Looks beautiful. Our Toronto group will likely be taking this for a try as well.

Just rallied a 5-player test for tomorrow. Great work from the looks of it, I'm eager for an opportunity to play a little differently.

Fantastic!

I have it all printed out and going to laminate the play pieces.

Many of us have been asking for FFG to do this for a Loooong time. Guess its a fan like you that will make it happen.

Thank you! Will be in touch with our experiences and look forward to any expansions!

Armoredgear7: Any experinence/ advice in change the AI with an Imperial overlord player? I consider using a chess watch for selecting the maneuvers in order to make the Imp overlord a worse player and also to speed up gameplay..

Armoredgear7: Any experinence/ advice in change the AI with an Imperial overlord player? I consider using a chess watch for selecting the maneuvers in order to make the Imp overlord a worse player and also to speed up gameplay..

I've never tried it actually, but I think the best place to start is by fudging the scaling system: Give the Imperial human player 1 fewer players' worth of ships (if you have 4 players, only scale the Imperial forces for 3p).

This... this is amazing. I am going to see if I can talk my group into trying this. Very, very impressive.

I'm struggling to print out the player cards and any page of the rules manual that has them on. Everything else has printed out fine and is waiting to be stuck onto card stock.

It does look amazing though, can't wait to try it out. Thanks for all the hard work that has gone into this.

First let me just say this is an incredibly awesome and well thought out production! We just started out and had a few questions/clarifications (we'd like to play as intended). Also, please forgive me if I missed any of these in the rulebook!

1. Will an AI ship barrel roll out of the printed firing arc of a turreted ship? (this happened a few times and seemed sub-optimal for the AI as the ship could still shoot it...we figured the spirit was more that the AI ship tries to avoid being shot)

2. Do emplacements/mines have a 'pilot skill' (for things like Predator, etc.?) **EDIT** found this on the emplacements card..they do NOT have a PS.

3. On the B-wing upgrade card is the E2 modification icon coupled with the crew slot (essentially the b-wing gets the 4 modifications and also can equip E2? I am guessing no due to the wording on the HWK-290 ship regarding crew but the little icon has me second guessing...)

4. Just a clarification on this one but on mission loss you retain your XP gathered that mission (minus any loss due to eject rolls)?

5. Are there assist points for something like Draw Their Fire if you take a point of damage intended for another player? (is this a correct interpretation of the 'Guardian' assist?)

6. pg.42 The experience table says 1XP for destroying an emplacement....many of the missions specifically call out certain 'types' of emplacements as having an XP reward. Is this XP in addition to the standard 1XP for emplacements? i.e. Capture the refueling station...pilot gets 1XP for destroying shield generator would also get 1XP for having destroyed an emplacement for total 2XP?

Those are all the questions I had for now....our first 4-player mission was really fun (clear the minefield) and ended with all mines and 3 friendly ships destroyed and the last x-wing trying to make a focused jump to hyperspace on turn 12 to capture the victory....which sadly fizzled out (x-wing was lacking an R2 unit...must have been it...)

Thanks for reading!

I'm struggling to print out the player cards and any page of the rules manual that has them on. Everything else has printed out fine and is waiting to be stuck onto card stock.

That's an interesting problem to have. Send me a PM with your printing setup and we can try to troubleshoot it?

First let me just say this is an incredibly awesome and well thought out production! We just started out and had a few questions/clarifications (we'd like to play as intended). Also, please forgive me if I missed any of these in the rulebook!

1. Will an AI ship barrel roll out of the printed firing arc of a turreted ship? (this happened a few times and seemed sub-optimal for the AI as the ship could still shoot it...we figured the spirit was more that the AI ship tries to avoid being shot)

2. Do emplacements/mines have a 'pilot skill' (for things like Predator, etc.?) **EDIT** found this on the emplacements card..they do NOT have a PS.

