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Can you come up with rules for a custom escape scenario? Options
FlyingArrow
Posted: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 10:50:28 AM
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I'd like rules for a scenario where one side has prisoners that have to break out of a cell without any outside help..

The context is this campaign: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/848551/boba-versus-han-campaign-rules

It's a campaign where the results of skirmishes determine which scenarios to play in the future skirmishes. A total of 8 different scenarios. However, there are two scenarios where we never came up with the rules. As it turns out, we didn't need the rules since the campaign results never led us to those particular scenarios, but I'd like to make those campaign rules complete. So skirmishes #3.1.1 and #3.2.2 need rules.

Situation: One squad is locked up in cells. The other squad is the guards. The squad that is locked up has to escape or they lose.

LEGAL MAPS:
Ravaged Base
Rancor Pen
Throne Room
Smuggler's Base (with Cell Block tile)
Death Star
Felucia (with Cell Block tile)
Dxun Camp (with Cell Block tile)
Star Forge (with Cell Block tile)
Teth Monastery
Khoonda (with Cell Block tile)
JC MP1 Echo Base (with Cell Block tile)
Ugnaught Mines (with Cell Block tile)
Boarding Action
Modular Base
Remote Listening Post (with Cell Block tile)
Anything from AC Map Pack 4 except Peaceful City (with cell block tile if necessary)


I'm pretty much at a loss here. This doesn't even have to be an actual Star Wars Miniatures game. As long as it uses minis and the map, it could be a race game or a chess game of sorts - moving around without being seen by the guards. I'll come up with something eventually, but I'm sure someone has an idea to share.

(Note... this should be different from the Ultimate Missions: Rebel Storm escape scenario or rescue scenarios. Rescue has a squad coming to save someone. Escape is about breaking through a line of enemies to the other side. Neither have to do with getting out of a cell, finding weapons, etc.)

I imagine this scenario may introduce the need for facing of the minis. If so, that's fine.
FlyingArrow
Posted: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 10:57:03 AM
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So some brainstorming...

Guard squad is equal cost to the captured squad.

Skirmish starts with one captive taking down one guard. This is the only captive that is armed, and the only cell that is open. (Setup would have to require that all other guards are out of line of sight to the freed captive.)

Need rules for freeing the other captives and arming everyone. Or - just assume they have to sneak out unarmed, in which case this is a sort of cat & mouse game. Maybe hidden movement as in the boardgame War of the Ring would work here.
gwek
Posted: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 4:40:02 PM
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Check out CADWALLON: CITY OF THIEVES for inspiration. Not a spot-on match, but I think there's some good ideas to be found there.
FlyingArrow
Posted: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 6:42:10 PM
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Do you have a preferred review/summary for it? Or do you have some particular rules you'd recommend?
EmporerDragon
Posted: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 6:48:49 PM
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Since the particular skirmish is more stealth based than anything, I'd introduce fog of war here.

Use two copies of the map and squads (1 for each side), and each player will only have their units and any revealed enemy units on it. A neutral judge will be needed to relay relevant info between the two sides.

How the fog of war would work is that each side is unaware of the other unit's positions until they get within so many squares of each other. The other side's units would be revealed as the characters end their move, but if the player ends his phase with units within range, their position is revealed to the enemy. The delay in revealing would mean that players could ambush each other and the ambushed player would have his minis removed and is simply told that he's lost contact with them.

You could also further enhance it by having certain features on the map increase or decrease the visual range (For Example: Having the natural vision range be 6 squares, but standing in a low object tile reduces vision down to 3 but also means that they can't be seen until they're within 3 squares as well. Having security stations where a unit can use their turn to scan another part of the map would be good as well.
FlyingArrow
Posted: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 6:56:10 PM
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EmporerDragon wrote:
Since the particular skirmish is more stealth based than anything, I'd introduce fog of war here.

Use two copies of the map and squads (1 for each side), and each player will only have their units and any revealed enemy units on it. A neutral judge will be needed to relay relevant info between the two sides.

How the fog of war would work is that each side is unaware of the other unit's positions until they get within so many squares of each other. The other side's units would be revealed as the characters end their move, but if the player ends his phase with units within range, their position is revealed to the enemy. The delay in revealing would mean that players could ambush each other and the ambushed player would have his minis removed and is simply told that he's lost contact with them.

