HI All,

Not really wanting to play 1.0 much anymore? I highly recommend the Heroes of the Aturi Cluster.

I just finished up the very last Heroes of the Aturi Cluster mission last night. It was really fun. If you don't know, it's a fan made co-operative campaign that has 2-6 Rebels playing together against the Imperials. To me, it is some of the best ways to play X-wing. It's a great way to finish off 1.0 before the new game kicks in.

You get to build your pilot in ways you don't get to in the normal game. You get numerous EPT's, including other pilot abilities. I had an X-wing with PTL, Sabine's ability, Predator, and R2-D2. Oh, and we used S-Foils. So, when I activated, I got to do a free Boost or Barrel Roll. I could then PTL and get another action, usually a Focus. Then, I do a green, cleared the stress, and got back a Shield. I do my move...and I still would get an action! I only needed TL if I wanted to fire one of my 2 Proton Torpedoes (along with GC). Predator usually meant I was re-rolling 2 dice vs. all these Generics. It was awesome! I was a hyper mobile X-wing that had some serious punching power with the Torpedoes.

There are so many crazy combos you can build for your ship. It makes the game really interesting to try them out.

Think the enemy AI will be easy to defeat? Try again! We got shot down regularly by these guys. There were times we wondered why that formation of Tie Fighters was going side. The AI was stupid! Then, it would circle in and catch us in a pincher move against the Tie Defenders! It's a lot harder, especially with the mission parameters.

The missions are great! Story driven and makes each game interesting. Each mission builds on the next, too.

Just to summarize, if you are stuck not really wanting to play 1.0 with all the OP broken rules, I suggest breaking out Heroes of the Aturi Cluster. It's a great way to fill up the last few months of summer before 2.0.

I've never played HotAC but wanted to give it a try when I decided to go to Gen Con. I started reading up on it to get prepared and got really interested. Since then, I've planned a campaign over the summer for our local store. We meet Saturday to kick things off. I even went ahead an ordered a nice set of terrain for the Fueling Station, Ion Storms and Minefields. Really looking forward to playing!

I cannot agree more! Due to 1st edition fatigue, I've been running HotAC at my local store every other week for about 2 months now, and we are all having a great time. I enjoy connecting the missions together with a running narrative for the players. For example I know that in a few more missions, our squad will be trying to take over an Imperial refueling station, so I've been playing up the idea that the Empire is closing in on the location of the current Rebel HQ in the Aturi Cluster and will need a new base. During the mission briefing before our last session, I stopped the intro and said all the power at the station went out. An imperial probe droid was detected in proximity, and the rebels shut everything down and went into "silent mode", with just one passive sensor trained on the droid. I imitated the droid babbling heard in The Empire Strikes Back, and the pilots had to wait for the droid to pass before the mission briefing could continue.

I mess around with the fluff descriptions of the missions to fit my narrative, and make it seem like one ongoing story, I even found a Star Wars text-crawl creator website that I can put text into. Fun stuff.

Gameplay wise, I am having a blast with my X-Wing! I've got Engine Upgrade, Autothrusters, Integrated Astromech, Servomotor S-Foils, R2-D2, Push the Limit, and Sabine Wren's Pilot ability. One of the other pilots has traded in his X-Wing for a B-Wing, and another pilot is flying an ARC-170. We are also slowly incorporating 2nd edition rules as we go - I printed a 2nd ed damage deck for our most recent mission, for example. SO MUCH FUN!

2 minutes ago, drail14me said:

I've never played HotAC but wanted to give it a try when I decided to go to Gen Con. I started reading up on it to get prepared and got really interested. Since then, I've planned a campaign over the summer for our local store. We meet Saturday to kick things off. I even went ahead an ordered a nice set of terrain for the Fueling Station, Ion Storms and Minefields. Really looking forward to playing!

Very cool! Yeah, that terrain looks really nice. If I had the spare cash, I would be ordering it.

One thing to note, you will want to bring a regular 6 sided die for controlling the Imp ships. It rarely asks for a 12 sided die, too, but if you play in a game shop, you should be able to borrow one from the store (or buy it for a $1).