3. On the B-wing upgrade card is the E2 modification icon coupled with the crew slot (essentially the b-wing gets the 4 modifications and also can equip E2? I am guessing no due to the wording on the HWK-290 ship regarding crew but the little icon has me second guessing...)

4. Just a clarification on this one but on mission loss you retain your XP gathered that mission (minus any loss due to eject rolls)?

5. Are there assist points for something like Draw Their Fire if you take a point of damage intended for another player? (is this a correct interpretation of the 'Guardian' assist?)

6. pg.42 The experience table says 1XP for destroying an emplacement....many of the missions specifically call out certain 'types' of emplacements as having an XP reward. Is this XP in addition to the standard 1XP for emplacements? i.e. Capture the refueling station...pilot gets 1XP for destroying shield generator would also get 1XP for having destroyed an emplacement for total 2XP?

Those are all the questions I had for now....our first 4-player mission was really fun (clear the minefield) and ended with all mines and 3 friendly ships destroyed and the last x-wing trying to make a focused jump to hyperspace on turn 12 to capture the victory....which sadly fizzled out (x-wing was lacking an R2 unit...must have been it...)

Thanks for reading!

Some of these clarifications will make it into the v0.7 materials. In the meantime, I will be compiling an FAQ for the dockingbay416.com/campaign page sometime next week.

1) I assume you mean for a ship equipped with an Ion Cannon Turret, etc. Rules as written, yes, you should still barrel roll. Perhaps this text should be reworded to "barrel roll to avoid being attacked by target" or something.

2) This should probably also be clarified in the emplacements section of the book, thanks.

3) Nothing special here, probably just unclear. If you use one of your 4 mods to equip B-wing/E2, you gain a crew slot. The card was laid out as a reminder that the crew slot requires the E2 mod.

4) Yes. If you fail a mission you keep all your XP. Ejecting can affect this as usual, and sometimes this is also affected by the mission's Imperial Victory text.

5) Correct. The "Guardian Assist" was added relatively late in development to encourage players to take more defensive abilities that weren't seeing as much play.

6) Emplacements are normally worth 1XP for destruction only (not for damage). Capture the Refueling Station's objectives table should be reworded "the pilot responsible gains an additional 1XP". Is there anywhere else in the book that has issues with this?

Glad you're enjoying it - it can be definitely be pretty tough if the AI ships are rolling well.

In the last mission I played, a Y-wing in our squadron spent the entire mission being harassed by a single TIE Fighter that it consistently failed to damage with its Twin Laser Turret. The TIE put something like 5 damage on the Y-wing and suffered only 2 in return, even after a couple other Rebel ships tried to finish it off. After that, we fled the mission area and left the unkillable TIE alone.

Would really like to see Scum and Imperial campaigns, but really, REALLY like this.

Alright, since this deserves infinite bumps forever, here's some text wall.

First off, I'd like to say that this is stunningly perfect as is. Every question or issue we had was quickly resolved by another glance at the rules, and my group of five remained impressed and eager throughout (many, many hours later), leaving some considering it a strictly better game (we have some non-competitive types) and others just saying its the perfect way to get new players into the game. To that end, I would not hesitate to drop $25-$30 for professional cardboard cards and an A5 type manual of this (though the book may have to be divided into two halves), and would happily repeat the process for new or different campaigns with a similar level of content. I'll probably have a fabricator friend mock one up with an industrial printer and laser cutter, but I would not hesitate to nab an official one if it later became available.

The ONLY things that warranted a second glance throughout our playtime were as follows:

-More than once a squadmate banked in front of multiple oncoming waves of TIEs, 'drawing their fire' as part of a strategy without actually drawing their fire. He always maneuvered perfectly, and led enemies astray exactly according to plan, but as a result inflicted maybe two damage in his first mission and very little later, until finally just K-Turning and trying to break their formation (successfully). His role was critical, but as a result he always lagged behind in experience, his low relative PS further hedging him into a diversionary position. I suppose the answer would be for him to actually just pay for 'Draw Their Fire', but an XP rewarded for every time you are the target of a certain number of squadrons/ships could be interesting. Not a necessity, and I guess it sort of rewards goofy play, but a consolation prize for the Leeroy Jenkins inclined.

