The Search for Solo— An X-wing Report

Episode V and a .V

The Search for Solo

Following the disaster at Bespin, Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca are searching for Han Solo and his captor, the bounty hunter Boba Fett. Rebel intelligence report no word of either Fett or Solo on Tatooine, the obvious destination— but then, where are they?

Bribing his underworld connections, Lando learns that Fett's ship has been sighted near the Anootla asteroid cluster.

The Alliance Command issue order— disable the Slave 1 and scan her for Captain Solo's presence— or at least clues to his whereabouts.

Within hours, Lando and a small fleet jump for Anootla... but are they headed to a rescue, or something else?

Back to a Galaxy Far, Far Away

(or at least a thirty-minute drive at rush hour).

Once again my gaming buddies and I converged for an evening of X-Wing, which appears to have become our current obsession. (We do play other games— honest!) On the evening in question, our location of choice was Will's domicile— Commodore Will, for the purposes of this evening's game (and the starting college football season— Go Vandy!).

The story— an original scenario featuring the Firespray-31 "patrol and attack craft," better known as Slave 1, Boba Fett's personal ship from Episode V The Empire Strikes Back.

Although I don't own this ship myself (yet), Will had brought it to one of our earlier games, and I thought it would be good to try it out in a balanced scenario, with a theme appropriate to the devious, self-serving bounty hunter.

The Forces of Good and Better Than Good, holding their secret orders.
Rebels, L t R: Lieutenant Chase, Commodore Will, Commander Jim
Empire, L t R: Darth Alexander, Darth Michael (as Colonel Soontir Fel)

I decided to go all out with this one, giving each side "mission dossiers"with their goals and battle intelligence. And yes, this meant that both sides weren't fully informed as to the other's objectives or capabilities. I knew, of course, which is why I operated the Slave 1. Its role wasn't particularly secret to either side, so I could play without having any unfair advantage. Command of the Empire forces was thus left to Darth Michael, with my son Darth Alexander fulfilling the role of eager young officer... who got his command thoroughly shot up over the course of the evening. (So he fulfilled his role well.)

The Battle Begins

The Rebels arrive...

... and the forces advance.

The scene opens on the Anootla system, near a prominent asteroid cluster, as the Rebel forces approach Slave 1 and her suspiciously small escort. Yes, they had two of the fast and dangerous TIE Interceptors, but the Rebel commanders were not blind to the apparent weakness of the foe.

Starting forces:

Rebel Alliance:

Millenium Falcon, piloted by Lando Calrissian (Commodore Will).

 3 X-wings: Luke Skywalker, a Red Squadron pilot, and a rookie (Lieutenant Chase, rebellious son of Darth Michael)

3 Y-wings with ion cannon turrets: "Dutch" Vander and two Gold Squadron veterans (Commander Jim)

Empire:

TIE Interceptor: Soontir Fel (Darth Michael)

TIE Interceptor: Turr Fennir (Darth Alexander)

TIE fighter: Black Squadron (Darth Alexander)

Slave 1, piloted by Boba Fett (yours truly)

Yeah, you can do the math, too, right?

First Moves to First Blood

Darth Alexander loses his first wingman on the first turn!

Things got off with a bang— specifically, the silent "bang" created when a TIE fighter turns into so much cosmic vapor. The first TIE got fragged without firing a shot! The Rebels were celebrating an early sighting of victory as they reached the asteroid field...

Guess What...

Okay, yeah, everybody saw this coming. But it was still fun.

The Rebel commanders observe the tactical situation with dismay:
"Where'd all those TIE fighters come from?"
"I told you it was a trap."

Revised Empire Forces:

2 TIE Interceptors: Soontir Fel, Fel's Wrath
3 TIE Fighters: Howlgunner, Night Beast, Black Squadron Pilot (all Darth Michael)
1 TIE Interceptor: Turr Fennir
3 TIE Fighters (+1 already destroyed): Backstabber, Mauler Mithel, Dark Curse (all Darth Alexander)
Slave 1 (still me)

[Note on both sides, upgrades, secondary weapons, etc., were all fully utilized; the total points were close to 260 for each side.]

