RULES FOR... GALAXY AT WAR: BEFORE ENDOR
Structure of the WarThe war is between two factions. Each faction is made up of an equal number of players, and each faction has one player serving as the Supreme Commander. There will be 6 rounds in the war. Each round will last 2 weeks, during which time each player is expected to play one skirmish against an opponent from the other faction.
Each round, the Supreme Commander assigns a set of characters to each player in their faction. Players make squads using only their assigned characters. (Players do not have to use all of the assigned characters – in many cases that would be impossible anyway.) The Supreme Commanders also determine which maps the players will play on as follows:
Round 1: Imperial Supreme Commander selects maps and assigns one to each player in his faction.
Round 2: Rebel Supreme Commander selects maps and assigns one to each player in his faction.
Round 3: Imperial Supreme Commander selects maps and assigns one to each player in his faction.
Round 4: Rebel Supreme Commander selects maps and assigns one to each player in his faction.
Round 5: Imperial Supreme Commander selects maps and assigns one to each player in his faction.
Round 6: Rebel Supreme Commander selects maps and assigns one to each player in his faction.
Supreme Commanders must ensure that each player has access to the map that they are assigned. Once a map has been assigned to a player, that player and his opponent will play on that map. Both players know the map before they build their squad. Once a map has been selected, it may not be selected again in future rounds. (Unless there are so many players that maps must be re-used. In that case, maps may be re-used once all maps have been used once.)
Players sign up in pairs with an opponent from the other side. Players will play against their assigned opponent each round unless two (or more) pairs of opponents all agree to swap opponents for a round. If players agree to swap opponents, the SWM characters stay with the maps that the Supreme Commanders assigned. In other words, if two pairs swap opponents, two players also have to swap pieces.
ScoringEach skirmish is worth a number of points equal to the round number. For example, in Round 3, each skirmish is worth 3 points to the faction that wins the skirmish. Points are added up for the whole war, and the faction with the most points at the end of the war wins. Tiebreaker goes to the Light Side (since they usually win in canon).
PenaltiesIf a Supreme Commander fails to allocate characters to his players for a round by the deadline, the faction is left in disarray and the players must fight the battles with no additional allocation - only the characters that are available to everyone.
If a Supreme Commander fails to select maps by the deadline when it’s his turn for the selection, maps will be selected at random from the maps that have not yet been used in the war, and for each player the random selection will be limited to those maps the player has available to them.
If two players fail to play their skirmish by the deadline, neither player may receive any allocation for the next round.
If a Supreme Commander makes an illegal allocation (e.g. assigning the same Unique to two different players), all players receiving an illegal allocation automatically lose their skirmishes for that round, and some characters are also lost for the war. If a Restricted piece is allocated to more players than is permitted, the Restricted piece may not be used by anyone for the rest of the war. If a Unique is allocated to more than one player, the Unique may not be used by anyone for the rest of the war. Note that this means all versions of the Unique character are lost, not just one version of the person (as is the case when a character is defeated during a skirmish).
Restricted, Unrestricted, and Unique ListsIn separate posts in this thread, you will find the Restricted, Unrestricted, and Unique lists.
Characters on the Unrestricted list may be used by any player in any combination.
Characters on the Restricted list may be used by either only a limited number of players in a faction per round, or used in a limited quantity per squad, or both. The limitations are specified in the Restricted list.
Characters on the Unique list may be used by only one player per Round. Many characters have multiple Star Wars Miniatures versions. If you are assigned a character that has multiple versions, you may choose which version to use. If a Unique character is defeated in a skirmish, that VERSION of the Unique character may no longer be used for the rest of the war. So if the character has only one version, the character is dead. If the character has multiple versions, the character was injured but then spent some time in a bacta tank to heal.
Each round, the Supreme Commanders decide which players get which characters. Supreme Commanders can discuss these decisions freely with the rest of their factions.
