Armada - 9/17 Battle Report

So, Hubert and I are both apparently over the squadron fatigue we had over the summer, because last night there were a grand total of 16 squadrons on the table. I quickly remembered why we moved away from it, having to remember escort, intel, Gallant Haven, and BCC bubbles on my part. Hubert had the additional concerns of Torryn Farr and Adar Tallon. At any rate, before anything else, let's get to Hubert's fleet:

MC Carrier (398/400)

MC80 Command Cruiser (106)

 - Boosted Comms (4)

 - Electronic Countermeasures (7)

 - Fighter Coordination Team (3)

Nebulon-B  Escort Frigate (57)

 - General Dodonna (20)

 - Flight Commander (3)

 - Yavarris (5)

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)

 - Adar Tallon (10)

 - Boosted Comms (4)

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)

 - Torryn Farr (7)

 - Comms Net (2)

Squadrons: 

Corran Horn (22)

Ten Numb (19)

Wedge Antilles (19)

Dutch Vander (16)

VCX-100 Freighter x 2 (30)

Dagger Squadron (15)

X-Wing x 1 (13)

Contested Outpost

Precision Strike

Superior Positions

It's still weird to me to see Hubert not playing the Empire, but frankly with where Imperial squadrons are at right now, I can't say I blame him. He also really enjoys flying the MC80. I was super-pumped to see one as a legitimate battle carrier. My concerns about this list I shared with him were twofold: 

1. Not enough bombing power/No intel/Not sure what the VCX's really do

2. MC80 needs at least Leading Shots. 

So, at 4 activations and 8 deployments, going second was more appealing than normal, so Hubert elected that I go first. I selected his Precision Strike, which turned out to be a weak red choice as he was only able to use two of the concentrate fire tokens and neither of us made use of the effect for bombers. I find that every time we use precision strike, while it is tempting to flip cards, the damage is almost always better. 

Anyway, I think Hubert out-deployed me pretty hard with me going first and the equal number of deployments. 

I really wanted to get Admonition where it could dunk Yavarris, and Gallant Haven opposite his MC80. The reverse of this ended up playing out. At any rate, we slowly advanced with the majority of my strike craft under the Gallant Haven umbrella - a couple detailed to the right flank to proc Sato's ability on the MC80. Going first against his fighter ball was a nice perk, as he could have launched a pretty devastating first strike. 

There was some skirmishing on the bottom of turn 2 as he launched some probing bombing runs on the Gallant Haven, but the real action kicked off on turn 3 when I  activated the Gallant Haven first and tried to wail on Yavarris. Hubert had positioned his escorting X-wings well where I could not engage the Yavarris and remain in Gallant Haven/BCC range. I probably should have just engaged his fighters and counted on Ruthless Strategists to carry the day, but I over committed 3 Y-Wings to assault Yavarris and ended up doing negligible damage.  

The bow flak from Gallant Haven, combined with RS did a number on some of his squads though. With my Y-Wings out of position and not much escort (or non-heavy squads) on my side, Hubert began bombing the Gallant Haven to great effect, detailing Dutch and the 2 VCX's to defend the MC80. I managed to prevent a double B-wing double-tap from Yavaris, but GH's days were clearly numbered. One thing I need to be better about if I fly this fleet again is not running over my own squadrons and putting my crucial escort YT-1300 out of position. 

In the midst of all this, an ineffectual volley and move from the MC80 left Admonition in its side arc, double-arcing it with Sato's effect ready to proc. I took a deep breath, and rolled off the side with a concentrate fire command and a CF token ready to go. Here's what I got. 

6 dice and 4 rerolls later, I rolled into.....3 hits. No APT crit....

Well, at least I have the front arc right?

I wish I could say this was before the OE reroll. 

I rolled three hits on the first go, and rerolled all 3 to try for the APT crit. So, 9 dice, 16 individual rolls, for 4 damage...

Daniel was nearly on the floor laughing at the absurdity of these rolls. In fairness, it was pretty funny, and I prefer things like this happening here than at a store tournament. I also have benefited at times from absurdly good dice rolls (like in my last game versus Hubert) - but jeesh, this was rough. 

Anyway, I didn't unload the two APT crits I was aiming for on the MC80 on t3, and things were looking bad for me. I moved Yavarris in position to pursue, and started off t4 by double-arcing the MC80 again with Admonition, double-tapping two y-wings, and firing a volley off the front of Yavarris. 

I promise this is the last picture of a dice roll gone awry, but it was just one of those games XD

At any rate, I underolled damage across the board again, but managed to produce just enough to kill the MC80 before it could activate. However, Yavarris and Admonition  were now effectively out of the fight, and while I was busy killing the MC80, Hubert finished off Gallant Haven and Jan Ors. 

Without their support or a carrier to activate them, my Y-wings started going down fast, with Wedge tearing through them like a hot knife through butter. I ended up losing all my squadrons this game, taking Dagger, Corran, Ten-Numb, and the X-wing with me. Not bad considering the total lack of anti-fighter presence in my build, but I dream of what I could have done had I managed to keep GH alive longer and not been dumb about Y-wing squadron placement. I also probably should have activated GH second on t4, instead of going for the kill on the MC80. I was too worried the MC80 would land a lucky hit and kill Yavarris. But, boxed in by Admonition, it wasn't going anywhere. I probably could have gotten one last really good activation off GH before it died had I been playing better, but I was making mistakes all over the board trying to remember all the squadron effects. 

Anyway, Hubert mopped up GH and my squadrons, but still needed one more kill to surpass me in points. My BCC transport was running away at full speed, 1 health left. 

He would need 3 hits off his two VCX's in a row to kill it, but with Torryn Farr and Adar Tallon, it wasn't impossible. In a nail-biting finish, he produced the 3 hits necessary to kill it with a final Torryn Farr reroll. 

Good game Hubert! Excellently flown. 

I was really impressed with the squadron build - it managed to bomb decently well on top of shredding my fighters. The VCX's actually ended up being really helpful. The lack of intel was a little rough on Hubert, and we talked about altering the build to get Jan Ors in. This was Hubert's first time with Yavarris and needless to say he now understands the power. 

Best move on Hubert's part was never forgetting to use Adar Tallon and putting Torryn Farr in the perfect position. I swear, for every time I use Torryn Farr well, there are 2-3 times I place her on the wrong side of the battlefield and get no use out of her. Hubert was constantly using her ability last night though, and it really amped up the power of his squads. 

For my part, I'm pretty happy with how my fleet flew, if I'm not entirely happy with how I flew it. I think I need one escort/dedicated anti-squadron squad to help keep GH alive in the face of enemy fighters. I also need to be better about keeping my Y-wings close to their carrier and not running over my strike craft, so this game was a learning experience to that end. I might slim down the number of Y-wings in future incarnations of this build, but I will say, getting to cover such a broad front and threaten multiple targets simultaneously with cheap disposable squadrons felt strong. 

It's worth noting the flak played a big role this game, with both of us getting really good flaks on the opponent to whittle down squadrons. 

