I don't think that I missunterstand the ruling, but here is no "strategy" forum for my topic...

However, reading the Mission Setup, the Imp chooses its open groups (OG) at step 3. and the Rebells may deploy an ally at step 7. Hope this is correct.

The point is, that the Imp maybe choose other open groups, when knowing about the extra threat gained by deploying the ally, but by this ruling the Imp does not have this information. So how do you choose your open groups if the Rebells have, for example, the option to bring Luke Skywalker to a mission?

When having 3 OG, ok you can choose 2 not to expansive groups which are good for your goals and a more expensive group like elite Royal Guards or Darth Vader to "counter" deploying Luke. In most mission you do not loose flexibility or have a big strategic loss, but whats about missions with only 2 OG? Did you prefer a maximum of flexibility or take you the risk of picking a group that you possibly will not be able to deploy unless the ally is deployed?

Hope for a nice discussion, maybe the question cannot answered in general, so feel free to specify your answer to a specific mission.

As the Imperial player, you really wont know if they decide to bring an ally or not until they deploy their heroes on the board. This is one of the rare times where the Rebels have "hidden" information (if you can call it that). What the Imperial player does know is which allies the rebels have unlocked, so you can plan accordingly and assume that the Rebel will most likely bring an ally every chance they get.

That said, you have to weigh the risk of saving up threat to deploy something big you put in your open group if they dont bring an ally or bring a cheap ally, versus the the threat you may or may not gain if they bring an expensive ally.

A wise imperial player will always choose the flexibility of cheaper open groups over the heavy hitter in the earlier missions. But later in the game when the threat level is greater than 4, that risk is quickly mitigated.

I start with an example:

I played Under Siege and picked the elite Royal Guards (RG) and a elite Probe Droid. I use the Scientific Super... Class Deck and had Technical Support. So the Probe Droid was a must have. The Rebells could and did deploy Luke Skywalker to the mission.

Another question is, is it in general useful for the Rebells to deploy an (expensive) Ally? Discus this here too or make your own Rebell thread .

Personally I think allies bring an interesting twist to the game, but sadly, are mostly a waste for the rebels.

1 : Because they use the same mechanic as the imperial troops (damage instead of strain, cannot heal and withdraw when wounded), I find them easy to dispose of.

2 : The effect of having an extra activation for the rebels is countered by the extra troop the imp will deploy.

Overall, there may be moments when bringing an ally is worth it, but most of the time bringing an ally is almost better for the Empire, as the threat given the to imperial player gives him more flexibility. I really would like it to be different but for now, every allies that I played against proved themselves near worthless.

Does anybody had a game where allies brought some significant help to the rebels ?

Havent had a game where allies have been deployed so my comment might be useless.

I imagine that allies really will shine when you gain abilities and items that reduces their cost.

Isn't there a supply card that allows you to deploy a free ally?

Well, there is a reward card that reduce the cost of allies by 2. That might make allies a real advantage.

Rebel troopers and saboteurs make for some great "fodder" that can actually do some damage. Their presence would certain make the Imperial player adjust their tactics.

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Overall, there may be moments when bringing an ally is worth it, but most of the time bringing an ally is almost better for the Empire, as the threat given the to imperial player gives him more flexibility. I really would like it to be different but for now, every allies that I played against proved themselves near worthless.

Does anybody had a game where allies brought some significant help to the rebels ?

Ok, the Imp gets flexibility through more threat, but on the other hand looses a bit in the choice of open groups. Sometimes you can play a "psychological game" with the empire

Is there is game where you really want to have an ally? I don't know yet, but when playing with 3 or 2 rebells "Under Siege" or "The Source" are good examples where allies can be useful. (Depending of your group, cards and the imperial player tactics.)

Fizz said this before, you may have influence on the empire tactics.

I haven't played a lot of games against allies, but it happened that I always had trandoshans in them. With these guys, just declaring an attack (within 3 spaces) hurts allies with one damage. Combined with their +1 damage at point blank and pierce 2, they cut through them like butter. Elites trandoshans are just worst (+2 damage at point blank). Against rebel troopers, its almost useless to roll for attack, just check if the rebel rolls an "X". I know I'm exaggerating but I find the game already hard for the rebels. They may gain a couple of rounds while the imperial player focuses on the allies but are still left to deal with the additional troops afterwards (since troopers and saboteur do not hit that hard and stronger allies only have one attack). And that is if the additional troops cannot take care of the allies by themselves, in which case it doesn't really is a diversion.

However, I agree that it can play on tactics, and there may be missions where allies are more useful than others. But I'm still wondering if somebody had a game where it felt the rebels were really advantaged by this.

I guess I still have to play more times against allies, and also see how it fares when the imp does not have trandoshans.