Not too long ago in a basement not so far away...
May 7th, in honor of May the Fourth, we hosted a GALACTIC
sized Star Wars game. I’ve done games that were linked, where the outcome of
one is directly linked to the next game in the series. But I’ve always wanted
to a set of games that were linked but also simultaneous and interconnected.
Three separate games, going on at the same time, but each game has an effect on
the others.
Luckily, I’ve got a large enough gaming space at my house to
host my mad idea.
Background
Imperial base Omicron on the planet Covid Prime has been a
thorn in the side of the Rebellion. Most of the planet has been taken for the
Rebel cause, but Omicron has been able to hold off several assaults due to the
forcefield protecting it. A massive Rebel army has assembled for one final
attack, but only if the rest of the mission goes as planned.
An asteroid base in orbit above Covid Prime is providing the
force field to Omicron below. The generators must be shut down before the final
attack can begin. A Rebel assault team has landed and is tasked with shutting
down the forcefield. They are dangerously outnumbered by Imperial troops, but
luckily, help is on the way.
Rapidly approaching the asteroid is a group of assault ships
carrying Rebel reinforcements. They are protected by fighters and escorts. The
Rebels must get through if the assault team on the asteroid has any hope of
success. The Empire has an ad hoc squadron to try and stop them.
What this broke down to:
A 6 person Starfighters! game that was an assault on an
orbital generator asteroid providing a force field to the base on the planet
below.
A 6 person Galactic Heroes game that was the actual attack
inside the orbiting field generator in the corridors of the base.
An 8 person Bigger Battle that was the assault on the
Imperial planetary base.
Each success provided help to the other teams. Each failure
meant the other teams had to pick up the slack.
Set up and briefing
Each team on each table was giving their objectives along
with unit or character cards for their command along with any special rules
that applied. All teams were informed they couldn’t communicate with other
tables except through the referees. The referees decided if the transmissions
got through or how long based on battlefield conditions. This allowed for some
role playing. The teams were also informed there were 3 reinforcement tokens
available. These would provide additional troops but are finite. And since
communications were limited, there was a possibility one team could use them
all up when another table desperately needed one.
The Space Battle
Rebel squadrons: The main objective was to get the assault
ships carrying a squad of troops to asteroid base. There are 3 assault ships to
start with. Additional ships can be brought on with the use of one of the three
reinforcement tokens. If a Joker was used (see notes on Fistful of Lead later
in the article), the Rebels could move the asteroids on the table potentially causing
problems for the Imperial fighters.
Rebels had the option to peel off ships to make strafing
runs on the battlefield below.
Imperial squadrons: The main objective for the Empire is to
protect the asteroid base from the incoming assault ships. Like the Rebels,
they could elect to move ships off the table to strafe the Rebels on the planet
below. If they used a Joker to activate, they could fire the base’s Ion cannon
at the Rebel ships causing almost certain destruction to any ship hit.
The Asteroid Base
Rebel Assault Teams: Two teams have successfully infiltrated
the base, and they are outnumbered. They must shut down the force field
generated located at the center of the base. The Rebels had their choice of 5
start points after seeing where the Imperials set up.
A Joker in this case allowed the Rebels to collapse a wall
(from the raging battle out in space no doubt) anywhere in the base, helping
them contain the more numerous Imperials.
Imperial defenders: The imperials had the simple job of
holding the base but could be overwhelmed if enough assault ships landed.
An Imperial Joker allowed them to collapse a wall anywhere
in the base, helping them contain the attacking Rebels.
The Battle Below
Rebel Attackers: They’ve got the guns, but you’ve got the numbers.
The entire operation is to take the Imperial fort of Omicron. The fort is
currently protected by a force field generated by the asteroid above. No
weapons can be fired into the base or out. Ships and vehicles move to quickly
or have too much mass to pass through the force field as well. The only way to
enter the fort is with infantry until the force filed is shut down.
