BoSS Battlefront - Brainstorming Phase

[Yodaking]

Yeah, I do really like how this format can open up for more use of the turrets and other DO's we have created. I just may need to buy a second turret as I only have the one. Maybe I should see if I can come up with a map where only one turret is available and thus represents another thing to fight over in addition to the control points.

 

[TREX]

I have an idea of building the turrets. I have a ton of material that can be used. We could give sets of two of them out as prizes. (After I see about how I'm going to put them together and paint them.) I could also do a tutorial on it after I build them, so people can make their own to play with.

 

[Yodaking]

I'll be interested to see what you came up with. I had gone looking for some ideas on how to make your own a few years back but didn't come up with anything. I was looking for some cheap tank toys I could pull the turret off of and then mount on a tube of some sort.

 

[TREX]

I'll be interested to see what you came up with. I had gone looking for some ideas on how to make your own a few years back but didn't come up with anything. I was looking for some cheap tank toys I could pull the turret off of and then mount on a tube of some sort.

I'll be messing around in my shop the next few days. I was just checking out my new Hot wire cutting tool on some different kinds of foam. I didn't realize all the fumes I was making, until my wife came in and demanded I crack a window or something. I have a few ideas that will be pretty easy.(for me.) I have a lot of materials that could do the job easily while being pretty durable as well. I gotta finish a few little projects:
-28mm Republic Gunships X3
-Custom HOSS Dice
-Custom HOSS Order Markers
-Custom giant mushroom forest terrain
I'll see what I can do with those ideas for the turrets.

When I finish it up, I'll see if I can post a tutorial.

 

[TREX]

@Yodaking, do you think I captured the look of the throne room? I put one of the glyphs on Palpatines Throne. I'm also not sure if I'd want to allow figures to shoot over the voids in between the main room and the pathways. I don't have any tile spaces there but it would be cool thematically.

 

[Yodaking]

I just looked at the pic you posted and it looks pretty great to me. The long stairway up to where the throne is located. I don't know how soon I'll get around to building all these maps you are putting up now but I will try to build them myself. I may just build one, then tear it down and build another one without playing any games on it. Just so I can get a better idea of how it looks and the lay out.

 

[TREX]

If I beat you to the punch, I'll throw up some RL pics of them like I did for mygeeto. I really like how they look RL version much better. The maps you see me putting up are not the first versions of these. Mygeeto is the 4th build of that one. I went through 3 other versions before I got that one. The Death Star Throne room is version 3. My Mustafar version is the 2nd one so far, but I'm not finished with it yet.

 

[japes]

I'll be interested to see what you came up with. I had gone looking for some ideas on how to make your own a few years back but didn't come up with anything. I was looking for some cheap tank toys I could pull the turret off of and then mount on a tube of some sort.

I'll be messing around in my shop the next few days. I was just checking out my new Hot wire cutting tool on some different kinds of foam. I didn't realize all the fumes I was making, until my wife came in and demanded I crack a window or something. I have a few ideas that will be pretty easy.(for me.) I have a lot of materials that could do the job easily while being pretty durable as well. I gotta finish a few little projects:
-28mm Republic Gunships X3
-Custom HOSS Dice
-Custom HOSS Order Markers
-Custom giant mushroom forest terrain
I'll see what I can do with those ideas for the turrets.

When I finish it up, I'll see if I can post a tutorial.

Can't wait for the Tutorial.

Also was it you that had plans to make Punisher skull dice? Custom HOSS Dice would be cool too.

 

[TREX]

I'll be interested to see what you came up with. I had gone looking for some ideas on how to make your own a few years back but didn't come up with anything. I was looking for some cheap tank toys I could pull the turret off of and then mount on a tube of some sort.

I'll be messing around in my shop the next few days. I was just checking out my new Hot wire cutting tool on some different kinds of foam. I didn't realize all the fumes I was making, until my wife came in and demanded I crack a window or something. I have a few ideas that will be pretty easy.(for me.) I have a lot of materials that could do the job easily while being pretty durable as well. I gotta finish a few little projects:
-28mm Republic Gunships X3
-Custom HOSS Dice
-Custom HOSS Order Markers
-Custom giant mushroom forest terrain
I'll see what I can do with those ideas for the turrets.

When I finish it up, I'll see if I can post a tutorial.

Can't wait for the Tutorial.

Also was it you that had plans to make Punisher skull dice? Custom HOSS Dice would be cool too.

