- contact@scarhandpainting.com
Ahoy Sailors! As you know I am most and foremost a passionate hobbyist. That being said I am also a pirate, a scoundrel and a fanatical enthusiast of Mantic Games Kings of War: Armada – a naval strategy game set in a rich world of Pannithor, pitting multiple wonderfully crafted and strongly themed factions against one another. In this article I present to you a new, fan made, “Creeping Death” Scenario.
Armada Scenario: Creeping Death
An unnatural fog starts to creep into the sea. Two fleets caught mid-battle must now face a chilling touch of an enemy they cannot fight against!
Setup
Each player’s deployment zones are two 16″x16″ triangles at the opposite sides of the board.
Both players deploy their fleets one ship at a time, as usual, except no player can place two ships in the same deployment zone one after the other.
Roll a D6, on a 1-3, the Wind starts from the West, on a 4-6, it starts from the East.
Victory Conditions
The game lasts 6 turns.
Players score VP at the end of the game, as follows:
● 1VP for each destroyed enemy ship up to a maximum of 4VP.
● 2VP if the most expensive enemy ship (‘Capital Ship’) is destroyed.
● 2VP if more than half (rounding up) of the enemy ships are destroyed.
The Player with the most VPs is the winner.
Scenario Rules
At the end of each turn, the deadly unnatural fog creeps further onto the board. Any ship caught in the fog is immediately hit* and suffers a Critical Hit (Critical Hit Table p.26 Rulebook). Any Tiny and/or Surrendered Ships that are caught in the fog are immediately destroyed instead.
*Ships can freely start and end their Activations in the unnatural fog. The hits occur at the end of turn only.The deadly fog creeps from the outside of the gaming board as follows:
● First Turn: 3” from the board edges.
● Second Turn: 6” from the board edges.
● Third Turn: 9” from the board edges.
● Fourth Turn: 12” from the board edges.
● Fifth Turn: Players roll a D6. On 4+ the fog progresses another 3″ from the board edges and towards the middle.
● Sixth Turn: Players roll a D6. On 4+ the fog progresses another 3″ from the board edges and towards the middle.
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional Warhammer miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Ahoy Sailors! As you know I am most and foremost a passionate hobbyist. That being said I am also a pirate, a scoundrel and a fanatical enthusiast of Mantic Games Kings of War: Armada – a naval strategy game set in a rich world of Pannithor, pitting multiple wonderfully crafted and strongly themed factions against one another. In this article I present to you a new, fan made, “Hellish Trident” Scenario.
Armada Scenario: Hellish Trident
Three Islands in this area are believed to be the cursed tips of a Hellish Trident. Every now and then the Islands resonate creating waves of vast magnitude, dealing massive damage to nearby ships. Most fleets avoid the area, but on this very day the orders were given to gain control of this cursed place…
Setup
In addition to any terrain, players place three small Islands, representing the tips of the Hellish Trident, on the table in the following configuration:
● 1 Objective Marker in the center of the table.
● 1 Objective Marker, 8” from the left side and 8” from the top side of the board.
● 1 Objective Marker, 8” from the right side and 8” from the bottom side of the board.
Each player’s deployment zones are 24″x24″ triangles at the opposite sides of the board.
Roll a D6, on a 1-3, the Wind starts from the West, on a 4-6, it starts from the East.
Victory Conditions
The game lasts 6 turns.
Each player scores VP at the end of the turn, as follows:
● 1VP for the player who controls more Islands.
Additionally, at the end of the game players score VP as follows:
● 2VP for the player who controls more Islands.
The player with the most VPs at the end of the game is the winner.
Scenario Rules
From the second turn onwards, one Island will start to Resonate. Any ship that ends its Activation within/partially within 8” from the Resonating Island must pass a Skill Test. If the test fails the ship will suffer D6 Damage. If the Skill Test fails on a natural roll of “1” the ship will suffer an additional Critical Hit (Critical Hit Table p.26 Rulebook).
During the last game Turn all Skill Tests made by ships within 8″ from the Resonating Islands suffer a -1 modifier and each Damage Roll suffered as a result of Resonating Islands are automatic Critical Hits (Critical Hit Table p.26 Rulebook).
● Second Turn: Players roll-off, the winner selects the Island to resonate this turn.
● Third Turn: The opposing player selects a different Island to resonate this turn.
● Fourth Turn: The last Island is the one to resonate this turn.
● Fifth Turn: No Islands resonate this turn.
● Sixth Turn: All Islands resonate this turn.
Each player scores VP at the end of the turn, as follows:
● 1VP for the player who controls more Islands.
Additionally, at the end of the game players score VP as follows:
● 2VP for the player who controls more Islands.
The player with the most VPs at the end of the game is the winner.
Controlling Islands
Tally up the CS of non Surrendered friendly ships within 6″ from an Island for both players. The side with greater CS within the area Controls the Island. The majority of the ship’s base must be within the area to count towards the tally.
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional Warhammer miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Ahoy Sailors! As you know I am most and foremost a passionate hobbyist. That being said I am also a pirate, a scoundrel and a fanatical enthusiast of Mantic Games Kings of War: Armada – a naval strategy game set in a rich world of Pannithor, pitting multiple wonderfully crafted and strongly themed factions against one another. In this article I present to you a new, fan made, “Marked for Death” Scenario.
Armada Scenario: Marked for Death
An opposing fleet was spotted on the horizon. Soon the orders got relayed to mark priority targets for the immediate destruction. Unbeknown to the fleets captains the enemy prepared plans of their own…
Setup
Each player’s deployment zone is 6” deep and 12” from each table edge.
Roll a D6, on a 1-3, the Wind starts from the West, on a 4-6, it starts from the East.
Victory Conditions
The game lasts 6 turns.
Players score VP at the end of the game, as follows:
● 1VP for each enemy Marked for Death ship destroyed.
● 1VP for each enemy Marked for Protection ship destroyed.
● 1VP for each friendly not Surrendered Marked for Protectionship in the enemy half of the table.
