I'll soon start a new campaign, as the imperial player. Since my friends are all experienced Descent players used to exploit their endurance to the max, I'm tempted to go with the subservice tactics class, just for the fun of tinkering with their strain.

On their side, there will be Gaarkhan, Dalia, and Fen. The fourth player has not decided which class he'll play yet.

My question is mainly for to the players that already played a few campaign missions. Have you had any specific strategies that worked ? Or mistake that you've done ? Things you would do differently if you started over again ?

Actually I'm concerned as much about strategies than technical issues or any other stuff that affected your game, all in order to make the game to most enjoyable for everybody.

Thanks in advance for your input.

I made a fair few number of mistakes. I think it's bound to happen. Below are a couple.

-activating both options as the Imperial player when you are only supposed to choose one (look for triangle bullets - those are usually options where you pick one)

-using the officer's ability through blocking terrain (it can go over impassable or difficult terrain, but not through blocking terrain)

For strategy, I would definitely look at the mission objectives and choose your open groups accordingly. If you need to get to a specific point, officers and nexus will help you get a lot of movement. If you need to wound all heroes, try to get a lot of firepower. Generally, I find the Royal Guards really useful because they can stun and the Trandoshan Hunters are great for adding strain to the heroes. If you're going with Subversive Tactics, I think these units will combo well with that deck since they're all limiting heroes by preventing use of abilities, preventing extra movement, or removing an action altogether.

Having played a few skirmishes, I'm not worried about doing two actions per turn but I the hint about the imperial officier is a good one. I'm not sure I would have thought about that.

Trandoshan hunters look very nice. I'll try to use them as soon as I can. As you said, combined with subversive tactics I think they can be a real annoyance. With 6 health on top of that, I guess they won't be falling like stormtroopers snowflakes. Royal guards seem quite powerful too, at least from what I saw in skirmish. But for a reason I don't know, I'm not really appealed to use them. Maybe its because we don't see them a lot in the movies. We'll see, maybe I'll change my mind if I find myself being beating flat by the rebels.

Thanks for your advices.

kill the wookiee, or leave him alone, don't give him lovetaps. Hitting the wookiee just enough to give him focus every turn is just an invitation to have him slaughter your troops. Especially if he gets the reward that lets him upgrade his green focus die to a red one..

kill the wookiee, or leave him alone, don't give him lovetaps. Hitting the wookiee just enough to give him focus every turn is just an invitation to have him slaughter your troops. Especially if he gets the reward that lets him upgrade his green focus die to a red one..

That red die...RIP all of my storm troopers

kill the wookiee, or leave him alone, don't give him lovetaps. Hitting the wookiee just enough to give him focus every turn is just an invitation to have him slaughter your troops. Especially if he gets the reward that lets him upgrade his green focus die to a red one..

That red die...RIP all of my storm troopers

I think the worst part of that ability is that the wookie has the choice to take it or not.

So his next roll is an ability test? I'll take the regular green focus die, since it's got more surges...

Next roll is an attack? arglbarglarggghhhhh!!! red die red die red die die die die! <stromtrooper flies out, stage left.>

That's the main reason I worry about losing a couple of games straight from the start. I feel like if one side is losing a few missions in a row, things can easily get out of hand. Most heroes have pretty strong abilities at 3 and 4 xp.

I'll watch for the wookie though to either wound him quickly or end with him.

What about agenda cards ? Are the forced missions worth it ? They cost a lot more than most buffs.

- Carefully read over the mission before the gaming session / plan your open groups beforehand

My gaming group never played Descent, so during many of the missions I was often bogged down with rules questions. Plus, it's hard not to get caught up in Rebel players discussion about strategy. Both these factors impacted my ability to remember certain agenda cards, special abilities on deployment cards and my own tactics. I think it would have been beneficial to do a little "homework" and plan ahead of time so the mission isn't completely fresh when we start to play.

- Beware of double movement

There are internet murmurs out there that suggest that the campaign suffers from an "ignore combat and run to objectives" type of gameplay. I don't necessarily agree with this opinion, but I've caught myself plenty of times shooting and aggressively moving towards the Rebels. Using two actions to move (8+ movement points!), they'd often positionally set themselves up to easily secure or attack the primary objective for next turn (it's even worse when they have Gideon to command them). I find it best to attack and retreat back towards the objective. Even spending two actions to move and clog up key passageways to objectives is worth it. Royal Guards that stun or Trandoshan hunters that dish out strain are your best friends.

- Focus Fire!

Similar to X-wing, it's best to focus all your attacks on one hero instead of spreading out the damage. I often “bullied” the white defense die heroes first. Dodges early on during a mission don’t sting as much as dodges later on when the hero is 1 or 2 hit points from being wounded haha.

You need to find out early whether you stand the best chance of stalling the heroes, or wounding them all. If you go for stalling, removing a hero is much stronger than wounding 2 heroes.

2 less actions/turn might make the mission impossible to complete for the heroes, and if they need to pass some test, removing the heroes who help the most in these tests can really help.

Armandhammer & Galdred : Seems like good cues to me, I'll think about these things.

It somehow bothers me if I have to block the path in order to win but if its what it takes, then so be it. I think I'll start with an aggressive tactic then watch out it turns. First game with that group is next friday, I'll get back on how it went.

If the fourth player chooses Gideon I would seriously consider attacking him until withdrawal. That command ability is just very powerful with Gaarkhan.

Indeed. The more I read about Gideon the more I hope that he won't be chosen as the fourth hero.

player a few missions yesterday. Focusing on Gideon was a very viable strategy. He is low health with no defensive abilities Which makes him a good target for a withdrawal.

During A New Threat my rebels spent a few tyrns chasing droids which cost them the game. The mission almost seems impossible with the hard doors, double ability checks and huge threat bonuses when doors are opened along with the big map