Okay,

Played a New Threat last night with our gaming group to try and optimize a strategy since we all like to believe this mission is somehow winnable for the Rebels. This is the 8th time I have played this mission, with various people, and various Imperials and I have concluded that winning this mission is HIGHLY IMPROBABLE for the Rebels. Any semi-competent Imperial player just has such an upper hand and can afford to make way more mistakes. The Nexu is always going to go into the East Wing, the fact that they can get 6 additional threat means the 3rd mission can see Royal Guards and Elite Stormies hacking apart early campaign Rebels. The problem with the mission seems both that the board is so large, Rebels don't have enough movement. Taking down the doors takes too many actions (2-3). The elite Nexu starting takes a solid 4-5 attacks to remove from deployment, and then is easily brought back in when the first door goes down.

So yeah, dear FFG playtesters, Please let us know what strategy you recommend or used to win this mission with the Rebels

Okay, now my next gripe, Fly Solo. When you lose A New Threat, you have to play Fly Solo and this mission is just as bad as A New Threat and HIGHLY IMPROBABLE for the Rebels to win. The only way I can see it happening is a couple lucky dodge rolls out of Han. Again, a mission that suffers from too many starting groups on the board, a lot of distance to cover, and only 3 rounds to get to the door. And I still think its a debate whether its better to open the door for Han at full health and have him move further; or have him come out closer to the exit but with only 8 health. Have played this mission 6 times, seen both strategies tried, and neither resulting in close to success.

So little bit about our group, b/c I am not complaining the whole game is unbalanced and the Imperials just dominate this game. Not the case, we have gotten through 3 full campaigns, and started countless other campaigns. We love this game, play a lot! Different people, different imperials, always rotating. We have seen Rebels dominate some campaigns, and Imperials dominate others, but most have been evenly matched. And overall, I believe the campaign is balanced as a whole. And all other story missions, I believe have a nice level of balance also.

The issue here is....the downward spiral that happens when you win Aftermath as the Rebels. Aftermath is a nicely balanced mission and we are about 50/50 on Rebel Imperial wins. However, it has become clear now that losing Aftermath as the Rebels makes for a much more fun and much more balanced campaign, at least allowing the Rebels a chance to win Story Mission 1 and 2. And thats my biggest problem, the campaign structure currently encourages losing of the first mission to make it more balanced. And, if you win Aftermath, the path doesnt change, you will lose A New Threat, and you will then play and lose Fly Solo.

So FFG, just gave us a great errata on nerfing the Royal Guards (Feel like this was a perfect move btw) and fixing some things in skirmish, any thoughts on giving us an errata on these 2 missions? We have tried countless different strategies, different Rebel groups, and still have not seen anything that remotely gives a chance to win these.

As for house rules, wondering if anyone has come up with anything to make these missions more balanced? Our group has discussed changing the Campaign path. If you win Aftermath, you still play A New Threat, if you lose, you play Imperial Hospitality instead of Fly Solo, and if you somehow win, you play Fly Solo. Thoughts?

We have discussed some ideas last night for A New Threat, and making it more balanced. Wanted to see if anyone has tried these? Make doors an interact instead of having to do damage to them? Make the elite Nexu a regular Nexu? Have the Imperial player show you what terminals are where at the start of the mission? Change the "when the door opens" +6 threat to +3 threat? Thoughts?

As for Fly Solo, only option we thought was to increase Hans health by the threat level (4) or double the threat level. Not sure on how else to balance this mission. Okay so, thats my only problem with the original campaign, who's got ideas on how to fix this?

Always fun to see what other play groups have with the missions. For my group, the Rebels will lose Aftermath because the terminals up to 7 health becomes hard to take down with only a 6 turn limit. I am curious as to how your group plays it as the Rebels to see what could be done differently. My group usually blows through the Imps on the board turn 1 and the terminal, not always the terminal but the Imp figures are off. Turn 2/3 they open the door and get bogged down with the reinforcements from the E-Web and Stormies that spawn in the structure. End of round, the terminals go to 7 health and that usually closes the book on any chance for the Rebels. The Imp has to throw the mission for the Rebels to win.