● An additional 2VP for the player who destroyed more Marked for Death enemy ships.
The Player with the most VPs is the winner.
Scenario Rules
Before Deployment each player writes down in secret two of their own ships of size M or larger. These ships are now “Marked for Protection”. Next, players write down in secret two enemy ships of size M or larger. These ships are now “Marked for Death”. If there is only one ship of the appropriate size in a fleet, it is Marked automatically by both players and counts as two ships for the purpose of Scoring.
At the start of each of the first four turns, both players reveal one of the Marked ships simultaneously, as follows:
● First Turn: Reveal one enemy Marked for Death ship.
● Second Turn: Reveal one friendly Marked for Protection ship.
● Third Turn: Reveal second enemy Marked for Death ship.
● Fourth Turn: Reveal second friendly Marked for Protection ship.
The Marked ship can already be destroyed when revealed. The same ship can be Marked for Death and Marked for Protection at the same time.
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional Warhammer miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
To those of you who follow my work it will be of no surprise that I am a huge Armada enthusiast. The game by Mantic Games hooked me up since day one. My personal collection consists of eight fleets of varying sizes and multiple dedicated scenery sets. I went deep and beyond, dedicating a part of my hobby blog exclusively to Armada, not to mention a huge part of my life.
Regardless of multiple fleets I have been playing the Salamanders fleet almost exclusively for the past few years. This is because I really like their playstyle, but also due to the simple color scheme and a fast painting methodology that allows me to add more ships ASAP whenever I decide to test out some borderline insane lists. One might even say that in the end comfort and speed of painting won with all the other, much fancier fleets.
But my only true miniature love of all time was always the Undead. We’re talking since the early 90s. I have been collecting skeletons and wrights, vampires, mummies and zombies of all kinds in a variety of miniatures games. The time finally came for Armada to get spiced with some bones if you catch my drift.
As it happens I am a part of the Mantic Games Rules Committee and participate in the design process of the new fleets that come to the game. When an opportunity to write the Undead fleet rules presented itself I called dibs! I was given a guideline of what types of ships I was to focus on, created a draft, then playtested the ruleset extensively before presenting it to Mantic Games for further testing and eventual approval. All that to say I had the opportunity to write the rules for my favorite faction in my favorite miniatures game…
…but the rules are just half of a fleet. The models are a different story. Although Armada has a set of beautiful STL files for every existing faction available through Mantic Vault (including the Undead), there’s nothing stopping players from outsourcing models. More so, I do believe that the game is somewhat miniatures agnostic – it is the base size that represents a ship class and it is easy to track what’s what as long as players know what faction is being played.
With that in mind and being a creative dude, I wanted to really flesh out the Undead that I feel. A mix of old Warhammer with Heroes of Might & Magic 3, more bones, more gothic afts, more spikes and tattered sais… but also something disturbing and strange about the fleet I had in mind.
In the end I digitally kitbashed my own fleet with official Mantic’s files of the Twilight Kin (hulls) and Forces of the Abyss (sails, flames, bones), adding a few extras (tombstones, piles of bodies, etc.). It was all done in Meshmixer, which I learned from scratch as I went. The end result is clunky, but has some charm to it.
At that point I had a fleet of Undead ships built in advance to the possible maximum and over the top. For those who don’t know – Armada is a game of usually between five to nine ships with some borderline examples of over a dozen. Still, with multiple fleets and a multitude of list archetypes there’s ways to lean into a particular ship class or playstyle, thus covering some extremes. I’ve covered this particular topic in Armada Expanding Collection Guide for those interested, but for now, allow me to state that with the Undead I aimed at truely embracing the fleet with all of its possible configurations.
And it broke me! Because of the sheer number of ships, the magnitude of the project somehow turned it from a ‘hobby boner’ into a downer. I laid the undercoat, then shelved the project for a later date. It was June 2025 and the moment of inspiration did not come in 2025. I just continued to play the Salamanders as usual…
That is until Saturday 17th of January 2026! New year, a lot of commissions completed ahead of time (I’m already working on stuff planned for the end of May), a lot of gaming spread across the month… an Armada event hit! “Black Waters 16” is a cyclic local event I organize. This one was a blast. We had a full house with players from across Poland driving in to attend. I had a great time and as usual the event energized me for everything Armada. I managed to focus this power of hype into painting a shelved project – the Undead got onto my desk the day after!
In the end it took me about 16 hours of intense painting, spread across Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. After over half a year of waiting the Undead Fleet is now completed and I cannot wait to take it to the sea and play my very first game! (other than the beta testing).
More pictures and close-ups for every ship class at: UNDEAD FLEET GALLERY
Lemme know what you think of the ship designs, how they feel and how you like the color scheme for these bony puppies!
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. If, by any chance, you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Have you ever wondered how much Armada is too much Armada? Personally I used to go about my hobby life without a care in the world, collecting Armada fleets one after another. Just when I thought I was the one at the very pinnacle of Armada excitement I met Krzysztof – probably the most Armada hyped person in the entire world (Including the fine folks at Mantic Games)!
Today I present to you an interview (translated from Polish) with Krzysztof Grosiak, a passionate hobbyist, miniatures collector, successful gamer and most importantly – acclaimed Armada Admiral.
Scarhandpainting: Krzysztof, we have known each other for some time now and I was there when you set sail onboard an Armada ship for the very first time. Now, a few years later, you have won more than a few tournament trophies and are in possession of an impressive Armada collection. It is pure joy to witness first hand how you grew as an Armada fan, but I have always wandered how you got into Wargaming?
Krzysztof: A few years back I accidentally stumbled onto a Deadzone review. I was a big fan of board games at a time with zero knowledge of wargames. The game made a big impression on me so I got it only to be shocked, realizing the miniatures must first be built by hand! It proved to be challenging but also a very rewarding experience.
Scarhandpainting: Why Armada? What was the trigger that got you into this particular game?
Krzysztof: I played a lot of Deadzone events at a hobby store run by a good friend of mine. At one point he was running an Armada demo game and the game’s simple but rewarding mechanics and amazing visuals hooked me up instantly.
