My first question:

I want to make sure I am playing the game correctly, and I had a disagreement with someone the other day about the phrasing "Increase [threat] by twice the threat level." I read this as basically tripling the threat level. (For instance, 4 would become 12 (2*4=8, so 8+4=12.) Another player was trying to tell me that the threat is just doubled, not tripled. This doesn't seem to be accurate, though, as other places in the campaign guidelines the Imperial player is instructed to "Increase [threat] by the threat level," and in those instances it is doubling. He was wrong, and I was correct, right?

My second question is this:

Let's say the threat level is 12, and the Rebel Heroes decide they are bringing Chewbacca in as an ally. His cost is 15, which would also be adding 15 threat points to the Imperial player. How do you manage 27 threat points when the dial only goes to 20? We've basically just house ruled it that the Imperial player has to immediately deploy something to get the threat level down under 20, again. I realize that there is probably an established rule for this situation, but I can't seem to find it. Can someone help me out with this dilemma?

So lets say the campaign book says to increase threat by twice the threat level. Usually thats either at the beginning of side missions or at some point in the mission BEFORE the turn ends and the new turn starts or as a result of saying opening a door. So break it down.

Beginning of mission allows for an extra deployment. So you can spend it or let it ride to later.

If say its due to an action of destroying a terminal, you get the threat immediately. If it says you can interrupt and do a deployment you can.

Lastly here is where you and your friend are probably getting confused. Lets say at its an end of turn action that increase the threat by twice the threat level. You have to perform the Status Phase in the correct order. You increase your threat by normal, so lets say 6 threat points. Then you ready your cards. Then you get to deploy and reinforce. THEN you get to do end of turn actions, so this is where you get now 12 threat (2 x 6 threat level). You dont get to spend that 12 this turn bc your deployment/reinforce action is over. You could have spent that initial 6 or kept that to go with the 12. So then youd have 18 going into the next rd, get another 6, and so next status phase youd have 24 threat to play with.

Now Im sure someone will correct me haha, but thats how I play.

~D

Threat cannot go over 20 it's in the rules

at the start of a mission if it says to increase the threat by twice the threat you take the threat level of the mission and add it twice. also not that at this point you can it will also 99% say then perform a deployment. This means you can spend this threat before turn one, or wait to the end of turn one and have 3x the threat level.

when the rebels bring a ally at the beginning of the game you increase the threat by that value and again can use it immediately.

so on a mission where you get two times the threat and then they bring a ally you get 2 opportunities to spend the threat otherwise anything in excess of 20 threat is lost

Threat is always set to 0 in mission setup. A special setup rule can give you threat (like Starrius says, the special setup then gives an optional deployment) to deploy figures that you would like to use, which depends on your playstyle and very much on which imperial class deck you will be using. Sometimes you want to use it all, sometimes you want to save it all, sometimes you want to spend some to slow down the rebels.

Threat is capped at 20, so if rebels can bring in an expensive ally, you better spend some of the initial threat to be able to use all of it.

Also note the exact order of the status phase. If you receive threat from a mission event / rule at the end of a round, that is after the deploy/reinforce step and can thus be only used during the next status phase (or as cost for some abilities).

Let's say the threat level is 12

The "Threat Level" will never exceed 6, unless you are playing with house rules. "Threat" and "Threat Level" are two independent values. "Threat Level" is printed on the campaign sheet and never changes. "Threat" is the orange dial, and your currency for deployment, reinforcement, and other missions/ability effects.

When you see the phrase "increase Threat by twice the threat level", you read that as "Gain X Threat. X = ('Threat Level' * 2)". So, if the "Threat Level" were 5, you would gain 10 Threat.

Threat and Threat level are two different things.

The threat level is the number on the back of the campaign book next to each mission. It will change from mission to mission but usually stays constant during a single mission.

Threat (which is usually represented by an icon) is the number of threat you have available at any given moment during a mission, and gets DEPLETED when you spend it and you gain threat at the END of each round equal to the threat level, which is a static number.

