ARTICLE HERE

I am baffled that the Imperials won Aftermath, particularly by wounding all of the heroes!

I am baffled that the Imperials won Aftermath, particularly by wounding all of the heroes!

Dice are fickle.

I've actually never seen the rebels win aftermath, and I've seen it played three times, once with the rebels having already played it once and (theoretically) knowing the surprises.

I am baffled that the Imperials won Aftermath, particularly by wounding all of the heroes!

Really? I've only played it once (as Imperial player, and won easily) but I think it's a tough one for the Rebels to win - especially if they're new to the game. When we played it, the Rebels simply ran out of time, because they didn't realise quite how tight the turn limit is. (You need to play the game a few times to understand how turns work). I'm not sure how they'd fare if they played it again, but I don't think it would be easy for them.

As for wounding all the heroes... well, I arbitrarily picked Technological Superiority when we played (again... until you play, you have no way of knowing what's good and what isn't), but now that I know what the game is about, Military Might seems quite a lot better! Show of Force is an incredible card, especially for 0 XP!

Imperial here. I feel like the Military Might deck has the best early game, but it's late game is a bit lacking. In another campaign I've run, I used Subversive Tactics. I lost the first few missions hard, but since Story Mission 3 I haven't lost a single game. With No Quarter and Surgical Strike, it's impossible to not have all the surges I need.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what cards lay in wait in this campaign.

Imperial here. I feel like the Military Might deck has the best early game, but it's late game is a bit lacking. In another campaign I've run, I used Subversive Tactics. I lost the first few missions hard, but since Story Mission 3 I haven't lost a single game. With No Quarter and Surgical Strike, it's impossible to not have all the surges I need.

Yep. Our Imperial keeps telling us "the Internet says Subversive is the weakest" and I keep telling him "the Internet is dead wrong." ST's deck synergizes *so* well since they all hammer the same thing (strain), so once you have three or four cards magnifying eachother's effects, it quickly gets ridiculous. We lost our first few missions mostly because he's a skilled player and we made rookie mistakes (and fell for a lot of lame gotcha traps in the mission events). But even as we've gained experience and a bit of power, he's gained power so much faster with that effing deck that our losses have just gotten worse and worse every time.

Our Imperial keeps telling us "the Internet says Subversive is the weakest" ...

What is he reading? Certainly not here or BGG, because the overwhelming impression is that ST >>> MM > TS so far.

Nice article.

Our Imperial keeps telling us "the Internet says Subversive is the weakest" ...

What is he reading? Certainly not here or BGG, because the overwhelming impression is that ST >>> MM > TS so far.

Wait...Technological Superiority is supposed to be the weakest of the three decks? I agree that Subversive Tactics is ungodly, but Military Might wins out? When I ran a campaign, I used TS and was able to win almost every single mission, except for the wookie party where they won Chewbacca (how in the world do you even win that as the Imp). I guess based on what I have seen and done, MM is by far the weakest of all three decks but perhaps the most fun when able to spam Stormtroopers.

Nice article. Only complaint to be nit-picky is that Diala is a Togruta, not a Twi'lek.

Diala is a twi'lek.

Our Imperial keeps telling us "the Internet says Subversive is the weakest" ...

What is he reading? Certainly not here or BGG, because the overwhelming impression is that ST >>> MM > TS so far.

Wait...Technological Superiority is supposed to be the weakest of the three decks? I agree that Subversive Tactics is ungodly, but Military Might wins out? When I ran a campaign, I used TS and was able to win almost every single mission, except for the wookie party where they won Chewbacca (how in the world do you even win that as the Imp). I guess based on what I have seen and done, MM is by far the weakest of all three decks but perhaps the most fun when able to spam Stormtroopers.

It depends on how the Heroes counter the Imperial Player. TS relies heavily on attachments, so if the Rebels can snipe off attachment carriers before they act (not unreasonable mid-late campaign), you are losing quite some board presence. MM is a bit better as it also provides very good passive boosts. I still think MM is stronger overall.

Our Imperial keeps telling us "the Internet says Subversive is the weakest" ...

What is he reading? Certainly not here or BGG, because the overwhelming impression is that ST >>> MM > TS so far.

Wait...Technological Superiority is supposed to be the weakest of the three decks? I agree that Subversive Tactics is ungodly, but Military Might wins out? When I ran a campaign, I used TS and was able to win almost every single mission, except for the wookie party where they won Chewbacca (how in the world do you even win that as the Imp). I guess based on what I have seen and done, MM is by far the weakest of all three decks but perhaps the most fun when able to spam Stormtroopers.

