Friday, October 25, 2013

Star Wars X-Wing - simple campaign rules

I have played this a few times now, and really like it.  The models are great, and the game system is a nice modification of the Wings of War (Wings of Glory) system.

Picture of an X-Wing game in progress, from Boardgame Geek http://tinyurl.com/mel9bxn

One of the things, especially given the great stories about the conflicts between different units of Imperial and Rebel units in the Expanded Universe (books, comics, games, etc), is the idea of an ongoing campaign within a sector of space.

I have been thinking of how to do this, especially given a map, and some unit logistics, and access to different units (ships, fighters, etc), but it is still in the works.

However, for some simple "pilot focused" games, where a player is rewarded for good performance with the same pilot, I offer up these rules.  This is based on the situation where either a Club or Game Store is the location for regular, weekly (or whenever), play.  With players able to play games with other players in the campaign.

We're all in it together.

 1. Once a player chooses a unit (ship, fighter, etc - including all upgrades), that player will play that unit until they either (1) are *killed* in a game, or (2) gain enough experience points to purchase a new confuration.

2. Once a new player enters the campaign, they are allowed to purchase a fighter, with a pilot and upgrades, for a set amount of points (suggested - start with 15 or 20 pts for Imperial players, and maybe 25 points for Rebel players). See alternative below, for all players being in the same squadron.

3. For each game that a player "survives" they receive 1 new point ("increase points").

4. For each point of damage (regular or critical) that they inflict on an enemy ship, they receive 1 new point.

5. For each enemy ship that they inflict the killing shot (this could be shared, by ships firing simultaneously), they receive 1 additional new increase point.

6. Anytime a player wants to use their points (added to their starting value) they may replace their unit with a different unit.

Trophy in the Ready Room.
Option 1: "Part of the Rebel Alliance" All players are (either) Rebel or Imperial.  In any game, some of the players (or bystanders) will have to play units of the other side.  If campaign players are playing the "bad guys" then after the game is over (regardless of how they do), they will receive points "on account".  These points will be awarded to their total, after the next game that they play, as a regular player (piloting their regular ship).  The amount of points that they receive varies based on how well that they do.  If the "bad guy" pilot survives the encounter and their side wins, then they receive 1 point for every ship (or fighter) on the "good guy" side.  If the bad guys lose, then they receive half (round down) of this amount.

Option 2: "The Force is Strong in this One" When a player finally dies, they get to come into the game with a new pilot at the starting level.  If that pilot survives their first battle, then they immediately receive Half of the increase points that their prior pilot had.  This represents the training that a pilot could have received from their (now dead) mentor.

Note that a campaign referee should "ok" any games, in terms of scenario, balance of forces, etc.  In the case of players being on both sides (Imperial and Rebel) this is less important, but in the case where all the players are on one side, it will quickly get out of hand, if a Referee is not part of the solution.

This system would work much better if there are multiple games each week (or each club get-together), with smaller faster encounters making for a better campaign.


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