A thread for sharing ideas on missions, terrain, reference images and other details for designing and playing SW:L games in the battlezone: Scarif

Briefing notes for the Scarif Battlezone

Planet/System: Scarif

Background: A small Rebel force has infiltrated the Empire's data archive complex. Their target, the Citadel Tower housing the schematics for the Death Star

Terrain and conditions: Dense jungle flora, sand dunes, coastline/shallow water, landing pads (cargo crates, fuel storage), ground rail, bunkers, watchtowers/gantries, wrecked vehicles (AT-ACT, x-wing, u-wing, tie striker)

Clear, bright daylight to light ground mist.

Indigionus Wildlife/Locals: None reported

Forces (Empire):

Units reported active - Stormtroopers, Shoretroopers, Deathtroopers, AT-ACT, Tie Striker

Units unconfirmed (likely) - Scout troopers/speeders, AT-ST

Personnel - Orson Krennic

Forces (Rebel):

Units reported active - Rebel commandos, Rebel troopers, X-Wing, U-Wing

Units unconfirmed (likely active) - AT-RT, Special forces specialists

Personnel - Jun Erso, Cassian Andor, Chirrut Imwe, Bodhi Rook, Baze Malbus, K-2SO

Key Objectives (Empire):

• Take and hold key locations
• Eliminate Rebel leaders
• Destroy Rebel transport

Key Objectives (Rebels):

• Infiltrate complex
• Sabotage key locations
• Defend Rebel transport
• Find and establish comms uplink

sand bars with shallow water features. Could be slowing terrain for troop models.

Palm trees are a must. Lots of crates, barrels, and computer stations.

If you do the water effect right it could be a beautiful set up.

I didn't see any dense jungle flora on Scarif, but that is no reason to renounce beautiful and useful terrain.

23 minutes ago, Rumar said:

I didn't see any dense jungle flora on Scarif, but that is no reason to renounce beautiful and useful terrain.

I think anything you would find on tropical islands (including cabana boys) is fair game.

http://frpgames.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=117789#.WZyOHukpCUk

Hopefully i dont get in trouble for linking that, but there is something to start with.

When do Mal and the gang show up to tell the universe about reavers?

I kid. The field could look great, even the part that looks like a paintball course. Sandbars and water features are necessary..and one of those gutted AT-ATs someone was talking about in the terrain thread.

Scarif is a perfect campaign to bring Krenik as commander, the shore troopers as troops and the death troopers as elite troops... In the Rebel side there are a bunch of really interesting characters that fit as troops and elite, then Erso as a commander maybe?

The Battlefront computer game has some great reference shots (if anyone can screen grab)

Jungle terrain (sparse for light cover, dense for line of sight blocking)

I made a number of LOS blocking jungle terrain bases using cheap aquarium plants (the long ones cut down give maximum mileage) and modelling lichen.

I painted the base brown and used modelling flock to give a grass effect. I then used a glue gun to stick the plastic plants and lichen to the base. The base was sheet plastic but corrugated cardboard could be used instead (for cardboard use two sheets on top of each other at right angles to avoid warping)

For sparse jungle, I'll just use loose lichen positioned directly on the table.

Honestly Scarif sounds like a great way to link IA and Legion together. On the IA side you have Jyn Erso and company trying to sneak to the data core, but there's a swarm of stormtroopers that can only be distracted if the rebels outside (i.e. the Legion side) can cause enough damage to the garrison to force those stormtroopers outside and away from the heroes.

I think expansions covering Rogue One are essentially a given. Maybe by next GenCon, FFG will have commissioned a 6x3 table to show off Krennic and his Death Troopers as well as, just maybe, an AT-ACT stomping through the palms of Scariff.

BTW Dice Lord is "Battlezone: ____" a reference to Warhammer 40k?

So for those of us who are used to kitbashing our own terrain, anybody have any idea what we could use to replicate the sandy beach of scarif? Making the trees, buildings, and equipment wouldnt be the same w/o the sandy beaches...

All i can think of is several hard tiles (1ft squares) to just hand-craft it on, but then you got the issue of so many tiles to line up (but making them bigger would be a pain to move)

Use sheets of insulation foam, cut them into long, shallow hills. Use a paint brush to cover the surfaces with watered-down PVA (white glue). Sprinkle fine sand over. Then use a spray bottle to spray your watered down PVA solution on top of the sand once it has dried. Wait for that to dry and then spray them with a rusty brown. Apply a sandy colored craft paint to a large brush. Brush on the craft paint liberally but allow some of the darker base coast to show through to create depth. You can stop at this point and use a clear acyrlic spray to seal and protect the pieces or you can drybrush the pieces with an even lighter color for more depth.

