Mynock swarm

Here’s my brainstorm and I’ve not playtested it.

Using a CD as a base (Its about 12 mm in circumference) The myncock swarm starts in the exact center of the play area and will travel at speed 2 toward the closest ship. The movement template can be placed 360 degrees around the CD. Its movement occurs after everyone else has moved and is the last action before the combat phase.

If the Mynock swarm touches your ship (small or large) it is ionized.

(Perhaps a rule saying the swarm can’t ionized the same ship twice in a roll.)

A player can kill the swarm but there’s no victory points granted. It can only be killed by missiles or bombs. (My reason being the burst effect of an explosion that regular guns don’t have.) It has no green dice and 1 hull point.

What are your thoughts?

(Of course giant space slugs should be discussed too, but in another thread.)

Not sure about ION is the way to go. Could have multiple stages depending upon status.

If move through .. then x.

If land on .. then x.

If ionized .. then x.

If stressed .. then x.

Being a larger threat base, moving obstacle, should have larger range of penalty to match what they are in star wars.

"Loss of Shields" apply damage directly to hull, while touching obstacle.

"Loss of Controls" when revealing maneuver dial, disregard selecting and used boost instead.

Fun idea!

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Intriguing idea though not to be used lightly. Would most likely work best in special scenarios. Anyway, keep it up, this could become really interesting.

I love that you posted this...

@ Xaqt78 I was beginning to like the If then statements and thought of a few more of my own. Things like can a ship boost or barrel roll through a mynock swarm and not be affected. The idea being those extreme maneuvers are too much for the simple creatures.

Another thought was how about ‘reversing the polarity’ of your shields to repel the mynoch instead of attracting them. So at the cost of a shield the swarm would move away from you.

So there is something fun and intriguing about If then statements but the more I think about it the more complexity there is then the closer to a roleplaying game it is. This game not having a dungeon master means the mynock swarm shouldn’t be a wondering monster (in the DnD sense of the word).

Another negative of a list of if then statements is that it would require having a printout handy to keep them all straight.

So if the mynoch swarm is to become part of the 100 vs 100 dogfight then it needs to be move & ionize only. Now if the swarm is to be part of a scripted scenario then it can have as many if/thens as the plot needs it to have. and I guess I was envisioning something more fitting with the dogfighting mode of play. Those are good suggestions though.

@ CliffordHolm Totally get what you are saying. I just read through Rules/Faq to help jump start my brain as well as some SW references about mynocks too.

Mynock Swarms are obstacles as described in the core rulebook with the following exceptions

Execute maneuver as normal, but assign an ion token to the ship to that ship after the “Check Pilot Stress” step.

Mynock Swarm moves 1W Straight when not touching a ship model.

Nearest ship may remove 1 shield token to replace Mynock Swarm with white 0 [■] maneuver instead.

Hows that?

As for size / movement not sure how to incorporate that w/ current measuring tools.

I think mynock swarms or the giant space slug is better for a scenario. You don't have the mynocks flying in deep space they stuck to the asteroid. More importantly the inside of a space slug.

So here would be a mission. obstacles would be 4 big asteroids and 2 small ones. Have 4 tokens that have a picture of the Millennium Falcon entering an asteroid cave as the back or face down side. On the face up sides there will be 1 inside cave picture, 2 mynocks and 1 giant space slug picture for the face up sides. place all tokens face down and shuffle them then place each asteroid cave token on one of the big asteroids.

When overlapping a big asteroid with an asteroid cave token follow the same rules for overlapping obstacles with the ships base at the end of the maneuver but also assign the face down cave token on the big asteroid to that ship. A ship with a cave token assigned to it cannot make attacks nor can it be the target of an attack. It can still be the target of or suffer other effects (proton bombs, feedback array).

At the start of the activation phase flip over all face down cave tokens assigned to a ship face up then consult the following chart for the effects

Empty Cavern No additional effects however instead of assigning a dial a player can choose the RED 0 stop maneuver during that ships activation step. Once the ship has moved discard the cave token.

