Twin Shadows:
Announced                     - 03/18/15
Heroes Spoiled                - 06/02/15
ON THE BOAT                   - 06/12/15
Empire Spoiled                - 06/23/15
Boba Spoiled                  - 07/07/15
R2-3P0 Spoiled                - 07/21/15
Kayn Spoiled                  - 08/04/15
Available                     - 08/20/15

Wookies/Hired Guns/Stormtroopers
Announced                     - 04/21/15
ON THE BOAT                   - 08/29/15
Wookies Spoiled               - 09/01/15
Troopers Spoiled              - 09/17/15
Hired Guns Spoiled            - 09/30/15
Available                     - 10/08/15

Bantha/Smuggler
Announced                     - 07/08/15
ON THE BOAT                   - 12/16/15
Smuggler Spoiled              - 12/21/15
Bantha Spoiled                - 01/04/16
Available                     - 02/18/16

Return to Hoth
Announced (At Gencon)         - 08/01/15
Empire Spoiled                - 11/02/15
Leia Spoiled                  - 11/06/15
ON THE BOAT                   - 11/06/15
Heroes Spoiled                - 11/09/15
Sorin Spoiled                 - 11/16/15
EB Troopers Spoiled           - 11/23/15
Dengar Spoiled                - 12/07/15
Available                     - 12/23/15

Bespin Gambit
Announced                     - 03/04/16
ON THE BOAT                   - 04/28/16
Heroes Spoiled                - 05/03/16 
Lando Spoiled                 - 05/06/16
Mercenaries Spoiled           - 05/10/16
SHIPPING                      - 05/10/16
Agent Blaise Spoiled          - 05/13/16
ISB Agents Spoiled            - 05/25/16
Bossk Spoiled                 - 05/25/16
Available (Stores Selling)    - 05/26/16
Available (FFG Article)       - 06/02/16

Knight, Hunter, and Inquisitor
Announced                     - 05/11/16
ON THE BOAT                   - 06/01/16
Grand Inquisitor Spoiled      - 06/24/16
SHIPPING                      - 06/29/16
Greedo Spoiled                - 07/01/16
Obi-Wan Spoiled               - 07/05/16
Available                     - 07/14/16

Jabbas Realm
Announced (At Gencon)         - 08/05/16
Heroes Spoiled                - 09/16/16
Rancor, Imps, Mercs Spoiled   - 09/23/16
Dev Diary on Jabbas Realm     - 10/07/16
ON THE BOAT                   - 10/20/16
Jedi Luke Spoiled             - 10/21/16
Alliance Rangers Spoiled      - 10/28/16
Capt Terro Spoiled            - 11/11/16
Jabba Spoiled                 - 12/02/16
SHIPPING                      - 12/14/16
Available                     - 12/29/16

BT-1/000, Jawas, and Hera/Chopper
Announced                     - 01/13/17
At The Printer                - 02/27/17
ON THE BOAT                   - 03/10/17
BT-1/000 Spoiled              - 03/21/17
Jawas Spoiled                 - 04/04/17
SHIPPING                      - 04/26/17
Hera/Chopper Spoiled          - 05/02/17
Available                     - 05/11/17

Heart of The Empire - Emperor, Maul, and Ahsoka
Announced                     - 05/05/17 - Friday of Worlds 2017
AT THE PRINTER                - 05/17/17
ON THE BOAT                   - 07/26/17
Campaign Spoiler              - 07/26/17
Skirmish Spoiler              - 08/28/17
Ally/Villains Spoiler         - 09/22/17
SHIPPING                      - 09/29/17
Available                     - 10/12/17

Tyrants of Lothal - Thrawn, Hondo, Zeb/Sabine, Kanan/Ezra
Announced                     - 04/13/18
IN DEVELOPMENT                - 04/17/18
AT THE PRINTER                - 05/16/18

TL:DR - Imperial Assault isn't dead - production has slowed down from the initial breakneck pace of the first two years or so. My wallet says thank you FFG.