Did you print it all on card stock or regular paper? If regular paper, then I recommend gluing some of the more used papers to some card board. I used an empty cereal box and a glue stick. I recommend the pilot cards for each person....and also the AI papers, especially for Tie Fighters. You use them a lot and it's better if it's not on flimsy paper.

Don't forget to pool the XP for the whole team! It's one thing the creator said he was going to change in the next version of rules (that never came out). Everyone uses it. Also, Integrated Astromech is free and doesn't take up a slot. I've used S-Foils, too.

@Incard Love the extra flavor you are giving! How does your group like it? Have any tournament types that are playing?

Also, what did you do for the ARC-170? I know if you just translate it as is that it gets super powerful later on. Did you limit anything on it?

We're getting a consistent squad size of 7(!) which is really stretching the limits of the rules, so we have to play fast, and get everyone in on helping move the TIEs around, etc. I need to start adding stronger enemies to compensate for our big rebel flight crew.

I’ve played through a campaign off work, a full campaign at my old office, and we are midflight on a campaign at my current office that meets on lunches once a week, although we’ve been swamped with real work and unable to proceed. Maybe next time?

I played a career Ywing pilot, did an Ewing pilot (pro tip- don’t do that - we could not scale the AI to be good enough) and now we are back to basics with the available ships and I’m in a Bwing. Adv sensors, PTL, Kanan crew, torps and hlc, blue ace pilot ability, engine upgrade. Currently trick shot holds my last ept slot at ps7. I’m planning a crew change to Hera once I make ps8 and then i can add tychos ability over trick shot and just go anywhere I want whenever I want.

1 minute ago, heychadwick said:

Love the extra flavor you are giving! How does your group like it? Have any tournament types that are playing?

Also, what did you do for the ARC-170? I know if you just translate it as is that it gets super powerful later on. Did you limit anything on it?

They love it! The group at my store is great. The tournament players are super competitive, but really fun and friendly: and it's the top dudes who are most into HotAC. For the ARC-170, I didn't bother changing anything. I'm kind of ok with players getting really powerful - I'll just keep upping the ante on the bad dudes if needed. The ARC and the B-Wing both exploded on our last mission, so they've not yet had a chance to truly flex their muscles. I've also approved the U-Wing, but nobody has taken that road yet.

I cannot wait to add E'than Abaht and Ten Numb abilities to my X-Wing. Auto-crit? Don't mind if I do...

1 minute ago, Incard said:

I cannot wait to add E'than Abaht and Ten Numb abilities to my X-Wing. Auto-crit? Don't mind if I do...

I had a friend who ran this combo on an Awing to help get the offensive output back up after he fired his prockets. All before the era of harpoon

3 minutes ago, heychadwick said:

Very cool! Yeah, that terrain looks really nice. If I had the spare cash, I would be ordering it.

One thing to note, you will want to bring a regular 6 sided die for controlling the Imp ships. It rarely asks for a 12 sided die, too, but if you play in a game shop, you should be able to borrow one from the store (or buy it for a $1).

Did you print it all on card stock or regular paper? If regular paper, then I recommend gluing some of the more used papers to some card board. I used an empty cereal box and a glue stick. I recommend the pilot cards for each person....and also the AI papers, especially for Tie Fighters. You use them a lot and it's better if it's not on flimsy paper.

Don't forget to pool the XP for the whole team! It's one thing the creator said he was going to change in the next version of rules (that never came out). Everyone uses it. Also, Integrated Astromech is free and doesn't take up a slot. I've used S-Foils, too.

@Incard Love the extra flavor you are giving! How does your group like it? Have any tournament types that are playing?

Also, what did you do for the ARC-170? I know if you just translate it as is that it gets super powerful later on. Did you limit anything on it?

I'm excited for the terrain and got in on a crowd sale going on right now. It's a complete bundle of all the terrain and the price drops as more people order. We're about to reach the next level so we'll get a 24% discount. Still a little pricey but after all the printing I tried to do for the terrain, it's worth it. I can bring it to Gen Con if you want. Or, you may want to jump in on the crowd sale.

As for the other printing, I went to walmart and bought some heavy bond paper to print all the cards on. Then I took them to the local print shop and got them laminated so they are very sturdy. I'm hoping to wear them out as that means they are getting a lot of play.

