Red Squadron (below) has dropped out of Hyperspace to attack an Imperial transport carrying four TIE fighters.
Next weekend I’m attending my first Gamers’ Weekend. Despite it being a bittersweet reunion with a couple people I used to play D&D with, the focus will be on non-RPGs like Pandemic, Cards Against Humanity and probably Munchkin. I’m really guessing but I’m confident the last one is guaranteed since it reflects the style of D&D I’m not compatible with. I also make no apologies for the statement.
I do look forward to it. Getting away from the bullshit for a couple days, aka snivilization as Mark Twain called it.
My contribution will be X-Wing and maybe Supremacy. If I figure out the rules adequately, I might bring Mars Attacks! the minis game. I will be refereeing all three to keep them moving; gamers often over think the situation.
Yesterday my frequent opponent/buddy Matt shook off the rust and threw in a new variable we’ve never tried, a huge ship in the battle. We’ve duked it out with the Falcon and Slave I yet those vessels operate in the same manner as fighters. A huge ship can’t turn on a dime, barrel roll but they have other great advantages: they can repair their shields, they have a 360-degree firing arc and multiple crew members to carry out multiple actions like repairs, jamming, etc. Plus I threw in a K-Wing which I think is now an Expanded Universe/Legends vessel alongside the stupid E-Wing I hate.
The battle went pretty well for my Rebel friends. My strategy actually worked too. I had the more skilled pilots (Hobbie, Wes and Porkins, yeah the dude who got taken out by the Death Star’s turbo lasers) drew the Imperial cruiser’s TIEs and attention while my lesser pilots (Biggs, Tarn and generic Red Squadron guy) escorted the K-Wing to fire proton torpedoes into the rear. Matt had all celebrity pilots too. For some weird reason, the Imperial pilots often have nicknames like Wampa or Chaser. There are personalities too: Juno Eclipse, Darth Vader and the Inquisitor, they’re just less common.
We did make a couple errors with the rules, namely on how the cruiser worked. Turns out all small and large ships move first regardless of skill. Then the cruiser goes and fires according to when its turn is based upon the skill number, two. The only ships which could ever fire last in the game are recent Imperial Academy graduates. Our skirmish was mostly a learning exercise though. We don’t even bother with the bullshit of points to “balance” things out. Personally, I have never seen much difference via points when I did play at Dragon’s Lair.
The biggest surprise was the K-Wing. I thought it was going to be a punching bag. The bomber has a one evasion rating, maximum speed of three and the sharpest turn it can make are 45 degrees (trust me, 90-degree turns or 180 flips are critical in a fight).
As for Gamers’ Weekend. I think things will flow faster if each player just has one fighter. I don’t have much more experience and a common problem I kept running into was my pilots bumping into each others’ space…nice move Biggs.