I had a friend over for some games. We played 70 pt each. Not trying to claim lists were great but we are working with what we had.

His imperials

Tie bomber-marksmanship

Mauler mithel

Dark curse

2x academy pilots

My rebels

Rookie pilot

Hawk, rebel operative, blaster turret, scout upgrade(extra focus)

Bwing blue squadron, proton torpedoes

We played each mission once, and secure senator twice, even threw some shields on his shuttle.

I dont know if its the general tactics or what, but shuttle got blown very fast in both games. In the "scan" mission I just couldnt kill imperials so both mauler and dark curse escaped. Dark curse was very hard to hit.

And in the asteroid mission my disabled x wing got destroyed on turn 4.

I admit, only played 8 or so games but missions seem very hard.

The missions suck. I don't play them whenever possible. I write my own for the hell of it.

Missions are fun, but I wouldn't say balanced, but I don't think they need to be. Play them twice and swap sides between. See who does best. It was how we used to play Space Hulk, and it's good fun. Not every fight should be destroy the enemy.

Keep in mind the missions were written before even Wave 2 was released, so there are going to be balance issues anyway.

We've been doing missions for our currently-running league, and several of them have problems.

The biggest issue with 1-3 is that while you can theoretically balance them for 100 points, they're obviously not intended for it. When the goal (as in 1 and 2) is to destroy a single ship, increasing the numbers just increases the amount of firepower that can be directed at that one ship. We played #2 the first week, and found it almost impossible for the Rebels even after we added the Protect action.

#3 was better. We did double the number of satellites that the Imperials had to grab, and found that this one was fun and balanced.

We played Den of Thieves (from the Falcon set) this week, and while it seemed aimed at 100, a lot of the subtleties made it far friendlier to the Rebels. Not removing the tracking tokens after successfully stealing makes the second grab nearly automatic, especially if a tough ship like the Falcon is running it.

So several of them scale VERY badly, and even the ones that do aren't perfectly balanced. Doesn't mean they aren't fun though

The one time I've played the Senator's Shuttle mission, it seemed reasonably well-balanced at 100pts. With 12 hit points, it took some time for me to whittle down the shuttle, and it was within 1-2 turns of escaping the board. Of course, had the Rebels not taken Biggs, it would have been over much sooner.

Nonetheless, they're a fun option and add a little depth to the game. "Wipe out the enemy" is almost never a real military objective.

I'm really interested in seeing the missions coming with the new rebel blockade runner and transport

I did this way before Wave 2, but the shuttle mission was a lot of fun when we modified it to have 2 shuttles. I think the rules we used were that the rebel player secretly selects one of his shuttles to be a decoy which is piloted by a droid. It is loaded with explosives and set to blow up when the right conditions were met. I think the way we did it, once the decoy shuttle took a certain amount of damage, the droid pilot would make it self-destruct, giving everything in range 2 a certain amount of damage.

This gave both players strategic choices to make, because the imperials have to decide on how quickly to take one down, or to attack both shuttles, splitting their forces. If a rebel devotes resources to protecting the decoy, then he might bluff his opponent, but then again, he might leave the real shuttle insufficiently protected. Not to mention the possibility of being caught in the blast damage once the decoy goes off.

At any rate, I think this is a good framework for modifying the shuttle mission to make it a lot more fun and strategic.

The one time I've played the Senator's Shuttle mission, it seemed reasonably well-balanced at 100pts. With 12 hit points, it took some time for me to whittle down the shuttle, and it was within 1-2 turns of escaping the board. Of course, had the Rebels not taken Biggs, it would have been over much sooner.

Nonetheless, they're a fun option and add a little depth to the game. "Wipe out the enemy" is almost never a real military objective.

Good point. Having Biggs escort the shuttle means the Imperials can only target it after he's dead.

The one time I've played the Senator's Shuttle mission, it seemed reasonably well-balanced at 100pts. With 12 hit points, it took some time for me to whittle down the shuttle, and it was within 1-2 turns of escaping the board. Of course, had the Rebels not taken Biggs, it would have been over much sooner.

Nonetheless, they're a fun option and add a little depth to the game. "Wipe out the enemy" is almost never a real military objective.

Good point. Having Biggs escort the shuttle means the Imperials can only target it after he's dead.

