Imperial Entanglements

Happy Hallowe’en from S.M.H.I.T. headquarters here in ancient, storied Ancaster!

There’s been lots of S.M.H.I.T. happening now that the War-nasium is up and running, including several games of Gamma World and Strange Aeons. We’ve also recently had a chance to play through the complete Tantive IV campaign for Star Wars: X-Wing.

That's a lot of ships!

 

The campaign involves the story of a Corellian corvette that is wanted by the Empire for suspicion of aiding the Rebellion. There are six possible missions, of which four are played in sequence depending on which force won the previous mission. Scott and I teamed up as the Empire and attempted to bring Connor and his rebel ships to heel.

Scott and Connor.

 

Or, at least, that was the plan.

Scott opens fire while Connor plots his next ram.

It turns out that in a game where the average ship model is an inch long, a huge 12”-long model that needs two large bases just to hold it up is pretty damned tough!

A wing of TIE fighters closing in.

 

In spite of the fact that we won one of the missions, Connor managed to win the campaign through a combination of cunning and Imperial incompetence. The Corellian corvette, due to its massive size, can literally ram smaller ships right out of existence, while suffering only slight damage itself. Connor took excellent advantage of this rule, and used his corvette much like a snow-plow, ramming ship after ship that got too close.

TIE bombers engaged by defending Z-95 Headhunters.

Add to this the fact that Scott and I seemed incapable of flying our fighters without constantly bumping them in to each other, and it’s no secret why the rebels ultimately won. We collided so many times we began calling the collisions Imperial Entanglements, just ‘cause.

One of many 'Imperial Entanglements'.

 

The X-Wing system is great fun, and scales up surprisingly well. Our final battle saw the huge corvette and seventeen fighters careening around the table amidst asteroids and exploding space-mines.

The corvette escapes to safety, winning the campaign.

 

 I’m very pleased with this game, even if my collection resembles this cute cartoon…

Thanks again for stopping by!

-Andrew