Alternate formats

By hargleblarg, in X-Wing

Posted at

Lemme start by saying I still love 100pts 6 asteroids. I'm not looking for a replacement.

However, sometimes I get a little bit tired of it and want to mix things up a little bit. Something to play casual, maybe run a league with. For instance, I really enjoy furballs.

This is what I'm working on at the moment:

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Squad Combat

90 pts

All ships must be the same base ship

No unique pilots (debatable)

Squad leader ept is a free action after executing a maneuver.

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Back to basic dogfighting. I may be blind to some obvious problems here, but 90 points makes triple torp boats impossible to kit out effectively. I don't think Attani is a problem in this format either. Regen and Sabine may still be troublesome, however.

What are your thoughts/what are some formats you've enjoyed?

Posted at

King of the Hill can be fun. Here's a link to the rule set we used for it at a recent tournament side event:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nRFqddernZnj21RBv1zfutLXt8WcZEyCli4d-rqlkFU

long story short, it's similar to a furball except you get points for being close to the "Hill" at the end of each round. When you kill someone you steal a point from them and they re spawn next round. Play for a fixed amount of time and whoever has the most points at the end wins.

EDIT: this post has got me thinking and now I really want to try a capture the flag variant.... something like 150 pts and 4 obstacles per side, each side deploys their flag in a fixed location and deploys their 4 obstacles on their half of the board. When you run over the enemies flag you can pick it up. Carrying the flag gives you a Weapons-Disabled token for as long as you carry it. Bring the enemy's flag over your edge of the board to win.

Edited by Herowannabe
Posted at

@Herowannabe

That's amazing; I'm for sure sharing this with the guys at my lgs. Thanks!

Posted at
1 hour ago, hargleblarg said:

Squad Combat

90 pts

All ships must be the same base ship

No unique pilots (debatable)

Squad leader ept is a free action after executing a maneuver.

Sounds cool. When I suggest generics only though Rebel players don't like it because there are a lot of Imperials with EPTs.

Posted at
3 minutes ago, Sasajak said:

Sounds cool. When I suggest generics only though Rebel players don't like it because there are a lot of Imperials with EPTs.

Green Squadron says hello

Posted at
2 minutes ago, Herowannabe said:

Green Squadron says hello

There's that but my usual argument is Imperials don't have an Astromech slot. The response usually been that astromechs are not as good as EPTs... just can't win!

Posted at

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/865764/custom-mission-capture-flag

https://tools.fantasyflightgames.com/xwing/htmlpreview/198/

and although not adapted to X-Wing, yet...

http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=479784

I personally enjoy the King of the Hill by Babaganoosh, I believe.

Setup
Setup : Place sensor tokens on both
ends of a 3-range circular zone in the
center of the play area. Place one
asteroid in the center, and each player
may place one additional asteroid
anywhere outside this “Hill.”
Points : Reccomend 70 points for
building each player's force.
Duration : Agree on a turn limit ahead of
the game. Recommend 7 or 8 turns.
Special Rules
Supernova Radiation
As an optional rule, each ship in the
center zone suffers one point of damage
during the end phase. Apply to shields
first, then hull.
Objective
Goal : Gain control of the central
contested zone.
Scoring : Player with the most victory
points at the end of the mission wins.
1 Victory point for each surviving
ship in the center ring during the end
phase of each turn.

Posted at

And there's always ...

Epic

Team Epic

Escalation

Political Escort

"No uniques"

Themed (OT Only, Rebels cartoon only, Rogue One only)

HotAC

...

Posted at

"Top Gun" (or at least my take on it) This is fighter combat training, you and your wing man against an enemy and his wing man. Testing one ships abilities vs another's, one pilot's vs another's.

Small ship only, no unique pilots or upgrades. 60 points per side, and each squad must contain 2 or 3 all identical ships. Feel free to let non EPT ships have one if you choose or make up some bonus for when wingmates are in range 1 of each other or something.

Example Squads

  • 2X Red Squadron Vet, Crack Shot, R2, Integrated Astromech, Weapons Guidance
  • 2X Royal Guard Pilot, Royal Guard Tie, Push the Limit, Targeting computer, Hull Upgrade
  • 3X Tansarii Point Veteran, Crack Shot, Pulsed Ray Shield

If you have enough guys, each gets one ship and you fly as teams, or 2 players each have a squad.

Edit: Forgot to put 3 ship cap on squad size.

Edited by pickirk01
Posted at

Bounty Hunt (multiplayer)

Single Ship: small base only, no Lone Wolf. Pick a point limit depending on what kind of ships you want to see on the table.

Players place their ships in pilot skill order around the board edge, and must start beyond range 3 of each other.

After forces are placed, each player randomly draws the name of another player. This is your Bounty.

Players may use abilities and perform attacks against any target.

Players score points, equal to squad point value, for destroying their bounty. If you destroy your bounty, you take over that player's bounty and continue the hunt. No points are scored for destroying a ship that is not your assigned bounty.

