I've seen Hunger Games variants done in X-Wing, so it ocurred to me why not try something similar in IA .

Let's brainstorm a Hunger Games scenario.

I figure either of the two Four Player skirmish maps could work, or a custom map might need to be used.

A number of crates would be placed in the center of the map, and a smaller number maybe scattered around the edges.

Each player controls one character.

For simplicity and diversity's sake, everyone should be using Skirmish deployment cards (not hero sheets from campaign).

No duplicate characters allowed. If two people bring Jedi Luke , one of them has to change.

Characters must be unique single figures.

Not everyone will be on an even playing field because of this, but hey it's the hunger games. Make alliances or get eliminated.

The crates in the middle of the map can be interracted with to draw item cards from campaign.

This is where things get a little funky balance wise. Hunger Games needs a bunch of loot in the middle for those brave enough to venture there, but I'm not sure how either the crate cards, or item cards would work with only skirmish deployment cards.

What are your thoughts on how to make a semi-balanced Hunger Games variant?

EDIT:

Here's what I've got right now that needs testing.

Imperial Assault Hunger Games v1.0

What is the advantage to bringing a low cost- low health unit versus the highest cost, highest health unit? Turn order, lowest to highest?

Not sure. There would likely be little benefit to taking say, Jyn over Chewbacca. But if you bring Chewie, and someone else brings Chewie, you'll have to roll off to see who needs to pick someone else. This would create a diverse field.

More ideas:

I think everyone would still get to have a command deck. 15 cards and 15 points.

To simulate the "game master" or whatever, influencing the events of the arena, at the end of each round, or turn, you could roll a D20 and then reference the corresponding effect on a chart.

1. All players in the red deployment zone gain two movement points. Then any players in the red deployment zone suffer 2 damage.
2. All players in the Yellow Deployment zone become bleeding.
3. All players in the green deployment zone suffer 2 strain or become stunned.
4. All players in the blue deployment zone apply -3 accuracy and -2 damage to their next attack.
5. All players not in a deployment zone discard the top card of their command deck.
6. The player with the least amount of remaining health recovers 2.
7. All players become focused.
8. All players become weakened.

stuff like that.

The crates on the map could either contain items from campaign, or simply effects based on the color of the crate you reveal:

Green: Spend during your activation to become focused.
Red: Spend during your activation to recover 3
Yellow: Spend during your activation to gain 4 movement points
Blue: Spend during your activation to draw two command cards

If your card references the word Friendly you get to decide which figures count as friendly.

If your card references the word Hostile all figures count as hostile. No choice.

Maybe for your character selection you could apply the following rules:

• Must field a total of 10-12 Points with a maximum of one Unique Deployment card and unlimited Skirmish Upgrades
• May treat any Skirmish Upgrade card as Neutral
• May attach more than one Skirmish Upgrade card
• Must meet the prerequisite(s) of any Skirmish Upgrade selected/attached

This would bump out figures like Chewbacca, Darth Vader, etc. but that might be best for balance purposes. Alternatively you could create your own "negative cost" Skirmish Upgrades for specific use in this Hunger Games scenario; applying detriments or penalties in order to reduce the cost of bigger units.

Something like: "-6pt: Darth Vader Only. Reduce Defense by 1 black die. At the start of the round, remove Brutality or Foresight (players choice) until the end of the round."

I dunno. I understand the need for balance, but also, if anyone had Vader or Chewie, then I would expect everyone else to gang up on the biggest threat until it was gone.

That would be the risk you run having Vader or someone like that, you'll be everyone's prime target. Adds a psychological edge.

Also, you could say that the turn order is determined by points. Player with the lowest point cost gets to go first every time, and turn order goes in order of lease expensive figure to most. So you would be at a disadvantage with someone like Vader because everyone would get to go before you.

In the case of point ties, ties are broken each round to see who goes first.

1 hour ago, RogueLieutenant said:

Not sure. There would likely be little benefit to taking say, Jyn over Chewbacca. But if you bring Chewie, and someone else brings Chewie, you'll have to roll off to see who needs to pick someone else. This would create a diverse field.

More ideas:

I think everyone would still get to have a command deck. 15 cards and 15 points.