Even having Biggs when you play with the bounty means you must get Biggs first. Of course on the second game I used a TIE swarm, took Biggs out the first turn, Wedge the second for a loss of one TIE. He conceded on the third turn.

I'm not sure "The shuttle and repair missions are balanced as long as the Rebels have Biggs" means that the shuttle and repair missions are balanced

I'm not sure "The shuttle and repair missions are balanced as long as the Rebels have Biggs" means that the shuttle and repair missions are balanced

You know which mission you have when you select your fleet. Therefore you have to assume people will make the best choices when balancing the mission. I could do the rescue mission in the Lambda box with a Tie Swarm, but it would be stupid as I would almost wipe my force out trying to pick up the 5 necessary people. Should it be balanced for a crew of fast fighters that have only 3 hits, if you did, it would be trivial for a crew designed for it of high hit point slower ships.

You know which mission you have when you select your fleet. Therefore you have to assume people will make the best choices when balancing the mission. I could do the rescue mission in the Lambda box with a Tie Swarm, but it would be stupid as I would almost wipe my force out trying to pick up the 5 necessary people. Should it be balanced for a crew of fast fighters that have only 3 hits, if you did, it would be trivial for a crew designed for it of high hit point slower ships.

Generally true, but requiring a specific ship or pilot in order for the scenario to be balanced is not balanced. It may be interesting, and even fun to play, but it's not balanced.

To use your comparison, while the options for the shuttle scenario may be more limited, they don't actually require a shuttle. A Firespray can handle the pickup relatively well, or even a TIE Bomber or Advanced. But all the "Defend the ..." missions are effectively guaranteed losses at 100 points for the Rebels if they don't have Biggs.

You know which mission you have when you select your fleet. Therefore you have to assume people will make the best choices when balancing the mission. I could do the rescue mission in the Lambda box with a Tie Swarm, but it would be stupid as I would almost wipe my force out trying to pick up the 5 necessary people. Should it be balanced for a crew of fast fighters that have only 3 hits, if you did, it would be trivial for a crew designed for it of high hit point slower ships.

Generally true, but requiring a specific ship or pilot in order for the scenario to be balanced is not balanced. It may be interesting, and even fun to play, but it's not balanced.

To use your comparison, while the options for the shuttle scenario may be more limited, they don't actually require a shuttle. A Firespray can handle the pickup relatively well, or even a TIE Bomber or Advanced. But all the "Defend the ..." missions are effectively guaranteed losses at 100 points for the Rebels if they don't have Biggs.

Is that the same for the Imperials? There is no Biggs does that guarantee a loss?

You know which mission you have when you select your fleet. Therefore you have to assume people will make the best choices when balancing the mission. I could do the rescue mission in the Lambda box with a Tie Swarm, but it would be stupid as I would almost wipe my force out trying to pick up the 5 necessary people. Should it be balanced for a crew of fast fighters that have only 3 hits, if you did, it would be trivial for a crew designed for it of high hit point slower ships.

Generally true, but requiring a specific ship or pilot in order for the scenario to be balanced is not balanced. It may be interesting, and even fun to play, but it's not balanced.

To use your comparison, while the options for the shuttle scenario may be more limited, they don't actually require a shuttle. A Firespray can handle the pickup relatively well, or even a TIE Bomber or Advanced. But all the "Defend the ..." missions are effectively guaranteed losses at 100 points for the Rebels if they don't have Biggs.

But how do you balance them without Biggs.. Do you give them extra shields if Biggs is not on the table?

In other words if they make them balanced without Biggs, suddenly they favour the Rebels if you take Biggs.

Is that the same for the Imperials? There is no Biggs does that guarantee a loss?

IMHO, at 100 points, yes. The Shuttle is basically a TIE Bomber that can't take crits. If you have 100 points of Imperial ships, with no other objective than to do 6 points a ship that really can't maneuver, it's pretty much guaranteed that it's going to die. Same goes for the Asteroid Run scenario - a single fighter with 100 points of firepower at it WILL die.

But how do you balance them without Biggs.. Do you give them extra shields if Biggs is not on the table?

In other words if they make them balanced without Biggs, suddenly they favour the Rebels if you take Biggs.

Honestly, "Everyone dogpile THAT guy!" scenarios are rarely easy to balance, but they really just don't work at all with X-wing. Such scenarios usually rely on making the attackers get through a defensive screen, and such a setup just doesn't work with X-wing.