So if you are playing the first side mission and the threat level is 2 and the special setup says increase threat by twice the threat level, you will start the mission with 4 threat, but the threat level is still 2 and you only get 2 threat at the end of each turn.

Sorry to nitpick.

You receive threat at the Increase Threat step of the status phase. (End of round is a different step of the status phase. Also, deplete is not a good choice of word because deplete is also a game term.)

The order of the steps of the status phase is very important! The deploy/reinforce step happens before the end of round step, so any effect (mission rule, agenda card) that gives threat in the end of round step isn't available in the preceding step... So unless the event gives an optional deployment, you need to wait for the deploy/reinforce step of the next status phase.

You're right, I was being too general, trying not to make it overly complicated.

Ok, it looks like I have been playing several things wrong, then.

1. I have been increasing threat at the end of a round and then doing my optional deployments. This should be reversed, right?

2. I have been starting the game(s) at the threat level that is shown on the back page of the campaign guide. At the end of each round, I have been turning the dial(s) one space each - one on the round counter and one on the threat dial. If what I am reading in the replies, above, is true, I should be adding a whole lot more threat at the end of each round. And if that is the case, I don't see how the rebels can ever win. Honestly, the way I have been doing it has made it challenging for the Imperials to win, though I am still winning about 50% of the time. If I have that much extra threat to spend on more deployments, it is highly improbable that the rebels will ever win any games.

Ok, it looks like I have been playing several things wrong, then.

1. I have been increasing threat at the end of a round and then doing my optional deployments. This should be reversed, right?

2. I have been starting the game(s) at the threat level that is shown on the back page of the campaign guide. At the end of each round, I have been turning the dial(s) one space each - one on the round counter and one on the threat dial. If what I am reading in the replies, above, is true, I should be adding a whole lot more threat at the end of each round. And if that is the case, I don't see how the rebels can ever win. Honestly, the way I have been doing it has made it challenging for the Imperials to win, though I am still winning about 50% of the time. If I have that much extra threat to spend on more deployments, it is highly improbable that the rebels will ever win any games.

A common problem. Yes, you are supposed to add the threat per turn that is listed on the campaign log, for the mission you are at. That is, if you are on the third mission, it will be 3 threat per turn. Yes, it makes it even more challenging for the Heroes. When I first started playing, I was afraid to get wounded, afraid to move forward until I took out enemies. Not a good idea. A the heroes you have to drive for objectives, still, the game is a challenge for the heroes, no doubt. One or two bad rounds where lady luck is mad at you, and it becomes downright impossible, but at least you get credits, XP and move on. Also if it says double or triple the threat, it is just for the one round. The starting round if the heroes are bringing in an ally. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong about that.

Threat level for each mission is specified by the campaign log. Threat Level (step value) is not the same as Threat (current amount).

1. For every mission Threat starts at 0.

2. Special setup can increase threat during setup (increase threat by twice the threat level and perform an optional deployment). This does not affect the rest of the game. It just gives you some flexibility in your starting setup - a way to customize the starting positions according to your class deck.

3. Follow the status phase steps in order.

- Increase threat by the threat level

- Ready

- Deploy/Reinforce

- End of Round effects - events and agenda cards can give threat at this step. This threat is not available in the previous step!

- Increase Round dial

Well, a big thanks to everyone for the helpful information/clarification. I'll be changing the way things are done, from here on out, though I don't know that the Rebel palyers will be all that happy about the changes. They savor every win they get, and it seems like there will be few of them while playing the game this way. Hopefully they won't be too demoralized to keep playing with me.

I don't know your group's skill level, but this cannot be reiterated too many times; action economy wins games!

Your rebel players should make sure to always have their goal in mind and figure out how to get to it with the least possible amount of actions. In practice, this means that you should plan for efficiency even before the campaign starts and make sure to pick up abilities like tactical movement and masterstroke as soon as possible, while making sure that every action counts. This is of course easier said than done, but every player should aim to at least have a goal for a given turn. I have actually seen a lot of youtube videos where people take movement actions to walk away from their target and then use a single attack to shoot at an enemy. If that attack deals no damage, your turn is almost detrimental to you, as it places you further away from your goal than you where when you started your activation.

