So in addition to epic play and cinematic play, perhaps there can be more simplistic ways of enhancing squadron play through a card-based mission system like Armada... albeit unique and apart from Armada. It gives an opportunity for fighters who have fallen from play in the evolving meta like X-Wings or Defenders and such.

I would consider that individual fighters can be outfitted with specialized mission cards. Certainly most sorties are given their own ROE, objectives and pertinent intelligence for their mission... all of which act as a force multiplier for a trained pilot and his machine.

Here are some examples of what I'm thinking of:

STRIKE: roll two extra attack dice when using torpedoes against a huge ship. This would fix the whole issue with torpedoes being, counterintuitively, pointless to use against large ships and give life to the TIE Punisher, which to me seems like it is dead on arrival except for its cluster mines

CLOSE ESCORT: when you are within range 1 of a ship with a STRIKE mission, an enemy must target you or another close escort. Discard this card when they do.

COVER: if you are within range 3 of a huge ship you may receive a free focus token at the beginning of the combat phase and discard this card.

FIGHTER SWEEP: discard this card to roll one additional attack dice

INTERCEPT: You may discard this card during the activation phase to perform a boost either before or after your maneuver. Discard this card if you are hit.

INTERDICTION: If you are attacked by an enemy ship and you are not in their firing arc, you may roll one additional defense dice. (interdict those pesky PWT's!)

PATROL: discard this card during the activation phase to gain one free focus token

INTRUDER: during the activation phase you may treat your pilot skill level as zero, then discard this card.

Perhaps the mission cards have a point value themselves. The other route is to go with more "positional" missions as with Armada. Just an idea though.

If you want Armada play armada

If you want Imperial Assault Play that

If you want custom rules go for it!

Otherwise Play the missions already given in expansions.

X-wing as a whole doesn't need missions, it is strictly about dog-fighting.

If you want Armada play armada

If you want Imperial Assault Play that

If you want custom rules go for it!

Otherwise Play the missions already given in expansions.

X-wing as a whole doesn't need missions, it is strictly about dog-fighting.

Wow, i'm glad you explained that to me. Looks like our gaming group playing scenarios , missions, home made campaign rules, home brew missions and narrative play totally dont have a clue.

We'll stick to those really satisfying 100/6 deathmatchs now so we dont play wrong...

Yeah, I'd like to see something like this, too. Tournament play is getting boring. The missions are good, but they're inflexible. An Armada-style system would let you play around with squad building and what not, but still provide something more interesting than straight deathmatches.

Objectives and missions also open up the meta a little bit too.

Like if you have something like in one of our home made scenarios where 'hyperspace jump blocking satelites' are preventing the rebels from escaping then having *fast* stuff that can reach them and shut them down is more useful than having a slow tank.

(in the scenario it was very 'u boat wolf pack' as a group of phantoms had ambushed a convoy of freighters and transports with a couple of escort xwings, the goal was to get the convoy out with as little damage as possible, not 'kill everything', it was a pretty good game)

X-wing as a whole doesn't need missions, it is strictly about dog-fighting.

I disagree with this - though, we're definitely into the opinion zone - I think X-wing is about battles taking place ship-to-ship - which of course is a dogfight , but the game is so full of theme that why the dogfight is happening is important. The idea of scenario play is awesome - and we have some support for custom scenario in the mission designer and in the given missions - but there's room for a semi-roleplay element to it.

I like the idea of armada-based mission cards - but think that the OP's idea of using them as nearly purely in game mechanical bonus runs a bit counter to a mission mode - there's no objective base etc.. I think a set of cards with asymetrical goals - mini-missions not based on 100 point destruction, would be a neat addition. They could include some kind of situational bonus.

for example..

"Pinpoint strike (Agressor) / Space Superiority (Defender)" - with an agressor needing to accomplish the goal of destroying a ground/space target (ie satellite or ship etc.. that must be destroyed - while the defender must take out some number of attackers, or a designated lead attacker - etc... Defenders must place all ships first, but are considered P.S. 15 during the first activation phase.

If the cards had enough mission scenarios - and were generic enough, it would be very interesting - the missions as designed and presented to us are specific enough that special setups and squadbuilds are required, these would really need to be designed around 100 point builds, so that you could pull the mission - and initiative could decide who is the agressor / defender for each mission.

There's plenty of room for this kind of play in X-wing, and I think it would really enhance the experience over the pure dogfight. The challenge would be in balancing the assymetrical goals to work well at 100 points, without purely favoring one kind of list.

If you want Armada play armada

If you want Imperial Assault Play that

If you want custom rules go for it!

Otherwise Play the missions already given in expansions.

X-wing as a whole doesn't need missions, it is strictly about dog-fighting.

These forums officially need a dislike button.

Also, if this is the case - why the living hell is mission control a thing?

Here's the link: http://tools.fantasyflightgames.com/xwing/

You'll notice that it's an official fantasy flight games tool.

X-Wing is played on a very small area. Bevause of this, missions are often too simple to really hold people's attention. "Shoot that" and "move to that board edge" really aren't that exciting and anything more complicated generally feels off because of the limited area. What you are suggesting are not 'missions,' but really just EPTs.

The reason that missions are not popular in X-Wing is the difficulty in balancing them. The goal of the designers was to create a balance where all ships are cost effective in a head to head brawl. Any changes to the goal of the game can really throw off that balance, which is likely why the missions that FFG produces typically have restrictions as to what you can fly.

Alex Davy said a while back he'd love to have the competitive game have objectives and stuff like Armada and IA, and that was initially something they wanted to do. He said they figured they'd just do the deathmatch thing until people got bored of it and they could figure out objectives. Except people didn't get bored of it.

