After seeing how disappointing the Luke figure in the base set was, lacking a player card and level up deck, it sure looks like Han Solo will suffer the same problem based on the size of the packaging. Does the Han Solo box come with a player card and level up deck or will it just be stats for the skirmish game. If so, when are we going to get worthwhile expansions?

Luke, Han, Chewie, rebel troops, sabs, they are all ALLIES not heros. Only the heros have up grade decks. The only time (as of right now) that we get new heros to play as is from the mini expansion, Twin Shadows. At that comes with 2 new heros.

So in other words, don't buy ally packs because they're pointless.

So in other words, don't buy ally packs because they're pointless.

Not pointless. They all include new campaign missions, rewards, agenda cards and skirmish maps and missions.

Also only the miniatures are legal for skirmish play. You cannot use the tokens. And they come with new command cards for your command deck in skirmish play. If you are just playing campaign they're not pointless but less value I suppose.

So in other words, don't buy ally packs because they're pointless.

Not pointless. They all include new campaign missions, rewards, agenda cards and skirmish maps and missions.

So I have to 1) buy the mini, 2) play a campaign that last long enough that the RNG lets the mission pop up that allows me to get the ally, and 3) continue playing that campaign to use that ally. That's a whole lot of work a dedication to one game to justify a purchase. Meanwhile the GM gets to play Vader in the second mission. In our three nights of playing Luke has yet to make an appearance, considering the point of the game is to play as Luke and friends in a Descent game, this just seems like bad design all around on this one. Maybe the real expansion will include cards to make ally packs worthwhile.

Luke is playable as a side mission in the core box. You just have to include it as one of your choices, it is one of the green missions in your side mission deck. You don't have to buy anything the ally packs just add more options for the campaign. You can play fine with what you already get in the box.

The point of the campaign is not to play as the major characters, they are allies that pop up from time to time to help but are not the focus of the campaign nor will they be.

The point of the campaign is not to play as the major characters, they are allies that pop up from time to time to help but are not the focus of the campaign nor will they be.

And like I said, that's a bad design decision.

You do realize that none of the expansions will probably ever allow the use of iconic characters as hero's, right?

FFG never advertised that Luke, Han, Chewie, etc would be allowed as hero. In fact, they have already straight up listed which characters are Hero's (the 6 on the core and the 2 in Twin Suns). They did make everything pretty clear cut.

To the OP: you are totally free to not buy and/or use the Ally expansions especially if/since you're obviously and legitimately dedicated to the Campaign aspect of the game. But for/in skirmish they are nice and comes with good stuff.

Enjoy

From the game description

Imperial Assault casts you and your friends into the climactic events following the Death Star’s destruction above Yavin 4, and offers two full game experiences within the Star Wars saga. In the campaign game, you and up to four other friends play a series of thrilling missions woven together in a narrative campaign, and in the skirmish game, you and your opponent muster your own strike teams and battle head-to-head over conflicting objectives. Whether you play as a hero of the Rebellion and fight alongside iconic characters like Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, or command the seemingly limitless armies of the Galactic Empire, you’ll enter the Star Wars universe in Imperial Assault .

As an added bonus, Imperial Assault includes the Darth Vader Villain Pack and the Luke Skywalker Ally Pack . These figure packs mark the first expansions for Imperial Assault , adding sculpted plastic figures with new campaign and skirmish missions.

Imperial Assault contains:

• A learn to play rulebook, a rules reference, a campaign guide, and a skirmish guide
• 34 detailed plastic figures
• 59 double-sided map tiles
• Eleven custom dice
• Over 250 cards
• Over 150 assorted tokens
• The Luke Skywalker Ally Pack and the Darth Vader Villain Pack

​

The fact that you cannot play as Luke and have to play as no-names that nobody cares about is not even remotely made clear by their advertising copy. It was extremely disingenuous on FFGs part saying you get the Luke pack.

There isn't as much upswing for campaign as there is for Skirmish, certainly. The mini's are good quality, they come with two maps (one for campaign, one for skirmish) as well as applicable cards, like rewards or agenda cards depending on the expansion.

Coming up with points like,

" So in other words, don't buy ally packs because they're pointless."

and

" And like I said, that's a bad design decision."

... probably won't get you very far. Feel free to discuss the game however you see fit within the guideline of the boards... But if you're looking for the game to possibly change to something you might like more, then you may want to change up your approach.