Scarhandpainting: Any other miniatures wargames you’re into?
Krzysztof: These days I play a wide range of games, including Deadzone, Kings of War, Firefight, One Page Rules and Frostgrave. I am a man of many wargaming passions.
Scarhandpainting: Back to Armada, you have over a hundred fully painted ships in your current collection. Many might wander if it was difficult to paint such quantities and how did you manage to keep your motivation up?
Krzysztof: I believe there’s actually close to two hundred ships in my current collection. Painting such quantities is tedious, but I don’t want to find myself unable to field a certain combo or archetype because of a lack of a few painted ships. I’d rather put the work in beforehand. And I never play with unpainted miniatures, so one just leads to another.
Scarhandpainting: It’s definitely easier to count the fleets you are missing rather than the ones you own already. What fleets are still left to go for?
Krzysztof: I am still missing the Kingdom of Men and the Salamander, although both are already printed. You play the Salamanders so I was reluctant to jump onboard, but now when it’s one of the only two fleets left I am that much closer to sitting down and getting them done – probably soon.
Scarhandpainting: Speaking about the fleets – you are a jack of all trades when it comes to tactics. What is your collecting strategy for particular fleets though?
Krzysztof: I do my best to optimize the collection towards all available archetypes within up to 300 points. I bounce between elite and spamy lists (often gravitating towards the latter) and I’d hate to be locked in a particular list due to lack of sufficient ships in my collection. I love to test things on the board, finding interesting combos and the borderline configurations. If I break the game at any point – you’re there to patch it up before the next event.
Scarhandpainting: Let’s talk about the Armada gameplay and especially the ‘competitive play’. You are a successful and undisputed Armada champion here in Poland. How does your typical tournament prep routine look like? Do you test your lists concepts beforehand?
Krzysztof: I tend to follow my guts. I like to surprise my friends with something new and exciting and I hate boredom. I never bring the same fleet two times in a row. Testing ideas is a mixed bag. Sometimes I have a few games before events, other times I don’t. One thing I try not to do is drink (alcohol) the day before. The previous experiences showed me it is not worth it.
Scarhandpainting: You’ve successfully played so many fleets. Is there a particular fleet that you might consider your favorite?
Krzysztof: I do like Elves. Fragile, but fast and nimble. I love to spam the $t of them and see my opponents fleets squirm before the Elven might. Seven Elven ships throwing themselves at an Orc Ripper Hulk? Easy! One mistake and a ship is gone. I love this. Fast & Furious!
Scarhandpainting: Speaking of which, is there a particular fleet you don’t like to face against?
Krzysztof: Not really. Each fleet offers a different experience and I gladly take on any challenge.
Scarhandpainting: How about our local Armada scene? What cen you say about Polish community, our events and how we play Armada, compared to the rest of the world?
Krzysztof: It’s difficult to compare our scene to different countries without gaming there beforehand. Judging by the online activity I feel like our scene is more aware of the rules exploits. Fortunately we are very friendly and welcoming. Whenever one of us finds a way to legally abuse the rules, we keep it lighthearted and find a way to (home rule) patch any exploits and ‘feels bad’ mechanics in a timely manner. It feels like we’ve been playing ‘Armada 2.0’ for some time now.
Scarhandpainting: Trying to gaze into Armada’s future, are there any specific fleets or rules you’;’d like to see added to the core game?
Krzysztof: Maybe a balancing sweep across the board? Things like Ocarina of Korgaan, Jyinn Grethunder are brutally good for the points cost. On the other hand there are a lot of useless items that could use some balancing love. Other than that, more interesting stuff is always good, just keep it balanced. The latest fleets seem on point, keep up the great work Mantic!
Scarhandpainting: Thanks for the interview my dude. Before we wrap things up, is there anything you would like to tell/ask Mantic Games? Who knows? They might read the article at some point.
Krzysztof: Bear with me Mantic Games – Deadzone style game but in the Kings of War setting. Tiny Armada ships board game on a hexagonal board. This is something I would throw my cash at instantly!
Here it is – a little peek inside the head of an Armada maniac 🙂 I hope you enjoyed this short interview. If you have anything to ask Krzysztof, or just want to comment on some of the stuff – I invite you to leave a comment below and I will be sure to let Krzysztof know.
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. If, by any chance, you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Welcome to Painting Twilight Kin Impaler tutorial. Here I will present to you a Step-by-step of an easy and fast painting process for this Armada ship as presented at the Gallery: Armada Twilight Kin.
This article is my second attempt at a painting tutorial uploaded in video format. You will find it at my YouTube channel and embedded below.
List of colors:
Vallejo Tinny Tin 72.060
Vallejo Hammered Copper 72.059
Vallejo Chainmail 72.053
Vallejo Silver 72.052
Vallejo Midnight Purple 72.116
Vallejo Midnight Purple Air 76.116
Vallejo Alien Purple Air 76.076
Vallejo Panzer Dark Grey Air 71.066
Vallejo Barbarian Skin 72.071
Vallejo Ghost Green Air 76.121
Vallejo Bile Green Air 76.122
Vallejo Off White 72.101
The Army Painter Strong Tone
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Here are some Colour Recipes for Kings of War: Armada Empire of Dust from Gallery: Armada Twilight Kin. Please take note that this is a simple colour scheme, not covering multiple overlapping layers and blends in between, that lead to the final product. It is supposed to be used as guideline not a step-by-step.
