My only experience in campaign so far is the 2-hero legendary mode. Rebels never win the campaign and rarely win the scenarios. In fact, my wife and I constantly try to help the rebel side with fore-knowledge and tricks the other one doesn't see, etc. It's not always dice, either. It just always seems impossible...

So, I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with both 2-hero and 4-hero modes. If so, can you tell me if there's enough of a boon to rebels with the 4 figures to make a permanent switch?

Really the only thing that comes to mind (beyond a more diverse pool of abilities) is the ability to separate when there are objectives spread out across the map. My gut is saying that the 4-hero approach is the way to go, even in a 2-player campaign, and even though it means a ton more brain work....

What say you all?

Certain missions will be impossible for the rebels, such as under siege. The problem is that with only two heroes more can be brought down on a single character.

How bizarre, I was about to post the exact opposite!

I've played half a campaign with two heros using legendary updates. We all agreed that it was almost impossible for the imperial player to win. The heros could move twice a round, often getting up close to the imperial units and destrying them before they've even activated! I managed to get one turn out of the e-web engineer the entire game. The Stormtroppers dropped like flies (which I accept is thematically consistent). We laughted that I NEVER got to use their reroll ability because they never lasted long enough. The Quick Shot ability of one of the heros was ridiculous! I lost most units on my own turn, I'd attack, quick shot would then kill me. Then the hero would move into cover stopping me from attacking with another unit, infruiating! I realise it costs strain for them to do that, but a quick rest and they charge up another 2 quick shots. Once the heros had tier 1 weapons it was game over, they pretty minced through all my units and there was nothing I could do. The influence and class cards for imperial seem to pale in comparison to what the heros get. We've decided that the game is really more about playing out a Rebel victory and having fun that way.

It depends on the missions.

The advantage of being two heroes is that they can cover a lot more distance in each round, also the equipment they buy will be twice as usefull...

The advantage of being four heroes is they actually have endurance strain to use their abilities (endurance is not boosted like life for example). Alos they have more varied abilities for their skills tests and such...

Dom

Tried both 2 and 4 and have to say 4 heroes gives a much better experience for both Rebels and Imperial. More choices for the rebels and harder gameplay for the Imperials. We learnt this from playing Descent which has similar game mechanics. Not played whole campaign yet but so far so good

Based on my experience I feel that this game should ALWAYS be played with 4 heroes, regardless on number of players. It has clearly been designed around this number. 2 players (one Rebel, one Imperial) simply have them control 4 heroes, and 3 players have each rebel player control 2.

The only real issue is with 4 players (3 rebels), as then you can't split the heroes properly.

Of course I don't know if this will solve the issues you have been having, as what I have played so far has ended up with rebel wins (though close ones).

We all agreed that it was almost impossible for the imperial player to win.. The influence and class cards for imperial seem to pale in comparison to what the heros get. We've decided that the game is really more about playing out a Rebel victory and having fun that way.

That has been my experience as well. The quad-move makes some missions super easy. My biggest problem, however, is that Legendary characters have such a high Wounded threshold. It is pretty much impossible to get one of them over that 20+ threshold before they can activate and heal 10+ damage (and they can do that again in the same round if needed). It makes missions where the goal is to "wound all heroes" a pointless waste of time (and means the Vader will NOT be an open option for the campaign). As the Imperial player I feel like I'm a whipping boy setting up paper threats for the Legendary rebels to laugh at as they smash. The agenda cards are dull and ineffectual. The Imp class cards are "meh" at best: nothing compared to the Rebel equipment and abilities, and only refresh half as often. Even the stable of characters I can choose from gets boring after a play or two. It would be nice if the three player game could be fun for all three players.

Far from impossible. Difficult yes.

In our legendary campaign the score is 3-3 so far with one pushover victory for me (nexu was evading like a boss!) and the others have been very tight victories on both sides. And each of those victories could have gone the other way if certain decisions had not been made.

Bad decisions on a players behalf are often blamed on dice (Sometimes true). The main thing is to have fun in a group and tell a story.

I think our problem at home is that we both understand the rebel objectives (as imperials) and know exactly who to focus our fire on in order to keep them from succeeding. Once you think like that as imps, it's really really difficult for the rebels to win. You're basically forcing them to rest too often which gives you the clock - or they focus on the objective and wound-out.

Also, choosing the right open deployment groups is huge. I'm loving the nexu right now - move really far and auto-bleed someone. One less action for them means you're that much closer...

But it's way easier to figure out how to play the imperial side in this game than it is the rebels. Rebels have to use ALL of their tools correctly and efficiently...

We've recently started a new campaign with 4 heroes instead of 2 and the imps are 4-0. That's not to say they won't come over the top by the end, but it's a little tough to lose every mission and still feel like you're doing well...

Hi Guys,

I recently posted that we played a 2 hero game and found it totally out of balance, the rebels just minced their way through the imp enemies covering double the ground each round. We'd like to try again but want to balance it out a bit.

Does anyone have any suggestions for house rules that would make it more challenging for rebels in 2 heros games?

I was thinking maybe doubling the threat amount, so more imp reinforcements could happen. Or maybe ignoring the extra 10 health given by the legendary upgrades?

Was hoping someone had already tried something similar?

Make sure you are only giving them 100 credits per hero.

I made the mistake of giving them 100 per activation token in our first campaign and it led to two super-powered heroes. I've found you almost have to go the Imperial route with surgical strike when dealing with two heros just to strain them into resting.

Remember for a lot of missions you only need to wound two heroes so removing the health buff would make campaign missions significantly too easy for the imperials. Your goal should be to damage them enough that it forces them to rest, anytime they waste a turn resting it's like a small victory.

Honestly, I'd say just play with 4 heroes.

I think the game plays better that way. When you can basically do 4 move actions with a single figure, it's just too powerful for some missions (among other things) and I get the sense that missions were designed more for a 4 hero party.

I actually lost Under Siege as imperial against a 2 player team of Jyn and Mak (with no upgraded weapons!). They had immediately run outside and massacred the starting troops; I didn't even get inside until around turn 4, and the 8th turn came down to Jyn surviving with a single hit point (Mak was barely injured covering the other room).

On the other hand, Imperial Hospitality and Generous Donations saw the heroes get utterly crushed. In Imperial Hospitality they beat the secondary objective before I even got more than a probe droid shot off (Jyn double moved to the door), but then the Trandoshans started taking chunks out of them, the Royal Guards caught up, and the probe droid with Arc Blasters started hitting Jyn. Generous Donations saw astronomically lucky defense rolls by the imperials, and I don't think they understood the time constraints; they couldn't manage to get both Trandoshans off the board at once so they kept respawning and the heroes spent turn after turn in a firefight with the starting forces. They were both wounded on turn 6 before even a single token was claimed.

In my opinion, 2 player makes the Rebels more powerful in terms of movement and offense/defense, but strain and negative conditions become much more crippling. It seems to fall apart once they're at max strain and/or bleeding/stunned. In other words, use lots of Trandoshans/Nexus and prioritize applying conditions and strain over damage. The loss of flexibility from max strain in particular is huge. Overall I think the quad move is definitely infuriating when it works, but as the Imperial player you know where they need to go; anticipating them being filthy cowards and lining your pieces up to intercept is definitely possible, though I recommend bringing Imperial officers and knowing when to stall and when to swarm them. Having played 2.5 campaigns with a full team, though, I definitely think the 4 man group is the way to go. It just feels more complete that way.

I usually play with subversive tactics as imperials since it has many options for adding strain on the heroes. As you point out, they suffer more as their strain goes up.