I wonder if these two items could supplement each other? For instance, maybe Command cards and deployment cards share a point limit. For instance, let's say we have a pt limit of 25. That means someone who bring Jyn gets to have 20 pts worth of command cards in her deck, whereas someone who brings Chewbacca only gets 10. Then, maybe put a limit on zero cost cards, like maybe 3 total.

edit: As someone who has little skirmish experience, perhaps command cards and deplotment cards points are not directly equal. If not, maybe we need a conversion factor- maybe every deployment pt equals 2 command points. Maybe it's messier- every three deployment points equals seven command pts, something like that. I have no idea, but I assume it's possible that some conversion would need to be done.

16 minutes ago, subtrendy said:

I wonder if these two items could supplement each other? For instance, maybe Command cards and deployment cards share a point limit. For instance, let's say we have a pt limit of 25. That means someone who bring Jyn gets to have 20 pts worth of command cards in her deck, whereas someone who brings Chewbacca only gets 10. Then, maybe put a limit on zero cost cards, like maybe 3 total.

I like this as a balancing tool instead, but what can we do to ensure that those lower-cost figures get to draw more Command cards per turn (and therefore get to benefit from this balancing measure)?

Edit: Maybe something like, "During the Status phase, each player draws a number of Command cards equal to 10 minus their Deployment cost, to a minimum of 1."

13 minutes ago, subtrendy said:

I wonder if these two items could supplement each other? For instance, maybe Command cards and deployment cards share a point limit. For instance, let's say we have a pt limit of 25. That means someone who bring Jyn gets to have 20 pts worth of command cards in her deck, whereas someone who brings Chewbacca only gets 10. Then, maybe put a limit on zero cost cards, like maybe 3 total.

edit: As someone who has little skirmish experience, perhaps command cards and deplotment cards points are not directly equal. If not, maybe we need a conversion factor- maybe every deployment pt equals 2 command points. Maybe it's messier- every three deployment points equals seven command pts, something like that. I have no idea, but I assume it's possible that some conversion would need to be done.

That's a good idea that could be worth considering, though I'm not sure if it would even things out, even if we nailed the point costs. Would have to see. Jyn with all sorts of cards would still probably not stand up to Chewie with only a few cards.

I like the idea though.

I'm sure someone more mathy could figure out how the points should convert, since 1 command deck point is one 15th of your total allowance, and 1 deployment point is one 40th of your total allowance.

So I think it would be lame to see people fielding all the same character, but depending on the number of players, it would also be annoying to ask them to switch to someone else since they would likely have constructed a command deck around their character. Though I'd prefer no duplicates, another solution to this issue would be this:

Cloning Imperfections:

At the start of the game, you must suffer 3 strain for each other figure that has the same name as you.

That rule could make people think twice about just automatically picking Vader or Chewie or whatever.

Though I would still prefer to just have everyone have a back up planned.

1 hour ago, Smashotron said:

I like this as a balancing tool instead, but what can we do to ensure that those lower-cost figures get to draw more Command cards per turn (and therefore get to benefit from this balancing measure)?

Edit: Maybe something like, "During the Status phase, each player draws a number of Command cards equal to 10 minus their Deployment cost, to a minimum of 1."

Yeah, the ability to mitigate the deck better should probably also fall on deployment cost. Your solution sounds pretty good.

1 hour ago, RogueLieutenant said:

That's a good idea that could be worth considering, though I'm not sure if it would even things out, even if we nailed the point costs. Would have to see. Jyn with all sorts of cards would still probably not stand up to Chewie with only a few cards.

Yeah, like I said, I don't really know much about skirmish, so I can't really say how much of an advantage most cards would be. I know some abilities are really cool, but I don't know if they're +10 health cool or not.

2 hours ago, Smashotron said:

I like this as a balancing tool instead, but what can we do to ensure that those lower-cost figures get to draw more Command cards per turn (and therefore get to benefit from this balancing measure)?

Edit: Maybe something like, "During the Status phase, each player draws a number of Command cards equal to 10 minus their Deployment cost, to a minimum of 1."

Drawing a bazillion cards right off the bat could be pretty awesome. Only downside would be being slightly more susceptible to strain, which might be an ok tradeoff.

2 hours ago, RogueLieutenant said:

Drawing a bazillion cards right off the bat could be pretty awesome. Only downside would be being slightly more susceptible to strain, which might be an ok tradeoff.

