So, tomorrow night I'll be running the "Fly Solo" story mission. I've skimmed over the mission a couple of times, and I plan to re-read it in detail again before game night. But I was wondering if anyone has advice on playing it.

I know the game is framed as adversarial, but I'm a lot more interested in the game being fun and exciting for everyone, rather than just trying to win at all costs. That's why I spent 3 influence on Dark Obsession, even though it's a tough mission for the Empire to win -- no matter what else happens, the players will remember facing (and in this case, surviving) the Dark Lord of the Sith.

With that in mind, what do you think make good, interesting choices for the open groups in this mission?

I brought an Imperial Officer and a Nexu into this mission. I know there was already an Elite Officer but he gets reserved to the back room and I wanted to deploy one closer to the entrance. That officer was key to me winning. I took the Nexu because its my favorite unit so far. Its so fast the Rebels can hardly plan around him. Plus being 4 spaces made it an awesome figure to block paths.

Well, the Rebels got a clean sweep in on me. Saved Han, made the bonus objective for extra credits, grabbed all of the crates, including valuable goods. 2XP each, 1,100 credits total, and the win. I wounded two of the heroes and bloodied Han a bit, but it's small consolation.

I made some tactical mistakes that contributed to the loss. I used my Fire at Will agenda too early. Should have saved it for an attack on Han. And I should have either deployed my E-Web Engineer a round sooner or used an elite version.

I'm backed into a corner now. The Rebels have some really good gear, getting the Deathhammer for the smuggler and high-impact hilt for the Jedi. They're up to 6 XP now, and they all have some really good abilities. I'm going to have to get tough if I'm going to keep them from steamrolling me. But I have 2 weeks to prepare for the next mission, and I am going to be ready.

I took the nexu and eweb engineer. I used the nexu to block up the left path, and when the heroes tried to rush han out the right side I used IG88 to punch him good. Didn't even get to use the eweb, heh.

This might be a dumb question but is the entrance the Rebel starting point?

Yes, The entrance is the starting point.

We just played the mission and the rebel player doesn't stand much of a chance. With only 12 hitpoints, no possibility to heal, not being able to move the round he is freed and three elite stormtrooper blasting away on Solo he took 6-7 damage right away. IG88 was able to move and defeated Solo when he started to run the next round.

Wait, does Han come in exhausted even if the Rebels get to the back room before the end of round 3? I have my stuff put away at the moment.

The players had most of the really dangerous stuff taken care of by then, too, except IG-88. But IG-88 never had a shot at Solo. He got off one double attack, then got stunned, then got off one more attack before Mak and Jyn took him down.

Han one-shotted the elite officer, then a stormtrooper missed him, and Han's return fire killed that one, too, so the threats to Han quickly fell in number. I still had a chance, it just did not go well for me.

Mine played out like Soapy's game. The Rebels rushed the back room, which meant they didn't take out anything on the way in. This meant they were left with the firfight in the back room, and all exits out blocked. I felt pretty sorry for them.

Ig-88 Destroyed the heroes in my game. they focused on him but he kept repairing himself. I swarmed them and forced them back into the room where han was being kept. the spawn points at the top of the map allow you to wait for the heroes to return with han.

And all the imps really need to do is fill that tube to the entrance with as many dudes as possible and it's over for the rebs. There's just no way to avoid the onslaught, esp if the rebs have to chew through 4 or 5 imps just to physically get to the entrance.

I've never won this one as rebels. The only time I saw it won by rebels, the imperials were spread out for no reason, and there was a clear path to the entrance for Han...

The only advice I have for this one is to use the lack of time limit to your advantage and just kill absolutely everything you can before moving Han into the open...

Wait, does Han come in exhausted even if the Rebels get to the back room before the end of round 3?

Yes, he does come in exhausted.

It was pretty frustrating hearing that as the Rebels. We had to make sure our Imp player read over the event text several times to make sure he wasn’t messing up.

This is a very difficult mission for the Rebels.

Just played yesterday, and yeah, it seems brutal for the rebels (I was on the rebel side). Firstly, to make it to the door in time seems really quite hard (we got one player who had enough time to get one test... which he failed), and near impossible if you want to work on the existing forces. If you do make it you probably have a ton of enemies still on the board and then have to herd Han through 3 fresh stormtroopers and an officer. And then if you don't make it you have a Han who can be taken down in one turn not that unreliably by 3 Stormtroopers (as happened in our game, though I will admit one of the defence dice rolls was a total flub). He died in the first Imperial action of turn 4, and our Imperial player went to check everything again to make sure everything had been done correctly. While I don't see that as normal, two decent groups of guys look like they could take him down.

The only probable way I could see in making it is to primarily focus in clearing the enemies (not going for the door too much, just wanting to be far enough forward to support Han), and then get Han out of the line of fire of the guys in the room as your first action when he bursts through at the end of turn 3.