The terms of the scenario allowed the Empire to announce the added forces after the plotting phase, any time before the Rebels entered or passed the asteroid field; this turned out to be Turn 2. This allowed the new TIEs to be placed and plot their movements.

Demolition Derby

A Big Hairy Furball... and Lando just had the Falcon waxed.

The sudden arrival of new ships messed with everyone's plotting— almost every ship found itself colliding with either another ship or an asteroid or both. (Slave 1 passed through the field and the furball unscathed, thanks to someone's amazing piloting skills. *Ahem.*)

Boom...

...Boom...

...Boom... and the Y-wings close in.

Despite the confusion, most fighters had a targets, and the close range blasting took out shields and ships left and right. Darth Alexander's forces took the brunt of the attacks; by Turn 4, he was down to two ships, with all but one of his damaged, while Darth Michael was largely unscathed. Yours Truly lost a few shields, as did the Rebels, but they looked to be sitting pretty, and set off in pursuit of Slave 1, with ion cannons primed for action. Seeking to throw the Ys offtrack, I deployed a proximity mine. It didn't work (well, not as intended), but we did manage to blast a Y-wing off my tail— the first Empire kill of the night!

Commander Jim does not look happy. I can't imagine Y...

But they got some payback immediately.

Hey, he's gonna shoot you, too...

... another TIE bites the dust.

The bright spot for the Empire forces came with the destruction of Luke Skywalker, after a brutal team-up by Darth Michael's and Darth Alexander's commands.

No, lieutenant. There is nothing that will save you now.

But the Empire was still taking losses, and the remaining Y-wings were catching up to Slave 1.

And another one's gone...

Yours, Mine and Ours

Commander Jim proved to be too skilled a pilot for my deadly traffic cone... unfortunately, Darth Michael did not— my very own ally flew into the mine, barely surviving with a hit and a critical hit!

Darth Michael makes a wrong turn... "click— BOOM!"

Our trap seemed to be falling apart, and we were turning into our own worst enemies...

Turning the Tables

Boba Fett fights back... scratch another Y-wing!

I'd been doing "scoot and shoot" maneuvers with the Slave 1, relying largely on the aft firing arc for potshots at the Y-wings and the Falcon. But I needed heavier efforts, especially as I now bore four target locks on me and my shields were gone. I flipped the ship to bring my hunters into my foreword arc for use of my powerful secondary weapons— a heavy laser cannon and an assault missile. It was a good thing I did so, as Jim hit me with two ion blasts in succession, leaving me unable to maneuver for a turn. But my heavy weapons were now aimed at the hounds, and the hunters became the hunted. The remaining TIEs closed in as well. The Falcon drew fire to protect the crucial Y-wings, but all were now in trouble, and the Falcon, out of shields, was taking hull hits. My blasts took out a second Y-wing, which all but assured victory for the Empire.

Y Becomes the Final Letter in the Alphabet

The final shot came down to Darth Michael. At this point, all but three of the TIEs had been destroyed, and the remainder were not likely to survive much longer. But on Turn 7, Michael lined up a long range shot on the sole remaining Y-wing... and blew her out of the asteroid cluster.

Y did we shoot you? Because we could!

Now unable to fulfill their mission objectives (get four ion counters on the Slave 1 in one turn), the Rebels abandoned the field. Lando would have to travel to Tatooine to find his frozen friend...

Well, That's a Wrap.

All in all, the evening was a success. We had a great time, and the scenario made for a fun mix of vessels and tactical options. It's hard to say after one play whether all the objectives worked. Jim had concerns that the Rebel task— score 6 ion hits on the Slave 1 in a single turn— was too unlikely with only three Y-wings. He's probably right, but as the Ys took a long time to catch up to the Slave 1, and took hits along the way, they never managed to get into a coordinated range for an attempt. In retrospect, I think reducing the goal makes sense, as well as allowing at least one of the hits to be a "carryover" from a previous combat round (per the large ship rules regarding ion hits). I also think a fourth Y in place of an X-wing is a good call as well.

The "It's a Trap" moment was a hit. Jim confirmed they suspected reinforcements would arrive... but not in the middle of the asteroid field, which caught them by surprise. I think they had also planned their entry around an attempt to eliminate the escort and then pursue the Slave 1. In retrospect, the Ys probably should have started from the center of their battlefield edge, not their left, and gone for the Slave 1 from the start.

