If you are a Rebel player and your group hasn't completed the "Homecoming" side mission yet, stop reading. Savor the surprises.

With that out of the way, I'm the Imperial player in my group, and I'm preparing for the fourth side mission in the campaign. Last week the Rebels won (their third victory in a row, but only on their very last action) to get the Rebel Saboteurs as allies. This week we're moving on to "Homecoming." The stakes are high. If they win, they get Luke Skywalker (Hero of the Rebellion) as an ally. If I win, I get 2 extra influence to spend on agendas.

I'll be starting with 8 threat available for an optional deployment. If the Rebel Saboteurs join the heroes, I'll get another 5 threat. So I'm trying to decide what to use for my open groups.The big question to me seems to be whether I should try to win by deadline (at the end of round 6) or by defeating Luke. It's 17 squares for Luke from his starting point to the terminal to open the garage doors, so that would ordinarily take at least four move actions, or 1/3 of Luke's actions for the mission. From there it's another move to get adjacent to the T-16, and an action to interact with it once the garage is empty enough. So normally Luke would have to spend six actions just completing the mission objectives. Except Fenn Signis could give him extra movement with his tactical movement ability. That could shave one or more actions off that timer.

If I decide to try to defeat Luke, I'm considering some combination of these:

• AT-ST: The reason should be obvious: blue-red-red with targeting computer and lots of good sight lines on the map. Deploy it at the green deployment point on the northwest corner of the map and it will have shots at the Rebels as they approach and go on by. Massive means it doesn't have a problem with its line of sight being blocked, either. Rolling black-black with 15 health, they might see it as a waste of actions to try to kill it. The biggest problem is cost. Even if the Rebels field the Saboteurs as allies, Luke running full speed would get past the deployment point before I could drop the AT-ST, which would then have to chase Luke.
• E-Web Engineer (elite): Like the AT-ST, it has an accurate three-dice attack that can make good use of the long sight lines to quickly put out a lot of damage on Luke. The problem here is its low speed and tripod restriction. If Luke is moving at full speed without stopping to attack enemies, the E-Web Engineer might only get one round of attacks off. Thankfully I could make the most of that with Show of Force, Fire at Will, and Sustained Fire, but it's still a concern.
• Nexu (elite): It's one of the few figures that can nearly keep pace with a running Luke and still make attacks. Red-green is a good attack pool, and it can make Luke bleed even without a surge. Its weakness is its relative fragility. Even if Luke ignores it, the other Rebels could kill it quickly.
• Trandoshan Hunters (elite): The Trandoshan Hunters are all about Relentless and ACP Scattergun. If both figures attack an ally, like Luke, who can't take strain, those two abilities add up to an extra 6 damage. The trouble, like the E-Web Engineer, would be speed. They can't keep up with Luke, especially if he's running full speed and they're trying to move and attack.

If I decide to try to slow the Rebels down, the lineup of likely choices for my open groups changes:

• Royal Guards (both versions): The big things with the Royal Guards are their ability to keep up with Luke and stun him. That can really slow down the Rebels. They also can stand up pretty well to attacks once the garage is opened, trying to hold on long enough for an Imperial victory. If I go the route of playing defense this mission, I see virtually no downside to using Royal Guards.
• Nexu (elite): The elite Nexu is a good choice for this strategy, too, as it can take up space, slowing Luke down. Its attacks also come with an automatic bleed effect, which Luke might spend an action to clear if he's running low on health. The Nexu is still fairly fragile. The smaller health pool is the main reason I wouldn't consider the regular version.

So, what do you guys think of strategy and which figures to field as open groups? Luke is too good of an ally to let the Rebels have him. And I want that extra influence.

I would go Tradoshans and Royal Guards.

When I did this mission it helped keep the Tradoshans up and the Royal guards could swing in and still knock Luke a bit.

I made Luke my secondary objective on this mission.

Worked for me. The rebels didn't even get close to Vader or the ship, and Luke lived through the mission.

Slaptac,

Slaptac,

Were you able to drop the AT-ST at setup? Because no matter what, I won't be able to. Or did the Rebels not rush Luke past the deployment point at the start of the game? That's my big worry. They could run him right by with the first activation of the first round, leaving me to get, at best, two shots off before he gets out of LOS. I could still use it to tie up the rest of the Rebels and pop it into the garage near the end of the mission, but if I take it as one of my open groups, I risk it not doing much at 14 points. And if the Rebels don't take the Saboteurs as allies for the mission, I can't drop it until the start of turn 3.