At any rate, I continue to love Y-wings, and I was pleasantly surprised at how effective GH was. Ruthless Strategists also feels really strong, allowing a sacrificial bomber wing to punch above its weight when facing opposing fighters. Yavarris and Admonition were both amazing, but I already knew that. I really want to continue tinkering with some combination of Sato/Y-Wings/GH. To that end I've been considering overlooked ships that potentially syngerize well with him. Then it hit me, the Assault Pelta! It can't take OE, but is better suited for long-range APT throwing than and MC30, and it cheaper. I could also potentially throw Projection Experts on it to help make GH tankier. 

Depending on how I'm feeling next time I play Armada, this may be the route I go. It sounds like it's worth investigating at least. Maybe I even buy a second Pelta for me, Hubert, and Daniel's collection XD

Armada Time

Hubert and I are playing Armada tomorrow evening! It's been a few weeks, so I'm rather excited. I'm also on a winning streak in Armada that I don't think will continue XD

So, Hubert sent me a fleet he's playing with last week, I purposely did not refresh on what is in it before drafting up a fleet tonight. I just remember it was using an MC80 as a carrier, and had at least Wedge, Dutch, Dagger and Corran. It's a really fascinating build informed by the European finals, and when I saw it, I knew I wanted to either play it or play against it. Hubert specifically requested a "kill ship" fleet or a squadron heavy fleet - so I aimed for both!

Name: Experimental Sato Fleet
Faction: Rebel
Commander: Commander Sato

Assault Frigate Mk2 B (72)
 - Skilled First Officer (1)
 - Ruthless Strategists (4)
 - Electronic Countermeasures (7)
 - Gallant Haven (8)

MC30c Scout Frigate (69)
 - Lando Calrissian (4)
 - Ordnance Experts (4)
 - Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
 - Admonition (8)

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57)
 - Commander Sato (32)
 - Flight Commander (3)
 - Yavaris (5)

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
 - Bomber Command Center (8)

 - 5 x Y-wing Squadron (50)
 - Gold Squadron (12)
 - Jan Ors (19)
 - YT-1300 (13)

Assault: Most Wanted

Defense: Fleet Ambush

Navigation: Superior Positions

Total Points: 399

Now is where I go look at the list he sent me and find out I am screwed on the bid...

At any rate, this fleet combines a few ideas I want to test out. I continue to be intrigued by the idea of a "sacrificial" bomber wing - so tomorrow I will be breaking out my favorite Rebel squadron again alongside the ubiquitous Jan Ors and a YT-1300. I do know Hubert has some really meaty anti-squadron aces, so this will be a good opportunity to see how it works when the opposition is fierce. I took a cue from 2016 worlds, and am taking an assault frigate in my fleet for the first time ever purely so I can grab Gallant Haven. Combined with Ruthless Strategists (which I think is really good combined with the Y-wing's 6 health), I hope this will be enough to get some licks in. 

Oh, and it's a Sato fleet! I always struggle building for Sato. And indeed, various versions had Han and Tycho. I'm going to take a chance on just having bombers though. We got Yavarris, because what's a rebel fleet without it? And, completing our tour of top tier rebel stuff, I have what has become a standard Admonition build. The idea here is to throw bombers with him, chew threw his squadrons with Ruthless Strategists, and while my strike craft are dying, hopefully produce enough extra damage (and APT crits) with Sato to carry the day. This list is really slimmed down from my wishlist (Dreylin on the AF for extra tanking power), but indeed, it actually probably needs to be slimmed down further. On the plus side, most of my stuff won't die in one hit, so going second wouldn't be the worst. Since Hubert has a lot of squads too though, he would probably take my Superior Positions. But, it's what I would take in the wild with a build like this, and even if he takes it I think (trademark), I can utilize it better.

At any rate, we'll see how it goes!

Decathlon Results

Wrapped up the Decathlon last night with the tensest and best game of Jenga I have ever seen. Kudos to Dani for suggesting Jenga as the final event - it went over really well and I'm honestly tempted to use it again. At any rate, I did a bad job recording participants and winners last year, so this year I'm making a point to do it immediately.

2nd Annual D&D Decathlon Results

The Participants

Dave Harris - 6 Points*
Danielle Rosson - 5 Points*
Megan Prettyman - 1 Point
Daniel Halford - 8 Points
Kader Riddick - 4 Points
Amanda Ayers - 6 Points
Abigail Lee -
Brittany Castille-Webb - 3 Points
Luke Castille-Webb - 3 Points
Jeremiah Glusica - 5 Points
Bri McDougall -
Wells Thompson - 3 Points
Brianna LeBeouf - 4 Points
Kyle Dineen - 5 Points
Caralee Shephard - 4 Points

*Opted not to compete in the final

The Events

Seven Wonders

1. Brittany

2. Kader

3. Danielle

Amanda

Luke

Megan

Daniel

Jeremiah

Dave

Abigail

Wells

Scythe

1. Wells 

2. Brianna

3. Jeremiah

Kader

Megan

Jeremiah

Danielle*

Amanda*

*Filling In

Machi Koro

1. Caralee

2. Dave

3. Jeremiah

Bri

Amanda

Wells

Megan

Kader

Danielle

Shogun

1. Dave

2. Kader

3. Danielle

Megan

Daniel

Alhambra

1. Kyle

2. Brianna

3. Danielle

Wells

Abigail

Amanda

Small World

1. Amanda

2. Daniel

3. Jeremiah

Bri

Brianna

Caralee

Wells

Megan

Dave

Danielle*

*Filling In

Evolution

1. Amanda

2. Kyle

3. Dave

Danielle

Caralee

Abigail

Eclipse

1. Daniel

2. Jeremiah

3. Megan

4. Kader

5. Kyle

Settlers of Catan

1. Daniel

2. Danielle

3. Caralee

4. Abigail

5. Kader

6. Dave

7. Megan

8. Danielle

Jenga

1. Kyle

2. Jeremiah

3. Amanda

4. Daniel

The Winners

The Golden Sailboat - Kyle

The Silver Dice Tower - Jeremiah

The Bronze Knight - Amanda

The Jeremiah Award - Dave (Small World and Settlers of Catan)

The Caralee Award - Jeremiah (Eclipse)

The Farmville Award - Amanda (Evolution)

The Hero Bomber Award - Kyle (Eclipse)

The Austin Award - Brittany (Seven Wonders)

The Beth/Taylor Friendship Commemorative Medal - Daniel/Megan (Eclipse/Shogun)

Congratulations to everyone who took an award home last night and thank you to everyone for participating. Last up, some pictures from the competition!

Amanda in the final

The Awards

Catan (sorry not sorry Megan :P)

Jeremiah in the final

Jeremiah after pulling out a particularly tough Jenga block

Shogun

Eclipse

See everyone next year :D

Charterstone Chronicle, Game 3

So, after a rather disastrous game 2, game 3 went pretty well for me. Dani and I both continue to be hamstrung by the comparative worthlessness of the grain and lumber markets, but we both made strides this game in critical areas. However, until we have other personas equivalent in value for us as the "1 VP for using a building with your resource as a cost" has been for everyone else, we're both in trouble.

