[FT] Attack of the Death Star II AAR

Star Wars Attack of the Death Star II

This is a long After action report. Thanks for those who give us comment
for the game last week.

This game was based on Full thrust II (I just got FB1 and 2 a week
earlier,
and didn't have time to brief my friend about the new stuff).

My friend has change the rule a bit to fit the Star wars genre and to
have
a game were we could control individual fighter and some capital ship.
His
soon to be wife has help him by doing very cool SSD for all the forces
with
photo of the actual ships. 

Here is a link to some SSD : 

http://www.abacom.com/~ivanohe/game/xwing.jpg
http://www.abacom.com/~ivanohe/game/chimera.jpg

Here's some of the rule as I remember them:

Manoeuver point : Ship got a manoeuver rating in addition to the thrust
rating. so you can use all your thrust point to accelerate and use all
your
manoeuver point to turn for example. This was done to allow A-wing and
Tie
to turn on a dime. We could just have say they have Advanced drive to
got a
similar effect I guess.

Shield : all capital ship, all rebel fighter and some empire fighter got
shield (2-5 box for fighter, 6-15 box for big ship). Shield from capital
ship regenerate each turn 1 (rebel) or 2 (most empire ship) box. Shield
are
basicly FB1 armour that can regenerate. Fighter shield can regenerate
but
the fighter must pay thrust/manouver point to do this. It turn out that
only 2-3 box total where regenerate for fighter in the game since the
movement penality (going straight) was a bit much.

Hull : Fighter were in fact small ship with 4 to 8 hull box. Rebel
figher
tend to have higher hull number but were able to get threshold damage.
Most
empire fighter has no threshold roll to do (they just has too few hull).

Weapons : Capital ship got beam weapons only (size 1-3). Fighter got
only
size 1 beam. There was no reroll (the damage table was a bit different:
1-2=no damage, 3-4=1 damage, 5-6=2 damage ). In addition, some figther
has
torpedo weapons that has range 20 and do 3 damage by rolling 3-4-6. Tie
bomber got a seeking weapons that do 4 damage.

There was no penality for a capital ship to fire size 1 beam at figther.
However, for firing their size 2 or 3 beam at fighter, they had to do an
additionnal roll and get better than the figther manouver rating. 
Also, they can only roll 1 dice for damage when using big guns.

Here is lineup (stats are a rough estimate of what I remember):
Good guys :

2 b-wing (2 beam, 3-4 shiel, 1 torp launcher, 6-7 hull)
2 a-wing (1 beam, 3 shield, 5 hull)
2 y-wing (1 beam, 1 torp, 3 shield, 6-7 hull)
2-x-wing
1 faulcon(3 beam, 4 shield, 6-7 hull, lots of thrust and manouver)

home one (biggest capital ship for the rebel player)
liberty 
Redemption (was able to repair fighter)
tantive IV

Bad guys :

Executer (super star destroyer) : LOTS of beam, shield, hull...
Chimera (star destroyer)
Devastator (star interdictor)

8 tie ln ( 1 beam, 4 hull)
4 tie interceptor(1 or 2 beam, some shield, 5-6 hull)
4 tie defender (2 beams, some shield, 6-7 hull)
2 tie bomber(no beam, torpedo and missile)

And the death star.

There was 4 players (2 each side). I was playing on the rebel side. We
play
in Cinematic.

The Death star was in the center of a round table. Empire fighters where
launch from it. Star destroyer where at the other end of the table and
coming slowly. Rebel fighter and capital where separated in 3 groups
(not
too far away from each other).

Scenario : On turn 9 to 10, the Death Star will start firing. After
that,
the remaining fighter will go inside to destroy the core. The goal for
the
Rebel is to survive until they can enter the death star.