I see your concern...This is how it played out for me.

Good Luck!

After some review, I think I'll field my regular group of Royal Guards as my optional deployment at the start, giving them my Assault Armor attachment to essentially upgrade them to elite status for free (which is better, rerolling a black die or getting a flat +1 evade?). I'll also take my elite Stormtrooper group and regular Nexu for my final two open groups.

The Royal Guards can really slow Luke down with their stun abilities, they won't go down easily (helping me hold onto the garage once it's open, and if one does get defeated, I can redeploy it for a single round's worth of threat. Likewise, I can keep deploying the Nexu round after round. It's good for blocking movement and line of sight, and if he can land a hit on Luke, he'll have to decide whether to spend an action clearing Bleed or take damage every action. And the elite Stormtroopers are there to flood the garage with too many targets to quickly kill if the Rebels get in there with plenty of time to spare.

If the mission goes all six rounds, I'll get 28 threat, 33 if the Rebel Saboteurs come along. That's enough for the initial deployment of the Royal Guards, a deployment of the elite Stormtroopers, and 4 Royal Guard reinforcements or Nexu deployments. I have a plan, and that is to bog the Rebels down. The Trandoshans and Nexu can make Luke bleed, and the Royal Guards can stun him. I have Restorative Supplies to help me keep a figure alive (with an average heal of 4 1/3 damage). I'll probably use that to refill Vader's or a Royal Guard's health.

You have a good plan. Its better to have the innate evade in almost every case, especially if you already have a black die and not a white one.

Well, the Rebels beat me. Again. I think I had the right plan, it just didn't pan out. I bogged them down in the northern corridor for a good long while. It was turn 5 before Luke opened the garage, and most of the rest of the Rebels were out of position. The problem was the one Rebel in position was the one who had the best chance to help Luke. Fenn Signis had Tactical Movement, no strain, and the heavy blaster that rolls green/green/yellow. He was able to move four spaces AND double-attack, killing two of the stormtroopers in the garage, who I tried to hide behind the T-16. Since I couldn't deploy or reinforce anything directly to the garage, all they had to do was move Luke in and interact with the T-16 to get away. And thanks to a lucky draw from the supply deck, they were able to exhaust the Royal Guards I redeployed at the start of the turn, so they were able to take their time and pick up crates. It was a clean sweep. They got won, they got all of the crates, and they got valuable goods.

I think I made two tactical missteps. At the start of round 5, I should have reinforced my second Royal Guard to the east deployment point and brought him in after Luke opened the garage. And I probably could have deployed my Stormtroopers to better safeguard them from Fenn. Still, I think unlucky dice rolls when attacking Luke hurt me more than my misplays. I didn't roll nearly as many surges when attacking him with the Royal Guards as you would expect based on their dice.

Oh, well. On to "Incoming." I really need this one to try to force "Captured" and get some extra influence.

hey we just played this mission tonight! it is pretty tough for the rebels we found, we lost straight out Luke was toast. our imperial player setup the E-web at the top corner and it really put a full hurt on us all game. We spent some time afterwards working out movement, and we needed to move luke every turn max movement and get to the terminal. the way we worked it out it takes luke until round 5 to be able to interact with the terminal and using his movement can get just inside the garage. But this cause major problems, vader is there along with (in our case) a stormtrooper unit. I dont see how Luke would have the health to withstand vader and another barrage beofe he can activate again. We even got lucky with a medkit and healed Luke 5 damage. Our group didnt have any ally movement boosts so the mission seemed out of reach by our second turn.

We spent some time afterwards working out movement, and we needed to move luke every turn max movement and get to the terminal. the way we worked it out it takes luke until round 5 to be able to interact with the terminal and using his movement can get just inside the garage.

You are supposed to double move luke at least 1 or 2 times to make it to the terminal in time AND kill some imperial forces. Don't forget this passive ability triggers anyway.

We thought since he is not a Hero character he can not double move. much like the imperial forces figures etc.

Nevermind. we forgot about the double move, I think we confused it with the fact he cannot attack twice like hero figures, and therefore we assumed he couldn't double move.

Can the Luke character attack?

Can the Luke character attack?

Yes. He gets 2 action during his activation. Allies are limited to only a single attack per activation though, and they cannot interact with crates.

Hello.

What is the garage: is it all the squares inside the doors, or is it only the gray squares?

Can you suport your answer with the rulebook?

Thanks from Portugal.