When we have played the mission A New Threat, it usually comes down to last round for them. They do lose, but the group splits the heroes to hit all three terminals at once and every time have come within 1 die roll of winning the mission, Biv sucks at rolling for Insight (eye). When they do the split, the Imp has an issue with trying to get enough threat to the board and where to place them to offset the three pronged attack of the group.

Fly Solo...as an Imp player I hate this mission cause I feel it is slanted for the Rebels to win. I have only won it twice out of the five times we have played it; I've always been the Imp. The only two times that I have won is through sheer numbers on the table and the Heroes unable to get Han the extra movement needed to get his butt off the map. Once was through Technological Superiority where I had the ability to swap out a die for a color of my choice. Stormies with Green/Red, Trandoshans with Green/Red, Probe Droid with Blue/Yellow/Red just chewed through the heroes where they got bogged down in the dining room area and was able to overrun them with guys. The other time I just got lucky with the dice roll, they rolled terrible and my dice were HOT! Other than that, they went through me and we felt it was a waste of time setting up the mission.

So maybe the missions are balanced. Different groups with different strategies that affect how things go. Still curious as to the strategy used for both missions for the Rebels.

Always fun to see what other play groups have with the missions. For my group, the Rebels will lose Aftermath because the terminals up to 7 health becomes hard to take down with only a 6 turn limit. I am curious as to how your group plays it as the Rebels to see what could be done differently. My group usually blows through the Imps on the board turn 1 and the terminal, not always the terminal but the Imp figures are off. Turn 2/3 they open the door and get bogged down with the reinforcements from the E-Web and Stormies that spawn in the structure. End of round, the terminals go to 7 health and that usually closes the book on any chance for the Rebels. The Imp has to throw the mission for the Rebels to win.

A big help in Aftermath, is to take out that second terminal (next to the E-web) when you open that door by the end of that round. So we open the door as our first action, usually at the start of round 3. We will have someone focus on killing the E-web and then have everyone else focus on that terminal. It still only has 4 health, then at the end of the round it goes up to 7 and you only have two terminals at 7 health to deal with.

A big help in Aftermath, is to take out that second terminal (next to the E-web) when you open that door by the end of that round. So we open the door as our first action, usually at the start of round 3. We will have someone focus on killing the E-web and then have everyone else focus on that terminal. It still only has 4 health, then at the end of the round it goes up to 7 and you only have two terminals at 7 health to deal with.

For a new threat, either lower the pass requirement of the terminals to 1 surge, or have the Imperial place them face up instead of facedown. The real pain of this mission is having to guess which character to send where, and if you guess wrong you are SOL because of how big the map is.

There is nothing to fix in these missions, they are just too early, especially a mew threat, for their kind.

I played it with a group who never played a game like this before and they just failed. The second time , I was the imp both times, I played with an experienced group (not this game, but tactical experience). It came dowm to the last roll in the last possible activation.

I actually really like the thought of terminals going face up -- it would keep the mission difficulty nearly the same, but take out a lot of the ridiculous variance.

I think perhaps what separates groups which get blatantly destroyed from groups which are one roll away is probably the luck of having guessed correctly when deciding how to split the group.

In a campaign I'm wrapping up as the Imperial player, A New Threat was the only mission I've won so far. The Rebels got pretty close though, and I don't believe I made any significant mistakes. Rather than flipping the terminals up, perhaps just adding an extra round or two to the limit would be a better idea.

For a new threat, either lower the pass requirement of the terminals to 1 surge, or have the Imperial place them face up instead of facedown. The real pain of this mission is having to guess which character to send where, and if you guess wrong you are SOL because of how big the map is.

