Star Wars campaign using Space Weirdos (Mission #3 9/2/25)

[mikedemana]

With our first scenario completed on "May the 4th Be With You," our Star Wars campaign is underway!

Part One

I had been steadily getting things ready to finally run Star Wars skirmishes with Space Weirdos rules. When our regular host pointed out the first Sunday in May would be the 4th, he suggested we play a Star Wars themed game. So, I hurried my last preparations and was able to finally run a skirmish using these rules and the miniatures I've been painting up for more than a year, now. I cooked up a scenario with a nod to the iconic Obi-Wan line, "These aren't the droids you're looking for..."


The Rebel Alliance from off-world: (L-R) Ylena, Knox, Jambru Gassu, & Mango

In my Star Wars games, each player will control one of the factions from that universe. Since we typically have six players, I created that many factions: Empire, Corporate Security, Mercenaries (Bronze Legion), Criminal Syndicate, Local Rebels, and Rebel Alliance. In this game -- stop me if you've heard this before -- the rebels have pulled off a big feat and stolen the plans to the imperial security facilities on Tatooine.  However, the agents were caught in the act and prior to be arrested were able to download the plans into a droid, send it out into the streets of the city, and inform their colleagues what they'd done. The only problem was the transmission was cut off prior to identifying the exact droid with the plans. Based on where the heist occurred (and the memory required), it could only have been an R1 Logistics droid or B3 Engineering droid, though.


The Empire's strike team: (L-R) Darth Pylos, Lt. Echo Five, Trooper EA-01 & Trooper EA-02

The empire and their corporate security also discover what has happened and launch a search for the droid, several hours later. Meanwhile, the Tatooine Local Rebels and the off-world Rebel Alliance (who cooperated to pull off the feat) have sent teams into the city to locate the droid. Waiting for them there, though, are mercenaries from the Bronze Legion. They've been hired by the town's insurance companies. A maddening number of "droid-nappings" have been occurring locally, and they've given up on the Empire or their local security's ability to handle the problem. Tired of losing money on insurance claims for stolen droids, they hire the elite Bronze Legion to watch over droids in the busiest section of town. In addition, paid informants inside the imperial security staff have let the local Criminal Syndicate know what has happened. They also mobilize a team, but not to find that one particular droid. Instead, they intend to take advantage of the chaos about to break out dowtown to steal some more droids!


Enforcers from a Tatooine Criminal Syndicates: (L-R) Foxhurst, Quiddo, Sluggr, and Trumonkar

In the first game, each player would control four figures that I created using the Space Weirdos rules and the Sci-Fi miniatures I've been painting. Only the Stormtroopers are actual Star Wars forces. Otherwise, I'm using the forces I've been building over the last year or so to fill in the other factions. They are from a wide variety of sources, too. The Local Rebels, Bronze Legion, Corporate Security, and Knox from the Rebel Alliance are assembled from Stargrave kits. The Stormtroopers and the Mon Calamari rebel are 3-D prints from JS Wargamer Printing. A couple miniatures are from Wiley Games (Darth Pylor and Sluggr) or freebie giveaways from past Cincycons (Foxhurst, Trumonkar). The leader of the Rebel Alliance, Ylena, is a from Hydra Miniatures' Retro Raygun line and Mango the orangutan is from Sgt. Major Miniatures (now Battle Valor Games).


The Mercenaries from the Bronze Legion: (L-R) Hex Ruudo, Xessa Vat, Brun Wot, & Krits Muurd

As you can imagine, both rebel and imperial factions primarily want to recover the droid with the plans. They know it is one of the three R1 or three B3 droids. A successful "Willpower check" under the Space Weirdos rules when in contact with a droid can ascertain if it is indeed the droid they are looking for. Each figure from all six factions carries a "Droid Clamp." It takes one of a figure's three actions in a turn to apply it to the droid in contact. After that, the droid will dutifully follow the character wherever it goes. Their goal is to get off the board with that particular droid. The rebel or imperial faction which succeeds in doing that receives 5 Victory Points. Their ally faction gets only 2 VP, though (rivalry and desire to appear the most competent, right?). They also get VPs for knocking figures out of action from the Empire and Corporate Security (Rebel Alliance only) or Criminal Syndicate (Local Rebels only). The Empire gets VPs for knocking out figs from either faction of Rebels, while Corporate Security gets points for Alliance figures and Criminal Syndicate ones. The thought is the two native-staffed factions (Local Rebels and Corporate Security) aren't crazy about killing their fellow Tatooine residents.


