Cut the Head campaign, Shuttle Blues

The idea for the starting scenario of this campaign was developed by Beni.
The Imperials must protect two Shuttles that start at one end of a 3x6' map. Emperor Palpatine is in one of them, or maybe already in the Excelsior VSD which is at the other end of the map and launches some TIEs to protect the Shuttles at the same time that it fires its Turbolasers (we used the same rules used for Turbolasers in scenario H3 of the Escape from Hoth campaign).

Teams

Rebels
Rebel Strike Team 1 (130 points) (played by Antonio)
- Airen Cracken Z-95 (19)
- Corran Horn E-Wing with Fire Control System (37)
- Tycho Celchu A-Wing with A-Wing Test Pilot, Chardaan Refit, Wired and Push the Limit (28)
- Miranda Doni K-Wing with Twin Laser Turret, Extra Munitions, Bombardier, Conner Net, Ion Bombs and Advanced SLAM (46)

Rebel Strike Team 2 (130 points) (played by Ricardo)
- Jake Farrel A-Wing with A-Wing Test Pilot, Chardaan Refit, Push the Limit, Autothrusters and Expose (31)
- Etahn A'baht E-Wing with BB-8 and Fire Control System (36)
- Knave Squadron E-Wing with Fire-Control System (29)
- 2x Prototype A-Wing with Chardaan Refit and Autothrusters (2x17)


Imperials 
Imperial Escort, Raider (175 points) (played by Beni)
- 2x Omicron Shuttle with Sensor Jammer and Counter Measures (2x28)
- 4x Royal Guard TIE Interceptor with Draw Their Fire, Royal Guard TIE, Autothrusters and Stealth Device (4x28) 
- Emperor Palpatine (7)
Imperial Fist, Excelsior TIEs (130 points) (played by JL)
- Deathrain TIE Punisher with Advanced Sensors, Extra Munitions, Conner Net, Ion Bombs and Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (38)
- 2x Cutlass Squadron TIE Punishers with Conner Net and Ion Bombs (2x27)
- 2x Black Squadron TIE Fighters with Draw Their Fire and Engine Upgrade (2x19)

Cut the Head

(epic background music)

It is a period of civil war.

After a long development phase,

the Victory Star Destroyer Excelsior 

is carrying out practice maneuvers with its new weapons' system.

Thanks to their Bothan Spy Network, 

the Alliance has learned that the Emperor will visit the Excelsior

to monitor in person the development of this new 

class of Star Destroyers.

The Emperor will travel in a Shuttle 

protected by two TIE Interceptor Royal Guards

and there will also be a decoy Shuttle.

The Alliance considers this a great opportunity to put a quick end

to the destructive civil war by capturing 

or getting rid of the head of the Galactic Empire:

Emperor Palpatine himself!

Setup

According to the scenario rules, each Shuttle had to start within distance 3 of one short border of the map; the Rebels started touching the same border; half of the Excelsior TIEs started touching the opposite border of the map, the rest would start at the end of the first round.

One of the Shuttles and its escorts, pursued by part of the Rebel Strike Team

The complete setup

Deathrain is launched from the Excelsior; we also can see the random cards we used to determine whether Palpatine was in one of the Shuttles or the Excelsior

First Turns

The Rebel Strike Team went straight to the Shuttles, mostly ignoring the escorts. One of the Shuttles was shot at by 6 Rebel fighters! Even with Sensor Jammers and Countermeasures, it looked like the Shuttle would not last long.

The escorts carry out a K-turn to try to protect the Shuttle, but they cannot stop it from suffering several hits.

One of the Shuttles stopped moving using the '0' maneuver and caused a "traffic jam"; you can also see on top of the image one Turbolaser marker; one was placed at the end of each round farther than distance 2 from each Shuttle, and would cause 3 red dice of direct damage (so no defense dice) to any ship within distance 2 of it at the end of the activation phase

the dogfight seen from a different angle

The Excelsior TIEs race to help the Shuttles

A Turbolaser discharge hits three ships and destroys one of the Interceptors that had been previously damaged while protecting the Shuttle with its upgrade Draw Their Fire

On the other side of the map, Miranda Doni manages to ionize herself, the Royal Guards and one of the Prototype A-Wings when it crashed into the Shuttle

Shuttle Down!

  Under such heavy fire, one of the Shuttles did not last too long...

And the Excelsior's Turbolasers manage to destroy the second Royal Guard... one of the E-Wings also received some minor damage

Under heavy fire, one of the Shuttles was shot down in Turn 3... it turned to be one of the Decoys!

The Excelsior's TIEs approach the action

Final Sprint

  Under such heavy fire, one of the Shuttles did not last too long, and the Excelsior TIEs did not arrive in time to help it.

The Excelsior TIEs finally arrive and try to desperately mount a defense to protect the Shuttle

The Excelsior's Turbolasers tried to protect one of the Shuttle's flanks. The TIEs deployed their bombs but did not manage to block too much the Rebels' paths... one of the Punishers even managed to ionize his colleague with his Conner Net!

One Prototype TIE sacrifices itself running head first towards the Conner Net, thus opening the path to Airen Cracken

And Airen scores the final hit on the second Shuttle... again, a decoy! So the Emperor was indeed already in the Excelsior! What can be the significance of this?

 

Summary

It was an intense and fun scenario, and a very good example of the myriad possibilities of the X-Wing game.

The Rebels' tactics were sound, as they had a lot of firepower and Etahn A'baht caused several critical hits... Even Palpatine was not good enough to save the Shuttle.

The Imperials did not fly so well this time, and the bombs' results were, again, underwhelming... It's very difficult to position them accordingly, so you end up spending points on something that can end up hitting your own ships.

Also, racing scenarios are always difficult to balance... If you give the chased too much advantage, then the escape will be easy; if you give the chasers too much advantage, then the escape will be impossible.
I also found the effect of the Royal Guard Escorts not only underwhelming but also not in line with the fluff of the scenario... I therefore proposed Beni to add a special rule to the scenario, as I think it would increase somewhat the survivability of the Shuttle in the first turns and make an interesting choice for the Rebels... will they first get rid of the Escorts or ignore them at their own peril?

Special Rule, Escorts: If a ship is inside the firing arc of a Royal Guard escort, it cannot spend any token while attacking the escorted Shuttle. (This simulates the fact that the ship cannot concentrate on attacking the Shuttles as it is being harassed by the Royal Guard escorts)

Commander Joe: Your Excellency! A Rebel Strike Team just blew two Shuttles and our cover fire caused only minor damage to them...

Emperor Palpatine (releases the Turbolasers' controls and scratches two lines in his many-scratched belt): Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen... The weak are culled, the strong shall prevail... And the Rebels faith in their Bothan allies will be their last weakness.

In the background two more VSDs approach the system...