"Raid on Outpost 13423; Star Wars via Savage World" Topic

Geography:
4'x6' gaming table, with 3 buildings (6"x4") located in the center of the board. A landing pad (8"x8") is located north of the building complex (10"), and a pumping/power station is located 30" southeast of the building complex. Two defense towers are located 20" to the northeast and southwest of the building complex. A refueling tower is located 6" east of the landing pad. The rest of the table is cleared due to regular burning.

Setup:
A Bothon spy made a hurried request to the Rebellion to be brought in with important information near the Wookie planet of Kashhyk. En route, he was captured by the famed bounty hunter Devok. Devok brought the spy to the nearest Imperial garrison, on Kashhyk. Diverted to a lesser outpost (thanks to rebels in the local Imperial forces), the spy is being held until he can be interrogated. Rebels are on Kashhyk to assist the arming of the native Wookies, whom have no love for the Empire. When the rebels on-planet were informed that they would need to rescue the captured spy, they asked for assistance. They recieved it in the shape of 6 commandos led by Luke Skywalker. Unable to prepare themselves as much as they would have wished (the Imperials were bound to discover the spy 'misplaced' at the outpost), they arranged for the power to be cut to the main defenses, and for a Wookie raid on a nearby trading camp. The Imperials were forced to send most of their forces to deal with the uprising, leaving the outpost with a skeleton crew.

Forces:
Imperial
Sgt. Reese, Stormtrooper
Stormtrooper Squad (2 troopers w/ carbines, 1 w/ repeating blaster)
Stormtrooper Squad (3 troopers w/ carbines)
Captain Neel, Imperial Commander
3 Imperial Troop Squads (5 troopers w/ lt. carbines)
Devok, Bounty Hunter
Rebel
Captain Deen, Rebel leader
6 Rebel Troop Squads (4 troopers w/ lt. carbines)
Luke Skywalker, Jedi
2 Commando Squads (3 troopers w/ lt. carbines)
Wookies Scouts (3 w/ bowcasters)

Synopsis:
Wookie scouts brought the rebel forces as close to the outpost as possible without tripping the bases sensors. This left the rebels within 100m of the outpost. As they prepared their assault, the bases alarms triggered, eliminating their element of surprise. With nothing to lose, and too much already commited, the rebel forces boiled out of the forest on the western edge, ~40" from the complex, moving forward and firing on the bunker to no effect. The Wookie scouts charged from the southeast, ~30" from the complex, and covered over 1/2 the distance by running. The Imperial forces were prepared, however. The three buildings were of various heights, and the Imperial Troops were spread along the buildings, mixed with Stormtroopers. One squad covered the western edge, one squad the southern, and one squad the eastern. The Stormtroopers covered the southern and eastern edges. All Imperial forces were using firing slots inside the building. After negligable fire from the Imperial Troops, a unit of Storm Troopers took down one of the Wookies. Luke entered with his commandos, and the commandos took down one of the Imperial Troops on the eastern building.

From there, the Rebel Troops continued to move on the western edge of the building, lead by their captain (from the rear). Their withering fire wiped out two complete squads of Imperial Troops, and broke the third which moved to reinforce them. The wookies were wiped out quickly by fire from the Stormtroopers, whom brought their repeating carbine to bear from the south western edge to the south eastern. It's fire also killed 3 commandos over the course of the game. The Stormtroopers accounted for 2 of the remaining, and the Sgt. the last. Luke survived until the last round of the game, but was surrounded by the Stormtroopers and pummeled into unconsciousness. Before this, however, he survived a triggering of base mines set around the building complex (3 Rebel Troops did not). Rebel Troops, after wiping out the western Imperial forces, them flooded around the building and into the Stormtroopers. While the game did not continue once Luke fell, the Rebel forces were still numberous enought that they likely would have won the ensuing combat. Unfortunately, with their commander down, they settled for retrieving him and retreating. Devok accounted for 4 Rebel Troops, but withdrew when things seemed to be looking grim on the western front. Captain Neel joined Devok.

