My group is almost done with the core box campaign and we are so far going 6-2 as the Rebels with the last three missions to go.

Our group currently consists of Garkhaan, Fenn (played by me), Diala and Gideon. This has worked really well, as Garkhaan has been able to rush in and the rest of us have been able to do the clean up work. Fenn does an enormous amount of damage after I picked up Rebel Elite and the Pulse Cannon and the tactical flexibility he gives to the team with tactical movement is immense. Diala is an extremely flexible hero, with Force Adept and Force Throw being of incredible value all through the campaign. Nevertheless, the star of the show has undoubtely been Gideon. Coming from a Descent background, I immediately recognised that Command with Masterstroke was as close to being completely broken as it gets. With Mobile Tactician, Gideon is using two strain and an action to perform three actions, which is insane.

Our group likes to plan things ahead, with regards to both xp buys and item shopping and we feel that we picked a strong team that works well together this time, and noone feels like dead weight.

My immediate thought for Hoth was Verena, Mak, Fenn and Gideon. This is because Verena/Fenn can deal AoE damage reliably, while Mak can do massive amounts of single target damage. Gideon is a force multiplier and helps with whatever is needed. Fenn's Tactical Movement will also help Verena get into position.

What do you think, and what is your suggestion for a good 4 man party?

I'm sure this has been said before, but there are really no bad combinations. You just have to adjust your play style based on the characters you have.

That being said, I'd highly recommend that you play with 4 entirely different characters. I've played a few campaigns (Core and TS, no Hoth yet), and the first 2 times I played with 3 of the same characters. The next time I decided I was going to play with characters I hadn't used, and I had a much more enjoyable experience than I thought I would (eg. I found out how well Mak and Biv can work together). What's the worst thing that happens? You finish the campaign and say, "I sure didn't like Saska", then you don't play with her again. All I can say is now that I've played every hero (Except the Hoth ones), I want to try different combinations that I think will synergize well. I wouldn't have done that otherwise.

So in answer to your question, I'd say you should play as any of the 4 that aren't playing in your current campaign.

NOTE: I do like Saska very much, she fills a great support role. But I'll admit she's not for everyone.

Without knowing any of your play styles, I'll tell you what worked best for me:

BEEFCAKE SQUAD

Biv

Verena

Fenn

Gaarkhan

Max HP and Max Damage. Of course, I have a very aggressive play style. I think each player should find a character that fits their play style. If it ends up with you all choosing new characters, that's even better!

MHD-19 has some very good applications in the Return to Hoth story missions. Also, in combination with Gaarkahn or Verena, he can give the rebels a very nice starting boost via the Artificial Stimulants. I'd say MHD and Gaarkahn should be included. For the rest, you could take Gideon (to maybe let MHD shoot focused every turn), Jyn (for her better speed). Or Diala (to throw people into range) and Verena (to catch those enemies and get their guns).

I'm sure this has been said before, but there are really no bad combinations. You just have to adjust your play style based on the characters you have.

That being said, I'd highly recommend that you play with 4 entirely different characters. I've played a few campaigns (Core and TS, no Hoth yet), and the first 2 times I played with 3 of the same characters. The next time I decided I was going to play with characters I hadn't used, and I had a much more enjoyable experience than I thought I would (eg. I found out how well Mak and Biv can work together). What's the worst thing that happens? You finish the campaign and say, "I sure didn't like Saska", then you don't play with her again. All I can say is now that I've played every hero (Except the Hoth ones), I want to try different combinations that I think will synergize well. I wouldn't have done that otherwise.

So in answer to your question, I'd say you should play as any of the 4 that aren't playing in your current campaign.

NOTE: I do like Saska very much, she fills a great support role. But I'll admit she's not for everyone.

Ideally, I would pick four new heroes if I can find the right synergies. I am not so sure that everyone will work equally well together though. I find that the melee combatants really need something to get them into position. Garkhaan has charge, which is amazing, but the rest of them need something else. Tactical Movement can be the difference between the IP having to place his troops 3 or 5 spaces away from you to prevent you from getting into the fray. In our current campaign, there is no doubt that Garkhaan is a much stronger melee fighter than Diala simply due to his ability to get stuck in and still dish out two attacks during the same activation.

I would be interested to hear why Biv and Mak work so well together, as this is the kind of tips I hope to pick up on. On paper I think Biv looks absolutely hopeless. He has no way of getting into combat except for moving, as he doesn't even have enough strain to move if he wants to use close and personal unless he starts on 0 strain. I would love to be proven wrong though.

Saska looks pretty good. The ability to pass tests with less difficulity can be invaluable.

Without knowing any of your play styles, I'll tell you what worked best for me:

BEEFCAKE SQUAD

Biv

Verena

Fenn

Gaarkhan

Max HP and Max Damage. Of course, I have a very aggressive play style. I think each player should find a character that fits their play style. If it ends up with you all choosing new characters, that's even better!

I have a background from tabletop gaming. I have placed pretty well nationally in Warhammer and are finding my feet with Warmachine, I have also played through all the Descent 2nd ed campaigns several times. My playstyle is very focused on positioning and board control. I have absolutely LOVED playing Fenn, and Syndrael and Logan Lashley were my favourite heroes in Descent. How do you feel your squad work together? Any apparent synergies?

