Hey there! My long running campaign has hit the moment during the war where the Battle of Hoth can happen. Using Mass Combat rules I'd love to do this. My players are basically a Specforce unit stationed there. So... have any of you run this? How might I go about doing this? Carving out their little contribution to the assault and evacuation. I have some initial thoughts and ideas but I'd love to pick the brains of everyone out there! All ideas are welcome :)

There's another thread somewhere on this with several ideas if you can find it.

My past contribution was suggesting an Imperial assault on the Rebel orbital ion cannon that coincides with the ATAT assault. Snowtroopers assault the ion cannon complex that is away from the main Rebel base. The Stormtroopers quickly over-whelmed the ion cannon complex killing its security force and gunnery crew. The Specforce players are a quick reaction force sent to infiltrate it, clean out the Stormtroopers, and possibly re-man the ion cannon itself before the Rebel transports can lift off. It would be cool for the PC's to be the ones that actually fired that shot to take out the Star Destroyer as the Rebels fled.

Then, they have to flee themselves. Or, better yet they can't flee because their primary ship is back at the base? They go into hiding after blowing up the ion cannon so Imperials can't use it? The PCs have to play a survival on Hoth stealth game for a bit, until the Imperials are done searching the Rebel base and leave. They watch in horror as TIE bombers drop their loads upon the Rebel base where their ship is as the Imperials leave Hoth.

Returning to the Rebel base, it is in ruins. They have to search through the base to get to where their ship was while dealing with collapsed tunnels, secondary explosions, a damaged Imperial assassin droid that left behind, then they realize the fusion reactor powering the base is damaged and slowly going critical. It's a race against time to clear the wreckage from their old ship, scavenge for parts or left behind loot, repair the ship, and launch away just in time. Or, be prepared for your Specforce PC's to try to shut down the reactor, repair it, and make the remains of the base their own?

I had plans for a "Survival on Hoth" campaign start, but that campaign never got started.

Long and short of it, the Rebels were infantry, but then were sent on an individual mission to rescue a pilot downed behind enemy lines ("no man left behind" sort of thing). They ended up succeeding, but got trapped and couldn't reach the base before the retreat.

So they have to escape and evade behind enemy lines and steal an Imperial shuttle (lucky they saved that pilot!). Various shenanigans (including an encounter with a Wampa) ensue, but they eventually make it off-world.

The idea from there was that they'd start their own resistance movement in the Greater Javin region.

18 hours ago, Sturn said:

There's another thread somewhere on this with several ideas if you can find it.

My past contribution was suggesting an Imperial assault on the Rebel orbital ion cannon that coincides with the ATAT assault. Snowtroopers assault the ion cannon complex that is away from the main Rebel base. The Stormtroopers quickly over-whelmed the ion cannon complex killing its security force and gunnery crew. The Specforce players are a quick reaction force sent to infiltrate it, clean out the Stormtroopers, and possibly re-man the ion cannon itself before the Rebel transports can lift off. It would be cool for the PC's to be the ones that actually fired that shot to take out the Star Destroyer as the Rebels fled.

Then, they have to flee themselves. Or, better yet they can't flee because their primary ship is back at the base? They go into hiding after blowing up the ion cannon so Imperials can't use it? The PCs have to play a survival on Hoth stealth game for a bit, until the Imperials are done searching the Rebel base and leave. They watch in horror as TIE bombers drop their loads upon the Rebel base where their ship is as the Imperials leave Hoth.

Returning to the Rebel base, it is in ruins. They have to search through the base to get to where their ship was while dealing with collapsed tunnels, secondary explosions, a damaged Imperial assassin droid that left behind, then they realize the fusion reactor powering the base is damaged and slowly going critical. It's a race against time to clear the wreckage from their old ship, scavenge for parts or left behind loot, repair the ship, and launch away just in time. Or, be prepared for your Specforce PC's to try to shut down the reactor, repair it, and make the remains of the base their own?

Fantastic ideas! I'll look for that other thread too. I love it thank you !

18 hours ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

I had plans for a "Survival on Hoth" campaign start, but that campaign never got started.

Long and short of it, the Rebels were infantry, but then were sent on an individual mission to rescue a pilot downed behind enemy lines ("no man left behind" sort of thing). They ended up succeeding, but got trapped and couldn't reach the base before the retreat.

So they have to escape and evade behind enemy lines and steal an Imperial shuttle (lucky they saved that pilot!). Various shenanigans (including an encounter with a Wampa) ensue, but they eventually make it off-world.

The idea from there was that they'd start their own resistance movement in the Greater Javin region.

Ohh that's a cool idea. I wonder if I can do both... do a battle of Hoth, but then... do what you're suggesting, even making them trapped after the assault extending the mission and issue.

On 10/12/2020 at 4:01 PM, scotter23 said:

Hey there! My long running campaign has hit the moment during the war where the Battle of Hoth can happen. Using Mass Combat rules I'd love to do this. My players are basically a Specforce unit stationed there. So... have any of you run this? How might I go about doing this? Carving out their little contribution to the assault and evacuation. I have some initial thoughts and ideas but I'd love to pick the brains of everyone out there! All ideas are welcome

I'd advise dropping the mass combat rules. They suck, and unless you want to allow a non-canon outcome, everyone knows how the Battle of Hoth ends.

Instead stick to a focus on the small scale with the characters and perhaps using the squad rules to represent some friendlies (aka ablative flesh armor) they have along to pad the fights. The squad rules are far better put together than the mass combat rules, and they still keep the focus on the players' characters in ways the mass combat rules totally fail to do.

As a counterpoint, I rather enjoy the Mass Combat rules. It's fun to have a mechanic for an overarching event that the PCs can be as involved in as they like.

As HappyDaze said, for something predetermined like Hoth, you may not need it. Unless you want to represent a skirmish within the battle that directly involves your party.

19 minutes ago, rogue_09 said:

As a counterpoint, I rather enjoy the Mass Combat rules. It's fun to have a mechanic for an overarching event that the PCs can be as involved in as they like.

It's also worth noting that the PCs are affected by the results and can contribute through their actions (or even command the battle, if they are so inclined). Sometimes having the PCs as a small part of something greater rather than the be-all and end-all is good.

4 hours ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

It's also worth noting that the PCs are affected by the results and can contribute through their actions (or even command the battle, if they are so inclined). Sometimes having the PCs as a small part of something greater rather than the be-all and end-all is good.

You can be a part of something greater without using the craptastic mass combat rules. They end up being dice rolls just to get modifiers to other dice rolls...and that's pretty much against the spirit of only rolling when the outcome is in doubt/interesting. I'm sure that something worthwhile might be possible with the mass combat rules, but I'll admit that the published adventures that have used them have made such bad use of them that I have trouble seeing their worth.