Local Rebels from Tatooine: (L-R) Zimeon, Ziahra, Craix, and Rarely

But what about the Mercenaries? They are hired by the insurance companies, so get points for knocking out of action ANY figure in contact with a droid. They also get a decreasing amount of VPs depending on how many droids are "kidnapped" during the scenario, maxxing out if no faction is successful in removing any droids from the table under their custody. To represent them already being in town keeping an eye on things, I let my friend Keith (who was playing the Mercenaries) deploy inside or on any buiding surrounding the central market (or in the market itself). Surprisingly, Keith deployed all of them visible -- none inside the buildings. He did institute a very aggressive defense, though, shooting players who came anywhere near the market -- not just in contact near droids. This resulted in him being at odds with most of the other factions in the game. As alluded to, the Criminal Syndicate got points for simply getting as many droids off-table as they could. They wanted the high-value ones, naturally the R1s or B3s, but also the floating FX drones. The smaller droids will still gave them points but not as much as the bigger ones (which, not coincidentally, the imperial and rebel factions wanted as well).


The Empire's hired Corporate Security: (L-R) Lt. Shrukar, Sgt. Ithran, Cpl. Valla, & Cpl. Teyran

The droids began the game mostly near the central market plaza, with some of the smaller repair or street-sweeping droids further out. Each type of droid had a secret path they would follow, moving once each turn after all the player figures had acted. The R1s (one of which had the plans) would circle the market clockwise, then exit off the opposite board edge furthest away from where they started. The B3s would do the same, but moving counter-clockwise. The FX stayed a building away from the market, circling then exiting similarly to the R1s. The other smaller droids would simply circle buildings and wander in what would appear to the players in an aimless path. Which one had the plans? The green R1 was the designated R2D2 for this game, which was made from a piece of Sci-Fi scatter I purchased from Diabolical Terrain (who also makes the Tatooine buildings) and treads from RRB Minis & More. 


Early in the game, from left, Keith, Joel, Mike W, Mike S, and Allen investigate the town layout

After I explained the rules and scenario, I gave the players a choice whether to roll and choose the side of the hexagon-shaped game board they began on, or to simply deploy on the edge where they were already sitting. Unanimously, they chose to begin where they were sitting. This meant the droid with the plans began near the market closest to Mike S's Empire faction and Allen's Criminal Syndicate. Its programming was to circle the market wall clockwise and then exit between Keith (Mercenaries) and Joel (Corporate Security). On the very first turn of the game, Allen moved one of his faster figures to within one move of that droid. However, by then, the Bronze Legion had begun opening fire on anyone who came within a move of of the walls of the market. Allen decided not to stick his neck out further and withdrew to pluck lower hanging fruit, so to speak. If he had decided to grab it, and had gotten off the board, his faction would have had the upper hand in the game, even though that wasn't technically the droid he was looking for!

End Part One...

Mike Demana

[mikedemana]

So many droids to investigate in this scenario -- luckily the Rebels knew it was one of two types

Part Two

Keith's Mercenaries quickly got into a firefight with the Corporate Security, Criminal Syndicate, and Tom's Local Rebels. The return fire of those factions (and also Mike S's Empire when Keith later opened up on one of their Stormtroopers, too), kept him hopping all game. All of the Mercenaries wore Heavy Armor, though, and this helped them time and again throughout the game, causing an opponent's shot to miss instead of hit. The way Space Weirdos works, each figure has stats in Speed (number of actions they can move in a turn), Firepower (shooting), Prowess (melee ability) and Defense (used when targeted by shooting or melee). The stat is expressed as a roll of two dice of a particular size, from d6 (weakest) to d8 to d10 (best). Modifiers such as cover, aiming, moving fast, etc., cause the dice type to go up or down, with a max of d12 and minimum of d4. Each player rolls their two dice and results are compared. If the Attacker's roll beats the Defender's, a second roll with 2d6 is made on a chart to see what happens. A particularly low roll on this chart could have the target return fire or counter-thrust in melee. Or the result could be for the target to run or dive for cover. Good rolls will knock down, "Stagger", or take them Out of Action.


Led by Darth Pylor, Mike's Empire faction moves past the power station towards the center of town

Another tactical wrinkle in Space Weirdos are the Command Points. Each player gets two per turn and they must be used during that turn and don't carry over. They can be very powerful. The most commonly used one in our game was "Dodge." Once the attacker declared a ranged shot on the target, the controlling player could play Dodge and move the figure one stick (5") out of line of sight, negating the enemy's shot and wasting those action(s). There's also Power Up, which gives the attacker or defender a dice type bonus. Hustle allows a character to move one more action than their Speed would normally allow (great for escaping off-board with a droid!). There were also Overwatch, First Strike (target of melee gets to attack first), and Regroup, which gives a bonus to next turn's Initiative roll.


