Battle Report: SW Minis

Here was an impromptu game my brother and I made up on the spot during our Easter weekend at home.

The teams: A squad of Jedi Knights (Republic) against a team of Mandalorians (Ancient Sith). We had enough pieces to make up decent threat-values. And also the big War-Droid pieces look awfully cool. Yes, we played fast-and-loose with continuity: we're talking young Obi-Wan and Anakin versus Sith from 4 millennia in their past.

The map: The sheet came from the Revenge of the Sith "Ultimate Missions" book (I think it's intended to be Mustafar from the movie). I chose it because there's a wide corridor where the "huge" type miniatures could move about easily. In previous games when we chose a map at random, we'd often find they were unsuitable playing fields for the bigger pieces.The Setup: A diplomat is held prisoner. The Jedi must mount a rescue. They must make contact with the diplomat (reach an adjacent square), and lead him(her) to the "turbolift" (and to presumed safety). The diplomat is an idiot so he wanders away while the Mandalore ignore him to meet the Jedi in battle: move him at random using "Warhammer scatter dice" (or devise your own randomizing engine).

Running the scenario: Considering how we made this up by the seat of our pants, I'm amazed how well the game went. The Mandalore did the most obvious thing up front: use their blaster weapons to attack from a distance. The first War-Droid fired at and hit Anakin from opposite ends of the board. The Jedi team split into 2 - 1 squad to tie up the War Droids at the center bridge and 1 squad to attempt forcing their way in on the side. The Mandalore team split into 3 in an effort to cover all 3 entrances. As luck would have it, the opposite resulted in the actual game: the infiltration squad would spend much of their time tied up while the diversionary squad would go on to pummel the War Droids. Kit Fisto, originally assigned to fight the droids wound up being the "runner" who would make contact with the prisoner and bring him to safety. While Anakin would be killed, Obi-Wan would confront the Mandalore who took up positions near the turbolift.

Post game: Both teams made initial mistakes - the game was determined by who recovered best from those mistakes. The Jedi were seeded in the open - hence Anakin's initial wound from the lucky opening shot. The Mandalore team split into too many squads - their coverage of the third entrance amounted to nothing.

The huge War Droids were not fast enough. This playing piece is one of the most dangerous in the entire Minis game. It moves quickly, and has a "strafing" ability to attack anybody near it. It was in one of these attacks that Anakin was killed off. Yet somehow, both Droids found themselves caught in an ambush.The Jedi spent way too much time tied up on the side bridge with a Mandalore Blademaster. Luck played a role in that the hapless victim who was locked in close-combat was Agen Kolar who features a "healing" ability allowing himself to stay in the fight much longer. While he was caught there, the rest of that squad should have called it quits mush sooner (Yoda's team only regrouped after skipping 2 or 3 turns). The tide of battle changed when he brought 2 or 3 of his squad-mates to join up with Obi-Wan.

Both players need to remember the "Command" abilities of their playing pieces better! Obi-Wan has a mobility features that allows his followers to move additional spaces. If we remembered that, Kit Fisto would've been able to retrieve the diplomat sooner.