I have played A New Threat 4 times now and we are split down the middle in wins. The 2 that we won we guessed correctly for terrminal placement and was able to get it done on turn 6. The two we lost were due to the IP killing off a hero before he was able to activate one of the terminals. It is kind of a guessing game to see who wins more than strategy.

The part that bugs me is our IP said that there is a reward if you complete the mission by end of turn 5. How on earth do you manage that? The fastest we have ever done it is beginning of turn 6 and that was with us ignoring most of the imperials and running for the terminals.

I have played A New Threat 4 times now and we are split down the middle in wins. The 2 that we won we guessed correctly for terrminal placement and was able to get it done on turn 6. The two we lost were due to the IP killing off a hero before he was able to activate one of the terminals. It is kind of a guessing game to see who wins more than strategy.

The part that bugs me is our IP said that there is a reward if you complete the mission by end of turn 5. How on earth do you manage that? The fastest we have ever done it is beginning of turn 6 and that was with us ignoring most of the imperials and running for the terminals.

Rebs in one of my campaigns won at the beginning of round 5 with a combo of guessing the right terminals and some bonkers dice rolls...

For Fly Solo you could try something like the Leia side mission. Something like he can't be targeted while adjacent to a hero, or maybe gets +1 defense when adjacent to a hero

Honestly, my fix is to move on to the Hoth Campaign and don't look back.

But that aside, for A New Threat, I think I would start with replacing the reserved nexu with a different unit (like hired guns maybe). That along with face up terminals it might be enough to still make it imp favored but a rebel win is possible.

As for Fly Solo, I think extra health on Han is all you need. Full health if the door is not opened, extra health if it is. I would also consider replacing the reserved elite officer with a regular.

For Fly Solo you could try something like the Leia side mission. Something like he can't be targeted while adjacent to a hero, or maybe gets +1 defense when adjacent to a hero

Maybe use the escort rules from (I think) Imperial Hospitality?

For Fly Solo you could try something like the Leia side mission. Something like he can't be targeted while adjacent to a hero, or maybe gets +1 defense when adjacent to a hero

Maybe use the escort rules from (I think) Imperial Hospitality?

Good idea!

How about changing Hans cunning ability (+1 block per surge) to: the player may roll 2 white dice and choose a result adding +1 block.

The dice effect would be nearly the same however the odds are much higher for a better result, 16.6% -> 30.5 miss, 3/9 -> 4/9 2 block + evade, etc.

He would almost become useful as an ally

So after thinking about this a bit (haven't tested yet, but will hopefully soon)

For A New Threat, I think terminals should start face up and known to the Rebels. I think the starting Nexu should be a regular Nexu, and the option to increase by double the threat level should change to just the threat level.

For Fly Solo, I think Han should come into the game active (not exhausted), but the Imperial troops should be exhausted. This has a nice theme that the game always has had, that Rebels go first. And Han should get health increased by the Threat Level, so 4.

Thoughts?

On a side note, anyone know if their is any way to contact FFG playtesters and see how they won these missions as Rebels??

Honestly, I think the reserved unit in A new Threat should not be a nexu at all. As in it shouldn't be a unit that can completely cover the east terminal.

Honestly, I think the reserved unit in A new Threat should not be a nexu at all. As in it shouldn't be a unit that can completely cover the east terminal.

Yeah, I kinda agree actually. So maybe then keep the elite Nexu in, and just change the reserve unit to like Hired guns or something. I think you are right, opening that door and knowing you have to spend 3-5 attacks is just too much of a delay. Im on board, will have to give it a try.

Honestly, I think the reserved unit in A new Threat should not be a nexu at all. As in it shouldn't be a unit that can completely cover the east terminal.

Yeah, I kinda agree actually. So maybe then keep the elite Nexu in, and just change the reserve unit to like Hired guns or something. I think you are right, opening that door and knowing you have to spend 3-5 attacks is just too much of a delay. Im on board, will have to give it a try.