-When we started, I and a few others had thought up insane and crazy ability combinations, but quickly shored up our ambitions in the face of the cost of increasing PS. Even after multiple missions, the PS gain seems a bit on the slow side, though I could imagine things might get unhinged in a hurry otherwise. Maybe some small discount based on your current PS? Perhaps we are simply playing oddly, but it seems like you'd be lucky to get a powerful pilot ability or two by the end of a medium campaign without 'grinding' an early mission.

-Maybe a way to sell or trade upgrades between players? The tough choices aspect is a big part of the difficulty, but especially when changing ships can lead to some fairly dark missions and a lot of burned XP. I'd still want it to be heavily limited in some way, but right now it induces the occasional grumble. Maybe we'll just be more prudent purchasers in the future.

I would like to stress none of these were 'oh screw this' moments, just the only causes of anything other than intense plotting, impressed praise, and victorious hooting. Beyond that...

-Most of the missions are not merely good, but awesome. The Chasing Phantoms arc and boarding the fuel station resulted in actual visible astonishment, and even 'simple' missions like Capture Officer bleed with more depth and flavor than anything outside of FFGs Epic campaigns. Anyone cooking up scenarios would do well to read these through. Well done.

-The inevitable bump city aside, AI behaves exactly as intended. Consistent enough to be menacing, with a touch of unpredictability to ruin the best laid plans. Good stuff.

If I were to make a wish list for nutso future stuff (once again, don't think the current campaign is missing anything without these):

-MOAR.

-Imperial or Scum campaigns, or Rebel campaigns against both. A Scum campaign where you start as lowly criminals, come to blows with legendary bounty hunters, and end up tearing around in their amped-up ships is particularly promising (who doesn't want to bring some scrappy kid in a broken Z95 up into a grim hunter careening around in a loaded Firespray?). Could have some cool betrayal and 'enemy of my enemy' aspects as well, plus plenty of opportunities to fight all three factions in a single campaign.

-Failing that, a mission based around stealing an Imperial ship (Rebel Assault 2 style) and wreaking havoc, or the ability (unlocked through massive XP investment or mission victory) for a player to run an Imperial ship at a large opportunity cost (maybe 5XP for a Rebels-style TIE, 10 for an Interceptor, Bomber, Advanced, etc, much more for a Phantom or Punisher. Same for captured Scum ships.

-I understand why large PWTs can't be unlocked despite the rebel flavor of a customized freighter. If it's ever incorporated should come at a huge cost (upgrades cost 2x as much, counts as another player for difficulty, etc.) but could be cool. I do like the missions that let you have some fun with one as a team ship, though.

-Opt in to 'New-Era' prototypes for 10 points (E Wing, K Wing, T70). Tampers with the classic flavor but I'm a sucker for options.

One last time, thanks for your work on this. I don't take a free product that gives me hours of seamless entertainment with a bunch of friends lightly.

-More than once a squadmate banked in front of multiple oncoming waves of TIEs, 'drawing their fire' as part of a strategy without actually drawing their fire. He always maneuvered perfectly, and led enemies astray exactly according to plan, but as a result inflicted maybe two damage in his first mission and very little later, until finally just K-Turning and trying to break their formation (successfully). His role was critical, but as a result he always lagged behind in experience, his low relative PS further hedging him into a diversionary position. I suppose the answer would be for him to actually just pay for 'Draw Their Fire', but an XP rewarded for every time you are the target of a certain number of squadrons/ships could be interesting. Not a necessity, and I guess it sort of rewards goofy play, but a consolation prize for the Leeroy Jenkins inclined.