‘BROWN’ hulls:
Tinny Tin (Vallejo), *
Hammered Copper (Vallejo), flbr
Silver (Vallejo), flbr
-Strong Tone (The Army Painter), *strong
-Strong Tone (The Army Painter), *soft & dry
–Vallejo Poliurethane Matt Varnish, *
PURPLE sails:
Mix Midnight Purple (Vallejo air) 1:1 Midnight Purple (Vallejo), *
-Strong Tone (The Army Painter), *strong
-Strong Tone (The Army Painter), *soft & dry
Mix Midnight Purple (Vallejo air) 5:1 Alien Purple (Vallejo Air), *
Mix Midnight Purple (Vallejo air) 3:1 Alien Purple (Vallejo Air), *
Alien Purple (Vallejo Air), * soft zenithal highlight
–Vallejo Poliurethane Matt Varnish, *
GREEN osl:
Duck Egg Green (Vallejo Air), *
Pallid Wych Flesh (Games Workshop), flbr
Light Livery Green (Vallejo Air), *
Off White (Vallejo), l&p
Light Livery Green (Vallejo Air), bl
–Vallejo Poliurethane Matt Varnish, *
BASES:
Mix Ghost Green (Vallejo) 1:1 Ghost Green (Vallejo a),
Mix Ghost Green (Vallejo) 1:1 Ghost Green (Vallejo a),
Green Stuff World Splash Gel Water Effect Light Green Water,
AK Interactive Atlantic Blue Texture,
AK Interactive Pacific Blue Texture,
AK Interactive Water Foam Texture,
l&p – lines and points,
p – points,
bl – blend,
gl – glaze,
drbr – drybrush,
flbr – flatbrush,
stpl – stippling,
*Airbrushed (with multiple layers and mixes)
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Ahoy Sailors! As you know I am most and foremost a passionate hobbyist. That being said I am also a pirate, a scoundrel and a fanatical enthusiast of Mantic Games Kings of War: Armada – a naval strategy game set in a rich world of Pannithor, pitting multiple wonderfully crafted and strongly themed factions against one another. Today I’m here to share some of my maritime experience.
In my opinion the Armada is as balanced and close to being perfect as a miniatures game can be. That being said, there’s always room for improvement. In my opinion it lies within the responsibility of the local game animators to adjust any game to better suit their community. On top of being a member of the Mantic Rules Committee for Armada, I have been running successful Armada Events for years now. Being so invested in the game I am constantly at the hobby frontlines, talking game balance with players, resolving rules issues and more. This led me to pinpoint a few neuralgic areas that might unintentionally lead to a slightly worse game experience. Below is an Unofficial Errata, very well received by my community, that I am using at local events. Some of these might or might not find their way to the official Mantic Games errata, nothing is certain. For now you are welcome to use these rules changes in your local games of Armada.
Throughout my personal Armada experience the Collisions is the part of the rules that both my community and the players online seem to have the most problems with. Resolving Evade/Collision related movement might at times be unintuitive and when abused, by more experienced players, allow to set enemy ships on a Collision course on purpose (As described in the Collisions Baiting article). Because of that I tidied up the ruleset to resolve most issues:
Collisions – Evading (p20RB): Replace the second paragraph with the following:
However, if the ship doesn’t have the Movement value to clear the other ship in the current Move Step, it must instead stop just short (a few mm) of actual contact with the other ship. The Activating ship must now turn the smallest amount possible, and enough to just clear the other ship and any other obstacles with the remaining movement value in its current Move Step, even if this means turning further than would normally be allowed and through the bases of the other ship and the obstacles themselves. It can then continue the rest of its Activation as normal.
In a rare scenario when it is clear that no amount of turning will see the active ship clear of the other ship and all potential obstacles, the initial Collision cannot be Evaded.
Collisions – Colliding (p20RB): Replace the fifth paragraph with the following:
The Activating ship must now turn the smallest amount possible, and enough to just clear the other ship with its next Move Step, even if this means turning through the base of the other ship. The activating ship does not continue any further movement for this Move Step.
In case the turn to clear the other ship is blocked by any obstacles from both sides, do not turn the active ship and set its Speed to Anchored instead.
Examples:
Example A – Current Ruleset:
Active ship X passed a test to Evade and stopped short right before the other ship. It then turned left, the shortest possible* route to clear the other ship.
*Following “Ships cannot normally move or turn through other ships or
terrain (see Collisions on page 20).” from page 16 of the Rulebook.
Same result if the test to Evade was failed.
Example A – U.Errata:
Active ship X passed a test to Evade and stopped short right before the other ship. It then turned RIGHT, the shortest possible route and through the other ship to clear it.
Same result if the test to Evade was failed.
Example B – Current Ruleset:
Active ship X passed a test to Evade and stopped short right before the other ship. It then turned right, the shortest possible* route to clear the other ship. There is another ship in the way. What happens? Another test to Evade? If passed, is the Active ship bumped back to the previous course, the shortest possible route to clear the second ship?
*Following “Ships cannot normally move or turn through other ships or
terrain (see Collisions on page 20).” from page 16 of the Rulebook.
Same question if the test to Evade was failed.
Example B – U.Errata:
Active ship X passed a test to Evade and stopped short right before the other ship. It then turned LEFT, the shortest possible route and through the other ship to clear it and any surrounding obstacles.
Same result if the test to Evade failed.
Example C – Current Ruleset:
Active ship X passed a test to Evade and stopped short right before the other ship. It can barely turn left and right as both sides are blocked by other ships. How should this be resolved in accordance to the rules?
Same question if the test to Evade failed.
Example C – U.Errata:
Same as B after the change.
If the test to Evade was failed, after a Collision the activating ship is left in place and its speed set to Anchored.
Example D – Current Ruleset:
Active ship X passed a test to Evade and stopped short right before the other ship. It then turned right, the shortest possible route to clear the other ship. There is a Sandbank in the way. What happens? Another test to Evade? If failed, does the ship roll to Cross the Sandbank?
Same question if the test to Evade failed.
Example D – U.Errata:
Same as B after the change.
Same result if the test to Evade was failed.
Example E – Current Ruleset:
Active ship X passed a test to Evade and stopped short right before the other ship. It can then turn either right or left, the shortest possible route to clear the other ship. One side is blocked by another ship, the other by Rocks. What happens if the active ship turns into rocks? Would assume a Collision. If turned left to another ship, another Evade test then if passed bumped back?
Same question if the test to Evade failed.
Example E – U.Errata:
Same as B after the change, except due to same distance the active ship can choose direction.
