We are at the last story mission of the core box's campaign now. Before that me and one player played 3 missions before we restarted the campaign with some additional players.

However as the imperial player with the Military Might class deck, I am just steam rolling the rebel players. They have Jyn, Diala, Fenn and Garkann and even the missions I go easy on them I win...

Sure they havent put much points into support ability and mostly focused on killing, but still it just seems like the imp player has a really unfair advantage in almost every mission. The ones with a time limit seem to be the worst ones.

Anyone else experiencing this or did my players just pick a bad team? Poor abilitys?

If both people are on the same beginner level, then the Imperial Player wins most times. When both sides are experienced, I think it really comes down to dice rolls and not making those stupid mistakes from time to time, which the other side can pay for.

Two game nights ago I destroyed the Rebels in two missions, kind of demoralized them a bit. We played two weeks later (due to some out of town) I went easier on them. I brought in regular and not so many elites. I tended to focus on one side of the board and one person, rather than the entire squad. They won both games (and the first was simply due to me "throwing" it. It was still 50/50 at that time.

Playing with 3 out of 4 non typical gaming players like this, I play more a DM role.

~D

The only support you have is Diala and she's only semi support. If she's attacking rather than giving out rerolls and focus the Rebels are going to lose. You need to buy her the med kit and have her opening crates etc. Most players will not enjoy playing Diala this way, but it's how it needs to be done. In an entire campaign it's possible she'll never even attack once if she's your only support character.

When I played imps against other people (they were first timing, I'd played through solo) I went 8/3 (loosing aftermath, means of production and the side mission for ways of the force) (I think we forgot to play captured). Most of the time I play both sides because I can't get a group together and in those games the imperial win rate is dire.

The learning curve for playing as the rebels is much harder than the Imperials, they have more abilities they need to manage and their objectives are changing every mission, and they have a lot of unknowns to deal with whereas the Imperial player has perfect information. The rebel players are also generally less familiar with the rules than the Imperial player and less able to use them to their advantage. Generally the Imperial player is the one that owns the game, so they get to read the rules at their leisure while the rebel players are expected to learn the rules on the fly (even though the rules are available online) and also it's harder for the rebel players to make sure the Imperial player is interpreting the mission rules correctly since they are not allowed to look at the Campaign book. For example many rebel players when first starting out forget (or aren't told) that they can take strain for movement points and use a surge to recover a strain during an attack, which are key abilities to managing action economy as the rebels so they aren't wasting actions unnecessarily on Move and Rest actions, leaving more actions to Attack and Interact. Imperial players also often times mix up the term threat level, which is the set number of threat the imperial gains each turn, with the symbol, which is the total amount of threat the imperial has to spend at any given time, which can lead to problems. For example when an imperial figure is supposed to have health equal to the threat level, which is a static number usually doesn't change during a mission, it can really mess things up when the Imperial player thinks they can hoard threat to inflate that figures health each turn. I've also seen a lot of Imperial players think that you start off each mission with equal to the threat level, but you actually each mission with 0 unless instructed otherwise by the missions setup rules.

Once the rebels become more proficient with the rules, turn management and threat management, and more knowledgeable on what XP and items cards are good and bad, they can start doing some really busted stuff that is hard for an imperial player to match with just their single class deck and set threat gain per turn.

My first time playing as the Imperial player was during the Return to Hoth campaign. I threw the first mission because I had been struggling to pull a group together and didn't want to scare away my new rebel players, who had played before but were not super into the game, by crushing them on their first mission. The next two missions I played all out as they were now four players, 2 of which were experienced, and I could not win. Then I managed to eke out a super close win in the 4th mission which was a side mission, and then I spent my first xp on the 4xp card that gave all my attacks pierce 1, which I knew was good, and the next 2 missions only 2 rebels have been able to show up at a time and I steamrolled them and I have had to put back cards like Imperial Industry that have proved problematic and allow the rebels to redo some of their item purchases that were not ideal for them. The last mission we played was a very close loss for the rebels, and I helped them identify a couple of spots where their team and builds could be improved and allowed them to redo their items, so I am hopeful that our next mission, which should have 3 rebel players, they will be able to beat me without me having to hold back.

I think this depends on the mission and number of players.

I play against one player and some missions I know in advance are very difficult to impossible.

