For those of you who don't know, I've developed a variant of Furball that my FLGS community loves, even though we can rarely play it.
'S called Tag-Team Furball, and I'll post the full rules in my first comment on this thread, if you're interested.

Suffice it to say, it's designed for 3-8 players, and each player has 2 ships of up to 35 points each, which cannot both be on the field at the same time, and the more players there are, the more complicated the asteroid field gets. Oh, and flying off the board is a major mechanic, as that's how you switch ships.

At last night's game, we saw 3 players (it was for a private birthday party), and all 6 ships that hit the table performed as their controllers intended, leading to an epic conclusion.

Team M

Delta + Mangler

Soontir Fel + PTL + Autothrusters + Stealth

Team J

Wild Space Fringer + Mangler + Intel Agent

Luke Skywalker + R2D2 + Lone Wolf

Team Dracon

Palob Godalhi + Opportunist + Blaster Turret + Recon Specialist + Moldy Crow Title + Inertial Dampeners

Etahn A'batht + R5-P9

Main take-aways:

The TIE Defender does not work with a mangler, and I do not know why this was attempted instead of, say, an Engine Upgrade or being Colonel Vessery whose ability works even better than normal in a multiplayer space.

However, in this kind of game, the White 4K and 3 Turns are astonishing, particularly when clearing stress is as simple as fleeing the field and waiting a while for a consequence-free re-spawn.

Still, it was the first ship to be destroyed, as it kept running afoul of Godalhi.

The Godalhi combo is a problem, assuming your opponent cannot generate multiple tokens per turn. Slow play while generating a pit of tokens, and once combat is joined, Target Lock your victim, steal their defensive action away, and stress yourself to roll a 4-die attack at them, using their own defensive token (or your mountain of eyeballs) to improve your survival against their counterattack... The HWK's fragile, but it hurts way more than it takes.
Except against Soontir Fel, who swiftly reduced it to 1 hp. Still, it survived most of the game on that health pool, mostly by disappearing whenever Fel came near.

Fel is nightmare-tier. J and I had to team up until the stealth device was taken out, as the Baron tanked around 17 attacks without taking damage, all while dealing massive damage against us.
The issue is that he's got the mobility and Pilot Skill to ensure that Autothrusters are always active, and that he's got a wonderful shot.
4-5 green dice with Autothrusters and a Focus Token dodge everything, excepting the corner-case of multiple blank results vs absurdly high amounts of rolled damage. I want to see him joust against pre-nerf VI/ACD Whisper. Seriously.
And if it looks like he's in trouble, he's mobile enough to simply disappear from combat.

Fel ultimately survived the fight on 1 hp, as it was called a draw due to being 2 AM.

Eatin' A-boat's ability proved useful in a defensive bent, as an opponent seeking simply to deal damage gets to Crit folks he's pointing at for free, and he's not pointing at himself.

However, R5-P9 was the real star of the ship. A'baht was reduced to 0 shields around 5 or 6 times over the course of the game, only to escape by flying off the edge of the map, safely re-spawning later, and 5 forward + Focus for several turns in a row to get back to full HP.
Moreover, with 3 agility, a Focus Token can also be used to prevent damage if someone does manage to get a bead on you while attempting to regenerate, giving you time to get away and do it properly.
He was eventually killed with all shields remaining, due to the respawn mechanic kicking in unexpectedly early when Fel killed Godalhi.

Luke's story wound up being a cross between Fel and Etahn A'baht: He was incredibly difficult to hit, though more easily hit than Fel, and regenerated quite a lot of health over the course of the game, though not as effectively as Etahn. He wasn't nearly as mobile as either, but kept good center-control and was able to keep Baron Fel in arc more often than not, simply by having angle to do so.

Ultimately, this lead to the destruction of the Stealth Device AND the Defender, as Palob drifted over to Team M's spawn while that fight was going down, to mop up when Fel eventually fled.
Luke was the other ship to survive the game when it was called, and did so with 2 shields and 2 hull remaining.