If the test to Evade was failed, after a Collision the activating ship is left in place and its speed set to Anchored.
Example F – Current Ruleset:
Active ship X passed a test to Evade and stopped short right before the other ship. How to turn it to clear the other ship?
What if the test failed, a Collision ocured and the active ship must be turned to clear the other ship with any future Move steps? There’s no room to do that.
How to even resolve this?
Same question if the test to Evade failed.
Example F – U.Errata:
There is no way for the active ship to turn, ignoring the other ship and any obstacles to clear them. Test to Evade automatically fails. Collision occurs, after which due to all sides being blocked the active ship is left in place and its speed is set to Anchored.
Sometimes, because of multiple negative To-Hit modifiers, stacked on top of one another, it is impossible to hit a closest ship. The rulebook does not allow to ignore such targets, resulting in situations when Inexperienced and Regular crewed ships can be completely blocked from shooting at an entire enemy fleet, because of a single Small target in the way. With fleets such as the Twilight Kin and the Trident Realms introducing additional negative To-Hit modifiers it seems important to resolve the issue…
Gunnery Skills (p22RB): Ships with Inexperienced and Regular crews, must target the closest available enemy ship in each fire arc (that is at least Partially Visible – see opposite). If the closest enemy ship is a Squadron (Tiny), has Surrendered or is Grappled with a friendly ship, or requires a roll of “11” or more to-hit, it can be ignored however, and the next closest enemy targeted instead.
Veteran crews may target any enemy ship in range in each Fire Arc (that is at least Partially Visible) if they successfully pass a Skill Test (for each Fire Arc being used). If the test is failed, the closest enemy ship must be targeted as described above.
In order to level up the playing field for the Ghost Fleets I have added a small change to the Spectral Form rule. Previously the rule allowed for the enemy ships to move through the Ghost Fleet ships freely, all the while banning the Ghost ships themselves from doing so. Additionally it was too easy to set up a line of ships to sling shot enemy ships into Rocks or through the board’s edge (As described in Movement Slinghshoting article). Now neither Ghost Fleets nor any other fleet can set up a collision course on purpose, unless RAM (x), and both will have to pass a Skill Test to Evade before passing through one another.
Spectral Form: If a ship from this fleet Surrenders, is Grounded, or its SPs have been exceeded, remove the model from the table. Ghost ships do not suffer or inflict collisions with other ships. Instead, if the Evade test is failed, the activating ship completes its move as normal. If the activating ship would not end clear of the other ship, add enough movement until it does end clear, and then continue with the Activation. Each ship passed through (including the Ghost ship) will cause damage equal to a D10 plus its own CS to the other ship. e.g. An Elohi with CS 4 collides with a Spectre with CS 6. The Elohi inflicts 1D10 + 4 damage to the Spectre, and the Spectre inflicts 1D10 + 6 damage to the Elohi. Tiny ships take and inflict half damage (rounding up). Note that Ghost ships cannot deliberately ram/pass through an enemy ship. Ghost ships can never be set ablaze. Ghost Fleets always have Regular Crew, and this cannot be changed.
Got expanded in order to remove some bad game experience shenanigans from the game. No more “Dwarf Hunter Torpedoes” previously allowed by the rules as written.
Oars/Engines (p.36RB): Add the following paragraph:
Please note the Oars/Engines turn, at the start of a move step, cannot be used to set a ship on a Collision course in its next move step (unless another rule allows for a second turn between these move steps).
Q: Is it obligatory to use Oars/Engines before the move step if it allows to avoid a potential Collision?
A: Yes, unless another rule such as Ram (X) allows the ship to collide on purpose, it is obligatory to use the Oars/Engines if it allows to avoid a Collision.
Addressed a few Fleet/Ship Rules and Upgrades that required attention. Done in a way that does not meddle with points values.
Elohi’s “Halo of Light”: If upgraded with Aegis Shield, add +1 to the amount of Damage that is reduced and lower the Damage requirement to use the reduction to 5 or more Damage.
Yinn Greythunder: Once per game, this ship may fire twice from one of its gun positions, but with an additional -2 to-hit modifier.
Kopeshii’s “Terror”: Enemy ships must re-roll successful Curse of Undeath Skill Tests when involved in Boarding Actions with this ship. This Ship has Ram [1] special rule and Grappling Hooks for free, not counting against the normal upgrade limit.
Baanshe’s “Banshee’s Wail”: Enemy ships suffer a -1 to-hit modifier on any Boarding Action attack rolls they make, while within 3″ of this ship.
Neddlefang’s “Attrition”: Friendly ships add 1 damage (to a maximum of plus 3) to any normal Shooting attack (from a Weapon Position) for each other Friendly ship with this rule within 6” (the attack must cause at least 1 damage itself for this to count). Extra damage is not added to results on the Critical Hit table. Add extra damage after any multiplication (such as Point Blank and Raking fire).
Ocarina of Korgaan (p.43RB): Once per game, instead of Rolling for Wind, so long as the ship with this Upgrade is still in play on the table, the owning player may choose to use the Ocarina of Korgaan. If so, first pick the clockwise or counter-clockwise then roll a D10 and Move the Wind Rose that many compass positions in the chosen direction. This may be done from Turn two onwards (unless the scenario being played has other winds rules in place for that Turn). If both players have this upgrade and want to use it in the same Turn, roll a D10 each. The player with the highest score gets to choose this Turn. The losing player may then use the upgrade in any following Turn.
Contrary to the above, this section presents the ideas of rules updates that can be used to modify your games, similar to Full Wind Rules (Rulebook), Night Fighting (Seas of Dread) or Random Winds (Seas of Dread). The rules that got changed are working correctly and as intended, but can be adjusted for a more smooth gameplay and a slightly different tabletop experience.
The Indirect Weapons missing and then scattering seems like a cumbersome, time consuming and rarely effective ruleset. It takes a lot of effort to implement and rarely produces any real impact on the game state. Still, it is a major component of the Indirect Weapons identity and for this purpose, instead of removing it completely, I have decided to rework the rule.
