A lot of years ago I used to play FASA's battle tech games. The concept was similar to x-wing: spend points, buy and modify your battlemech, combat with it.

What I miss in x-wing? Campaign books. I know there are a few missions in the large boxes, but are unstructured. What I'm dreaming of is a series of missions linked in some way and involving some strategic decisions. The idea is to follow a path where each step is a battle. Factions alternate deciding which step to follow (or winner decides), but new paths and options open/close depending on the results of the battles and on the branch taken.

Before each step the factions can spend points (like in a regular game) but maybe with some limited options depending on what happened (ex: rebels won the battle at Sienar's bombers factory? In this step imperials have to attack the rebel capital ship without tie bombers).

Options may involve which system to bring war on, and different systems may have different facilities/missions. Some "interludes" May involve some "bonus missions" sporting Han Solo protecting a bothan spy which may not be central to the campaign, but "unlock" some options for the faction. There is enough for different campaign books 50 pages each... And could sell for 35$ each. Maybe more if they also include some cardboard specific obstacles/defenses.

The Tantive IV campaign booklet has a branching campaign, and I'd love to see more. It also limits what unique cards you can use, and if a unique dies you can't use them in the rest of the campaign.

With a bit of imagination though it's not hard to turn the individual missions into branching campaigns, and it is really fun with the right group. I did one for flames of war once, where we wrote out an entire regiment's worth of points, and if a tank/squad/aircraft was destroyed, it was gone for good, so your pool of units to build armies for each mission got smaller and smaller.

Absolutely no reason you couldn't do that in x-wing - I'd love to write up a Star Destroyer's worth of Fighters and use just them over a series of missions, taking casualties into account.

you could see my thread. i was just saying the same thing.

A good branching one though:

Inquisitor's Path... I think by Dagobah Dave

I'd like to see this.

I think you'd have more of a demand for it than you'd see here.

I think competetive play based players tend to gravitate to the forums to debate rules, find out tactics etc whereas your 'family and friends' play at home types dont really need to keep up with the meta but would love stuff like this.

I think a 'campaign book' on its own would need to be well marketed with some promotional events or the better option in my eyes would be to use it to launch scenery options and game aids.

For example a 'yavin' campaign book would do well if it came with two or three turbo laser turrets and a 'trench' on a roll of vinyl.

Likewise something based around reseach stations (like the 'cutting the cord' scenario with imp aces) could come with some asteroid research base models.

Rulebook plus scenery would mean that you'd get more players buying it. The completists would buy it for the models, the narrative gamers for the scenarios.

I definitely think a "scenario pack" (scenery plus book) would be an excellent idea. Kudos Tauntaun & Gadge.

I really enjoy X-Wing, but I'm an 'old-school' wargamer where I like to have a reason why I'm fighting and some kind of objective other than just 'kill the enemy'. Having a set with scenarios (say 5 or 6) that can be either "one-of's" of linked into a campaign, along with some special model/terrain/gubbin would be something I would buy. If you really wanted to do something cool you could have each pack stand alone or be able to link them all into one huge overarching campaign.

I think in certain ways that scenario play is more fun and can be quite a bit more challenging than a duel. I truly miss playing scenarios from my days playing BattleTech, Renegade Legion, Silent Death and many more tabletop games. And again, a product like this is something I would whole heartedly (and with open wallet ) support.

I'm the same.

even our 100 point stand up fights tend to have a 'reason' behind them.

For example a game agains the wife flying 'kath scarlet' where she took 'rebel captive' we decided that the rebel captive was being transported in the firespray to be interogated by the imperials.

The captive knew too much so the rebels ambushed the firespray and escort to stop it getting to its destination

(i appreciate there is no way to 'recapture' the captive but we assumed a 'destroyed' firespray was actually just disabled and unable to hyperspace or manouvre or fight in any way)

Sounds like we're on the same page. Wish we weren't on the opposite sides of the pond, I think we'd have some good games. You wouldn't happen to be coming over to TempleCon in February would you?

Back to the OT...

FFG has already put out scenarios in the big ship boxes and a mini-campaign with the Tantive IV, really it wouldn't be that hard for them to put together a few scenario packs as outlined. Maybe a little "market research" beforehand would give them an idea of how well something like this would sell?

I said a while back that .. prob in one of the many prediction posts .. that ffg should produce these kits. It would be additional product for ffg to sell that requires very little testing or production costs. As mentioned, a yavin pack with turbolasers, rules for them and a bunch of scenarios which utilises them. Other packs could include shield generators for ywing/bomber bombing runs, space station wings for capture the flag style missions, etc.

