Star Wars: X-wing – Iron Fist Campaign – The Pugio Massacre

TIE Bombers cause devastation in the Pugio Massacre

As the air-raid alarms blared, Kyle Samsuka staggered from the Blade’s pilots’ mess, cursing as she tried her best to zip up her flight suit as she ran towards her waiting Z95 Headhunter. Anyone new to Pugio  would have thought that she was drunk, in no fit state to fly. The former was wrong, the latter was unfortunately close to the truth.

This was the tenth scramble she and her flight had made that day, the elite 8th TIE Bomber Wing pushing them to the limit as flight after flight of bombers made their runs on the city. 

Jumping into the cockpit, she snatched a hyper-pen from her crew chief and plunged it into her neck, sighing as the stims pulsed through her body. 

“Let’s get The Bitch into the air chief, can’t let those fragwits think they rule the skies.”

*<<<INCOMING/TRANSMISSION>>>*

Imperial Forces continue to push their way through to the Southern Reach Stop Line, sweeping aside resistance.

The city of Pugio, on the backwater planet of Tec, has held out against all odds. Moff Huxley, frustrated at the ever-increasing casualty lists and the steadfast determination of the defenders of Pugio – since named ‘The Blades’ – ordered the largest bombing campaign of the Iron Fist Campaign. Successive wings of bombers bore down upon Pugio and its inhabitants.

The elite 8th TIE Bomber Wing, known as the Blackballs, was pulled from the assault on Krysos Nine, and given orders that no building in Pugio should be left standing more than one storey high. Comprising of six squadrons of 60 TIE/as Bombers each, Pugio’s fate was in the hands of its hard-pressed star fighter pilots. The Blades, a group of young scrappers and veteran die-hards flew mission after mission in a desperate attempt to hold back the bombers whilst the population attempted to. Despite their best efforts, many TIE Bombers were able to penetrate their cordon. Civilian casualties were estimated at over 100,000.

Ultimately the Blades finally found themselves unable to mount a defence due to having no serviceable craft and were forced join other Rebel forces fighting the Imperial forces on foot in bitter street-to-street fighting in the shattered remains of the once proud city.

*<<<THE/GAME>>>*

The Rebel player has a roster of 1000pts. They may draw their squad roster from either the Rebel, or the Scum and Villainy expansions. The Blades were a true mix of pilots and star fighters, with the commanders of the Rebel defences in Pugio throwing any ship they could find into the battle.

The Imperial player has 200 points to spend per wave. However, all waves must correspond to the same roster as the first. Any characters killed are just treated as someone similar for the next wave. It is suggested that they use the Black Squadron as escorts for the bombers.

This is just a taster of the combat that occurred during the Pugio Massacre. The Imperial player deploys successive flights of bombers and their escorts. They must deploy a minimum of three TIE bombers at a time, escorted by a minimum of one TIE fighters. Their sole objective is to get as many bombers from one end of the table to the other. Any TIE fighters that are left on the table when the last surviving bomber leaves, is presumed dead, or having fled in pursuit of their charges.

Once the last surviving TIE bombers has left the far table edge, the Imperial Player resets and the battle begins anew.

The Rebel player must deduct every loss from their Roster sheet. They can choose to leave their star fighters where they are on the table, send in reinforcements,  reset, or reset and reinforce.

The game lasts for a minimum of 10 waves. If the Rebels are wiped out before the 10th wave, the Imperial player wins by default.

Setup

The Rebel player may place his star fighters up to Range 2 from the table edge.

Both players take turns to place up to five asteroids on the table. No player my place an asteroid less than Range 2 to the opposing player’s edge.

The Imperial player must deploy his ships within Range 1 from his table edge.

The Objective
The Rebel player must destroy as many TIE Bombers as possible.

The Imperial player must either deplete the Rebel player’s roster, or get as many TIE Bombers off the Rebel player’s table edge.

*<<<CAMPAIGN/POINTS>>>*

For every Imperial flight destroyed, the Rebel player scores 5CP

For every TIE bomber destroyed, the Rebel player scores 2CP

For every TIE fighter destroyed the Rebek player scores 1CP

For every TIE bomber that escapes, the Imperial player scores 2CP

For every Rebel star fighter destroyed, the Imperial player scores 1CP

For every five TIE bombers that escape, the Imperial player scores 5CP

If the Imperial Player wipes out the Rebel star fighter roster before the 10th (or agreed number of waves), they win by default and score an additional  5CP.