If it weren’t for the imminent coming of the second edition, I’d be all in on that terrain bundle. But I don’t know how much 1.0 HotAC will happen after the 2.0 conversion, since we will all be learning from the beginning again.

That, and I’m going down the dark road of 3d printing for Legion, so I can just print Terrain later if I need it

Fan's are already converting HotAC to 2.0 so it's not going anywhere. Only getting better. Here's one of the ship cards under development from a member of the HotAC Facebook page.

18 minutes ago, drail14me said:

I'm excited for the terrain and got in on a crowd sale going on right now. It's a complete bundle of all the terrain and the price drops as more people order. We're about to reach the next level so we'll get a 24% discount. Still a little pricey but after all the printing I tried to do for the terrain, it's worth it. I can bring it to Gen Con if you want. Or, you may want to jump in on the crowd sale.

I can't afford 2.0 and the terrain pack! Wish I could....Maybe if I ask for a free set I can plug it on the podcast?

I'd love to see them at GenCon if you don't mind bringing them.

6 minutes ago, heychadwick said:

I can't afford 2.0 and the terrain pack! Wish I could....Maybe if I ask for a free set I can plug it on the podcast?

I'd love to see them at GenCon if you don't mind bringing them.

I'll bring them. Still trying to figure out how to pack for Gen Con in two carry-on bags with enough room left to bring 2.0 home!

I'm trying to avoid playing the HotAC missions I'm signed up for with you guys at Gen Con; Miner's Strike, Holonet Receiver and Refueling Station. Will we be playing the whole story arc for each of those or just those single missions?

The Hotac format has been kind of a revelation in our house, my 2 young boys love it. They get a bit moody and competitive when we play against each other so it's our standard game for now.

With ship limitations and excitable boys, I changed a lot. I'm basically making up the campaign as we go, though I have a general arc in mind, and since we have more sequel ships, we're resistance vs (mostly) First Order. I also write (and illustrate with pics) the whole story as we go. They love hearing/reading about their adventures even more than I expected tbh.

The biggest differences are that I upped the exp we get, so they didnt get frustrated with slow levelling (a point for every damage you cause) and made the choice of upgrade ships unlimited. The unforeseen result is that when my youngest chose to move up into a bomb throwing Punisher, he earned 40 exp in his 1st go with it and basically broke progression

Our current mission is to rescue Poe Dameron (no less!), a Rebel Captive aboard an Upsilon. We were getting a bit hammered so as soon as we disabled the Ups, I put on my best Poe voice and had him take it over and help us out. They were thrilled as he suddenly turned about and started nuking TIEs. Then they spent the next hour doing Poe impressions, lol.

Problem I have now is that they will not even consider starting over or using a ship that isn't stupidly OP...

edit. I stayed faithful to my T70, adding Blue Ace, Jess Pava and Ryads abilities. With FAA and Pattern Analyser on top, it's a bit stupidly OP itself

Finally, there is a Hotac app on android that will decide AI movement for you. It's a reasonable shortcut.

11 minutes ago, drail14me said:

I'll bring them. Still trying to figure out how to pack for Gen Con in two carry-on bags with enough room left to bring 2.0 home!

I'm trying to avoid playing the HotAC missions I'm signed up for with you guys at Gen Con; Miner's Strike, Holonet Receiver and Refueling Station. Will we be playing the whole story arc for each of those or just those single missions?

I have no idea how Biff is doing the missions. I'll be running the Trench Runs for Friday and Saturday, then helping with the Greyskull Base.

12 minutes ago, Cuz05 said:

The Hotac format has been kind of a revelation in our house, my 2 young boys love it. They get a bit moody and competitive when we play against each other so it's our standard game for now.

With ship limitations and excitable boys, I changed a lot. I'm basically making up the campaign as we go, though I have a general arc in mind, and since we have more sequel ships, we're resistance vs (mostly) First Order. I also write (and illustrate with pics) the whole story as we go. They love hearing/reading about their adventures even more than I expected tbh.

The biggest differences are that I upped the exp we get, so they didnt get frustrated with slow levelling (a point for every damage you cause) and made the choice of upgrade ships unlimited. The unforeseen result is that when my youngest chose to move up into a bomb throwing Punisher, he earned 40 exp in his 1st go with it and basically broke progression

Our current mission is to rescue Poe Dameron (no less!), a Rebel Captive aboard an Upsilon. We were getting a bit hammered so as soon as we disabled the Ups, I put on my best Poe voice and had him take it over and help us out. They were thrilled as he suddenly turned about and started nuking TIEs. Then they spent the next hour doing Poe impressions, lol.

