I either read it somewhere hear or heard someone mention the idea to me at the game club, but sometime over the last couple weeks someone said something about a rebel blockade running mission. It would be a team epic game, and it would have three mats placed end to end, and the idea is the rebels have to get a ship or ships to the other end.

Since I heard that I have been wanting to give something like that a try, but I am not sure how to really balance out the teams or anything. Things like, how many transports would the rebels have to work with, or what kind of opposition would be fair.

One transport is probably going to be too difficult to defend, especially if the imperials bring a raider or two. In theory the rebels could lose every escorting ship and as long as at least one transport gets away they can count it as a victory.

I have also had the idea that perhaps each player could control a specific group or squad in a way. So say an imperial player has a gozanti, a decimator, and some generic ties and that guy could be the system patrol group and start closer to the rebels...while the imperial navy player could have a raider and more sophisticated ships. Rebels could have an assault squadron with y-wings and b-wings, etc.

Ah I have no idea what I am doing. I guess I am just looking for ideas for how to make this fun and flavorful and the like.

There are a couple other blockade missions up on Mission Control, but here is my take on a blockade running mission: https://tools.fantasyflightgames.com/xwing/htmlpreview/1116/

It's tough to set up a fun escort mission (which is basically what a blockade running mission is), because the natural inclination of the side attacking the target ship is to focus solely on that ship and largely ignore all other ships. This makes for a predictable and ultimately boring game. It's a common issue I call suicide run syndrome.

It's a tough problem to overcome. Basically you want to force the players to dogfight at some point, instead of just making an attack run while the other player follows behind, shooting them down.

in my scenario I used mines to force the players to think about something other than just making attack runs.

A quite simple idea. The "Target" ship (transport, VIP carrier, etc) is equiped with a MASTER jamming device. All, or only.some of the scorting forces are also equiped with SLAVE jamming devices. When defending, for every SLAVE sistem within range 1-2 of the MASTER ship, she gains one extra green.

So the attacker must engage scorting ships prior to targeting main target...or that YT 2400 will roll 5 green !!! Well tested and my favourite SSR while designing this kind of scenarios

One example, "VIP EXECUTION". A Rebel Senator travels in a YT 2400 to sign a treaty. Scorting him: 3 turreted Y wings plus 2 X wings. The Y carry the SLAVE system. They fly close to the Yt ang give both covering fire plus extra green. Destroy first two Y wings or the Yt is almost invulnerable. Very simple and works fine

An idea I've considered (and needs a lot more work) is only making the transport susceptible to missiles. The opponents have a choice, spend points arming every ship with missiles OR build a missile platform/s (bomber/s) and escort to protect him/her. This forces the attacking team to assault the transport's escort first as they're the biggest threat to the bomber. For the team defending the transport, they have to consider whether to attack the bomber and leave themselves open to more aggressive opponents or wipe out the bomber's escort first.

I think a game like this would mix up your list builds a little too. Additionally, certain limitations can be placed. Eg. You're allowed 2 aces which are kept off the board until turn 4. The idea is that the generics are escorting, see the danger and call for back up.

An idea I've considered (and needs a lot more work) is only making the transport susceptible to missiles. The opponents have a choice, spend points arming every ship with missiles OR build a missile platform/s (bomber/s) and escort to protect him/her. This forces the attacking team to assault the transport's escort first as they're the biggest threat to the bomber. For the team defending the transport, they have to consider whether to attack the bomber and leave themselves open to more aggressive opponents or wipe out the bomber's escort first.

I think a game like this would mix up your list builds a little too. Additionally, certain limitations can be placed. Eg. You're allowed 2 aces which are kept off the board until turn 4. The idea is that the generics are escorting, see the danger and call for back up.

This idea can work fairly well; especially if you divide up the attacking squads into a bomber and escort squad, and give the bomber squad a heavy ordnance discount.

DON'T DO 3 MATS!

I was present for a game with 3 mats, and the players going end to end longways. Between all the maneuvers being planned and all the ships being moved it took numerous rounds to even meet in the middle. In epic numerous rounds take way too long. If you sprint through the first few rounds it'll still take at least half an hour to get to the halfway point if each side has numerous points.

That said, the idea sounds awesome. I really like the cinematic vibe I'm getting. And if you're really set on 3 mats and don't mind the first few rounds of ship sprinting, then go ahead. Having the patrol group start closer would help with that. If you ever end up doing this, post back here about it!

TAKE PICTURES!