Indirect Weapons (p.25RB): Replace the first paragraph with the following:
If an Indirect Weapon misses on a natural roll of “1” it will scatter towards another close target. The Indirect Weapon will then hit any ship within 3” from the initial target (chosen at random in case of multiple ships within that range). If there are no ships within 3” of the initial target ship, or the only ship within 3” is the firing ship, the shot misses instead.
Additional notes: Even though it might seem like the Indirect Weapons got straightforward better with the additional 10% to-hit chance, when there’s a viable secondary target in range – it can easily be played around by keeping ships in a wider formation. Moreover, getting close to enemy ships seems like a viable tactic to protect against Indirect Weapons and creates an opportunity to ‘score’ extra hits against the enemy fleet with their own guns. Furthermore this change incentives Regular and Veteran crew IDW platforms, above quantity.
Ships on Fire is a rather contentious part of the Armada ruleset. In some situations the game forces players to choose between two bad outcomes, by either crashing into terrain, or risking an expensive ship being removed from play due to a bad roll of “1” on a D6. At the same time risk adds excitement and provides a memorable cinematic moment. To mitigate the impact, but keep the spirit of the rule in place I have made the following change:
Ships on Fire (p.28RB): Replace the fourth paragraph with the following:
If the test is failed, the ship will suffer D3 Damage if Tiny or Small, D6 Damage if Medium, and D10 Damage if Large or Extra Large. In addition, if the Skill Test rolls a natural 1, the fire reaches the ship’s ammunition and the ship is immediately Crippled (suffer additional Damage to reach the Nv), or if already Crippled it explodes instead! All other ships within 4” of the exploding ship suffer D10 damage (roll separately for each ship). The exploding ship is destroyed, remove it from play.
The Fliers is a mostly forgotten addition to the game brought in with Seas Aflame book. Because of a rather strict movement ruleset combined with a movement related attack requirement, the Fliers struggle to deal consistent damage and follow up their targets. The below change is meant to add movement flexibility and skirmish opportunities more in line with Fliers fluff and role they are meant to fulfill on the gaming board.
Fliers Movement (p.6SA): Replace the second paragraph with the following:
To change direction, once during their Activation the fliers turn on their centre point in the same way that Squadrons do. However, they must move at least 4” forward in a straight line before they can execute a turn.
Hover (p.6SA): Replace with:
If a flier has the Hover special rule, it can turn at any point during its move and can ignore the requirement of a minimum of 4”, moving anything between 0” and up to its full Movement value.
A fun way to mitigate luck factor and give players a batt to bonk lucky opponents with…
Whenever a player scores a Critical Hit / Crushing Blow on an unmodified roll of “10”, they take one of the Cursed Charms and add it to their pool, up to a maximum of ten Cursed Charms held by each player at any given time. Cursed Charms can then be spent by the opposing player to pay the cost of the following actions:
3 Cursed charms: Force the opponent to re-roll a single die.
5 Cursed charms: Cancel one opponent’s re-roll ability (such as Master Gunner, or Mastery of Flame).
7 Cursed charms: Force an enemy ship to automatically Fail a Skill test roll (Including Nerve Tests).
10 Cursed charms (held by the opponent at the end of the game): Earn 1VP
A tool to mitigate the Ghost Fleets low interactivity based playstyle and provide incentive for a more aggressive play. A nod towards beginner players who oftentimes jump into the game with a Ghost Fleets only to find themselves fielding one of the most skill dependent fleets. Finally a fix to the Wards of Binding, making this 5pts. cost upgrade actually worth the points.
Add the following Fleet Special Rule to the Ghost Fleets:
Shimmering Specters: If a ship from this fleet is destroyed, except if either Surrendered or Grounded, roll a D10. On a roll of “9” or “10” do not remove the ship from the game. Instead the ship remains in the game with half of its starting SP rounding down, Crew Level reduced to Inexperienced and Speed set to Steady. This ship then counts as Activated until the end of the next Turn.
I will keep the above list up to date, adding and removing things if they happen to show up in future Errata so stay tuned and remember – this is all Unofficial, to use at your discretion.
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional Warhammer miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Ahoy Sailors! As you know I am most and foremost a passionate hobbyist. That being said, I am also a pirate, a scoundrel and a fanatical enthusiast of Mantic Games Kings of War: Armada – a naval strategy game set in the rich world of Pannithor, pitting multiple wonderfully crafted and strongly themed factions against one another. Today I’m here to share some of my maritime experience.
Armada is a fast and relatively simple game to play. So far the Mantic games have done an amazing job keeping the rules mostly smooth and the faction balance in place. Still it is a wargame with (as of today) rules spread across three books and fifteen factions. With such a wealth of rules there is no way to avoid a few niche rules interactions that might feel a bit unintuitive to newer players, such as Baiting Collisions and awkward Visibility cases to name a few. This is also the case with ‘Slingshooting’ – an interaction allowing players to increase movement of their ships by leveraging Move based rules to sail through friendly ships.
There currently are two fleets capable of Slingshooting: the Tridern Realms (Fully Submerged) and the Ghost Fleets (Spectral Form). They both follow a similar slingshot mechanic, but with its own set of pros and limitations.
Fully Submerge, the Trident Realms faction rule
“Trident Realm ships can automatically Fully Submerge to avoid other ships that they would otherwise collide with during their own activation, as long as the Trident Realm ship can be placed with its rear base edge a few mm clear of the other ship, following the same initial trajectory. This completes the movement of that Move Step, and the ship continues with its normal activation. Any Shooting attack during this activation will be with an additional -2 to-hit modifier. This modifier is not cumulative with the -1 to-hit modifier for having rolled to evade during the activation. If the ship cannot be placed with its rear base clear of the other ship, the normal evade procedure must be undertaken. A Trident Realm ship may only Fully Submerge once during its activation.”