I do have to say I don't think I am really playing Gideon (my character) right. Being able to give others actions is great, but it does seem really hard to keep that going, as I don't really make enough attacks to earn back the surges I need to continue ordering people, which leaves me having to rest to make the strain back.

I've found if you are running into pesky rebel gear and are using subversive tactics surgical strike is the XP item to get it seems to tear them up.

And all the imps really need to do is fill that tube to the entrance with as many dudes as possible and it's over for the rebs. There's just no way to avoid the onslaught, esp if the rebs have to chew through 4 or 5 imps just to physically get to the entrance.

That would not work because Haan can spend 2 move actions back-to-back and get 8 movement points.

By the rules it's very difficult to prevent escaping. You can move through other figures for 2 points and then it's 1 additional point when you're adjacent to the entrance.

And all the imps really need to do is fill that tube to the entrance with as many dudes as possible and it's over for the rebs. There's just no way to avoid the onslaught, esp if the rebs have to chew through 4 or 5 imps just to physically get to the entrance.

That would not work because Haan can spend 2 move actions back-to-back and get 8 movement points.

By the rules it's very difficult to prevent escaping. You can move through other figures for 2 points and then it's 1 additional point when you're adjacent to the entrance.

If your open groups are stormtroopers (or Nexu), it works pretty well. Han would need to be so close to the entrance already in order to spend his 2 moves to get through it - and surviving all of those dice rolls with only 12 hit points (if you've managed to get him that close without taking damage) while he's that close to literally ALL of the imperial figures, is just insane.

I've come at this mission 4 times - 3 times as rebels and tried different strategies each time. Maybe it was always dice, but I just think it's not a balanced mission. [spoilerS] I mean even Luke gets some help with his health built-in to his mission. Han gets absolutely no help at all, unless you can bring Chewy to help protect him. In which case, you've just given the imps another 15 threat to attack you with...

Anyway - no hate here. I'd just love to see their play-test reports on this one...

And all the imps really need to do is fill that tube to the entrance with as many dudes as possible and it's over for the rebs. There's just no way to avoid the onslaught, esp if the rebs have to chew through 4 or 5 imps just to physically get to the entrance.

That would not work because Haan can spend 2 move actions back-to-back and get 8 movement points.

By the rules it's very difficult to prevent escaping. You can move through other figures for 2 points and then it's 1 additional point when you're adjacent to the entrance.

If your open groups are stormtroopers (or Nexu), it works pretty well. Han would need to be so close to the entrance already in order to spend his 2 moves to get through it - and surviving all of those dice rolls with only 12 hit points (if you've managed to get him that close without taking damage) while he's that close to literally ALL of the imperial figures, is just insane.

I've come at this mission 4 times - 3 times as rebels and tried different strategies each time. Maybe it was always dice, but I just think it's not a balanced mission. [spoilerS] I mean even Luke gets some help with his health built-in to his mission. Han gets absolutely no help at all, unless you can bring Chewy to help protect him. In which case, you've just given the imps another 15 threat to attack you with...

Anyway - no hate here. I'd just love to see their play-test reports on this one...

It's a very difficult mission, but it's far from an unbalanced mission. We lost because of a poor decision on the Rebel players' part.

That said, going into the mission blind the cards are stacked against the Rebels if they don't do everything perfectly:

1. Kill all/most of the initial characters.

2. Open the door at the beginning of round 3. No sooner (get #1 done).

3. Have Diala available with Force Throw to give Han Solo a 3 space head start. Or Gideon.

4. Han goes first, immediately moves 8 spaces (the Elite ST's will never get a shot off due to the 3 space head start).

If the Rebels don't do any of these, they are boned.

I'll be playing this in a few days as the Imperial, and I'm wondering

It's not entirely clear when a mission event says to deploy a rebel figure and that deployment point is occupied by another figure, who decides where to place the deploying rebel figure.

It's clear that a player should place the deploying rebel figure (ally) as close to the deployment point as possible; but which player? Is it the rebel players or the imperial player?

The closest rule I could find was in the RRG pg 5 under Rebel Allies. The last point says, "Some missions give heroes control of a specific ally for that mission. These figures follow all normal rules for allies but have special deployment rules and do not give the Imperial player additional threat or an optional deployment. These figures do not restrict heroes from choosing to deploy another ally to the mission."

I would give the rebel players the control of a rebel figure (ally) placement.

Again, it is unclear. Maybe someone else can find a more clear cut rule to this situation...

As the imperial player is managing all mission-related deployments I would argue it is his decision. It's also an end-of-round event, which in case of timing issues lets the Imperial player choose the order; this is not the same case, but it is a similar matter of resolving ambiguity.

edit: I will say, however, that intentionally abusing this by trying to block that blue square and place Han Solo unfavorably would be... impolite.

Looks like most everyone was correct.