Game report: 

Turn 1 : The rebel plan was to try to regroup our forces on one side to
concentrate our firer on half the tie fighter (we assume that the tie
will
split up to get our 3 groups). That means we have to "abandon" 2 capital
ship for a while since they were too far to regroup in one turn. We were
able to destroy the 2 dreaded tie bomber (they had launch a missile each
however). Most of our fire in the game was directed to tie
defender/interceptor since they had shield and were seen as a bigger
threat. 

Turn 2 : Lots of ship trying to manouver to compensate for some bad move
in
turn 1. Missile from turn 1 tie bomber cause some damage. Some death of
empire fighter. Rebel capitals ships start to get shield damage.

Turn 3 : Some empire capital ship are close enough to fire long range to
the rebel capital and even fighter (not a lot effective against them).
The
rebel are trying to regroup near the death star. One of our initial plan
was to try to get arround the Executor to destroy it. We have change our
mind about that and are now trying to have the death star blocking line
of
sight. The Tantive IV is going toward 2 star destroyers. However, I say
to
my friend that we will be able to turn and pass really close to the
death
star and be out of line of sight (hoping the opponent won't predict that
move).

Turn 4: My friend say the Tantive is turning 4 point. I say "Hey, that
ship
has only 2 of manouver" knowing this is just enough. My friend look at
the
SSD and say "Actually, it's only 1 point of manouver"... "DOH". So one
of
our capital ship is now heading straight at the death star and end up
almost touching it. My friend has to go home now (it's 11:30 pm). I'm
now
alone to play the rebel and take heavy casualities in this turn. Some of
our capital ship start to have hull damage. I manage to do some hull
damage
to one Star Destroyer but not that much.

We now realize that the rebel won't last very long since the empire Star
Destroyer are in the center of the table now. Even with the penality for
firing big guns to the figther, they will eventually destroy them all.
Not
to mention the Rebel capital ship who are target of choice for the big
guns. We decide that the rebel and empire fighter can go inside the
death
star next turn.

Turn 5: Most of the rebel force were really close to the Death Star so
almost all fighter were able to go inside. Only one tie was able to made
it
as well (poor guy). The other Ties will be inside at the end of next
turn.
We rule that the Tantive didn't crash on the death star but that didn't
change a lot since he would die soon. There was 2 Y-wing, 1 A-Wing and 1
X-wing in the death star. With luck, another A-Wing 
and the falcon will survive and be able to made it next turn (with all
the
other Ties).

Inside the Death Star :

Here is an ascii drawing of the map we play for the Death Star. The core
is
the * and has 4 point of hull. The ship enter at the bottom. They have
to
go left or right at somepoint to get arround the wall protecting the
core.

 /-----\
/	\
|   *	|
| \---/ |
\  \-/	/
 \     /
  \   /
  |   |
  |   |
  /   \
 |     |
 |     |
 |     |
 |     |
 /     \
|	|

I was expecting more obstacle. When I saw this, I say : "That will be a
piece of cake!". How wrong I was!

First of all, we had play the space part of the game in cm since the
round
table was not very big. The table for the inside was a lot longer and we
decide we should play in inch if we want the game to finish tonight!

The really good side effect of going in inch was that it simulate going
from space to inside tunnel much better. Since we were getting used to
range in cm, going in inch has this effect : "AAAhhh!!, I'm going too
fast
!!!".

Turn 6 : I got all my ship to slow down and got half the way of the
first
tunnel. I was able to shoot down the single tie fighter if I remember
well.
In space, all other fighter were able to made it in the Death star. I
realize that my fighter alreay inside will be in range for the Tie
fighter
next turn since I was not far enough and they where going fast... 10
inch
was longer than I had figured (I think my brain was still evaluating
range
in cm)!

Turn 7 : About 7-8 Tie get inside along with my A-wing and the Falcon. I
plan my speed for those 2 to decelerate to have a good shoot on the
Ties.
My other ships plotting should put me near or in the right tunnel. My
X-Wing has gone a bit too fast and crash in the middle wall! One of the
Tie
fighter do the same thing on the side wall of the first tunnel! (that cm
to
inch effect!). 
Lots of my ship receive fire. I was able to destroy only 1 or 2 tie I
think. The Falcon was not in good shape at all.

