Wave 5 has given us new debris tokens in the form of shattered craft that still allow for firing but also assign a stress.* Has anybody tried placing them when when a ship is destroyed where the base was? The more ships are destroyed and as the game progresses, the more stress giving debris show up. In addition to asteroids this makes for an increasingly hectic battle space. I imagine it also puts a dent in a lot of the ships that need to be free of stress -- like Phantoms. Has anybody tried this? I'd be fascinated to hear. If you have, please share the lists involved too and anyway they were specifically affected.

*It occurs to me this could be TOO cluttered a battlefield. Perhaps a rule that says to roll a die and on a certain result place debris. Say: "When a craft is destroyed immediately roll an attack die. On a hit, place one debris token. Roll two attack die when rolling for large based ships."

I love the concept. I will be trying it out as soon as I get my wave 5 stuff. (have to wait till xmas)

Excellent. Don't have Wave 5 yet, but will certainly consider this. Good call.

Perhaps a rule that says to roll a die and on a certain result place debris. Say: "When a craft is destroyed immediately roll an attack die. On a hit, place one debris token. Roll two attack die when rolling for large based ships."

I like. I'd also add that if a destroyed ship has any faceup damage cards, add a debris field.(max 2 on table at any time?)

If a ship suffered 1 or less points of "overkill" damage, assign 1 debris cloud after removing the ship.

So, if a ship breakes up and is not vaporized basicly.

I like the idea of dispersing debris fields, something to the effect of "When a ship is removed from the table, place a debris token within range 1 of its location. Remove this token at the end of the second round of combat after it is placed."

It keeps things cluttered but not at the same time.

Placing anywhere but directly where the base was lifted from seems problematic because it will invariably lead to people placing them in advantageous positions, where as taking it out of either player's hands keeps it neutral. Certainly there will be some debate about immediate placement but much less than there would be on a range 1 bubble.

You could say: "When a craft is destroyed by a primary weapon attack immediately roll an attack die. On a hit, place one debris token. Roll two attack die when rolling for large based ships."

Adding the primary weapon bit makes it so that no secondary attacks create debris. So a missile hit vaporizes the whole craft leaving no debris. Nicely tapers the number of debris tokens that will happen while still allowing their appearance.

In the rules for Mission 11: Interdiction (which is included in the Decimator expansion) there is a special rule for debris placement:

"Total Annihilation: When the VT-49 Decimator destroys a ship, the Imperial player places one of the debris cloud obstacle tokens in the play area such that at least part of the debris cloud overlaps the base of the destroyed ship."

This at least gives us an idea of how the developers think debris clouds should be used on destroyed ships.

We've been experimenting with randomizing debris fields and asteroids with die rolls at the beginning of the game.

When it's your turn to place an obstacle, roll 1 attack die:

Blank or Focus: Pick and place 1 Asteroid.

Hit: Pick and place 1 Debris.

Critical: Pick and place 1 Asteroid and 1 Debris.

I have tried it, and would recommend it as a novelty, but I wouldn't want to use it all the time. The game has plenty of stress-inducing mechanics at this point. Adding more can swing the balance way in favor of Dash and away from Phantoms.

I do like the option of using asteroids and/or debris clouds during setup and hope to see an official tournament rules change that allows that.

The space battles we see in the original trilogy don't involve debris clouds, as far as I know, so placing them on destroyed ships doesn't really seem in the spirit of the game (that is, doesn't fit the source material), so there's that.

The space battles we see in the original trilogy don't involve debris clouds, as far as I know, so placing them on destroyed ships doesn't really seem in the spirit of the game (that is, doesn't fit the source material), so there's that.

The movies put an emphasis on fantasy and suspending reality, FOD is a real issue in aviation.

I think a stress token would be applicable here

It's that exact moment in Star Wars that makes me think that debris clouds are not appropriate for standard play. There's no debris cloud. Another ship passing through that area later wouldn't be affected.

It's that exact moment in Star Wars that makes me think that debris clouds are not appropriate for standard play. There's no debris cloud. Another ship passing through that area later wouldn't be affected.

IIRC there were a few mentions of FOD stalling out engines in the Rogue Squadron series, but its been well over 10 years since I've read those books. Either way, adding additional debris clouds to the table is unlikely in competitive play, but perfectly reasonable for starting obstacles.

Yep, I agree with that.

I actually want to use the new debris tokens as starting obstacles instead of the same old asteroid set that is played in every tournament.

But anyways as far as destroyed ships using debris tokens I can think of it as a good house rule for epic play and huge ships.

When ever a huge ship loses all of its hull points for each of its sections roll an attack dice and consult the chart.

• Blank - drifting ship the lifeless ship drifts aimlessly in space. Treat the ship as an obstacle following all rules for huge ships. However at the end of the activation phase the ship moves 1 straight. If it overlaps any ship or obstacle follow the same rules for huge ship overlap rules. The ship cannot be damaged any further it cannot make attacks or be attacked. Once the ship touches or moves beyond the edge of the play area remove the ship from play.

• Focus- scuttling for some reason the nearly destroyed ship still seems to move on its on accord. Perhaps a surviving officer or a lone droid is desperately trying to steer it back to a base where it can be repaired. Treat it as a drifting ship with the following changes. At the end of the activation phase the controlling player can chose a 1 bank or a 1 straight. If it overlaps a ship or obstacle follow the same rules for huge ship overlapping then roll again on this chart.

• Hit- explosion ​whether it is a reactor breach, overloaded turbolaser coil, or ignition of the tibana gas stores, this ship explodes leaving a trail of debris. All ships at range 1 are dealt 1 damage and the controling player then places a debris token touching each large plastic base of the huge ship. Then remove the huge ship.

• Critical Hit- chain reaction only a chain reaction can destroy a station of this magnitude. A massive explosion hurls debris across space. All ships within range 3 of the huge ship are dealt 1 face up damage card. The controlling player places a debris cloud token for each section of the ship within range one of the huge ship. The huge ship is then removed.

• Critical Hit- chain reaction only a chain reaction can destroy a station of this magnitude. A massive explosion hurls debris across space. All ships within range 3 of the huge ship are dealt 1 face up damage card. The controlling player places a debris cloud token for each section of the ship within range one of the huge ship. The huge ship is then removed.

I'd reduce that to a range 2 or 1, but otherwise:

Logically the very idea of debris fields makes no sense - with no air resistence and the forces of an explosion behind them they'd be dispersed instantaniously.

Might try this, looks like fun

Our store has played this several times now. Especially after reading the decimator mission.

We play that if a craft is destroyed roll 1 attack die on a hit place a debris token, at the end of next turn removed the debris token.

It works well and is a lot of fun! Help with Phantoms and Fat Han and make the game a little more balanced.

I do like the idea posed above of putting the full debris field in the footprint of a destroyed epic.

I actually want to use the new debris tokens as starting obstacles instead of the same old asteroid set that is played in every tournament.

They work very nicely for that (even if we did keep forgetting to roll for critical damage).

We tested something similar this weekend. When a ship got destroyed, the player who destroyed the ship got to select the debris tile but the player who lost the ship got to place the debris tile anywhere touching the base of the destroyed ship before they removed the ship. During the next turn we removed the debris after the movement phase ended. This way the player who destroyed the ship has to think about whether or not they want to fly through the debris field they just created or alter their flight path to a direction they may not have wanted to go. Worked out quite well.

I like the idea of it only lasting so long, sort of represents the inevitable dispersal. Fluffy and keeps the board from getting super cluttered -- though it requires remembering which debris token needs to remain or be moved when multiple are on the board.