Posted at
5 hours ago, pickirk01 said:

"Top Gun" (or at least my take on it) This is fighter combat training, you and your wing man against an enemy and his wing man. Testing one ships abilities vs another's, one pilot's vs another's.

Small ship only, no unique pilots or upgrades. 60 points per side, and each squad must contain all identical ships. Feel free to let non EPT ships have one if you choose or make up some bonus for when wingmates are in range 1 of each other or something.

Example Squads

  • 2X Red Squadron Vet, Crack Shot, R2, Integrated Astromech, Weapons Guidance
  • 2X Royal Guard Pilot, Royal Guard Tie, Push the Limit, Targeting computer, Hull Upgrade
  • 3X Tansarii Point Veteran, Crack Shot, Pulsed Ray Shield

If you have enough guys, each gets one ship and you fly as teams, or 2 players each have a squad.

I like this. What do you think about allowing one unique card -- pilot or upgrade -- per list? They you have an ace and his wingman option.

Though I fear four Black Squadron Crack Shot TIEs in this setup even with a unique allowed.

Posted at
11 hours ago, Sasajak said:

There's that but my usual argument is Imperials don't have an Astromech slot. The response usually been that astromechs are not as good as EPTs... just can't win!

I'll take that if you make all EPTs unique or all unique astromechs generic.

Edited by Rakaydos
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Here's one for alternative list building formats.

The three goals of this format are

  • Allowed for limited faction mixing that will maintain balance in a competitive scene.
  • Add distinctions between the allied subfaction lists. So a 1st Order list is different than a Galactic Empire list as same for Resistance and Rebel Alliance.
  • Have a format in which challenges the top lists of the standard meta to add more variety to competitive gameplay.

So what it does is allow 4 hybird factions (named after the rebel or imperial subfaction) that can play agaisnt each other or even against the three primarfy factions. So a total of 7 factions

  • Rebels Primary
  • Imperials Primary
  • Scum & Villainy
  • Rebel Alliance w/ Scum Mercenaries
  • Resistance w/ Scum Mercenaries
  • Galactic Empire w/ Scum Mercenaries
  • 1st Order w/ Scum Mercenaries
Edited by Marinealver
Posted at

I'm sure others have great ideas for specific formats. What I'd like to see is several competitive-format scenarios to choose from, and if you win initiative based on the point bid you either choose to have initiative or choose the scenario. If the bid is a tie, you play standard 100/6 and roll for init as normal. This would really open things up for different play.

Edited by Alekzanter
Posted at

Formats we've played....

HotAC, both vanilla and allowing more ship options to upgrade into.

Free for all - multiple players at 37-40 points a piece.

Missions - either mission control or the xwing official missions

Epic games

I'm looking forward to doing a lot more of all of them... I like 100/6 but I also like everything else too.

Posted at
6 hours ago, Hawkstrike said:

I like this. What do you think about allowing one unique card -- pilot or upgrade -- per list? They you have an ace and his wingman option.

Though I fear four Black Squadron Crack Shot TIEs in this setup even with a unique allowed.

First off, its a home brewed idea so heck yeah do whatever is fun for you. That said, you really have to watch out for certain Pilot's special abilities. Great pilots that can be focused down when you have 100 points. At 60, though, guys like Fenn Rau or Omega Leader get to be really tough to deal with. If you were going to do Unique pilots, I might force them to go in with no upgrades. Just see what the pilot can do with the ship's basic frame.

Also, I forgot to mention the 2 to 3 ship limit. So 3 Black cracks with shield or engine upgrade or something would be your option but not 4 or them and no 5 Academies or 4 Binayre Pirates with Tracers and Dead Man Switches either.

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I'll drop the rules for my Objective Play format here ... they're based on the way Armada uses objectives.

In OBJECTIVE PLAY, each player selects objectives for his squad that could alter the conditions of the game. These objectives become part of the player’s squad list, and shift the goals of the game to include other objectives in addition to scoring points by destroying ships.

Objectives in Play . Each player selects three objective cards to be part of his or her squad list. When play begins, the player with initiative is the first player, and selects an objective from the list of the player without initiative (the second player). That objective becomes the objective for the game and its conditions apply. Points scored as a result of objective play are added to the points scored by destroying opposing ships (and in tournament play are applied toward Margin of Victory just as in standard 100-point dogfight tournaments).

Objective Cards

Bounty Hunter . Each player designates a ship on his squad to be the Bounty and informs the opponent, marking the ship with an objective token; the opposing player scores +10 points for destroying that ship.

Minefield . All obstacles work as proximity mines -- if a ship overlaps the obstacle, the opposing player rolls three dice and the ship takes any damage indicated. The obstacle is then removed from play.

Graveyard . When a ship is destroyed, a debris field is placed in its last location.

