Campaign

I've played a lot of games over the years, and no matter what game I've been playing the games I've enjoyed the most have been campaigns. From skirmishing in the streets of Mordheim to enormous battlefleets clashing in the space of the Gothic sector and everything in between, the ability to string games together and develop units as they earn experience, the ability for each player to tell his own story and have an effect on his own future as he progresses through the campaign is what I really love about gaming. I realise that X Wing caters to a slightly different crowd than traditional wargaming, drawing from CCG and LCG gamers as well as board gamers, and that it has a very strict competitive scene with only a single type of mission played so a campaign like I'm about to outline below might not be for everyone. I want to outline right at the start that some missions will be unbalanced and asymmetric. This is not a pure competition like most X Wing games are, instead it attempts to reflect the vagaries of war in a fun and engaging way on the tabletop. So without further ado:

An X Wing campaign.

1 - Build squads.

Each player in the campaign may choose a single squad of no mare than 200 points. A player must choose the lowest possible pilot skill version of any ship he wants to include. For example, if he wants to take an X Wing he must take a rookie pilot and if he wants to include a TIE Fighter he must take an academy pilot. 

Each player may take one generic pilot who has access to an Elite Pilot Talent slot. This ship may be any pilot skill but cannot be a unique ship. This ship is your squad leader. He automatically has the Squad Leader EPT. This EPT does not take up an EPT slot (and may be taken in addition to another EPT)

Ships may take any titles they are allowed to, and may purchase any ordnance they wish, but no other upgrades are available for purchase at this time. The only ship permitted to take an Elite Pilot Talent is your squad leader. If you want to equip your ships with Mangler Cannons or Shield Upgrades, then you will need to request these upgrades from sector command during the campaign.

From this 200 point pool, players will select smaller squads in order to complete various missions. If a ship is destroyed during a mission, it is replaced for free by the generic version of itself at no cost. However, it will lose all titles, modifications, upgrades or EPTs that it had when it was destroyed. In the opening stages of the campaign this will mean little, but during the later stages losing an experienced pilot with a heavily upgraded ship might be disastrous.

2 - Reputation and Renown.

This campaign represents two or more squadrons operating in a single area of space. They will cross paths many times and their reputations and renown will grow over time.

After each battle, squads earn renown points for the following:

 + 3 points for winning a game
 + 1 point for losing a game
 + 2 points for destroying an enemy ship
 + 3 points for destroying a large based enemy ship
 - 1 for losing a large based ship
 - 1 for losing your squad leader
 + 1 for fighting a squad with a higher reputation and losing
 + 2 for fighting a squad with a higher reputation and winning

Renown points can be spent exactly like squad points to purchase upgrades, ordnance, modifications, titles, etc for your squad. These points can even be used to buy new ships if you want, although those ships must adhere to the same rules for squad selection outlined above.

Reputation: Reputation is the running total of how much Renown a squad has earned over the course of the campaign. Keep track of how much Renown a squad has earned after each battle.

IMPORTANT NOTES:
 - Only ships that have PS4 or greater can purchase Elite Pilot Talents. The only exception to this rule is the Squad Leader.
 - A squads total renown earned for any given battle can never be less than zero. A TIE swarm that is obliterated without killing any enemy ships will earn renown of 0, not -8.

3 - Damage and Experience.

Each time a pilot survives a battle, roll a D6. If the score equals or exceeds their pilot skill, then that pilot may either increase his pilot skill by one point or, if they do not already have one, they may add an EPT slot to their ship. A score of a 6 always counts as being higher than their pilot skill. Note that even if he has an EPT slot, a pilot may not purchase an EPT unless his pilot skill is 4 or greater.

Ships may spend renown to repair damage points. Both hull and shield points cost 2 renown points to repair. This represents both damage to the ship, damage to the squads renown, and injury to the pilot.

This brings us to an important new rule for the table top: Disengaging.

A ship may disengage at any time by executing a maneuver that takes it off the edge of the play area. If a ship moves off the table, move the ship backwards along the movement template (in the same way you would as if it had collided with another ship) until it's base is touching the edge of the play area. Leave the ship in place. It may execute any action, except those that would cause the ship to re position (so no barrel rolling or boosting). If the ship is still on the table at the end of the turn, it has successfully disengaged and is removed from the table.

