This game was played using some homemade rules (M.I.S.S.) in order to allow us to play a quick space-fight utilising many of my long unused "Star Wars: X-Wing" miniatures by "Fantasy Flight Games", and took place upon a 3' x 3' "Hotz Mats" Deep Space Game mat. The battlefield was populated with a variety of asteroids which I bought from a seller on "Ebay" many, many moons ago.
“The story so far… Determined to throw off General Armitage Hux's continous pursuit of the retreating Resistance fleet, Poe Dameron decides to intercept a squadron of marauding First Order TIE Fighters. However, despite being accompanied by Nien Nunb and Rey, the X-Wing pilot soon discovers that he'll be facing a rather specialised version of the TIE/fo space superiority fighter..."
The three Resistance spacecraft started along the western edge of the battlefield, and consisted of Poe Dameron and Nien Nunb flying X-Wings, with Rey in the Millennium Falcon. Some of their more notable special abilities were the Starfighter Corps Commander's "Sharpshooter" expertise [+1 to hit] and "BB-8" [Repair]. In addition the T-70 X-wing starfighters both had "Armour" [a D6 Saving Throw].
The First Order force started along the eastern edge and contained Epsilon Leader, Omega Ace and Zeta Ace in three TIE/fo Fighters, along with Backdraft and Quickdraw in a pair of TIE/sf Fighters. Some of the TIE Fighters special abilities were "Tight Turn" and "Jink" [a D6 Saving Throw]. Owing to advancements since the days of the Empire, all of the starfighters were also equipped with a shield.
The game would last six turns and was a straightforward head-to-head confrontation, with the victor being the side who had caused the most damage by the end of the skirmish.
Spotting some enemy blips on their radar scanners, the three TIE/fo Fighters maintained their heading west, desperate to close with the oncoming Resistance vessels. Quickdraw moved his specialised northwest just behind them, whilst Backdraft continued moving west, but at a slower speed than his eager First Order compatriots. In response, General Organa's entire attack squadron hurtled east straight at their hated enemies.
Closing upon the Resistance spacecraft, the three TIE/fo Fighters fully opened up their SJFS L-s9.6 laser cannons upon the Millennium Falcon. Both of the YT-1300 Corellian light freighter's shields immediately went down and its hull shook with some additional damage. First blood to the First Order. Despite moving slower than his fellow pilots, Backdraft also found himself able to shoot at the Resistance vessel, albeit at long range. Disappointingly for the "fiery fanatic" his attack missed.
With a roar of defiance Chewbacca was able to get one of the Millennium Falcon's shields straight back up. Rey, eager to gain ground on Backdraft turned the ship northeast, and disastrously clipped one of the rocks in Cluster Alpha, damaging the light freighter in the process. Poe and Nien Nunb meanwhile turned towards the wall of TIE/fo Fighters dead ahead of them, bringing down the shields of Omega Ace and Zeta Ace, and additionally damaging Zeta Ace's starfighter to boot.
Realising just how reckless the pilot of the Millennium Falcon could be, Backdraft turned north, impressively flying under the damaged freighter and in between the deadly rocks Cluster Alpha. Zeta Ace was also stung into action, reactivating his shield and facing Poe Dameron's X-Wing at close range. The Resistance vessel's shield was shattered and its commander shook as his ship took more damage.
Epsilon Leader and Omega Ace sped west towards Nien Nunb and at close range fired for the glory of the First Order. The X-Wing's shield dropped and it too shuddered under the impact of it taking physical damage. Everything seemed to be going in the favour of General Hux's patrol, and to add insult to injury Quickdraw completed a tight turn to bear down on the stalled Millennium Falcon and successfully saw one of its laser cannons penetrate the light freighter's Duralloy plating, adding to Rey's increasing woes.
Fortunately, Chewbacca was able to get one of the vessel's shields operational. Whilst BB-8 managed to repair the damage to Poe's X-Wing. Dameron's shield was still down but the Resistance Commander turned north to rake Epsilon Leader at close range (and potentially break the First Order's hold on their battle). Incredibly however, despite his "Sharpshooter" ability, all four shots missed their target. To make matters worse Nien Nunb attempted to fly his blue X-Wing under the TIE/fo Fighters and clipped Quickfire, damaging both starfighters and bringing them close to destruction.
It was now crucial that the Resistance seized the initiative if they ever hoped to win the day. So Rey began to loop the battered Millennium Falcon southeast behind the First Order forces. But Poe was now out of position, and with his shield still down headed northwest past the TIE/fo Fighters. Whilst Nien Nunb was forced to turn south simply to avoid clattering into another enemy starfighter and blowing up.
It was definitely the moment the First Order had been waiting for. Zeta Ace turned northwest with Dameron in his sights and fired. The pilot missed his target. However he grimly noted that Backdraft, having successfully flown straight through Cluster Alpha had now turned west and so had Poe trapped in a pincer movement at close range. The Resistance starfighter was struck twice, badly damaging the vessel. With 'blood in the water' Epsilon Leader turned north to get right up behind Dameron's flailing X-Wing so they were almost touching, and he too put another shot into the starfighter's hull. The commander's ship was a flaming mess of sparks and internal fires. It would only take one more hit before it was destroyed.
Elsewhere, Quickdraw, despite its damage, completed a tight turn east and faced the exposed flank of the Millennium Falcon. The light freighter's shields were taken down once again. Chewbacca quickly managed to repair one of them, but as Rey turned the vessel south, the Wookie realised they still had no-one to shoot at. Niem Numb's astromech tooted in triumph that it had got the Sullustan's shield back up, and then disintegrated as the already badly damaged blue X-Wing attempted to loop east under one of the rocks of Cluster Beta and fatally stuck another. Boom.
With BB-8's shrill chirp that he too had successfully got his master's shield working reverberating in his headset, Poe set about to destroy the First Order patrol without his wing-man. However, the X-Wing was still in very poor shape, and whilst manoeuvring north, Dameron's starfighter collided with Backdraft's TIE/sf Fighter, causing the Resistance Commander's vessel to blow up. The First Order had clearly won the day, and all Rey could do was steer a course back to General Organa's secret location...
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