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Starship Battles Preview 3The A-wing Starfighter and the Millennium Falcon | ||||
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Starting this November, you'll be able to recreate your favorite Star Wars space battles and dream up new skirmishes of your own with the Star Wars Miniatures Starship Battles game. Choose your allegiance (Light Side or Dark Side), build your fleet, and conquer the galaxy -- or defend it! Today, we've got the third in a series of previews of the new miniatures. First, Gary Sarli catches up with what’s reported to be the fastest starfighter ever built. Then Sterling Hershey tries to get us excited about some old ship named after a bird. The A-wing Starfighter
The A-wing features a pair of fire-linked laser cannons that can elevate and depress up to 60 degrees for outstanding fire control, and some have even been modified so that their cannons can rotate completely around to fire on pursuing targets. Although the original design lacked a secondary weapon, most A-wings were built with (or later modified to include) a pair of concussion missile launchers in recessed slots along its forward edge. The A-wing also carries a powerful sensor jammer that interferes with the detection and fire control systems of small ships. Enemy starfighters have a –4 penalty and enemy space transports have a –2 penalty to all Computer Use checks to operate sensors, and their weapons’ fire control rating is reduced by a similar amount (minimum +0). However, using this jammer adds a +10 circumstance bonus to any Computer Use checks to detect the A-wing itself, so this can make the interceptor a tempting target to capital ships. The jammer can be activated or deactivated once per round as a move action. In the Star Wars MiniaturesStarship Battles game, the A-wing Starfighter is best employed by taking advantage of its Interceptor ability. You can slip right past enemy fighters (except for other Interceptors), so this enables you to get past most fighter screens to attack important targets such as enemy Assault fighters. Conversely, an A-wing can also stop enemy Interceptors from reaching your high-value targets. Depending on your initiative, you can pursue either or both roles from round to round. Also, keep in mind that the A-wing has one advantage over the TIE Interceptor: Your Concussion Missiles give a little extra punch against heavier targets, so you can use an A-wing to attack larger targets when your Interceptor ability isn’t needed. The only downside of the A-wing is its low Attack bonus, meaning that it will not be as effective against most enemies on its first attack. Plan accordingly, and use Command Counters as necessary to make up for this weakness. Star Wars Miniatures Statistics Preview Faction: Light Side FULL STRENGTH REDUCED STRENGTH Star Wars Roleplaying Game Statistics Alliance A-Wing Starfighter Class: Starfighter Weapon: Light laser cannons (2 fire-linked); Fire Arc: Front; Attack Bonus: +16 (+4 size, +2 crew, +6 fire control, +4 engine quality); Damage: 5d10x2; Max Range: Short. Weapon: Concussion missile launchers (2, 6 missiles each); Fire Arc: Front; Damage: 8d10x2; Missile Quality: Ordinary (+10). The Millennium FalconAnd now, a ship that needs no introduction.*
In the Star Wars MiniaturesStarship Battles game, the Millennium Falcon is a Unique Class 3 ship. Ships in this class can loosely be divided into two groups, based on the overall size of vessel. The first group consists of small freighters, medium attack craft, and shuttles. The second group consists of large freighters, frigates, and lesser ships of the line. The smaller vessels, such as the Falcon, have very similar Hull and Defense ratings, with little variation. The 14 Front, 10 Side and 8 Rear defense ratings are common among these ships. The Falcon is heavily armed for its class, able to fire two Laser Cannons and one Concussion Missile once per round each. However, the Falcon is not much of a threat to capital ships (Class 1 and 2 craft), since it can inflict only 1 or 2 points of damage per weapon. Where the Falcon really stands out is in its abilities. Its Antifighter Targeting +7 makes it lethal to most starfighters, which often have Defense scores at the low end of the scale. Evasion decreases the damage from nonadjacent enemies by 1, essentially increasing the ship’s hull score. What’s more, the Falcon keeps these abilities even when operating at Reduced strength. That’s a good thing, because with nowhere to hide on the stellar grid, and with lesser Defense and Hull scores than the capital ships, Class 3 craft are often targeted early in the game. Sometimes, there is no bigger target than the Millennium Falcon. * After all, it’s only the hottest and most popular ship in the original trilogy. So, if you don’t know this one, step away from the mouse and go put your movies back into the DVD player. Star Wars Miniatures Statistics Preview Faction: Light Side FULL STRENGTH REDUCED STRENGTH Star Wars Roleplaying Game Statistics Class: Space transport Weapon: Quad laser cannons (2); Fire Arc: Turret; Attack Bonus: +15 (+1 size, +8 crew, +6 fire control); Damage: 6d10x2; Max Range: Short. Weapon: Concussion missile launchers (2 fire-linked, 4 missiles each); Fire Arc: Front; Damage: 9d10x2; Missile Quality: Good (+15). Weapon: Blaster cannon (retractable); Fire Arc: Turret; Attack Bonus: +17 (+1 size, +8 crew, +8 fire control); Damage: 4d8; Range Increment: 50 meters. About the AuthorsGary M. Sarli is a freelance writer and editor whose credits include the Saga Edition Rulebook and Ultimate Adversaries (Star Wars Roleplaying Game), and Power of Faerūn and Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells (Dungeons & Dragons). He also moderates on the Wizards.COMmunity message boards as WizO the Hutt, cheerfully feeding Code of Conduct violators to the Sarlacc. Gary recently opened GMSarli Games, an online retailer specializing in non-random miniatures packs designed for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game. Sterling Hershey has been a full-time architect and freelance game designer for over 10 years. He authored and contributed to many of West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game products and later contributed to Star Wars Gamer Magazine. These days, he writes regular Star Wars Miniatures scenarios for the Wizards of the Coast website, and he also wrote the Scenario Book for the recently released Attack on Endor Scenario Pack. Gaming in a galaxy far, far away is the focus of his starwars.com blog, Delusions of Grandeur. Sterling lives in the Midwest with his wife, Mary. | ||||
Reportedly the fastest starfighter ever built, the A-wing is widely considered the best interceptor that saw action in the Galactic Civil War (although some TIE Defender pilots would object to this assertion). Its revolutionary Novaldex J-77 Event Horizon engines push the tiny craft through realspace, giving it phenomenal sublight speed, while the engines’ vectored thrust combined with the A-wing’s small size give it amazing handling and maneuverability.
