Having recently finished a campaign, my group is going to start another (of course). I was Gaarkhan in the first campaign and I have graciously volunteered to play the good guys this time. My question is:

What is everyones favorite Imperial deck to play?

The imperial player used imperial might in the first campaign, so I'm planning on using something else. I'm leaning toward subversive tactics, but jetpack troopers and arc rifles sound fun too.

Any tips for either deck for a first time imperial?

I'm running Subversive Tactics right now, and I just completed story mission 3. In the first few missions it was really tough, but as the heroes upgrade themselves more with abilities that cost more strain, it becomes a terror to the rebels. The real standouts are Surgical Strike (Exhaust this card after an Imperial figure resolves an attack. The target suffers 1 damage and 1 strain. 1 XP) and No Quarter (When an Imperial figure declares an attack target a figure that has suffered 2 or more strain, add a surge to the results. 4 XP). With those two together you can actually pump out the damage with terrifying efficiency. If you can get lucky and win the first few missions (I was on a massive losing streak until last night) and have a few extra XP, I had a lot of fun with Royal Guards equipped with Savage Weaponry (Attachment. You gain Surge: Bleed. 1 XP), which when combined with No Quarter allowed me to apply both Stun and Bleed to multiple heroes a turn, making them have to waste entire activations to clear their conditions. The operative slogan you work under with Subversive tactics is "No Rest for the Wicked, Not Until all are Dead"

Subversive tactics is what I am currently playing in our campaign. I really like it but you have to use it all the time to gain the maximum benefit. It doesn't really work well with cheap units, but with royal guards and trandoshans it works nicely.

I am going to try the brute force Imperial Might next run

I am a brute force kind of guy, so Imperial Might was my obvious first choice.

In the next campaign, I'm going to win with Technological Superiority.

I'm 50/50 between Imperial Might and Subversive Tactics... for some reason, I'm not that into Technological Superiority. Maybe there's something I'm missing?

The classes really define how you should play and what kind of troops you essentially want to deploy. Technological superiority really emphasizes what troops you should take.

The classes really define how you should play and what kind of troops you essentially want to deploy. Technological superiority really emphasizes what troops you should take.

I assume you mean lots of troops. I don't have the cards in front of me but don't a few of them only work on troops? i.e. stormtroopers? I have a feeling I'm going to need to swarm the commander and possibly Mak, so I'm thinking the jetpacks may be very useful

I'm only halfway through my campaign using Tech and I see a lot of love for droids (some trooper) so far. Maxing out probe droids has given my Reb players fits.

I usually have rounds where - amongst the mayhem - are 3 droids (incl. one elite) where we have two turrets and a nurse locking down a particular area of the map. Combining Probe Droids' built-in Recover and the heal added to all droids and you have a 3-dice gunner / pocket healers. It's beautiful.

Forgot to add... Adding a cloaking device to elite troopers (or your E-Web) is awesome. Especially with an E-Web double-attacking with Recover.

I have played subversive tactics fully for one campaign. it is a great deck to play, weak early on, but i found around the 4-5th mission the heroes were always getting strained. there is a card at the end of the round if a character is not fully strained make that character suffer 2 strain. there is also a card that allows you to take an interrupt attack after a hero rests, scares the heroes to take rest breaks.

Im currently doing imperial might, im liking it. it seems the decks have two build styles and buying everything can not gel quite aswell as buying stuff that works together

there is a card at the end of the round if a character is not fully strained make that character suffer 2 strain.

It is particularily funny when that character is one strain away from maximum and you strain him to the max AND deal one dmg.

From what I can tell, it does make you biased on what open groups you want to bring into the field . I believe Might wants to have Stormtroopers, Techo wants probe droids?, and subversive loves Trandoshans. I have only played Might, but that I what I could gather from the other decks. By no means necessary, but certain cards are made for those types of units.

Subversive Tactics adores Royal Guard. Slap Savage Weaponry on them and you're looking at Stunning and Bleeding a hero (or two) every round, putting them under an even more insane time constraint than the ones they already have to deal with.

Hi everyone.

I thought I might bump this thread. It's been several months and by now I've had a chance to run through all four Imperial Class decks.

Military Might is still the deck for me, but that's just the way I play. It's so dang powerful right from the beginning, and +2 health from Assault Armor bumps those weak Stormtroopers up to a respectable 5 Health, which takes still fledgling heroes more activations than they would like to remove them. I have noticed that the other decks require some building to come into their own, but Military Might starts big. Yes, it may peter out quickly enough, but the Rebels losing those initial matches means fewer credits, fewer red mission wins, and less XP.

The 501st:

Elite Stormtroopers with Assault Armor, Combat Veterans, and Shock Troopers. Rough and Tough.

If the Imperial Player can get Imperial Industry along with that? Makes it very difficult for the Rebels.

I dislike the new one for Leadership. It doesn't seem to blend with my style very well, which is surprising because I love action advantage which that deck gives you, but I just don't feel there's much other support and you have to wait too long to get it.

So now, after having a few months under your belt and after playing a few campaigns, what is your personal choice for Imperial Class Deck.... and why?

I won with Military Might, but lost most of the campaign matches. Still an great deck in that you can focus a guy every round, and with concentrated fire you can really put out the pain.

Playing Twin Shadows with Technological Superiority right now, and I've found that swarming the place with probe droids that can heal, focus, and remove conditions is a real hassle to the Rebels. If you can move a guy next to the droid, then have him shoot, on the droids turn he can heal/focus/remove condition on the guy and then fire as well. Oh, and cloaking device on Kayn Somos works real well (trooper or droid only).

