Yeah but that would be a pig to track, you'd have to put a move direction counter on them or an arrow on their base.

Maybe not that hard.

I'm just thinking of the bit in ESB where there is just a mass of drifting asteroids.

You're right *physics* wise they should have a direcion of travel until they hit something but since when did physics ever live in the star wars universe

You could move them like the game asteroids where they just go in one direction at the same speed and reappear on the other side of the battle field when they go off the edge

Yeah, actually I think just putting an arrow on the bases and moving them 1 per turn could be pretty cool. Might try it.

Check out this link... http://nezumi.me.uk/Rebel_Scum/Celestial/Deal/Dealer.html

It's a system someone came up with more types of obstacles, and a random draw to decide what's put on the table. I take zero credit for it, I just happened to bookmark it some time ago.

Seems there was a page there with a PDF for print the cards and obstacles, but I can't find it now, and the PDF I have is broken.

The way I'd do moving asteroids is with the 40k drift die, and then each one moves 1 forward a turn, when it hits an edge it comes back in from a random side and gets a new drift roll.

I might try it too actually.

If there is a colision then they go in the opposite direction, both of them.

If there is a colision then they go in the opposite direction, both of them.

Or the larger one could destroy the smaller one... Replace it with a debits token from the wave 5 stuff, or/also respawn it on a random edge.

What about leaving blown up ships on the board. Would have to put something on them to ID that they are in fact dead and are now obstacles.

While i like that as an idea, in the SW universe ships (and even death stars) tend to completely atomise when they blow up... to the point that you can 'chicken' with a tie.. blow it up and fly *through* the debris with no adverse effects.

I think wrecked ships look cool but though.

What about leaving blown up ships on the board. Would have to put something on them to ID that they are in fact dead and are now obstacles.

Round our way when a ship is destroyed the owner must physically destroy his model, then return it to the board as debris. It goes in the bin at the end of the match.

There is a legendary, quite likely apocryphal, tale in GW staff circles told off two managers who had a 3000 point game of warhammer with painted lead figures... every time one 'died' the other player who killed it got to smash it with a hammer.

Story did the rounds for years.

I think i found out the truth of it was they got to smash the other players general if they won but i preferred the legend.

I really do wish FFG will be more creative in the terrain department.

We are finally getting debris to use as well as asteroids, but there could also be space stations, civilian freighters, disabled starships, mines, nebulas, asteroid bases, cargo containors, and many other things to float in space.

I mostly play Star Trek Attack Wing and we have planets, orbital weapons platforms, minefields, space stations, debris, destroyed starships, and many, many, many other terrain options to make the game interesting and enjoyable.

I would like to see FFG to release a terrain pack and allow the new terrain options to be tournie legal. I also think that the big ship templates that come with the Rebel Transport and Tantive should be tournie-legal.

There are all sorts of ships and container tokens in the game, they just aren't used in tournaments. If youa re looking for that type of game, you should totally try out the scenarios, they are a lot of fun.

Tournaments are meant to test skill though, not a random assortment of gimmicks. The set up is bare bones for a reason, it keeps the mat as streamlined as possible while still forcing careful flying.

While I would love for there to be more cool cardboard released by FFG for casual play, I think it is best to limit the amount that we see in tournament play.

This thread made me stop lurking and post.

I like the idea of large obstacles that affect ships. Maybe a large planet with some gravitational pull. Maybe any ship ending their movement within range 1-2 of the large planet must perform a free boost (or barrel roll?) toward the planet.

This thread made me stop lurking and post.

I like the idea of large obstacles that affect ships. Maybe a large planet with some gravitational pull. Maybe any ship ending their movement within range 1-2 of the large planet must perform a free boost (or barrel roll?) toward the planet.

The only issue with that is that you have to be really close to a planet for it to affect such a small mass in a significant way. At that distance and the scale of the game, you would basically just declare that one side of the mat represents gravity.

This thread made me stop lurking and post.

I like the idea of large obstacles that affect ships. Maybe a large planet with some gravitational pull. Maybe any ship ending their movement within range 1-2 of the large planet must perform a free boost (or barrel roll?) toward the planet.

The only issue with that is that you have to be really close to a planet for it to affect such a small mass in a significant way. At that distance and the scale of the game, you would basically just declare that one side of the mat represents gravity.

