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Gameplay: 9/10

Lore: 2/10

Hobbying: 5/10

So I’m going to try to be as positive as possible in this review (which probably gives you a sneak peak into what my gut feelings are about Armada from Mantic Games).

To start out, I really wanted to like this game. I love the idea of naval combat. I have unloaded plenty of money into Black Seas, the wargame from Warlord Games that is the basis for the rules to Armada (Mantic worked with Warlord to adapt the Black Seas rules to their Kings of War world). And there’s no hiding the fact that I’m an absolute Warlord Games fanboy.

Gameplay

So, let’s start with rules: the rules are really good. The gameplay of Armada is really good. If you’re just playing a naval warfare game and not expecting anything more from it than boats fighting at sea, then you’re going to be very happy. There is absolutely nothing in this ruleset that I have any strong objections to.

To start with, the initiative is one of my favorite things, which is based on the direction of the wind: whatever direction the wind is coming from will determine which ships will get to move first. I love this. I love that the wind changes throughout the game, and I love the random nature that this introduces into the game that can make a fast full-speed-ahead order suddenly halted by a shift in the wind.

Movement is also great, with templates to allow for turns and rulers to determine moves. The maneuvering is quick and uncomplicated, but when you’re playing on a small table (the mat is 3’x3′) you don’t feel hamstrung by unnecessary complications that can come up in historical naval combat. (These rules, though based on Black Seas, are a streamlined version of Black Seas.)

Shooting is also done by careful movement setup, and then the unleashing of cannons (or other fantastical weapons). and there are rules (on cards) that indicate the armament of each and every ship to show where its guns are located, how strong the guns are, and how strong the ships are. (There are also random tables which show the wide variety of possible damage.)

Boarding actions are the next part of the movement step, where ending your turn within three inches of an enemy ship you can try to board (assuming you’re not moving at full speed).

This is one of the mechanics that I like a lot: some factions in Armada are especially good at movement and maneuvering, some are good at shooting, and some are good at boarding. (And, some factions–like Orcs–are good at ramming.) There are a lot of ways to play the game.

So, when it comes to gameplay, this game gets a big 9/10 from me. I really, really love the way this game plays, and it’s a testament to both the original Black Seas rules and to Mantic’s careful transposing of those rules into a more simplified and fantastical setting.

Lore

This is a Kings of War game, and I have already made it known my feelings about Kings of War lore. In the starter box for Kings of War, the lore was completely non-existent. In this book, there is a ton of lore, but it’s just…. how do I say this?

When I write a book my editor asks me to write a synopsis: a one page summary of the entire book. This is extremely hard, because you have try to get in all the plot points, PLUS the character arcs, PLUS the foreshadowing, PLUS the theme. Every author hates this.

Now imagine that JRR Tolkien was asked to write a one-page synopsis of the Silmarillion. That is how the Background section of this book reads. We go through eons of history of the Kings of War world, touching a little on each race–but only a little–and the entire history of the planet, from the dawn of creation to the present, takes place over seven or eight pages.

Two problems: first, it gives SO MUCH information that is completely unnecessary. There is nothing in the background lore that feels like it’s immersing me in the world of Pannithor. It’s like reading the a synopsis of the entirety of the Bible and then having a game set in the Crusades: yes the background is kind of relevant, but do we really need ALL of it? Do I need to know about Noah to understand why knights were invading Jerusalem? Do I need to know about Samson to understand Richard the Lionheart? And yet there is SO MUCH ANCIENT HISTORY in the background of this game.

So, we get a ton of lore, but none of it is particularly useful lore. Or, best case scenario, it’s vast overkill. We do not need to know this stuff.

Perhaps more importantly is that this lore, because it is such high-level stuff, reads almost like Fantasy Worldbuilding Mad Libs. We move so quickly from giant event (The God War) to giant event (The Great Plague) to giant event (The Time of Ice and The Flood), etc, etc, that it really feels generic, fill-in-the-blanks fantasy history. Cool concepts are mentioned, but never fleshed out (and seemingly passed over as thousands more years pass). Any one of these events could be a cool setting for Armada, but it’s just a history book to read.

So, despite Kings of War lore being scored a 1/10 for being so non-existent, Armada’s lore gets a 2/10 for being huge and, sadly, pointless.

Hobbying

It was the hobbying aspect that drew me to this game (well, that, and the relation to Black Seas) because some of the boats look pretty great. And yes, some of the boats do look pretty great.

Two problems: first, some of the models are just silly. I absolutely love the Orc boats that have the massive drill on the prow (Blood Runners), and the one with the mortar shooting out of a gaping maw (Bombboats). But the ones with the huge spinning fists on the front? The Hammerfists? That stretches my suspension of disbelief a little far.

Second, and the MUCH bigger problem is that these models are made out of resin, and as such they are not straight. There are some models where you can straighten something out in a dish of warm water to make the bendy resin better hold its shape, but I’m talking every single mast in the box was twisted and curved. The figures on the prows of the boats who are supposed to be holding up flaming torches? They’re curved like a bow. I wanted to sit down and enjoy putting this kit together and I spent way too much time just trying to make everything straight (and kind of failed).

All of that said, once you get these models painted up, they look really good on a playmat. They’re substantial and attractive, if a bit bland.

This is why I had to give the hobby portion of the game a 5/10, lower than the score I gave to Kings of War, because at least Kings of War used plastic for the most part and had more detail.

My Biggest Complaint: We’ve Already Seen This Game Before, Back When It Was Called Dreadfleet

Armada is a 2020 release, which has good rules, terrible lore, and frustrating hobbying.

Dreadfleet (a Games Workshop limited edition from 2011) had mediocre rules, amazing lore, and fantastic hobbying. Seriously, everything about Dreadfleet (sans rules) makes Armada look like such a wannabe knock off. Does Armada have Egyptian-inspired boats? Yes, but Dreadfleet did it first and they were better. Does Armada have Dwarven ironclads? Yes, and Dreadfleet did it first and they were better. The models from Dreadfleet were outstanding in every sense. They make Aramada pale in comparison. (And Dreadfleet was done in hard plastic.)

Yes, if we’re looking solely at gameplay, then Armada is an extremely solid game that deserves every accolade–and is better than its predecessor. But in every other characteristic Dreadfleet was superior–and it did it nine years before Armada even tried.

Conclusion

I am deeply disappointed in Armada, though I am kicking myself for not researching it better. If I had realized that it was a Kings of War game I wouldn’t have gone into it with such high expectations. Instead, I knew that it was an adaptation of Black Seas in a fantasy setting and assumed it was going to be great.

I honestly don’t mean to be so harsh on Kings of War yet again. I know it has a well-established fan base that love it. And, I 100% admit that Armada follows in the footsteps of Kings of War in having a really good gameplay system. Both games are, by all accounts, good fun to be had on the tabletop. It’s just the lore and the hobby aspect where they fall epically flat for me.