A Scenario Idea (i.e. let's actually try to use the shuttle)

By yoink101, in X-Wing

Posted at

Here is my idea for the scenario:

The Imperials are escorting a shuttle carrying a rebel captive through a small asteroid field. The Imperials need to get the shuttle out of the field (across the table, before the rebels are able to disable the shuttle (with ion cannons) and get the rebel captive out in their HWK-290.
There are a couple of options for rules that we might be able to try for actually boarding and transferring the prisoner, but I have a few ideas. In either case, here is a possible list.
My thought is to get a lot of ships on the table and try to do something other than just blow the heck out of each other. We could also just aim for blowing stuff up if the game runs short, or the interest is low.
I think this would be an easy game to have two players on each side. One rebel has the x wings and the a wing and is responsible for holding off the TIE's while the other is responsible for the bombers and the HWK. The Imperials could split between the shuttle and its TIE Fighter escort while the other player could take interceptors, the tie advanced and the bomber.
Here are the special rules:
Ion Tokens
Ion tokens on the shuttle work a little differently than normal.
As normal for a large ship, one ion token at the beginning of the activation phase does not impede the shuttle.
Only the first hit from an ion cannon damages the shuttle each turn.
For each ion token on the shuttle, the rebel have one die for boarding.
The shuttle does not remove the ion tokens until the end of the entire activation phase, they are kept on even after the shuttle has moved.
Boarding Action
The HWK-290 may take a boarding action if it ends its movement within range 1 of the shuttle. For each ion token, roll 1 red die. The Imperial player rolls 1 green die. If there are more critical results than evade results, the rebel player has rescued the prisoner. If there are at least as many evade results as critical results, the Imperials have fended off the rebel boarding party.
If the HWK-290 ends its move in base contact with the shuttle, it may take a boarding action, even though actions are not normally allowed. The rebel player then gets an additional red die.

This is one idea for the squad lists. The table we play on is 6'x4'. One option to make it more interesting would be to allow the HWK to enter the playing field after the fighting has started from either the left or the right of the table. I think the idea would be to use a 4'x4' playing area, although getting the shuttle across a 6 foot table could be interesting.

REBEL STRIKE FORCE

200 points

29 points
Dagger Squadron Pilot
Fire-Control System, Ion Cannon
24 points
Red Squadron Pilot #1
R2 Astromech
24 points
Red Squadron Pilot #2
R2 Astromech
24 points
Red Squadron Pilot #3
R2 Astromech
27 points
Green Squadron Pilot
Homing Missiles, Push the Limit
24 points
Gold Squadron Pilot #1
R5 Astromech, Ion Cannon Turret
24 points
Gold Squadron Pilot #2
R5 Astromech, Ion Cannon Turret
24 points
Rebel Operative
Ion Cannon Turret, Recon Specialist

IMPERIAL SHUTTLE ESCORT

200 points

24 points
Saber Squadron Pilot #1
Push the Limit
24 points
Saber Squadron Pilot #2
Push the Limit
28 points
Omicron Group Pilot
Sensor Jammer, Rebel Captive
27 points
Scimitar Squadron Pilot
Concussion Missiles, Homing Missiles, Seismic Charges
25 points
Tempest Squadron Pilot
Concussion Missiles
12 points
Academy Pilot #1
12 points
Academy Pilot #2
12 points
Academy Pilot #3
12 points
Academy Pilot #4
12 points
Academy Pilot #5
12 points
Academy Pilot #6

Rebel Victory:

The rebels rescue the prisoner and get him off any table edge.

Imperial Victory:

The Imperials get the shuttle and the table at the rebel deployment edge.

The idea behind the squad building was not necessarily to maximize the effectiveness of them, but to get two fun squads that showcase a lot of ships. We intentionally left out named pilots.

Ideas improvements? Feedback is welcome! Thanks!

Posted at

I like this idea, I will l have to shoot the idea to my group and see what they say, maybe in a week or two I can get a test run in..

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Have you play tested this?

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I haven't yet. I suspect that we'll either have to allow for HWK reinforcements, or simply play it with less ships.

Another possibility might be to have secondary objectives. The x wings and a wings get points for destroying ties, while the ties get points for destroying ion cannons.

Posted at

As an imperial player, I would just shoot down the HWK. Perhaps the ion tokens should only clear one at a time, so the rebels could stack up ions on the shuttle and go in once and have a high % of rescuing that turn. I think there should be some DTF on the rebel side to help the HWK. But if you want to stay away from named pilots, then it'd have to be the Greens, which isn't ideal.

As it is, there's a low % of the rescue ever working, nevertheless getting in range 1 and then escaping. 1 Die = 8%, 2 Dice = 16%, 3 Dice = 25%, 4 Dice = 34%, 5 Dice = 44%, 6 Dice = 54%. So I think the odds are greatly stacked against the HWK. Maybe give it a stealth device and say that it cannot be targetted until it attacks or rescues? That way you can decide whether you want 3 ions but the HWK is a target, or keep it at 2 ions and keep the HWK "invisible" until it interacts with the enemy.

Posted at

Maybe the HWK could be kept off the table until the rebel players want to bring it on, from any table edge. I was also toying with the idea of using a YT or giving the HWK a couple of shield upgrades do boost its survivability. I think it should still be a challenge though. I do like the idea of the ion tokens staying on, although that could drag the game on a little.

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A better option would be the YT-1300. It has boarding capability anyway, and would be far more likely to survive long enough to get to the shuttle.

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So, because of the point total and the size of the table, it looks like we're going to add a secondary objective. There will be two takens (probably the little satellite ones that come with the core set) that will be jamming thingys. The rebels will have to destroy these before they leave the table. The HWK can enter the play area at the beginning of any activation phase the rebel players choose. The placement of the shuttle and the jamming (stations?) will be within separate thirds of the Imperial board edge. Something like

jamming thing shuttle other jamming object

X X X

------------------------------------Imperial Table Edge------------------------------------

I hope that visual makes some sense. This will force the imperial players to spread their forces a little bit, hopefully causing the game to be two or three smaller battles.

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How about giving the HWK a unique ability that's sort of a similar but reversed version of biggs? Something like "If a enemy ship at range 2-3 could attack a different friendly ship, they cannot attack you". That way as long as you keep an escort nearby, the only way for enemy fighters to attack you is to get in close at range 1.

Also if your escort is not fully "enveloping" the hwk, enemy fighters could attack from blind spots.

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use the escort scenario given in the core set rulebook, following it exactly, but replace the ship token with the shuttle, and the shuttle can only do green maneuvers (the shuttle wants to jump to hyperspace, and thus can only do green maneuvers until it reaches the edge of the battle area. The navigation computer calculated the course, don't ask why)

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That could work for the shuttle and the HWK. Any nearby ship can use an action to give it evade tokens.

Maybe, as long as either ship is being escorted, they can only make green maneuvers.