Welcome to the IBL, the Intergalactic Biggsball League

By Caboose2900, in X-Wing

Scene: you are blaring down the space field of the Coruscant Stadium, miles above the city planet's atmosphere. Camera droids buzz around you as your game is broadcast to millions of viewers galaxy-wide.

You have the "ball". Two opposing Tie Fighters are closing in on your six though, and you still have 30 kilometers between you and the the "goal". If you score this, you will have solidified you team's lead and go on to win the Corusca Bowl, a huge honor for you and your team. So much was sacrificed to get to this point...

Your wingmate, #42, comes zooming in behind the Tes, and makes quick work of them. You send him a quick thanks over the comms. You're now only 10 kilometers out, when all of a sudden #42 bursts into a firey ball of explosions.

"A Squint!" You exclaim.

But not just any Squint. No, the Baron himself has joined the frey. Drats, you thought his respawn timer was still at at least 3.

No time to worry about that though. Soontir is quickly approaching you from the left flank. In an attempt to shake him you quickly perform your famed "Talon" roll. Even though you can't see them, you know the crowd is going wild out there. Soontir expected your roll however, and is now coming straight at you!

Guns blazing, you and Soontir nearly collide! As you pass each other, you notice a red flash. Direct hit! Soontir is spiralling out of control. But your jobs not over yet, and you didn't escape from that skirmish unscathed. Looks like your engines are damaged, and turning back towards the goal is gonna be difficult. But you can't give up now! Not while you're so close!

You maneuver back on track, barely maintaining consciousness as you perform a break-neck turn. The goal is in sight now.

5 kilometers...

4..

3...

2....

And there it is! You ram you ship as hard as you can into the replica escape shuttle. In your final blaze of glory you scream "WITNESS MEEEE!!" Into the comms. The crowd will love that one.

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Biggsball

A "ball" game set in the fantastical world of Star Wars.

The Vision:

Imagine, if you will, a tabletop version of Griffball. If you do not know what that is, then imagine two teams fighting over dominance of a bomb, only to carry it to the other team's side of the field and explode. That's Griffball.

And that's what I am going for with Biggsball.

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What I have so far:

Basically this: each team starts with a predetermined number of points, which they obviously allocate to ships. Let's say... 300 for now. Might increase that later. Idk. Each player gets 6 obstacles as well. The game will be played on a 6x3 table. You will also need 1 proximity mine token, 6 "goal" tokens (which can be whatever, just make them all the same) and something to keep track of the round number.

Start by placing the mine in the very middle of the table, hence forth referred to as the ball. Each player sets up obstacles as normal, except not placing anything within range one of the ball. Then each player places their three goals on their side at exactly range one from the edge, and evenly spread out.

This is where it starts to diverge from normal play. Each team then selects up to 11 of their ships to place within range 2 of their edge. If you have more ships, the remainder are benched. Now, start playing!

The objective is to get one of your ships onto the balk, at which point that ship grabs the ball. The ball carrier then tries to make it to one of the opponent's goals and blow it up. Simply fly into it. The game is played until someone loses all three goals, or until time is called. The game consists of 4 quarters, each lasting 10-20 rounds. Still needs testing.

If a ship with the ball is damaged in ANY way, it must make a roll (separate to whatever roll damaged it, if any) of 1 attack dice. On a (something... Let's say hit for now) the ship performs a boost and places the ball where the just were.

If a ship dies, it is placed on the bench. It then has to stay on the bench until it has recovered. To recover, a ship must wait X rounds, where X is half your pilot skill rounded up, plus an additional round for each time you were destroyed this quarter of the game. When your deployed ships fall below 11, you may deploy as many ships as you want up to the maximum. Deploy these ships from your right side of the table, up to range 3 of the back edge, at the start of the next round. You may also bench a ship by flying it off the board. A ship benched this way keeps its damage, and recovers 1 hull/shield each round it is benched. If the ball carrier is benched this way, the player who did not have the ball may place the ball using any maneuver template from the rear of where the opposing ship flew off. All benched ships are recovered at half-time.

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That's pretty much all I've got. It functions as of now, but I definitely feel like it could use some polish. Saw the "Fly Casual" artical and thought it was about time I finished this idea and posted it. Any comments or remarks are welcome. Hope someone thinks this would be a fun idea. :)

Edited by Caboose2900

sounds absolutely amazing.

I think it's great and I will probably try it in one way or another.