Local Rebel trooper Craix eyes three Criminal Syndicate enforcers creeping towards the market

I feel Space Weirdos plays well with multiple players in a game. However, the rules appear to be intended for a 1 vs. 1 game. So, I felt that I had to modify the Overwatch command. I think I may have made it too weak. I will talk to the players about how to make it more attractive of a play, considering it was used only once and on the first turn of the game. I asked the players afterward about whether they thought the command point themselves were too powerful and if their number should be reduced. Only Tom (and honestly, myself) felt each player should be given only one instead of two. I was worried that players would get frustrated, moving into place to take a shot, spending an action aiming (to bump their dice type), and then shooting only to see the opponent play a Dodge and scamper away, wasting their entire turn, essentially. Players are limited to using Dodge, First Strike, or Overwatch only once per turn. To keep track of them, I gave each player two Hershey Kiss candies and said they were to unwrap and eat them when they use a command point. That way, we could visually verify if they had used their both, one, or none. Did they follow my rules? Ha, ha...only partially! There were a number of command points eaten before they were played, or not eaten at all!


Rebel trooper Mango charges up the stairs and enters melee with one of the Bronze Legion

The action unfolded with the Bronze Legion mercenaries merrily blasting away at anyone who came in sight. I whispered to Keith to make sure he understood he only got VPs by knocking a figure out of action in contact with a droid, and he said he knew that. He was just fighting an aggressive defense! The Corporate Security troopers, perhaps resenting the Mercenaries usurping their role as hired guns in the town, skirmished aggressively with the armored mercenaries. Meanwhile, the Rebel Alliance moved up, nailing one of the security troopers and knocking him out of action. When Rebel leader Ylena and her Mon Calamari companion neared the market, the mercenaries blasted away at them, too. The hulking orangutan Mango joined the firefight, eventually charged up the stairs at one mercenary and backhanding him off the stairway and into the shadows of a silent mechanical drill nearby.


A Stormtrooper takes a shot at a Mon Calamari rebel trooper as he ducks around a building

The Stormtroopers began to sneak up on the Rebel Alliance, though, and bring them under fire. Mike S was the first of the Sunday Evening gang to choose a faction when I announced the games, and he chose Empire. He is normally one of our most aggressive players, which I felt made perfect sense for the Empire. However, that night his advance was much more tentative than normal. His leader, Darth Pylos, used his dark powers to bring droids closer to his troopers for them to check out, but he didn't use any of his attack abilities. In particular, I fully expected Mike to use the "Mind Control" ability and have his opponents open fire on friendly figures. Or to use the "Mind Stab" to try to knock them out. He stayed focused on droid-hunting, though. His dice rolls were not up to snuff, either, and the Empire struggled to accomplish much other than inconveniencing the neighboring Rebel Alliance troopers.


Darth Pylos tells the Stormtroopers to fan out and search the R1 Logistics & B3 Engineering droids

Interestingly, the Local Rebels and Criminal Syndicate seemed to have a de facto truce going on. Tom had multiple opportunities to fire into the backs of Allen's criminal enforcers, but for the most part, declined. Allen, likewise, saved his shooting for the mercenaries who'd been trying to pick off his guys since the start of the game. On the face of it, Allen's criminals had the simplest mission -- just grab droids. However, that would put him at odds with the Mercenaries immediately. Also, if the droid he grabbed happened to be a possible type carrying the plans, the imperial and rebel factions would likely unload on him. Still, Allen balanced his aggression with mission focus, and was actually able to put the clamps on three separate high-value droids. If his leader Foxhurst had headed off-table with his clamped droid instead of moving to try to heal one of his downed troops, Allen would have won with 6 VPs.


Late game chaos at the market! Rebels and Stormtroopers blast away as they rush to secure droids

Actually, I was impressed with all of the players and how they attempted to carry out their missions. Mike W's Rebel Alliance were dogged foes of the Mercenaries and Empire, shooting them repeatedly and investigating droids that were close by. He simply had bad luck in the one with the plans was on the other side of the board. He played his rebels like you'd expect in the Star Wars universe, and would end up tied for second. His ally on the other side of the table had the good fortune of being closest to the path the droid with the plans would take. Local Rebel Tom used cover wisely, and aggressively advanced to return the fire of the mercenaries and to get as near to the target droid types as possible. When the green R1 came close enough, he had his leader (with the highest Willpower) check it out and confirm it was the one. He immediately began to flee the table, using a Hustle on his following turn to escape with his prize.