Omicron Defenders: It’s safe for the forces inside the fort,
at least as long as the asteroid base above holds. Unfortunately, not all the
Imperial troops can fit in the fort, and any troops inside are prevented from
shooting out into the battle.
If a Joker was played by either side, any fighters that were
pulled from the space battle could make their strafing run.
How the
game went
The Space Battle
The Rebel
fighters flew straight at the base blasting away. The lighter armed and armored
ships of the Empire were losing two for every one Rebel fighter they destroyed.
The Rebels peeled a fighter bomber off to strafe while the Imperials used their
single bomber.
The Rebels
were aggressive with their fighters, but not the assault ships, which seemed to
have their parking brakes on. The Imperials used a reinforcement token bringing
a flight of TIE fighters on the board and the Imperial fighters that remained broke
through the Rebel battle line and attacked the assault ships. All three were
destroyed.
The Rebels
were forced to use a Reinforcement of their own to bring new assault ships in.
The Asteroid
Attack
Despite being
outnumbered, the Rebels managed to inflict serious casualties on the defenders.
The Imperial troops, not sure of where the attack would come from, had to
spread their forces out.
The Imperials
used a Reinforcement and the Dark Troopers waiting deep in the base activated.
Desperate, the Rebels called for troops of their own, but none were coming. No
assault ships had made it.
The Fort Assault
On the
planet, the battle raged. Vehicles on both sides were the first casualties. Big
things on the battlefield attract a lot of blaster fire. Then came the strafing
runs. The fighters and bombers that left the space battle dropped bombs and
blasted the infantry crossing the open terrain. An entire squad of Imperial speeder
bikes went up in flames.
The losses
for both sides were almost equal. But the Rebels would need more than that if
they were going to take the fort. There was no sign of the force field dropping.
The fort was going to have to be stormed the old fashioned way.
Aftermath
As epic and
grand as this undertaking was, with all the terrain, vehicles and sheer number
of miniatures, the games were really over by turn 2. During the space battle,
the Rebels were not aggressive enough in trying to get the assault ships to the
asteroid base. The ships were picked off by Imperial fighters and the assault
teams on the asteroid were slowly being crushed.
This had a
cascading effect down the line. The Rebels could have still pulled off is
everything went just right. But that’s the fun of it, isn’t it? A close run set
of games with lots of chaos and possibility. Making the fate of one table
dependent on the others gave each game a real tension and need to succeed. It
was great fun.
This approach
to a set of games can obviously be used for other periods or genres. The space
battle can be moved to the seas or the skies. The attack on the asteroid can
instead become a key strong point that must be taken to support a larger battle
happening. Or the set of 3 battles all become the same scale, fighting different
flanks of the same larger battle.
The key to
running the interconnected game comes from preparation, clear objectives and
having a referee or game master for each game. Having communication between
tables reduced to a minimum can reflect the realities of the battlefield and
provide some fun roleplaying elements. “Why hasn’t General So-in-so responded
to my communique? Has the messenger been killed? Are subspace transmissions be
jammed?”
If you have a large enough club, like we do, you
could easily run this at a convention.
Why we
chose Fistful of Lead
Well, besides
being unabashedly biased as the author, the core system lets you play multiple
scales and genres. Once a player understands one rule set, its super easy to
pick up the others. The players involved in the Starfighters game flying half a
dozen fighters, could easily move to the Galactic Heroes game running a squad
of 5-6 individual characters. Those players can easily move to the large Bigger
Battles game where they are controlling squads of troops and vehicles.
All the same
mechanics, all moving seamlessly between games.
Of course,
you can use whatever your favorite rules are and do the same thing. It’s more
about the idea of interconnected games than the type of rules used. Whatever gives
you the best outcome.
This was a fundraiser for our local wargaming convention, March
to Victory 2023. Players paid a fee to cover drinks and food with a little extra
going towards the fundraiser. All profits went directly toward next year's
convention. It was so much fun it was decided this will be yearly event.