Yeah. I should have known better than to use gravity. Even considering star wars physics. Maybe the obstacle is an unmanned tractor beam.

In general, obstacles that affect ships in a certain range could add some interesting flavor. Attractive force, areas that restrict speed to 2 or less, etc.

This thread made me stop lurking and post.

I like the idea of large obstacles that affect ships. Maybe a large planet with some gravitational pull. Maybe any ship ending their movement within range 1-2 of the large planet must perform a free boost (or barrel roll?) toward the planet.

The only issue with that is that you have to be really close to a planet for it to affect such a small mass in a significant way. At that distance and the scale of the game, you would basically just declare that one side of the mat represents gravity.

Yeah. I should have known better than to use gravity. Even considering star wars physics. Maybe the obstacle is an unmanned tractor beam.

In general, obstacles that affect ships in a certain range could add some interesting flavor. Attractive force, areas that restrict speed to 2 or less, etc.

Yeah, maybe like a giant electromagnet. That would be kinda neat. After a ship completes it's maneuver it moves again with a 1 white soft curve towards the magnet. Maybe it could be from the front or the back based on which side is closer to the magnet? The backward would be cool to pull off some serious arc dodging madness.

I usually play an open field when introducing the game to new players. The mechanics are a bit hard to remember when trying to factor everything else when planning moves, such having to avoid crashing while trying to position one's ships outside the enemy's firing arcs while putting them on one's own at the same time.

However, every time I play without them, I feel like something is missing. My strategies center on using obstacles as blockers, barriers, and guides on how to group my forces. Every time I've played with asteroids, they've never felt dull or boring. My opponent and I always use different layouts. Sometimes the biggest rock is on the middle, other times near the edge. Using the asteroids helps me visualize how my ships will fly across the board.

I agree that new players should not play with obstacles until they have a better understanding of how ships fly and the mechanics of the 4 Phases of the game. This usually happens on the 4th or 5th game, give or take and even then they should not try all 6 asteroids at once.

True, playing an open field forces one to change strategies and methods, which helps exercise flexibility, so a couple of games with no obstacles is a nice change of pace, bringing a different set of challenges. Still, flying with obstacles is a better experience for me and the people I play against.

You see that was exactly my point. the fact that you plan your strategy to make asteroids an active part of defence rather than a hazard means that playing *without* them at times forces you to use a different approach.

hence more variety, hence more interesting than using them *every* game.

This thread made me stop lurking and post.

I like the idea of large obstacles that affect ships. Maybe a large planet with some gravitational pull. Maybe any ship ending their movement within range 1-2 of the large planet must perform a free boost (or barrel roll?) toward the planet.

The only issue with that is that you have to be really close to a planet for it to affect such a small mass in a significant way. At that distance and the scale of the game, you would basically just declare that one side of the mat represents gravity.

Yeah. I should have known better than to use gravity. Even considering star wars physics. Maybe the obstacle is an unmanned tractor beam.

In general, obstacles that affect ships in a certain range could add some interesting flavor. Attractive force, areas that restrict speed to 2 or less, etc.

Yeah, maybe like a giant electromagnet. That would be kinda neat. After a ship completes it's maneuver it moves again with a 1 white soft curve towards the magnet. Maybe it could be from the front or the back based on which side is closer to the magnet? The backward would be cool to pull off some serious arc dodging madness.

Ha! A "backward boost" would be awesome.

Check out this link... http://nezumi.me.uk/Rebel_Scum/Celestial/Deal/Dealer.html

It's a system someone came up with more types of obstacles, and a random draw to decide what's put on the table. I take zero credit for it, I just happened to bookmark it some time ago.

This is AWESOME. Whoever came up with it, great job, I am totally stealing the idea and will get my group to start using it.

what about at the end of the movement phase you have an asteroid movement phase. it alternates between players. you get to move one asteroid any speed 1 speed template any direction. Just one asteroid as moving all of them would take to much time.

Do you play X-Wing with asteroids is kind of like asking if you play tennis with a net.

It was mentioned earlier that x wing is a game of skill and terrain other than the 6 asteroids would deter from that contest. But in thus show down of skill we're throwing dice! LOL

We also used special movement rules when we had a black hole on the board: depending on your range to the hole, your ship would be moved closer to the hole.