Criminal enforcer Sluggr slithers away with an FX Hover droid, heading for the table edge

The shooting broke out early and kept going all game long. From the battle reports I'd read on blogs or watched on YouTube, I was under the impression Space Weirdos would be a bloody game. However, fewer than one figure per faction was knocked out of action. I think that there were a few reasons why my scenario was less bloody than ones I'd read or watched. First, the rules recommend you have a lot of terrain to break line of sight or provide cover. I had a lot of buildings or big pieces of machinery on the board, which made it very easy to hide behind or use "Dodge" to avoid a shot. Plus, instead of your opponent getting only one Dodge per turn, potentially all five other factions could have a Dodge to use against you when you were shooting. Finally, the players admitted their rolls on the second table to ascertain damage after they hit with a shot were terrible. I repeatedly saw them roll "5" or less on 2d6. So, I think those three factors mitigated the bloodshed a little.


One of the Corporate Security troopers exits with an R1 droid, crossing his fingers its the right one

Still, I asked the players to be honest. Did they enjoy the system? I would not be offended if they didn't, and we could easily play the Wiley Games Galactic Heroes rules if they preferred.  They said they enjoyed them and were willing to keep using Space Weirdos for Star Wars skirmishes. They liked the scenario in honor of "May the 4th Be With You," and said they had fun. I already have an idea for the next chapter, so hopefully we will get a chance to play again in a month or so.


A look at the 17 types of droids (names are my creation) that were meandering around the board



Hope you enjoyed the report! Thanks in advance for any comments...

Mike Demana

[Spinal Tap]

What a fantastic looking game, brilliant pictures and battle report.

[scotty]

Great looking game

[BeneathALeadMountain]

Brilliant looking game, thank you for posting.

Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain

[nozza_uk]

To echo what I left on your blog, this scenario really captures the essence of the Star Wars universe.

I've got to applaud your diverse selection of miniatures, blending Stargrave kits, 3D prints, and figures from various manufacturers (some I don't recognise) to bring the Star Wars setting to life. Very inspirational.

[mikedemana]

Thank you -- I do have to say that a lot of the inspiration comes from here on LAF. Chief among those inspiring me are you, Simon, and the long-too-dormant Malamute vs. Oshiro thread. Oh, and Akula's thread, too. You guys are the ones that kept me going, painting all these different factions.

I appreciate everyone's kind words. Since the players seemed to enjoy it, look for more of this soon. 

Mike Demana

[Burgundavia]

That looks like a lot of fun. I might have to pick up Space Weirdos.

[mikedemana]

That looks like a lot of fun. I might have to pick up Space Weirdos.

It's really cheap on Wargame Vault ($5):
https://www.wargamevault.com/product/359157/Space-Weirdos

They also have a Sword Weirdos if you're more into Medieval/Fantasy...haven't played that one yet.

Mike Demana

[Burgundavia]

It's really cheap on Wargame Vault ($5):
https://www.wargamevault.com/product/359157/Space-Weirdos

They also have a Sword Weirdos if you're more into Medieval/Fantasy...haven't played that one yet.

Mike Demana

That was my next question. I've been thinking about something to replace Mordheim in our local group

[HerbertTarkel]

I think this looks fantastic. I want to do something with Star Wars, now that Legion is re-doing their minis in hard plastic.

Also, Allen in the first post could pass for a hairier Obi-Wan 

[hubbabubba]

A fine selection of space wierdos.

(I mean the minis you've used for the different factions, not that fine bunch of senior citizens gathered round the table of course.  )

[mikedemana]

A fine selection of space wierdos.
(I mean the minis you've used for the different factions, not that fine bunch of senior citizens gathered round the table of course.  )

Hahaha! 

Ah, we are that, too. You should hear the banter around the table! And yes, Allen's bushy beard contrasts with his brother Joel's more clean-shaven look. Allen has been referred to as looking like Einstein and Joel not too long ago as Harrison Ford. Not sure I see it, but hey! We are a merry band of characters...

Thanks again for the kind words, everyone!

Mike Demana

[Sunjester]

A great looking game Mike. It makes me think I should break out my Star Wars minis for a game sometime soon, they have been collecting dust for the past couple of years.

[mikedemana]

A great looking game Mike. It makes me think I should break out my Star Wars minis for a game sometime soon, they have been collecting dust for the past couple of years.

Thanks, Graham! And yes, you should break them out. I know of a set that I can recommend...

Mike Demana