The campaign will start shortly after the Krath have taken over Empress Teta and the combined forces of the Jedi and the Republic have suffered a defeat in trying to oust them from the planet.

Six people are going to be playing this time around. Hopefully, we can keep these folks in the game long enough to have some good fun.

• Joel – Togorian strength-based Jedi
• Joe – Miralukan anti-darksider with lots of Force Powers
• Eric – Miralukan well-rounded Jedi with focus on lightsaber combat
• Fred – Human beatstick Jedi who is an ex-Sith slave
• Dave – Human fighter-style Jedi
• Bryan – Rodian dual-wielding combat Jedi

It seems like most of them decided to go the “combat” route and only one really went where I would have gone if I was a player in the game; Joe’s character with lots of Force Powers.

We meet again in two weeks, so we’ll see how things go. I have an outline of what I want to do, but this is the first time I’m throwing something together from scratch for Saga Edition (or any Star Wars RPG, really).

My Bounty Hunters:

• Dengar, Bounty Hunter
• Boba Fett, Enforcer
• 4-LOM, Bounty Hunter
• Zuckuss
• Bossk, Bounty Hunter
• Ugnaught Demolitionist

Fred’s New Republic:

• Leia Skywalker, Jedi Knight
• Kyp Durron
• Shado Vao
• General Wedge Antilles
• Luke Skywalker, Force Spirit (attached to Kyp)
• Snivvian Fringer
• Nikto Soldier
• Duros Scout

We played on the Damaged Christophsis map. I sent Zuckuss, Dengar and Bossk down the middle of the map where Boba and 4-LOM moved down the Eastern Corridor with an Ugnaught following along. Fred moved Kyp out in the open where he was able to be concentrated on and finally killed. Fred’s die rolls started failing him for a while and Shado was unable to kill 4-LOM, who eventually put him down. In turn, 4-LOM was taken out by the lone Duros Scout.

Second game we played the following armies…

Me:

• Han Solo in Stormtrooper Armor
• Ithorian Commander
• Princess Leia
• Bothan Noble
• Amanin Scout x2
• Wookiee Soldier x3
• Wookiee Warrior
• Chadra-Fan Pickpocket
• Ugnaught Demolitionist x3

Fred:

• Jedi Exile
• Jedi Guardian
• Jedi Consular
• Youngling
• Echani Handmaiden
• Gotal Mercenary
• Snivvian Fringer
• Old Republic Guard
• Human Force Adept

My Amanin scouts moved in to do some early damage and managed to get killed for it. A couple of Wookiees went forward as well and did very little. The times one of my guys would get a hit in on the Consular or Guardian, the roll would get Altered. I tried to use Han’s Furious Assault, but the targeting rules in SWM (which I always have the toughest time keeping in mind) kept him from being able to do much. As expected, with the Echani Handmaiden having 6 attacks in a single activation, I lost this one.

This week, however, it seemed like roles were reversed and Fred had trouble with his dice. We ended up playing two games.

Here was my army:

• General Wedge Antilles
• Twi’lek Black Sun Vigo
• Mara Jade, Jedi
• Kyle Katarn, Battle Master
• Luke Skywalker, Force Spirit

His army went something like this:

• Yomin Karr
• Yuuzhan Vong Elite Warrior
• Yuuzhan Vong Elite Warrior
• Advance Scout
• Yuuzhan Vong Ossus Guardian
• Praetorite Vong Warrior
• Yuuzhan Vong Shaper
• Yuuzhan Vong Shaper

We played in the Transit Station, which worked well for our two mostly-melee armies. The Force Spirit got attached to Kyle. Fred won the deployment roll, which really doesn’t matter for this map since both ends are pretty much the same. I sent Kyle into the fray earlier than everyone else and he paid for it, but at the same time did lots of damage. After many’a Thud Bug and Spit Poison, it came down to General Wedge, Mara and the Vigo for my side and Yomin and a Shaper for his.  Mara finished off Yomin and the Vigo did in the Shaper for the win.