Because the 2 activations per hero can give them a serious move boost to be able to attack in their next activation.

Like the last mission I played was scouring the homestead and he could catch my elite troopers like it was nothing while still putting out the fires.

I have a quite experienced group, so, I rarely win, but, almost EVERY mission comes down to teh wire. One strength in my group is two of the players are very good at staying on mission, (ignore those Stormies, they are irrelevant to the mission and they can't hurt us much, that kind of thing).

I am 4-2 as the Imperial player. I only won 1 mission handily. All other missions have come down to the wire.

I've been the Imperial in 1 complete core campaign, 1 twin shadows campaign and currently most of the way through a second core campaign.

So far I win slightly more than half the missions, most coming down to an activation or two.

There are the occasional steam rolls, both ways actually.

I find that, overall, both sides make play mistakes. I think I'm also being generous on a couple of rules, so it might be this even because of that.

(You guys can decide actually. two of the rules I'm lenient on are that when they're wounded they clear strain too, and reach is simply counting spaces not line of sight too. There may be others that I'm forgetting)

The only support you have is Diala and she's only semi support. If she's attacking rather than giving out rerolls and focus the Rebels are going to lose. You need to buy her the med kit and have her opening crates etc. Most players will not enjoy playing Diala this way, but it's how it needs to be done. In an entire campaign it's possible she'll never even attack once if she's your only support character.

I totally agree with this. They are using Diala for rerolls mostly acually but after looking at Gideon I can't understand why they are not using him he seem to be an absolute beast at supporting the rest of the team.

The learning curve for playing as the rebels is much harder than the Imperials, they have more abilities they need to manage and their objectives are changing every mission, and they have a lot of unknowns to deal with whereas the Imperial player has perfect information. The rebel players are also generally less familiar with the rules than the Imperial player and less able to use them to their advantage. Generally the Imperial player is the one that owns the game, so they get to read the rules at their leisure while the rebel players are expected to learn the rules on the fly (even though the rules are available online) and also it's harder for the rebel players to make sure the Imperial player is interpreting the mission rules correctly since they are not allowed to look at the Campaign book. For example many rebel players when first starting out forget (or aren't told) that they can take strain for movement points and use a surge to recover a strain during an attack, which are key abilities to managing action economy as the rebels so they aren't wasting actions unnecessarily on Move and Rest actions, leaving more actions to Attack and Interact. Imperial players also often times mix up the term threat level, which is the set number of threat the imperial gains each turn, with the symbol, which is the total amount of threat the imperial has to spend at any given time, which can lead to problems. For example when an imperial figure is supposed to have health equal to the threat level, which is a static number usually doesn't change during a mission, it can really mess things up when the Imperial player thinks they can hoard threat to inflate that figures health each turn. I've also seen a lot of Imperial players think that you start off each mission with equal to the threat level, but you actually each mission with 0 unless instructed otherwise by the missions setup rules.

Once the rebels become more proficient with the rules, turn management and threat management, and more knowledgeable on what XP and items cards are good and bad, they can start doing some really busted stuff that is hard for an imperial player to match with just their single class deck and set threat gain per turn.

My first time playing as the Imperial player was during the Return to Hoth campaign. I threw the first mission because I had been struggling to pull a group together and didn't want to scare away my new rebel players, who had played before but were not super into the game, by crushing them on their first mission. The next two missions I played all out as they were now four players, 2 of which were experienced, and I could not win. Then I managed to eke out a super close win in the 4th mission which was a side mission, and then I spent my first xp on the 4xp card that gave all my attacks pierce 1, which I knew was good, and the next 2 missions only 2 rebels have been able to show up at a time and I steamrolled them and I have had to put back cards like Imperial Industry that have proved problematic and allow the rebels to redo some of their item purchases that were not ideal for them. The last mission we played was a very close loss for the rebels, and I helped them identify a couple of spots where their team and builds could be improved and allowed them to redo their items, so I am hopeful that our next mission, which should have 3 rebel players, they will be able to beat me without me having to hold back.

This seems true. And as the imperial player you get to chose new units each mission and learn by your mistakes while the heroes are stuck with their porr choices they made.

Its gonna be super intressting to play as a rebel hero next campaign and see the game from their point.

We are halfway through Hoth and it is balanced out - rebel/imp wins are equal.

