"Star Wars" 1/270th Space Battle Report: Boba Fett Verses Luke Skywalker

LUKE SKYWALKER ATTEMPTS TO INTERCEPT BOBA FETT AND RESCUE HAN SOLO

This game was played using some homemade rules (M.I.S.S.) in order to allow us to play a quick space-fight utilising many of my long unused "Star Wars: X-Wing" miniatures by "Fantasy Flight Games", and took place upon a 3' x 3' "Hotz Mats" Deep Space Game mat. The battlefield was populated with a variety of asteroids which I bought from a seller on "Ebay" many, many moons ago.

“The story so far… Han Solo has been frozen inside solidified carbonite and is en route from Cloud City back to Jabba The Hutt's Palace on Tatooine. Desperate to intercept Boba Fett's modified Firespray-31-class craft, Slave-1, Luke Skywalker, Biggs Darklighter and Captain Jon "Dutch" Vander set off in hot pursuit. But the Bounty Hunter isn't flying alone, as Darth Vader has ordered two TIE-Fighters to escort him safely to his destination..."

THE TABLETOP - A REGION OF SPACE POPULATED BY FOUR ASTEROID CLUSTERS

The three Rebel spacecraft started along the eastern edge of the battlefield, and consisted of Luke Skywalker and Biggs Darklighter flying X-Wings and Captain Vanders in a Y-Wing. Some of their more notable special abilities were the young Jedi's "Sharpshooter" expertise [+1 to hit] and "R2-D2" [Repair], whilst the Rebel officer's "Leadership" skill would provide his fellow Alliance pilots one re-roll per turn providing their respective ships were within 12" of "Dutch".

The Imperial force started along the western edge and contained Mauler Mithel and Dark Curse in two TIE Fighters, along with Boba Fett in Slave-1. Some of the starfighter's special abilities were "Tight Turn" and "Jink" [a D6 Saving Throw]. In contrast the Bounty Hunter had "Sharpshooter" [+1 to hit] and "Armour" [a D6 Saving Throw].

The game would last six turns. To win the Rebels had to disable Slave-1. The Imperials would win if by the end of the confrontation Boba Fett's vessel was still intact.

BIGGS DARKLIGHTER AND "DUTCH" VANDER SQUARE-OFF AGAINST BOBA FETT

Seizing the initiative Mauler Mithel and Dark Curse swung southeast with Mauler taking the lead past Cluster Alpha. Slave-1 meanwhile moved east, tight to the southern edge of Cluster Alpha. In response, Biggs Darklighter and "Dutch" Vander gunned their starfighter's west, with the X-Wing protecting the slightly more vulnerable bomber. Luke Skywalker also flew west, eager to intercept the two TIE Fighters before they fell upon his friends.

As soon as Darklighter's X-Wing came within range of his blaster cannons Boba Fett opened up and immediately took down the Rebel's shields. Sensing an opportunity to remove one of their opponents quickly, Dark Curse and Mauler Mithel flew southeast straight at Cluster Omega in the hope of shooting Biggs through the rocks. However, the pair of TIE Fighters were still out of range of their starfighters' weapons.

BOBA FETT AND HIS TIE-FIGHTER ESCORT BEGIN TO LOCK HORNS WITH THE REBELS

Darklighter meanwhile managed to get his X-Wing's shields back up and engaged Slave-1 at close range. Disappointingly, the human pilot missed his target completely. Behind him, "Dutch" fired upon the Bounty Hunter's vessel too, his Ion cannons bypassing Boba Fett's shields but failing to penetrate the ship's armour. Realising his friends were struggling to take down their prize, Luke Skywalker curved southwest near the Cluster Omega and fired upon Dark Curse. The Imperial's TIE-Fighter was partially-damaged.

Eager to avoid the oncoming Rebel ships, Boba Fett turned south straight into Cluster Sigma and inadvertently damaged Slave-1. The Bounty Hunter's escort demonstrated their ships' agility by tightly turning to face Luke at close range. Dark Curse fired first and took down the Alliance pilot's shields. Mauler Mithel attacked second, partially prevented from seeing his target by an asteroid. However, the Imperial trooper still managed to partially damage Skywalker's X-Wing.

SLAVE-1 SMASHES INTO CLUSTER SIGMA, WHILST BIGGS AND "DUTCH" ATTACK ITS FLANK

Fortunately, R2-D2 fixed the Rebel starfighter's hull damage, and beeped as Luke made a hard right turn so his X-Wing was facing northwest away from his attackers. Biggs meanwhile turned into the rear of Slave-1, and firing his Taim & Bak KX9 laser cannons tore down both Slave-1's shields and caused some additional damage to its hull. "Dutch" Vander headed south in a wider turn and cursed as his Y-Wing's weaponry missed their target.

R2-D2 finally managed to get Luke's shields back up, whirring his approval as Skywalker's X-Wing started to loop around east, heading towards Cluster Alpha. Ducking under Cluster Sigma, Darklighter turned his X-Wing to face west. However, "Dutch" Vander was determined to stop Boba Fett, so turned as close to Cluster Sigma until his Y-Wing was almost touching Slave-1. The Rebel officer fired his Ion Cannons and watched in satisfaction as the Bounty Hunter's hull was further damaged.

DARK CURSE AND MAULER MITHEL SPLIT UP TO BATTLE THE ALLIANCE FIGHTERS

Rattled by the increasing damage to his vessel, Boba Fett tried to turn southeast out of Cluster Sigma. But the manouvere caused even more damage to his badly ailing spacecraft [by hitting the southern table edge]. Realising that Slave-1 was in danger of being disabled, the TIE-Fighters split up with Mauler Mithel turning northwest away from Cluster Omega after Skywalker. Whilst Dark Curse headed southeast.

Luke Skywalker dived in between the rocks of Cluster Alpha, noting that "Dutch" Vander had negotiated Cluster Sigma but was facing away from their target. Luckily Biggs Darklighter was able to turn south and possibly close the gap on Boba Fett's Firespray-31-class craft before it managed to reach the safety of hyperspace.

BOBA FETT LOOKS SET TO MAKE AN ESCAPE AS LUKE SKYWALKER CIRCLES AROUND

But the Force was clearly not going to be with the Alliance on this day, with Dark Curse tightly turning south onto the tail of Vander's Y-Wing. Firing at long distance with some rocks in the way, DS-61-4 still managed to strip "Dutch" of his shields. To the north, Mauler Mithel made a similar difficult turn to just get within striking distance of Skywalker. However, the "TIE pilot specially trained to be Darth Vader's left wingman" missed his target.

Unfortunately for the Rebels though, Boba Fett was able to gun Slave-1 east and into open space. There was no catching the Bounty Hunter's spacecraft now. Jabba The Hutt would have his prize...