My only concern is the time. 10-20 rounds per quarter, 4 quarters... that's really long.

Keep us updated! I'd love combining my two favorite pastimes, Xwing and killing Grif!

I have to try this....

This sounds really fun, but I'm with Boba Rick, it will take a very long time. Maybe make it a set time limit(an hour or two) and stop for quarters and half time at actual times. Make a rule to encourage quick play to prevent slow playing(maybe a bonus for having your dials set first or something)(like a no huddle offence) Anyway, I'm going to try to get my play group to try this out. Great idea.

To shorten the time, you could play 15-30 minute real time quarters, with something significant happening at half time. Also, instead of ships sitting out a bunch of rounds, have them sit out 1 round only and then start back at their own side. It worked real well in a furball game I did.

I really like the idea that the ball carrier only has to be damaged to drop the ball. If it had to be destroyed, or even half destroyed, all you'd see is big ships dragging the ball. That being said, a 35 point Soontir with the ball is very hard to stop. Too hard? Maybe there should be an upgrade restriction?

I think it's great and I will probably try it in one way or another.

My only concern is the time. 10-20 rounds per quarter, 4 quarters... that's really long.

This sounds really fun, but I'm with Boba Rick, it will take a very long time. Maybe make it a set time limit(an hour or two) and stop for quarters and half time at actual times. Make a rule to encourage quick play to prevent slow playing(maybe a bonus for having your dials set first or something)(like a no huddle offence) Anyway, I'm going to try to get my play group to try this out. Great idea.

;)

Thanks for the thoughts and kind words, much appreciated!

Edited by Caboose2900

To shorten the time, you could play 15-30 minute real time quarters, with something significant happening at half time. Also, instead of ships sitting out a bunch of rounds, have them sit out 1 round only and then start back at their own side. It worked real well in a furball game I did.

I really like the idea that the ball carrier only has to be damaged to drop the ball. If it had to be destroyed, or even half destroyed, all you'd see is big ships dragging the ball. That being said, a 35 point Soontir with the ball is very hard to stop. Too hard? Maybe there should be an upgrade restriction?

I was thinking about updating the clause for dropping the ball to also include bumping, but possibly only dropping on a crit when bumping.

Also, running a high PS ship like Soontir has a downside of being out more turns. It should be hard to hit the Soontir, but when you do manage to get him, he is gone for some time. Also, makes VI a tough choice in upgrades. Adaptability even has a unique roll by allowing ships to get out faster.

Edited by Caboose2900

I love the idea and am already thinking of ideas to flesh it out. There is a definite edge to boost/barrel roll at grabbing the ball. I like the idea of a crit dropping the ball on an overlap. I'm thinking you need to roll an 'evade' on one die to keep ahold of the ball after taking damage?

Keep the number of 'players' down, maybe 3-5 on the field, but have a deep bench of generics? So if you take 'Wedge' you can have all of the rookie x-wing players on the bench you want so if Wedge 'dies' you have a back up of that ship?

Rather than quarters, maybe do 3 periods, where a period ends when one team scores. Trade initiative each period. Lots of things you can do with this. I really like it.

awesome...

from just reading the title I imagined that each team had to start with biggs and had to escort him to the enemy's goal.....don't fly too close to him!

What about turning it a bit on its ear?

In the center of the map is a Proton Bomb. Any ship with a Bomb slot can pick up the Proton Bomb. Each side gets 300 points to build their squad with. The goal is to get to the center, grab the Proton Bomb, and drop it in the enemy's deploy zone (Range 1 from their board edge). Booyah.

Adds an element of strategy to it - you have to protect the bombers, and how many bombers do you have? Go all Y-Wings and tank it with bomb loadouts? Maybe get a Firespray involved with an escort of Interceptors ....

What about turning it a bit on its ear?

In the center of the map is a Proton Bomb. Any ship with a Bomb slot can pick up the Proton Bomb. Each side gets 300 points to build their squad with. The goal is to get to the center, grab the Proton Bomb, and drop it in the enemy's deploy zone (Range 1 from their board edge). Booyah.

Adds an element of strategy to it - you have to protect the bombers, and how many bombers do you have? Go all Y-Wings and tank it with bomb loadouts? Maybe get a Firespray involved with an escort of Interceptors ....

K wing Slam-a-jamm-a

Sabine comes stapled to the ball token. Now everyone has a bomb slot. Lol