Hi Jeff,

In this situation, the Imperial player would determine which “next closest” square Han Solo would deploy to.

Thanks!

Paul Winchester

Creative Content Developer

Fantasy Flight Games

Just played yesterday, and yeah, it seems brutal for the rebels (I was on the rebel side). Firstly, to make it to the door in time seems really quite hard (we got one player who had enough time to get one test... which he failed), and near impossible if you want to work on the existing forces. If you do make it you probably have a ton of enemies still on the board and then have to herd Han through 3 fresh stormtroopers and an officer. And then if you don't make it you have a Han who can be taken down in one turn not that unreliably by 3 Stormtroopers (as happened in our game, though I will admit one of the defence dice rolls was a total flub). He died in the first Imperial action of turn 4, and our Imperial player went to check everything again to make sure everything had been done correctly. While I don't see that as normal, two decent groups of guys look like they could take him down.

This is exactly what happened to us last evening. We failed our one attempt to open the door, so Han came in wounded. At the same time, the Imperial player placed an elite E-web and an Imperial Officer, along with IG and the wounded elite Stormie squad that comes in behind Han. None of that mattered though, because Han died in the next Imperial activation after dropping one of the stormtroopers chasing him. He rolled 2 evades on his white rolls, and with only 8 health versus about 15 incoming damage, that was it.

Easily the stupidest mission we've encountered to date. I thought "A New Threat" was bad, but we probably could have chosen better tactics, so I don't feel like that one was stacked against us as badly as this one was. We only lost "Breaking Point" on the last die roll, so I felt like we did okay there and it could have gone either way.

We had zero shot at winning from the moment we sat down to play "Fly Solo", we just didn't know it yet. Very, very badly designed mission (unless you're the Imperial player). If they're all like this, I don't think I'm going to purchase IA after all. I had hoped to run a campaign of my own with some friends, but I wouldn't want to inflict crap like this on them. That mission wasn't even remotely fun. By the time you find out what you are supposed to achieve, the game is over (unless you make a series of amazing white die rolls).

Tis been awhile since I played this mission as the Imp, but I am fairly certain that there is no deployment zone in the room with the Elite Stormtroopers + Officer. I am also pretty certain that IG-88 has to come in through the Hero deployment zone. Well, that is where I placed him due to my reading of the mission.

I won this mission as the Imp the turn after Han got out injured. I was running the attachment deck where the Elite Stormtroopers got an extra movement point on them, and in addition to the die that allowed me to switch dice colors to how I see fit, took two shots into Han's back and took him down. From what I learned from the mission is that the Rebel has to get to the room which would allow you to create a barrier to protect Han as the group becomes a moving wall. The Rebs have to shoot and move to the door, if they use both activations to attack then they aren't getting near Han to protect.

Tis been awhile since I played this mission as the Imp, but I am fairly certain that there is no deployment zone in the room with the Elite Stormtroopers + Officer. I am also pretty certain that IG-88 has to come in through the Hero deployment zone. Well, that is where I placed him due to my reading of the mission.

I don't believe there is; the E-web and Imperial Officer deployed at the other end of that board edge, back closer to where the heroes deploy.

They ended up being irrelevant, however, because Han was burned down by the elite stormies that spawned with him.

The complete lack of information you have going into Turn 4 means that you have no chance to protect Han and he will die 75+% of the time on the first Imperial activation of Turn 4. The lack of information is part of the game; I'm fine with that. The fact that Imperial figures essentially spawn on top of him and he has nowhere to run - and crappy defense dice - mean that there is virtually no way to win the mission if you fail the strength check on the door in Turn 3. The latter is bad design. Those elite stormtroopers should come in stunned or exhausted or... something, I dunno what.

If I ever run this mission in a campaign of my own, I will make an adjustment of some kind. Otherwise the mission is not enjoyable and completely unwinnable for the Rebels. It's one thing to make a run for it and have Han go down somewhere along the way; it's entirely another to see him dropped before you even have time to implement the plan you formed as a team when he mysteriously appeared in your midst.

The key is to never, ever open a door on the last or 2nd to last Hero activation. Bad stuff usually happens, all your activation are spent, and the IP gets to activate unopposed.

In Fly Solo, you have to get to the door by the end of Turn 2 (moderately simple, even with some attacks on the bad guys along the way). Then open it early turn 3 (first or 2nd activation, maybe 1st activation kill some baddies with your strongest character).

IIRC, the STs start de-activated (if not your Imp Player screwed up), so you have all of Turn 3 to use special abilities to get Haan out of there. From there Haan always goes first with his turn being double-move.

If you have Diala gain a few MPs by Force Throwing Haan (or Gideon can Command, or Fenn can give MPs).

We almost won this, but mostly because we got too smart for ourselves and on the 2nd to last turn went with a convoluted plan rather than just moving Han first. Turns out if we had moved Han first, we would've won.