MHD-19 has some very good applications in the Return to Hoth story missions. Also, in combination with Gaarkahn or Verena, he can give the rebels a very nice starting boost via the Artificial Stimulants. I'd say MHD and Gaarkahn should be included. For the rest, you could take Gideon (to maybe let MHD shoot focused every turn), Jyn (for her better speed). Or Diala (to throw people into range) and Verena (to catch those enemies and get their guns).

Interesting. I actually hadn't thought about letting MHD shoot focused with Gideon's help. I have feared that MHD and Gideon might be a little too much support in a four man team, but maybe it will work. Verena seems really solid, she just seems so much more solid with the movement shenanigans provided by Gideon and Fenn as her own are often dependent on her already being engaged.

...I had a much more enjoyable experience than I thought I would (eg. I found out how well Mak and Biv can work together).

I would be interested to hear why Biv and Mak work so well together, as this is the kind of tips I hope to pick up on. On paper I think Biv looks absolutely hopeless. He has no way of getting into combat except for moving, as he doesn't even have enough strain to move if he wants to use close and personal unless he starts on 0 strain. I would love to be proven wrong though.

Biv starts out a little rough, but he's got quite a bit of health, so that helps. With "Trophy Armor", he becomes rather beastly. He also had "Crushing Blow", "Shake it Off" and "Vibrobayonet" to help him out. So he basically was a melee fighter like Gaarkhan, but with the option for ranged attacks (which I know you can buy a gun for the Wookie, but "Charge" makes that mostly unnecessary).

Now Biv worked out to position himself so that enemies didn't have line of sight to Mak. This allowed Mak to make the most out of "Ambush", "Target Acquired" and "Execute". Add Disengage along with Covert and Mak never got wounded the second half of the campaign.

Biv had the Tactical Display for a for a free surge every round which always went to recover an endurance, so he could do "Close and Personal" every round (paired with "Shake it off". We gave Mak the "Valken-38 Carbine" (RtH) with the "Under-Barrel HH-4" (Rth) and from that point on, the Empire had no hope. Biv was used for cover and could take out most anything in 1 round, Mak could sit back, and routinely deal 6+ damage each shot. I had a similar experience with Fenn and Gaarkhan in a different campaign, but Fenn would usually get wounded and had to be closer to the battle.

MHD-19, Gideon, Saska and Diala are support. Pick 1 or 2 of them. Saska is more challenging to use and is probably the weakest because of it.

Loku is also support, but he sucks. At everything. Don't pick him.

The rest are focused on damage or keeping themselves alive. Fill out the rest of the team with them however you want.

Interesting. I actually hadn't thought about letting MHD shoot focused with Gideon's help. I have feared that MHD and Gideon might be a little too much support in a four man team, but maybe it will work. Verena seems really solid, she just seems so much more solid with the movement shenanigans provided by Gideon and Fenn as her own are often dependent on her already being engaged

Thought the same thing, but we decided to try it in our PBF and holy hell does Gideon and MHD synergize well together. Check it out if you are curious

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1531332/your-tauntaun-will-freeze-you-reach-first-marker-s/page/1

I would try this:

Verena, Biv, Loku, & MHD-19.

Verena & Biv are your tanks, with Verena having some support functions. Loku is your dps (starts off slow/squishy, but gets going quickly). And MHD-19 is your full on support. He doesn't have the Gideon tactical support, but he will make sure your party survives a lot better than Gideon can.

~D

I would try this:

Verena, Biv, Loku, & MHD-19.

Verena & Biv are your tanks, with Verena having some support functions. Loku is your dps (starts off slow/squishy, but gets going quickly). And MHD-19 is your full on support. He doesn't have the Gideon tactical support, but he will make sure your party survives a lot better than Gideon can.

~D

Loku is support, not a DD. Both Biv and Verena will easily out damage him and are both far tougher than him as well. If you're spending your credits on giving him a better weapon thinking he's a DD rather than on actual DD like Biv and Verena who get extra attack actions every turn, you're just wasting them.

MHD-19, Gideon, Saska and Diala are support. Pick 1 or 2 of them. Saska is more challenging to use and is probably the weakest because of it.

Loku is also support, but he sucks. At everything. Don't pick him.

The rest are focused on damage or keeping themselves alive. Fill out the rest of the team with them however you want.

I'm curious as to why you have this opinion about Loku and how he sucks at everything. I have found him to be exactly opposite of what you're saying; he's not a generic support character like Diala or so much of an action economist like Gideon, but he has some excellent abilities that go a long way to helping the team.

How does biv get any extra attacks in your games when the imp is playing somehow smart? Biv usually gets 1 move and 1 close and personal. Thats just a worse garkhaan.

Loku on the other hand is the number one target of my hks as he increases the dmg of the party.

How does biv get any extra attacks in your games when the imp is playing somehow smart? Biv usually gets 1 move and 1 close and personal. Thats just a worse garkhaan.

Loku on the other hand is the number one target of my hks as he increases the dmg of the party.

If you can't figure out how to get a character into melee, then no melee in your game works, not just Biv.

Of course Loku should be the number one target because he is easy to wound. It can be easier to kill him than it is to wound Biv. You save Biv for later when you have enough units on the board to focus him down, although if you're putting out overpriced HKs then that isn't likely to happen.

Loku increases the damage of the party because he is support. He's just a worse support than all the others. Trying to make him a DD though dosn't work, he doesn't have the abilities for it.

Edit:

After remembering that you are the "Need Errata" guy I don't have any interestet in discussing anything about this game with you.