The Trident Realms ships are allowed to completely avoid one Collision per Activation, but going under and effectively moving to the other side of the obstructing ship instead. The procedure works as follows:
Although the Fully Submerge rule allows to avoid collisions, the Trident Realms ships are still a subject to the Avoid Collisions While Moving rule (Rulebook p.16) stating as follows:
“If it is not the last Move Step in a ship’s activation, ensure its forward movement in the next Move Step will not result in a potential collision (with terrain or another ship). If this would result in a potential collision, alter the ship’s turn to avoid this as much as legally permitted.
Sometimes however, due to forward momentum, lack of turn angle, poor planning or just bad luck, collisions will be unavoidable (see page 20).”
What this means is, even though the Trident Realms ships have a tool to “avoid other ships that they would otherwise collide with“, Rules as Written, they are still not allowed to set themselves for a “potential collision” during Move Steps other than the “last Move Step”.
Trident Realms painted by Michał “MiSiO” Ciemniewski
Example A: During Activation a Gun Turtle (Main Battleship M) sets itself up 4,5″ directly in front of a Giant Squid (Main Battleship L). When activated, during first Move Step the Giant Squid is on a collision course with the Gun Turtle, elects to Fully Submerge and moves behind the other ‘fish’ adding the length of both the Gun Turtle’s and its own base to the movement, effectively doubling the movement in this Move Step. It then continues the Activation as normal.
Trident Realms painted by Michał “MiSiO” Ciemniewski
Example B: An enemy Abess (Main Battleship L) is positioned so that the Giant Squid (Main Battleship L) will inevitably end its first Move Step within the Basilean ship’s Broadside Arc and possibly trigger a Fire as She Bears salvo. The Wyrm-Drawn Sloop Squadron (Support Ship T) Activates next. To avoid the Basilean trap the Trident Realms player moves the Squadron 4,5″ in front of the Giant Squid. The Giant Squid Activates next and elects to Fully Submerge moving behind the Squadron and finishing Move Step outside of the Basilean Broadside Arc.
Even if the Basilean player decided to use Fire as She Bears against the Squadron, the Giant Squid would end up safe.
The Fully Submerge Slingshooting is free of any downsides other than planning ahead of time and setting up miniatures to be able to benefit from the extra movement. Depending on situation you can set up a fast smaller ship ahead of a heavier, much slower and much more melee capable fish, such as a Lieviathan, to close the distance in a single rapid hoop. What if it allowed the Larger ship to attempt a Grapple after an extended Battle Speed, when it would otherwise be unable to reach near the target? Or, when threatened with a Fire as She Bears, move chaff in the way to Slingshoot a more expensive ship beyond the enemy Broadside Arc. Sleazy fish tactics, or just naval superiority of the Trident Realms?
Spectral Form, the Ghost Fleets faction rule
“If a ship from this fleet Surrenders, is Grounded, or its SPs have been exceeded, remove the model from the table. Ghost ships do not suffer or inflict collisions with other ships. Instead, the activating ship completes its move as normal. If the activating ship would not end clear of the other ship, add enough movement until it does end clear, and then continue with the Activation. Each ship passed through (including the Ghost ship) will cause damage equal to a D10 plus its own CS to the other ship. e.g. An Elohi with CS 4 collides with a Spectre with CS 6. The Elohi inflicts 1D10 + 4 damage to the Spectre, and the Spectre inflicts 1D10 + 6 damage to the Elohi. Tiny ships take and inflict half damage (rounding up). Note that Ghost ships cannot deliberately ram/pass through an enemy ship. Ghost ships can never be set ablaze. Ghost Fleets always have Regular Crew, and this cannot be changed.“
The Ghost Fleet ships do not suffer Collisions with other ships, but pass through one another by adding movement necessary to do so. The procedure works as follows:
On most occasions this will happen naturally on a Ghost ship’s Activation – an Enemy ship is in the way, Ghost ship moves through, they both deal damage to one another, end of story. To avoid dealing devastating damage to the enemy fleet there’s a limiting factor in place in the form of “Note that Ghost ships cannot deliberately ram/pass through an enemy ship.”, similar to “Players must avoid deliberately ramming or colliding with other ships and terrain, unless a rule says otherwise.” from Collisions section in the Main Rulebook. Note the Spectral Form’s choice of words, that refers to “enemy” ships exclusively. This means that although passing through friendly ships will still cause damage to both ships, the Players are allowed to deliberately position their ships and move through friendlies.
Example C: With its second Move Step a Phantom (Main Battleship M) sets itself up on a ‘collision*’ course with a Spectre (Main Battleship L) at a distance of 4,5″. On its next Move Step the Phantom will move 4,5″ and through the Spectre adding the length of both the Spectre’s and its own base to the movement, effectively doubling the movement in this Move Step. Both ships will deal damage to each other.
*Ghost Fleets ships are unaffected by Collision rules with other ships. I used ‘collision’ for a lack of a better term.
Example D: With its second Move Step a Spectre (Main Battleship L, base length about 4″) sets itself up on a ‘collision*’ course with a Shadow (Support Ship T) at a distance of 3,5″. On its next Move Step the Spectre will move 3,5″ and through the Shadow adding the length of both the Shadow’s and its own base to the movement – BUT – there is another Shadow in the way (further 3,5″ away) and then a Wight (Support ship S) another 3,5″ further. The Spectre would effectively multiply its movement exponentially, but will damage and in return be damaged by all three friendly ships.
*Ghost Fleets ships are unaffected by Collision rules with other ships. I used ‘collision’ for a lack of a better term.
Although much more risky than the Trident Realms Slingshooting, the Ghost Fleets mechanic has some niche uses. For starters let’s say that in the last turn of a seemingly lost game of ‘sink and survive’ type Scenario, the Ghost Fleets player may want to sacrifice some chaff (T ships are usually worth 0 VP when destroyed in such scenarios) to position the active Large / Extra Large ship in range of all weapons and try to sink a barely afloat enemy ship/s. Or in a ‘area control’ scenario friendly ships can be used as a springboard to Slingshot the active ship into the VP worth area on the board. Niche? Yes! But can it be meaningful? Definitely, to a point of winning the game with. Food for ghostly thoughts.
