Hello, and welcome back to Friday Night X-Wing. Today we will be taking an extended look into the Ground Assault custom expansion. So without further ado, I present GROUND ASSAULT!

New Units/Miniatures

As players will see in the Reference Guide, we will be introducing a few new Unit Types consisting of Small/Medium/Large Walkers and Tanks, Repulsor Vehicles, and Air Speeders. The Reference Guide will also feature stats for 26 new vehicles ranging from the small yet potent AT-ST to the gargantuan AT-M6, these vehicles will range across the various Star Wars eras from the Prequels, to the Original Trilogy, to the Sequel Trilogy. For Wave 1, we will be introducing the AT-ST and AT-AT for the Empire and the T-47 Air Speeder for the Rebel Alliance.

AT-ST

The AT-ST was originally seen in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Since then, it has made countless number of cameos in the EU books, video games, and even new films such as Rogue One. The AT-ST will be represented as a Small Walker. Both Small Walkers and Repulsor Vehicles will have their own new movement system

(something along the lines of standard Wargaming movement), while the larger vehicles will follow a movement style similar to the Epic Vehicles from 1.0. As you can see from this example, AT-STs and Repulsor vehicles can move anywhere on the area of play that is within the radius of a circle created by a Straight Maneuver template that is equal to their “Speed Value”. The Speed Value is indicated by an orange arrow that looks similar to the Defense

Value arrow. As you can see on the Tempest Scout Pilot card, the orange arrow with the value “2” represents the AT-ST’s Speed Value. In terms of thematics, this represents how fast a vehicle is. In this case, an AT-ST can go as far as a speed 2 straight maneuver. Other vehicles can go either slower or faster depending on their size and known stats based on both Canon and Legends. There is also a grey stat. That stat represents a vehicle’s Armor level. Since ground vehicles cannot perform dodges or evasive actions, they must rely on tough armor to survive attacks from the enemy. In this case, an AT-ST can only block 1 standard hit or 1 critical hit. Everything else will go through.

AT-STs are placed on standard 28mm or 32mm round bases. This gives them a full 360 degree firing arc but no bullseye arc. Most vehicles on this type of base will lack a bullseye arc. This means that they cannot equip upgrades that require using the bullseye arc. If you want to find an AT-ST, I would recommend checking out these sources:

Star Wars Micro Machines (Classic or new):

Hardware Studios on Shapeways: https://www.shapeways.com/product/VENQD7TTT/1-270-imperial-support-at-st?optionId=65009428 https://www.shapeways.com/product/MULNXWZJT/1-270-imperial-at-st?optionId=64963761 https://www.shapeways.com/product/NWYQNDDA7/1-270-imperial-at-st-3?optionId=64964095

Mel’s Miniatures on Shapeways: https://www.shapeways.com/product/QULXDX5LU/at-st-1-270?optionId=43411618

Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1239665



AT-AT

The Technological Terror known as the AT-AT is back and ready to wreck havoc on your table! This, along with the AT-ST, have made countless amounts of cameos in various Star Wars medias and it has many, many variants. For this expansion, the AT-AT falls into the category of Large Walker. Large Walkers and other Ground Based vehicles (that aren’t Repulsor Vehicles or Small Units) will follow a movement style similar to the Epic Ships

i n X-Wing 1.0. As a matter of fact, it even uses a 1.0 Epic Maneuver Template! As you can see on the image, it is performing a 1 speed maneuver. In order to do so, you must place your miniature on the edge of the line and slide it along the template up until it reaches the bottom of speed 2.

In order to perform a turning maneuver, the player must utilize the small cut in the maneuver template. After doing so, they simply turn the slide the miniature to the desired side against the template. A scan of the 1.0 Epic Maneuver Template will be provided when you download the expansion but players are free to purchase acrylic ones from eBay, etsy or their FLGS!

As we can see on the Tempest Force Pilot, the AT-AT has a powerful Attack Value of 3, an Armor Value of 3, and a Hull Value of 8. Since the AT-AT has an Armor Value of 3, this means that the AT-AT can cancel up to 3 standard hits or 1 critical hit and 2 standard hits. After the first critical hit is canceled, it is vulnerable to other critical hits achieved. In the action bar, the AT-AT has a new action called “Orbital Bombardment”. It is represented as an upside down Coordinate Action. What this new action does is that it allows for a player to call for a bombing run to remove pesky obstacles or damage enemy units and buildings, however it is limited to only Range 3. It cannot be used to target air vehicles such as Ships or Air Speeders. Since it is a fairly powerful action, it can only be used once every three turns. This means that if an Imperial player were to use the Orbital Bombardment action in the turn 1, no other friendly unit can use it until turn 3.

