sTar hUnTers 

A Star Wars variant of "Hunters in the Sky"
by David North
Version 1.1   4/17//2004

Introduction
This is a Star Wars variant of "Hunters in the Sky". This is a stand-alone supplement. The original rules are not needed for play. As with the original rules, the emphasis in this game is fast and easy. Playability is given more consideration than realism. Unless otherwise noted, all original rules remain the same.

Starfighters
They are comprised of the following elements:

DRIVE: Determines the maximum SPEED that a starfighter may travel.
HULL: Determines the amount of damage a starfighter may take before being destroyed.
MANEUVER: Determines the starfighters turning ability.
WEAPONS: The list of weapons a starfighter has and their firing arc. Determines the number of dice rolled in combat.

Each starfighter has four sides. They are Front (F), Left (L), Right (R) and Aft (A).

Starfighter Record: During the game, damage and speed are tracked for each aircraft using Starfighter Records. At the beginning of the game, the starfighter stats are entered on the Starfighter Record. If a starfighter does not have a weapon on a particular side, fill in that oval. If a starfighter has DRIVE 4 then all but 4 of the ovals are filled in. The rest of the ovals are filled in when the starfighter takes damage.

Starfighter Design
Each starfighter has a DRIVE, HULL, MANEUVER, and WEAPONS value. MANEUVER and WEAPONS  may never exceed 5. Only one weapon may be placed on each side of the starfighter.
.
Different sizes of starfighter can be built.

At the end of the page are some sample starfighters.
	
Turn Sequence
Turns are comprised of the following phases:
•	             Initiative Phase

•		 Movement Phase
•		 Combat Phase
•	
•	Setup
•	The setup of the game is entirely up to the players. How many starfighters, what type, their starting locations and the victory conditions are for the players to decide. It is recommended that players first start off with a small number of starfighters and gradually build up over subsequent games. The most obvious victory condition is to see who can  destroy whom.
•	
•	Needed for Play: A number of 6 sided die, starfighter counters or miniatures, and a tape
•	measure.

Initiative
At the beginning of each turn, both players roll 1d6 and add the number of starfighters on their side to the roll. The higher roller has the initiative for the turn. During the movement phase, players alternate moving their starfighters one at a time, with the player that lost the initiative moving first.

Movement
SPEED is how fast the starfighter is currently traveling, in inches. SPEED may never exceed the current DRIVE rating multiplied by 4, which is the starfighters maximum speed. Starfighters start out the game at any SPEED between 4 and the maximum speed determined above. SPEED is written on the Starfighter Record during the Movement Phase.

Acceleration and Deceleration: Starfighters may accelerate or decelerate by 1 SPEED each turn. SPEED is written down in the Movement phase.

Moving a starfighter: Starfighters may either move forward, turn left or turn right. For each SPEED moving forward the starfighter moves 1 inch.

Turning: Imagine a clock face superimposed over the starfighter. The direction the starfighter is moving is twelve o’clock, its rear is 6 o’clock, its right is 3 o’clock etc. A starfighter may turn 1 point on the clock face per 1 pont of MANEUVER. The actual procedure is as follows; Half of the starfighters turn is made at the mid-point of it’s movement and the remaining half at the end of the move. If the number of points turned is an odd number, round down the first half and round up the second half.

Example; An X-Wing moving at SPEED 9 makes a 3 point turn to the left. The player first moves 4 1/2 inches straight forward. The starfighter is then rotated 1 clock point to the left. Then it moves forward the remaining 4 1/2 inches. Finally, it rotates the last 2 clock points to the left.

Special Maneuvers: Fighters may attempt to perform a special maneuver in place of or in conjunction with normal movement.

Special Maneuver	Effect
Sideslip: 	 	 Move 45' laterally left or right
Loop:			 Move backwards 1 to 3 inches
Half-Loop:	  	 Move ½ SPEED then turn 180'
Barrel Roll: 		 Move ½ SPEED

An aircraft must expend all of its SPEED in each turn, either by moving forward, turning, or performing a Special Maneuver.

Hyperdrive
Some starfighters have hyperdrives, which can be used to escape from the battlefield. To jump into hyperspace, the player must announce his intention to activate his hyperdrive during his turn (sensors on other ships can pick up the power spike). At the end of the NEXT turn, the starfighter can jump into hyperspace and be removed from play.

Formations (optional)
Starfighters may be grouped into one of three formations, if desired. Starfighters flying in formation all move at the same time, rather than individually based on initiative. Use the initiative rating of the formation leader to determine when the formation moves. All starfighters flying in formation EXCEPT for the formation leader have a -1 TO-HIT modifier in combat when firing fixed forward weapons. The three types of formations are the Vic, the Finger Four, and the Echelon. In all cases, the starfighters in formation must stay within three inches of at least one other starfighter in the formation.

Formations;		Vic			Finger Four			Echelon 

			 ^ (leader) 		    ^ (leader)			     ^ (leader)
		        ^	      ^		         ^              ^				^
 					  		         ^
Combat
Starfighters may fire on other starfighters when the following occurs: target starfighter is within range of firing starfighter, there is a clear line-of-sight between the starfighters, and the target starfighter is in the firing arc of one of the firing starfighter's weapons. Each weapon on a starfighter may fire once per turn.

Firing arcs: The front gun may fire between 11 o’clock and 1 o’clock. The Left weapon may fire from 7 o’clock to 11 o’clock, the right weapon may fire from 1 o’clock to 5 o’clock and the rear weapon may fire from 7 o’clock to 5 o’clock.

To-Hit Roll: Once all of the above conditions have been met, roll dice for each weapon firing. The number of dice rolled is equal to the WEAPONS rating of the weapon. Check the chart below to determine the number of hits scored.