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional Warhammer miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Ahoy Sailors! As you know I am most and foremost a passionate hobbyist. That being said I am also a pirate, a scoundrel and a fanatical enthusiast of Mantic Games Kings of War: Armada – a naval strategy game set in the rich world of Pannithor, pitting multiple wonderfully crafted and strongly themed factions against one another. Today I’m here to share some of my maritime experience.
With new book on the horizon, new fleets on the way, introduction of STL files, easier than ever rules accessibility via Mantic Companion and finally Warhall, the Armada has entered a golden age. I would bet my boat that the number of games played across the globe will increase drastically. This is mainly due to the influx of new players coming into the game on a wave of excitement.
I know for a fact that some games of Armada can sometimes drag a bit, but it does not have to be this way. In order to keep the games fast paced and fun for everyone, especially new players, why not try to speed up your play like a pro?
Below I will present to you a few tips that changed the way I play miniatures wargames, that I then implemented to improve time management during my Armada experience.
Know your fleet
Knowing your fleet and especially rules available in your list is the key to maintaining a smooth thought process when strategizing. Sure, checking stats of particular ships mid-game is a common thing, but fleet-wide rules and important upgrades should be engraved in your memory before the game. This will also help prevent decision paralysis, that is one of the most prominent Player Downtime* factors.
*Player Downtime is when one player is forced to wait for the opponent, with no interaction between the players.
Skip on Ship Cards
Ship cards look cool, but result in a messy, difficult to manage lists with all the counters, upgrades and stuff just mixing around. Instead I recommend using either printed lists or the Mantic Companion Play (beta) app. Not only will all upgrades be in place, but also stats will get adjusted automatically (Sturdy Construction, Ogre Mercenaries), plus you will be able to skip on most gaming tokens. Printed lists are very pencil friendly (damage, fired, blaze, surrendered), whereas MC Play allows to track everything in-app. No need to search and adjust tokens means less wasted time.
Keeping Stuff Organized
Keeping tokens, turning arcs, templates and dice well organized is key to avoid searching for particular game aid mid-play. This can be done before the game, but I also advise putting an extra effort to move things back to their designated area after using them. This way they will be there next time you need them.
Single shot Dice selection
There’s really no need to pick a particular colored dice for a single shot. Same goes for multiple shots of one weapon type (like 4H broadside). Grab any D10 and roll!
It might also be applied to two weapon types rolls of uneven number of shots. Like if you fire two H and one C, two dice of color A plus one dice of color B will leave things obvious without the need to waste time searching for appropriately colored dice. A heads-up in line with “Blue is L” when rolling will clear things out even further.
Single Dice Rolls and Mods
While on the topic of dice rolls, skip on counting Mods for single dice rolls before the roll. More often than not the result will be obvious, like if you try to hit with Indirect Weapon against a faraway, fast moving, partially visible target and roll 5 or lover you don’t even need to to count the Mods and waste your time. Same goes for Nerve Checks, Evade Rolls and other Skill Tests of either “1” or “6”. These two results alone transfer to 33% chance of saving time counting Mods if you roll the Dice first.
Speed and Damage counters
If there’s one thing that really slows things down in Armada, that would be speed and damage tokens management. The solution would be to use either multi faceted dice, or special counters. There’s plenty of these available on Etsy. Alternatively a sheet of adhesive tape and erasable pen will make your life so much easier.
Laser Pointer
Flat line laser pointer is a precision tool, perfect to manage activation order and firing arcs. With this puppy you will save time otherwise spent on moving around the table with a tape measure, or eyeballing and arguing over activation lines. You can grab one from The Army Painter, or google search for alternatives.
Chess Clock
No, I ain’t suggesting you play with a chess clock, switching time with your opponent. Chess clock is just a fine tool to have standing and running beside the board in order to better manage remaining time. I find the sole presence of timer ticking down to be good for motivation and decision making.
Reference Sheets
It’s always good to have a copy of the Rulebook at hand, just in case. Still, when it comes to consulting the reference sheets the main book might be a bit unwieldy. This is why I recommend printing a copy of Reference Sheets. Can be done in horizontal two on one pages setup to save space around the gaming board. Checking Wind roll, Critical Hits, Boarding Actions and Weapon ranges will become as easy as glancing sideways.
Marking Deployment
To ease the decision process for deployment it is good to mark the entire Deployment Zone beforehand. This way you will outright see all the available space to deploy your ships to.
Shoreline markers
Marking Shorelines ahead of time can be a great help. Skipping on all the measuring will definitely ease the decision making and speed up the game. Shoreline markers can be made with thin translucent plastic, acrylics or just sheets of paper and they do not have to be precise. In my opinion WYSIWYG* Shorelines are fine, even if not precisely 2″ wide around the island, as long as both players agree on it before the game. Personally I use ”Round Acrylic Disc F” from Amazon. These are 1mm thin round acrylics and they have met with fantastic reception at the latest local Armada event and in-house games.
*What you see is what you get.
Rapid Deployment / Let’s Move Out!
While on events, be sure to carry your miniatures in a way that allows for fast deployment. It can be anything from a simple flat pad, up to a professional miniature carrying case. Anything that does not require you to wrap/unwrap your miniatures every time you start a game is a win.
On that note, remember to grab all your stuff and put it in one place right after the game. Once the next round of pairings is out, everyone will start to move around, searching for their appointed tables. Nothing worse than arriving at the game table only to wait for someone else to come back from a smoke break and start packing their things.
Try Not to Overthink It
Armada is meant to be fun, for both players. Try not to overthink your play and just go with the flow. The more games you play the better you will become at managing your ships. Being human means learning by making mistakes. You need to make some in order to grow as a player. It is an integral part of evolving, adapting, and overcoming.
Now you have the tools to Speed Up Your Game. Let me know if there’s anything I missed. I would also love to know if any particular advice is new to you. Until then – have a great Armada gaming!
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional Warhammer miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
