So I'm starting Imperial Assault! I'm picking up the core set and one or two expansions on Wednesday. A friend of mine already enlisted me for a tournament this saturday, so I need a list that is not completely hopeless!

So, what can you suggest? I was looking at something like:

Vader

Royal Guards

Stormtroopers

2 x Officers

Probe Droids (BOOM! )

No idea about the command deck yet.

So, what do you guys suggest?

Darth Vader

eStormtrooper x2

Imperial Officer x2

Overall, its difficult to use Vader bc he soaks up so many pts. Vader needs to be reduced to 14-15 pts and have an innate ability that when activated, if no hostile figure is within 4 spaces, he gains 2 movement pts.

~D

Soo unfortunately Vader is really expensive, and while he's pretty hard to take down he can also only carry so much weight. Compare Vader to two elite Stormtrooper squadrons, both come to 18pts:

Figures: 1 vs 6

Health: 18 vs 30

Attacks per turn: 1-2 (plus maybe a force choke) vs 6

Sure Vader is hitting harder and rolls (and rerolls) more defense die, but he just can't compete in most cases. IA is very much about board control and area control, and that usually means having lots of figures and activations.

That said if I was going to build a Vader list I'd want to make up for his shortcomings, meaning lots of other figures, something like:

Vader (18)

rStormtroopers (6) x3

Imperial Officer (2) x2

Now I'm not even that big of a fan of regular Stormies but if you went with two groups of Elites here I don't think you'd have enough figures to compete in certain missions. Command deck would look something like:

For fun, we tried to build something around Vader yesterday. The first draft, which seemed the better of the two, was:

Vader 18

Unshakeable 1

Zillo 1

rHeavy Troopers 6

Targeting Computer 1

rHeavy Troopers 6

Targeting Computer 1

rOfficer

rOfficer

rOfficer

Command deck was trooper and Vader support, plus all the movement you could get. Some noteables:

Reinforcements x2 (Must have!), Parting Blow (really good with Unshakeable),

It's kind of a point denial list, since the Heavies are pretty tough and can be reinforced and Vader is a pain to take down. The Officers will die horribly, but they help you get in position early.

You could consider changing one Targeting Computer with Rule By Fear or both with 1x Vader's Finest to make one of the squads really rough.

So I'm starting Imperial Assault! I'm picking up the core set and one or two expansions on Wednesday. A friend of mine already enlisted me for a tournament this saturday, so I need a list that is not completely hopeless!

I have a strong suspicion that I'm that friend and that said tournament is on Sunday (not Saturday).

Good luck with your building and let me know if you want to borrow something.

So I'm starting Imperial Assault! I'm picking up the core set and one or two expansions on Wednesday. A friend of mine already enlisted me for a tournament this saturday, so I need a list that is not completely hopeless!

I have a strong suspicion that I'm that friend and that said tournament is on Sunday (not Saturday).

Good luck with your building and let me know if you want to borrow something.

Oh yes, sunday, my bad!

I like all the ideas so far! The heavy troopers are nice. I'll have to give those a try

I played the tournament. It was my third,fourth and fifth game of IA. I ended up getting third place with my Vader list! I really liked playing Vader.