I am not worried about "winning" as the Imperial. I view the game more as an "RPG Lite" rather than a competitive-cooperative game. This is good, as my gaming group does not have the time for a proper RPG, but stil wants a little more than board/miniatures game.

As such, my view of the "Imperial Player" is very much the Game Master. I enjoy this role - re-living my youth as a DM. In fact, I often have some minor RPG prior to the mission, giving "tid-bits" based on player interaction and out of mission attribute tests. An example is an interaction of players in a local bar prior to the "Vipers Den" mission I am not worried about "winning" as the Imperial. I view the game more as an "RPG Lite" rather than a competitive-cooperative game. As such, my view of the "Imperial Player" is very much the Game Master. I enjoy this role - re-living my youth as a DM. In fact, I often have some minor RPG prior to the mission, giving "tid-bits" based on player interaction and out of mission attribute tests. An example is an interaction of players in a local bar prior to the "Vipers Den" mission. Based on attribute tests (with or without modifications pending character action), the players may be informed a bit about the mission, or what to find. Not enough to spoil the mission, but enough to give some "edge" - just like a rebel covert group would do through Intel, surveillance and contacts.

Has the Imperium won in my campaigns? Yes, but that is not what I am worried about. For me, it is the Game Master role that is the fun. Heavens forbid the players ever read the Campaign Rule Book!

lol. We as rebels have lost the first mission and the first side mission. We lose our jedi and the rebel veteran or Mak and the clock runs out and there are SO many more Imps on the board it's impossible to complete the task.

Most of the reb's are new. Including myself. We don't know how best to go about winning these maps. Shoot them up and work your way through the halls or just go after the objective and when is it time to rest? And what about those crates? Do those things really help?

My main problem atm is Gideon with Masterstroke in combination with Gaarkhan.

Wookie charges + Rampage, then 2nd attack. Next rebel activation, Gideon commands him to do 2 more standard attacks (when LoS is given)

Makes it hard to position your troops, coz this combo clears out a cramped area easily.

This is a really powerful combo, I also struggled against this using Tech Superiority. As people mentioned military might has great survivability and might be better suited for a combo like this, or Subversive Tactics if they are strained out they can't use their abilities......however, assuming you already started a campaign and might not have either of those classes, here is some tips to counter this powerful combo.

In the beginning of the mission, use lower point deployment groups (Reg stormies work best), they won't zap all your threat and the heroes need to waste strain to use these combo's on them. Trando's also work good as they deal out strain when attacking. Try and deploy your units far enough away this combo won't work, usually there are deployment points that are far away, then move up and use hit and run style tactics. Once your units are deployed, you can easily spread them out to avoid this combo, a big part of countering this is positioning, its not easy, but it can be done. Hired guns are a great counter to this, you can spawn them on a deployment point close to the Rebels, and make them waste attacks and still be able to attack back, one of my favorite units in the game. The key here is getting them to use up their strain so its not as effective going forward in the mission. Potentially try an elite Nexu also, chance to dodge, good defense, decent amount of health, it might survive this.

On a side note, Masterstroke is by far the most OP card of any of the Rebels in the game (Trench Fighter close second). When playing Imperial, I absolutely hate it, when playing Rebels I absolutely love it. I really like the concept of this card and def think it should still be in the game, I just feel it should cost Gideon 1 strain to use it, to properly balance it out. But, thats just my thoughts.

That is the thing, if you are losing as Imperial you are probably stressing the loss of your troops to much. Just think of the supplied troops as free troops and build your open groups around them. They will die, and you will re deploy them, it is part of the game. Don't throw them away by any means, but don't be obsessed with not dying, that is what the Rebels are supposed to be worried about.

I lost my first four missions of my first campaign because of this, throwing troops away and thinking Oh great I lost my first group of ST's, there goes the game (I did however for those first four not realize that I could re deploy troops that die, so that didn't help either lol). Once I realized that your biggest strength is your endless(ish) army then the tables turned and you start putting the pressure on the Rebels.

Stall always works better than kill, but never hesitate to focus fire someone to get them wounded or force a withdrawl. Bleed and stun are your best friends as an Imp. Always pick the condition (unless it is setting up or ensuring a kill by that active group). Move out of LOS with remaining movement points, make them use a turn to move to you or take strain which is even better.

Remember it all breaks down to number of actions, the more actions you take away the greater your chances of winning.

On the flip side for the Rebels, find that balance between running the objectives and gunning enemies down. If you stand still blowing away every enemy, you will lose, or win by the narrowest of margins if you get lucky rolls. If you just ignore the Empire, you will lose. You need to balance both, set objective goals for each round and make sure you meet them. Round 1 we need to get to this hallway and kill this many troops, round 2 we need to activate this terminal, round 3 we need to secure this room etc.. and always, ALWAYS be ready to adapt those plans on the fly, especially if your Imperial player is listening in.