So first off, as a result of my missed coinflip last game, I knew exactly where my minions were. I turned out to get the Chefs, perhaps the second best minion in the game at present with their ability to pull back influence (especially good for me since I am so dependent on my granary). Critically, this ability isn't found elsewhere in the game outside of Richie, who I finally relinquished this game.

This game revealed perils, which I am curious to see how they play. As far as I can tell, there are no negative effects associated with them, and they merely offer incentive to spread out and use a variety of buildings to get the requisite perils for those 4 VP conversion buildings. That feels like a pretty good rate, so I started leveling up my "start with a free peril" glory track on my box at the end of this game.

The big reveal though was charter buildings that offer more efficient/rewarding exchange rates than the ones in the commons. Amanda revealed the fairground, which seems solid but ended up being a trap for her this game with the "Fewest Objectives" guidepost. The real coup was Dani unlocking the Constructor, suddenly giving everyone access to a very favorable 2 influence + 3 coins rate to build, at the cost of one VP. That's frankly kinda amazing. She's going to want to get a minion on that building as soon as possible next game to capitalize on other people surely using it.

For my part, having access to that building allowed me to easily cram out two high value buildings this game: the restaurant and the junkyard, which I purchased from the market. I have high expectations for these two buildings, as I predict people will really want chefs next game, and the junkyard is just super useful as the only way outside a couple treasures to control the all important advancement deck.

I was coasting into the end of the game with 30 VP, about ~10 behind the leaders, but not too bad considering how poorly I set myself up for this game. Then a number of great things happened. First, because I tied for the objective (everyone did but Amanda), I got a free glory. Dani won the guidepost in a tie break with Megan, and elected to be absurdly generous considering her only 10 points of constructed buildings, and allowed everyone to count them in their final scores. My building push this game had taken me from 7 to 21 points, up there with the leaders (and only a few below Megan), so while this ended up being basically an extra 2 glory for everyone, it was timely for me. This shuffling of the scores gave Caralee the last push she needed to squeak out a win by 1 point over Megan, getting to bubble in a trophy for the second week in a row. Much to her own chagrin as it were, as now she is two capacity behind everyone else.

I had drafted a robot during the game, and was able to keep one and a chef at the end of the game, along with a charterstone unlock, a guest, a wheat, and a coin. Not bad all things considered. The next objective is the highest point value of constructed buildings. Considering I have a unique 8 point building, I just might be able to make a push for it next game. In contrast to only being able to bubble in 2 stars last game, this time I was able to fill out 6 to finish up my "free resource" glory track and start the aforementioned peril track.

So, plan for next game. First off, I need to be better about managing my influence and cramming out easy cloud port uses at the end of the game. I was not able to this time and I regret it. I will be grabbing a second chef as early as possible and trying to leverage my restaurateur persona to actually generate a respectable number of VPs. My first move is also super obvious. I place my robot on the junkyard to grab one free advancement card, then discard, draw, and grab another one. I'm thinking an additional 2 guests (if they are up) right off the bat so I can grab a grand total of 18 VPs over the course of the game.  We'll see what's available anyway.

I'm pretty happy with my chefs. They don't compare to robots, but they're niche and offer a critical ability. At present, I would rank the four minions thusly:

1. Robots
2. Chefs
3. Golems
4. Ghosts

Yeah, Megan got a little screwed by ghosts - they just aren't that great. We still have yet to see a game where people fill out the reputation track. The problem remains that there just are better influence to VP conversion rates and you don't generally lack for opportunities to place them on the track. The wood and grain markets would be so much better if Dani and I had exclusive access to them, but at present, anyone can compete. And on top of all this, friendly ties disincentivize too much competition over it. At any rate, we'll see how the ability to pull back influence changes how people interact with the reputation track.

The Decathlon - Looking Ahead

Last night we wrapped up the last regular competition event for the 2nd Annual D&D Board Game Decathlon. All that's left now is for the finalists to come play their event next week and to give out awards. I'm pretty happy with how things went this year on the whole - no event had a lack of sign-ups, and there was no major drama. Last year it was immediately obvious that a couple events didn't really fit compared to some of the others (Munchkin, and Game of Thrones/Dick). This year, all the events fit the competition a lot better. My only complaint would be with the nomination process, but Megan had an excellent suggestion for how to handle it next year, so I'm more optimistic moving forward.

The competition is looking very healthy on the whole, the board has 7 unique winners, so nobody was really dominating the competition. Moreover, of 14 competitors, 11 scored points with two of the scoreless only competing in 2 games or less and thus having a significantly smaller chance of scoring points in the first place. Perhaps best of all, 4 out of 9 events (5 arguably), were won by people who were playing that game for the first time that night. Of our top four, two of them got all their points off of games they were playing for the first time that night. Dani and I try to design the competition so that someone completely unfamiliar with all the games can roll in, learn them, and triumph, and this was certainly borne out this year. 

This goes back to what I regard as the primary purpose of the decathlon, to introduce people we know to games they might not ever play otherwise, and continue to build and expand our fun community of gamers and friends. Dani for the record, views the event more as a competition first, so she keeps me grounded from getting too touchy-feely with how the competition is run. However, she is onboard with my idea to offer free point next year to anyone who brings a new person not on my invite list for at least one event. I think the competition is in a good place to expand it, but we'll address that next summer. 

So, every year we aim to replace at least two events and one award, what games are on the chopping block at the end of this year? Let's start with: 

The Mainstays

Scythe

Machi Koro

Small World

Settlers of Catan

These games will never leave the competition. Scythe to me is the perfect mid-high level strategy game that's easy to pick up. Since players can score off of 6 events at max (and that will generally be the most I let someone sign up for), we always aim to have 6 events in the competition that can be picked up and learned in 10-20 minutes. However, for the other three, I like to make them all "high-level" strategy games that reward the really experienced board gamers, and with their inclusion, reduce sign-ups among this group for some of the less complex games and make it more likely a new player can win them. Scythe perfectly straddles the line, where a new person can join in and still reasonably be able to figure out what they're doing, while at the same time appealing to this more experienced crowd. 

Machi Koro was one of the first games Danielle and I bought together, and has always been extremely popular with our friends. It's beginner friendly and can be run as a bracketed game without it taking too long, giving us a lot of flexibility with how many people sign up for it. 

Small World is one of the few "simpler" games that is a true war game - and keeping at least a couple non-Euro style games is important because these games fuel the award nominations in a way worker placement games do not. Besides that, this game is consistently popular, and serves as the venue for players to get to see the previous winners of the Decathlon (represented as in-game races), and get an idea of the stakes for landing that Golden Sailboat. 

Finally, Settlers of Catan is a game that everyone is likely to know how to play before coming into this competition, and for that reason always has a high number of sign ups. It's also pretty adjustable as a game I can bracket, and can take up to 12 players. It typically gets the most sign-ups of any event, and for that reason, I like to put it as the final event of the competition as a last minute free-for-all opportunity for even the most behind player to run up the score and make into the top 4. 

So, now for the games on the chopping block. 