Final Results:
The Empire won the round, but it wasn't by much. Imperial forces were damaged, but who knows how hard it would've been to take out those Stormtroopers (untouched until then). Luke was down, but his forces were still over 1/2 strength (unlike the Imperials). The Bothon was still imprisoned, however, so in the end it was a definate Imperial victory. Very fun game, took about 3 hours (1/2 the time was spent learning the rules, which none of us had played before). Definately going to do this again.

Sounds like fun and a good fight. What did you like about the rules? Not like? Did it handle the number of troops okay? I've been curious about Savage Worlds for some time. I heard they were pretty good.

~OD

The fight had a very good feel to it. I've played 40K, VOID, Melee, and Battlesystem, and using them as a comparison I'd say that overall I like Savage Worlds better. There isn't as much to it, but this makes it a very fast system with a touch of realism.

We made up 3 major rules on the spot (what to do in retreats – we added rally points, and had fleeing troops retreat from firing ports if the rally point was in an inhabited building, how to handle which target to shoot (can fire at any target reguardless of which is closest, but can not fire through ranks without a sniper ability, and how to move in/out/through buildings – 1/2 speed, 2" per level by stair). So a few things still need to be iron out, but we handled it on the fly quite well – we stole what we liked from other systems.

The units were either 1 figure (heros), or 3-5 for units. I could have done bigger units, but these seemed to have a better feel. I was in charge of unit creation, and I could see some possible abuses of creation if there isn't a GM or good sportsmanship involved. But the system lent itself to quick adaptation to the Star Wars universe. I used a base from another conversion (available on the savage world website), but modified it heavily to my own taste. The end result was a really, really fun game. The unit activation flowed wonderfully.

Rounds went quickly after we had a few rounds to get used to it, but there was a bit of confusion about held actions for some time. Each unit really showed off it's benefits, either in numbers, resourcefulness, or just plain coolness. I made up 3 heros for the Imperials, and only 2 for the Rebels. If Luke had been run a bit better, I think he would have taken out the Stormtroopers pretty easily. The benies and bonus die make heros really useful, but even so Luke went down quickly under the assault of the Stormtroopers. He survived 4 rounds of hand to hand, though, impressing me. He was very powerful, but did not overpower for his point cost.

The 3 Imperial heros, whom were all quite weak, proved to be very useful in pulling off the Imperial victory. Without their special abilities, the Rebels would have won. I can think of 4 seperate occasions where their presence prevented routing by Imperial Troops (including a Stormtrooper Squad). At any rate, if you want to try it out, download the free demo and I'll send you my troops to try out the scenario. A lot of it I had to just guestimate, but I think it went really well.

So to review my ramblings, it was a fun game, it had a great feel (cinematic, but not too much so), and it handled the troops well. Everybody had a great time, and is looking forward to playing again.

barerspamfootrspam_travrspamellrspamer@yarspamhoo.rspamcom

Just remove the rspam's.

Thanks for the good report and review. These rules look interresting, and I may end up picking up a copy.

Hey, Captain Oblivious. Is that my Savage Worlds Showdown! Star Wars conversion you were talking about?
naxera.com/starwars

Great report! Got any pics? I'll host 'em on my site …

- Ted

Greetings Captain!

Thanks for the report. Photos??

Norm Hensley

@Ted
Yep, I was inspired by your beautiful work to try a game out. I modified your basic troops (heavily), but would not have had the energy to do so without your inspiration. :)

Sorry, guys. I didn't do any photos. I may have to try to borrow my fiance's digital camera next time though…. Heh, if I wait a few more weeks, it'll be my wife's. Surely then she can't deny me… :)

Hey, Captain. Thanks for the kind words.

I'm curious to see what stats you used. Care to email 'em?

ted_arlauskas@yahoo.com

Great battle report, BTW. Love the scenario idea.

Thanks,
Ted

The files are on their way, Ted. Hope you like what I did with them.

Please send me the files too.

pitac@pitac.com

Thank you.

@pitac

The files are on their way. Hope you have fun with them!