My previous thoughts from last edit were off by quite a bit (HotE is here, I hadn't updated in a bit. Waiting for new stuff to be announced amidst mass cries of the game being dead... Now the big question is what's the next boxed expansion and when will it be announced? I'm guessing for a box announcement by end of November, but I've got no reason to think FFG is done with Imperial Assault.)

BUT nothing has changed - many cries of "Imperial Assault is dying" were heard before the announcement of ToL - haha oh well - guess it's only mostly dead (/sarcasm)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Original Post + Updates

I wrote this up for myself a couple weeks after the Bespin Gambit was announced and I was eagerly awaiting the first spoiler and hoping it wouldn't be more than a week after the initial announcement. Very quickly, I realized it wouldn't be that soon but I wanted to know how long I would reasonably have to wait.

If you're like me you want Imperial Assault news and any week without something new is one too many. But in all seriousness, I was surprised just how much time accrued between announcement of expansions/packs and then the spoiler articles coming out. Part of the reason it didn't feel so long was that so many things were in the pipeline at once and then Hoth was rushed to be available before Christmas.

TL:DR -

1.The odds are just as good we'll hear an announcement for a new set of standalone units before we have our first Bespin Gambit spoiler article. (This hasn't happened yet but it's all good because the news feed is flowing fast!)

2. A May 4th announcement (or spoiler article) would be awesome but we have no precedent for it either. (We got our spoiler article the day before Star Wars Day - actually about a half hour after I posted this originally!)

3. And except for Bantha/Smuggler, the last spoiler article came within 2 weeks of release date for the set. This should prove to stay true/maybe even be faster since we just found out the set is already shipping!)

Edit: Formatting...I wish I could use tabs on the boards or even keep the tabs from Word when I paste it in. Thanks to Nickv2002 I now have even spacing!

Edit: 5/11/16 - added ON THE BOAT dates thanks tomkat364, Bespin news dates, and updates to my destroyed predictions, but I'm ok with being wrong on how fast they're going! AND a new TL:DR

Edit: 5/19/16 - Updated dates for recent spoiler articles. Also hoping that updating this makes the next article happen faster since it seems to come right after I make updates

Edit 6/3/16 - Updated since Bespin came out and with on the boat for Knight/Inquisitor/Greedo

Edit 7/1/16 - Added Inquisitor, Greedo, and Shipping dates

Edit 8/18/16 - Added announcements for Jabba's Realm and Expansion Packs

Edit 10/21/16 - Updated Spoiler Article Dates and Jabba's on a boat, and it's going fast, and He's got a nautical...well maybe it's not going that fast...maybe if it was a sail barge...on a dune sea...sorry, I'm gonna stop now - Here's hoping Jabba's Palace will be here by Christmas like Hoth was.

Edit: 12/14/16 - Updated the last few spoiler dates for Jabba's Realm and now shipping status. Hoping they'll be available just before New Years! If it's available by 12/29 that's only one week longer than the cycle for Hoth technically. Not bad even though it seemed like it might be faster than Hoth earlier on in the process.

Edit: 1/3/16 - Updated with Jabba's Realm is available now! Guess of 12/29/16 was correct - bummer it wasn't before Christmas though

Edit: 2/24/17 - Updated with Droid Wave announcement (predicted January 20th it came the 13th!) . I was holding out for a news article before updating but figured this needed a bump)

Edit: 3/1/17 - Updated at the printer status for Droid Wave, changed title to "history" instead of "list" and moved history list to top of post.

Edit: 5/9/17 - Updated with dates for all the Droid Wave and the announcement of Heart of the Empire and Force User Wave!

Edit: 9/7/17 - Updated with some dates for HotE wave (HotE had been On the Boat 6 weeks by then, I predicted October 5th for release was off by a week with the 12th - good stuff )

Edit: 10/17 - Updated with HotE stuff (TL:DR - HotE is here, I hadn't updated in a bit. Waiting for new stuff to be announced amidst mass cries of the game being dead... Now the big question is what's the next boxed expansion and when will it be announced? I'm guessing for a box announcement by end of November, but I've got no reason to think FFG is done with Imperial Assault.)