The Variables

Seven Wonders

Shogun

Alhambra

Evolution

Eclipse

So, three of these games (Seven Wonders, Alhambra, and Eclipse), were first time additions this year. Evolution was a break-out success that has proved extremely popular with people. I also really love it because among a host of games that encourage empire/city/civilization building, this one has radically different theming. It also is easy to bracket if need be, as games will typically run for an hour or so, even with 6 players. For this reason, there is an excellent chance this game will be promoted to mainstay status and is safe for this year. 

Seven Wonders is similarly unlikely to leave the competition anytime soon, and indeed I really like it as the first event. It can take a high number of players (up to 14 when bracketed), plays fast, and can be understood with relative ease. It also features only indirect player conflict, which is good for a first event when people are still trying to figure out what's going on. More likely to leave (because the theming for the game very much overlaps with Machi Koro, Small World, and Settlers of Catan. But safe for now!  

Okay, now the actual three we're thinking about cutting. 

Alhambra

So, Alhambra is a fantastic game, easy to learn (this year it was won by a first time), easy to bracket, indeed it has many of the qualities that make me favor Seven Wonders and Machi Koro. 

However, like many of our more Euro-style games, it doesn't produce many opportunities for people to do notable things that win awards. And, moreover, it's a empire/civilization/city-building game in a competition already glutted by them. So, not a bad game, and I'm not unhappy with how it went this year, but it's on the short list to be cut because its too similar to other games we have in the competition that people simply like more. 

It is one of the the six "simpler" games though, so it will need to be replaced by something similarly straightforward. 

Eclipse

I love this game, truly. It is maybe not the best Decathlon event game though. Even for high-level strategy games, it has a true glut of mechanics and interactions to learn. It's also long, can't be bracketed and can foster a lot of animosity between players. This is not necessarily the worst thing, and the game routinely produces a lot of award nominations with it's big memorable moments and inter-player conflict. 

The thing is, if I do replace it, I want it to be with another high-level strategy game. So, depending on if I am able to find any of those in the next year, the game may remain in the competition. 

Shogun

We're considering dropping this game for all the same reasons as Eclipse, although Shogun is a less engregious offender in almost all regards. It's complex, but simpler than Eclipse, it's long, but not as long as Eclipse. You can only take 5 players in it, but I really don't mind having 1-2 five player only games in the competition. Likewise, it would need to be replaced with a decently high level strategy game, which may prove difficult. For these reasons, this one is on the short-list to be replaced, but likely the only ones we replace will be Alhambra and Eclipse. 

So, what are we considering bringing in. 

The Candidates

We really want to bring at least cooperative game into the competition. These presented a challenge to us to figure out how to score, but we've settled on having people sign up as teams and having the teams compete against each other by a common scoring rubric. Our three options are as follows: 

Sentinels of the Multiverse

Pandemic

X-Com

X-com is perhaps my favorite of the three, but the downside of it is that you really need a referee there to make sure people are abiding by the time, and it's not as beginner friendly. The time pressure is likely to cause tempers to flare too. Pandemic is perhaps the simplest choice, and is relatively easier to balance and score, but unlike the others, Pandemic is susceptible to one person alpha-gaming the table, and we truly want this event to be a team effort. 

For these reasons, we're likely going to make Sentinels of the Multiverse the cooperative game next year. It's difficult to alpha-game, easy to learn, and offers a lot of fun possibilities for players to tailor their teams and develop fun synergies. It will be difficult to score, and I'm putting a lot of thought into figuring out how to balance the villian deck and what villain to choose, but I think of the three it would be the one players enjoy the most. It's also been very popular with our friends, so there's that. 

As far as other new games from our collection, I like the idea of replacing one of our strategy games with a miniatures strategy game. Star Wars Armada is way too difficult to pick up quickly, but Heroscape would be quite doable, and is even approachable by a complete newbie. The only issue is the potential length of games and the problem of finding the right competition format for it. 

At any rate, finding a new high-tier strategy game may prove difficult, but I am already really looking forward to hosting Sentinels next year. It's been a great competition this year, and look forward to continuing to host this little shin dig next summer. 

Fleet Admirals: Playtest 1 Results

Okay, so we played our first game with the Fleet Admirals expansion last night, a four player game with Daniel, Jeremiah, and Kader. On the whole, I'm happy with how it went. Admirals were a presence but not a game-defining one. I was concerned they would turn into a "win harder" button, but thankfully that was not the case. A total of five were bought, which was a couple fewer than I would have liked, but one player had a really rough game and was not really in position to really utilize them.

So, let's review the admirals that were used and my early thoughts (combined with commentary from the other players) on how they are balanced.

Broadside Admiral (Ackbar) - Solid, no changes needed.

Generic Admiral - Solid, no changes needed.

Bureaucratic Admiral - Possibly a little too strong for its price, but I want more data before making a firm decision. Jeremiah used the admiral to great effect to get a couple actions in one turn, as a tool for dealing with his lack of money as Orion. Indeed, presently at its four resource cost, and considering when you use it each influence disk is likely to cost you 2-3 gold, it effectively works out to be a 4 science/materials -> 5 gold conversion.

That's....really strong. Like, the best trade rate in the game is only 2 -> 1. Having something like this in the game is not innately too strong, but the problem is that most admirals are niche, and Bureaucratic Admiral works for basically anyone anywhere. That's not as interesting from a gameplay perspective. Now, something like this in the admiral market is not without precedent. Improved Hull, for example, is nearly always the right choice when its in the tech market. Having an almost equivalent admiral, good in almost every situation, to further incentivize passing early to go first on the next round might not be a bad thing.

At present though, they probably need a slight price increase and the necessary resources need to be changed. I'm leaning towards 2 gold, 3 resources. This way, it still works as a way to efficiently convert other resources into gold, but at a reduced rate.

I want at least a couple more games before deciding on that though.

Shipyard Admiral - Probably needs a slight buff. The issue is that they're a really hard admiral to maximize the effect of, since it simply isn't gold efficient to use their ability every turn, as you only want to build when you can maximize the benefit. The limit of only on their tile almost makes it harder to pay off this investment. I utilized their ability three times, so in effect I got a single 1 money -> 1 materials conversion out of them. Meh.

Someone could still break them though, so leaving as is for now, but I'm leaning towards reducing the price by 1 materials to make for a shorter payback window.

Tank Admiral - Oye, this one nearly caused a fight at the table. There was an interaction I had not considered in making this admiral which quickly became apparent. What happens when you fight ancients? Or other things with a targeting rubric?

The case from last night. Jeremiah was fighting an Ancient Cruiser. If the Admiral was not present, the Ancient could have killed either one of Jeremiah's cruisers. Tank Admiral was loaded on one, making it impossible to one hit kill. We eventually ruled that it attacked the one it could one hit kill, but this does work to make tank admiral pretty meh against ancients, unless you're rolling in with just a battleship. Instead of trying to clarify this interaction, we came to the agreement it would be better to just give the admiral a different ability altogether. Ironically enough, the ability Jeremiah and I decided upon ended up being exactly what Danielle suggested when I got home, great minds think alike!

Other Notes

I'm going to change Fearless Admiral's ability, no because he's unbalanced, but because I don't want to have an admiral who can only be used with the expansions to Eclipse.

