Can the Imperial player select an Elite Deployment as one of his Open Group?

The Imperial player cannot select a Villain as one of his Open Groups until he gains it as a reward, correct?

Can a Villain who has been deployed as an Open Group, be redeployed during the same mission if defeated?

Looking at the RRG Page 11 which refers to what you can do with deployment under the control of the Imperials you can use whatever the hell you like as long as you have the threat in which to use it.

Vader is 18 threat so in the early rounds you wont ever muster that much. But you can certainly deploy Elite Stormtroopers

Remember

* You can spend threat to replenish squads (smaller number on card that cost is per figure)

* If a given deployment squad is defeated you keep the card because you can redeploy with threat

* If an open deployment is defeated that is discarded

You can't use villains in the campaign until you somehow acquire them.

But you can use anything else, including elite units. However, in early missions, having an elite unit isn't terribly helpful. For instance, having an AT-ST in an early mission means you will certainly never have enough threat to deploy it.

From the ALLIES section of the rulebook:

"Allies cannot be used in a mission until claimed as a reward

Also, units that are defeated go back into your hand, it is not discarded.

From the OPEN GROUPS section of the Rules reference:

"When the last figure in a group is defeated, the Deployment

So this rule from the allies:

"When an ally is defeated, it is removed from the map and cannot be redeployed for the remainder of the mission. The ally may be used in future missions following normal rules."

"Imperial allies are referred to as villains. They follow all of the same rules as allies."

Applies to all Rebel Allies and to the Imperial Allies (aka "Villains") put in play by the mission, correct?

(Because Imperial Allies put in play as an Open Group can be bought back in the same mission by spendig Threat)

Oh sorry, I just didn't put 2 and 2 together and realize that your comment about open groups was specifically about allies/villains. You are correct, an ally or villain cannot be replayed once it's been defeated.

Oh sorry, I just didn't put 2 and 2 together and realize that your comment about open groups was specifically about allies/villains. You are correct, an ally or villain cannot be replayed once it's been defeated.

Correct, for that mission only though. Once you move on to another mission, providing they're allowed, they can be deployed again.