RANGE	TO-HIT
1" or less	   3-6
 2" - 4"		   4-6
 5" - 8"		   5-6
9" - 12"	    6

Example; A Tie Fighter fires at an A-Wing at a range of  7 inches. The Tie Fighter rolls 2 dice for it's WEAPONS rating of F2. The results are 4 and 5. The four is a miss, but the five is a hit.

Damage: For each hit scored, roll 1 die. On a roll of 1-4, mark off one oval of HULL and one oval of MANEUVER.. On a roll of 5 mark off one oval of DRIVE. On a roll of 6, reduce the WEAPONS rating of the weapon on that side of the starfighter by one. If there is no weapon on that side or the WEAPONS rating is already reduced to 0, mark off one oval of HULL and one oval of MANEUVER.

Any DRIVE hit will also knock out a starfighters hyperdrive on a roll of 4-6 on 1d6.
ANY hit has a chance of knocking out a starfighters droid on a roll of 6 on 1d6.

All damage is applied immediately.

Destruction: Any starfighter with no more ovals of HULL is considered destroyed. When DRIVE  is reduced to zero then the starfighter has no power left and will drift off into space. When MANEUVER is reduced to zero the starfighter cannot turn or attempt special maneuvers.

Droids
Some starfighters carry droids that can attempt to repair damage while in flight. Each turn, a starfighter with a working droid can attempt to repair any one point of damage by rolling a 5 or 6 on 1d6. 

Example starfighters:
Starfighter	      Drive (max. speed)	    Hull      Maneuver	Weapons  	 Droid? Hyperdrive?
X-Wing		   4(16)		       3	           4 	  F4, T(1)              Y	          Y
Y-Wing		   3(12)		       4	           3    F3, L1, R1, A1, T(2)    Y	          Y
A-Wing		   6(24)		       2	           5	     F3		     N	          Y
B-Wing		   3(12)		       4	           2	 F5, T(3)	     N	          Y
TIE Fighter		   3(12)		       2	           5	     F2		     N	          N
TIE Bomber		    2(8)		       3	           2            F2, B(3)	     N	          N
TIE Prototype (Vaders)   4(12)		       3	           4	     F2		     N	          Y
TIE Interceptor	 	   5(20)		       2	           5	     F3		     N	          N
Millenium Falcon	   3(12)		       8	           2    F3, L3, R3, A3, T(2)    Y	          Y

Note; the T(#) weapons represent Proton Torpedoes and the B(#) weapons represent concussion bombs, which are covered in a separate supplement. They are included here for completeness, and can be ignored in the basic game. 	

Starfighter Record
Starfighter Name: _______________________ Unit No: _____
DRIVE: 	O O O O O
HULL:	 	O O O O O
MANEUVER:	O O O O O
Droid? ____
Hyperdrive? ____
Weapons:
	           	F: O 
	  WEAPON: ______
    L: O 			R: O
WEAPON: ______ 	WEAPON: ______
	          Rear: O
	  WEAPON: ______

Current SPEED: _______

rain of fire/sQuAdron Leader
supplemental rules
(requires the above-listed supplements to use)

Proton Torpedoes
The heavy weapon of choice in the Star Wars universe is the Proton Torpedo. These weapons can be fired at ground targets or starships (but not at other starfighters). Use the strafing procedure. Proton torpedoes have a TO-HIT rating of 4-6 and a WEAPON rating of F5. They do two points of damage per successful hit instead of one. The number of proton torpedo salvoes that a stafighter can fire in a game is equal to the T(#) number listed on the starfighter list. The player will need to keep track of their expenditure on the Starfighter Record.

Concussion Bombs
The Tie Bomber carries concussion bombs, which work exactly like standard bombs in Rain of Fire. The Tie Bomber operates as a level bomber, but only requires one turn of straight movement prior to bombing instead of two.

Starships
In the Star Wars universe, large ships move significantly slower than starfighters. In game terms, they can be treated as stationary. The destruction of a large ship would make an interesting scenario victory contition. Starships can be represented in the game by drawing it's silhouette on a large piece of paper and placing this on the game table. Large ships will usually have several light and heavy laser turrets mounted on them. These operate as follows;

Type			Hits		Weapon	Range (S, M, L)
Light Laser Turret	  1		    3		    4, 8, 12
Heavy Laser Turret	  2		    3		   6, 12, 18

Hits are the number of hits that the weapon can take before being destroyed. Up to the listed short range, the weapon hits on 4-6. Between short and medium range it hits on 5-6. From medium to long tange the weapon hits on a 6.  

Aircrew
When using Squadron Leader to create squadrons, the aircrew modifiers should be -1 for average Imperial pilots and +1 for average Rebel pilots. Some personalities from the movies and their suggested skill levels for each movie are listed below (movie abbreviations are; ANH = A New Hope, ESB = Empire Strikes Back, ROTJ = Return of the Jedi).

Character		ANH		ESB		ROTJ
Luke Skywalker	Exp*		Vet*		Elite*
Han Solo		Elite		Elite		Elite
Wedge Antilles		Exp		Vet		Elite
Biggs Darklighter	Exp		---		---
Red Leader		Vet		---		---
Gold Leader		Vet		---		--- 
Darth Vader		Elite*		Elite*		Elite*

An asterisk* means that the pilot can use Jedi powers (see below).
 
Jedi Powers
Pilots designated as having Jedi powers can use the Force during the game by rolling their Panic rating or less. If they succeed, they automatically move last in the turn sequence and DOUBLE all die rolls for the turn.

Campaigns
The rules for campaigns remain the same. In escort or assault missions, any craft with a T(#) or B(#) rating can act as a bomber. Assault missions can either be on ground targets or against starships, as described above.