Edit: 4/26/18 - Updated with ToL announced (been busy prepping for Worlds so didn't get on this thread very fast)

And then they release the article right half an hour after I post this

So it's around 5 months from the first announcement to availability?

Then Bespin should be available in August???

So it's around 5 months from the first announcement to availability?

Then Bespin should be available in August???

That's a pretty safe bet I'd think.

But we are technically about 2 weeks earlier than Twin Suns' first spoiler. And I've seen people point out that there was shipping problems around the time of Twin Suns with union strikes or something, which could have thrown off FFG's planned release of information for Twin Suns.

If we go from first spoiler to street date for Twin Suns and extrapolate to Bespin, we could see a mid-July release date.

So it's around 5 months from the first announcement to availability?

Then Bespin should be available in August???

That's a pretty safe bet I'd think.

But we are technically about 2 weeks earlier than Twin Suns' first spoiler. And I've seen people point out that there was shipping problems around the time of Twin Suns with union strikes or something, which could have thrown off FFG's planned release of information for Twin Suns.

If we go from first spoiler to street date for Twin Suns and extrapolate to Bespin, we could see a mid-July release date.

I'm not sure that follows. From your chart, most of the releases had 3-5 months between announce and first spoiler. Bespin was only 2 months, so that appears to be a month ahead of schedule, no?

Mainly, I don't think we can compare the standalone unit wave timelines to the box expansions timelines very well. Also, I don't think we can compare hoth's rapid deployment to realistically be what Bespin will look like. (Not saying you said that at all). So, I think the twin Suns to Bespin comparison is the most likely to be realistic, and I'm pretty sure twin Suns was likely delayed from when they may have intended it to be released back when they announced it (with the shipping industry delays).

I'd love it if we are a month ahead of schedule. There's one piece of information I wish I had - the dates each wave was declared "on the boat" and "shipping" because I want to see how those compare to when they finally released spoiler articles. For example we just saw Bespin get "on the boat" a few days ago and then we actually had our first article. It's pretty obvious they want to have enough articles to fill the time between starting spoilers and "go buy it!" So it may be safer to look at how many articles we have left and suggest 1-1.5 weeks each and have a date around then. Again it's not perfect (bantha didn't follow it well - and I'd argue that was hoth's fault so not surprised) but it's all a guess anyways it will be fun to fill this out more as time goes on

Looking through old threads:

Twin Shadows - on the boat 6/12/15, shipped to me 8/18/15

Wookiee Wave - on the boat 8/29/15, shipped to me 10/6/15

Return to Hoth - on the boat 11/6/15, shipped to me 12/21/15

Bantha/Smuggler - on the boat 12/16/15, shipped to me 2/18/15

So ~2 months from on the boat to in my hands, and we are over a month ahead of Twin Shadows shipping date. So I would expect early to mid July for Bespin. Hopefully sooner.

Well, with the lando preview out in the same week as our first preview that escalated quickly

I think we have four more previews. So 4-6 weeks doesn't sound completely off. Maybe have Bespin by mid to end of June?!? Or they're just over eager in sharing and it'll slow way down between the last one or two and the release day. Either way I'd rather have the news sooner and less time in between as long as it isn't more than 3-4 weeks after the last one comes out.

Updated with a bunch of new dates and a new TL:DR

Super exciting to see so many spoilers and that it's already shipping to stores!

Updated with a bunch of new dates and a new TL:DR

Super exciting to see so many spoilers and that it's already shipping to stores!

Thanks for keeping this updated.

