Tag Archives: Armada

The End of Star Wars Armada and Xwing

I was surprised yesterday with a livestream from Crabok. He reported the end of Star Wars Armada (imminent) and Star Wars Xwing.

Armada didn’t surprise me. While it was one of my favorite games for a very long time. There hasn’t been a new ship released in years. I still intend to realize my Outer Rim Sieges campaign at some point. I have many of the rules written. It is just disappointing to see it end. The most shocking bit is that Atomic Mass Games purchased the game from Fantasy Flight and then did nothing. The same thing with XWing.

I wonder if the creativity wasn’t there? They blamed things on COVID, but that doesn’t jive. Xwing was pretty well covered, as far as cannon ships go. They could have gone in many more directions with legends or new pilots. I remember Xwing being one of the best-selling games for years. I know there was money there. It is just a disappointing kill for games.

Armada, on the other hand, had tons of options and places they could go. I can think of 10 ships that played a major role in the Clone Wars that were not instituted. Lucrehulk, of course, diamond corvettes, the federation ship that was a ball split in half, stealth ship, Naboo class frigate, and a couple other cruiser-style ships for the republic, just around disappointing.

The hardest part is I know Armada wasn’t selling well. You couldn’t just attend your FLGS and buy expansions for it. Getting new people into games is hard if you can’t see them on shelves. The same thing is happening with basically any non-GW game right now. You could buy X-Wing at Wal-Mart during its peak. The game was immensely popular, and there were many competitive events, just ugh.

Maybe a group of 20 could get a Patreon and restart the games? Buy the license for just those two games. It seems to me like money could be made there.

Hobby Steak Update 11/14/2022

Just giving an update on my hobby streak. I am most likely going to just do posts Monday and Thursday from here on out. It seems silly to post everyday.

My goal to start the streak is to finish a singular project. Something I am lacking on. I am hopeful that finishing a project will inspire me to finish others. Currently, I have 10 or so unfinished, half-finished armies and projects that I always have time to start but never finish. I want to finish something. As I grow and hobbying becomes a habit, I will work on enhancing my craft and giving real tutorials on painting the models.

Friday, I had a good time in the afternoon and was able to completely finish a unit of 8 dwarf rangers. They are fully painted using contrast paints. I wanted a little grimy haggard look to the rangers. Saturday, I finished 10 dwarven infantry; these turned out really well. I also constructed at least 14 Marvel Crisis Protocol models, I think it is closer to 20.

Sunday, we chose to decorate our house for Christmas, 16 trips of stuff from the garage later, and 10 back in. We are still not complete. I didn’t have much hobby energy after that, so I just built a few more Marvel Crisis Protocol models. Hobby tip, use Zap Kicker to harden your superglue instantly. It is an absolutely huge bonus to speed up your process.

I was having some issues sleeping, so I went and airbrushed a handful of Star Wars Armada ships. None of these are part of the main game. I purchased them through Shapeways, MelMinatures. He has several hundred fantastic sculpts. I will warn you however that the models are a challenge to paint. They require a solid scrubbing to remove the residue. I also would recommend while painting, you avoid using a wash or shade. The model soaks it right up, and it looks awful. Instead, basecoat and drybrush up rather than down. I will get pics to you at some point. They will be featured in a game as well. I painted 2 Nebulon B-2 (the kind with double bottom fins), a customs corvette, and General Grievous’s pride and joy, the Malevolence.