Marking ships with the Admirals continues to throw players, who think they can kill the admiral. Moreover, while this did not come up last night, what happens if you mark a ship, and another player kills it before you can proc the ability (like with broadside admiral)? In my mind, the marking doesn't happen until right before the ship you want to equip it goes, and in the event its killed, you move the ability to another ship in the event it's a multi-use ability - but this needs to be clarified. I want players to perceive the admiral as a ghostly presence in the sector, rather than being loaded on a specific ship, but abilities that call on you to mark a ship confuse this for players. This will be something to keep this in mind, and definitely a clarification I want to emphasize before I farm this expansion out to another group to play test.

Finally, I also need to clarify that you can only buy an admiral before doing a normal action in my rules for the expansion.

All things considered though, I'm happy with how they played last night, and am looking forward to seeing the other admirals trotted out.

Charterstone Chronicle, Game 2

Well, you win some, you lose some, and last night I lost pretty big, coming in last place with only 25 VP to my name. Dani didn't fare too much better, but she did cross the 30 point threshold.

So, we unpacked a lot of new game elements last night - I'll be honest, it was a little overwhelming. To recap what we have now:

1. General Building Advancement Cards
2. Treasures
3. Friends
4. Private Objectives
5. Minions (Three types: golems, robots, and ghosts).

We put a total of 8 new rule stickers in the book last night, and it was a lot to keep track of for one game. I was certainly having trouble.

The biggest change though, was the realization that we don't automatically get to keep crate and building cards that we unlocked. This question was prompted by the new Monument building, and I began wondering again when Caralee didn't move to build her free building - would she get to keep it? A few minutes after parsing through the rules, we discovered you would not.

Anyway, we were allowed to keep all your building cards from the first game. Indeed, you were supposed to be able to keep EVERYTHING. So....we all screwed ourselves over a little there with that rule misunderstanding. I had such a good combo of assistants too... But, others lost multiple resources and coins, so I won't complain too much. At any rate, we came to the realization that we couldn't carry all the building and crate cards with us towards the end of the game, and it radically changed how people sought to end it.

Anyway, my plan last night was to spam out my two buildings as quickly as possible and take a slower game. This plan received a boost when Richie (can grab back an influence when you use the treasury) appeared in the market, who I grabbed immediately. Using Daniel's kiln and my granary, I was able to rapidly shed influence to get my two buildings on the field. But at this point I hit a wall and realized I was playing the game wrong.

Two major mistakes. First off, at the conclusion of the last game, I had read my new persona's ability as "Get a VP whenever you BUILD a building with a wheat cost." No. It was "Get a VP whenever you USE a building with a wheat cost. This is where not building anything last game really came back to bite me. As I couldn't proc this ability right off the bat while everyone else was racking up victory points on theirs. However, this is made all the worse by the fact that the wheat market (and lumber market, belonging to Danielle), are just worse buildings than their clay, pumpkin, metal and coal equivalents right now. The opportunity to place reputation is simply not as good as the extra victory point or coin, as right now the influence is usually more at a premium than the placement opportunity. I had 3 reputation on the track at the end to finish in second place for 7 VP, and still finished in last overall.

The second mistake I made was going so hard on buildings and a final Charterstone when I could have gone for the relatively easy objectives (actually the same three as last game). I actually met the conditions for two of them I had by the end of the game, yet those VP went uncollected due to my lack of influence.

Finally, over the course of this game I realized Richie's main limitation. I spammed out all my influence early, and indeed, started the ticker going for a couple turns when I ran out. Pulling influence back was slower than expected though, because nobody else is using the market anymore when they have more efficient markets in their charters. I would repeatedly have to pull back my own workers this game.

I did have enough influence at the end to use the Charterstone, and with three minions already on the board, I decided to take the coinflip chance to get my own minion and carry them over to the next game. However, I missed here, and instead unlocked Friends; getting only a free friend and my brewery. I lost both of these an instant later when the game ended and had not the capacity nor the desire to keep them. At least I can guarantee a minion unlock and a free minion next game!

I also had no resources or money at all left at the end... Next game will be a slow start and I may have authored two big losses in a row with my play here. I would have been better off going for double-Grandstand to get another glory and skipping the Chartersone completely, but I thought I could pull that minion.

I kept Richie, which I have come to regret. Basically, he sounds great until you realize that other people can churn through using their markets more efficiently, and he only brings me up to par at present.

For example. Daniel uses his brick field, (Gains one brick), then sells the brick at his brick market for 2 coins. That's 1 coin/turn.

Without Richie, my option is just worse. Dave uses his field (Gains one wheat), then sells the wheat at the wheat market for 1 coin, 1 rep placement. That's .5 coins per turn plus the dubious value of getting to place a reputation every other turn. So, let's look at this where I use my Granary and the center market with Richie. I use my granary (1 reputation for 1 wheat and 1 coin),  then I use the center market (lose wheat for 1 reputation and 1 coin). So that works out to be 1 coin/turn....except I had to use a building outside my charter that nobody else will ever use and bump me off - combined with having to have an assistant to make it work for me. Yeah.... Feeling a little screwed by RNG right here. Especially at present as minions are dramatically buffing having high value buildings in your charter. We didn't see much of that this last game, but we're getting there.

Bad game for me, especially when you also factor in that I didn't use my persona. I didn't have any coins at the end to score extra on the guidepost, and Caralee won handily with 9 coins. She chose to make the King angry....we'll see what effects that has later on. The game is hinting towards a "hidden evil" subplot or something to that effect. In before the King turns out to be an evil despot. Guideposts actually seem to be worth pursuing though, contrary to what I thought would be the case. Getting it was what allowed Caralee to surpass Megan and win.

So, after much ado we made about NO WAY TO INCREASE CAPACITY, it turns out all losers get to raise their capacity by one.... Oops. I feel really bad for Daniel and Danielle, who both started bubbling in their stars before we realized this rule had been changed in the "End of game" stuff.

So, bad game for me, especially because I didn't hit the 3 glory mark, didn't use my persona, and had no resources, coins or minions to store for next time. My goal for next game is simply to get back into it. The guidepost (fewest objectives) will probably be competitive next game, so there might be good value I can get out of Richie to ensure I have the most influence at the end. As far as winning the game... I don't know.  That extra capacity early in the campaign seems worth way more than 6-8 VP at the end. Daniel thinks the end of game rules may change again to make bubbling in the capacity track more worth it. Maybe, I'm not sure to be frank. If you lost all 11 games remaining (starting with game 2), you get 11/12 bubbled in, which would not give you much utility out of of those capacity increases. This supports Daniel's supposition. Then again, to win the campaign, you need to be winning or landing the guideposts for that extra 6-10 VP each at the end of the day, so not bubbling in capacity to get those increases when you win seems to be almost planning to lose. We shall see in due time! 

For my part, I'm thinking about bubbling in my persona track next so I can get two persona's out in a game, score both of them, and make up for this game. You get scored off of how many you have used at the end of the campaign, and I put myself dangerously behind the curve this time.