Subversive Tactics looks great though and that's what I'm playing in my next full campaign.

I've played both Military Might for half a campaign, and Tech Superiority for a full campaign. I liked Military Might because Show of Force is just awesome. But overall, Tech Superiority has been great. I went the attachment route, getting all attachments (Jetpacks, Arc Blasters, Cloaking Device, and Superior Augments) and basically made my team a "hit and run" style imperial play. The extra speed and +1 damage from groups with attachments worked really well on large maps where I could move around. Any type of hallway type maps though, my Rebels won as I couldn't maneuver well enough and they had a squad built around killing groups well (Fenn, Garkham with brutal cleave, Diala). Overall, I liked Tech Superiority the best so far. Cloaking device is insanely awesome, Arc Blasters are just pure fun to attack with, and Experimental Arms late game on Royal Guards is great! The deck seems to start relatively slow, but late game opens up lots of tactical options and choices. Fun stuff!

I plan on trying Subvasive tactics next or the new one Inspiring Leadership (haven't heard much on this deck, but it sounds like the most strategic and tactical of all the decks).

Just completed the 2nd side mission in my current campaign and am enjoying Subversive Tactics. Putting all that strain slows the heroes down a lot and I get bonuses for doing so really helps out. The Transdoshian Hunters and/or RGs just tear through rather brutally.

While I have enjoyed all 3 of the original decks, Military Might is my favorite because it is just straight up Punishing.

I am part way through an Inspiring Leadership campaign and I am pretty disappointed. I like the idea, but the starting skill is useless more often than not, And while the 3 and 4 skills are great, it is tough keeping officers alive.

Subversive Tactics just remove any chance the Heroes have of using special abilities. I have learned it kind of ruins the fun of the game :/

I am part way through an Inspiring Leadership campaign and I am pretty disappointed. I like the idea, but the starting skill is useless more often than not, And while the 3 and 4 skills are great, it is tough keeping officers alive.

I'm using Inspiring Leadership in the Twin Suns campaign, and I agree that the starting skill is basically useless.

However, the 2xp card Strategic Planning is absolutely amazing. Whenever I have a squad that isn't going to do much this round (e.g. it's on the wrong side of the map, or only 1 stormtrooper is left in the squad), I can give their activation to a fresh squad and have them attack twice, or do something that the Rebels really didn't expect. It allows me to ignore one of the core rules, and it opens up a ton of possibilities.

Noble sacrifice is also fun, since it provides a big disincentive to killing your officers.

I just finished the Twin Shadows mini campaign today using Military Might deck. That one was pretty amazing. I love that I can deploy troopers cheaper. I won the first mission, lost the next two and won the finale. The rebels were just swarmed with troops. It's fun when I get 5 threats / round and because of Endless Ranks I can choose to deploy a Stormtrooper group, Heavy Stormtrooper group or a E-Web Engineer every round. The rebels were playing Gaarkhan and Biv who like melee so I took the upgrade that gives a surge icon when a trooper is attacking a target within 2 spaces. I also found it really powerful to move in closer with a stormtrooper group, make the first attack focused, then move the other stormtroopers of the group closer and take advantage of the reroll given by Squad Training. I didn't use any of the 4 xp costing upgrades.

My first campaign I played through with Technological Superiority and that one was a disappointment. Adaptive Weapons was a good card but others weren't that impressive. The whole deck seems inferior compared to Military Might and Subversive Tactics.

We played one campaign with the Imperial player (not me this time) using Subversive Tactics. That one is really powerful as it delivers so much strain. Trandoshans and Royal Guards are a huge pain to deal as rebels. And as it gives strain, it robs the heroes of their special abilities. Jyn becomes almost useless then. The Trandoshans are also brutal against allies as they take damage from strain. And the card that gives 1 strain and one damage deals effectively 2 damage. The missions where we had to protect some ally, the Imperial just gunned him down in few turns with the Trandoshans.

The leadership deck I haven't tried yet but we're thinking of starting another Twin Suns campaign and maybe testing that out there. We also thought about starting mini-mini campaigns or even single scenarios by giving Imperials and Rebels 7 xp each, drawing one or two random side missions, rebels get some starting credits and Imperial can bring in any unique villains for the missions to at least partly offset the missing Agenda cards. Imperial should get about 4 threat / round. This just to test out different tactics and builds.

Subversive Tactics just remove any chance the Heroes have of using special abilities. I have learned it kind of ruins the fun of the game :/

rests and focuses their teammates)

Subversive Tactics just remove any chance the Heroes have of using special abilities. I have learned it kind of ruins the fun of the game :/

that is only true for the first half of the campaign - my heroes are now able to wipe off strain with their abilities (mak&jyn are great with it, diala

rests and focuses their teammates)

I guess if it only ruins half the campaign its ok then....

It's doesnt ruin anything, but it does make it harder for the rebels, forcing them to take other abilities then they would have otherwise.

Subversive Tactics just remove any chance the Heroes have of using special abilities. I have learned it kind of ruins the fun of the game :/

that is only true for the first half of the campaign - my heroes are now able to wipe off strain with their abilities (mak&jyn are great with it, diala

rests and focuses their teammates)

I guess if it only ruins half the campaign its ok then....

I didnt steam roll them in the 1st half - it just was hard for them (won 1,3,4,5 - now i'm losing every single mission)

the last 4 missions I got steamrolled, coz with their heroes skills they could wipe off the majority of strain