Star Wars Armada has always been a game that is epic in scope. It is, after all, the game in which you send very large space ships against even larger spaceships, whilst tiny, tiny models of TIE fighters and X-Wings swarm across the board taking pot shots at anything they can get near.
The Corellian Conflict expands the game into a campaign; multiple games in which the outcome of one fight can impact the outcome of other games. This means you and your rebel playing buddies can gang up on your chums who play the poor Imperial fleet (who are probably just minding their own business and oppressing alien scum). Each player designs a fleet of 400 points, and obviously you have to have an even number of people in the campaign (up to 6). You’re limited on the number of unique cards, obviously. So only one Darth Vader at any time, for example. You draw mission cards and these give you cool things like space stations.
These are useful. They can give you the edge in future battles. It’s worth pointing out that over the course of the campaign, ships can be become scarred, meaning that they’ve gotten battle damaged in a fight. Fail to spend resources on healing a ship and you could lose it entirely in the next battle.
You log who takes control of what as the game continues and a nifty map and some worksheets are provided. The campaign can (optionally) end in one huge epic battle. Rules for different player numbers and table layouts are provided, and the whole thing is neatly put together and very comprehensive.
If you’re not into campaigns, the set does come with 12 new objectives and 16 new squadron cards, which is something any Armada player can enjoy. Some of these are variants on familiar themes. Of special interest is the Captain Janus, a Tie Bomber Squadron that lets you always gain an accuracy token if you stay in formation. Imperials also get Ciena Ree, who’s great at tackling swarms. We also get a Rogue Squadron card for you X-Wing pilots and which works as a nifty bombing card. Shara Bey makes A-Wings even tougher, and also happens to be Poe Dameron’s mother, which is cool.
This is a strong expansion, that adds much needed rules, cards and tools to Armada. It’s likely that as a regular Armada player you have friends who also play regularly, and this set breathes new life into the game without cluttering your shelf with more space ships. A strong expansion and one you’ll likely get a lot of use out of.
STAR WARS: ARMADA – THE CORELLIAN CONFLICT / DESIGNERS: MAX BROOKE, ALEX DAVY, MICHAEL GERNES, SAM STEWART / ARTISTS: VARIOUS / PUBLISHER: FANTASY FLIGHT GAMES / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