Contrary to popular belief, the AT-AT was not as big as everyone perceives them to be. According to both Canon and Legends, the AT-AT was only around 22.5 meters tall and 20 meters long. This means that if it were to be accurately translated to X-Wing, it would have to be 8.3 cm tall and 7.4 cm long, however players can choose to use whatever model they see fit. You can find various AT-ATs from these sources (they will all be around the given height):

Star Wars Titanium Series

Star Wars Action Fleet

DeAgostini Model

Star Wars Command (it will be a 1-2 cm shorter but it is extremely cheap and it works)

Mel’s Miniatures on Shapeways: https://www.shapeways.com/product/3K4JXVU8K/at-at-1-270?optionId=43769152

Hardware Studios has AT-AT Compatible Bases: https://www.shapeways.com/product/79FRZS2WG/1-270-at-at-base?optionId=63513277

Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2372537 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2556447 This version of the AT-AT Base was made by us to be 100% compatible with the expansion: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3501878



T-47 Air Speeder

Finally we have the T-47 Air Speeder, or as it is better known as the Snowspeeder! Since the T-47 falls into the Air Speeder category, its stats and movement plays exactly like a

regular ship from X-Wing. It is placed on a small ship base and it follows all of the rules of a small ship. In terms of stats, the T-47 Air Speeder plays similarly to a customizable TIE Fighter.

First off let’s look at Wedge Antilles. Coming in at PS6, his ability allows him to lower the defense value of an enemy, in this case its Armor Value, when he is performing an attack. This will prove to be very useful when going up against AT-ATs and other units that have an Armor Value of 2 or 3. The T-47 also has an ability known as “Multi-Purpose Speeder”, this ability allows players to perform the action written on their equipped Configuration upgrade. This was done to reflect how the Rebels customized these Speeders immensely depending on the climate; they snowspeeders, swampspeeders, desertspeeders, etc.

The “Snowspeeder” configuration upgrade allows a player to perform the Tow Cable action. The Tow Cable was made famous by the Rebel Alliance when they were used to take down Imperial Walkers during the Battle of Hoth. In order to perform the Tow Cable action, the target must be a Large Walker in your rear arc at Attack Range 1. Once meeting those requirements, you must roll 1 attack die. If you land at least 1 hit, focus or critical hit result, then the action is considered successful. In order to destroy the walker, while staying within Range 1, you must complete one full circle around the Walker without completing any maneuvers that overlap the Walker, other large ground vehicles, or obstacles. If you are destroyed without completing the circle around the Walker, the action is considered to have failed.

If you want to field some Snowspeeders, I would recommend the following models:

Star Wars Risk (Original Trilogy Version)

Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1290458 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2161426

Mel’s Miniatures on Shapeways: https://www.shapeways.com/product/LGWL7T93T/snowspeeder-1-270?optionId=8621548&li=marketplace https://www.shapeways.com/product/8UXQ8PEC9/4x-snowspeeder-1-270?optionId=8621716&li=marketplace (This includes an AT-AT, 2 AT-STs, and 4 Snowspeeders): https://www.shapeways.com/product/SG8BT25BE/theme-battle-of-hoth?optionId=32092732



What is Coming Next?

Well, it really depends. Typically I am planning to release a new expansion with 1 new unit per faction every couple of months. However, I will also make special releases to coincide with what FFG may do (such as introduce the new Prequel and Sequel Trilogy factions) or even make it coincide with new film releases. In terms of what I am choosing, I will choose what I see fit but you guys can leave comments on Wave announcement posts or send us messages/e-mails telling us what you will want to see next!

For now, we are planning to introduce Scum, First Order and Resistance vehicles in Wave 2.

Buildings and Structures

In order to complement the new Ground Units, we are also adding rules and stats for various buildings and structures. In essence, buildings are a new obstacle/objective that have passive abilities that can aid itself or your units. Structures, however, are also obstacles but they are active in the play area. They can perform attacks (in the form of Turrets and Turbolasers), friendly units can dock with them, etc.

For today’s article, we will be looking at the most common Structure in the expansion; the Emplacement Turret. As the name suggests, they’re ground based turrets that are meant to protect the objective or trap enemies. There 9 various turret emplacements that you can use with varying abilities, fire-power, and range. Each one fills a different kind of role. For example, the XX-10 Turbolaser Tower (pictured on the left). can be used to pick off enemies that are at Range 2-5. This covers a fairly large distance and it can be useful for protecting objectives that must be bombed. The Air Defense Turret has a shorter 1-3 attack range but it has a wider firing which makes it useful as a last line of defense. Turrets and other various emplacements are quite easy to find and even build. For turrets and other emplacements, I would recommend the following models:

HOTAC Compatibility

We’ve gotten many questions asking if this expansion is compatible with HOTAC. As of now, the expansion will not be compatible BUT there is hope. The HOTAC Facebook group is currently working on bringing in Ground Units such as the AT-AT and AT-ST into HOTAC as units for both the 1.0 and 2.0 versions of HOTAC. However, I do plan on creating an AI system for my Ground Units so that they can be incorporated into any future projects that we may have.

