May the 4th Be with You 2023 – Return To Outpost 44: A(nother) Star Wars Story

The dawn mist rolled across the valley floor. Despite the thick, low cloud cover, his X-Wing’s imaging gear had no problem making out the scene below.

He almost wished it had. Sure enough, there was the same outpost his force had struck almost a year ago, but now around it had grown a fully fledged logistics staging hub – Luke Skywalker could make out depots, barracks and a heavy duty satellite array. That just made it more of a target for the Imperials. Despite the protestations of the local government, he knew their protestations of neutrality would count for nothing once Vader got wind of the bases’ potential value as a forward staging area for this system.

There!

Something fel, not seen – a flash of recognition, a chill that cut to his very soul – almost enough to make him lose momentary control of the spacecraft.

Vader. He’s here.

Despite his Jedi training, Luke felt a twinge of dread as he knew he must once again face the man who had once been his father. He wheeled the X-Wing about and headed back to the forward staging area. The troops must be rallied. This was going to be a fight, and as he scanned the faces of the Rebel troops assembled at attention, he wondered how many would see the sunset – and if he would be amongst them…

Welcome once again to what appears to be A Skinflint Tradition – as we celebrate Star Wars day by fighting a battle with the Epic scale armies Jim has lovingly crafted out of granny grating and general crap he has lying about the house.. and I can’t argue with the results, it’s a labour of every bit as much as my Blood Angels! This time we’d again be using our “Epic scale” version of Apocalypse: Earth ‘s sci-fi cousin Future Force Warrior which is solidifying pretty nicely as a ruleset.. order of battle was as follows:

Hero – Darth Vader (Empire), Luke Skywalker (Rebels) – each Hero generated D3 Command Points each turn, has 2 Damage, a lightsaber and a suite of Force Powers (Choke, Move, Jump), a Hero Save of 6+ and an additional Force Save of 6+

Infantry company – 3 platoons of 6 stands each, plus an HQ (2 stands) – armed with standard blasters

Speeder bike patrol with 2 bikes

Mech platoon with 3 vehicles each

Support platoon with 6 stands each, armed with heavy repeating blasters

Air defence platoon with 6 stands each, armed with SAM launchers

Mortar platoon with 6 stands each, armed with mortars

Combat Air Patrol with 3 aircraft each – TIE Fighters (Empire), X Wings (Rebels)

Despite cosmetic differences, stats for both sides are identical (so far) – I took the Empire, and Jim led the Rebel Scum.

Rebel Scum assemble

The Empire leads off..

The field of battle – Empire won the roll off for deployment and picked the northern (top) table edge, forcing the Rebels to deploy first. You can see the objectives in the centre – plasma reactors, comms bunker, equipmet and storage depots and the outlying towns

Luke leads the troops under cover from the X Wing CAP

Armour and artillery troops anchor the Imperial right flank

Winning the intiative, the Empire opt to move first and Vader orders his TIE fighters in to the attack – all 3 X-Wings down! THAT’s not like the films….

Air superiority to the Imperials!

Lord Vader leads the vanguard Stormtrooper platoon along the covered approach towards the settlement

Despite being aghast at his air cover being stripped away before having even fired a s hot, the plucky young Jedi sticks to the plan, heading towards the town flanking the settlement

Rebel Mechs roll forward catching and destroying the Imperial Speeder Bike patrol in open ground, but at a cost..

Turn 2 and the Rebels have gained the initiative – Luke leads the remaining Rebel infantry onto their first objective

With Luke issuing Command Points, they pour fire onto the Imperial support platoon in the town opposite, suppressing them

“Where’d everybody go??”

Vader and his bodyguard storm forward to capture the comms bunker, despite volleys of Rebel blaster fire

Rebel mortars pour anti-armour fire onto the Empire mechs, trying to buy time for their own mechs to pull off a flanking manoeuvre

Rebel Speeders make a daring raid behind enemy lines, lining up the Empire mechs already damaged by Rebel mortar fire

“You’re under arrest, Jedi dog!”

Luke despatches the Stormtroopers, but is wounded in the process… Guess he can’t pull off a “Rogue One” rampage like his dad can

“Leave him to me..” Vader close assaults the building, striking Luke down – and presumably in the process becoming more powerful than he can possibly imagine! But nonetheless, with their leader dead, their air cover blown and the assault faltering, it’s time for the pitiful little Rebel band to retreat, to live to fight another day! Meanwhile, how will Luke fare in Imperial captivity? Only time will tell….

This was a real ding-dong battle that could have gone either way but I think in the end, the early initiative and the hot rolling Command rolls I pulled off in the first turn, positioning the troops forward and knocking out the X-wing flight, gave me a strong advantage, particularly as the Rebels were consistently flubbing theirs.. so for now the Outpost, and the system, are firmly in Imperial hands! What will we muster up for next year’s battle?

Stay safe and thrifty out there, we’ll see you soon