Star Wars 4 Fun

  The other day I just wanted to play something, something I didn't need to paint or build anything for.  Just a game. Something fast, fun, and without any continuing campaign type strings.
  So I got out some terrain, and pulled out the AT-43 and Star Wars figures.  The AT-43 guys look sci-fi with no affiliation, so that means Rebels in my book.

Table and armies set up for no particular reason!

  For the rules I was waffling between FUBAR and the ones I wrote for Modern Skirmish.  Ultimately I borrowed some of the FUBAR vehicle ideas but used my own rules.  I hadn't tried them, or intended them to be used for, this many figures but I didn't see any reason they wouldn't work.  It would also force me into making the vehicle rules work.

  The scenario.  The rebels have learned of an Imperial VIP arriving by shuttle.  They know the day and rough time, but not the exact location.  They will need to "lock on" to the shuttle using the sensor array, and then rotate the gun to the correct position to fire it.  Firing the gun with a lock on wins the game for the rebels.
  Eliminating the rebels, or delaying them until turn Five when the shuttle has landed safely, is an Imperial victory.

   The Rebels need to have a figure in contact with the Sensor building to Scan.  They do this by rolling for Goals when the Timer Card comes up.  When they accumulate 10 Goals, they have their lock on, and roll a scatter die.  This direction is where the gun needs to be rotated to face.
  The Rebels must have a figure in contact with the gun tower to rotate the gun.  Once the lock on has been gained, the gun rotates up to 30 degrees each time the Timer Card comes up.  When it reaches the designated direction it fires, destroying the shuttle.

  I'm not going to do a blow by blow report, just show off the highlights some.  Here a squad of Scout troopers is advancing along the left flank, being sneaky.  They were seen and one of them gunned down right off the bat.

   The Imperials advanced into the Rebel lines.  The Rebels were outnumbered, but they were behind barricades, had more armored units, and only had to defend.
    The Imperial numbers actually turned into a hindrance, causing them to bottleneck at a number of points.
    If I had used the rules as normal, I'd still be there.  Treating entire squads as an individual for everything but shooting worked exceptionally well.

    The AT-STs proved as effective as they should.  Their grenade launchers were tailor made for causing havoc with troops bunched up behind barricades. Their height also negated a lot of cover.  They were terrifying machines, as they should be.

 A view from behind the rebel barricades on their left flank.  The Empire makes an impressive sight as it comes on.  At the end of the first turn, I was thinking it was going to be a washout, with the Empire just rolling over the Rebels.  Their bodies and machines were piling up pretty quickly.

AT-ST grenades blasted the squad, and the chin guns took down the lone survivor as he ran for the building.

    The second turn I was actually thinking the Rebels were going to handily win things.  Imperial casualties were piling up, including the loss of both AT-STs.  The Empire was relying heavily on their firepower to root out the dug in Rebels.
    Towards the end of the second turn things were leveling out.  Every armored vehicle except the TIE Tank was in flames, and the body count was growing on both sides.  Neither had a decisive advantage. But the Rebels had managed to make the Lock-On  to the shuttle, and now all they needed to do was rotate the gun one more time!

  The Empire went into panic mode.  With most of the Rebels out of action, there was no question that they would overcome the rebels. There was a huge question on whether they could do it before the cannon fired!
   There were few cards left, and one of them was the card that would let the gun rotate the final distance to fire.  The entire game suddenly hinged on "can the Empire get that guy off the gun controls before that happens?"
   This led to the Empire taking wild chances.  Above the speeder bike roared into a position where it could see the Rebel, and fired his long range pistol shot.  It came close, but bounced off the tower instead of hitting.

   The next card up was for the Stormtroopers, only two could get close enough to take a shot at the Rebel on the tower controls.  The first didn't make it, gunned down by the rebel sentry there before he could try.  The second dodged shots from the sentry, but was no better with his own aim.

TWO Cards left!  One wins the game for the Rebels....but no! It's Imperial heavy troops.

   The E-Webs can't do anything here, neither can the tank since it's on the wrong side of the tower.
That leaves...no one.
    Wait!  This one stormtooper with a rocket launcher, if he moves as far as he can to the right, he can see the Sentry Rebel guy.  And his rocket an area effect.
So the trooper moved, the shot is long range, and his target in behind cover.  The shot is difficult, but if he can make it...
    The rocket streaks out, cuts between the rock and the tower, and it Hits!  The rebel Sentry and the guy manning the tower controls, disappear in a flashing ball of flame.

    After that, the Rebels were broken.  The rotation card came up, but with no one at the tower it didn't matter.  The Imperial troops had no issue rounding up the last of the Rebels.

   SO, that was FUN! All the fighting an maneuvering in the beginning amounted to almost nothing.  It came down to the the very last roll, on the very last card.  Make it and the Empire wins, miss it and the Rebels win.  That's exciting!

   The rules, eventually, worked really well.  I had to redo the armor rules a number of times, I just could not get them to work withing the structure of the game in any way that made sense.  And then an epiphany, and everything clicked into place.  The armor rules are now done and fit well and logically into the ruleset.
   Treating each squad as an individual for activation, movement, and taking casualties works great and keeps things moving.  Each soldier firing individually also works logically, though realistically you roll all the guys shooting at one thing at the same time.

  All in all I am impressed at how well they expanded up to larger numbers.  I really enjoyed this, and while I don't normally play large battles like this, I think I may do some more at some point.