Yes, the custom dice are being made now for HOSS, if it works good, I'll make marvel ones, I was that guy.. They might even end up being prizes for my up and coming things I'm working on.

 

[japes]

I'll be interested to see what you came up with. I had gone looking for some ideas on how to make your own a few years back but didn't come up with anything. I was looking for some cheap tank toys I could pull the turret off of and then mount on a tube of some sort.

I'll be messing around in my shop the next few days. I was just checking out my new Hot wire cutting tool on some different kinds of foam. I didn't realize all the fumes I was making, until my wife came in and demanded I crack a window or something. I have a few ideas that will be pretty easy.(for me.) I have a lot of materials that could do the job easily while being pretty durable as well. I gotta finish a few little projects:
-28mm Republic Gunships X3
-Custom HOSS Dice
-Custom HOSS Order Markers
-Custom giant mushroom forest terrain
I'll see what I can do with those ideas for the turrets.

When I finish it up, I'll see if I can post a tutorial.

Can't wait for the Tutorial.

Also was it you that had plans to make Punisher skull dice? Custom HOSS Dice would be cool too.

Yes, the custom dice are being made now for HOSS, if it works good, I'll make marvel ones, I was that guy.. They might even end up being prizes for my up and coming things I'm working on.

Make sure to post pics of those HOSS dice.

You promised me a set (of Marvel) at one point but I wouldn't mind exchanging for HOSS ones instead.

 

[TREX]

I'll get to the Marvel ones next, My only concern on those are the punisher skulls, the teeth are so small that I hope the blade wont rip them when cutting them out. When I get to them it will be Punisher skulls and Cap America Shields. What color should the dice be? The HOSS dice will be metallic looking.

 

[White Knight]

It should be easy to make 3D models of the turrets for 3D printing as well. Let me know if that is something that would be worthwhile.

 

[TREX]

It should be easy to make 3D models of the turrets for 3D printing as well. Let me know if that is something that would be worthwhile.

That would be epic. You could probably do them hollow, right? I think that would be a great Idea and would definitely get some interest if BOSS Battlefront takes off.

 

[Yodaking]

I started tweaking the Scarif map a little bit more and even added two more control glyph locations. That would bring it up to 7 spot to contest, which could make for a fun back and forth game. I just wanted to mention that some of the decisions I'm considering on that map are based on the idea that only HoSS units would be played on the map. No flying squads makes a big difference when placing control points. I think we should specify that the Battlefront rules are only for HoSS units, or at least no flying cards are allowed to be drafted from Classic.

 

[TREX]

I think that the Battlefront scenarios I made so far should be able to support original and HOSS. If you think about it. Flyers are generally more points, and there is a lot of auto wounding at the end of each round if the points are captured. I'd test it out before throwing that out. I liked letting my opponent use the marro, it didn't take away from the experience, I think it would make it better. You also get people more involved in playing the scenarios.

 

[Yodaking]

Just thinking about the rules a bit more and I think we should clarify which order the reinforcements are teleported up in as you may want to change your mind once you see what your opponent is going to do. So I was thinking that the order figures are moved are done in the order of the previous rounds initiative order.

Also wasn't sure if it needed to be clarified that figures like the Atgar Cannon can not be moved or if that was already clear from the power on their card.

 

[TREX]

So for rules when moving, I think keep it simple. You place them after order markers are placed. So.....place order markers, roll initiative for the next round as usual, then place your figures in that order. Example. Player one wins initiative, places their figures, then player two gets to place their figures. That way the guy not getting to go first gets to set up a little defense, and that keeps it simple and flowing. I'm thinking if you have to go back to the last round instead of using the initiative for the round at hand. For Atgar Cannon, his card says he cannot be moved, so that should cover it.

 

[Yodaking]

Between rolling for initiative and revealing OM1 should work.

 

[Yodaking]

Just in case anyone following alone here isn't aware of the Scarif Map thread I started for use with the Battlefront rules, I recently posted a PT report for both the map and Battlefront rules/game play here. It has a pretty good break down of the flow of the game in the spoiler tabs, showing the taking and losing of different control points. Also details how many wounds were handed out at the end of each round. I was really happy with how the rules and map played, no further suggestions for adjustments or clarifications to the rules from me. I'll be having some other people I know give the rules and map a spin tomorrow night and I'll post any feedback or questions they have.

