Hi everyone, I have a question for all the people out there who have bought this game, and have some experience playing it.

I highly enjoy board games (I know this is listed as miniatures), and am very interested in buying Imperial Assault. I play X-wing heavily, and go all out in purchasing expansions for that game, and am involved in a league. However, I'm not interested in playing competitively at this point, or in a league at my local game store for this game. I also don't really want to buy a bunch of expansions the way I do with X-wing. I don't have the funds to do that with two different games.

I am simply interested in buying a fun game that can be played casually with friends at our kitchen table a couple of times a month. I don't have a problem with complex rules and steep learning curves. However, my wife and the friends we play with don't generally like playing overly complex games, with vast amount of rules, or that take extremely long (a 3 hour long game is pushing it for them). They can handle some learning curve, but deeply complex games do turn them off some.

They enjoy games like Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Small World, and 7 Wonders. The only FFG game we play all together is A Game of Thrones: The Board Game and they enjoy that a lot.

So my question is this: From your experience, does it sound like the people I play games with would be opposed to Imperial Assault? Is this a game that would appeal to casual gamers? Thanks for any advice or suggestions!

I find it surprisingly simple, but perhaps not compared to more board game type games, as opposed to miniatures type games. It's the objectives and missions that add complexity I think. That might put you off if you only want to play a couple of times a month, you might lose interest in your campaign.

I think the Campaign mode will be great for them. Each mission takes around 90 minutes or less (much shorter than your 3-hour limit) and the rules and gameplay mechanics are pretty smooth once you learn them...and it doesn't take long to learn them. I play the game with my 8-,10-, and 11-year old boys, and not only do they enjoy it, but they have also become pretty good at it.

Difficult to see. Always in motion the future is. I played through 4 missions of campaign this week and most of them took 2 hours. My play group talked and deliberated a lot at each and every turn, though, so I think our game length may be anomalous.

My brother is in a similar situation with X-Wing and he is having a great time with Imperial Assault. The difference is that he's playing with a group that likes roleplaying games and X-Wing and the like. My personal feeling is that the Ticket To Ride folks are going to have a hard timing swallowing this game unless they are die-hard SW fans. Also, from my experience the theme got washed out in the mechanics, tactics, and strategy of the game once we started playing. Again, I think that was my play group. But for all of their plotting and planning, they only won 1/4 missions. This game is hard and if the Imperial Player is tactically minded against a group that is more casual, I think the Rebels will have a hard time winning. But then, you could always pull punches to keep them coming back for more.

I also don't really want to buy a bunch of expansions the way I do with X-wing. I don't have the funds to do that with two different games.

I hear ya.

In case you didn't know already, the core set is missing some miniatures. Expansions to replace the tokens will be released sometime next year:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=5118

Plus, it's pretty obvious we will be seeing some new campaign box sets in the future.

While everything I said is optional, the game is pretty awesome, and it'll be hard to resist future releases for the game if you decide to buy the core set.

I'm fine with this because I'm no longer purchasing anymore X-wing minis as I have no interest in the third faction (just gotta pick up the Raider for the Imps).

You know what? You should probably just get your group to watch a video of Imperial Assault gameplay, and let them say what they think. My suggestion would be the GenCon 2014 demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0lhU0GYOKk

I think that after watching this demo they'll have a pretty clear sense of whether or not they'll be interested in playing.

I really appreciate everyones input! It helps a lot! It sort of seems that it could go either way with my group, but I'm anticipating more of them being turned off from it. I can definitely see them losing interest in the campaign since it would probably take two or three months to finish one campaign sometimes (we have irregular schedules and can't meet up consistently every week). Plus when we do meet up we usually play a totally different game then the last time we met. And they definitely are NOT hardcore Star Wars fans.

I'm also turned off of the fact I have to use little cardboard cut outs in place of a miniature in a "miniatures" game. I definitely don't want to buy expansions so having to use little cardboard cut outs mixed with miniatures is going to annoy me to no end (I'm OCD about that stuff). But that's a minor issue.

I'll take thereisnottry's suggestion. Show them the gameplay and see what they think before I decide to buy or not. I really want to get into this game! But as I just don't have the ability to play this AND X-wing competitively, playing casually only with my wife and friends is the only option I'm limited to unfortunately. I don't want to give up my X-wing hobby lol. We'll see how it goes though.

I'm fine with this because I'm no longer purchasing anymore X-wing minis as I have no interest in the third faction (just gotta pick up the Raider for the Imps).

I find your lack of faith in Autothrusters disturbing.

I really appreciate everyones input! It helps a lot! It sort of seems that it could go either way with my group, but I'm anticipating more of them being turned off from it. I can definitely see them losing interest in the campaign since it would probably take two or three months to finish one campaign sometimes (we have irregular schedules and can't meet up consistently every week). Plus when we do meet up we usually play a totally different game then the last time we met. And they definitely are NOT hardcore Star Wars fans.

I'm also turned off of the fact I have to use little cardboard cut outs in place of a miniature in a "miniatures" game. I definitely don't want to buy expansions so having to use little cardboard cut outs mixed with miniatures is going to annoy me to no end (I'm OCD about that stuff). But that's a minor issue.

I'll take thereisnottry's suggestion. Show them the gameplay and see what they think before I decide to buy or not. I really want to get into this game! But as I just don't have the ability to play this AND X-wing competitively, playing casually only with my wife and friends is the only option I'm limited to unfortunately. I don't want to give up my X-wing hobby lol. We'll see how it goes though.

I haven't got past the introduction mission ("Aftermath") but I'm not sure you'll need to use cardboard tokens. They're only there to represent special characters, such as ones from the films, I don't know if they're required for any Story Missions (perhaps someone can confirm).

I do, however, fear you may be right about your friends not being into to.

Yeah it seems that way. I showed my wife some gameplay on Youtube. She said it looked "interesting". But her tone and the way she said it meant "meh". I'm not willing to spend $100 off of "meh". My last course will be to try and have someone from my LGS demo the game for me or watch a group play through a mission or two. Then make my final decision. Again, thanks for the suggestions everyone.

"There is no buy or buy not, only BUY!!!"

Good luck