The Empire objective worked well, and given the losses they took remained in doubt till the end of the game.

As Boba Fett, I found myself questioning my presence on the battlefield. As bait, it became clear to me that Fett needed other motivation to hang around besides just luring Y-wings into a death trap. Yeah, group effort, take one for the team, blah, blah blah— he's a self-serving bounty hunter, not a professional decoy! So I may tweak that a bit, especially as I like the idea of a three-way objective split. (Heh, heh, heh.)

And I'm going to eat my words regarding the Firespray-31 spaceship. I had said I wasn't interested, as I never really cared for the design (like somebody stuck a Viper onto a computer mouse and stood it on its nose...), and also because the Slave 1 never engaged in combat in the original films. (We shall not speak of the "prequels," which Do Not Exist in my Star Wars universe). But FFG have turned the Firespray into a must-have vessel, with unique tactical elements and abilities. I like the fore/aft firing arcs, and the ability to drop mines and bombs. It was a lot of fun to "fly" the Firespray and plot my targeting arcs. And when my own ally flew into the mine... getting to razz Michael about his piloting skills— well, that's just gaming gold! (Seriously, he had to maneuver into the mine to hit it; if he had just flown straight or turned left, he would have been safe. Yet another product of the Imperial Fighter Pilot Academy... "Blow up all you want; we'll clone more.")

Coming Soon: Wave 3 Ships (I've got my pre-order in)

Yes, I'm expecting a B-wing, a TIE Bomber, a Lambda Shuttle, and the Moldy Crow (it's from a Star Wars video game)— probably next week. You can bet I'll be testing them out and posting here.

Till then, cue the Imperial Death March and celebrate the victory over the Rebel scum!

The Empire (Tries to) Strike Back!

As you may recall, the last foray into space for the gaming group ended with a horribly lopsided victory of the Rebels over the Empire. So when we gathered for a return event, things were definitely going to be different...

The Combatants (L to R):
Commander Will—Rebel
Darth Ben (No, Not *That* Ben)—Empire
Darth Jim—Empire
Darth Alexander (Hiding in the Shadows)—Empire
Commander Not Appearing In This Photo (AKA Yours Truly)—Rebel

And Now Begins...

EPISODE XXL

THE EMPEROR'S NEW UNDERPANTS

In the aftermath of glaring defeat, gasps were heard throughout the corridors of the Imperial military. These were followed by loud thumps as various admirals and generals involuntarily acknowledged their errors and accepted their permanent removal from their positions without protest. Once the bodies were cleared, the Empire’s new top military leaders pledged to serve Emperor Palpatine with renewed vigor and diligence...

The first step was a complete review of the Imperial Navy Manual of Starfighter Doctrine   (e.g. the Star Wars X-wing Miniatures Game Rule Book), to see whether all official guidelines and procedures had been properly adhered to. The new leaders found that while procedures had mostly followed expected protocol, proper attention had not been paid to force makeup and battlefield effectiveness and equivalency. An exhaustive study revealed that Imperial projections as to levels of training and armament required to adequately combat Rebel capabilities had been woefully underestimated. (In short, we had the point matchup totally out of whack.)

In an effort to correct this error, the Imperial high command began planning the next mission with strict attention to both mission objectives and adequate combat capabilities. 

Emperor Palpatine himself had great interest in the battle that would ensue, as it involved the carefully guarded delivery of several autonomous unmanned cargo containers, each carrying materials of a highly sensitive nature for the Emperor’s administrative purposes. [The Imperial Office of Truth and Selective Openness completely denies allegations that the contents were in any way pink or frilly and certainly not feminine at all. And yes, the Emperor wears a size 18... wait, strike that. Execute that reporter! Now!  (SKEPEWWW! SKEPEWWW! Sizzle....)]

Ahem, as we were saying, it was imperative that these important and essential materials not fall into Rebel hands. The Rebels, of course, sent their top men to intercept the cargo, promising a full exposé of the contents in The Galactic Enquirer (“Enquiring Minds Do Want to See This Paper”).