Missions and Scenarios

To begin, a mission is a specific thematic game mode while a scenario is a general game mode that can be applied to any game and that players can change up. In our expansion, we have 6 Scenarios for players to choose from such as Walker Assault, as well as 3 missions.

Eventually we will be releasing new missions and scenarios for players to try out as we pump out more waves of units.

Walker Assault

Walker Assault is a scenario based upon EA Battlefront’s game mode of the same name. Essentially a player must destroy the other player’s Large Walkers before they reach the objective. As of now, it can only be played between the Empire and the Rebels/Scum ( eventually there will be amendment released that will make it compatible with the Resistance and First Order as well as the Republic and the CIS).

Here is an official preview of the scenario:

Rules: You must be 2 players on a 3×3 or 6×3 area of play. One player must be The Empire while the other can choose their faction; that player will be assigned the role of Defending Player. The Imperial Player will have 250 points for Squad Building; they are restricted to Ships and Small Units. The Imperial Player also has access to 200 points for their AT-ATs or AT-ACTs. The Defending Player has access to 450 points for Squad Building; they are restricted to Ships and Air Units. They must also place a Shield Generator or a GR-75 as targets on their edge of the area of play. Players can use up to 7 obstacles. If you are playing on a 6×3 area of play, both players must start on the farthest edges of the area of play (as in, they must place your forces on the short edge of the area of play). The Imperial Player has access to 350 points for Squad Building and 300 points for their AT-ATs or AT-ACTs. The Defending Player has access to 650 points for Squad Building. Players can use up to 10 obstacles. When setting up, the AT-ATs and/or AT-ACTs must be beyond Range 3 of the Imperial Player’s Squadron. They must be placed within Range 2 or beyond of each other. Throughout the entirety of the match, those Walkers must always remain within Range 2 or beyond. If not, they must perform a turn or 0 speed maneuver until they are at Range 2. Attacking in Waves: Due to the large number of miniatures that could be present in the area of play, it is recommended for newer players to try utilizing the “Waves” format of playing. In essence, it is a modified version of the “Escalation” game mode in X-Wing (check out “Scenario 4: Onslaught” for more information on using the Waves format). In this case, each player should start off with 4-5 Units (with the exception of the AT-AT). Imperial Objective: The main objective for The Empire is to successfully escort at least 1 AT-AT within Range 1 of the target; it can be a Shield Generator, GR-75 or whatever the two players agree on.

How to Win: The Imperial Player wins if they can successfully escort at least 1 AT-AT within Range 1-3 of its target and destroys it. The Defending Player wins if they destroy all of the AT-ATs in the area of play and at least 50% of the Imperial forces.



The Unofficial Companion Piece

The Unofficial Companion Piece is a little side project specifically for X-Wing as a whole. As of now, it will serve as the FAQ for Ground Assault as well as provide players with additional information on Star Wars within the context of the game. As we release future projects (as well as receive content from you guys), we will update them into the Companion Guide so that it can serve as an additional resource, sort of like a Sourcebook for RPGs.

The Future of Ground Assault

Download a Preview here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1b0Hs4Zzy04Do-ltpu3kZnI1gwrzjx_dk

As time passes, we will be releasing amendments to the rules, new expansions, and all kinds of new content for this expansion as well as incorporate it into future projects. As of right now, Wave 2 is being worked on. The announcement of the Prequel era content from FFG and the Sequel Era content releasing soon means that they will be the focus of Waves 2, 3 (although we will be releasing Original Trilogy content as well).

This expansion is still in its early stages, this is why we will be relying on you to help us further test out the various game modes, rules, etc. We will do what we could to change up certain rules, fix overpowered vehicles, etc. It is nowhere near perfect and we have all done as much as we could, this is why we will need your help. Our email and Contact Page is open to everyone who wishes to contribute to the project and help out. Once this project works well for all, then it will give us an opportunity to do new things such as create a new campaign for X-Wing, custom wave expansions, etc.

If all goes well, we are planning to release our expansion for late November/early December. I hope you all enjoyed reading this article and are looking forward to playing! Until next time, Fly Casual!