So I picked up the game finally last week and I am already deeply in love with it and have picked up all of Wave 1 (including three copies of the excellent Rebel Saboteurs) but I am perplexed to see the lack of apparent activity on this board as opposed to the X Wing and Armada boards which are both massively busy.

Everyone I speak to who has played the game absolutely loves it. I have not heard anyone with a bad word to say about campaign mode and though there are a few moans here and there about Imperial Officers in Skirmish, generally everyone seems happy with that too. Hell, there were apparently 32 people at Nationals in the UK last weekend playing it, which I know is far less than the X Wing nationals but let's bear in mind that X Wing is three years old and we have Wave 7 in the pipeline. ImpAss isn't even a year old yet and we are waiting for Wave 2. Compared to the Attack Wing showings as UK Expo (I hear that about 8 people showed up and in the end they didn't even bother with a top cut or final) Imperial Assault did bloody well.

So why such comparative lack of interest and activity on here? Genuine question, I am intrigued. This is a superb tabletop game and I'm genuinely confused as to why it seems to be getting so much less love on here than its equally excellent FFG stablemates?

Maybe the sub forums here are getting more of the posts?

I dunno.

We're all waiting patiently for wave 2 to come out! Come on FFG, we need our Boba Fett!

1) The game is not out long enough. The first shipment was not that large and has been delayed severely. Also the price point is about 3 times that of the base Xwing game. The BGG ratings only recently (I'd say about 4-6 weeks) have been pickung up speed, so the game should be more widely known and played in about 6-8 months.

2) The game has about 30 hours worth of campaign included, if you are satisfied after the first go! I am deep in my 2nd campaign (clocking in already over 65 hours), started a third campaign (online) and will play another campaign after my current offline campaign is resolved. Currently we have 2 missions that were played more than once: Aftermath (3 times ... duh!) and Drawn In. All other missions were played one time so far, so we aren't even running out of content!

3) The meta is kinda wierd right now. Imperials have a swiss army tool for 2 threat while the rebels have nothing comparable. I do know there are capable rebels lists out there, but compared with how little time investment you need to build a strong imperial list, it seems a bit off. And considering what we know of the next expansions (including up to wave 3) it doesn't seem to change that much. But maybe we will see a different type of skirmish map in twin shadows that will lend itself more towards the rebels (although I have no idea how that would work).

There are reasons why it's not as competitive right now as it could be, but just give it time.

1- Competitive play isn't promoted nearly as much as xwing. Here in Turkey, xwing is extremely popular and a lot of organizations and tournaments are held - whereas nobody even thought of doing the same for IA although some people are playing campaign in public places (such as ourselves). Also - Armada is slowly getting a player base - before IA does.

2- Xwing and Armada shelves are prettier than IA. Millenium Falcon or Star Destroyers are attracting more people than figures. I urge FFG to bring out more large figures, even if for campaign only.

3- Not nearly enough options for rebel and merc factions. We don't want to play Imp v Imp (mostly because it requires double core boxes).

I think some of the issue is that the campaign and skirmish is so well done that there aren't many online questions needed. It does not lend itself to customization nearly as much as the other two games. Organized play is just getting revved up. There are not that many figures and combinations for the skirmish, so not as much online discussion about strategy and list building as you get with xwing.

There is a large number of unique users that do post in the forum, and lots of activity in various places, but not the forum traffic like the other games.

...echo...

Egads! Did you just refer to IA as "ImpAss"???!!!

1) The game is not out long enough. The first shipment was not that large and has been delayed severely. Also the price point is about 3 times that of the base Xwing game. The BGG ratings only recently (I'd say about 4-6 weeks) have been pickung up speed, so the game should be more widely known and played in about 6-8 months.

2) The game has about 30 hours worth of campaign included, if you are satisfied after the first go! I am deep in my 2nd campaign (clocking in already over 65 hours), started a third campaign (online) and will play another campaign after my current offline campaign is resolved. Currently we have 2 missions that were played more than once: Aftermath (3 times ... duh!) and Drawn In. All other missions were played one time so far, so we aren't even running out of content!

3) The meta is kinda wierd right now. Imperials have a swiss army tool for 2 threat while the rebels have nothing comparable. I do know there are capable rebels lists out there, but compared with how little time investment you need to build a strong imperial list, it seems a bit off. And considering what we know of the next expansions (including up to wave 3) it doesn't seem to change that much. But maybe we will see a different type of skirmish map in twin shadows that will lend itself more towards the rebels (although I have no idea how that would work).

There are reasons why it's not as competitive right now as it could be, but just give it time.

How are you playing online? Is there a specific program or just using a webcam with chat?

1) The game is not out long enough. The first shipment was not that large and has been delayed severely. Also the price point is about 3 times that of the base Xwing game. The BGG ratings only recently (I'd say about 4-6 weeks) have been pickung up speed, so the game should be more widely known and played in about 6-8 months.

2) The game has about 30 hours worth of campaign included, if you are satisfied after the first go! I am deep in my 2nd campaign (clocking in already over 65 hours), started a third campaign (online) and will play another campaign after my current offline campaign is resolved. Currently we have 2 missions that were played more than once: Aftermath (3 times ... duh!) and Drawn In. All other missions were played one time so far, so we aren't even running out of content!

3) The meta is kinda wierd right now. Imperials have a swiss army tool for 2 threat while the rebels have nothing comparable. I do know there are capable rebels lists out there, but compared with how little time investment you need to build a strong imperial list, it seems a bit off. And considering what we know of the next expansions (including up to wave 3) it doesn't seem to change that much. But maybe we will see a different type of skirmish map in twin shadows that will lend itself more towards the rebels (although I have no idea how that would work).

There are reasons why it's not as competitive right now as it could be, but just give it time.

How are you playing online? Is there a specific program or just using a webcam with chat?

Egads! Did you just refer to IA as "ImpAss"???!!!

That's what we call it amongst ourselves in my group of gaming friends

1) The game is not out long enough. The first shipment was not that large and has been delayed severely. Also the price point is about 3 times that of the base Xwing game. The BGG ratings only recently (I'd say about 4-6 weeks) have been pickung up speed, so the game should be more widely known and played in about 6-8 months.

2) The game has about 30 hours worth of campaign included, if you are satisfied after the first go! I am deep in my 2nd campaign (clocking in already over 65 hours), started a third campaign (online) and will play another campaign after my current offline campaign is resolved. Currently we have 2 missions that were played more than once: Aftermath (3 times ... duh!) and Drawn In. All other missions were played one time so far, so we aren't even running out of content!

3) The meta is kinda wierd right now. Imperials have a swiss army tool for 2 threat while the rebels have nothing comparable. I do know there are capable rebels lists out there, but compared with how little time investment you need to build a strong imperial list, it seems a bit off. And considering what we know of the next expansions (including up to wave 3) it doesn't seem to change that much. But maybe we will see a different type of skirmish map in twin shadows that will lend itself more towards the rebels (although I have no idea how that would work).

There are reasons why it's not as competitive right now as it could be, but just give it time.

How are you playing online? Is there a specific program or just using a webcam with chat?

There is a Vassal Module for Imperial Assault.

http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Module:Star_Wars:_Imperial_Assault

I play online over at the BBG forums. They have a play by forum and a wait list. It is quite fun, but takes a long time. I highly recommend it!