The second game, we used these armies:

His:

• Darth Malak, Dark Lord of the Sith
• Duros Scout
• Jawa Scavenger
• Chiss Mercenary
• Sith Marauder
• Sith Lord

Mine:

• Boba Fett, Mercenary
• Bossk, Bounty Hunter
• 4-LOM, Bounty Hunter
• Zuckuss
• Greedo

Since he was playing Sith, we agreed to play the flavorful map and use Korriban. This was really bad for his melee-centric army, which I ended up feeling pretty bad about. Not to mention, his die rolls were pretty bad as well. I ended up winning this one after losing Bossk and Greedo.

As always, this game is a lot of fun and really pretty easy to learn and play (even though I forget Evade, Intuition and the basic targeting/cover rules). Fred is a good opponent as well as he has the tactics down and comes up with pretty good squads with the minis he has collected.

We’ll be trying again next time (7/1), which should have Joel, Fred, Joe, Morgan (?) and maybe Bryan. These guys all seem to be really into the game, so this will probably end up being the “core” group.

Here’s to hopin’.

I did end up watching a pretty cool 15mm historicals game called Field of Glory made by Osprey. The rules seemed pretty simple and I think I picked up most of them from just watching the game for about an hour and a half. The game was Romans (Late? Early? I don’t know!) versus Numidians (I guess they are Middle Eastern Africans?). The Romans were clearly outnumbered and much slower than the Numidians, but once the Romans got in contact with the lighter infantry of the Numidians, you could see how much better the Romans were in combat.

What I gleaned from watching the game is that combat is worked out based on a comparison of the two troops in melee. Dice are rolled looking for 4+. The Romans were allowed to reroll 1′s and if the unit had a leader, they could also reroll 2′s. This determines the number of hits. Whoever loses combat has to take a “cohesion” test with modifiers starting at 7. If the winner did 2 more hits than the loser, the roll is at -1 (which is really +1 as you have to roll over this number to not fail the test). If the loser fails this 2d6 roll they become Disrupted (or Fragmented if they are already Disrupted; or Broken if they are already Fragmented). Being Disrupted/Fragmented affects the number of dice you are allowed to roll when rolling for hits. Disrupted removes 1 out of 3 dice and Fragmented, 1 out of 2. After the cohesion test, the loser then takes a “Death Roll”, which is they have to roll one die and hope for a result greater than the number of hits inflicted by the winner. If this is failed, a stand is removed from the unit. That is pretty much the meat of the game. Of course, there is movement, manuvering, joint actions and some other phases.

The game looks like fun, but as always with historical games, I think they can get boring pretty quick. If this game catches on, I might look into either an Arabic-themed or samurai-themed army.

Tonight is supposed to be our bi-weekly Star Wars RPG game. I know Joe isn’t going to be there, and based on the last few sessions, I don’t expect too many others to actually show up. If there isn’t enough to play tonight, I think I’m going to call the game off completely and maybe figure out something else with some more reliable people.

The way things have been going in my gaming world lately, it almost seems pointless to bother showing up at the store anymore.

On a lighter note, I have reconnected with some of the old crew from the Confrontation days (JR, John, Tim) and I might be getting in a game of 40K or WotR soon. I was also able to set up a War of the Ring game for next Tuesday with Bill so we can re-learn the game.

My awesome wife ordered the Player’s Handbook 2 for me for Father’s Day, so I’ll be getting that soon.

Tuesdays will be going back to Star Wars Miniatures again, which is pretty cool as I need to play with Chairpatine (Emperor on Throne).

The campaign started with about 8 people and has fluctuated between 4 and 6 per session, which I run every other Wednesday. Over that time, I feel like my GM skills have improved and every session I see areas that can improve. However, it is a bit demoralizing when some people either don’t want to show up or can’t show up and can’t be bothered to call either me or the store to let me know they aren’t showing. I waited around until 7pm waiting for people last night and ended up with just 4 players, one of which just started last session.

