I made a quick scenario to use the new CR90 Blockade Runner I picked up on Amazon to play with Fantasy Flight's excellent X-Wing series. Today's post will show the scenario as well as our first battle report using the scenario. NOTE: The forces below are recommended. If you don't use them, we recommend using roughly 90-100 points for the Rebels and 120 or so for the Imperials. Feel free to experiment and let us know. The Blockade Runner is pretty powerful, but the TIEs being constantly recycled acts as a balancing factor.
X-Wing w/ Biggs Darklighter w/ R5D8 and Proton torpedoes*
X-Wing with Wedge Antilles and Proton Torpedoes
Grey squadron Y-Wing with ion cannon and Protons
CR90 Blockade Runner: The Long Shadow
(*Note that Biggs' special ability may NOT be used to protect the CR90)
IMPERIAL: MEREK STELE'S SQUADRON
MEREK STELE in TIE Advanced w/ Cluster Missiles
Black Squadron TIE Fighter w/ Marksmanship
Black Squadron TIE Fighter w/ Marksmanship
IMPERIAL: HOWL RUNNER'S SQUADRON
TIE Fighter- Howlrunner w/ Swarm Tactics
Black Squadron TIE Fighter w/ Expert handling
Black Squadron TIE Fighter w/ Expert handling
SCENARIO "The Last Transport is Away":
The evacuation of Hoth is underway, and the Rebel fleet has largely escaped unscathed. Several high ranking officials have boarded their vessel- The Long Shadow, and are attempting to escape with the last of the Fighters. The Ion Cannon has disabled the Star destroyer in its final moments, but not before a squadron of TIE Fighters could be launched.
SETUP:
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The Scenario is played on a 6x4 board. Place the Blockade Runner with it's bow exactly 24" back from the imperial board edge, perpendicular to the imperial board edge, and along the center line of the table. The Rebels deploy their fighters anywhere in their HALF of the board. The Imperials deploy their fighters within 1 of their board edge. The squadrons must be deployed such that the Black squadron TIEs begin the game within range 2 of their squadron commander.
IMPERIAL RESERVES:
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When a standard TIE fighter (NOT TIE advanced) is eliminated, it may return during the end phase as an Academy Pilot with no special upgrades. The TIE fighters are endless! Place the TIE fighter within 1 of the imperial edge. It may receive orders on the following turn as normal.
VICTORY CONDITIONS
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REBELS:
The Blockade Runner must survive to the end of Turn 10 in order to make the jump to lightspeed.
IMPERIALS:
The Blockade Runner must be taken down!
THE BLOCKADE RUNNER
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*The Blockade Runner has pilot skill 0, Shields 10, Hull 10, and Agility 1 (to represent armor plating).
*The Blockade Runner does not move- it is assumed to be moving slowly with the fighters battling around it.
*The Blockade Runner is comprised of 9 subsystems: Shield Generator, Dorsal and Ventral Sensor suites, Dorsal and Ventral twin turbolasers, 2x port turbolasers, and 2x starboard turbolasers.
*When shooting AT the blockade runner, measure to any part of the ship. Range modifiers DO apply when shooting AT the blockade runner. (+1 attack die at close range, +1 defense die at long range)
*When the Blockade Runner is shooting, measure from any part of the ship for all weapons. Range modifiers DO NOT apply when shooting FROM the Blockade runner. (The close range is mitigated by increased transversal velocity)
*The "Engine Block" of the Blockade Runner counts as an obstacle when shooting over it (including shots FROM the Blockade runner- if the LOS from the turret firing passes over the engine, it counts as firing across an obstacle, even though range is still measured from the engine). Shooting AT the blockade runner's engines do not count as an obstacle. Similarly, only the Engine counts as an obstacle for 2 fighters firing across the blockade runner.
*If a fighter ends their turn "overlapping" the Blockade Runner (we used the actual ship model since the Blockade Runner has no real base), the fighter may NOT fire at the blockade runner, but the blockade runner may still fire at the fighter.
*every operational weapon on the blockade runner may fire as if they were independent ships
SHIELDS AND THE SHIELD GENERATOR
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*At the end of the orders phase, but before any ships move, the Rebel player may roll one green die while the Shield Generator is still operational.
On any result other than a blank, the Blockade runner regenerates 1 shield point.
*As long as shields still remain, the Blockade Runner ignores all critical hits.
SENSORS
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*At the end of the orders phase, but before any ships move, the Rebel player may attempt to gain one target lock for each operational sensor suite. For each sensor, declare a target and roll a green die. On any result other than a blank, a target lock is achieved.
*When a sensor suite is knocked out, randomly determine which (if any) target lock is removed.
DORSAL AND VENTRAL TWIN TURBOLASERS
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*2 Attack Dice with no range modifiers (as above)
*360 degree field of fire
PORT AND STARBOARD TURBOLASERS
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*1 attack die each with no range modifers (as above)
*180 degree field of fire
*may fire individually, or linked with operational weapons on their same side (thus rolling 2 dice for one shot, rather than 2 shots with 1 die)
CRITICAL HITS ON THE BLOCKADE RUNNER
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Once the shields are down, the Blockade runner takes critical hits in the following way:
For each critical hit, first remove 1 hull point as usual.
Then roll a d6 and consult this chart:
1) The Shield Generator is Destroyed
2) One of the sensor suites is destroyed
3) One of the twin turbolasers is destroyed
4) One of the port turbolasers is destroyed
5) One of the starboard turbolasers is destroyed
6) Take an additional point of damage to the hull
If a subsystem is hit that is already knocked out, apply the hit as if a 6 had been rolled.
THE BATTLE REPORT
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| TIE fighters coming in! Howl Runner's squadron on the left, Merek's on the right. |
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| "Lock S Foils in Attack Position. Defend the Blockade Runner at all costs!" |
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| "This is The Long shadow- jump calculations under way! keep em off us!" |
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| "Black Squadron on intercept course." |
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| "Target the fighters and engage" |
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| The rebel fightes loose all of their proton torpedoes in a concerted volley on turn 1. |
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| "Forward Deflector Shields Holding" |
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| Merek Stele goes down in a torrent of fire from the X-Wings. |
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| Merek Stele- the first casualty. "Got One!" |
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| "Target the Transport. Focus Fire" Howl Runner stays calm. |
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| The Rebel pilots break left, to swing around behind Howlrunner's squadron. Wedge takes out one of Howlrunner's TIEs. |
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| Howlrunner's squadron begins taking fire from the Blockade Runner. |
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| One of the TIEs that survived the head on fight with the rebel fighters breaks through to engage the Blockade Runner. |
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| The fight turns into a furball. |
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| Howlrunner is the only survivor from his squadron as the 2nd TIE goes down to a well placed turbolaser shot. |
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| TIE reserves begin appearing behind the Rebel fighters. The Long Shadow's shields hold. |
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| The first Imperial reserve arrives. "Got one on me!" |
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| The CR90 and Y-Wing take down another! |
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| Howl Runner strafes the Blockade Runner, chewing into its shields. |
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| The swirling action |
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| Biggs performs a K Turn and knocks out the last original Black Squadron TIE. |
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| Howl Runner turns behind the ship to make a second pass. |
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| Wedge begins engaging the reserve TIEs as turbolasers take down another. |
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| In one torrential volle, the Deflectors go out on the Long Shadow, and one of the sensor arrays and a twin turbolaser are knocked out. "Taking Damage!" |
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| With 4 TIE fighters focusing on a shieldless Blockade Runner, she begins to take massive structural damage. Very few Hull points remain! |
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| "There's Too many of them!" |
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| Howlrunner deftly navigates the Engine wash. |
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| The reserve TIEs focus fire. |
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| The TIE fighters are destroyed in droves, but they keep coming! |
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| Howlrunner comes about. |
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| Wedge scores another kill! |
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| "Abandon Ship! Abandon-" zzzzzt. The Blockade Runner lurches before internal explosions begin tearing her asunder. |
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| Massive explosions rip the ship apart. |
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| The battle is narrowly lost by the rebels. |
Wow! What an intensely fun game. The CR90 made it to the bottom of turn 8. We may need to slightly adjust its shields/hull in the future, as 6 TIEs focusing on it may bring it down too quickly. But I made some very bad maneuvers with my rebel pilots, leaving them in bad positions at key moments more than once. Still, the CR90 and Rebel pilots combined took down 1 TIE advanced and TEN TIE fighters!
What an intensely fun game. Can't wait to try it again!
