I'm trying to put together some rules for using variant terrain and I'd like to get some ideas, both on types of terrain to include as well as a couple types that I can't decide what they should do in the game. The overriding goal is to keep things as simple as possible. I want this to seamlessly integrate into the x-wing rules set. I've already got Ion Storms and Nebulae (as well as the official obstacles; asteroids, debris clouds and derelict huge ships), but I's stuck on Comets and Planets. What sorts of effects should comets and planets have on ships in the game.

Also, do you have any ideas for other types of terrain that could be present?

I think planets are a little too large for a fighter scale game. Comets would probably work a lot like asteroids.

One idea is to use bomb tokens as terrain. Have the skirmish take place in a mine field deployed by the Empire to blockade a rebel planet. When you land on them or fly through them they detonate on a <hit> or <crit> result (follow normal detonation rules)

The scale of the game is abstract anyway, dogfights are not taking place in a 270 yard square area, so I am fine with a planet being an occasional terrain piece. It would, after all, be very very cool. I'm picturing one being 8"+ in diameter and replacing 3 asteroids.

I just can't figure out how to handle one mechanically.

Yeah I suppose it is a little abstract, but people were up in arms about a Star Destroyer being out of scale for the game, let alone a whole planet.

You could always just make a really large asteroid.

Just my opinion though

Star Trek: Attack Wing has planets as terrain, you could read up on how they work in THAT game.

Star Trek: Attack Wing has planets as terrain, you could read up on how they work in THAT game.

Yeah, I was hoping someone here would know. I don't play attack wing and don't really want to dive into the culture just to get one question answered.

It would be kind of cool if the comet traveled through the map using a certain movement template. Acts as a moving asteroid and does crit damage (or destroys a ship) when it lands on it.

You can use large-based ships as obstacles, just like huge ships.

The class-E cargo container token would make a nice "asteroid" if nothing else.

We sometimes use the "planetoid" from Star Trek Attack Wing. Our rule is simple: After a ship executes a maneuver and any part of its base overlaps the planetoid token, the ship receives a stress token. It is not an obstacle.

Just out of curiosity, what do you have for rules as far as nebulae and ion clouds go?

I think some sort of ion cloud would work like "after leaving the cloud, suffer one ion token"

I like different kinds of debris, because I love adding 3D scenery to my fields.

Just out of curiosity, what do you have for rules as far as nebulae and ion clouds go?

The Nebulae obstruct attacks but don't impede movement, but 2 asteroids will be replaced by 4 nebula clouds. The Ion storms vary depending on if you land on it or just pass over it. Landing on it is 2 ion tokens and roll an attack die suffering any damage, just moving through it is only 1 ion token and only suffer kaboom if rolled. They also obstruct attacks and I am thinking that they will block TL acquisition through them as well, but that might be too much. I want the ion storms to be a bit nasty though.

Oooh I like the target lock blocking idea. Reminds of me of the Mutari Nebula battle at the end of Wrath of Khan

I feel like I should be burned for heresy combining both Star Trek Attack Wing and eBay in one post...

Take a look at this eBay listing:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Trek-Attack-Wing-OP-Token-Combo-Pack-/151457772573?pt=Games_US&hash=item234396341d

The terrain pieces are, surprisingly, excellent quality.

The rules for the minefield could easily be ported to X-Wing.

Similarly, the swirling vortex could represent whatever cloud of whatever effect that you wanted it to have.

It is a direction that FFG could take in future releases. Once the debris clouds become tournament legal, we could have more official terrain pieces to mix it up. Sadly, the same six asteroids just don't cut it anymore.

Defensive Satellites would be cool. They could have a range 1 (or 1-2), 360 degree arc, Attack 2, attacking every ship in range at the end of the end phase. They don't obstruct attacks, but have the same Base/Template overlap rules as asteroids, but on a crit, you also remove the Satellite from the play area (possibly replaced by a Debris Field).

This way they represent a hostile, third party. Alternately, they could be given a point value and be part of one of the players' squads, but that seems more like a Mission scenario.

Planets:

During the movement phase:

IF you End your movement on top of a planet perform an additional 1-Straight maneuver.

IF you Start your movement on top of a planet perform a 1-Speed Maneuver of the same bearing in the reverse direction.

A more simplified option:

decrease/increase the movement template speed by 1 depending on entering/leaving the planet template

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I'm caught in it's Gravity, it's pulling me in!

Some good ideas here. I particularly like the offensive satellite.

I'm not really sold on the planet or comet idea. I understand X-Wing scale is skewed a little but when you bring in something with the mass of a planet or speed of a comet .. it's just too much.

I know this idea is often raised and frowned upon but I think there may be some merit in introducing ground based terrain. Hear me out. I'm not talking about mountain tops and infantry. I'm talking about things like a faux trench run. Running a scenario where the objective is to destroy/defend an objective. An objective protected by fighters AND ground based turrets (turbolasers like on the deathy, ATATs, etc). Turbolasers could act as 360 turrets, ATATs have a movable arc of attack controlled by the player. Rebels could have an Ion cannon which has the chance to ionise attackers.