 

[TREX]

@Yodaking, So far, maps for Battlefront we have are:
-Scarif Beach Assault.
-Jedi Temple of Coruscant
-Battle for Mygeeto
-Death Star Throne Room
I think we should throw down a handful of games down on each of these maps with our current battlefront rules, find out if any need any tweaks or fixes and then we can release our Battlefront system with the above maps with our next HOSS release. What do you think? I'm going to build Death Star Throne room tonight. What do you think about the glyphs at the start zones? Should we get rid of them? I'll build the maps that I LD'd, and update the VS files for the ones that need it. I'll remove the start zone glyphs if you think they are irrelevant. I think it would be okay for them to go. They cancel each other out anyways.

 

[Yodaking]

I can upload a Death Star map image showing you where I think the control points should be to make that map work. I know I previously was eager to put as many different control points as possible on maps but after having played it I've changed my tune a bit. 5 should be on the high end with 3 or 4 being used fairly often. The reason being that at the end of a close game when only a few figure may be left in play, managing to control 4 out of the 5 control points leads to 3W being given at the end of the round. Close games will be more fun and exciting if the control glyphs don't so easily swing the results in a big way. So yeah, lets get rid of control points in or adj. to start zones. The closest the first control glyph should be is 5 spaces away from the SZ. You can still grab it right away on OM1 and the free move to that location is still useful, but your opponent can also potentially grab it at some point during the game without being instantly overrun.

 

[Porkins]

I liked the SZ CP's on Mygeeto (only 1 game so far). Maybe it works because Mygeeto is a larger map, but I liked that it forced you to defend the SZ area, not just empty it.

 

[TREX]

Thats how it played as well. I left a figure there to keep the other team from overtaking it.

 

[Yodaking]

As previously mentioned I hosted a Heroscape event last Friday night. There were 6 of us in attendance and I had set up 3 two player scenarios and 1 four player scenario for us to rotate through. One station had Scarif set up with the Battlefront rules and armies. That map only ended up getting played once. The two players were a friend who had just recently moved back after a few years away and had not played Heroscape the whole time he was away, so a bit rusty on the Heroscape rules themselves, and the other player was a regular C3G player of our but had never played HoSS before, so new to all the cards being used. I explained the Battlefront rules to them and left a print out of the rules for them to reference, then took off to play my own game so I didn't see exactly how it played out but I did talk to them afterwards.

They never had any questions or concerns with the Battlefront rules system at all so I think we are good on that front. They also both enjoyed playing the game even though it didn't end up being all that close. It was the Rebels vs. the Empire and the Empire player ended up throwing in the towel once the last of his squad figures was taken out. He had hero figures left in play but the Rebels still had a pretty big force and it was clear he would not be able to contest enough control points to have any hope of mounting a comeback. This outcome seemed to have a lot to do with some pretty lopsided luck. The Empire player said he had a successful Ozzel surprise attack roll only to watch every single attack he made either miss or get blocked. Then the Rebel player at one point had Derlin bond with a Rebel Heavy Gunner and went 5 for 5, getting a kill with every attack he made. I've never had that kind of good fortune with the RHG, only rolling 2 att. dice you don't often get a skull on all 4 attacks much less have the opponent fail to block 4 times in a row as well.

That being said, the Rebel player also mentioned how significant being able to move 7 figures at once using the Rebel Capt. & Rebel Troopers was for him. He was able to get an early lead going as a result. I asked him is any of the control points changed hands and he did say that the Empire was able to take the middle glyph at one point but then he retook it on the next round.

So while I think we are set on the rules and game play experience, I'm not so sure all armies are created equal in this format. It seems as though some units will see a big increase in their ranking when playing in this format. Rebel Captain & Thugs are the two I have seen have a significant impact. I can imagine that the Tusken Raiders and perhaps the Ewoks could also be pretty good with their large numbers. I also think we need to test what kind of impact the Imperial Officer & Bib Fortuna have on a game. With those two units able to bring back dead figures they may be able to win every Battlefront game they play not against each other.

Not sure what to do about it, if anything. Maybe just including with the rules a list of recommended armies or tips for army building specifically for Battlefront. That way players are at least aware of what a winning army looks like.

 

[TREX]

I too like the simplicity and balance of the rules. I think it will be a matter of metagame just as regular competitive is. I wouldnt worry too much with are units that respawn units. It will make people strategize differently. Glad to hear positive feedback here.