Hi,
I’ve tried the below multiplayer variant a few times now and they have always been successful and fun games so I thought I would share.
OBJECTIVE: To be the player who escapes the starting edge of the map with the most victory points.
WHAT YOU NEED:
Lists: Each player chooses 1 small base ship and upgrades up to a maximum of 35 points.
Map: Any size map
Obstacles: Enough to make the field busy.
(ie we used 9 asteroids on a regular 3x3 map, 12 asteroids/debris on a 4x3, etc)
(add proximity mines or other wave 7 goodies also viable)
Targets: Find a random sample of ‘targets’, at least 4 per person.
(We have been using all of the beacons, escape pods, shuttle tokens that you receive for the missions included in each expansion)
Dice: Selection of different sided dice, at least one per Target
(We tend to use bigger dice (D8s) for bigger targets, D6s for medium targets, and smaller dice (D4s) for smaller targets but any mix will work fine)
SETUP:
1. Take it in turns to distribute the obstacles
2. Take it in turns to distribute the targets
3. In initiative order (roll to break ties) place all players ships on one edge of the board
4. Roll a dice for each target and place the dice showing the result on the target
5. Commence Play!
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT:
· Players who leave the board by any side except the starting side are considered eliminated with zero Victory Points (VP).
· Once a player exits from the starting side they are out of the game but go onto the Leaderboard with any VPs they have captured
· Players gain VPs equal to the dice showing on a target by shooting and killing a target
· Targets have 2 Agility and 1 Hull (Range modifiers do apply for primary weapons)
· When all players have left the board (either by destruction or flying off the board) the player on the leaderboard with the greatest number of VPs wins.
I think the variant works well because in other 35-point scrums players often avoid combat, gang up on players, or do other anti-social play tactics that cause feel bad (especially for newer players). In this variant players have a clear early objective to chase VPs (though some people will take cheeky pot-shots), and as the game progresses to the mid-game it becomes clear which players have hoarded a large number of VPs and need to be eliminated for anyone else to win, and then end-game comes down to the last 2-3 players trying to kill the one player who can beat them and/or escape the board and win.
For any of you who are looking for some casual multiplayer fun, I hope you give it a run and have as much fun as we did.
Love to hear any thoughts or feedback also.
Regards,
Tren