As an additional step .. you could make these targets impervious to laser fire. Requiring the opponent the take ordnance. List building now becomes an interesting conversation. Do you pack in more ordnance? Or, do you put all of your eggs in 1 basket and spend your points on upgrades or increasing your escort.

Just an idea.

MAGNETIC MINE TOKENS

You place several around the field.

Every time a ship ends their maneuver at range 1-2 of a magnetic mine the magnetic mine moves (straight 1) towards the center of the base of that ship.

Since there can be more than one ship that ends their maneuver near the mine, the mine can move several times in one turn.

Any time the Mine Token overlaps the stand of a ship it detonates causing 1 damage to all ships within Range 1.


Also, Mynocks. This card was designed by StefanWitthaus:

I would just treat planetoids and comets like huge ship obstacles. - basically hazards but bigger. The difference is that i'd allow them to fire weapons and use actions while overlapping UNLESS they take damage (which is now only on a crit, but they take critical damage). planetoids i forsee as being easier to avoid/skim across.

Planets:

During the movement phase:

IF you End your movement on top of a planet perform an additional 1-Straight maneuver.

IF you Start your movement on top of a planet perform a 1-Speed Maneuver of the same bearing in the reverse direction.

A more simplified option:

decrease/increase the movement template speed by 1 depending on entering/leaving the planet template

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I'm caught in it's Gravity, it's pulling me in!

The only issue with this. Is that you could stay in the same spot for the entire game. You would have to have some penalty like gain 1 stress if you after your maneuver your still on top of the planet.

Here's a list I put together in wave 1, it may help

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/961337/space-terrain-rules-updated

I don't remember where I got this from but I think the effects are cool. Haven't played with yet them though.

http://nezumi.me.uk/Rebel_Scum/Celestial/Deal/Dealer.html

I don't imagine comets being very dissimilar from asteroids, but you could have a movement and tail effect.

Are you making tokens? If so, I'd have the comet moving in a straight line that is built into its token. Maybe have a movement guide built onto the front.

I'd have a distinct tail and head component, either built into the token or measurable out of the back end. So maybe another set of movement guides + a straight-1 movement template to represent the tail of the comet.

I'd have the comet head act exactly like an asteroid (but moving), and the tail would only obscure attacks that cross it - no other effects.

I think you could accomplish all these effects with a bomb token. Maybe you could repaint one to make it look good, too.

For a planet, I'm at a bit of a loss. It's way out of scale with the game and I can't think of any reasonable interactions.

I did come up with some interesting rules for a drifting derelict ship, though. I recently polished these up for my 'Junkyard' mission:

Derelict Freighter:

After all ships have been deployed, roll an attack die. On a [hit] or [crit], the Derelict Freighter is rolling to the left. On any other result, the freighter is rolling to the right.

At the end of every activation phase, the derelict freighter executes a 1-bank to the direction previously determined, followed by a reverse 1-straight maneuver. (This represents the tumbling motion of the wrecked ship.)

The derelict freighter follows the normal huge ship rules for overlapping ship bases. Note that this means that the derelict freighter can destroy small and large ships that it overlaps while performing its 1-bank and reverse 1-straight maneuvers each turn.

If the derelict freighter overlaps an obstacle token, leave the obstacle token in play.

For planets I'm thinking of primarily dealing with the orbit / gravity well: you either have to keep moving or you burn up. Movements shouldn't be as nimble - perhaps, within range 3 of a planet, treat all white and red as red. And you must take a stress (or a boost action) to pop you out of orbit.

But then, what is the advantage of engaging anywhere around the planet? Total obstacle / blocking would be one, but maybe within firing arc, agility is increased by 1 to account for gravity or upper atmosphere. At range 3, +2 agility to account for curvature of the planet, etc...

I don't remember where I got this from but I think the effects are cool. Haven't played with yet them though.

http://nezumi.me.uk/Rebel_Scum/Celestial/Deal/Dealer.html

That's what I am using as the basis for the system I am working on, but I didn't like a few of his effects, and wanted an actual physical deck, so I am reworking a bunch of stuff.

some buddies and I used to play various maps on a campaign we made. One map was "gravity" - the idea was that ships were entering a planet's hemisphere. depending on the direction of the ship, they had to either move 1 forward/ backward, or do a barrel roll (always toward the defending planet's edge) Obviously if they went of the map, the ships were lost.

Another map had a "black hole" that was basically the size of 4 1 speed turn templates. Ships that got within range 1 were pulled a large ship barrel roll closer, and if the ship ever touched the black hole, even if the move just grazed it, they were sucked in and lost.

Results were varied- Matches took ALOT longer to play.

You could borrow some mechanics from Sins of a Solar Empire. Apply effects to a map based on the local phenomenon:

Radiation Storm - All ships start the game with 0 shields.

Asteroid Belt - Deploy asteroids across the middle of the map, at a distance of Range 1 from each edge and/or from at least one other asteroid.

Plasma Storm - Small-based ships cannot perform Red maneuvers.

Magnetic Cloud - Ships may not take any of the actions on their action bars.

Antimatter Fountain - When a ship takes an action, it may immediately take a Free Action from among the actions listed on its action bar.

The above are simple adaptations of SoaSE rules for the listed gravity well types. They're probably not very balanced, but they might be fun nonetheless, especially for a narrative campaign as a one-off map feature.