Yeah I think I misread subtrendy's initial suggestion. Can we think of any way to let a player with a lower Deployment cost also include more cards, as well as more points-worth of cards, to their Command deck? Maybe something like, "In Setup, your Command deck can include an additional number of cards over 15 equal to 15 minus your Deployment cost, to a minimum of 0 extra cards."

With all three examples combined, a player taking Jyn Odan (5pt) would be permitted to build a 25-card Command deck worth 20pt total. The player would be drawing 5 cards per Status Phase. I don't know, just spitballing, but that sounds reasonable. Jyn likely won't survive long anyway.

Conversely by this example, a player taking Chewbacca (15pt) would be permitted to build a 15-card Command deck worth 10pt total. That player would only draw 1 card per Status Phase. Poor Chewie lol!

13 hours ago, Smashotron said:

Yeah I think I misread subtrendy's initial suggestion. Can we think of any way to let a player with a lower Deployment cost also include more cards, as well as more points-worth of cards, to their Command deck?

With my suggestion, 0 cost cards would be limited (I suggested to three). So, by default, lower cost characters would always have the option of having more cards in their deck- though, of course, if they splurged for high cost command cards, that's the trade off.

How would you simulate the sponsors interacting with the game?

Random thought here that diverges from the current direction, but since everyone is a solitary heroic figure*, why not use hero sheets and have the game be a battle among heroes? Granted, that reduces a lot of the options, for figures, but there are plenty of heroes now. This means that you can use the item decks more fluidly. Since the crates are color-coded, perhaps a different crate color corresponds to a different deck to draw from. For example:

• Green = tier 1
• Yellow = tier 2
• Red = tier 3
• Blue = supply deck

Then you could also add terminals. Instead of drawing you cards like they would in skirmish, each time you interact with a terminal you gain 1 experience point. Once per turn, you can spend experience to buy a card from your class deck (assuming you have enough XP for it).

I only own the core, but even with those 6 heroes, it sounds like this would be a fun variant to play.

*And by "heroic" I mean that in the Hunger Games everyone was basically the star of their own show. Or something. Actually, I never read the books and only saw snippets of the movies.

9 minutes ago, Budgernaut said:

Random thought here that diverges from the current direction, but since everyone is a solitary heroic figure*, why not use hero sheets and have the game be a battle among heroes? Granted, that reduces a lot of the options, for figures, but there are plenty of heroes now. This means that you can use the item decks more fluidly. Since the crates are color-coded, perhaps a different crate color corresponds to a different deck to draw from. For example:

• Green = tier 1
• Yellow = tier 2
• Red = tier 3
• Blue = supply deck

Then you could also add terminals. Instead of drawing you cards like they would in skirmish, each time you interact with a terminal you gain 1 experience point. Once per turn, you can spend experience to buy a card from your class deck (assuming you have enough XP for it).

I think this is much easier than trying to balance the Skirmish figures and cram in a Command deck. I think treating the Hunger Games more like the Campaign (with strain abilities, up to two attacks per turn, surge to recover strain, etc) would probably be the best bet and this concept of using the item deck and terminals for XP is great. My only lament would be the exclusion of Scum and Imperial heroes.

Yeah using only the campaign heroes could work but does feel like it's excluding a lot of the cool characters people would want to use.

Maybe the whole point is that only Rebels would be thrown into the Hunger Games anyway. The Imperials likely represent the callous folks of The Capitol. You could place all your Imperial figures along the end of the map as spectators haha!

2 hours ago, qwertyuiop said:

How would you simulate the sponsors interacting with the game?

Perhaps once a character has taken damage equal to or more than half of their health, a colored crate spawns- the color corresponding to the character who received the damage, spawning at least 3 spots away from that character (the player gets to choose where it goes, otherwise). A recon token is placed on that crate. During a player's activation, they can interact with a crate with a recon token on it that corresponds to their character's color without using an action. That player gets to draw 5 item cards- two are put into their hand, the rest shuffled back into the deck.

I really like this idea with campaign heroes as well. There's plenty by now, and I think even some of the more support-oriented heroes might be interesting choices since everyone would likely want to team up with them. I also really love all of the designs of the IA heroes, I don't think there's a single one I dislike. Although I do understand that people might rather use the iconic Star Wars characters. Maybe you could make up hero sheets for them too?

