the shorter range shooty fleets playing li-halan as they have to close 1st firing next to nothing (just turrets) against li-halan broadsides before you can turn side on ad broadside them.
Ah bummer. I got sold to the game 
Decados + vuldrok fleet boxes + decados stealth fighters for fun. Couldn't afford more(no pretty dreadnought for decados yet :-< Have to wait before I can afford one for both!) for now but it's a start.
Pity about the high postage prices :-< Wish maelstrom would deal with these. Free shippings ahoy! Could have afforded that dreadnought with the price of shipping...Grumble grumble.
(atleast managed to avoid mistakenly ordering another set of decados fleet boxes + al malik fleet box. I had forgot I had added them to cart earlier and they hadn't dissapeared. Wondered for a moment why shipping was 25£ when last time I checked for 2 fleet boxes it was 11£...First thought was that stealth ships added ridiculous amount of shipping prices!)
Decados + vuldrok fleet boxes + decados stealth fighters for fun. Couldn't afford more(no pretty dreadnought for decados yet :-< Have to wait before I can afford one for both!) for now but it's a start.Pity about the high postage prices :-< Wish maelstrom would deal with these. Free shippings ahoy! Could have afforded that dreadnought with the price of shipping...Grumble grumble.
(atleast managed to avoid mistakenly ordering another set of decados fleet boxes + al malik fleet box. I had forgot I had added them to cart earlier and they hadn't dissapeared. Wondered for a moment why shipping was 25£ when last time I checked for 2 fleet boxes it was 11£...First thought was that stealth ships added ridiculous amount of shipping prices!)
katadder said:
Got a nice shiney new Li Halan cruiser in my Hazat fleet that says otherwise
Seriously though, there is no reason not to try to board in NA (unless you are cowardly, feckless Li Halan...). Pull it off, and you can swing the whole game your way - not only do you get double VPs, but you'll find you have more firepower too. Add to that a small ship is perfectly capable of boarding and taking a larger vessel (if you get the right match up), and it is worth risks!
the differences between the fleets have become highly marked (or, at least, they would if my Hazat fleet did not comprise 50% ships from other fleets
I thought that was the difference with Hazat fleets?
It certainly tends to be with the Kurgan Grimson-o-rama. I kind of see the Sheerkhur as an investment opportunity, like a fixed-rate bond. Buy two now, and in two game's time you can replace them with a dreadnought... :mrgreen:
Li Halan broadsides are scary but their range advantage is only really about 6-12" - or to translate, one turn of movement with a 'crossing the T' type affair. Yes, they can try and manouvre to hold the range open, but if they do they tend to discover that whilst their broadside armament is awesome, their turrets tend to suck.
The key thing is that one turn of fire is painful but not lethal. Accept you'll take damage and deal with it.
The biggest risk with boarding is your own ships - empty a ship of your own troops and it invites counter-boarding by another ship, but don't send enough and they'll be outnumbered. Of course, that's rarely a problem for Hazat or Vuldrok ships (which are laden with them), Kurgan (whos ships are slightly cheaper), or dedicated boarding ships like galliots.
It's one of those cases where the (fairly cheap) ship upgrades like psychics and elite crews can make a real difference.
