It was the final battle of our first Corellian Conflict campaign and the Rebels were being crushed in the Empire’s iron fist. We were down 0-7 by the end of the second round and records after that are missing, presumably erased by the victors–surely we won some games! I’d built up a fleet of small ships commanded by General Dodonna, with a small fighter wing led by Luke Skywalker.

Rebels deployed to make their last stand against Lord Vader

Vader surely felt a disturbance in the Force that day, because I had enlisted my best gunner, Henry B, to roll dice for me that day. My son was not quite five years old but loved coming to watch my Armada games and roll those dice, as long as his attention span would allow. I’d started playing Armada almost two years prior, after picking up a whole mess of ships in a used box at Guardian Games. But with this campaign at Red Castle Games, I’d finally found a group to play with.

Henry’s ready to roll some black crits

Near the end of this epic last stand, Vader let his flagship get flanked by two MC30s. One delivered a brutal volley into the side of his Arquitens Cruiser and he was down to a single hull. At this point, the rest of the campaign group was gathered around, having finished their games. Luke’s X-wing slipped in as the debris from the MC30’s torpedo volley knifed through space all around him, making a decisive bombing run.

Henry stepped up to roll Luke’s single black Bomber die. I probably had to boost him up to do it.

Luke, you blew up your dad *shakes fist*

The whole table erupted in cheers! Not only was this just awesome, but it also gave me the win: 226-179 for the Rebels.

Henry was pretty stoked to be the star of the show. Pretty sure he became an Armada fan for life.