Demo Scenario: Imperial Crackdown

Here's a short scenario designed for use in running Age of Rebellion demos at events such as conventions and game days. It's also intended to take a party of characters from the galactic fringe and start them down the path toward fighting for the Rebellion.

-Nate

Age of Rebellion: Imperial Crackdown

Rogue Squadron 5

    
   

Issues 17-20 "Requiem for a Rogue"

Released in March, April, May, June 1997.

Set in the New Republic Era, ~4 ABY

Written by Micheal A. Stackpole and Jan Strnad

Penciller Gary Erskine

Letterer Annie Parkhouse

Cover Art Kevin Ryan, Stuart Hiner

Cover art is a bit different from the other issues. Pretty good. Interior art is good, notably nice colors inside, done by Dave Nestelle.  The story is good and features a lot of great action. 

Rogues include: Captain Wedge Antilles, Lt. Wes Janson, Lt. Tycho Celchu, Hobbie Klivian, Dllr Nep, Feylis Ardele, Ibtisam, Herian I'ngre, Nrin Vakil. 

The Rogues are tracking a lost passenger liner. They wind up on the forsaken planet of Malrev IV, where the liner has gone to ground. Something isn't right when the Rogues show up for the rescue. 

The planet begins to have a strange effect on people. Wes and Hobbie make out with some Bothan females, for instance. The good guys uncover an old Sith temple, and Dllr essentially becomes a Dark Jedi. He knows he has to 'take one for the team', however, so he works with the injured Herian, who's flying a heavily damaged X-wing, to destroy the temple...at the cost of two Rogues.

Requiem, indeed.

Rogue Squadron 4

    
   

Issues 13-16 "The Warrior Princess"

Released in October, December of 1996, January, February of 1997.

Set in the New Republic Era, ~4 ABY

Written by Micheal A. Stackpole and Scott Tolson

Penciller John Nadeau

Letterer Vickie Williams

Cover Art Mark Harrison

Cover art is OK. Interior art was a bit older looking. A decent story arc, I'd say.

The Rogues herein include Hobbie, Lt. Janson, Dllr Nep, Plourr Ilo, Ibtisam, Nrin Vakil, and Feylis Ardele.

It turns out the kickboxer supreme Plourr Ilo is actually a princess! Her homeworld of Eiattu 6 wants her to come back and rule. It seems her brother is leading an insurrection on the homeworld, attempting to unseat the ruling elites. Plourr ain't got time for parliamentary games or courtly intrigue. She also doesn't believe that the opposition is led by her brother. Trust me. She knows.

Rogue squadron helps out. Plourr's "brother" is in league with the Imps. That never works out well in the end, of course. At the close of the story arc, Plourr is staying on Eiattu while the Rogues move on without her. So long, fare well, we'll all miss you, warrior princess. I have a hunch we'll see you again soon...

The Adventure Continues

Star Wars Adventure Journal, Vol 1, #2 (WEG, May 1994). Another fun read. I like to see the old advertisements in these things (as well as in the Rogue Squadron comic books). Great cover, who wouldn't like to see the rancor?

This issue of the Adventure Journal had more great content: a continuation of the story of the rebellion on Garos IV, an interview with some folks from Dark Horse comics, 3 or 4 good adventures, a nice article on running a Rebel Privateers campaign, a couple of short stories, and some information on Coruscant and the Core Worlds just after the fall of the Emperor. Some good material in here for my imagined Tierfon campaign featuring all fighter pilots a la Rogue Squadron.

A really good value for its original $12 cover price (286 pages of content!). I already have Vol 1, #3 in hand, and will begin reading it soon.

Rogue Squadron 3

    
   

Issues 9-12 "Battleground:Tatooine"

Released in June, July, August, and September of 1996.

Set in the New Republic Era, ~4 ABY

Written by Micheal A. Stackpole and Jan Strnad

Penciller John Nadeau

Letterer Vickie Williams

Cover Art Mark Harrison

Cover art, not as good as the previous 8 issues. Interior art was the newer, more modern look. I like it. The lettering was 'regular comic book': a kind of precise, slightly italicized, all caps font.

Rogues included herein are Captain Wedge Antilles, Lt. Tycho Celchu, Lt. Wes Janson, Elscol Loro, Dllr Nep, Plourr Ilo, and Derek "Hobbie" Klivian.