There are more new mechanics than I can comment on well in one post, and that itself is noteworthy. While I like that players can unlock things at their own pace, it can create a cacophony of new mechanics to keep track of which was simply overwhelming last night. On the plus side, we're over the hump in terms of introducing new ones it seems, so next game there should be less even if players don't slow their roll. That's probably my biggest complaint with the game thus far, combined with the unclear wording of the guidepost which left us wondering who benefited from the win condition (or indeed, what it even was), for a few minutes.

The new elements all seem solid. Indeed, I really like that you can more selectively add buildings to your charter rather than simply be beholden to an upgrade tree. Although, by this point each charter has a distinct character defined by its starting resource. Megan has already filled 5 slots in hers. My favorite addition are the minions though, opening up a new layer of strategy and really emphasizing investment in your charter. The proliferation of advancement cards opens up tons of ways to try and accumulate VP now, and truly, no two players will likely pursue a win in the same way. I really like that.

Hopefully we've now got the last major rule misunderstanding under our belts - one of my least favorite aspects of playing Legacy games. And hopefully I'm less of a trash panda next time around. Atticus of Swananoa will come back with a vengeance next game!

Or you know, at least try not to finish last. XD

Eclipse: Fleet Admirals, A Homebrew Expansion

The galaxy is troubled. Tension and discord grow as the old alliances are shattered and new blocs rise to prominence. War seems increasingly likely, and the superpowers rush to expand their fleets. The great shipyards of the galaxy work continually churning out hordes of swift interceptors, deadly cruisers, and stalwart battleships. But who will command these new fleets? The drums of war are an opportunity for promising cadets and mercenary leaders alike as the great civilizations of the galaxy clamor for their expertise. Admiral! The fleet awaits your command!

Eclipse: Fleet Admirals

Eclipse Fleet admirals is a third party expansion compatible with Eclipse: A New Dawn for the Galaxy and its two expansions. Instead of nameless masses clashing in the depths of space, players will now have the opportunity to draft admirals who will dramatically impact the character of and tactics employed by their navies. Will you select an admiral who will lead your frontier forces to success? Or will you seek out the services of one who improves the efficiency of your shipyards? Many new paths to victory will open as you attach admirals to your fleets.

Contents

14 Fleet Admiral Cards
14 Admiral Pawns

Setup

At the outset of the game, near the general supply, uncover a number of admirals equal to the current number of players. Each turn, including the first, reveal an additional admiral from the supply after placing the new techs. The revealed admirals constitute the market.

Rules

At the beginning of each player turn, before taking a normal action, a player may purchase the services of one of the admirals from the market by paying the cost shown on the upper right hand corner of the card. Upon purchase, the player places the admiral's card near their play area, and places their pawn on the board. A pawn is eligible to go in a sector that has your influence and a ship in it. Admirals cannot be played into sectors that are currently contested. 

An admiral pawn must always be in a sector with one of your ships. An admiral must always have a ship in their sector to command from.

Admirals do not have any special move rules associated with them, and are instead considered to be "loaded" aboard one of the ships in the sector, and may move with any of them when a move action is executed.

Ships in the same sector as an admiral are considered under their "command," these will be the ships eligible for the admiral's effects.

Two admirals may never occupy the same sector. You may pass through a sector containing another admiral with an admiral, but you may not terminate your movement there. In the event two or more admirals do end in the same sector, a player must choose all but one and return them to the box.

Admirals with a "discard" effect return to the box after their use and do not reappear in the market.

During a battle, admirals are always considered on the last ship "alive." I.E. - There is no point in targeting a specific ship to kill an admiral early, they will always be on the last ship alive in a hex. If there are no ships left of a player's faction in the aftermath of a battle on a sector containing an admiral, that admiral has died and their card and pawn are returned to the box.

Admirals may not retreat, and in the event their fleet retreats and they are left alone in a sector where the battle took place without any ships, they are considered dead and must be returned to the box.

Regarding the key word "tapping." When it pertains to an admiral card, is indicated by flipping the card on its side.

In the event two admirals are in the same battle on opposing sides, and their abilities conflict, the attacker always resolves their effect first.

Good luck commander!


Included Fleet Admirals

Generic Admiral - Once per round of combat, you may tap this admiral to reroll one of your dice. The admiral untaps at the conclusion of each round. This ability cannot be used during a missile round.

2 Money, 3 Resources

Frontier Admiral - Once per battle, when fighting in a tier III hex, you may tap this admiral to change one of your dice to a six.

2 Money, 2 Resources

Broadside Admiral ("Ackbar") - Choose a ship by marking it with your admiral's pawn. Once per battle, after that ship has fired, you may tap your admiral that ship may immediately fire all of its guns again. This ability cannot be used during a missile round.

1 Money, 3 Resources

"Sato" - Once per battle, you may tap this admiral to replace one of your dice with a die of any other color. You must replace the die before rolling. This ability cannot be used during a missile round.

1 Money, 1 Material, 1 Science, 1 Resource

Fearless Admiral - Ships under this admiral's command get +1 to all dice rolls versus anomalies.

1 Money, 2 Resources

Bureaucratic Admiral - Once per game, you may discard this admiral to return two influence discs from your order track to your home row.

4 Resources

Archaeologist Admiral - When fighting in an artifact sector, you may tap this admiral once per battle to reroll up to two of your dice. You must use both rerolls at the same time.

2 Science, 2 Resources

Shipyard Admiral - The first ship built in this admiral's hex each turn may be constructed at a -1 materials discount.

1 Money, 1 Material, 1 Resource

Initiative Admiral - At the outset of  a battle, choose a ship class that is under this admiral's command by marking it with your admiral's pawn. All ships of that class receive +1 initiative for the duration of that battle. 

3 Money

Inner Rim Admiral - Once per battle, when fighting in tier I sector or the galactic core, you may tap this admiral to add one die of a color already in your attack pool to one ship's attack. This ability cannot be used during the missile round.

1 Money, 2 Materials

Emergency FTL Admiral - Once per game, you may tap and discard this admiral. A ship under their command that would have been otherwise destroyed instead escapes to your home sector. In the event you do not control your home sector, you may choose any sector where you have an influence disc as long as it is not currently occupied by enemy ships. If no such hex exists, you cannot use this admiral's ability. 

3 Money, 1 Resource.

Techie Admiral -  Once during the game, you may discard this admiral to gain one rare tech upgrade of your choice from the upgrade pool.

1 Money, 2 Science

Tank Admiral - Mark a ship at the outset of battle with your admiral's pawn. That ship ignores the first damage targeted against it each round of battle. 

2 Materials, 1 Resource 

Gale-Speed Admiral -  Once per turn, when you execute a movement order, you may tap this admiral. Up to 2 ships in this admiral's fleet may add one to their move range for one move activation.

1 Money, 1 Material, 2 Resource. 

Eclipse: Fleet Admirals Part 3

Okay, I've had some time to continue to mull over myself, discuss with Danielle, and iterate on these admirals as the day has worn on. In terms of thinking about marketing admirals, a key limitation is that there can't be more of them then there are more or readily distinguishable colors for pawns. In Pandemic, I have 14 pawns, which is actually more or less perfect, as my working idea for the admiral marketplace is currently: start with a number of admirals equaling the number of players, then add 1 at the start of each round. For a six player game, that's 14. Boom. I can start play-testing ideas. I'm also going to take my first crack at pricing them tonight. I've decided that, in taking a cue from the Lyra, Admirals will cost a combination of specific and generic resources, with money being my go-to one.