The orders were issued, the site was chosen, and the various commanders were directed to assemble... and in the cold, hard depths of space, battle commenced.

The Nitty Gritty

After the last debacle, I decided to go strictly by the book. Selecting the “Thieves In the Night” scenario included in the Millennium Falcon Expansion Set, I put together an equal points balance collection of some of the Rebel’s best versus the Empire’s best.
The scenario itself calls for the Empire to shepherd three automated cargo canisters from one end of the battlespace to the other. The canisters move independently, always straight and in the same direction; they cannot maneuver in any way, nor stop, nor change direction. Two Empire fighters act as “Escorts”, who can boost the speed of the canisters if the fighters stay within one range band of a canister (or canisters). Meanwhile, the Rebels designate a ship to be the “thief,” which can attempt to snatch a single canister at the end of the movement phase, if the canister is within one range band of the “thief” vessel. (The Rebels have the advantage of being able to shift which ship is the “thief” at the end of the planning phase. The Empire has the advantage that if an Escort is destroyed, another vessel automatically becomes an escort... if they have any vessels left.)

The victory conditions are simple: The Empire must successfully escort at least two of the containers across the battlespace (a our table was 4’ long, we marked the correct distance with a line of asteroids that were otherwise not considered as elements of the battle). The Rebels must successfully steal two containers to win. Note that while destruction of the enemy is certainly helpful, it isn’t necessary, and the Empire can still win even if all its vessels are destroyed, if the Rebels fail to snatch the containers!

Though the book suggests a 100-point per side battle, I wanted to max out the Rebel forces as much as I could, and do the same for the Empire. The result gave 165 points  to each side, which I ran as a solo test scenario (ending in a narrow Empire victory). It seemed to work well, so I offered the same set up to my gaming group.

The Battle Begins
Note that the Rebels can set up very close to the Empire in this scenario; combat begins immediately!

The Forces:

Rebels (165)

Millennium Falcon YT-1300
Chewbacca as pilot
Nien Nunb as crew
MF Title Upgrade
Elusiveness Upgrade
Engine Upgrade
Assault Missiles
Wedge Antilles X-wing
R2F2
Proton Torpedoes
Luke Skywalker X-wing
R2D2
Proton Torpedoes
Deadeye
Biggs Darklighter X-wing
R5D8
Proton Torpedoes

Empire (165)

Turr Phennir TIE Interceptor
Marksmanship
Soontir Fel TIE Interceptor
Daredevil
Howlgunner TIE
Swarm Tactics
Backstabber TIE
Night Beast TIE
Dark Curse TIE
Winged Gundark TIE
Academy Rookie TIE

(The above may be off; I forgot to record all of the upgrade cards, and I’m working from memory.)

The Commanders
Rebels:
Commander Will, controlling the Millennium Falcon and Wedge Antilles.
Commander Not Appearing In These Photos (AKA yours truly), controlling Luke Skywalker and Biggs Darklighter.

Empire:
Darth Jim
Darth Alexander
Darth Ben (No, Not *That* Ben)

 I can’t recall who controlled what on the Empire side, but the forces were pretty well split up evenly. I think Darth Jim and Darth Ben (No, Not *That* Ben) controlled one each of the Escort vessels, as well a support fighter each, while Darth Alexander was assigned to general assault detail with a squadron of three TIEs.

First Blood
Darth Ben's wingman goes down early, and the Falcon swoops in on the first canister (token in foreground).

Will and I planned a bait-and-switch with the “thief” vessel, starting off with the Falcon assigned to snatch the canisters, to draw the Emperor’s forces away from Luke’s X-wing, so we could switch to it mid-battle. It didn’t quite work that way, as the Empire had a lot of fighters to throw around, but things got hairy around the Falcon very quickly. In a boost to the Rebel side, the Falcon snatched the central canister fairly early on, so we left it in charge of going after the next canister.

Hairy Furball
Ya know, all  those TIEs were *supposed* to chase the Falcon!

The Empire however, interrupted this effort, boosting one of the remaining canisters quickly across the battlefield, while the Falcon and Wedge were drawn off from the canister moving up the far side, and got bottled up in a dogfight with the TIEs. Darth Ben (No, Not *That* Ben) saw his TIES blow up rapidly, much to his despair (see photo above and below).