You could also further enhance it by having certain features on the map increase or decrease the visual range (For Example: Having the natural vision range be 6 squares, but standing in a low object tile reduces vision down to 3 but also means that they can't be seen until they're within 3 squares as well. Having security stations where a unit can use their turn to scan another part of the map would be good as well.


I like those ideas, but the neutral judge and extra copies of maps is probably going to be a killer. I like the ambush, though. We may want to use hidden movement, though, along the lines of the boardgame Scotland Yard, though.

I think the Stealth SA should carry a big bonus, and low objects/cover will be a big issue.
EmporerDragon
Posted: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 8:26:40 PM
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FlyingArrow wrote:

I like those ideas, but the neutral judge and extra copies of maps is probably going to be a killer.


True. Most people don't keep multiples of a map and being the one to sit around watching everyone else play isn't fun. My idea would probably be a bit easier to run in Vassal than on an actual board.

What about something like this?:

The guard player sets up as normal, but the escapee player uses differently marked tokens to represent their units (include some dummy units for false positives like womprats, service droids, etc.). The escapee's units are only revealed when they attack/use an ability or if a guard gets close enough. If the escaping units get far enough away or kill all witnesses, they revert back to a token. As an added bonus to the escaping player, I'd give him the ability to, at the start of a round, change which characters 2 adjacent tokens represent.
FlyingArrow
Posted: Friday, September 28, 2012 3:38:41 PM
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I like the hidden tokens idea. Sorry for my delayed response... I'm thinking about how this could all fit together.
FlyingArrow
Posted: Friday, September 28, 2012 4:48:15 PM
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This is shaping up to be more like a completely new game than a scenario, but that's okay. Here's what I have now. Biggest question is setup. Where the guards start and the rules for building the two squads are pretty big issues, which could make the game very lopsided one way or the other. To complicate matters, I'd like the rules to be generic enough to work any of a dozen or so different maps that have cells on them.

Victory Condition: The prisoner team wins if the Main Character and at least half the characters on the prisoner's squad escape (leave the map).

Facing: All characters have facing. They always face one side of their square. They can see out of the 'corner of their eye' (meaning along the row to either side of them) as well as anything anywhere in front of them. They cannot see anything behind them. Changing a character's facing takes one square of movement. A character may walk 'backward' with no penalty.

Unarmed: All prisoners gain the Special Ability Unarmed (Character gains Melee Attack. Character's Damage is 10 and may not be increased. Character may not use abilities with Lightsaber in the name.) If a prisoner without a printed Melee Attack ability begins or ends its turn adjacent to a defeated enemy without melee attack, the prisoner gains a weapon (i.e. loses Unarmed). If a prisoner with a lightsaber begins or ends its turn adjacent to a defeated enemy with a lightsaber, the prisoner gains a weapon. The guard player must designate an area (at least 2 squares by 2 squares) where the prisoners can find weapons. The area must be within 6 squares of a square in a cell (ignoring walls). Prisoners lose Unarmed if they end their turn in that designated area or in any room marked as Armory. (Yes, they even find lightsabers there.)

Hide the Body: Defeated characters remain on the board. If a character begins its turn adjacent to a defeated character, does not attack, and ends its turn next to a pit or in low objects, the defeated character may be removed from the board.

Unaware: Guards are only walking until they are aware of the escape. So they have Speed 2 until they become aware.

Becoming Aware: If a guard sees a prisoner, a defeated character, or an open cell door on their turn, they become aware at the end of that turn. If a prisoner moves into a guard's view within 6 squares of the guard, the guard becomes aware at the end of the prisoner's turn. Guards cannot see prisoners that have cover. If a guard sees a prisoner on the prisoner's turn, but the prisoner is more than 6 squares away, then they didn't see the prisoner. Assume the guard turned his head for a brief second.

Sound the Alarm: All guards gain Sound the Alarm: Replaces turn; if this guard is aware of the escape, all other guards become aware of the escape and all doors become locked. Note that this means that the prisoners have a round to take down a guard before he has a chance to Sound the Alarm, since he only becomes aware at the end of a turn, and he can't Sound the Alarm until his next turn.

Lucky Break: In addition to the prisoner player's regular activations, they may activate one of their opponent's guards on each of their phases. Think of this as the dramatic moment in movies where the guards walk the other way at just the right time so the hero can escape.

Super-Duper Stealth: Characters with Stealth or Cloaked may not be seen at all while they are in Low Objects

Jedi Mind Trick: Characters with Jedi Mind Trick may change the facing of enemies within 6 squares whenever they like. This is not an action - it costs 0 Force points and does not require a save.