Obviously I have more than 14 ideas, but for this first pass I'm going to try to limit myself to the clear cream of the crop. Admirals who really embody my vision. I'm considering making each admiral card two sided, both will use the same color pawn, but which side is available in a game will be random. Alternatively, I've thought about having an advisor on one side, and an admiral on the other, and in flipping for the market, alternating which type goes into the slot.

These are all ideas for another time though. Let's pick 14 admirals.

Generic Admiral - Once per round of combat, you may tap this admiral to reroll one of your dice. The admiral untaps at the conclusion of each round. This ability cannot be used during the missile round.

2 Money, 3 Resources

Obvious choice, solid all around, and the one whose price I am basing others on.

Frontier Admiral - Once per battle, when fighting in a tier III hex, you may tap this admiral to change one of your dice to a six.

2 Money, 2 Resources

Maybe a little too helpful in those early Ancient battles, but definitely weaker than the generic admiral. Furthermore, he really embodies my desire for players to have admirals to command specific fleets fighting in specific regions of the galaxy. 

Broadside Admiral ("Ackbar") - Choose a ship by marking it with your admiral. Once per battle, after that ship has fired, you may tap your admiral that ship may immediately fire all of its guns again. This ability does not work for missile weapons.

1 Money, 3 Resources

Simple force multiplier, and a strong incentive to invest heavily in one ship. That being said, I think the generic admiral is simple better unless you really invest in computers and anti-matter cannons - at which point I think you deserve the benefits you get. 

"Sato" - Once per battle, you may tap this admiral to replace one of your dice with a dice of any other color. You must replace the die before rolling. This ability does not work for missile weapons.

1 Money, 1 Material, 1 Science, 1 Resource

No other name for this guy other than the Armada admiral that inspired him. Another simple force multiplier, although it occurs to me a lot of my admirals scale really well off AM Cannons and Computers. That being said, AM cannons could probably use the buff. Also, is it clear I don't like missiles yet? And to be clear, it's not because I think they're OP - they're not - they're just very unfun because of the play pattern that emerges as a result of their existence. 

Fearless Admiral - Ships under this admiral's command get +1 to all rolls versus anomalies.

1 Money, 2 Resources

Very niche, but a necessary one IMHO. Anomalies were one of the iffier additions to the third expansion, and while I'm sure the designers envisioned titanic battles over the extragalactic hex, in practice it takes players until ~t8 just to be able to kill three anomalies, which are very unfun to fight. This provides the player who pulls it a strong bonus and means we might see more dynamic play over the hex. 

Bureaucratic Admiral - Once per game, you may discard this admiral to return two influence discs from your order track to your home row.

4 Resources

This guy is hard for me to price, and honestly I think he maybe should be 5.... At any rate, we'll leave it for now. 

Archaeologist Admiral - When fighting in an artifact sector, you may tap this admiral once per battle to reroll up to two of your dice.

2 Science, 2 Resources

Another admiral that incentivizes paying attention to geography. Really helps with up front burst, btu definitely is worse that my generic admiral, so four resources it is!

These last three were Dani's picks of the 40 we came up with btw. 

Shipyard Admiral - The first ship built in this admiral's hex each turn may be constructed at a -1 materials discount.

1 Money, 1 Material, 1 Resource

If you work to maximize this guy's ability, he should provide a net 4-6 resources by the end of the game, depending on when you get him. 

Initiative Admiral - At the outset of  a battle, choose a ship class that is under this admiral's command by marking it with your admiral's  pawn.. All ships of that class receive +1 initiative for the duration of that battle. 

3 Money

See....I can leave at least one ability in that benefits missile users..... :P

Inner Rim Admiral - Once per battle, when fighting in tier I sector or the galactic core, you may tap this admiral to add one die of a color already in your attack pool to one ship's attack. This ability does not benefit missiles. 

1 Money, 2 Materials

Something something be aware of geography. 

Emergency FTL Admiral - Once per game, you may tap and discard this admiral. A ship under their command that would have been otherwise destroyed instead escapes to your home sector. In the event you do not control your home sector, you may choose any hex where you have an influence disc as long as it is not currently occupied by enemy ships. If no such hex exists, you cannot use this admiral's ability. 

4 Money, 1 Resource.

This one could potentially save you a lot of resources (losing the ship, having to build it again), and for that reason I'm hedging and making expensive. 

Techie Admiral -  Once during the game, you may discard this admiral to gain one rare tech upgrade of your choice from the upgrade pool.

1 Money, 2 Science

This ability may eventually get moved to an advisor, but for now, I think it's really cool and would be hard for any player to not find a use for. 

Tank Admiral - Mark a ship at the outset of battle with your admiral's pawn. That ship ignores the first damage targeted against it each round of battle. Note this is damage and not a die. 

2 Materials, 1 Resource

Another very all round useful if "not as good as some" ability, as an enemy with good burst can tear through it or save this ship for last.  

Gale-Speed -  Once per turn, when you execute a movement order, you may tap this admiral. Up to 2 ships in this admiral's fleet may add one to their move range for one move activation.

1 Money, 1 Material, 2 Resource

Possibly one of the best utilitarian admirals, but you still need to win the fight when you get there. 


Up next! Dave scribbles on note cards. 

Eclipse: Fleet Admirals Part 2

I've had a little more time to stew on the idea, and review some of the admirals I developed last night with Danielle this morning. I'll eventually combine the lists, and start nerfing/buffing as necessary (Explorer Admiral for example is probably going to get a big nerf), in the interim we came up with a few more ideas I'm going to add to the list.

Frontier Admiral - Once per battle, when fighting in a tier III hex, you may tap this admiral to change one of your dice to a six.

Inner Rim Admiral - Once per battle, when fighting in tier I or the galactic core, you may tap this admiral to add one die of a color already in your attack pool to one ship's attack.

Barbarian-Quelling Generallisimo - Once per battle when you are fighting ancients, you may tap this admiral to cancel the effect of one ancient die.

Fearless Admiral - Ships under this admiral's command get +1 on all rolls versus anomalies.

Ackbar - Once per battle, you choose a ship by marking it with your admiral token and tap your admiral. That ship may immediately fire all of its guns again.

Nagumo - Once per battle, you may choose a ship by marking it with your admiral token. Before anything else fires (including missiles), this ship may fire all of its guns.

Neo - When missiles are fired at a ship under this admiral's command, you may tap this admiral to remove 2 dice of your choice from the missile dice pool after your opponent rolls.

Weapons Failure Admiral - Once during a battle, you may select a player ship by marking it with the admiral token and tapping your admiral. That ship may not fire its guns on the current round. This effect does not work versus missile weaponry.

Weak Point Admiral - At the outset of battle, you may tap this admiral, select one class of enemy ship, and remove a hull or shield upgrade from it for the duration of the round. Hits are resolved on this ship as if the part was not there, and the empty slot is treated as a blank spot for the round. The part returns to the ship at the start of the next round.