Honestly, there is debates back and forth on what is the weakest/easiest for the heroes. A lot of it comes down to some class decks start stronger, some start weaker. I've played both Military Might and Tech Superiority. Military might on my first campaign, and I really liked it. Powering up troopers. Loved Combat Vets, and Show of Force, and Assault Armor. Great stuff for survivability and keeping troopers in play. Second campaign, almost finished now (2 missions left) with Tech Superiority and in the beginning I hated Tech Superiority. The starting skill is weak when low cost troops have bad surges, and I just couldn't figure out how to use the cards. Now, late in the campaign, its a powerhouse. I made my team a hit and run style tactics, with all the extra movement, the damage, and my powerful droids focus and healing others I am enjoying this deck wayyyy more (Plus royal guards getting the surge from experimental arms is great!).

I haven't played ST yet, but played against it. I didn't think it was as bad as people make it out. Yes, not having strain sucks, and you have to rest more. But on the flipside, there is noooo power-ups to the imperial figures in those decks, dealing damage is harder with ST and thus the heroes survive longer. Yes, on timed missions, its tougher, on the not timed ones I think its much weaker. Towards late campaign, the imperial troops are just so much weaker with little survivability than with the other classes that they go down ridiculously fast.

So, I think they all have there balance. More reliant on playstyle, at what point in the campaign you are, what combo of heroes you go up against, and what you have fun with. Also, some side missions just play really favorably if you have the right deck at the right time (I had IG-88s mission, with Tech Superiority. Cloaking device on IG-88 was flawless!). I haven't found one deck yet that I would say is superior, all different in their own way and its great fun!

I haven't played ST yet, but played against it. I didn't think it was as bad as people make it out. Yes, not having strain sucks, and you have to rest more. But on the flipside, there is noooo power-ups to the imperial figures in those decks, dealing damage is harder with ST and thus the heroes survive longer . Yes, on timed missions, its tougher, on the not timed ones I think its much weaker. Towards late campaign, the imperial troops are just so much weaker with little survivability than with the other classes that they go down ridiculously fast.

Except Savage Weaponry which gives Pierce 1, Surgical Strike which deals 1 damage and 1 strain (which becomes damage) when you make an attack, Exploit Weakness that lets something attack when a hero rests, and Executioner which let's you do more damage to heroes with strain. And then there are the 4XP abilities. There are plenty of power ups that make dealing damage easy for Subversive Tactics. I'd have to agree with with people who claim it's the strongest by far, that's certainly been my experience at any rate.

As for the other 2, it seems to depend somewhat on which heroes the rebels take and the IP avoiding traps. People talk about Cloaking Device in Technological Superiority, but Mak (and to a lesser extent Diala) severly undermine it's usefulness and Fenn can have much the same effect on Military Might if the player keeps deploying Storm Troopers to be constantly Blasted to bits by Havok Shot.

I haven't played ST yet, but played against it. I didn't think it was as bad as people make it out. Yes, not having strain sucks, and you have to rest more. But on the flipside, there is noooo power-ups to the imperial figures in those decks, dealing damage is harder with ST and thus the heroes survive longer . Yes, on timed missions, its tougher, on the not timed ones I think its much weaker. Towards late campaign, the imperial troops are just so much weaker with little survivability than with the other classes that they go down ridiculously fast.

Except Savage Weaponry which gives Pierce 1, Surgical Strike which deals 1 damage and 1 strain (which becomes damage) when you make an attack, Exploit Weakness that lets something attack when a hero rests, and Executioner which let's you do more damage to heroes with strain. And then there are the 4XP abilities. There are plenty of power ups that make dealing damage easy for Subversive Tactics. I'd have to agree with with people who claim it's the strongest by far, that's certainly been my experience at any rate.

As for the other 2, it seems to depend somewhat on which heroes the rebels take and the IP avoiding traps. People talk about Cloaking Device in Technological Superiority, but Mak (and to a lesser extent Diala) severly undermine it's usefulness and Fenn can have much the same effect on Military Might if the player keeps deploying Storm Troopers to be constantly Blasted to bits by Havok Shot.

I guess I should have elaborated more on my ST thoughts. By powerups I mean, there is no survivability for troops (no increased health, defense, or healing abilities) so they go down easier. And yes, there are damage dealing options as you mentioned. Surgical strike is great! However, they are all only once per round and then exhausted. I have found things like adaptive weapons, superior augments, arc blasters, experimental arms, combat vets, shock troopers, shock and awe to all be useful on groups with two or more figures. Adds a lot of additional damage throughout the round. Anyways, I am not disagreeing that there are ways to damage through ST, and it is a fun and very unique class. Just saying, it does have weaknesses as they all do.

Now that we have seen the leadership class cards, it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. Seems powerful from my first read through!