If you want to modify it, you would have to have something else that is a part of the core set and not an expansion. What if you made the Nexu a regular and had the option of popping up a unit of regular Trandoshans? (jungle theme with the lizards)

Honestly, I think the reserved unit in A new Threat should not be a nexu at all. As in it shouldn't be a unit that can completely cover the east terminal.

There are four possible "open the door" outcomes in A New Threat, the Nexu is just one. It does suck that it could cover the east terminal, but it is only a normal nexu, and the rebels should be able to deal with it fairly quickly.

If the rebels don't split up, move quickly, or attack only what is required, they will lose A New Threat. It's almost as if the mission was designed specifically to teach the rebel player this lesson.

Very timely thread, as I played A New Threat with my group last night (I was the Imperial player). By mission's end, they had uncovered the north terminal, were swamped by reinforcements (Elite Stormies and an E-Web) at the east terminal, and hadn't come close to the south terminal at all.

Similar to above, the Rebel players suggested that the map was simply too big for them to cover in 7 turns. However, one player was effectively out of the action for 5 turns due to approaching, and then retreating from, the elite Nexu - this undoubtedly swung the odds heavily in my favour.

I remember an interview done on boardwars.eu with the designers. Originally they created Han Solo with "Super cunning : add 2 blocks for each evade" if I remember correctly. And something about that they nerfed him around the release date. Maybe the mission was create with a super cunning Han.

Very timely thread, as I played A New Threat with my group last night (I was the Imperial player). By mission's end, they had uncovered the north terminal, were swamped by reinforcements (Elite Stormies and an E-Web) at the east terminal, and hadn't come close to the south terminal at all.

Similar to above, the Rebel players suggested that the map was simply too big for them to cover in 7 turns. However, one player was effectively out of the action for 5 turns due to approaching, and then retreating from, the elite Nexu - this undoubtedly swung the odds heavily in my favour.

Last campaign I played, A New Threat ended up being one of the most balanced missions, strangely. I had just brought out Weiss out, and I had one Rebel left to wound (and was really close to doing so), but he managed to roll the 2 successes needed on a roll where it was unlikely for him to roll a single success, all on the last action before I would have finished him off. It was a crazy game.

Though, to note- I really didn't have a good handle on my class deck at the time.

- Also, we only had two Rebel heroes, so obviously that comes with some funky issues. I think we're gonna stick to 4 now on.

I remember an interview done on boardwars.eu with the designers. Originally they created Han Solo with "Super cunning : add 2 blocks for each evade" if I remember correctly. And something about that they nerfed him around the release date. Maybe the mission was create with a super cunning Han.

If Han still had that, he might still be viable. Interesting!

I believe A new threat was purposefully designed to stop the Rebels from steam rolling the Empire in the early campaign. The difficulty level of the mission is a feature, not a bug. Under Seige is similarly heavily in favor of the Rebels if they lost Aftermath.

I can't really defend Fly Solo though since that comes after the Rebels lose a mission. I'm guessing Han was much stronger in playtesting and got nerfed late as stated above.

I believe A new threat was purposefully designed to stop the Rebels from steam rolling the Empire in the early campaign. The difficulty level of the mission is a feature, not a bug. Under Seige is similarly heavily in favor of the Rebels if they lost Aftermath.

I can't really defend Fly Solo though since that comes after the Rebels lose a mission. I'm guessing Han was much stronger in playtesting and got nerfed late as stated above.

Yeah, the campaign seems designed to try to bounce a little bit of favor to whoever lost the last mission. Under Siege is clearly a consolation to the Rebels, A New Threat to the Empire.

I'd even argue that the finales are weighted to whoever lost the penultimate story mission.

Fly Solo is one my Rebels really didn't have much trouble with, though. Maybe I should've focused more fire on Han, though. The only time I played it was my first campaign, and I really didn't quite get the intricacies of being the Empire then.