Davy said objective based play is something he'd very much like to see implemented, but at this point it's a bit tricky.

But I believe they can make it happen and it's something I'd very much like to see.

I think objectives that screw with some of the heavily favored meta ships would be fun. Something like objectives that must be ended on for 2 turns in a row by the same ship to get points. All of the sudden the hyper mobile fighters, and the large ships are screwed (other than the Shuttle and illicit Scum).

I have no idea if that would work without making one type of ship completely broken, but you get the point. Objectives that flip the meta on its head.

"if you are flying a netbuild, your opponent may **** you over the head with a unix manual" as a special rule?

I'll elaborate more, I really don't think X-wing needs side missions at least not for tournament play. When I mentioned the other games that do exactly what else you are looking for I did that for a reason. They are there to fill the niche that x-wing can't fill.

No one game should have all of the pieces. It's too much for one game. One thing to consider is x-wing is much faster than Armada and IA. Generally you can get many more rounds than the typical 6 (max) for armada or average 4-5 of IA. Accounting for Missions that could be affected every turn of the game would be just mind numbing. Maybe it has a place in EPIC where as people have said, there is more room.

As far as the standard 100 Pt tournament scene I feel it is fine as is with a lot of new ships on the horizon. People are getting away from netdeck, old squads aren't as dominate as they used to be and more people are branching out if anything just because.

That makes more sense, 100 point is a perfect dogfight format.

I'd still like to see imp vs reb epic team tourneys. possibly with actual meta campaign story lines.

Guys,

You're missing the point.

At the start of every 100 point game you create your own missions and objectives:

Which enemy ship(s) is(are) the primary target(s)?

Which way do I want to move my ships in the opening?

What areas of the board are faborable to me to have the first exchange in, how do I maneuver to get there and draw my enemy there?

Which of my ships do I protect, which flank, which is the escort, which is the closer?

And so on...

Every macth-up will force you to create your own objectives, in varying order of importance. Failing to do this will result in defeat.

Bottom line: 100 point dogfights already have objectives.

Bottom line: 100 point dogfights already have objectives.

Those are tactical objectives. What's being asked here are different strategic objectives.

Bottom line: 100 point dogfights already have objectives.

Those are tactical objectives. What's being asked here are different strategic objectives.

True, but a 100 point dogfight is a much too small an engagement for strategic objectives like in Armada.

If you want Armada play armada

If you want Imperial Assault Play that

If you want custom rules go for it!

Otherwise Play the missions already given in expansions.

X-wing as a whole doesn't need missions, it is strictly about dog-fighting.

If you want Armada play armada

If you want Imperial Assault Play that

If you want custom rules go for it!

Otherwise Play the missions already given in expansions.

X-wing as a whole doesn't need missions, it is strictly about dog-fighting.

Is that an absolute?

True, but a 100 point dogfight is a much too small an engagement for strategic objectives like in Armada.

Fortunately, we have 300 point epic rules which suit strategic objectives much better.

The more I play 100 pt deathmatch, the more I want something more. I've been playing since Wave 1 and after a while, it gets old. Also, the tournament meta tends to make it even more stale. I'm tired of seeing only 4 builds of whatever the flavor of the month is. I would love some sort of scenarios or missions or anything to spice up the game. Warhammer Fantasty Battle did this. Everyone declared that it was going to ruin tournaments. It didn't. It made them better. Scenarios are a good way of forcing people out of the meta. There has to be some missions where a 2 ship build would usually lose. There are mission where swarms would probably lose. Force people into playing balanced lists.

If you want Armada play armada

If you want Imperial Assault Play that

If you want custom rules go for it!

Otherwise Play the missions already given in expansions.

X-wing as a whole doesn't need missions, it is strictly about dog-fighting.

Is that an absolute?

Here we go again ....

If you want Armada play armada

If you want Imperial Assault Play that

If you want custom rules go for it!

Otherwise Play the missions already given in expansions.

X-wing as a whole doesn't need missions, it is strictly about dog-fighting.

Is that an absolute?

Absolutely.

If you want Armada play armada

If you want Imperial Assault Play that

If you want custom rules go for it!

Otherwise Play the missions already given in expansions.

X-wing as a whole doesn't need missions, it is strictly about dog-fighting.

Is that an absolute?

If someone was arguing to change the core game mechanics I would agree. As example, get rid of turrets etc.

But for casual play there is no reason missions or objectives could not be implemented.

In tournament play I could see leaving the death match style of play. I play DnD attack wing and there are "Missions" in the tournaments that basically get ignored at our local tournaments. People just end up killing each other as you can also win, and usually more easily win by just killing your opponent.

I would very much like to see a mission deck or scenario book produced for X wing. It would allow ALL the ships in my collection to see actual use. And that would be fun!

If you want Armada play armada

If you want Imperial Assault Play that

If you want custom rules go for it!

Otherwise Play the missions already given in expansions.

X-wing as a whole doesn't need missions, it is strictly about dog-fighting.

Wow that is a very limited view of X-Wing. Personally I'm all in favor or mission goals. I've been hopping for some time that FFG comes out with a Mission Book. 50+ missions with suggested pre-built squads. Mission goals is a move that I think could help improve and diversify the game.

I'm all in: more missions, and let's add mission goals too.

I've been arguing for Scenario packs to be released by FFG.

Freighter pack with containers + accompanying scenarios
AT-AT (slow moving turret) + accompanying scenarios

ION Cannon + accompanying scenarios

Satelites + accompanying scenarioss

Scenarios may include bombing runs, defending a zone, hitting a high priority target, Identifying specific targets, capturing and escorting an item off the board, landing a boarding craft on a huge ship for boarding, etc.

The X-Wing, Tie Fighter and other related games gave us a wealth of opportunities.