Hi everyone,
This weekend we got thinking about having a quick X-Wing battle. We were just thinking of 3 of us playing different squadrons of Rebels -- against some common Empire ships. But -- that's not the way it turned out :)
First of all, we got the idea to build a Star Destroyer background terrain piece.
We started with cardboard from a box -- and cut it into long triangular pieces. (Our idea was that this was just one side of the start destroyer.) We were planning to make two layers -- with a gap in the middle -- and then mount our turbo laser turrets between the layers. (It always looked as if the edge of a Star Destroyer was about as loaded as weapons as a Death Star Trench to us....)
Once we had the cardboard pieces cut, we cut up some pink foam to make the gap between the top and bottom layers of cardboard. (By the way, we made the top and bottom out of two layers of cardboard -- didn't want it to be too flimsy.)
Then we used hot-glue to glue all of the layers together. We put a 4-inch wide strip on the facing edge of the pink foam. We had learned during our Death Star Trench experience that if we didn't do that it would be hard to glue our terrain sticker material to the pink foam.
With that done, we attached our sticker paper. This is the same stuff we printed out when we made our Death Star Trench a while back. We had several sheets left over -- so we didn't even need to wait to print these :)
[Here's our Death Star Trench write-up: Building Death Star Trench from Cardboard Box and Pink Foam]
To make it seem (more) realistic we aligned the sticker paper with the business edge of the Star Destroyer. That made for a little bit more waste, but did seem to help with the look.
We have been working on the game table plans -- and so we were playing X-Wing in a different room. Lots of sunlight! Made it a bit difficult to see the black of space on our mat. So, we put another box behind the Star Destroyer - and that helped a great deal.
[Here are links to our write-up about Turbo Laser Turrets: Trying to Build a Turbo Laser Turret -- and buying nice ones made by JR MINI]
The Battle!
Like we were saying, we started out small. But, then we got talking about making a quick drive to Gator Games to look for K-Wings.
What ended up (after our trip to Gator Games) was a more Epic Scale battle -- with well more than 100 points on either side (we weren't counting).
Early on, it really did seem that the Star Destroyer terrain was looking pretty cool :)
But, one problem is that when you looked at the view from the Rebel side of the table, it really disappeared behind all of the ships.
So, this has given us some ideas for Star Destroyer Version #2....
[Here's a link to our attempts to manage a large-ish scale Battletech Battle.]
We should have thought to something like putting tokens onto the cards of the pilots who had fired -- or something like that. Regardless, with this many pilots it got very hard to keep track. And, keeping track of everyone's unique upgrades was even more challenging!!
And, by the way, we really like the Raider model! Also really like the TIE Punishers. Normally we are pretty much fans of Rebel ships. These two new ships are very cool additions. :)
We are really looking forward to the arrival of the Imperial Gozanti Class Cruiser as well -- since we have been using one of those in our FFG Edge of the Empires campaign. [Here's a link to a write-up from our Quest for the Juggernaut our last session.]
This weekend we got thinking about having a quick X-Wing battle. We were just thinking of 3 of us playing different squadrons of Rebels -- against some common Empire ships. But -- that's not the way it turned out :)
First of all, we got the idea to build a Star Destroyer background terrain piece.
We started with cardboard from a box -- and cut it into long triangular pieces. (Our idea was that this was just one side of the start destroyer.) We were planning to make two layers -- with a gap in the middle -- and then mount our turbo laser turrets between the layers. (It always looked as if the edge of a Star Destroyer was about as loaded as weapons as a Death Star Trench to us....)
Cutting the cardboard for the Star Destroyer
Once we had the cardboard pieces cut, we cut up some pink foam to make the gap between the top and bottom layers of cardboard. (By the way, we made the top and bottom out of two layers of cardboard -- didn't want it to be too flimsy.)
Pieces are cut - ready to hot glue in place
Then we used hot-glue to glue all of the layers together. We put a 4-inch wide strip on the facing edge of the pink foam. We had learned during our Death Star Trench experience that if we didn't do that it would be hard to glue our terrain sticker material to the pink foam.
All glued together!
With that done, we attached our sticker paper. This is the same stuff we printed out when we made our Death Star Trench a while back. We had several sheets left over -- so we didn't even need to wait to print these :)
[Here's our Death Star Trench write-up: Building Death Star Trench from Cardboard Box and Pink Foam]
Here we are attaching the pieces of sticker paper to our Star Destroyer model
To make it seem (more) realistic we aligned the sticker paper with the business edge of the Star Destroyer. That made for a little bit more waste, but did seem to help with the look.
Zooming in on the Turbo Laser Turrets. Fit in there very nicely!
We have been working on the game table plans -- and so we were playing X-Wing in a different room. Lots of sunlight! Made it a bit difficult to see the black of space on our mat. So, we put another box behind the Star Destroyer - and that helped a great deal.
[Here are links to our write-up about Turbo Laser Turrets: Trying to Build a Turbo Laser Turret -- and buying nice ones made by JR MINI]
Our Star Destroyer terrain piece ready for action :)
The Battle!
Like we were saying, we started out small. But, then we got talking about making a quick drive to Gator Games to look for K-Wings.
What ended up (after our trip to Gator Games) was a more Epic Scale battle -- with well more than 100 points on either side (we weren't counting).
Battle about to start!
Early on, it really did seem that the Star Destroyer terrain was looking pretty cool :)
Our Star Destoyer with the Imperial ships!
But, one problem is that when you looked at the view from the Rebel side of the table, it really disappeared behind all of the ships.
View from the Rebel cockpits! Empire forces dead-ahead!!
So, this has given us some ideas for Star Destroyer Version #2....
- Why not make the Star Destroyer run the whole way along one side of the game board? Then you'd see it very clearly the whole way.
- Lift the Star Destroyer up by 1/2" or so with some clear plastic. Then, you'd see space under and behind it. Also, this would put it looming up a bit above the large ships!
- And, the Star Destroyer top and bottom pieces should be angled. It was quick and easy to make them flat and parallel, but doesn't quite give the "Star Destroyer" feeling as it could if those were sloped.
- Maybe even including some features of a bridge would help?
- And, lastly, need to think about the scale. Do the Turbo Laser Turrets really fit? Or are they too big?
[Here's a link to our attempts to manage a large-ish scale Battletech Battle.]
Several turns into the battle. Things were starting to get messy. Lots of movement plans which didn't work out!
We should have thought to something like putting tokens onto the cards of the pilots who had fired -- or something like that. Regardless, with this many pilots it got very hard to keep track. And, keeping track of everyone's unique upgrades was even more challenging!!
And, by the way, we really like the Raider model! Also really like the TIE Punishers. Normally we are pretty much fans of Rebel ships. These two new ships are very cool additions. :)
We are really looking forward to the arrival of the Imperial Gozanti Class Cruiser as well -- since we have been using one of those in our FFG Edge of the Empires campaign. [Here's a link to a write-up from our Quest for the Juggernaut our last session.]
Very cool!
ReplyDeleteIMP frigate makes 2 left and crushes a bunch of rebels w/o taking damage, then uses its "ion" range 1 or 2 engine leak and kills the rest next turn.
ReplyDelete