Hey all,

So my gaming group and I just finished our first campaign playthrough of Imperial Assault. We're all a pretty experienced bunch of gamers that are 35+ so we ended up putting in all the extra stuff up to this point. Heavy Troopers, Twin Shadows, etc.

For the most part the game seemed pretty even. Heroes did well sometimes, Imperials did well sometimes, overall I was very happy with how it went. Fast forward to the last 3 or so missions and the rebels got reliably stomped. Now some mistakes were made (I did bring an AT-ST indoors, which was a mistake) but overall everything seemed to be working as intended, just that the rebels got buried under lots of activations or activations with high threat (Heavy Troopers, Nexu, Royal Guard). The last mission of the campaign was fun, and everyone had fun, but a lot of the players also expressed the attitude (after the game was over) that they never felt they could win...and I kinda agree with them.

Now obviously on first playthrough there's going to be growing pains and such. So I was wondering if the forums had any advice for the rebels to try and tilt things a little more in their favor? Are their certain heroes you really should take, or certain combos of them (We had Diala, Biv, Fin and Gideon)? Are there certain pieces of equipment that are more valuable than they seem, and some that are not nearly as awesome as they seem (One of the complaints was they felt they could never do enough damage. Too many Blue and yellow dice on weapons, not enough red or green. We avoided the knives and stuff, but are they better than they seem?) Should you never take heroes like Han Solo?

Any kinds of experienced advice would be very welcome.

The game's balance is precarious at best.

The very first playthrough, even if a rarity occurs and you're playing all the tucked away rules correctly, the Rebels are going to get stomped. My playgroup is similar to yours, 35+ group of players with decades of gaming experience. I was the Imperial player and destroyed them. So much so that when Desperate Hour rolled around, I didn't even look at the six stacked Agenda cards I was keeping.

It's the hidden information that does it. I just don't see how the Rebels are supposed to win much of anything on that first campaign playthrough. That hidden information, the event triggers, are punishing.

In my opinion, some of the class cards are better than others. I have my preferred build when it comes to each Hero. Some weapon combinations are better than others. But.... there really isn't a bad combo of Heroes, and as long as you're not giving melee weapons to snipers, the equipment is all good. (Except for the Tattooine Hunting Rifle... what gives with that?).

Play it again. The campaign is far more balanced when the Heroes know what's coming (or even if they half-remember).

I was going to start a thread about balance today. That aside, my two cents; minor spoilers likely follow for anyone who has not been through the campaigns

I've run the imperials twice now, once through the main campaign and once through the abbreviated Twin Shadows campaign. Our gaming group is also 35+ and very experienced with miniature gaming (and specifically, a lot of descent over the years). In both campaigns, the rebels won nearly all of the missions but most were very close. I have the opposite opinion of R5D8; the rebels advance so much quicker and far more useful that, when played well, should win most missions. It can also be pointed out, but not proven here, that I am in the 99th percentile of worst dice rollers in the galaxy. Can't recall how many times I was one point short of wounding a character (only to see them rest/rest) or failed to roll more than two points of damage with a four die attack (looking at you focused elite e-web engineer). Or, the frequency with which my rebel players roll the 'cancel all damage' on the white dice. That's not really me rolling the dice but does feed off of my d6 karma.

With respect to Gideon, he's broken. The action economy he generates makes life dismal for imperial forces. Give him masterstroke and use him as Fenn's or Mak's wingman and watch the slaughter. In the original campaign, the group faced Vader in the finale. Gaarkhaan basically ripped his arms off in a round (charge plus a second attack with a focused force pike + lots of surge/ability options for more damage; and me rolling a single block on each black defense die). Gideon gave the wookiee more actions to put Vader out of his misery. End finale. I had only Mak left to wound but he had retreated to the near start of the map and was able to eliminate any threats I spawned in his direction.

Last note: I used tech superiority as my class deck in the original campaign; I don't recommend it. The players bought abilities/equipment that basically cancelled some of my best upgrades. For the Twin Shadows campaign, I used the military might class deck. very nice and recommended if you're committed to using lots of troopers.