The Wild Space Fringer was a bit of a surprise. Intel Agent with the large-ship barrel-roll meant that it often had a Mangler opportunity, while dodging quite a few arcs of its own.
Pity that it went up against Autothruster Fel, and J forgot to use the ability more often than not. Still, an excellent proof-of-concept as far as I'm concerned. Easily as good as a Firespray with that loadout, though the Firespray's auxillary arc would have forced Fel to dance a little harder.

The difference between Debris and Asteroid didn't really enter into it, as combat usually didn't occur near where the Debris had been placed.

Tag-Team Furball is an X-Wing Variant developed for Compas Gaming, for 3-8 players.

Each player builds two 35-point ships. The unique rules still apply across the two, and each ship individually must be legally built. However, the two ships are not required to be of the same faction. (You may play Luke and Vader in the same fleet, but you can't stick Luke on a Shuttle).

Rather than a "Side" wherein one places their entire fleet, only one ship of the pair is ever in play at a time. If a ship leaves play, either due to flying off the edge or being destroyed, the other ship of the pair spawns.

Flying off the edge of the map does not destroy a ship.

When a ship flies off the edge of the map, place a number of counters on the ship's card equal to the number of face-down damage cards that would be required to kill it, hereafter referred to as "Timing Counters".

At the start of each planning phase, remove a Timing Counter from each ship.
If a ship enters the field with one or more Timing Counters, remove all timing counters from that ship and deal it that many face-down damage cards.

When a ship enters the field, and its Pilot Skill would allow it to Activate or Attack this round, it may do so.

(E.G. A PS 1 Defender flies off the field, spawning a PS 9 Soontir Fel. At the time in which PS 9 ships activate, Soontir Fel is allowed to do so.)

As soon as a ship is spawned, its controller may set its dial, even outside of the planning phase.

Rather than having a "Side" wherein one places their fleet, each player has a Spawning Point, which are evenly spread around the perimeter of the field. When your ship spawns, it must be touching that point, but may do so at any angle.

Each player places 3 obstacles, one at a time in initiative order. Obstacles may not be at Range 1-2 from a Spawn point, may not overlap another Obstacle or the edge of the field, and cannot be the same shape as another obstacle that player has already placed. There are no other obstacle restrictions.

The player with the fewest total points between their ships determines initiative order.

If there are 2 or more players tied with the fewest total points, the tie goes to the fewest total points of the first fielded ship.
If there are 2 or more players tied with the fewest total points and the fewest points on the first fielded ship, we recommend Swords at Dawn.

Last man standing wins. This is a free-for-all format. Enjoy, and figure out your own metagame.

My friends and I play a 30 point furbal to make ties and z95s more competitive but last time I might have broke the game. Now I didn't win outright but I decimated just about everyone with

N’Dru Suhlak -z95

Cluster Missiles (4)

– Attack [Target Lock]: Spend your Target Lock and discard this card to perform this attack twice. Attack value: 3. Range: 1-2.

“Hot Shot” Blaster (3)

– Attack: Discard this card to attack 1 ship (even a ship outside your firing arc). Attack: 3. Range 1-2.

Lone Wolf (2)

– When attacking or defending, if there are no friendly ships at Range 1-2, you may reroll one of your blank results.

Engine Upgrade (4)

– Your action bar gains the action icon.

Flying off the edge of the map does not destroy a ship.

When a ship flies off the edge of the map, place a number of counters on the ship's card equal to the number of face-down damage cards that would be required to kill it, hereafter referred to as "Timing Counters".

At the start of each planning phase, remove a Timing Counter from each ship.

If a ship enters the field with one or more Timing Counters, remove all timing counters from that ship and deal it that many face-down damage cards.

So if a TIE defender flies off on full health, it requires three facedowns to kill it, so it gets three counters. It comes back after one turn, and thus has two hull damage on it now?

Flying off the edge of the map does not destroy a ship.

When a ship flies off the edge of the map, place a number of counters on the ship's card equal to the number of face-down damage cards that would be required to kill it, hereafter referred to as "Timing Counters".

At the start of each planning phase, remove a Timing Counter from each ship.

If a ship enters the field with one or more Timing Counters, remove all timing counters from that ship and deal it that many face-down damage cards.

