Hi, my name is Lonny Volat, and my friend Michael DeCarlo and I are X-Wing players living in the Central Florida area of Lake County.
Although its likely that something similar to this is posted somewhere in these forums, I thought I'd like to put this in as my first post here on the X-Wing forums...
----------------------------------------------
X-WING CAMPAIGN RULES
Version 1.0
Purpose: To create more strategic and tactical situations involving the unique, named pilots introduced in the Star Wars: X-Wing miniatures flight combat game.
The Star Wars: X-Wing game provides both Rebel and Imperial players with a host of individual pilots who have appeared in the various Star Wars media. Names that fans are familiar with, such as Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles, Turr Phennir, and (my favorite) Darth Vader are all represented in the game. And when the star fighter of one of those pilot's goes >BOOM< everyone shouts “Oh no, So-and-so died!” and then play just resumes. This rules variation seeks to change that, to make the sudden eradication of one of those unique individuals mean something past the momentary disruption to a player's carefully laid out plans.
At the start of each battle in the “campaign”, players will list the named pilots that they plan to use in that particular battle. These unique pilots are denoted by a black bullet next to the name on the card. Should the unthinkable happen, and that pilot's fighter be blown out of space, the card is set aside. After the battle, a red attack die is rolled for each pilot whose ship was destroyed. On a result of a critical damage, that pilot is dead. Gone. One with the Force. He may no longer be used by that player in the campaign. On any other result, the pilot has managed to activate his ejection seat and exit the fighter before it became vaporized. But that doesn't necessarily mean that he is safe just yet...
All pilots on the WINNING side who manage to eject from their doomed star fighters are considered safe and can be used in future games with no penalty. However, all pilots on the LOSING side must roll a green defense die. If the result is an “evasion” (roughly 38% chance) then the pilot has managed to avoid detection, on any other result, the pilot has been captured. He may not be used until some arrangement (such as a prisoner swap) has been made, leading to his repatriation with his original faction. If he is undetected, as a result of the green die roll, then he manages to get home.
Non-unique pilots, such as generic Red Squadron pilots or Academy pilots are immune to these rules, as they are always replaceable. However, there are a number of unique astromech droids (such as R2-D2 and R5-D8) for whom these rules apply just like pilots. Like pilots, unique droids are denoted by a black bullet next to there name. The Lambda-class Shuttle includes a couple of unique characters who would also fall under these rules.
All this makes for changes in the planning out of your squadron for battle. In addition to the points spent and a look at the special ability of each pilot, the player must now weigh the bonus that the pilot gives to battle versus the consequence of watching him turn into an expanding cloud of debris. Also introduced into the battle is the time-honored tactic of “strategic withdrawal” (otherwise known as “fleeing with your tail between your legs”). You can pretty much count on the fact that if my Darth Vader has no shields and only one hull point left, I am making like a bee straight for my edge of the table at maximum speed, dignity be damned.
My friend and I have been playing X-Wing on our regular game day for a while now, ever since I saw the first basic set in a local bookstore. Today we tried out these new campaign rules and I am pleased to report that those rebel scum, Luke Skywalker and Tycho Celchu are languishing in a cell aboard an Imperial Star Destroyer, enroute to Coruscant, where they will be tried for crimes against the Empire. In a related note, TIE Fighter pilot Mauler Mithel, whose fighter was destroyed while attempting to flee from the same engagement, has been placed on leave, pending his court martial for “cowardice in the face of the enemy”. His answer to the charge is a plea that he was “only offering the rebel forces an easy target to shoot at, allowing the rest of the Imperial squadron the opportunity to win the battle” isn't being given much consideration by the Board of Inquiry.
Tell me how it works for you, and if you have any tweaks, let me know. I was actually thinking about something utilizing someway to permabond a character trait upgrade (like Marksmanship or Swarm Tactics) to a unique pilot. So that if you decide to give a pilot an upgrade, he always has to use it. This would not apply to ship upgrades, like Concussion Missiles that you might have equipped on your fighter one battle, but not have available the next time.