I had made something for Ken At Sunrise a few months back. I didn't play test it and it was only an idea, but here goes:

I did sit down and try to come up with a mission that was more than just fight each other. I took titles and upgrades that play towards it. The general idea is that the Rebels need to run an Imperial blockade. The goal is to get the CR-90 off the table edge (set up long ways). I'll show you the lists and tell you how it runs.

SETUP: 6 x 3 table. Rebels at R1 of the short end of one side. The Imperials pick one side of the far table edge and set up within R1 of that (second half of the 6x3 board). Imperials have the initiative as they are guarding the blockade.

REBELS

CR-90 FORE

Jaina’s Light, Quad Laser Cannon, Ordnance Tubes, Ion Torpedo, Weapons Team, Sensor Team, Chewbacca, Tibanna Gas Supplies

CR-90 AFT

Engineering Team, Cluster Missiles, WED-15 Repair Droid, Engine Boost

RED SQUADRON

Garven Dreis

Red Squadron Pilot

Rookie X-wing.

BANDIT SQUADRON

Bandit Pilot Z-95

Tala Z-95

Blount w/ Ion Pulse Missile

GOLD SQUADRON

2 x Gold Squadron Y-wing w/ Extra Munitions, Ion Torpedos

IMPERIALS

RAIDER FORE

Ion Battery, Gunnery Team, Mercenary Co-pilot

RAIDER AFT

Impetuous, Ion Battery, Quad Laser Cannons, Engineering Team, Weapons Engineer, Optimized Generator, Admiral Ozzel, Sensor Team, Tibanna Gas

TIE SQUAD 1

2 x Academy Pilots

Obsidian Pilot

Black Squadron Pilot

TIE SQUAD 2

2 x Academy Pilots

Obsidian Pilot

Black Squadron Pilot

MINE LAYER

Black Eight Pilot w/ FCS, Extra Munitions, Cluster Mines, Proximity Mines, Proton Torpedo, and Assault Missile

Oh, Imperials set up first.

So.....if the CR-90 is destroyed, the Rebels lose. They have some defensive upgrades to help them with critical hits and the repair droid. Their goal is to get off the board! The use of Ion Torpedoes can really help control the enemy Tie Swarms. The Rebels have the option of going full force ahead or to try to send their Fighters forward to try to either cripple the Raider or to take out a lot of enemy Tie Fighters. The small Rebel ships can cause a lot of damage to the Raider if they can get through the Tie Fighter screen. The danger of waiting too long means that the enemy Mine Layer (Tie Punisher) can set up quite a few obstacles for the CR-90.

The Raider gets bonuses to blasting small enemy ships and has a lot of weapons that can cause critical hits. The Ion Batteries can hurt both the CR-90 and the small ships. Mercenary Co-pilot also helps dish out critical hits with the main guns, too. The amount of firepower that the Raider can dish out a turn is impressive, but takes a lot of energy to shoot it all. Still, it can be susceptible to an enemy counter attack as most energy should be used for offense. Admiral Ozzel can help give energy, but at the chance of risking damage to the Raider. If the CR-90 dies with the Raider, it is an Imperial victory, though.

I'm not 100% on the Tie Punisher. I wanted to include something different and having a mine layer was a good idea. It will be fully loaded, but able to drop a lot of different mines across the table edge. If it doesn't rush forward, it can spend a few turns to lay a lot of mines to prevent the CR-90 from completing it's mission. If it gets past the Raider, it will probably be wounded and the Punisher can unleash ordnance at it to cripple it. I thought about allowing the Imperials to set up at R1 of either table side to give the Punisher a better chance of laying mines that are actually in the way.

Let me know what you think! It could need some tweaking as I worry about the Imperial firepower. The Tie Fighters can ping the CR-90 down pretty bad or go after the enemy fighters. They aren't a main threat though.....but are highly iconic!

Play Area: 3x6 feet.

Squadbuilding: The Rebels have 150 points to spend on huge ships (no limit on epic points), 150 points to spend on small ships, and 100 points to spend as they wish (maybe allowing Scum ships to be hired). The Imperials have 100 points to spend on huge ships (no limit on epic points), 100 points to spend on large ships, 100 points to spend on small ships, and 100 points to spend as they wish (maybe allowing Scum ships to be hired).

Obstacles: Instead of asteroids and debris clouds, place 12 mine tokens (prox, cluster, conner). For extra fun, replace destroyed ships with debris clouds during play.

Deployment: The Rebels start within Range 2-5 of one of the short edges, no closer than Range 1 from any edge. The Imperials set up anywhere on their own half of the board, no closer than Range 1 from any edge.