Death Star Plans . Once obstacles are placed, the second player places an objective token face down on each obstacle, marking one as the location of the Death Star plans. Whenever the first player flies a ship which overlaps an obstacle, the objective token is flipped face up. When the Death Star plans are discovered, they are assigned to the discovering ship for the remainder of the game. Discovering the Death Star plans gains +5 points; retaining them on a ship which survives to the end of the game nets another +5 points. If the game concludes and the first player has not located the Death Star plans, the second player gains +10 points. If the game concludes and the ship carrying the Death Star plans has been destroyed, the second player gains +5 points.

Recon Mission . Once obstacles are placed, place an objective token on each obstacle to simulate a reconnaissance objective. Whenever a ship flies within range 1 of an obstacle and can fire on the obstacle, it may attack the objective, which has Agility 3, Hull 1. If the objective is destroyed, the player collects the corresponding token. At the end of the game, each objective token collected gains the player +2 points.

Station Defense . The second player selects one obstacle to represent a space station and places an objective token on it. The station has Agility 2, Hull 10. If the first player destroys the station, that player gains +12 points; if the station is not destroyed by the end of the game, the second player gains +12 points.

Hidden Jed i. Each player selects a ship on his or her squad to carry a hidden Jedi pilot, and secretly marks which ship it is. The opposing player gains +5 points if that ship is destroyed.

Capture the Flag . Each player selects a ship on his or her squad to be the flagship, and identifies it with an objective marker. The opposing player gains +20 points if the flagship exits the play area (simulating capture).

Bombing Run . All damage inflicted by bombs or mines during the game is doubled.

Torpedo Run . Missiles and torpedoes fired by either squad are not expended after firing.

Spice Run . Place two objective markers on each obstacle, one for each player. Each player selects one ship in his or her squad to be the spice runner. When the spice runner overlaps an obstacle, the player collects the allocated token from that obstacle. The spice runner does not suffer damage effects the first time it overlaps each obstacle. At the end of the game, each player receives +2 points for each objective token collected by the spice runner.

Rescue Mission . The first player selects a ship on his or her squad to be a prisoner transport. The second player's goal is to make contact with (via bumping or overlapping) the prisoner transport, rescuing the prisoners, for which the second player receives 5 points. If the prisoner transport is destroyed before the prisoners are rescued, the second player instead receives -5 points. If the game ends without the prisoners being rescued, the first player receives 5 points.

Escort Mission . The second player places a small base (or the shuttle token from the core set) flush with the edge of his or her side of the board. The shuttle has Agility 2, Hull 6. Each turn, the shuttle moves 1 straight or 1 bank (left or right) at Pilot Skill Zero. If the first player destroys the shuttle, he or she gains +10 points; if the shuttle exits from the opposing player's side of the board before the game ends, the second player gains +10 points.

Homing Beacon . Each player's goal is to place a homing beacon on each of the opposing ships. To place a homing beacon, the player must make a range 1 attack that results in at least 1 hit on the opponent's ship; cancel all hits to apply a homing beacon to that ship. Each ship marked with a homing beacon nets the opposing player +3 points.

Hyperspace Assault . After obstacles have been placed, the second player places three objective tokens in the play area no closer than range 2 to any edge; these are hyperspace assault points. The second player then selects one or more ships (totaling fewer than 50 points in value) to serve as the hyperspace assault force. On any turn after the first, the second player may introduce the hyperspace assault force by placing all ships within range 1 of a single assault point, placing them during the planning phase and moving them as normal during the activation phase. If all of the second player's ships on the board are destroyed before the hyperspace assault force is deployed, the first player wins and gains the value of the hyperspace assault force as if it had been destroyed.

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Almost all of the scenarios are good fun to play. Preystalker and Cutting The Cord especially, but Political Escort and Rescue are good too.

Also, due to the (frankly ridiculous) number of OP events Wizkids burns through, there are many, many attack wing scenarios which can be plagiarised pretty much directly.

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I would like to throw in a few of the alternatives we play and also get this thread bumped back up to the front page.

Top Gun: 30 pts. Small Ship. No unique pilots or upgrades. This is a 1v1 format on a 2x2 battlefield with 4 rocks. Usually played best of three. The first few games go quick, but the positioning game really heats up as you get a feel for the format and the games start to run longer.

  • Fun build is Red Squadron Veteran with Stay on Target, R2, Primed Thrusters and IA. Nothing but T-rolls.

Hanger Gun: Same build rules as above, but bring three different ships to the table. Pick one to start like in Hanger Bay. If you lose, you pick another ship from your hanger to sub in. Winner keeps their original build. Play until one side loses two ships.

No Limit Furball: 50 points, no restrictions. Regular fur ball rules for points. Sometimes you just want to watch the world burn. Warning: not for poor sports or those who get salty. This is beer and pretzels X-Wing. No regard for balance.

Campaign: We have a ruleset for a map based campaign. The defining feature is that games are based at 80 pts, eliminated net-listing. There is also the possibility of asymmetrical battles and alternative maps (moving asteroids, gravity). The rules and a running diary of one of the campaigns are here: