Corellian Corvette event playtest round one.

We are working on the new scenario with our Corellian Corvette model I picked up a few weeks ago.

Pretty sweet right? Well we have some basic rules for what we want the Corvette to do.


"We count thirty Rebel ships, Lord Vader, but they're so small they're evading our turbolasers."

―Lieutenant Tanbris, during the Battle of Yavin

Here is what we came up with for our rules for the CR90.

A) Turbolasers. These things should pack a significant punch. The game generally awards bonus dice to a roll instead of decreasing dice in order to modify for difficulty. Therefore, we went with the idea of awarding the defender extra dice for defense when evading turbolasers. We did this by stating that a fighter which is evading a Turbolaser Battery a fighter gets a bonus number of evasion dice equal to the number value on its maneuver wheel. This easily reflected the speed of the fighter and its general maneuverability as opposed to the slow tracking turbolaser. Generally speaking a fighter would have anywhere from 2-8 evasion dice with the average Y-Wing getting 3-4. We also gave the defending fighter a free “focus” against any and all incoming turbolaser barrages giving each dice a 50-50 chance of success. Needless to say that made the fighters very hard to hit. The CR90 has 4 batteries of turbolasers. Two with 90 arcs to the port and starboard (Left and Right to our non-nautical members.) Two others with a 270 degree arch to the front and sides. Each battery had two attack dice. To represent the immense hitting power of the turbolaser, we simply stated that a “hit” result on the red die was automatically upgraded to a “critical” and a “critical” was upgraded to a “craft destroyed”. There was some discussion about applying a multiplier, but I left it this way for ease of play and the correlating fact that a x3 modifier would be enough to take out the hull points of just about any medium to light fighter. It also alleviates the concept of a ship suffering from x3 crits which would basically cripple the fighter to the point where it was nonfunctional at any rate. One quick question, do you think that turbolasers should be range 2-3 and not be able to hit at RB 1? Or should we simply give the defender an extra dice at RB 1 instead of RB 3 for evasion?

We were also thinking of having the jet wash from the back of the CR90 cause damage at range bands 1 & 2 in a 90 degree arc since that was a hot fix in the X-Wing video games and it just seems fun. That effectively gives the CR90 a rear firing template weapon.

B) Shields and Hull. The first concept to keep in mind is that the CR90 is not really going to dodge out of the way of Jack and/or Squat. The Evasion Dice granted to the ship merely represent the resilience of the shields and hull. The shields had 3 evasion dice as does the hull. The resolution of these evasion dice differed depending on the weapon striking it. Two weapons were determined to be “anti-Cap Ship” weapons. The Proton Torpedo and the Ion Turret. All other weapons primary and secondary were considerably less effective against the CR90. To represent this, we simply applied Focus thusly. Protons would get a free Focus at all times when striking the CR90. The Ion Cannon would get a free Focus when striking the CR90’s shields. The CR90 would get a free focus when defending against all other weapons. Also the CR90 would not have the benefit of an extra evasion die at range band 3 since it is huge and slow.

The CR90 started the game with 10 shields which were stripped fairly effectively after prolonged Proton Torpedo bombardment. I think that it worked fine even though there was some talk about shields regenerating. I do not think it was necessary at all, but that’s probably still up for debate. The shields were completely destroyed by turn 5 or the third turn after it came into range of the bombers. That was after some particularly horrid rolls on the part of the Y-Wings.

Although the Hull was never attacked (we called the game and I will explain that a little later). We assigned 3 hit locations to the Hull. Part of the reason I came up with this idea was for the particular scenario objectives. The objective being, to disable the CR90 and not destroy it. Each location has 8 Hull Points, giving the ship a total of 24 Hull Points. The Engine or rear of the ship would simply disable the ship and stop it from moving. The center of Fuselage of the ship would cause the vessel to completely break apart if destroyed. The Bridge section would cause the ship to be disabled as well but have a chance of killing the Governor (roll of a Hit or Critical on an Attack Die), which would end in a Rebel loss. Specific locations could be targeted by expending a “Target Lock” special action, otherwise hits would be randomized. Evade = Bridge, Blank = Fuselage and Focus = Engine.

C) CR90 Movement. We moved the CR90 its base length per turn. Thinking that having the ship reach the other end of the board too quickly would ruin the game. We are also discussing changing the base and have some clever ideas for that. These ideas are based on the fact that fighting across and through the CR90 was difficult and the fur ball that ensued ahead of it made it relatively impossible for it to move after a certain point. We are working on a suspension base that stands on pegs wish would allow models to move freely under the ship. The CR90 movement also gives us another tactical option of having the ship be able to escape if it is not disabled before reaching the far edge of the table.