For formatting you might try using a code block (the button that is '<>') as it uses fixed-width characters so you can have consistent spacing. For example:

BESPIN GAMBIT
Announced            - 03/04/16
On the Boat          - 04/28/16
Heroes Spoiled       - 05/03/16
Lando Spoiled        - 05/06/16
Mercenaries Spoiled  - 05/10/16
Shipping             - 05/10/16

(The color is added automatically)

For formatting you might try using a code block (the button that is '<>') as it uses fixed-width characters so you can have consistent spacing. For example:

BESPIN GAMBIT
Announced            - 03/04/16
On the Boat          - 04/28/16
Heroes Spoiled       - 05/03/16
Lando Spoiled        - 05/06/16
Mercenaries Spoiled  - 05/10/16
Shipping             - 05/10/16

(The color is added automatically)

Thanks for the tip, I got it to work and with some fiddling I pretty much like what it looks like now. The first try, I had the whole post in code block and the crazy colors everywhere was killing me. But i was able to go back and just put it on the list of dates!

Gotta update again today: https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/5/11/the-knight-the-hunter-and-the-inquisitor/

Surprise! All dates are out the window!

Surprise! All dates are out the window!

That made me think of the Little Ceasar's commercial - there are no rules!

Anyways, I also added some dates and updated.

I talked to my FLGS and they said they should be getting it Wednesday the 25th. My local Regional tournament isn't until the 27th. That means I may be seeing some of this stuff at Regionals, and may even test out Bossk vs Elite Trandos in my list before then.

I talked to my FLGS and they said they should be getting it Wednesday the 25th. My local Regional tournament isn't until the 27th. That means I may be seeing some of this stuff at Regionals, and may even test out Bossk vs Elite Trandos in my list before then.

Yup ours said the same and we have a regional the next weekend. Good luck! They can't sell till Thursday and I'm not sure I'd play a tournament with stuff I'd only had for a day.

I talked to my FLGS and they said they should be getting it Wednesday the 25th. My local Regional tournament isn't until the 27th. That means I may be seeing some of this stuff at Regionals, and may even test out Bossk vs Elite Trandos in my list before then.

Yup ours said the same and we have a regional the next weekend. Good luck! They can't sell till Thursday and I'm not sure I'd play a tournament with stuff I'd only had for a day.

Thats why you proxy now and play this weekend. We already know for the most part what the cards are and do. Im sure we will get an article soon on the ISB Agents and Tue/Wed we will see Bossk.

~D

I talked to my FLGS and they said they should be getting it Wednesday the 25th. My local Regional tournament isn't until the 27th. That means I may be seeing some of this stuff at Regionals, and may even test out Bossk vs Elite Trandos in my list before then.

Yup ours said the same and we have a regional the next weekend. Good luck! They can't sell till Thursday and I'm not sure I'd play a tournament with stuff I'd only had for a day.

Thats why you proxy now and play this weekend. We already know for the most part what the cards are and do. Im sure we will get an article soon on the ISB Agents and Tue/Wed we will see Bossk.

~D

Let's hope. I was so certain we'd see the ISB agents on Tuesday and Bossk today then an "Available in Stores" article next week. Here's hoping we see something today!!

Talked to FLGS, they're getting Bespin next week. 1 copy. WTF? Dumbest thing I'd heard all day. Reserved it, it shall be mine and no one else's. Mwahaha!

Updated since Bespin has come out and all been spoiled. Also with the Knight/Inquisitor/Greedo on the boat date added. Next update will likely be a newly announced set in august or that the trio is shipping. That's my guess

My guess is that we'll get spoiler articles for wave 7 after 6 weeks, they ship to be available at GenCon, and then we get a bix box announcement in GenCon.

If we are going off of Bespin's timeline, we should be seeing Obi-wan and friends shipping any day now.

Honestly I don't know how Bespin went from being "on the boat" to "shipping" in like two weeks. I'm assuming they didn't change the status until it'd been on the boat for a bit. I'd be surprised if this wave is that fast on the boat. But regardless, I am betting they give us at least one spoiler before it changes to "shipping" status. But they could always drop the ball and release two articles right when it's available again...

I really doubt that the next wave of Greedo/GI/Obi will be available before the North American champs at Gen Con, but it would be interesting to be wrong.

Also, I would think that they would leave it out of the tournament if it was available there (for the first time)…

Even if we go off of Bespin's announcement date to it's shipping date, that puts them shipping mid July.