It sounds like you might have figured out a minor exploit for the AI's targeting preferences. I'd be really interested in seeing a diagram or turn-by-turn walkthrough of how this strategy works.

-When we started, I and a few others had thought up insane and crazy ability combinations, but quickly shored up our ambitions in the face of the cost of increasing PS. Even after multiple missions, the PS gain seems a bit on the slow side, though I could imagine things might get unhinged in a hurry otherwise. Maybe some small discount based on your current PS? Perhaps we are simply playing oddly, but it seems like you'd be lucky to get a powerful pilot ability or two by the end of a medium campaign without 'grinding' an early mission.

I think your assessment is accurate - in a medium length campaign (9-15 missions), I think you're unlikely to get the entire squadron to the PS7+ level. In part, this is intentional because you can then either reuse these pilots in a "high-level" campaign playthrough, or the scaling fits better when the campaign can be expanded with more mission arcs (7 or even 9 arcs instead of 5).

When we were playtesting these missions at weekly game nights, I usually played as well and eventually built up a PS9 Squad Leader X-wing (Squad Leader, Experimental Interface, Shield x3, Predator/Garven/Jake/Wedge) because I was running him in every game, sometimes playing the same mission 2-3 times with different tweaks from testing.

To be honest, there are a number of missions "on the cutting room floor" that didn't make the beta release both for project scope creep, balance/fun level, and not-fitting-into-a-good-story arc-reasons. I simply included what I felt were the best sets. In some sense, this means I have a bit of a jump on making expansion content.

Alright, since this deserves infinite bumps forever, here's some text wall.

First off, I'd like to say that this is stunningly perfect as is. Every question or issue we had was quickly resolved by another glance at the rules, and my group of five remained impressed and eager throughout (many, many hours later), leaving some considering it a strictly better game (we have some non-competitive types) and others just saying its the perfect way to get new players into the game.

...

One last time, thanks for your work on this. I don't take a free product that gives me hours of seamless entertainment with a bunch of friends lightly.

Anyway - awesome! Have you and your group played through a whole medium-length campaign already?

We started two and I did a couple standalones with another group. Now everyone's so rabid for more I have to somehow schedule continuing them all while shifting careers and getting the rest of my life in order. I'm sure my impressions will change after clawing all the way through one, my main group has been plotting nonstop since failing the first Capture Officer mission. I poorly flew a Y Wing on a useless extended flank, and one of our X's was instantly destroyed by a TIE Advanced procket barrage seconds after it jumped out of hyperspace...directly behind them. Our other Y just murdered the Moff (apparently we're conducting Barbarossa style scorched Earth here) and covered our retreat with seismic charges while the two damaged X's spooled hyperdrives (one never made it) and I careened off the board in resignation.

Seriously, everyone should be trying this, don't be intimidated by the print-heavy frontend or big manual (it's mostly scenarios...something many of you have been asking for for years). Great way to get new players who might be uncomfortable with the hyper-competitive aspect into the mechanics or convert a whole roleplaying group to the game.

Oh! One last goofball idea. Z95s as a starting fighter (+8XP). Since the HWK is in it and they undoubtedly look the part, thought they might be a bit better than upgrading to wild new stuff and corrupting the OT feel too much. Gives a starting missile option, could also have an Illicit like the HWK does to make them a little more interesting (since the Rebel Z as a lone ship is...underwhelming). Only thought of it because we ended up using Rebel and Scum Zs for two of the X Wings for maximum visual distinction on field, and everyone loves being a special snowflake.

i'd make the Z-95 +12... y-wing is already +8 and a lot more practical/survivable.

I would love to see a smartphone/pad app where you input the required info and it outputs the AIs reaction!

We played this today, and though I got ill and had to leave, we had a great time with the starter mission. The AI seems great at doing the right thing and just random enough to not make it easy to guess. I cannot wait to get back out there and actually start the missions. My crew is already looking at how to add the T70 (thinking PS7 or 8).