Assessment: Along with the above mentioned questions the general assessment was that the game as set up was gravely skewed towards the Imperials. The main reason for this was that the Rebels could not focus their fire effectively enough against the Ties since they had to fire on the CR90 to reach their objectives. Suffice it to say that he Y-Wings were pretty much only combatting the CR90 while the swarm of Ties only needed to focus on the Rebel fighters. My reasoning would be that the Y-Wings are “points free” at the beginning of the game and that the X’s should be points balanced towards the Ties. Also that the Y’s should arrive as a second wave after the X’s had a chance to engage the Ties. Once the Corvette is disabled, a series of Ties can come in equal to the point value of the Y’s sans the Proton Torpedoes. That’s just me seeing who salutes.

I will follow up this post with the lists that we used for each side. It was a 260 point game all said and done. I won’t be able to give an exact listing of what was on the Rebel side since I did not make that list +James Forest did, but I will do my best to come up with a reasonable facsimile thereof.

We also have to balance the scenario. Here is what we are going to try out.

Phase 1 INTECEPTORS!

Models on the table

Imperials:

CR90 at the top left corner of the table facing diagonally.

Storm Squadron Escorts within RB 3 of the front of the CR90.

Total Squad Points: 108

Pilot: Storm Squadron Pilot
Tie Advanced (23) x4
Upgrades:
Concussion Missiles (4)x4

The Imps have just come out of Hyperspace and are heading towards the planet.

Rebel Alliance:

Green Squadron Interceptors set up at long edge within range band three of the bottom left corner of the table.

Total Squad Points: 108

Pilot: Green Squadron Pilot
A-Wing (19) x4
Upgrades:
Marksmanship (3) x4
Homing Missles (5) x4

Rebels scramble their fast attack units to draw out the enemy escort and engage them. Armed with crack shot pilots and homing missiles to mitigate the Ties superior maneuverability.

This first round is intended to get the fight going. The CR90 should pretty much be a non issue at this point since it will have little chance to hit the A-Wings and the A-Wings are not equipped to really deal with the capital ships shielding.

Phase 2 LOCK X-FOILS IN ATTACK POSITION! (Two turns after Phase 1)

Models added to the table

Imperials:

Four members of the flight school on planet and 4 members of the Elite Black Squadron move in to escort. They come in at the center of the top long edge of the table.

Total Squad Points: 132

Pilot: Academy Pilot
Tie Fighter (12) x4
Upgrades:
No Upgrades Selected

Pilot: Black Squadron Pilot
Tie Fighter (14) x4
Upgrades:
Daredevil (3) x4
Engine Upgrade (4) x4

Rebel Alliance:

4 members of Red Squadron fly in to start their run at the CR90’s shields, but unexpectedly detect escorts from the planet below. They start at the center of the table opposite the Tie Fighters.

Total Squad Points: 132

Pilot: Garven Dreis
X-Wing (26)
Upgrades:
Proton Torpedoes (4)
R2-F2 (3)
Stealth (3)

Pilot: Red Squadron Pilot
X-Wing (23) x3
Upgrades:
Proton Torpedoes (4) x3
R5 Astromech (1) x3
Shield Upgrade (4) x3

X-Wings are brought in to soften up the CR90 for the bombers and in anticipation of the likely event of support from on planet.

The Black Squadron guys are a little beefy, but it makes it so the Rebs have a little more to play with. Rebs always look much better at over 100 pts.

Phase 3 BEGIN YOUR ATTACK RUN! (Two turns after Phase 2)

At this point the Y-Wings join the party. There will be no Imperial re-enforcements at this phase. The Y-Wings begin at the bottom long edge of the table center line to wherever the CR90 is.

Total Squad Points: 128

Pilot: Gold Squadron Pilot
Y-Wing (18) x4
Upgrades:
Proton Torpedoes (4) x4
Proton Torpedoes (4) x4
Ion Cannon Turret (5) x4
R2 Astromech (1) x4


Phase 4 THEY SHUT DOWN THE MAIN REACTOR. WE’LL BE DESTROYED FOR SURE!

Once or if the CR90 is disabled additional Imperial reinforcements arrive and the Assault Shuttle comes in to board the crippled Corvette.

A fast response group of Imperial Tie Interceptors comes in to assist in the defense of the CR90.

The Ties will come on the center of the top long edge.

Total Squad Points: 96

Pilot: Soontir Fel
Tie Interceptor (27)
Upgrades:
Push The limit (3)
Stealth (3)

Pilot: Alpha Squadron Pilot 1
Tie Interceptor (18) x3
Upgrades:
Stealth (3) x3

Note that the cost of the interceptor squadron is equal to the value of the Y-Wings without their Proton Torpedoes.

The Shuttle will also come in on the center of the bottom long edge. We still need to hammer out stats for that bad boy. I would stat it out the same as a Y-Wing without the Torps and Turret. But that’s just me.