Slicing: Characters with Override, Door Gimmick, or Master Slicer gain Master Override: If this character ends its turn adjacent to a door, this character may designate any two doors on the map as open or closed. They remain open or closed until the end of this character's next turn. Master Override does not work when inside a locked cell.

Prisoner Hidden Movement: If a prisoner is out of sight from all guards, the prisoner may make hidden movement. For hidden movement, remove the character from the battle grid and replace the character with 2 face down 1x1 tiles (3 tiles if the main character). Move all tiles as if it were the character. When a guard sees a tile, the prisoner must return the tile to the prisoner's card and has the option of placing the prisoner where the tile was. If the prisoner is returned to the board, remove the prisoner's other tiles. If the character has only one tile left on the battle grid, replace the tile with the character's figure.



MaliciousCrumb
Posted: Friday, September 28, 2012 5:04:58 PM
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Wow. It looks like a lot of thought was put into this...
great job!

My fav is unarmed. That was well put together.
FlyingArrow
Posted: Friday, September 28, 2012 5:42:42 PM
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MaliciousCrumb wrote:
Wow. It looks like a lot of thought was put into this...
great job!

My fav is unarmed. That was well put together.


Thanks, I borrowed lots of people's ideas. It can still change plenty, though. Suggestions welcome. I think the setup rules might be the toughest part.
EmporerDragon
Posted: Friday, September 28, 2012 6:29:59 PM
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FlyingArrow wrote:
I think the setup rules might be the toughest part.


I'd say have the Guard player have very few units at first (A few guarding the exit area and a few on patrol), and when the escapee player has gained momentum and eliminated some patrols, he gets reinforcements who would come from a predetermined area such as a barracks or a turbolift.
Darth_Jim
Posted: Saturday, September 29, 2012 8:29:38 AM
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Why not have prisoners start with melee but lose melee if they defeat a guard? Kinda like they take him down then take his weapon.
FlyingArrow
Posted: Saturday, September 29, 2012 11:44:06 AM
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Darth_Jim wrote:
Why not have prisoners start with melee but lose melee if they defeat a guard? Kinda like they take him down then take his weapon.


Yeah - that's the idea with the Unarmed ability.
MaliciousCrumb
Posted: Saturday, September 29, 2012 12:49:01 PM
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How about changing "Sound the Alarm" so that the enemy has to be adjacent to a wall?

Here's another idea. Since you never described what a "weapon" was, here's my suggestion:
Replaces attacks: This character gains the attack and damage of an adjacent guard, and either gains or loses the Melee Attack special ability, depending on whether the guard had it or not. This character may then use abilities and force powers that contain "lightsaber", if the guard had one.
FlyingArrow
Posted: Saturday, September 29, 2012 1:18:58 PM
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MaliciousCrumb wrote:
How about changing "Sound the Alarm" so that the enemy has to be adjacent to a wall?


I was assuming some sort of intercom. The wall makes sense in the more high-tech maps, but for some of the more rustic maps, I think it makes less sense.


I was thinking that for setup, there would be only a very few guards to start. Guarantee that the prisoners get some momentum and eventually have it turn into a normal fight. Something like...

Prisoners: 200 points in cells. Set up by the guard player.

Guards: 200 points, but only 50 points set up initially, and max 20hp per character. When characters are set up, none may be set up such that they can see the cell doors.

At the beginning of each round, guard player may place another 30 points worth of characters (where?) until the whole squad is on the battlegrid.

Initial attack: Prisoner player selects one of the lowest cost guard characters (without Melee Attack) on the battle grid. Place the guard character in the cell of the highest cost prisoner without melee attack. Skirmish begins with the guard defeated and that prisoner armed. All other cells are still locked and can only be opened from the outside. Once opened, a cell door stays open.
FlyingArrow
Posted: Monday, October 1, 2012 9:12:54 AM
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We played 3 games yesterday and they seemed to work pretty well. We did 100pts for the prisoners, 150pts for the guards, but the guards start with 25pts on the board and add 25 more each round. Unused points can be saved up for future rounds to bring out higher cost characters.

Biggest change was to get rid of the lockdown. Locking all the doors on Sound the Alarm proved to be too much. Without sufficient override, it was gamebreaking. Another change was to say the prisoners have to leave the battle grid from a square at least 20 away from the nearest cell, or end in a TurboLift at least 20 squares away from the nearest cell. I'll post a revised ruleset when I get a chance.