Mynock Nest Roll an attack dice at the start of the activation step and apply effects based on attack dice result. Discard the token once the ship has moved. If the ship has not moved the token stay in play and the ship cannot attack nor be the target of an attack. Roll again on the next turn during the activation step.

• blank nothing happens
• focus take one stress and suffer 1 damage. If this destroys the ship discard token.
• hit take 1 ion token and suffer 1 damage. If this destroys the ship discard token.
• critical hit suffer 1 damage and ship cannot move this activation step. If this destroys the ship discard token.

Giant Space Slug Belly Roll an attack dice at the start of the activation step and apply the effect. After the ship has moved discard the token. IF the ship has not moved it cannot attack nor be the target of an attack.

• blank escape nothing happens
• focus narrow escape after executing maneuver roll 2 attack dice and suffer any damage results
• hit mouth close ship cannot move and suffers 1 damage. If this destroys the ship discard the token
• critical hit destroy ship and discard token.

@Marinealver I think your suggestions would be a fun scenario especially if the story line had some plot points requiring the players to investigate the asteroids. Say it was a mining operation or recovery of a derelict ship. I think the mynock swarm should be aggressive and mobile. So to modify your example would be something like the swarm leaves its nest on the asteroid and makes a range 1 attack at ships that pass by then returns back inside the rock.

Star Wars: Sourcebook 1st Ed.

pg. 87

"Mynocks, like plants, are nourished by stellar radiation. Their black, leathery surface absorbs electromagnetic radiation very efficiently. They ride the stellar wind, spreading their wings wide to catch the particles emitted by stars, reflecting the energy to propel themselves in the direction they wish to go. Once a Mynock has absorbed sufficient energy for flight, it finds an asteroid and attaches itself. Here it seeks even more energy, absorbing silicon and other materials from the asteroid in order to produce the extra mass needed for reproduction. "

So they can travel in the vacuum of space I think a moving obstacle add a fun variable to the game, even in dogfight matches.

Got a brain storm! Number your asteroid/debris fields 1-6. At the end of every activation phase, roll a D6 and any ship within range 1 of that obstacle receives your chosen penalty for either space slug or mynock. Maybe just the closest ship to the obstacle? Random as can be but could shake things up.

I like the idea of the starting spot of the Mynock Swarm being a random asteroid. (Instead of the center of the play area like I suggested).

I think there should only be 1 single roll though and the single swarm comes from that rock then roams the map. I don’t think every asteroid (or potentially every asteroid) rolling at the end of every activation phase, should be infested with them.

My reason being I kind of envisioned this as something new and moving on the map. I’m thinking if there’s just something coming out of any asteroid what that’s really done is beef up the impact of asteroids and has not really created something categorically new.

Rephrasing what I’m trying to say is if it’s a swarm that moves then it might be made into a 3D model. If it’s a new aspect of Asteroids then its not a new model but just a range 1 stick doing a game effect.

Please keep sharing ideas.

I was asked if the Mynoch Swarm would obstruct targets like an asteroid does. I don’t think the swarm should do that. I say that because I think a pilot would be able to see through it so its not a line of sight blocker. Also the mynoch are squishy meat and not rock so they won’t lessen the impact of weapons.

My coworkers and I have been toying with similar ideas... You could always make the Mynock swarm move randomly w/ Artillery dice from Warhammer.

Mynock Swarm

(updated after 1 ^st play test)

Use a 40mm base and not a CD. A CD was just way too big and too much area covered in a single move. In fact I changed to a 40mm circle as soon as I placed a CD on the play area and saw how big it was.

The swarm should move around asteroids in whichever direction is the most logical to get to the closest ship.

The ionization from the swarm should not deal damage, just ionization only.

If a ship moves through the swarm then there’s a chance of being ionized. Roll a red die and on a hit or crit then the ship is ionized at its ending location (effects taking place next turn)

For the most part it was a fun variation of a dog fight.

The bad aspects of this concept is that in a regular game there already is a lot of congestion of in the center of the play area. The Mynock Swarm only made that congestion worse.

Conclusion so far: I like it.