Star Wars Mission 2: Firefight on the Flightline

    An imperial TIE fighter base deep in the Tatooine desert is the target of a surprise raid by the rebels

Deep in the desert of Tatooine, a TIE fighter base responsible for patrolling an area rife with Tusken raids, has received instructions to go upgrade its computer coding for its perimeter defenses. There was a possible security breach in Mos Eisley, and upgrading systems is recommended. When a squad of Bronze Legion mercenaries are flown in to augment the flight line's security, the base commander decides perhaps the instructions were more urgent than he realized. The technicians begin to work their way through the laborious re-coding process when alarm sounds. All perimeter security defense have been over-ridden and taken offline by a signal of unknown origin. The base commander orders the flight line on full alert!

    Recruited by the rebels, Sluggr of the Criminal Syndicate slips on board, but is immediately targeted

This was the setup for our second mission in our Star Wars skirmish campaign using Space Weirdos rules. In the first mission, the rebels successfully retrieved the stolen security plans from the droid in a chaotic battle in Mos Eisley. Now, the rebels are using this information to raid imperial bases after knocking their security systems offline. For extra muscle, they contract with Foxhurst's Criminal Syndicate, who surprisingly quickly agrees to join the raid. Do they have ulterior motives? And what about the squad of mercenaries from the Bronze Legion? Are they wholly on the imperial side? Each player was given their own particular victory conditions, which did not always neatly coincide with those of their allies!

    Stormtroopers, led by Darth Pylor at top center, begin blasting away at the attacking syndicate

Our regular six players were present -- host Mike W as the Rebel Alliance, Tom as the local Tatooine rebels, Allen as the Criminal Syndicate, Keith as the Mercenaries, Joel as Corporate Security, and Mike S taking on the role of the Empire. Each player had a chance to upgrade the stat of one of their four characters prior to the mission. This will simulate the fighters gaining experience. I've decided rather than keeping track of experience points, I would simply allow one upgrade between each session so that the sides remained relatively equal. I did tell them that players taken out of action during a mission and not revived by the end would have to roll for their recovery. I actually still need to work out how I am going to do that!

    Action slowly simmers around the board as players maneuver their characters from cover to cover

I allowed the defenders (Empire, Corporate Security, Mercenaries) to leave up to half their figures off-board at the start of the game, writing down which building they were located in. It would take one of the characters three actions to appear adjacent to the structure they wrote down. The attackers would start on the short edges with the goal of placing explosives in contact with the TIE fighters. It would take two actions to set the charges with the third action presumably being spent running for cover. Then BOOM -- the TIE fighter would be considered destroyed and anyone inside the 5" blast diameter also possibly taking damage. 

    Although hapless in the films, the Stormtroopers aggressively & successfully defended the flightline

The rebels first movement were very tentative. They came on board and crept only marginally closer, hiding behind the next terrain piece or building. I honestly feel they missed an opportunity, as do the Initiative rolls, they all moved first. Their first figure moving wouldn't have to worry about any defenders having opportunity fire set in place. After all players had moved one figure, they then moved a second figure in the same order. The stormtroopers and mercenaries immediately began placing figures in overwatch. As subsequent attackers moved, energy blasts lanced out and the attackers began to fall. The criminals, in particular, took it on the chin all game. At one point or another, three of the criminal figures were taken out of action. Their leader, Foxhurst, used the Force to heal them back up, but they were struggling to get near the high value cargo that they'd actually come to steal.

    Finally, Zimeon - leader of the local rebels - dashes forward boldly and blows up the first TIE fighter

Finally, the local rebel player (Tom) took a chance. His leader, Zimeon, dashed forward at the end of turn three, ducking under the wing of a TIE fighter. As defenders drew a bead on him, he used his Command Points to dodge closer to his objective. On Tom's first action of Turn Four, Zimeon planted the charges, set them, and ran for cover. Ka-boom!! The first TIE fighter exploded. The angry defenders blasted away at Zimeon, but Tom cleverly used his new turn's command points. The first one was used to dodge the first shot (back towards cover), and the second time he was targeted he used one to "Power Up" his Defense roll. Zimeon dove for safety behind terrain, unharmed.

    Outnumbered mercenaries waged a fierce firefight against both rebel factions at one end of the board

This seemed to energize the attackers. With much urging by Tom and the other players, Mike W's Rebel Alliance finally gathered their nerve. Rebel pilot Knox imitated Zimeon's tactics and successfully blew up a second TIE fighter. Time was against the raiders, though. The Corporate Security and Empire were slowly getting the perimeter defenses back online. This would allow them one extra attack (2d10 -- the games most powerful) at an enemy character with no range or cover modifier. 

    Spurred on by Zimeon's success, the Rebel Alliance uses their tactics to destroy another fighter

All three defender players fought back aggressively against the attackers. Mike S's stormtroopers almost completely shut down Allen's Criminal Syndicate. I was worried I had made victory conditions too easy. All he had to do was move adjacent to one of three designated high value pieces of cargo (only he knew which three they were), complete a "Use Item" (two actions), and thereafter it would hover and follow the criminal who planted, immediately matching their movement. When we called the game, Allen's leader was within 1 move of one of the pieces of cargo, but he never made it into contact with enemy and ended the game with 0 Victory Points.

SCENARIO 2 VICTORY POINTS

Keith's Bronze Legion mercenaries fought like lions to defend the flightline. For the most part, he disregarded the victory conditions I'd given him and fought hard to defend the spacecraft, like a loyal imperial soldier. Joel's Corporate Security also were all over the table, shooting at any attackers they saw. In the end, it wasn't lack of effort by the defenders that caused the empire's narrow loss. It was the fact that the rebel players weren't giving up, and were pushing the attack, so couldn't count as "repelled." Once again, Local Rebel player Tom was the victor, boosting the morale of the Tatooine rebels.

CAMPAIGN STANDINGS AFTER TWO TURNS  

 I'm really happy with how Space Weirdos rules are working out for our Star Wars skirmishes. We've made a couple tweaks, particularly on Overwatch for a six player game, but everyone seems to be happy with how things are progressing. I felt this game was a little slow to get going, but it could also be that some players had not played the rules in awhile. Mission 1, These Aren't the Droids You're Looking For, took place two months ago. I think I need to run the game more often than that to keep us up to speed. It's not like we don't play other rules systems, and it is easy to get them confused, as regular miniatures gamers know so well!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 237
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 138

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 21
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 43

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 115
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 112