We forgot (the whole time) about Lucky Break, so we never used it. Nobody ever used Hidden Movement either - probably because we never used Lucky Break so Sound the Alarm was triggered pretty early in every skirmish. It turned out pretty well without them, so perhaps they're unnecessary complications. But they do sound pretty fun... I would have preferred there to have been more sneaking around before the fighting and running started.

The Guards feel completely overwhelmed early on because they start with basically nobody on the board and they tend to get wiped out pretty easily the first couple of rounds before they add enough characters in future rounds. Prisoners escaped once and were caught twice. One of the times they were caught, it literally came down to the last initiative, so very close.
FlyingArrow
Posted: Monday, October 8, 2012 7:19:10 PM
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Thanks to everyone for the help and suggestions! Here's a final version. This is a bit long, but I tried to spell out all the details so there's no ambiguity...

ESCAPE FROM CELLS

Escaping is perhaps the primary Star Wars plot. An escape is a major part of each movie in the original trilogy: escape from the Death Star, from Cloud City, from Jabba the Hutt. It reappears in the prequels and the expanded universe again and again.

In this scenario, the prisoners are in their cells and there are no rescuers coming to their aid. This is a generic escape scenario that can be used in any era and on a variety of maps. It can also be used as part of a campaign where one side finds itself in a grim situation.

Squads: The Guard player has 150 point squad, and the characters on the squad are all referred to as Guards in these rules. The Prisoner player has a 100 point squad, and the characters on the squad are all referred to as Prisoners in these rules.

Map and Setup: Choose a map that has cells on it, or choose any map and add a tile that has cells on it. In a competitive game where players roll for map selection, limit the map list to those maps that have already have cells and do not require a tile. The Prisoner player sets up his characters in the cells. Additionally, the Prisoner player designates one Prisoner that is in a cell alone as the Starting Character. The Prisoner player places a defeated Guard character (not from the Guard's squad) adjacent to the Starting Character. The Starting Character has just taken down a guard and taken a weapon, beginning the escape attempt. The Guard player initially places only 25 points from his squad onto the battle grid. Guards placed during setup may not have more than 20 hit points. Guards may not be placed so that they initially have line of sight to a cell door.

Guard Reserves: Each round, the Guard player can bring in another 25 points worth of characters. Points that are not used one round (including initial setup) carry forward to the next round. (For example, if the Guard initially sets up 24 points of characters and brings in only 18 points of characters in Round 2, he may bring in up 33 points of characters in Round 3.) New characters can be placed on any non-wall edge of the map or in any Turbolift, but the new character may not begin with line of sight to any Prisoner. (Variants: Players may agree to other spawning areas, such as a barracks, or to ignore the rule prohibiting line of sight for new characters.)

Victory Condition: The Prisoner player wins if at least half the Prisoners escape (leave the map or end in a Turbolift). A prisoner may not escape until they are in a square at least 20 squares away from the nearest cell, ignoring walls and terrain when counting distance. The Guard player wins by defeating more than half of the Prisoners. (Variant: One of the Prisoners may be designated as the Main Character. The Main Character must exit the battle grid in order to win.)

Sneaking Around: At the start of the game, the Guards are not aware of an attempted escape. The following rules are in effect until a Guard sounds the alarm.
* Facing: The Guard player's characters have facing at the start of the skirmish. They always face one side of their square. They can see out of the 'corner of their eye' (meaning along the row to either side of them) as well as anything anywhere in front of them. However, they have no line of sight to anything behind them. Changing a character's facing takes one square of movement. A character may walk 'backward' with no penalty. Once the alarm is sounded, characters no longer have facing and the game reverts to normal with regard to facing.
* Unaware: At the beginning of the skirmish, all Guards have the following special ability: (Unaware - This character gains Speed 2. This character may not attack or use special abilities that replace attacks.)
* Becoming Aware: A Guard can lose Unaware in one of these ways:

1. On the Guard's turn, if a Guard has line of sight to a Prisoner with no cover, or has line of sight to a defeated character or an open cell door, they lose Unaware at the end of that turn.

2. On a Prisoner's turn, if a prisoner moves into a square within 6 squares of a Guard, and the Guard has line of sight to the Prisoner with no cover, the Guard loses Unaware at the end of the prisoner's turn.

Note: Guards that are Unaware do not notice Prisoners that have cover. Even without cover, if a guard has line of sight to a prisoner on the Prisoner's turn, but the prisoner is more than 6 squares away, then they didn't see the prisoner. Assume the guard turned his head for a brief second.

