Alliance intelligence has discovered the location of a deep space meeting of key military officers. If Rebel forces can jump in and strike fast, they may be able to capture of kill a number of VIPs all at once. The problem. . .the rendezvous point is in a very hazardous sector of space.

Set Up:

6x3 play area.

Hazards include 3 ion storm tokens (from the HotAC campaign materials), 7 asteroids, and 3 mine fields (also from HotAC). All hazards must be placed further than Range one from a table edge and further than Range 1 from each other. The hazards are placed as follows: ion storms first (Imperial player deploys first), followed by the seven asteroids (again, the Imperial player places first), and the finally the 3 mine fields (which are all placed by the Imperial player). Finally, each player choses 1 asteroid to be inhabited by a space slug. This gives the Imperial an advantage in board set up, since the Empire choose the meeting location in the first place. Hazard density will be higher than normal. . .

The Imperial places all ships first, anywhere in the central area of the board further than Range 3 from any table edge. The Rebels then place all forces along a single table edge within Range 1 of that table edge. Once the Rebels have deployed, the Imperials may rotate (but not displace) any or all ships to a new facing based on Rebel deployment.

Each player brings a 300 point list. The Imperial player must include 4 Unique Imperial Crew members. These cards do not count against the 300 points they are allowed to spend on their squadron list. Furthermore, the Imperial player cannot use the EPTs Veteran Instincts or Adaptability (but may use different EPTs in their stead).

Minefield Mapper is banned.

Play:

The Rebels have initiative. Play proceeds normally.

All Imperial Pilots start with +2 to PS. When the first Imperial VIP is killed, this drops to +1 PS. After the second VIP is killed, pilots have their natural PS. After 3 VIPs are killed, Imperial pilots are at -1 PS. The Emperor, if used, counts as 1 VIP, but his loss results in an additional -1 PS when he is killed.

Victory Conditions:

The Imperial must kill all Rebel raiders. The Rebels, on the other hand, win if they can kill all 4 Imperial VIPs present at the meeting, regardless of remaining Imperial forces.

Options:

This scenario can be reversed, with the Empire trying to eliminate heroes of the Rebellion.

Play tested this last night; it's got some balance issues. The Rebels definitely have the upper hand, and I was slaughtered (as Imps) out of hand twice. Adding the notion that the Imperial can rotate helped a lot, because they could then not waste a turn trying to readjust to where the Rebels arrived.

I used a lot of large ships; this created a lot of bumping problems for me. Next time, I think Phantoms and TIE Shuttles are the way to go.

The "free" VI didn't help as much as I thought, but it did allow for a much better alpha strike then the Imps were able to rotate.

Two other balance ideas would be (A) the location of the VIPs is a secret, so the Rebels don't know which ships to gun for and (B) make it timed, so that evasion is an option for the Imperials.

I Also might help to make the Rebels only have the options of the short edges. It gives the Imperial 2 less approaches to worry about and more backfield to escape into.

Trying to "circle the wagons:"

I was able to toss a B-Wing into the minefield with a tractor beam; that was a highlight

I'd give the Rebel player deployment on the 2 short edges of the baord with the option to deploy in both or split their forces. Imperials have deployment in the center or must be at least range 5 away from Rebel deployment zones.

As for time limit Id say that the standard time for an epic tourny play should be fine.

VIPs should be secret.... unless of course many Bothans died to bring the rebels that information .

This looks like its a lot of fun and I would like to introduce my fellow pilots to it in the area.

33 minutes ago, RedSkull said:

I'd give the Rebel player deployment on the 2 short edges of the baord with the option to deploy in both or split their forces. Imperials have deployment in the center or must be at least range 5 away from Rebel deployment zones.

As for time limit Id say that the standard time for an epic tourny play should be fine.

VIPs should be secret.... unless of course many Bothans died to bring the rebels that information .

This looks like its a lot of fun and I would like to introduce my fellow pilots to it in the area.

By time limit, I guess I meant turn limit. Say, the Rebels have 6 turns to get the VIPs. After that, they can flee the board edge and the Rebels lose.

Ah!

Hmm that would need more play testing to find that sweet spot that you are looking for. You can check with some of the missions that are supplied from FFG or even check on the Mission creator, and then use that as your jumping off point.

2 minutes ago, RedSkull said:

Ah!

Hmm that would need more play testing to find that sweet spot that you are looking for. You can check with some of the missions that are supplied from FFG or even check on the Mission creator, and then use that as your jumping off point.

Yep. As is, the Imperial are fish in a barrel for the Rebels.

The Rebels have the easier job because there are only 4 ships they need to kill to win. If the Imperial could play an avoidance game, the Rebels would have to break into smaller groups to chase down the VIPs one by one, quickly, preventing the Wall Of Lasers I ran into over and over again last night.

One last possibility would be to lower the Rebels fleet total to 250 or something.

We are going to flip it on its head next time (Rebels in the middle) and see what happens.

When you said Rebel Raiders I thought you meant you gave the Rebels a captured Raider. I was looking all over the pictures and was like "I see no Raiders in this picture" .

The retest: Rebels in the middle, Imperial assault. My list:

ASTEROID SPECIALISTS

Rho Squadron Veteran (29) x 2
Alpha-class Star Wing (21), Trick Shot (0), XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Advanced SLAM (2), Tractor beam (1), “Mangler” Cannon (4)

Omega Specialist (33) x 4
Special Forces TIE (25), Debris Gambit (2), Accuracy Corrector (3), Cruise Missiles (3), Special Ops Training (0), Guidance Chips (0)

First Order Test Pilot (35) x 2
TIE Silencer (29), First Order Vanguard (2), Expertise (4), Collision Detector (0)

“Whisper” (40)
TIE Phantom (32), Navigator (3), Veteran Instincts (1), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

My brother ran 7 Rookie T-65s, 4 HWKs as the crew carriers, and Chewie in the YT-1300.

Initial Rebel deployment:

Again, trying the circle the wagons. As the Imperial, I set up "oblique" to his mass, since a full frontal would have been nasty:

Also, this let my TIE/sfs scream in at a perfect 4 straight for Cruise Missiles. 3 of 4 TIE/sfs fired, and landed fully moded 5 dice of all hits. One T-65 destroyed outright, and an HWK plus another T-65 were basically done for.

For the first time in my career I forgot to set a dial and my brother got to pick my maneuver: a red 3 turn:

It took me 6 turns to hunt down the crew carriers (all the HWKs), and my dice were hot as Hades all night. I didn't lose a single ship, and only took 1 hull damage for the whole game. OTOH, my brother dice were cold: I landed smack on a minefield for a 5 die attack, and he only rolled one hit on shields.

In the end, this scenario is hard for the monkey in the middle. However, as a timed mission (6-10 turns) it could be an even match of hunting prey with the goal of the defender to stay out of harm's way while sacrificing the bodyguard ships. Being able to "stall for time" also means the attacker can't just concentrate on one huddled mass; if the other VIPs get too far away, you'll never catch them in time.

Lastly, it is a lot of fun knowing that there is a very high density of obstacles: cards like Debris Gambit and Trick Shot are sorta auto-includes. I tried to optimize my list; whereas my brother did not (where was Dash?!).

My brother also thinks the ion clouds should be more dangerous than the HotAC rules say. . .

On 1/25/2018 at 12:59 PM, Marinealver said:

When you said Rebel Raiders I thought you meant you gave the Rebels a captured Raider. I was looking all over the pictures and was like "I see no Raiders in this picture" .

That's because it's an invisible Radier...