Overall it was a fun game for me and I think the players had fun as well. This time around I played the NPCs a little smarter and gave the players a run for their money. I think they might have felt like I was out to kill them, which wasn’t the case, but I did want to make the combat encounters a little more dangerous. This was also the first time we used a map and miniatures. I think in many ways, this helped the players and I run the combat a little more fluid and there’s less guesswork for me and them.

One of the combats involved using stun damage as neither side really wanted to permanently injure anyone else. Turns out, we were doing it all wrong the whole session. Joe (the resident rules lawyer) had said staun damage is identical to regular damage, only it doesn’t kill. In looking at the book now, it says the damage is halved and is treated as stun damage. Not only that, but ranged weapons set on stun have a max range of 6 squares! Now, I don’t blame Joe for the mistake. I knew ahead of time what the encounter was going to be and I should have looked up the rules beforehand. This is one of the areas I could improve for sure.

All in all, I enjoy the game and I just hope the players are enjoying it as well. I look forward to some time when we can play somewhere else than Games To Die For as I kinda miss the “roleplaying at the kitchen table or in a basement and ordering pizza for lunch/dinner” aspect of roleplaying.

My squad:

• Luke and Yoda
• Juno Eclipse
• C-3PO and R2-D2
• Czerka Scientist
• Gotal Fringer x2
• Utapaun Soldier x2
• Ugnaught Demolitionist

His squad:

• Darth Malak, DLOTS
• Dark Jedi Master
• Echani Handmaiden
• GenoHaradan Assassin x2
• Devaronian Bounty Hunter
• Tusken Raider

The game was lots of fun even though my Czerka Scientist + Gotal Fringer/Utapaun Soldier plan failed miserably. Loda did the most work and damage, though they did end up falling. The most interesting thing that happened was Loda using Force Stun on Malak two turns in a row where he failed the save and then re-rolled and still failed. Fred ended up winning pretty handily.

Game two we decided to play on the Clone Strike Muunlist map. Again, we played 150 points.

My squad:

• Emperor Palpatine
• Darth Vader, Imperial Commander
• Admiral Ozzel
• Stormtrooper x2
• Raxus Prime Trooper x2
• EVO Trooper x2

His squad:

• General Grievous, Supreme Commander
• Battle Droid Officer
• Super Battle Droid x2
• Guard Droid x2
• I think that’s it?

This game started out pretty awesomely for me as I rolled a 6 on the first initiative roll and added 2x Stormtroopers and 2x Raxus Prime Troopers thanks to Ozzel’s Imperial Reserves 20 ability. First turn was a lot of moving through cover and Fred moving GG and crew through some rooms on one side of the map. Second turn I started moving Palps into the rooms to engage GG. I was able to Force Lightning GG a couple of times and eventually get Vader into melee range. Unfortunately, the Guard Droids did some serious damage to him and he fell at the hands of GG. Palpatine took care of GG right after that. We called the game around there due to time. That game was a blast as I felt less like I was losing right off the bat.

I’m digging this game more and more as I play it.

• Darth Malak
• Sith Heavy Assault Droid x2
• Sith Elite Trooper
• Sith Guard
• Sith Trooper

Mike played:

• Jabba, Crime Lord
• Mas Amedda
• Jolee Bindo
• Tion Medon
• Utapauan on Dactillion x5

He won the choice to pick the map and chose the Revenge of the Sith board. The game went fairly quickly, which is something I like about SWM. I won initiative probably 90% of the time. His “command team” of Jolee Bindo, Jabba, Tion, and Mas all hung out in one room while the Dactillion’s took care of the rest with the help of Booming Voice and the commander effects from his team. The 5 Dactillions were a pain to deal with and my Sith Heavy Assault Driods seemed to last a good long time. One of them and a Sith Elite Trooper took care of Jolee once he finally came out of the room. In the end, he eliminated every one of my figures while he still had one or two Dactillions and all of his command team minus Jolee. I can see how this game can get kind of frustrating if you play against uber competitive people, but this game was fun and the people who play there say they aren’t playing competitively. They seemed like a good group of guys and I had a blast.