Bureacratic Admiral - Once per game, you may discard this admiral to return two influence discs from your order track to your home row.

Motivating Admiral - Once per game, you may discard this admiral to immediately move a population from any of your population rows to any advanced square in a sector you control, even if you do not have the requisite technology.

Shipyard Admiral - The first ship built in this admiral's hex each turn may be constructed at a -1 materials discount.

Evasive Admiral - Once during a battle, tap this admiral to remove one die of your choice from an opponent's attack pool before they have rolled.

Techie Admiral -  Once during the game, you may discard this admiral to gain one rare tech upgrade of your choice from the upgrade pool.

Militia Admiral - If there is an orbital in a hex this admiral is defending, it becomes an untargetable gun platform with 0 initiative that rolls 2 orange dice each turn. In the event all other friendly ships in the hex are destroyed, this effect ceases.

FULL POWER Admiral - Select one ship at the outset of battle by marking it with your admiral's token. Tap the admiral to use their effect. For that round, this ship does not use its computers to modify its rolls and instead utilizes its surplus power, 1 power = +1 to rolls, 2 power  = +2 to rolls and so on.

Brace Admiral - Once during a battle, tap this admiral to half the damage of one enemy die, rounding down.

Lone Wolf Admiral - When this admiral has only one ship under his command, it gains a +1 to all rolls.

Archaeologist Admiral - When fighting in an artifact sector, you may tap this admiral once per battle to reroll up to two of your dice.

Wormhole Generating Admiral - Once per turn, you may tap this admiral to temporarily give one ship under his command the wormhole generator ability for the duration of the round. The admiral must remain aboard the ship for it's move.

Eclipse: Fleet Admirals Part 1

So, after nearly a year's hiatus from playing Eclipse, Danielle and I hosted a 5-player game of it tonight for our Decathlon. I actually sat out to admin instead of play, but just watching has me chomping at the bit to play Eclipse again. It truly is one of my favorite games, and scratches my itch for a really rewarding 4X game in a way few others can.

It also is unfortunately one of the more complex games we play, and our games have historically been plagued by newer or more timid players not understanding the meta-game and letting their neighbor farm uninterrupted to plasma missiles. The difficulty of introducing new players to this game and bringing them up to speed should dissuade me from trying to make it more complex, and yet....

Anyway, a couple years ago I created and began testing a few fan-made races Danielle and I came up with on a canoe trip. We even got plastic miniature ships printed for one. They were....meh, I think I landed on one moderately good idea for a race and 3 decidedly lackluster ones. On another note, I have a basic campaign story written up and legacy mechanics more or less developed in a Google Doc for a Legacy version of the game I keep telling myself I will get around to making - if for nobody else for me and my friends. Eclipse unfortunately has too many structural problems that prevent it from ever being a good Legacy game.

At any rate, all this is a prelude to say I'm continually thinking of ways to mod the game, and improve elements I think are lackluster (the tedious and bland combat being my least favorite aspect of Eclipse since day one). And while Eclipse Legacy will continue to lay nascent for now, tonight Dani and I came up with an idea for a fairly modular expansion I now want to put together.

Eclipse: Fleet Admirals

The basic logic is to give fleets a more flavorful feel and make battles have more personality than they do currently. Currently, the idea is to have a market admirals in the game that any player can buy at the outset of one of their turns. They would be represented on the board by tokens (which I play on stealing from Pandemic), and would follow around ships. No more than one would be allowed per sector, and in the event a fleet with one is completely destroyed, they would die and return to the box.

In my mind, players would probably buy 1-3 per game, and it would give them a chance to tailor their play-style and make battles more engaging.

In terms of what they should cost...right now I'm leaning towards costing 3-7 money each. I like the idea of giving players an incentive to save up gold early and slow their expansion for a bigger bonus late game. Additionally, it would serve as a badly needed stealth buff to the Eridani. Tuning them so that they cost enough gold to be impactful while not so little that they provide too much value could be hard though, and indeed, it might be better to make them not cost gold, or make each one cost a unique combination of resources.

Simultaneously, this idea puts me in the mind to just introduce a full suite of advisors to the game who would have similar effects without an on board avatar. I have a few ideas to that end too, but for now, I'm going to focus on developing ideas for admiral effects.

I'll add to this list in time, but at the moment, here are some of the effects I have in mind. All titles are stand-ins for admirals who will eventually have unique monikers.

Generic Buff Admiral - Once per round of combat, you may tap this admiral to reroll one of your dice.

DeBuff Admiral - Once per battle, you may tap this admiral to force your opponent to reroll one of their dice.

Sato - Once per battle, you may tap this admiral to replace one of your dice with a dice of any other color. You must replace the die before rolling

Riekkan - Once per battle, you may tap this admiral to prevent a ship from immediately dying, it will be removed after the next time it fires.

Initiative Admiral - At the outset of battle, choose a ship class. All ships of that class receive +1 initiative for the duration of the battle

VP Admiral - This admiral is worth 2 VP at the end of the game.

First Player Admiral - At any point in the game, this player may discard this admiral to take the first turn token for themselves.

Pillaging Admiral - Any time this admiral conquers a player controlled sector with planets and places an influence marker, the player may choose the cheapest technology available that they do not already have and place it on its corresponding technology track.

World-Cracking Admiral - After taking a sector and placing an influence disc, this player may discard this admiral to destroy one planet in this sector.

Tank Admiral - Place this admiral on one ship at the outset of battle. That ship ignores the first damage targeted against it each round of battle.

Explorer Admiral - Any time this admiral wins a battle versus ancient ships, the player may draw one discovery tile.

Recycling Admiral - At the conclusion of battle, collect 1 material immediately for each enemy unit you destroyed.

Inspiring Admiral - At the outset of battle, choose a ship to mark with the admiral's token. That ship gains +2 for up to 2 of its rolls each round.

Bastion Admiral - When defending a faction's home sector, all ships under this admiral's command get +1 to all rolls.

Emergency FTL Admiral - The first time a cruiser or interceptor is destroyed in a battle, you may tap this admiral. The ship instead reappears at the faction's home sector.

Gale-Speed -  Once per turn, when you select a movement order, you may tap this admiral. Up to 2 ships in this admiral's fleet may add 1 total of one to their move range for one move activation.

Cloaking Device Admiral - Once per turn, when you select a movement order, you may tap this admiral. One ship cannot be pinned while moving.

Fortress Admiral - Starbases under this Admiral's campaign get an inherent +1 to all rolls.

Spynet Admiral - Once per game, you may discard this admiral to look at an opponent's reputation tiles (not including special reputation tiles). After looking at them, you may swap one of yours for one of theirs.

Sabotage Admiral - Once per battle, tap this admiral and mark an opponent's ship with your admiral token. For the next round of combat, that ship does not benefit from it's shields or computers.

That's my first crack at this concept.

My second pass will likely be broad nerfs, as I think most of these are too strong at the moment. My challenge is I want to create something flavorful, but not game defining. I don't want your game to come down to if you get a certain admiral or not, but I would like to provide players a neat way to tailor their fleets to have more character, and supply yet another option for players who are looking for a way to grind out a couple more VP as Round 9 approaches.