To be honest, I just really want to play Vinto in this.

15 hours ago, Villakarvarousku said:

and I think even some of the more support-oriented heroes might be interesting choices since everyone would likely want to team up with them.

Would be cool to get a rogue Imp officer, since they're such an iconic unit in the game.

Maybe another rogue Imp stormtrooper (though still, Biv kind of was this already)- so maybe that can switch to a defected pilot (serves as a nod to Bodhi, too!)

For a final one, it'd be cool to see either a Royal Guard defect, or an Inquisitor gone rogue.

I still lament the omission of scum and imperial characters, but using only the campaign heroes seems like it'd be easier to balance, and being able to include the items from campaign feels more hunger games.

So here's my take on that mode:

Imperial Assault Hunger Games

• Each player picks one campaign hero. They take the Hero Sheet, and Hero Class Deck. (and the figure )
• Each hero gets their starting weapon, and 1XP to spend as they wish.
• Set up one of the 4-player skirmish maps to use as the arena.
• Players either deploy around the crates in the center of the map, or in the deployment zones. Yet to be deterimined. Probably in the deployment zones.
• Gameplay rules follow those in the campaign mode of Imperial Assault (heroes may attack twice per activation, spend a strain for extra movement points etc).
• During the first round of the game, no one may use any actions to perform an attack. (This is probably only necessary if everyone deploys near the center of the map.)
• Roll a 20 sided die (or determine it however you want ) to determine who gets the initiative token.
  • The player with the initiative token goes first in the round. Play then moves clockwise around the table until all players have gone.
  • After the last player in the round has finished. The player with the initiative token passes the token to the player on his/her left.
• If an ability references the word Friendly, the player with that ability may choose whether other figures are friendly to them or not.
• If an ability references the word Hostile, all other figures are considered hostile.
• Crates clustered near the center of the map can be interracted with to draw a random card from the Tier 3 item deck.
  • You may either immediately equip the item you drew, OR discard that card and gain 3XP .
• Crates scattered around the edges of the map can be interracted with to draw a supply card.
  • You may keep the card, OR choose to discard that card and gain 1XP .
• At the end of your activation, you gain 1XP . Then, you may choose to spend any XP on abilities in your Hero Class Deck. Or save your XP for next turn.
  • Track your unspent XP using tokens of some kind, or jsut write it down.
• At the end of each round (after all players have gone) arena effects trigger.
  • Roll a 20 sided die. Reference the number rolled against the arena effects chart.
• Last figure alive wins the Hunger Games (or the last two figures can commit suicide together and really stick it to the man )

Arena Effects Chart (just spitballing here)

1. All players in a deployment zone suffer 1 strain .
2. All players in a deployment zone become weakened .
3. All players in the red deployment zone suffer 1 damage .
4. All players in the blue deployment zone suffer 1 damage .
5. All players in the green deployment zone suffer 1 damage .
6. All players in the yellow deployment zone suffer 1 damge .
7. All players in the red deployment zone become bleeding .
8. All players in the blue deployment zone become bleeding .
9. All players in the green deployment zone become bleeding .
10. All players in the yellow deployment zone become bleeding .
11. All players in the red deployment zone become weakened and suffer 1 strain .
12. All players in the blue deployment zone become weakened and suffer 1 strain .
13. All players in the green deployment zone become weakened and suffer 1 strain .
14. All players in the yellow deployment zone become weakened and suffer 1 strain .
15. All players in the red deployment zone become stunned .
16. All players in the blue deployment zone become stunned .
17. All players in the green deployment zone become stunned .
18. All players in the yellow deployment zone become stunned .
19. All players in a deployment zone must choose to suffer 4 strain or become stunned .
20. All players in a delployment zone suffer 3 damage .

Just some ideas that probably need to be heavily adjusted. The ideas behind the arena effects (besides being thematic) is to try and drive the action to the center of the board by making hiding in the edges of the map a risky proposition.

Also there should be no duplicate heroes because that's just lame. So if two people want to play as the samer character, they need to sort that out somehow.

I think we have a winner with that one!

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

I wonder if I should add a rule that says if someone dies, someone else can pick up their items in the space they died in. Or if dying just makes those items get discarded.

The only issue would be indicating which items were dropped in a space and remembering that.