Some keys to rebel success:

never open a door/trigger something with your third or fourth activation.

keep the group together

all rebels should grab the first available defensive ability with their xp's; it makes them much more difficult to wound and when things start synergizing, the imperial player will rarely have enough options to wound all four before completing objectives.

never missing a small detail (most characters, with a few upgrades, become pretty layered and missing a detail here or there can add up): using that extra surge to heal a strain, not forgetting Fenn's tactical movement at the beginning of the turn, using saska's device tokens for adding blocks and evades to a defensive roll, etc...

focusing on objectives

activating figures in an efficient manner

using remaining strain for additional movement points before resting

using rest and rest as a badly damaged characters two actions, especially when a couple are already in a wounded state.

when buying tier 1 items, stick to accessories and attachments; most are useful for the entirety of the campaign. weapons are likely to be usurped by better tier 2 and tier 3 items.

focus fire on imperial/scum groups that have not yet activated (unless the objective is to kill a unit that has already activated for the round)

Okay, so I have some thoughts on balance also. We are obsessed with this game, so I have got a lot of playtime with it since mid summer when I purchased it, with 7 different people playing different campaigns. I've started about 8 different campaigns, but have only gotten through 3 full ones, and one mini.

1st campaign: Heroes were Gaarkhan, Fenn, Gideon, and Diala (built for support). I was Imperial and I used Tech Superiority (seriously don't understand why people don't like this deck??). I got Tech Support for my droids first, then Cloaking device, then Superior Augments (This skill is insane, perfect for hit and run tactics), then Arc Blasters, and then Jetpacks and ended with 1 XP left over. Rebels won Aftermath (which you will see I have a theory this is not worth it). Lost all up the Story Mission 4, which was the one where they command the neutral officer to move around. Overall, Rebels won 5 missions (all sides and story mission 4), Imperial won 6 and won the campaign! Absolutely crushed them on the finale, just had way too much firepower, and even with Gideon dishing out actions the +1 damage from all my groups was too much, and the stun from Arc Blasters seriously crippled the team.

2nd campaign: Heroes were Biv, Saska, Mak, and Fenn. Imperial used Subversive Tactics deck. Imperial got Savage Weaponry, Exploit Weakness, Weary Target, Surgical Strike, and last Executioner. Imperial player HATED THIS DECK. Could not do enough damage to our beefed up team (we all got health upgrades with our skills). Heroes steam rolled this campaign, getting the tie victory for 2 xp during Under Siege, crushing Imperial Hospitality, and winning story mission 3 also. The only saving grace for the Imperial this campaign was he got Imperial Industry attachment. Rebels win campaign, 7 missions to 4 imperial.

3rd campaign: Heroes are (heading into story mission 4) Fenn, Gideon (this Gideon refuses to get masterstroke to "play him differently"), Jyn, and Diala (battle heavy Sarlaac Diala). Imperial is using Inspiring Leadership and got Supervisory Agent, Field General, Lead by Example, Nobel Sacrifice, and Strategic Planning. This has been the most lop sided of all our campaigns. Rebels won Aftermath, and just have gotten steam rolled since. Missions have been very one sided. Heading into story mission 4 and it's currently Imperial won all Story Missions, has IG-88, and Kayn Somos unlocked. Rebels 3 wins, Imperial 6.

So, my thoughts are, Aftermath is actually better to lose at the Heroes. It makes the game path more balanced overall, and increases the chances of the Heroes actually winning some story missions. A New Threat I seriously cannot see how the heroes can win this mission, or how this mission ever passed balancing of the game. We have played this so many times, never have the heroes won it, and all different strategies used. Just not sure how. Same thing goes for Fly Solo. The mission is just not balanced to win, we cannot figure out short of lucky dodge rolls out of Han, how the hell to get him out past Royal Guards (they are always used b/c lets be honest, a good imperial will) and IG-88. Very very difficult. So as much as I love this game, it seems to me these two missions and the path taken based on losing is just not set up correctly. Our group has discussed if you lose A New Threat you go to Imperial Hospitality instead, as well as revealing before the mission starts of A New Threat to show which checks are at which area. My conclusion is overall, as a Rebel player, its better to lose Aftermath, makes for a more enjoyable and balanced campaign throughout. As an Imperial player, I actually don't mind either way. I like the extra influence from winning Aftermath, and Under Siege is one of my favorite missions to play since you get an objective as an Imperial. Anyways, thats been our experience on game balance.

In my one campaign game the Rebels won everything except for three missions, one of them being the finale. The other two they lost were Homecoming and Dark Obsession.