Fringe BonusesInitially, each side has access primarily to only its own faction, with just a few exceptions. Some of the maps have Fringe Bonuses tied to them, so that the winner on that map will be able to use certain Fringe characters for the rest of the war. All Fringe Bonuses are Unique or Restricted, so the Supreme Commander will have to decide who gets the newly acquired pieces during allocation each round. Additionally, all Fringe Bonuses come together as a package - the whole package must be given to the same player. For example, if the Imperials win Rodia, the Supreme Commander must give all the Fringe Rodians to the same player. He may not give the Rodian Brutes to one player while giving the Rodian Raiders to another player.
(Note that there is some slight overlap between non-unique races and the Black Sun vigos. So it is possible to give two players a Rodian Black Sun Vigo if your side has won both the Rodia battle and the Coruscant battle.)
The complete list of bonuses is below.
BlooMilk ThreadsThe campaign will be coordinated through a number of threads in the VASSAL and Online Play forum:
* BEFORE ENDOR: Rules, Character Lists, and Map List. These rules are posted in this thread. The Restricted, Unrestricted, and Unique lists, and the list of used/unused maps are posted in this thread. When Unique characters are defeated, this thread will be updated to reflect that. You can also use this thread to ask questions about the campaign.
* BEFORE ENDOR: Standings, Schedule, and Results. This thread will contain the current standings and the schedule of maps as chosen by a Supreme Commander, and it is where players will post their results.
How to Post Results: Results should state: both players, the winner, both players allocated pieces (the Uniques and Restricted pieces your Supreme Commander gave you for the round), the map used, and any Unique characters that were defeated.
* BEFORE ENDOR: Chit chat. Use this thread for discussion about the campaign.
Supreme commanders might also create their own threads specifically for their own faction.
DeadlinesRounds will be two weeks long, running from Tuesday to Tuesday. The Supreme Commander who is selecting maps for the round must announce the map selections (in the Standings thread on BlooMilk) by 8pm EST on the day the Round starts, preferably much earlier than that.
Both Supreme Commanders must then tell their factions their character allocations (i.e. which player gets what characters) by Friday at noon EST – again, preferably earlier. That gives the players two full weekends plus a couple of days to get their games in.
Players must post their results (in the Standings thread on BlooMilk) by 8pm EST on the last day of the round.
Individual GamesPlayers will play standard 200-point games with gambit and with a time limit. In-person games will have a 60-minute time limit. Vassal games will have a 90-minute time limit. Because the map is predetermined, players simply roll for setup. Winner either chooses side or defers. Epic characters are illegal in this format.
Retreat: A player may move a character off the battle grid. By doing so, the player forfeits the skirmish, and all other characters that the player left on the battle grid are defeated. The character that left the battle grid, however, is not defeated. This is a way to keep a Unique from being defeated, even in a loss.
Reinforcements, Reserves, Affinity, etc.There are a number of ways to bend squad-building rules: Reinforcements, Reserves, Affinity, and commander effects that allow characters from other factions to be part of the squad. For all of these abilities, you may assume that a Rebel character can bring in any Rebel character, and an Imperial character can bring in any Imperial character. However, for other factions or Fringe characters, you are limited to the pieces that are allocated to you.
Examples: Characters with Order 66 cannot be brought into Imperial squads. Lobot's Reinforcements and Reserves are severely limited. Garm Bel Iblis Reinforcements can bring in any Rebels - not just those allocated to the player - but cannot bring in any New Republic pieces. Admiral Ozzel can bring in any Imperial pieces with Reserves, even those not allocated to the player. Grand Admiral Rulf Yage can include any non-unique Imperial troopers and pilots, even those not allocated to the player, but may not include any Sith pieces.
Replaced CharactersThere are abilities that allow a player to replace a character with a new character.
If the original character is Unique and is defeated when it is replaced (e.g. Dismount, Force Essence), then that version of the original character cannot be re-used in future skirmishes in the war. If the original character is
not defeated when it is replaced (e.g. Frozen in Carbonite, Versatility), then the original character may be re-used in future skirmishes in the war.
If a newly placed character is Unique and is defeated, then that version cannot be re-used in future skirmishes in the war.
Force Spirits may always be re-used in future skirmishes, even if defeated. Han Solo in Carbonite may only be used once during the war.