A wave just for atmospheric battles

By PaulTiberius, in X-Wing

So if there were to be a wave of ships primarily aimed at adding an atmospheric or ground assault type of game play, what options from the original trilogy might be viable? Obviously we could have AT-ATs and Scout Walkers, and I've seen some pretty cool dial theorizing on this forum for how they could function as part of low-altitude combat.

Otherwise, there's the T-47 Snow/airspeeder, and the Storm IV Twin-Pod Cloud Car, both of which would be intriguing to develop as crew-slotted small base fighters. The T-16 Skyhopper would be an option, though kind of laughable looking, but it certainly seems to be a good candidate for a cannon slot. Even Jabba's sail barge Khetanna would make an interesting large base possibility for the Scum faction, especially given the unexpected depiction of a similar hull flown as an interstellar craft in the new comics. And there is the Sentinel class shuttle glimpsed in ANH.

Veering into a different kind of territory, could Jabba's skiffs and the 74-Z Speeder Bike work in the same scale?

I will say I would not be interested in Ewok gliders.

Say what you will about Ewok gliders, but I for one would play a swarm of the cannibalistic buggers.

I don't think it would work as a "wave" in the standard release schedule, but a special expansion, or better yet, a separate but related game would rock. I would soooo go overboard if I could get AT-ATs in this scale.

I think speeder bikes would be too small to work in this scale. I'd love to see Imperial walkers, a Sandcrawler, and maybe some Rebel cannon turrets/emplacements.

The EU is pretty rich in airspeeders and ground craft, but I don't think they're well known outside of the RPG crowd.

I think scale is the challenge here. AT-ATs are simply huge compared to a speeder.

I have always favoured the idea of fitting AT-ATs (maybe AT-STs - nothing smaller) into the current game. Basically, they would have a 1 template only and effectively be slowly moving turrets.

It would open up various scenarios: Destroy the AT-AT (susceptible to torps only), conduct a bombing run on the generator the AT-AT is protecting, destroy enemy forces before the AT-AT gets in range of your generator (AT-AT may move and fire primary and stay stationary and fire HLC), etc.

I don't think it would work as a "wave" in the standard release schedule, but a special expansion, or better yet, a separate but related game would rock. I would soooo go overboard if I could get AT-ATs in this scale.

I agree with this! A stand alone side game would fit this idea better. It does open up some great RPG/thematic play styles too. A combination of Armada / X-Wing / Imperial Assault and this idea could lead to some exciting and rich campaigns.

Well to be honest the only atmosphere battle in the Original Trilogy was with Cloud city as the Falcon runs away from ties. The Battle for Hoth was mostly a ground battle with low flying air-speeders. If they make a atmosphere only game they really should just make a ground combat game that is separate from the X-wing system.

Now separate game system doesn't mean that it can't be played together. A Star Wars themed ground battle miniature with interchangeability much like the interchangeability between Warmachines and Hordes would be great. However even with games like Warmachines it still has a different system and different mechanics than Hordes, enough to be considered a different game.

Still if you make a ground combat game that uses similar bases and system to X-wing I think the flight path would have to be modified to fit movement patterns of infantry units vehicles as well as speeders and starfighters. Enough to warrant a completely new game.

Edited by Marinealver

Well D&D Attack Wing combines ground units on small bases and dragons on large, so it could work. I think it would be best if it were an expansion that allowed for all the X-wing ships to be used (except for the Huge ones probably). Speederbikes could be groups of three par base, like in Armada. I'd love to see an AT-AT the size of the Tantive IV.

I think speeder bikes would be too small to work in this scale. I'd love to see Imperial walkers, a Sandcrawler, and maybe some Rebel cannon turrets/emplacements.

I didn't include this thought in the OP, but I figured in scale, you'd have to do speeder bikes in pairs or triples on Armada style trees. Still they would probably be too small to have the same visual power of our existing miniatures though.

I didn't think of a Sandcrawler. That would be sweet on the table.

Ninja'd!

I'd love to see an AT-AT the size of the Tantive IV.

http://www.g2ch.com/star-wars-miniatures-game-imperial-pi-498.html

A couple inches longer than the Tantive, but a lot taller because of the legs. But that is a 28mm scale figure, a lot bigger than it should be compared to x-wing ships. In x-wings 1/270 scale an at-at should be something like 4-5 inches long, I think.

Isn't this just the epic version of Imperial Assault?

Separate game.

Almost like IA with At-st's

Isn't this just the epic version of Imperial Assault?

The skirmish rules of IA, yeah, probably.

While AT-ATs seem like an eventual must-have for my geekery, I'm really more interested in figuring out if there's room in the game and the OT canon to bring in atmospheric fighters that fit in the game as we have it. Can you bring in the Snowspeeder or Cloud Car or Sail Barge in a plausible way, without HAVING to introduce ground walkers to make it thematically sensible? Of all the iconic ships in the OT, it's a little miniature of the Snowspeeder with a crew slot and an auxiliary rear arc that I most crave. Plus a large base, lumbering, turreted Scum sail barge would really make my day.

And you could introduce a new sand dune obstacle with the Sail Barge. Immediate crash landing death! Visions of the Force Awakens trailer...

Well D&D Attack Wing combines ground units on small bases and dragons on large, so it could work. I think it would be best if it were an expansion that allowed for all the X-wing ships to be used (except for the Huge ones probably). Speederbikes could be groups of three par base, like in Armada. I'd love to see an AT-AT the size of the Tantive IV.

D&D Attack wing while alright doesn't do that good of a job on ground combat maneuvers. Can you imagine Star Wars Armada with only the X-wing maneuver system? Oh yeah that's called Star Trek: Attack Wing. ;)

Snarkyness aside, for ground maneuvers of modern troops that are not regimental blocks and vehicles that are not repulsors you will need a different movement system. Now that is not to say that one cannot be created that can play in conjunction with Star Wars X-wing. After all Warmachine has a different token system from Hordes and those games are interchangeable to the point where they are played practically in the same game. But just to point out a focus system won't work on a horde army anymore than a fury system would work on a warmachine army.

Edited by Marinealver

I think speeder bikes would be too small to work in this scale. I'd love to see Imperial walkers, a Sandcrawler, and maybe some Rebel cannon turrets/emplacements.

The EU is pretty rich in airspeeders and ground craft, but I don't think they're well known outside of the RPG crowd.

IMO one of the few good things to result from the canon mobile and console games being primarily ground focused so far ys that they have canonized several of the EU combat landspeeders and ground vehicles. I still want some space focused or mixed focus games ASAP though.

I've been meaning to try out D&D Attack wing to see how well the flight path system holds up for ground units.

Im sure being a wizkidz game the balance will be poor but the models are a lot nicer than the trek stuff.

AT-AT is only 20 meters long.

Check out the SWXW Ground Assault rules at the link for one take on integrating in-atmosphere and ground combat.