A good story, in my opinion. The group needs to travel to Tatooine to get involved in the chaos left behind after Jabba was killed. A cache of Imperial weapons is up for grabs. An evil Twi'lek knows where the stuff is located. The Rogues meet up with Huff Darklighter (Biggs' father) who is holding a remembrance party for his son. He doesn't exactly blame Wedge for surviving the trench run instead of his son, but....yeah. He does.

Some Imperial commandos make an appearance, as does Winter. One character is a walking brain aka a B'omarr monk.

Rogue Squadron 2

    
   

Issues 5-8 "The Phantom Affair"

Released in February, March, April, and May of 1996.

Set in the New Republic Era, ~4 ABY

Written by Micheal A. Stackpole and Darko Macan

Penciller Edvin Biukovic and John Nadeau

Letterer Steve Dutro

Cover Art Matthieu Lauffray

To my tastes, the look and feel of the art in this series was better. Less of the olden days of comics gone by and more "modern". The lettering was different throughout; more of a 'hand written' or 'hand drawn' feel, and less precise. Interesting choice. The covers are wonderful. The story was good. To be fair, I am not sure even one character uttered "Stang!".

The Rogues mentioned herein are: Captain Wedge Antilles, Wes Janson, Derek "Hobbie" Klivian, Plourr Ilo, Dllr Nep, and Elscol Loro. Still no Plourr, Dllr, or Elscol pilot cards in the X-Wing Miniatures Game (since my last post, yesterday).

The supply convoy from Cilpar to Mrlsst has gotten through, with the help of the ever resourceful Rogue Squadron. The natives of Mrlsst have some kind of dangerous technology, developed by their university, that both the New Republic and the remnants of the Empire want (trust me, it's dangerous).

Wedge meets up with Mirax "Myra" Terrik while most of the other Rogues go out to see a band. By the way, sorry Mirax, but the Pulsar Skate looks terrible. We learn of Wedge's back story (parents owned a refueling station in space; bandits caused a massive fire which his parents died in while saving the others from certain doom). The main Imperial bad guy has ties to this same incident; and he has a parasite permanently stuck to the left side of his face. Cool! 

A ghostly figure (the Phantom of said affair) keeps assisting the Rogues in their efforts to keep the Empire from obtaining the dangerous tech. The figure is revealed to be the Jedi ghost (!) of Elscol Loro's husband Throm...or at least seems to be. The wookiee Groznik, who transferred his life debt from Throm to Elscol, and made the journey from Cilpar resistance to Rogue Squadron with her, doesn't make it out of this miniseries alive. Sorry.

At the end, the New Republic gets (and uses, once) the nasty new technology, and Rogue Squadron leaves Mrlsst for their next adventure (and to store away the dangerous item in a vault somewhere, I hope).

Rogue Squadron 1

   
   

I just finished purchasing (but not yet finished reading) all 37 the X-Wing: Rogue Squadron comics by Dark Horse. I will be posting a series of brief reviews over the coming days or weeks. I will look at one mini-series per post. First up, issues 1-4, entitled "The Rebel Opposition".

Issues 1-4 "The Rebel Opposition"

Released in July, August, September, and October of 1995.

Set in the New Republic Era, ~4 ABY

Written by Micheal A. Stackpole and Mike Baron

Penciller Alan Nunis

Letterer Steve Dutro

Cover Art Dave Dorman

I found the art to be a bit "old school comic", and not quite to my preference. The covers are wonderful. The story was decent. Many characters used the expletive "Stang!" many times. That was sweet. 

The Rogues mentioned herein are: Wedge Antilles, Tycho Celchu, Wes Janson, Derek "Hobbie" Klivian, Plourr Ilo, Dllr Nep. By the end of the series the Rogues had picked up a native fighter named Elscol Loro as another pilot. She comes with a Wookiee side-kick named Groznik. Plourr, Dllr, and Elscol do not have pilot cards in the X-Wing Miniatures Game (yet).

The action takes place not long after the Battle of Endor. The war isn't over yet, even though the Emperor is dead. On the planet Cilpar, a rebellion of sorts is underway. The Rogues are there to rendezvous with a food convoy headed for Mrlsst. The natives don't much care for either the Rebels or the Empire. Tycho Celchu impersonates an Imperial pilot to infiltrate the Imperial forces on the planet. Ferocious dog-like beasts called ronks prowl the jungle; and one rips a guy's arm off. Don't worry, he deserved it.