The fact that you cannot play as Luke and have to play as no-names that nobody cares about is not even remotely made clear by their advertising copy.

Yes it actually is. "Whether you play as a hero of the Rebellion and fight alongside iconic characters like Luke Skywalker and Han Solo"

That should make it pretty clear you aren't playing as Luke, since he's mentioned as one of the characters you fight alongside with.

It was extremely disingenuous on FFGs part saying you get the Luke pack.

Why? You do in fact get the Luke pack in the core box. This is in no way disingenuous... If you play the Skirmish game you don't even need to do anything to earn him. So there's nothing false or misleading at all going on here.

The fact that the game didn't match up with your unfounded assumptions is the fault of no one but yourself.

From the game description

Imperial Assault casts you and your friends into the climactic events following the Death Star’s destruction above Yavin 4, and offers two full game experiences within the Star Wars saga. In the campaign game, you and up to four other friends play a series of thrilling missions woven together in a narrative campaign, and in the skirmish game, you and your opponent muster your own strike teams and battle head-to-head over conflicting objectives. Whether you play as a hero of the Rebellion and fight alongside iconic characters like Luke Skywalker and Han Solo , or command the seemingly limitless armies of the Galactic Empire, you’ll enter the Star Wars universe in Imperial Assault .

​

The fact that you cannot play as Luke and have to play as no-names that nobody cares about is not even remotely made clear by their advertising copy . It was extremely disingenuous on FFGs part saying you get the Luke pack.

Not trying to be argumentative but the parts I bolded do make it clear, at least to me. "fight alongside" indicates you will be, well, fighting alongside Luke. Not playing AS Luke. I can understand your misinterpretation and I can understand your frustration. My initial hope for the game was that we'd be able to play as the main characters in the campaign. But at least they function just fine in Skirmish mode.

I actually like the heroes and the campaign, as does my daughter and my friends who've played it. Possibly it's because we started playing Edge of the Empire as well and there's a lot of similarity (in our opinion).

Regardless, too bad you don't like it. Hopefully you can find some enjoyment out of the game at some point. Maybe give Skirmish mode a try if you really have to play as Luke. The Skirmishes have some fun and interesting objectives (at least in my opinion). Good luck.

After seeing how disappointing the Luke figure in the base set was, lacking a player card and level up deck, it sure looks like Han Solo will suffer the same problem based on the size of the packaging. Does the Han Solo box come with a player card and level up deck or will it just be stats for the skirmish game. If so, when are we going to get worthwhile expansions?

Maybe this will help on your mood:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2015/3/18/twin-shadows/

Two new heroes of the Rebel Alliance join this elite team, offering their unique skills and services. The first new hero is Biv Bodhrik, a hard-bitten fighter and a capable guerrilla warrior.

Biv is joined in Twin Shadows by Saska Teft, a brilliant engineer whose battlefield inventions can easily save the lives of those she works alongside. During a campaign, Saska can construct unique devices to help herself or her fellow heroes

The Skirmish mode is a non-starter for me since it's two player and my game group is larger than 2. This game is only meant as a replacement for Descent 1e.

The Skirmish mode is a non-starter for me since it's two player and my game group is larger than 2. This game is only meant as a replacement for Descent 1e.

I do believe that many of us belong to gaming groups consisting of more than 2 persons: that does, IMO, in no way exclude the Skirmish at all. Actually quite the opposite; since Skirmish allows you to do a couple of quick successive games 1v1 you could just as easily have 2 games running side by side and do a Round Robin with a couple of different maps.

The reason that you play as "no name" heroes is so that 1, you can make a story up as you go along similar to an RPG, and 2, so that they don't have to worry about any silly canon issues. And yes I know it is a little crazy to worry about canon for a board game but whatever.

The Skirmish mode is a non-starter for me since it's two player and my game group is larger than 2. This game is only meant as a replacement for Descent 1e.

I do believe that many of us belong to gaming groups consisting of more than 2 persons: that does, IMO, in no way exclude the Skirmish at all. Actually quite the opposite; since Skirmish allows you to do a couple of quick successive games 1v1 you could just as easily have 2 games running side by side and do a Round Robin with a couple of different maps.

How would that work? Are there enough figs in the box to do that?

The Skirmish mode is a non-starter for me since it's two player and my game group is larger than 2. This game is only meant as a replacement for Descent 1e.

