The Force is strong with the game design ugnaughts at Fantasy Flight Games. The company has been releasing loads of killer Star Wars content for years now, and in my opinion, their products have come closer to simulating both the look and the feel of the source material than any other game company before them.
I have been playing both of the currently available volumes of their planned three volume Star Wars role-playing system - Star Wars: Edge of the Empire and Star Wars: Age of Rebellion - and have had a blast as both gamemaster and player. I eagerly snap up every source book and adventure the company releases, and will sometimes just sit and read them for pleasure, even when I'm not currently involved with a Star Wars adventure. Their innovative dice system and fast, simple rules capture capture the action of the movies with a minimum of number-crunching and page-flipping.
I'm also a big fan of Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars: X-Wing game of miniature combat. I've never been much of a war gamer, but even I can't resist the allure of pushing a little Tie Interceptor across my tabletop and making "Pew-pew-pew!" noises at my opponent's X-Wings. (Yes, I play as the Empire every time, Rebel scum!) Much like the role-playing game, the table-top mini game is fast moving and simple, but also very robust in terms of customization and strategies. It's highly addictive, too, and frankly, I don't even want to sit down and think about all of the money I've spent on those incredibly cute little star fighters, not to even mention the big ships like Slave I, Millennium Falcon, and a very cool Lamda Class Shuttle with little foldable wings.
Suffice it to say that between their role-playing line and the X-Wing mini game, most of my gaming budget over the past year or so has been pumped directly into the coffers of Fantasy Flight Games. Now it looks like I had better prepare to send even more cash their way. The company just announced that they're releasing an all-new tactical miniature combat game titled Star Wars: Armada, and it looks awesome.
While the game appears similar to X-Wing, Star Wars: Armada is a stand-alone game system focusing on large-scale battles waged by capital ships and entire squadrons of fighters. Long-term strategy and resource management appear to be important components of Armada, as opposed to X-Wing's frenetic skirmishes.
The starter game set retails at $99.95 and comes with three painted capital ships, ten squadrons, attack dice, tokens, cards, and a maneuver tool and ruler. The release date is "early 2015". Check it out here.