Mission Cards

By Magnus Grendel, in X-Wing

10 minutes ago, BlodVargarna said:

mission cards would totally open up the design space.

I also thought about the idea that each player brings three face down mission cards and then your opponent chooses one. That mission becomes your opponent's mission.

This creates more uncertainty (which missions will my opponent place?!) and doesn't allow you to build a list around a known set of conditions.

From a balancing perspective, and a loss of materials perspective (accidentally walking off with the mission card) I prefer the opponent choosing one of your 3 cards for you to use angle.

You can still build lists around either option - just in different ways. If you bring the missions you might end up with, you'll build a list that can potentially do all three. If you bring the missions that your opponent will use, you'll bring COUNTERS to those objectives. I much rather players be aiming for success than for the opponent's failure.

I like the idea of missions in tournament X-wing, based on Armada. In fact, here's my rules for it:

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 Jedi . 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.

I like this Idea. (haven't seen it before). It could help to sort out the unbalanced meta a bit too, which is always a good thing.

5 hours ago, Infinite_Maelstrom said:

I like this Idea. (haven't seen it before). It could help to sort out the unbalanced meta a bit too, which is always a good thing.

It would just generate a new meta, but I think it would be a wider/diverse meta.