* Sound the Alarm: All guards gain the following special ability: (Sound the Alarm - Replaces turn; if this character does not have Unaware, all allies lose Unaware.) Note that the prisoners have a chance to try to defeat a guard before he can Sound the Alarm, since he only loses Unaware at the end of a turn, and he can't Sound the Alarm until his next turn.

* Hide the Body: Defeated characters remain on the board. If a character begins its turn adjacent to a defeated character, does not attack, and ends its turn next to a pit or low objects, the defeated character may be removed from the board. When a Guard uses Sound the Alarm, all bodies are removed from the board.

* Lucky Break: Once per round, if Sound the Alarm has not been used, the Prisoner player may activate one of the Guard's characters during one of the Prisoner's phase. Think of this as the dramatic moment when a guard turns away at just the right moment so that a prisoner is allowed to escape.

* Super-Duper Stealth: Guards with Unaware are not considered to have line of sight to a Prisoner if the Prisoner has Stealth or Cloaked and either has cover or is in Low Objects (even if adjacent).

* Jedi Mind Trick: Characters with Jedi Mind Trick may change the facing of enemies within 8 squares whenever they like. This is not an action - it costs 0 Force points and does not require a save. The same enemy's facing may even be changed multiple times within the same turn in order to safely walk around the enemy while staying out of line of sight.


Once the alarm is sounded, the above "Sneaking Around" rules no longer have any effect. The following rules are in effect for the whole skirmish.

Cell Doors: All cell doors begin closed except the door to the cell of the Starting Character. Cell doors can only be opened by a character on the outside of the cell. Once a cell door is open, it remains open for the rest of the skirmish.

Unarmed:
All Prisoners begin with the following special ability: (Unarmed - This character gains Melee Attack. This character's Damage is 10 and may not be increased. Character may not use abilities with Lightsaber in the name or lightsaber styles or Grenades or Missiles or other special abilities that require equipment.) Prisoners may lose Unarmed in one of these ways:

1. The Guard player must designate an area (at least 2 squares by 2 squares) where the Prisoners can find weapons. One square of the area must be within 6 squares of a square in a cell (ignoring walls and terrain). If a Prisoner ends its turn in that area or in a room labeled Armory, the Prisoner loses Unarmed.

2. If a Prisoner without a printed Melee Attack ability begins or ends its turn adjacent to a defeated enemy without Melee Attack, the prisoner loses Unarmed. Only one Prisoner per defeated enemy may lose Unarmed in this manner.

3. If a Prisoner with a lightsaber begins or ends its turn adjacent to a defeated enemy with a lightsaber, the prisoner loses Unarmed. Only one Prisoner per defeated enemy may lose Unarmed in this manner.

4. If a Prisoner with a printed Melee Attack ability and without a
lightsaber begins or ends its turn adjacent to any defeated enemy, the prisoner loses Unarmed. Only one Prisoner per defeated enemy may lose Unarmed in this manner.


Master Override: Prisoners with Override, Door Gimmick, or Master Slicer gain the following special ability: (Master Override: If this character ends its turn adjacent to a door, this character may designate any one door on the map as open or closed. It remains open or closed until the end of this character's next turn.) Note that a character with both Override and Master Override might be able to affect two doors at once.

Prisoner Hidden Movement: If no Guards have line of sight to a particular Prisoner, the Prisoner may make hidden movement. For hidden movement, remove the character from the battle grid and replace the character with 2 face down 1x1 tiles (3 tiles if using the Main Character variant, and this is the Main Character). Move all tiles as if they were the character. The tile can open doors, but cannot attack or use any of the Prisoner's abilities. Guards notice tiles under conditions similar to becoming aware:

1. On the Guard's turn, if a Guard has line of sight to a tile with no cover, they notice the tile.

2. On a Prisoner's turn, if a tile moves into a square within 6 squares of a Guard, and the Guard has line of sight to the tile with no cover, the Guard notices the tile.

When a Guard notices a tile, the Prisoner player must immediately return the tile to the Prisoner's card and has the option of placing the Prisoner where the tile was. If the Prisoner is returned to the board, remove the prisoner's other tiles. If the Prisoner is not returned to the board and the Guard has Unaware, the Guard does not lose Unaware. If the Prisoner has only one tile left on the battle grid, replace the final remaining tile with the character's figure.

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