This ship does NOT count as destroyed for the purposes of calculating victory points. 

4 - Playing the campaign.

Players may play each other any number of times during the campaign period. There is no requirement for players to play an equal number of games. The only limitation is that players may not play blue-on-blue matches. Simply arrange a game with a friend, and play it. Make sure to keep track of your renown after each match.

The player at the end of the campaign period (say, six weeks? Pick a limit that is applicable to your own club) who has the highest reputation is the winning player.

SCENARIOS:

The Campaign uses several different scenarios instead of the normal dogfight.

Unless otherwise stated, all scenarios use 100 point squad lists.

NOTE: When a ship receives an upgrade, adjust it's point cost accordingly. However, increases in pilot skill are free. For instance, a rookie pilot is 21 points. If it buys an Engine Upgrade then it's point cost goes to 25 points. However, if it's pilot skill increases from 2 to 6, then it's point cost remains 21 (or 25 with an Engine Upgrade). Increases in pilot skill are free.

Before deployment, but after selecting squad lists, players must roll a D6 to determine which scenario they will be playing.

1 - The Bait
2 - Escalating Engagement
3 - Blockade Run
4 - Escort
5 - Furball
6 - Furball

1 - The bait. One squad has spotted a lone enemy ship and has given pursuit. But they've been lured into a trap!

Players pick even sized squads, and roll off to see who is the pursuing player and who is the fleeing player.

The fleeing player must deploy one ship in the centre of the table, facing directly towards his own board edge. The rest of his ships start the game in reserve. The pursuing player deploys all his ships within range 1 of his board edge. At the end of the first turn, the fleeing player deploys the rest of his ships anywhere on his board edge, in ascending pilot skill order. These ships must be placed with part of their base touching the board edge.

Normal victory conditions apply.

2 - Escalating engagement. Two squadrons are patrolling an area looking for each other. One element from each squad encounters the other and signals for reinforcements.

Each played divides his squad as evenly as possible in half. He randomly selects one half of the squad to start on the table, and the remainder of his ships start in reserve. Before deployment, each player randomly selects one of the neutral board edges to be his reinforcement edge. At the end of the first turn, roll a D6 for each friendly ship that was in reserve. On a 4+, that ship may be placed anywhere on that players reinforcement edge, in ascending pilot skill order. Second and subsequent ships placed in this way must be placed within range 2 of the first ship.

Any remaining ships in reserve are automatically placed at the end of turn 2, and must be placed by the same method.

Normal victory conditions apply.

3 - Blockade run. Your ships are trying to push past an enemy blockade.

Randomly determine one side to be the attacker and one to be the defender.

For the purposes of deployment, each defending ship counts as having a higher pilot skill than any ship on the attacking side.

If an attacking ship disengages via the defending sides board edge, the attacking player may add that ships value to his victory points for this match. When the defender destroys an enemy ship, the attacker must subtract that ships value from his victory points.

For example, the attacker flies a rookie pilot off the defenders board edge. He scores an extra 21 points. However, another of his rookie pilots is shot down, so he subtracts 21 points from his total.

4 - Escort. Your ships must push vital supplies through an enemy attack.

Randomly determine one side to be the attacker and one to be the defender.

The defender must deploy a GR75 touching his board edge. If he can move the freighter off from the attackers board edge, then he wins the game. Players without access to a GR75 may re-roll this result.

5-6 Furball

This is the basic 100 point, 6 rock deathmatch

A final note:

There are many ways to score this campaign and many potential ways to win. You could have the side with the highest total reputation being the overall winner, or the player with the highest individual reputation being the winner, or the player with the highest reputation on the winning side, or you could have awards for the winning side, the top individual scorers on each side... there's a lot of potential ways to decide on the winners. Really, it doesn't matter too much because the really exciting thing is watching your pilots learn from their battles and grow over time. You'll remember the battles long after you've forgotten who won.

The ideal market for this campaign is groups of three or more players. With only two players interested you can get much more involved in terms of narrative. With more players you need to keep the campaign loose enough that any time two players meet up for a game, they are able to play.

And finally, I do not own these rules. They are just ideas, so feel free to adapt them or change them as you see fit. I've tried to keep the mechanics simple and easy to remember while still encouraging the narrative aspect of the game.

I'm hoping to bang together some rules for two player narrative campaigns in the future so stay tuned!