Friday 21 June 2013

Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Capital Ships

Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Imperial Star Destroyer
The corvette 'Silent Vigil' escorts Imperial dignitaries on route to Coruscant... 

Like many of you currently playing X-Wing, I've had a real urge to bring some large scale ships to the table. Whether operating within a home brew rules set or simply acting as large scale scenery, the cinematic presence these ships provide can really help make for a memorable spectacle.

Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Imperial Star Destroyer


Scale wise, Frigate and Corvette class ships are the order of the day and in this regard Rebel players have the option of going for the Kenner Toys 'Collector Fleet' Blockade Runner. More on her in a future post...

Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Imperial Star Destroyer

The Empire player needs to think outside the box a little but has a great option available to them in the form of the Republic Star Destroyer kit from Revell. I picked mine up from eBay for about 30 quid. Let's take a look at what comes in the box...

Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Imperial Star Destroyer
Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Imperial Star Destroyer
Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Imperial Star Destroyer

The kit was straightforward to put together, taking around an hour including time for clean up and prep. Once the kit was built I needed to think about basing it and in this regard, the GW large flying stand presented itself as a good solution.

Once a balanced 'center' of the model had been determined, I marked out the outline of the stand and drilled holes along each length of the cross to bore out the required space, sharpened up the remaining edges with the ol' hobby knife and finally neatened it all off with a bit of sanding using a needle file. The end result means the ship simply slides onto the stand for gaming and can be removed for ease of transport and storage. I'm still weighing up the options for the stand's base itself - Ideally incorporating some play-tested ship stats / firing arcs etc.

Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Imperial Star Destroyer
Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Imperial Star Destroyer
Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Imperial Star Destroyer


Paint wise, the model was undercoated with Army Painter 'Uniform Grey', airbrushed up with a couple of lighter coats and then given a final dry-brush of pure white. I wanted to keep any detailing fairly simple and so picked out a few white lights down the flanks with red lights next to the docking bay doors. I also wanted some sort of scale reference, so I picked out windows and viewing ports down the main turret and bridge, painting them in black and varnishing them with ard' coat...


Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Imperial Star Destroyer
Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Imperial Star Destroyer
Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Imperial Star Destroyer
Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Imperial Star Destroyer
Can anyone else see Jar Jar Binks in this picture...?

So what do we know about Imperial Corvette and Frigate class ships within the Star Wars universe and how can they inspire some narrative and mission ideas within our games of X-Wing? 

‘The Vigil-class Corvette is a heavy corvette for escort, reconnaissance, and utility duties of the Galactic Empire. Often classified as a frigate, the Vigil-class is designed for patrol and escort duty.’

‘An extensive radar array is used to intercept signals and triangulate enemy positions. Double laser turrets with fast track targeting are installed on both the dorsal and ventral hulls. A small hanger on the ventral hull could house up to sixteen starfighters. Normal deployment was a mixed squadron of recon, light bomber, and Interceptor fighters. Two tractor beam projectors are used to capture smaller ships for boarding. A small company of stormtroopers act as both security for the Vigil-class Corvette and assault troops when boarding captured vessels.’



‘Many of these Vigil-class Corvettes were used by the Imperial Security Bureau as heavy transports for ISB Officers. These ships also served as command vessels for Sector Police and assisted in operations with customs enforcement.’

All sounds very inspiring :)

Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Imperial Star Destroyer
Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Imperial Star Destroyer
Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Imperial Star Destroyer
'Run Rebel, run Rebel, run, run, run...'

Well, I hope you enjoyed our look at the 'Silent Vigil' and felt inspired to bring some large scale ships to your games of X-Wing. Next time we'll take a look at the first ship to make an appearance in a Star Wars movie - The 'Tantive IV' :)


9 comments:

  1. Very nice! Have you come up with any rules for movement on the large ships? I'm trying to put together a scenario using the Kenner Blockade Runner model. I'm having problems dealing with "Overlap." Seems like the large ships should just "plow through" and move the small ships out of the way! Having trouble coming up with a good game mechanic though...

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    1. Cheers fella! I haven’t play tested them yet, but you can find what look to be some excellent Capital Ship rules over at the WWPD Outpost Zero site (link below).

      'Overlap' is an interesting one - Agree with you on the 'plough through' theory. The OZ lads share that view and go with - ‘A Capital Ship is never affected by over lapping a fighter’ and that, ‘If a Capital Ship ends its movement overlapping a fighter, either place the fighter on top of the Capital Ship model without moving its location or move the fighter by the smallest amount to allow the capital ship to be placed correctly.’ – All sounds sensibly thought out. If you get to try out the rules, let me know what you think 

      Ps. Great job on your minis – Your Bolt Action Canadian Rifles are excellent!

      https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TYr0R06MjOr-9CXVAdXyK97exi3dbBb9QgYdrNvfHJo/edit#

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  2. Thanks for the inspiration!
    :)

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  3. Hey is that a Sith Infiltrator in that last picture?

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    Replies
    1. Hi mate, yes it's an 'Action Fleet' Micromachines Sith Infiltrator. Looks pretty good scale wise alongside the XWing minis. We've yet to use it in any games but would look to use it as some sort of objective. I understand that prior to DMaul owning her, it was owned by Palpatine, who presented it to Maul when he became his dark apprentice. The ship also possesses awesome cloaking abilities. Great stuff :)

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    2. That's awesome, I was sure it was. I am a fan of the ship, Darth Maul is one of my favorite characters. About to start reading his EU books after I finish the Thrawn Trilogy. I feel like I need to follow rules too much to come up with a way to tie that ship into my game though haha.

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    3. Actually, you could work it into your game easily. After Darth Maul died, the ship was confiscated by the Jedi Council. According to starwars.com: "The ship was going to be transferred over to Kuat Drive Yards for study, but disappeared somewhere en route according to official records. In reality, as of 19 BBY, the Republic was storing it in a clandestine hangar in Theed. At some point, however, the Scimitar was recovered by Darth Sidious, who kept it during his reign as emperor of the Galactic Empire." This being the case, Palpatine could easily have sent either Vader, or one of his "Hands" on a mission with the ship. I hope this helps with some game ideas for bringing this awesome ship into play. :)

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  4. just played with the new blockade runner yesterday rule is if the bump you you are destroyed the role 1 die for potential damage if you bump them same as always stop at base lose an action

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