Why you? Because it's Star Wars, and nobody named Ben is gonna survive to the end...

Meanwhile Darth Alexander proved quite deft at both his shooting, taking out the vaunted Wedge Antilles (“So, I guess he’s not the ‘one other’ you meant, Yoda?”), and his dodging, avoiding all attempts to clobber his last TIE! (See his “moment of triumph” picture as he dodges the crit that would have taken him down... yes, fired by Dad...)

Wedge bites the big one, courtesy smilin' Darth Alexander.

Another TIE bites the dust...

Smilin' Darth Alexander celebrates the Dark Side of the Force.

With both sides now caught out of position, the battle became a desperate race to reach the last canister, which had slowly been crawling through space. The escorts were too far from the canister to assist it, but the Rebels were too far away to capture it. The game might well come down to which side got close enough to use their ability on the lone pod! 

The Rebel commanders realized that it was time to call the switch. Luke took over “thief” duties from Chewie, and roared full tilt after the distant cargo pod, with the Falcon acting to block the escort TIES from catching up. The asteroid field loomed close as Luke drew near— there was little time for targeting; it was grab or give up!

“Use the Force, Luke!”
“Uh, Ben?” (Yes, *that* Ben.)
“Yes, you ninny! Who did you think it was, Avon calling? NOW SHUT UP AND USE THE FRICKIN’ FORCE!”

Staring off into space with a vague expression that was supposed to be intense concentration, Luke activated the tractor beam on his X-wing (didn’t know they had one, did you? Ain’t retconning grand?)...

Stealing a Win!
(Needed more crits than evades on equal dice! And holy cheese, it happened!)

... and snatched the final canister!!!

Victory: REBELS (Again...)

The Rebels soared off with their prize, the Empire slunk away in despair (expecting another round of “abrupt resignations”), and supermarket magazine racks across the galaxy displayed very embarrassing photos of the Emperor’s feminine undies.

(“That’s alleged feminine undies!”— The Imperial Office of Truth and Selective Openness.)

Wrap Up

Although another Rebel victory, this time it was definitely a close call; the force matchup was nearly perfect. Had the Empire boosted the canister a little sooner, or had the Force turned against Luke, this would have been an Empire win. The photos don’t show the number of hits all sides had been taking— the MF was shieldless, with hull hits mounting up, and only R2D2 was holding Luke together, rebuilding his shields to block what at any moment could be a killing blow (two hits out of three hull points). Ironically, Biggs Darklighter, the pilot whose ability is to make people shoot him (!) was soaring along quite unperturbed. (Of course, the TIEs kept maneuvering to keep Biggs out of their firing arcs so they could focus on Luke or the Falcon. Sneaky little blighters...)

Really, victory came down to a dice roll, and a rather improbable one at that, since the “thief’s” dice and the canister’s dice are equal, and the “thief” has to roll more crit results  (1 in 8 per die, or 12.5% odds) than the defender rolls evade results (2 in 8 per die, or 25% odds). I rolled one crit for Luke; even a single evade would have stopped the attempt... and none appeared. (There was much cheering for this result on the Rebel side, and much groaning from the Empire side.)

In the end, we had a well-fought match. As with most X-wing dogfights with lots of ships, we frequently found ourselves blocking each others’ actions because of the overlap rules, although in some cases this was deliberate. It can be tricky to remember who’s moving first when you’re planning your maneuver; if you forget that someone will (or won’t) be in the same spot as they currently are when your ship moves, it can mess up your plans.

Overall, I really enjoyed this scenario. It certainly forced us to make different tactical decisions than we otherwise would in order to meet the goals of either snatching the canisters or getting them across space as quickly as possible. For both sides, you have to realize that maneuvering to attack the enemy may not be the best choice for a given situation. Indeed, as the Rebel force, we realized that in some cases shooting the escort vessel might be a bad idea, if it would cause another TIE to take over escort duties and boost a canister that otherwise would be moving more slowly.

I can certainly see that we’ll be trying more of the suggested scenarios, and sticking fairly closely to the points system for future battles.

Thanks for reading, and may the Force be with you!

--- Commander Parzival, the Wargamesmonger