Woot. Finally finished all the construction. I still haven't had a chance to play, but as I've been making the pieces I have been reading the rules - it looks very well thought out.

For printing, I printed everything but the manual on cardstock. It wasn't really thick enough for anything but the player cards and the mission decks, so I ordered some chipboard. I used 3M spray adhesive to mount the cardstock pieces to the chipboard. Then, being overly anal, I painted the edges black and then sprayed clear coat over everything. Net result is that all the pieces look great. There's an amazing amount of effort that armoredgear7 put into creating these pieces so that my work actually looks awesome.

I'm really looking forward to giving this a try.

i'd make the Z-95 +12... y-wing is already +8 and a lot more practical/survivable.

I may do this.

Extra mod slot + Illicit + 12 starting XP. I think it may also be an appealing choice if your eventual gameplan is to upgrade to an A-wing.

I would love to see a smartphone/pad app where you input the required info and it outputs the AIs reaction!

If anybody wants to offer to do the work, I'm all for it.

I'm actually not sure it would be much of a timesaver though.

Woot. Finally finished all the construction. I still haven't had a chance to play, but as I've been making the pieces I have been reading the rules - it looks very well thought out.

For printing, I printed everything but the manual on cardstock. It wasn't really thick enough for anything but the player cards and the mission decks, so I ordered some chipboard. I used 3M spray adhesive to mount the cardstock pieces to the chipboard. Then, being overly anal, I painted the edges black and then sprayed clear coat over everything. Net result is that all the pieces look great. There's an amazing amount of effort that armoredgear7 put into creating these pieces so that my work actually looks awesome.

I'm really looking forward to giving this a try.

Sounds like your personal set has better production value than mine!

This looks just fantastic.

Any chance of a reversed version where you are playing imperial patrols defending a sector from attacks by fanatical terrorists?

I downloaded it, and didn't really have high hopes, as it is just fan made content from within the community. Having seen many bold projects fall flat or left incomplete in the passed...

Let me be the first too say, Awesome! the crew @ DockingBay416 have a done a stellar job I would've paid money for this before even buying any of the latest expansions.

There has been one thing that left me unsatisfied with X-wing. To much focus on the competitive aspect of the game with tournaments, and the latest meta, etc, etc.. not enough story telling / cinematic play..

Thank you very much for the time and effort you put into this. FFG should be thanking you.

nice but when a campaign for the empire

I've been looking at shamelessly reverse engineering this, my conclusions are: a: we need more AI routines for pirate craft, can't find them anywhere.

b: Rebels generally have a lot more freedom in missions and a lot looser command structure than imperials, for imperials the squad leader should always be the same, also missions a lot more ordered. maybe randomized mission string.

c: TIE's are a lot less modificable than Rebel craft, so harsher limits on modifications.

For mine which I am planning the players start with a TIE Fighter an extra hull point and 0 experience. The extra hull point based on the Commander of their ship basically having a bit more respect for his pirates than the average commander and uparmoured them. Practically it allows the players survivability. Additionally for each player TIE, there is an AI TIE, whose actions are guided by the player group. The AI TIE's always have the average PS and modifications that the players do, When players move away from the TIE Fighter to Interceptors and Bombers then the AI TIE's go away.

As a possible thought, in exchange for modification the players can buy things like 1 shot off table artillery (see GR75 hoth campaign) or abilities that buff their AI wingmen. Switching up to tier 2 (interceptors and bombers) and tier 3 (X1, Phantom, Defender, Punisher). craft will be based on XP, but they have to all reach a set amount and it may be after completing various tours and being re-assigned to new squadrons.

Id also add that pirate/scum has the most potential for fun. Wheras you use xp for abilities (use any of the 3 factions) EPTs etc, but use some kind of credit system for modifications and illicits, with modification cousts multiplying based on how many mods you have, but otherwise unlimited.

DIRECT HIT!!!