What the scenarios really need is general capability to protect the target ship. The Protect action for the shuttle is a good start, but not really enough. The scenario could use an Escort token - a passable marker that basically makes the ship with the token work like Biggs for the shuttle only, and state that the shuttle is otherwise always targetable (to avoid Escort+Biggs multilayer defenses).

The scenario could use an Escort token - a passable marker that basically makes the ship with the token work like Biggs for the shuttle only, and state that the shuttle is otherwise always targetable (to avoid Escort+Biggs multilayer defenses).

Okay Escort Token - that acts like Biggs, got that.

Work like Biggs for the shuttle only - i.e. can't target the token as long as the escort is alive. Got that.

And state that shuttle is otherwise always targetable (to avoid Escort+Biggs multiplayer defenses).???? What?

I haven't gotten to play these missions yet, but has anyone tried a house rule to limit the range when you're attacking an objective? If you had to shoot it at range 2 or closer you'd make it more positional and give the defender ways to keep you from getting a shot off.

Okay Escort Token - that acts like Biggs, got that.

Work like Biggs for the shuttle only - i.e. can't target the token as long as the escort is alive. Got that.

And state that shuttle is otherwise always targetable (to avoid Escort+Biggs multiplayer defenses).???? What?

Escort Token: At the beginning of the game, the Rebel player selects one ship and assigns it the Escort token. The Rebel player may assign the Escort token to any of his ships at the start of the End phase. If the ship with the Escort token is within Range 1 of the {Target}, the {Target} enemy ships may not attack the {Target}. If the ship with the Escort is NOT within Range 1 of the {Target}, then enemy ships may ignore any Rebel abilities which would prevent them from attacking the shuttle.

Basically, the last line would keep the Rebels from stacking Biggs+Escort, and making the Imps have to chew through two ships at the same time in order to target the shuttle. The only thing that could keep the shuttle from being targeted would be the Escort.

Good idea but...

If you can pass the token at the start of the End phase then the attacker would have to potentially go through every defender.

Right?

IMHO, at 100 points, yes. The Shuttle is basically a TIE Bomber that can't take crits. If you have 100 points of Imperial ships, with no other objective than to do 6 points a ship that really can't maneuver, it's pretty much guaranteed that it's going to die. Same goes for the Asteroid Run scenario - a single fighter with 100 points of firepower at it WILL die.

True, but doesn't the scenario say that it also gets six shields if you're playing at 100 points? So it's a 12 shield ship (can't take crits) with 2 agility and can receive evade tokens from friendly units via the protect action. Sounds balanced to me.

@Ken: You could alternately not allow the escort to be reassigned at all, or only after destruction. Haven't tested any of that, was just pointing out a way to handle the "Must have Biggs!" problem with any escort missions.

@Parakitor: The one we played at 100 was Asteroid Run, which doesn't do anything to beef up the target ship. 12 with evade potential is tougher, but still not enough for it to be the only target getting shot at.

Is that the same for the Imperials? There is no Biggs does that guarantee a loss?

IMHO, at 100 points, yes. The Shuttle is basically a TIE Bomber that can't take crits. If you have 100 points of Imperial ships, with no other objective than to do 6 points a ship that really can't maneuver, it's pretty much guaranteed that it's going to die. Same goes for the Asteroid Run scenario - a single fighter with 100 points of firepower at it WILL die.

But how do you balance them without Biggs.. Do you give them extra shields if Biggs is not on the table?

In other words if they make them balanced without Biggs, suddenly they favour the Rebels if you take Biggs.

Honestly, "Everyone dogpile THAT guy!" scenarios are rarely easy to balance, but they really just don't work at all with X-wing. Such scenarios usually rely on making the attackers get through a defensive screen, and such a setup just doesn't work with X-wing.

What the scenarios really need is general capability to protect the target ship. The Protect action for the shuttle is a good start, but not really enough. The scenario could use an Escort token - a passable marker that basically makes the ship with the token work like Biggs for the shuttle only, and state that the shuttle is otherwise always targetable (to avoid Escort+Biggs multilayer defenses).

It's certainly not intended to be an easy mission, but it's not unwinnable. First of all, the shuttle has 12 hit points, not 6, and secondly, I can think of other squads that would do well at protecting it. (key word: Protect... you need to do that action!) A squad with plenty of ion weapons would probably do well.