Objectives: In order to win, the Rebels must have one of their huge ships flee the opposite short edge or destroy the entire Imperial force. The Imperials' goal is to destroy all of the Rebel huge ships.

Play Area: 3x6 feet.

Squadbuilding: The Rebels have 150 points to spend on huge ships (no limit on epic points), 150 points to spend on small ships, and 100 points to spend as they wish (maybe allowing Scum ships to be hired). The Imperials have 100 points to spend on huge ships (no limit on epic points), 100 points to spend on large ships, 100 points to spend on small ships, and 100 points to spend as they wish (maybe allowing Scum ships to be hired).

Obstacles: Instead of asteroids and debris clouds, place 12 mine tokens (prox, cluster, conner). For extra fun, replace destroyed ships with debris clouds during play.

Deployment: The Rebels start within Range 2-5 of one of the short edges, no closer than Range 1 from any edge. The Imperials set up anywhere on their own half of the board, no closer than Range 1 from any edge.

Objectives: In order to win, the Rebels must have one of their huge ships flee the opposite short edge or destroy the entire Imperial force. The Imperials' goal is to destroy all of the Rebel huge ships.

Straightforward, but probably needs a rebalance- There are 400 points of Imperials trying to destroy 150-250 points of Rebels, giving the advantage to the Imperials. In any given game you can expect one side to destroy ~80-100% of the opposition during the course of the battle. The Imperials only need to destroy 37-60% of the enemy to win in this scenario. Huge ships aren't typically fast enough to outrun pursuit, either, so they can hardly be expected to evade

My version is definitely tough on the Rebels. It's partially balanced by the fact that the Imperials have to focus their attacks on huge ships, leaving them vulnerable to Rebel escorts. If the Rebels took a CR90 and two GR75s, I think they'd have a fair chance of getting one of them through the line just by forcing the Imperials to split fire. It might take a couple of tries, but I think it can be done. Asymmetry sometimes equals replay value?

Let the rebels have several transports, maybe even small transporters like Hwks. One and only one gets secretly assigned a mission token by the rebel player(s) (put it in into a closed envelope or such). If this particular transport gets through the rebels have won. This way the imperial player(s) have to destroy or capture all transports as they do not know which one.

Another option I have done with the kids is that one/several ships have to be captured (vital captured personal or extremely important and irreplacable stuff on board). Before the battle agree on how often the ship has to be ionised in order to be captured, keep track how often it was ionised, if count reached it is captured. If it is destroyed instead if captured, the attacker gets 0 points (or even negative). Opposing player gets the dial and can steer it to the own side, but not use any weapons, upgrades or special abilities. Former defender who lost the ship might try to capture back or destroy it - agree on conditions for that beforehand.

Edit spellcheck (typing on mobile devices is tedious)

My version is definitely tough on the Rebels. It's partially balanced by the fact that the Imperials have to focus their attacks on huge ships, leaving them vulnerable to Rebel escorts. If the Rebels took a CR90 and two GR75s, I think they'd have a fair chance of getting one of them through the line just by forcing the Imperials to split fire. It might take a couple of tries, but I think it can be done. Asymmetry sometimes equals replay value?

I'd guess that the life expectancy of any given Imperial ship wouldn't change much if they were concentrating on the Rebel Huge ships or not. Either way the Imperials are engaging the enemy - the Rebel huge ships contribute to the fight, so while they may not have been the primary target in a straight-up fight, they're still a worthwhile target.

If asymmetry is acceptable, then yeah this looks fine. The use of mine tokens as obstacles is a good idea, for one. And of course there is nothing like a good playtest to find out how a scenario really shakes out - but to me this looks like a turkey shoot. My first guess point spread for a mission like this would be about 300-350 imperial to 400 rebel. Which is kind of a shame because the Rebels are supposed to be running away from superior imperial forces, right? It's not an easy type of scenario to write. I don't even really like my version!

I think the most exciting ending to my scenario would be a nearly-dead GR75 limping into hyperspace from a mostly healthy Imperial squad, but that means the Imperials should win without much effort unless the Rebels are determined and lucky. I guess I just like when the Rebels have only about a one in three chance of winning.

I really like the secret ship idea. Maybe the Rebel player has 20 cargo points to assign to their squad. Up to 5 cargo points can be assigned to transport-type ships (or maybe you'll want to set limits for certain ships). You secretly indicate the cargo points assigned to each ship with a facedown maneuver dial's speed setting. When a ship escapes, you reveal its cargo points and score them. Maybe you need to get 11+ cargo points through the blockade in order to win.