I do believe that many of us belong to gaming groups consisting of more than 2 persons: that does, IMO, in no way exclude the Skirmish at all. Actually quite the opposite; since Skirmish allows you to do a couple of quick successive games 1v1 you could just as easily have 2 games running side by side and do a Round Robin with a couple of different maps.

How would that work? Are there enough figs in the box to do that?

Seriously?? From that question I am almost forced to conclude that you've put little to no effort into actual doing the remotest of research of what the Core box consists of and/or how Skirmish (or Campaign?) actually works.

But I will help and say so much as follows:

Yes, even "just" the core set contains amble of figures and command cards to hav plenty of fun. And now that Wave 1 is out the fun has just exploded.

So please do yourself the favor and give it a try with an open mind. And feel free to return after you've tried it, m'kay?

Best wishes

I bought into Imperial Assault for the campaign game... loved the idea of adding to the story with which I grew up. Unlike the OP, I understood what I was getting: the opportunity to fight alongside the heroes who dared to stand against the Empire. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it was that very same Empire I came to enjoy playing. Bonus for me and my group.

The campaign has kept us engaged, and the Ally/Villain packs have improved the experience so much do that I took the plunge and acquired them all. The figures are respectable (especially Han Solo and IG-88), the missions add a nice bit of flavor, and the twists keep the players guessing.

I hope the OP gives them a second chance.

As for the skirmish maps/scenarios included in each, I can't say much as we've not played a skirmish game of yet. My group doesn't contain a dedicated warmer outside myself, so I intend to bring them along slowly... most likely through a limited skirmish serving as an extension of their campaign. Perhaps each off the heroes will serve as a unit leader...

Another thought for the OP: with a little work, the skirmish maps included in the Ally/Villain packs could serve as the basis for Campaign missions. They're larger, and would probably require modifications to mission length, but I can't see why it can't work.

If your group really wants to play a the characters from the movies there's a few things you could try:

1) Substitute their minis for those of the game's heroes. Luke with Diala's stats & upgrades, Han with Jyn's, Chewie with Gaarkan's.

2) Compare the campaign and skirmish card versions of the heroes to figure out a conversion method, which you could then apply to Luke, Han, and Chewie to create versions of them for the campaign.

3) Create the film characters from scratch, by applying a strain cost to their special abilities and creating their stats with this formula (it's based off all the heroes from the Core and Twin Shadows):

Character Creation Points: 5 to spend on stats and dice, 1 point per stat increase, 1 point per added die)

Base Stats:

Health: 10 (see Combat Role Health Bonus)

Endurance: 4 (max: 5)

Speed: 4 (max: 5)

Defense: Black die for tough heroes, White die for nimble heroes

Primary Combat Role Health Bonus:

Ranged: 0

Ranged / Melee: +1

Melee: +2

Abilities:

Strength: Blue

Insight: Blue

Tech: Blue

(max: 3 dice per ability; min: 6 dice total for all abilities; max: 7 dice total for all abilities; no 2 of same color; no red die; must add a green die before adding a yellow)

Dude did you even read the rule books that came with the game? No offense but you seem to be making statements without looking into anything yourself

The point of the campaign is not to play as the major characters, they are allies that pop up from time to time to help but are not the focus of the campaign nor will they be.

And like I said, that's a bad design decision.

That is in no way a bad design decision. Mechanically speaking , whether you call Diala "Luke" and Jyn "Han" or not, they are sound creations. Now, you can question if having the players act as so-called no-name heroes rather than characters from the movie is a bad decision thematically. I personally don't see it that way, but that's a matter of taste.

As for the game itself, including these big characters for the Rebels is meant to provide, mechanically speaking, more activation advantage to your team. Similarly, even though certain missions give the Imperial player a Vader or IG-88 to use, even without earning them through side missions, so to do the Rebel players get the same opportunities. It's all cards in a deck you draw from randomly, sure, but you can still stack that deck with your favourite Ally missions at this point; Han, Chewie, and Luke all have their own card, and for the 4th one, you could put in the Sabs or pick another at random. At some point, you will likely earn one of them as an ally, but it's not a foregone conclusion, as thematically, the design decision was to focus on "you" as your avatars in the game, not just the continuing adventures of Han and Luke.

Similarly, the Imperial player isn't going to be able to call in Vader every mission unless they earn it, which I like thematically, because how many missions is this going able to be detailed to while still brooding on his Star Destroyer about Rebel bases. It should be special when they come out, and make the opposing player feel a little intimidated and the group as a whole to feel excited to get these "guest star" roles now and again.