9 minutes ago, Manchu said:

I think expansions covering Rogue One are essentially a given. Maybe by next GenCon, FFG will have commissioned a 6x3 table to show off Krennic and his Death Troopers as well as, just maybe, an AT-ACT stomping through the palms of Scariff.

BTW Dice Lord is "Battlezone: ____" a reference to Warhammer 40k?

I really hope so! I was blown away by rogue one and feel the Scarif skirmish fits SW:L so well. The first of many hopefully

Not intentionally, no. I had it as warzone but thought that might be confusing; this just felt sorta right (?)

11 minutes ago, Vineheart01 said:

So for those of us who are used to kitbashing our own terrain, anybody have any idea what we could use to replicate the sandy beach of scarif? Making the trees, buildings, and equipment wouldnt be the same w/o the sandy beaches...

All i can think of is several hard tiles (1ft squares) to just hand-craft it on, but then you got the issue of so many tiles to line up (but making them bigger would be a pain to move)

I intend to use a sand coloured dustsheet over a Dreadfleet game mat; can be changed up for different games, folded over for slight hills and dunes. Probably not the prettiest but functional for gaming. Would love to see custom built ideas tho!

actually now that i think about it, it might be better to just try and recreate the landing pad area of Scarif than the actual planet feeling.

Reason being: it would be dedicated terrain to get it to look right with beaches involved. And beaches could hamper one side of the board unfairly too if you arent careful. Put beaches on both sides, well now all you can do for terrain is a few palm trees and a sparse few boxes/barricades between them.

In the movie, Scarif beaches were bare. It was the grassy areas that had everything in it.

1 minute ago, Vineheart01 said:

actually now that i think about it, it might be better to just try and recreate the landing pad area of Scarif than the actual planet feeling.

Reason being: it would be dedicated terrain to get it to look right with beaches involved. And beaches could hamper one side of the board unfairly too if you arent careful. Put beaches on both sides, well now all you can do for terrain is a few palm trees and a sparse few boxes/barricades between them.

In the movie, Scarif beaches were bare. It was the grassy areas that had everything in it.

Those 6x3 tables could take some filling. The landing pad would make a great centrepiece, especially with a Rogue One transport modelled up!

No balance in war and asymmetrical, narrative games can be fun; just think, what if the commandos held off the stormtroopers against the odds whilst defending the transport. For me, good gaming memories are made of those uphill games, not the chess-like 'mirror matches'.

Glad it's got you thinking mate

I want to battle on postapocalyptic Scarif, you know after it was hit by the Death Star. Maybe both factions try to recover some important data or something like that.

12 minutes ago, Iceeagle85 said:

I want to battle on postapocalyptic Scarif, you know after it was hit be the Death Star. Maybe both factions try to recover some important data or something like that.

Interesting idea here; tectonic upheaval, tidal wave damage, burnt jungle, flooded complex, radioactive hot zone (?). Lots of new ideas for a scenario or two.

I like your thinking Iceeagle85

2 hours ago, Dice lord said:

A thread for sharing ideas on missions, terrain, reference images and other details for designing and playing SW:L games in the battlezone: Scarif

Thanks for that initiative. We need people to start threads that are more constructive, like this one (tired of the complaining).

52 minutes ago, Dice lord said:

Those 6x3 tables could take some filling. The landing pad would make a great centrepiece, especially with a Rogue One transport modelled up!

This is one of those "sounds better than it is" kinda things.

Once you start plopping starships down, you run out of space real fast.

2 hours ago, Dice lord said:

The Battlefront computer game has some great reference shots (if anyone can screen grab)

Cloud City! Lots of levels, cover and bottle necks. That would make for some great terrain.

I was playing around with the idea of a Rogue One wave the other night so maybe we'd get:

Empire:

Commander: Orson Krennic

Core: Shore Troopers

Special Ops: Death Troopers

Support: ??? Maybe KX series security droid?

Heavy: TX-225 Assault Tank (tank from Jedha)

Rebel:

Commander: Jyn Erso

Core: Scarif Trooper/Partisan Rebels

Special Ops: Casian with a K-2SO upgrade that adds him as a figure.

Support: Baze Malbus with a Chirrut Imwe upgrade that adds him as a figure.

Heavy: ??? Probably some unrelated EU craft?

it would be so cool to get a sort of "deluxe expansion" with Krennic (commander) and some Death Troopers (special forces) as well as Jyn Erso (commander) and K-2SO (support) and maybe some boxes and crates.

Wouldnt be hard...

in fact, I'd like to do some Star Wars terrain from a few movie locations...

7 hours ago, Robin Graves said:

Cloud City! Lots of levels, cover and bottle necks. That would make for some great terrain.

Agreed! Battlezone : Cloud City