My group has played through all the Descent campaigns several times, but only recently started on IA. IA is very focused on action economy and abilities that better your action efficiency. In fact, it is much more focused on this than Descent ever was. Garkhaan should for example almost never have to take a movement action between strain movement and charge (and tactical movement, the best skill in the game. This is where you have to plan though.) All the (good) heroes have these abilities to some extent. Diala's re-rolls should for example be used to help minimize the number of activations you have to spend on a terminal or you could use her re-rolls and/or force throw to get that last pip of dmg you need to kill an enemy. Suddenly, this has saved you 20% of your actions and you start winning games.

So, this turned out to be quite of a rant, and a bit off-topic, but if you feel the game is too unfair, focus on action efficieny and make sure that every action counts for something.

Ok, it looks like I have been playing several things wrong, then.

1. I have been increasing threat at the end of a round and then doing my optional deployments. This should be reversed, right?

2. I have been starting the game(s) at the threat level that is shown on the back page of the campaign guide. At the end of each round, I have been turning the dial(s) one space each - one on the round counter and one on the threat dial. If what I am reading in the replies, above, is true, I should be adding a whole lot more threat at the end of each round. And if that is the case, I don't see how the rebels can ever win. Honestly, the way I have been doing it has made it challenging for the Imperials to win, though I am still winning about 50% of the time. If I have that much extra threat to spend on more deployments, it is highly improbable that the rebels will ever win any games.

I wish I were that good. I've also been doing it wrong, in that I think I've been adding the extra Threat and then deploying reinforcements (and we've also been doing that at the start of the turn, not the end. Oh well ...), and I've still not won a single game as the Imperial player.

(Increase Threat does come before Deploy/Reinforce, but End of Round comes after both.)

I know; I've just read this thread too.

Predictably, my friends were pretty unhappy to see me adding so much threat each round, as I played this game differently after being corrected on the way I was doing it. they received a pretty good beat down, and asked if we could go back to playing it the "old way" so they would have a chance at winning. We will probably do that. I'd rather take the slight hit in my ability to reinforce than to have them give up playing the game. I don't see how they could ever win any games at all if I can reinforce and deploy so frequently.

During the last game, we were playing the Twin shadows mission Canyon run and I used some of my Influence to put the card As You Wish into play and deploy Darth Vader right behind the heroes. Trapped between barriers and Vader, and taking many hits from the Tusken Raider at the top of the map, they were absolutely pummeled by the time they reached the top of the map and the time ran out for them. It wasn't pretty or fun for them. Honestly, it wasn't that much fun for me, either. I'd rather have close games than blow-outs. I've got plenty of influence to spend in the last chapter of this campaign, so I'm pretty confident I can beat them, again, without spending very much threat to bolster my forces.

Note: As You Wish only gets the deployment card into your hand. You still need to pay threat when deploying Darth Vader.

Now it is time for the Rebels to see what they are doing wrong / where they can improve in the game. (Like using strain to move to attack twice.) Canyon Run isn't that hard for the rebels (unless the special two-action shot from the Tuskens manage to take out both R2-D2 and C-3PO early).

I am confused by your statement about "using strain to move to attack twice." Are you referring to instances when you are only using two Heroes who both possess double activations? Otherwise, moving and then attacking twice would be three actions in one activation, which isn't possible when using four Heroes.

Heroes can suffer 1 strain to gain 1 movement point upto 2 times per activation. Thus, they are able to use those two movement points to move themselves and still have 2 actions left, for example to attack twice. (And they can then use an unused surge from each attack to recover 1 strain each.)

Heroes can also gain movement points from other abilities without needing to use a Move action to perform a move. (And for completeness: performing a move only gains movement points according to Speed, spending movement points moves the figure.)

Double check rules on Allies, but I am pretty sure the Rebels can only call in Allies at the beginning of the mission, before starting. Unless otherwise stated by an effect.