Rebels: Garkhaan, Verena, Loku, MD-19

Imp: Tech.Sup.

My own group consists of very experienced players, myself included. as a whole, the rebels win most missions but I have a good time nonetheless. The rebels victory percentage is due to the following criteria:

1. The longer the campaign goes, the more powerful the rebels become. By the fourth or fifth mission, they should have enough options to deal with any mission/situation successfully.

2. A solid QB - one of the four players does a wonderful job of leading the rest. He doesn't miss any details and keeps the group focused. The other players don't mind deferring to his leadership so why should I oppose? Generally, it leads to the best play. When the QB has missed a week and someone else fills in for him, they have a rough time.

3. Defensive perks - The team always focuses on defensive abilities to purchase early. Each character has at least one. By making themselves more difficult to wound, I am left with a tougher time reaching my objective (i.e. usually wounding all heroes).

4. Dice rolling - I am, statistically speaking, a horrendous dice roller. It's simply the way of things; fortunate for me, I become far less competitive in games with dice involved. To me, this game is all about theme and getting my cool painted minis on the table. Win lose no matter. I make good fight, earn respect.

5. No mistakes - They never forget about movement points, surges to recover strain, managing strain effectively, taking their turns in an order that strengthens their position, focusing attacks on groups of units yet to activate in a turn, and taking chances only when a negative outcome affects them in a minor manner

as long as a mission comes down the final turn or two with some uncertainty, everyone is having a good time. That's good enough for me. Occasionally, the players will complain once in a while when the Imperials do happen to win one. When they're reminded of the win-losses total, however, they ask why I come back for more.

To Petrus81, enjoy what's going on while you can. with a little more experience, the rebels will start winning more.

2. A solid QB - one of the four players does a wonderful job of leading the rest. He doesn't miss any details and keeps the group focused. The other players don't mind deferring to his leadership so why should I oppose? Generally, it leads to the best play. When the QB has missed a week and someone else fills in for him, they have a rough time.

What hero do they play?

~D

2. A solid QB - one of the four players does a wonderful job of leading the rest. He doesn't miss any details and keeps the group focused. The other players don't mind deferring to his leadership so why should I oppose? Generally, it leads to the best play. When the QB has missed a week and someone else fills in for him, they have a rough time.

What hero do they play?

~D

They were Gideon when I ran the main campaign and Diala when we did the Twin Shadows mini campaign. haven't run hoth yet; still painting those minis.

I agree that this game is slanted towards the empire for beginners. As already stated for the heros there is more to learn and keep track of. With actions, abilities, weapons, action economy etc it is a lot to learn. Also when you first start playing you typically get drawn into the kill the imperials instead of focusing on the objective.

What you take for Abilities and items is very important too so you are not wasting XP or credits where are very important. And if you do not understand the game and where it is going then you can end up wasting that stuff I know I did.

Also Squad make-up is important typically it is good to have a couple that will be your damage dealers and a couple to help move the objective forward... so interacted etc. With just the box set they really did not have a ton of options for those people to help move the objective forward you had Gideon basically. The expansions have helped that because now you have Saska, MHD-19, and now the Master of Intelligence guy not sure his name.

Again as also started all the cards are on the Imperial side since you can read over the mission know what is coming know the objective and then set traps etc for the rebels.

Finally you have to realize how this game is setup. You have the Story Missions and then the Side Missions. The side missions are typically setup to be pretty balanced...not in all cases but in most. For the story missions you typically have one weighted towards the Heros and one Weighted to the Empire. And you go to the one that helps the person that lost the previous story mission. Like if the rebels win the first mission then they have a do a new threat I have no clue how they are supposed to complete that one.. it is so slanted to the empire player. But then when they loose that one they do Fly Solo which is slanted to the Rebel players. And the Story missions are the important ones as that is where you typically gain 2 XP and extra credits etc.

If you are all new and the Empire player comes out and wins the first 3 then is really hard for the rebels to catch up... because at that point the empire player has lots of influence has gotten more XP than the rebels and can really peg them in a hole. So if you are playing with new players either A have them be the Empire... or B take it easy on them the first 3-4 missions let them get some wins and it should help balance more later one.

now the Master of Intelligence guy not sure his name.

Her name is Murne Rin.