Turn 8 : So, I have 2 Y-Wings and 1 A-Wings near the core (all were
damaged). I also have the Falcon(almost dead) and an A-Wing very far
from
the core. I plot my speed to go in the right tunnel and to be in range
to
shoot at the core (the core will be almost in the rear arc of my
fighter).
My plan 
work. Since we played with simultaneous fire, I still have a chance to
destroy the core before the Ties get me. Oh, Did I mention that I suffer
from incredible bad luck with dice sometime? And that this "sometime" is
almost in the worst possible case? I had 3 beam weapons and 2 torpedo
weapons to fire at the core and manage to miss with all of them!

The Ties fighter were luckier and destroyed the Falcon, one Y-Wing and
the
A-Wing near the core. My last Y-Wing got a thrust damage and I was left
with 1.5 point of thrust and manouver (we didn't had time to check if we
should round up or down). The only other ship left in the Rebel team was
the A-Wing near the bottom of the map that was still undamaged. There
was
at least 4 Tie right behind my damaged Y-Wing as 
well. And my Y-Wing was really close to hit a wall. My opponent says I
might be able to turn enough to avoid the wall, so we decide to continue
playing. 

Turn 9 "The force is against them" : With 1.5 point for turning, I was
effectively able to avoid the wall (to my surprise). However, now my
Y-Wing
was facing the top right corner of the map and I know I can't avoid
crashing next turn. The Core was still in my fire arc... The A-Wing was
too
far to hope to do something.

My opponents now move their fighters. I may not be lucky with dice, but
it
seems they were not lucky with movement either because they crash 2 Ties
in
a wall and 2 others at the Core!!! We rule that those Tie will do a beam
damage each to the core. They rolled and do 2 point of damage to the
core!

Now, it was the decisive. My soon to crash Y-Wing fire one torp to the
core
and missed (how surprising). I fire my remaining beam weapons and ... I
got
2 points of damage!!! Core is destroyed!

Turn 10-12 : The Y-Wing crash (he will get a post mortem medal) and we
decide to play 2 other turns and see if we can evacuate the Death Star
before explosion. My A Wing quickly turn and accelerate just in time to
get
out. The remaining 2 Ties where not able to escape.

Conclusion : Like in a good movie, the good guys win where all hope was
lost. The Ties crashing in the core made it all possible!

It was a fun game, thanks to the original ending.

The modification where good to give a Star Wars feel to the game. The
Empire player found that the poor thrust/manouver of the Star Destroyers
was really good and feel like in the movie. The shield rule for figther
was
good but may need some tweak to be more usefull. The goal was to have
shield behave like in the video game (Tie-Fighter) where you have to pay
energy to recharge shield (dropping speed or weapons). 
The idea of a movement penality was good but maybe a bit too much.

The Rebel should have kill the smaller Tie first... We end up damaging
lots
of bigger Ties instead. Some Rebel Capital ship may have been a bit
bigger
since some had taken internal damage quite fast.

The "big weapons agains fighter" additionnal targeting roll was good as
well. It was better for the big ship to fire on ennemy big ship instead
(and use their small weapons against fighter).

The SSD with color picture of the actual ships was really good. I mean
REALLY good. It add a lot to the game visually and this add a lot to the
cool factor of it. I know that some people on the list have done great
SSD
for convention. This is something very attractive for new player, so
keep
doing it. There was also a big color picture of the Death Star in the
center of the table, that was cool!

The original time duration (11 turn before going inside) for the
scenario
was way too long. Anyway, we where playing to have fun, so any change in
the scenario at run time was possible. The game last about 4-5 hours.
There
were 2 players who didn't have played Full Thrust before. 

It was supposed to be the last game of my friend before mariage (this
week
end). However, he just ask us if we can be at his home earlier since we
will have some spare time to play a quick game or two, while his future
wife will be dressing and preparing herself at her mother house. I guess