Peril in the Kailion Caves

A Solo Star Wars Miniatures Scenario

By Jason Tanner

Disoriented, Karii dragged himself up to his knees from the dank floor of the cave and coughed dust from his lungs. Cave-in? he wondered.

The rest of the team were already up and surveying their surroundings, lit only dimly by the blades of their lightsabers. He glanced back at the passage they had just come through, now a pile of impenetrable rock.

"That rockslide wasn't coincidence," Master Dajjun said.

Karii turned toward his master. "A trap, then?"

"A trap indeed."

Master Dajjun helped Karii to his feet. Glancing away, he said, "4-B4, check the data droid. Make sure we haven't been completely duped."

4-B4 hustled over to the blocky data droid -- their recently, and forcibly, acquired prize -- then linked to it and went to work verifying its records. The droid was supposed to contain proof that the Sheyasti Trade Syndicate was in fact smuggling supplies for the Separatists. But if the proof had been faked --

Suddenly, Master Dajjun leaped into action, followed only a split second later by the other Jedi. They converged on a shape lunging out of the blackened recesses of the cave. An enormous shape. In the darkness, Karii couldn't make out much more than tentacles flailing at Master Dajjun. Only now, as the Jedi drove the creature away, could Karii finally sense its pain and anger through the Force. The others had felt it so quickly! He still had much to learn.

4-B4 detached from the data droid and spoke in its oddly musical voice. "The information in the droid appears to be complete and unaltered."

"Excellent," Master Dajjun replied, spinning his twin sabers in his habitual manner. "Then all we need to do is get it out of these caves in one piece." He stalked off into the black.

"Be wary. There are more of those creatures out there," Master Dajjun warned. "Many more."

Scenario Setup

This new scenario for the Star Wars Miniatures Game allows a single player to recreate Master Dajjun's daring escape from the caves of Kailion. The actions of the enemy creatures are determined by special scenario rules.

"Peril in the Kailion Caves" uses the Rancor Pit map from the Attack on Endor Scenario Pack.

Player Setup

The player sets up a squad consisting of the characters listed below anywhere in the first two rows along the right edge of the map. The player may create a different squad if desired, but it should consist mainly of characters with Melee Attack, and any replacement for the (captured) Gonk Power Droid should be considered to have Speed 2.

Player Victory Conditions

The player wins if the Gonk Power Droid (which contains the proof the Jedi need) and at least one living character exit off the left side of the map.

Special Scenario Rules

The placement, movement, and attacks of creatures are controlled by a number of special rules that simulate random encounters in the caves.

Creature Selection

Place the cards for all your non-Unique characters with Savage in a pile and shuffle them. A suitable deck should have at least ten creatures, and for each creature with more than 25 points, you should have two creatures with 25 points or less. If you don't have many Savages, supplement the deck with suitable aliens; all creatures added in this way are considered to have Savage and Melee Attack.

You'll see the next creature on the top of the deck before it enters the game, but that's fine -- it's the Jedi's senses at work.

Creature Placement

Before rolling initiative, creatures will enter the map. On the first round, place one creature along each edge the player did not start along. Determine a random square along the edge by rolling a d20+1 for the short sides (counting from the top) or a d20+7 for the long sides (counting from the left). Place the creature as close to that square as possible, no more than two rows from the edge.

On subsequent rounds, one creature enters in a random square (as described above) along a random edge. Determine the edge by rolling a d20: top edge (1–5), right edge (6–10), bottom edge (11–15), or left edge (16–20).

Initiative

The player rolls a die for initiative. On a roll of 1 to 10, the creatures go first. On a roll of 11 to 20, the player goes first. (If available, Recon, Anticipation, or other effects may be applied to the roll normally.)

Creature Activations

The player alternates between his phase and the creatures' phase as normal. The creatures' moves and attacks are randomized using the Attack Table and Move Table below.

First, determine which creature will move next. The creature that can do the most potential damage will activate. If creatures are tied, the one with the fewest remaining Hit Points will activate. If they're still tied, the lowest-cost creature will activate. And if they're still tied, choose randomly.

For example, a Gundark adjacent to an enemy can potentially do 40 damage with its Quadruple Attack. Therefore, it would move before an Acklay that is 6 squares from an enemy and can do only 20 damage (even though it could do more damage when adjacent with its Triple Attack). The Acklay, in turn, would move before a Nexu that is 18 squares away and can't attack at all.

Once a creature is selected, determine if it is within its speed of any character in the player's squad and has the opportunity to attack.

Rules for Attacking

Creatures will attack before moving if the option is available. They will not move at all if it would mean giving up an attack of opportunity (barring a roll that explicitly requires them to do so). If multiple enemies meet the requirements to be attacked, always attack the lowest-cost living enemy. If multiple enemies have the same cost, choose randomly.

Rules for Moving

Creatures will stop if they become adjacent to an enemy; they will not give up attacks of opportunity. They will generally move around any obstacles that block their path, attempting to end as close as possible to their target space (either an enemy, or, when roaming, the farthest square they could reach in the desired direction if nothing blocked their path).

Other Rules

Creatures ignore doors.

Creatures ignore the restrictions of Savage, using the various tables in place of that ability.

If a roll results in an impossible action, such as attacking a friendly creature when there are no other creatures on the map, select the previous action on the table instead.

ATTACK TABLE

MOVE TABLE

ROAM DIAGRAM