Problem I have now is that they will not even consider starting over or using a ship that isn't stupidly OP...

Finally, there is a Hotac app on android that will decide AI movement for you. It's a reasonable shortcut.

Very cool! Yes, the cooperative can help when grown ups get moody, too.

Good luck on the XP issue. Maybe scale it back now? Have you looked at the FaceBook group? They might have missions and stuff for the newer factions.

5 minutes ago, heychadwick said:

Good luck on the XP issue. Maybe scale it back now? Have you looked at the FaceBook group? They might have missions and stuff for the newer factions.

I'll have a gander, cheers.

I just switched off exp for this latest mission as none of us really need any, lol. That's when I broached the tender subject of starting over... 'Maybe in TIEs?'. Choir says 'Ugh!'.

I just created my proxy cards for Saw's Renegades.

I'm thinking S-Foils opened alone might be too out of balance starting out. You start at PS-2, that optional Talon roll has a ton of value in the first few games.

So, should the re-fit and s-foils be moved so you have to buy into it with PS and Experience like the A-Wing and B-Wing, almost like a second ship?

We are doing our last mission next week.

Been a lot of fun and trash talking throughout.

We have y-wings/A-wings/X-wings and a HWK at the moment.

No one sees a need to go beyond that. presently.

As for terrain, one person had them printed at Staples and laminated them.

Another person just printed them out from an inkjet printer and trimmed them.

I just printed them out and used clear adhesive film on both sides.

It was cheap but took time. No real need to go get expensive custom made terrain here.

1 hour ago, drail14me said:

I'm excited for the terrain and got in on a crowd sale going on right now. It's a complete bundle of all the terrain and the price drops as more people order. We're about to reach the next level so we'll get a 24% discount. Still a little pricey but after all the printing I tried to do for the terrain, it's worth it. I can bring it to Gen Con if you want. Or, you may want to jump in on the crowd sale.

As for the other printing, I went to walmart and bought some heavy bond paper to print all the cards on. Then I took them to the local print shop and got them laminated so they are very sturdy. I'm hoping to wear them out as that means they are getting a lot of play.

Links are good.

https://www.thegamecrafter.com/crowdsale/star-flickers-big-bundle

For those who haven’t heard about it, apparently Josh Dersken gave these guys permission to incorporate all the HotAC into their star flickers game. So you can purchase this game and then use all the terrain for HotAC. They’re doing a crowdfunding thing right now- the more backers the cheaper the price gets. It runs for about 4 more days if anyone wants to get in on it.

3 minutes ago, Herowannabe said:

Links are good.

https://www.thegamecrafter.com/crowdsale/star-flickers-big-bundle

For those who haven’t heard about it, apparently Josh Dersken gave these guys permission to incorporate all the HotAC into their star flickers game. So you can purchase this game and then use all the terrain for HotAC. They’re doing a crowdfunding thing right now- the more backers the cheaper the price gets. It runs for about 4 more days if anyone wants to get in on it.

I didn't want to be presumptive and post the link. Was waiting for someone to ask. Glad you posted! The terrain looks great! Can't wait to put it on the table!

40 minutes ago, Herowannabe said:

the more backers the cheaper the price gets

I was looking at this a few days ago. I decided to pull the trigger. Order placed!

I’m definitely in on the Star Flickers deal. I tried doing all the pieces by hand—it was miserably tedious and I didn’t do a very good job. Having the pieces look nice and of good materials is going to be great.

2 hours ago, Herowannabe said:

Links are good.

https://www.thegamecrafter.com/crowdsale/star-flickers-big-bundle

For those who haven’t heard about it, apparently Josh Dersken gave these guys permission to incorporate all the HotAC into their star flickers game. So you can purchase this game and then use all the terrain for HotAC. They’re doing a crowdfunding thing right now- the more backers the cheaper the price gets. It runs for about 4 more days if anyone wants to get in on it.

Glad you posted the link. We're now one step closer to the next discount