So if a TIE defender flies off on full health, it requires three facedowns to kill it, so it gets three counters. It comes back after one turn, and thus has two hull damage on it now?

Exactly.

The mechanic is designed so that ships that are staying strong are incentivized to stay on the field longer, whereas ships that have taken heavy damage are able to rotate in and out more rapidly, empowering players that are in a bad situation and potentially allowing a recovery, rather than a massacre.

No-one likes to play a massacre, but the come-back kid is always celebrated

My friends and I play a 30 point furbal to make ties and z95s more competitive but last time I might have broke the game. Now I didn't win outright but I decimated just about everyone with

N’Dru Suhlak -z95

When attacking, if there are no other friendly ships at Range 1-2, roll 1 additional attack die.

Cluster Missiles (4)

– Attack [Target Lock]: Spend your Target Lock and discard this card to perform this attack twice. Attack value: 3. Range: 1-2.

“Hot Shot” Blaster (3)

– Attack: Discard this card to attack 1 ship (even a ship outside your firing arc). Attack: 3. Range 1-2.

Lone Wolf (2)

– When attacking or defending, if there are no friendly ships at Range 1-2, you may reroll one of your blank results.

Engine Upgrade (4)

– Your action bar gains the action icon.

30 points encourages a lower PS curve, but 35 points allows greater variety of ship.

Still, a 30 point N'Duru is certainly playable, and you've got a little give in your build, potentially gaining up to 3 extra points, and you'd still probably have your choice of initiative

Heck, Opportunist is on the table for just 2 more points.

You'd want an incredibly defensive team-mate for him, to make up for his 4 hp, or possibly just keep him near enough the perimeter to bug out the moment someone else has a bead on him...

Flying off the edge of the map does not destroy a ship.

When a ship flies off the edge of the map, place a number of counters on the ship's card equal to the number of face-down damage cards that would be required to kill it, hereafter referred to as "Timing Counters".

At the start of each planning phase, remove a Timing Counter from each ship.

If a ship enters the field with one or more Timing Counters, remove all timing counters from that ship and deal it that many face-down damage cards.

So if a TIE defender flies off on full health, it requires three facedowns to kill it, so it gets three counters. It comes back after one turn, and thus has two hull damage on it now?

The other thing the mechanic does is create a small window of opportunity: If I can kill your ship the turn it entered the field, the other will spawn with sufficient damage to kill it as well.

One attack to kill two ships and eliminate a player, irrespective of their strength, simply because you were better at timing than they were, makes you a fearsome assassin, and also keeps the games interesting

love this format, thanks for sharing. Think I will try to get my local group to try it out.

First good write up,

Second my friends and I do a 25 point limit which allows for all kinds of crazy fun, its basic ships only no upgrades.

I want in. that nu'dru is awe...

Just to be clear, in this iteration of furball large ships are allowed? So I can has space cows?

Just to be clear, in this iteration of furball large ships are allowed? So I can has space cows?

Yes. Large ships are in, but the Epic point-cap is 0, so you can't put 5 points onto a Transport and call it a day.

Shuttles, Bounty Hunters, Outer Rim Smugglers, and Wild-Space Fringers are the only large ships you can afford, though...

A couple questions:

1. What happens if a spawn point is occupied by another ship?

2. Do the "countdown timers" take shields into account? Earlier you said a TIE Defender at full health would carry 3 tokens, but that matches only hull and not shields.

Is your play area 3x3, or have you adopted the epic 6x3? Or some other custom size?

A couple questions:

1. What happens if a spawn point is occupied by another ship?

2. Do the "countdown timers" take shields into account? Earlier you said a TIE Defender at full health would carry 3 tokens, but that matches only hull and not shields.

1. The blocking ship's position is marked, and the entering ship places as desired. The offending ship is placed as near to its original position as possible, while touching the entering ship, and rolls for 1 damage.

2. No, only hull. B-Wings have 3 tokens, not 8.

Is your play area 3x3, or have you adopted the epic 6x3? Or some other custom size?

Circular, as the 3x3 is only balanced for 2 or 4 players.