Packs need not include pilot or upgrade cards .. just scenarios and some appropriate terrain.

It would also add some different flavour to the game. I see some posts here and there about folks growing bored with the 1vs 1 deathmatch. It would also shake up the meta a bit as we would be debating lists for contests outside of the 1vs1 deathmatch.

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I really enjoy X-Wing, but I'm an 'old-school' wargamer where I like to have a reason why I'm fighting and some kind of objective other than just 'kill the enemy'.

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even our 100 point stand up fights tend to have a 'reason' behind them.

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Exactly, duels are fun but I fear they'll become boring soon. In my case, I tend to fantasize a lot when playing (i'm an RPG guy)... Recreating scenes from the movies is much more fun for me than just putting some min/maxed minis on the board and shooting to the last.

The idea of the "recreate the battle" pack is great. I have myself proposed elsewhere static defense turrets or base stations with shields (integrated with the point cost system)... Still, I don't think the designers will want to transform a quick game of dogfighting into something based on static elements (and too many turrets now are already taking away from maneuvering). Nonetheless, I'd really like a thematic book and a score system different from the classic "blast everything" game.

The minis are visually wonderful and really add to the "movie feeling", but the classic duel game is really bland on this department. The point system is very balanced... They just need to build on it for adding more flavor. They have RPG and boardgame departments, with great artists and writers. Shouldn't be too difficult to exploit the synergies. I already plan to use the minis in my Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion games.

I would love to see a scenario/mission book. One that came with optional pre-built squads. Pull out the game, pick a mission, setup and play. Whoo Hoo!!! If the missions could tie together in a campaign great but not at the expense of being able to play individual missions.

The thing is static defences *wont* take anything away from manouvering.

99 er cent of ships *have* to make at least one forward move so you're always going to have to manouvre yourself for another flypast even if one side was wholly turrets.

To stop people repeatedly k turning on them you just need to build some sort of turret upgrade like 'flechette launchers' that shroud the turret with a swarm of flechettes that cause stress

I agree that campaigns are fun. I remember some old 5th Ed Warhammer Fantasy boxed sets that had some good story and each win gave a side an edge....but not enough to just win in the next games. I wrote 4 scenarios to work as a campaign. It's just 4 missions, but I have had fun with it. It's gotten some good feedback. I've had to go back and re-work it a bit for balance and new books.

I've uploaded them on the Mission Control website that FFG put up. It's a website that has a lot of different missions. My first mission is now ranked #12 out of all of them, so I like to think it doesn't suck. Just search for any by heychadwick. You should see them all.

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The Erasmus Campaign

by Jim Chadwick


After the destruction of the Death Star at the Battle of Yavin, the Rebel Alliance spent many months looking for a new base as the Imperium hunted them every step of the way. When a new base was finally secured on the Outer Rim, the Rebel leaders took stock of the situation. After the abolition of the Senate and the destruction of Alderaan, the Rebellion had gained popular support. It was deemed that some high profile victories would help secure vital support for the Rebellion. How would the Rebel Alliance strike at the heart of the Empire while stationed in the Outer Rim and how to do so without giving up their current location? General Solo suggested some jump point routes used by smugglers to get into the Core systems via a quiet and almost forgotten star system named Erasmus. The star system had only a single planet that was a gas giant with a few mining colonies on it. A significant number of asteroid belts were also mined for valuable metals. A worn-down space station housed the local Imperial garrison and acted as the local repair docs and way station for military convoys throughout that area of the Mid Rim. With such a small Imperial presence in the system, and the large number of jump points into the Core systems available, it was an excellent spot to move into the heart of the Imperium undetected.

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My goal was to play the game without the best and hardest tournament stuff around. It's the base game with generic pilots doing specific missions. Your ships can get creamed, but if you complete the mission, you win. You gain the chance to get a few unique pilots in the game, but they are exceptions. Also, the Imperials get Mareek Stele as one. Many people complain about him, but I think he's worth trying for. He's a higher PS than generics and can gain Elite talents. Also, in the 2nd mission the Rebels need ships with Ion Turrents or Cannons. That usually means high Hull Points. Mareek does well vs. them. The third mission requires a named Rebel pilot. If someone wants to take the Falcon, then Mareek shines again. I think he's a good counter to some of the things a Reble player could take and useful in specific scenarios.

Overall, I had fun with it and I hope you have fun with it, too. Campaigns are a fun diversion from competitive play and can help give ideas for your more competitive lists.