So I am running the core campaign this weekend, its an all weekend Srar Wars session and I have just managed to finish painting all the models.
None of the players have played any games yet and I have only played once as Imperials, I am getting a practice game in this week one night.
My question to all Assault campaign Vets is what should I look out for, classic mistakes and any tips for a bunch of noobs and a load of beer.
Thanks in advance
One thing I often need to point out is that this isn't a dungeon crawler where you get XP for every monster you kill, the emphasis is on completing objectives, or, failing that, stealing some crates for cash. Try not to play too hard to win as the Imperial Player, it might demoralize the players, but don't go easy either, cause then its boring. Point out to the players that the fun is in the experience, not the win/lose. As for other pitfalls - its easy to miss a lot of rules, so I suggest reading through the rules reference after each game to see if there was anything that was played wrong, and letting the players know circumstances like that could arise. Also a big personal pitfall for me is I tend to miss triggers sometimes, especially on more complex maps that have more than 3 or 4 triggers. So after each round read through all the mission triggers and rules and check that there isn't something you're forgetting that might be relevant during the next round.
Rules-wise, see "What are some crazy or common rule-breaking mistakes your group made whilst learning the game?" https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1319188/
- Skim through the Rules Reference Guide to see what kind of keywords there are, so you know when to refer to the rules.
- Don't worry too much about making mistakes.
- Read through the Rules Reference Guide after each of the first few missions - you will encounter new mechanisms during the missions.
- Interpret everything literally.
- If something seems overpowered, you are probably not interpreting it right.
A few links:
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1341904/out-first-campaign-may-we-have-some-advice-difficu
"How to make this game succeed"
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1535354/how-make-game-succeed
Great
Thanks for the advice and the links, it's a pretty chilled group so having a laugh will be our main aim.
One other question, there will be 5 heroes so I was going to max the credits and 400 and add extra threat, good idea?
IA is best with 4 heroes, regardless of the number of players.
There have been a few basic approaches I have heard of to use with 6 players.
1) The game is co-op between the rebel players, so 5 players can control 4 heroes as well as 2 players can control 4 heroes.
2) Use two imperial players.
3) One rebel player in turn controls an ally - there are already rules in place how they give the imperial player threat at the beginning of the mission.
4) Add 5th hero, scale the Health of all rebels and possibly their available actions accordingly. Or just play with 5 heroes and make it more challenging for the imperial player..
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1256502/5-and-6-player-imperial-assault
I think the most important thing to stress, especially with alcohol involved, is that it is just for fun. If someone starts taking it personal or perhaps has had one to many and is trash talking a bit to much, squash it quick. One bad apple will ruin the whole bag, doesn't matter what side they are on. I've found my games with alcohol involved have a higher chance of tilting than those played sober on a Saturday afternoon.
Wow, I thought I had the rules sorted but just re read the movement rules...
Mind equals blown!
So a hero can use no actions to move but still spend his allocated moment points during his activation or use two actions to get two lots of movement points and then move Three times the amonut on his card? Is that right?
Wow, I thought I had the rules sorted but just re read the movement rules...
Mind equals blown!
So a hero can use no actions to move but still spend his allocated moment points during his activation or use two actions to get two lots of movement points and then move Three times the amonut on his card? Is that right?
You can use the above in any combination but if you don't use the move action or strain move, then you don't have any movement points to use.
Edited by lowercaseMNot quite. Moving, movement points, and the move action action are all different. Moving is obviously going from one space to another. Moving costs movement points. Movement points can be gained most often from the move action (which gives you a number of movement points equal to your speed) or through taking a strain to gain one (and only one) movement point (up to two times each activation), this is often referred to as strain moving.Wow, I thought I had the rules sorted but just re read the movement rules...
Mind equals blown!
So a hero can use no actions to move but still spend his allocated moment points during his activation or use two actions to get two lots of movement points and then move Three times the amonut on his card? Is that right?
You can use the above in any combination but if you don't use the move action or strain move, then you don't have any movement points to use.
Great, that's a big help just been looking on line for some demo videos too.
Really glad I am getting a practice game in on Wednesday!
Shortly:
The Move action gives movement points according to the figure's speed. The move action does not move the figure.
Heroes can suffer a strain to gain 1 movement point upto twice per activation. A hero cannot voluntarily suffer strain over his endurance value. Bleeding is not voluntarily suffering strain.
Spending movement points moves the figure. Entering a space with a hostile figure or difficult terrain costs extra 1 movement point for each. You cannot enter a space with another figure unless you have enough movement points to end movement in a valid space. You can start and end movement as many times as you like during the activation.
You can spend movement points before or after actions, but not during them. (If you receive movement points outside of your activation or as part of a special action you must use them immediately or they are lost.)
Each special action can only be used once per activation.
The activation ends when a hero flips the activation token or a deployment card is exhausted.
So yes, a hero can suffer 2 strain to gain 2 movement points, and then for example attack twice, and spend the 2 movement points before, between, or after the attacks, or one at a time.
A hero can spend one unused, unevaded surge per attack to recover 1 strain. (If the hero has no strain, he recovers damage instead for each strain he could not recover.)
Well, ok. It was maybe not short, but hopefully binds a lot of the things together.
(Also, Large figures cannot move diagonally - they can rotate by spending 1 movement point. There is no facing in the game. Any space the figure occupies can be used to draw line of sight. Also see Counting Spaces, which is used for all abilities of the form "within X spaces" and to determine the required accuracy for attacks.)
Well... Or just get on playing and learn while you go. It will take a few missions to get it all organized in your mind.
Edited by a1bertOkay had a practice game tonight and think it went well, thanks for all the advice.
I have one question that might seem really dumb but I can't seem to find a clear answer, the storm troopers are 3 models so is that 3 hit points per model or they take 3 health and all of them are gone? Seems pretty weak the second way but the first way leads to confusing antics over wound allocation.
I am probably missing something really obvious but which is it?
Thanks all again
Each figure in the group are separate and they activate one after another in the order of their controller's choosing.
So, each Stormtrooper figure has 3 health. When you activate the Stormtrooper group, each figure activates one at a time with their two actions. Damage is suffered by figures. When the damage a figure has suffered equals the figure's Health, that figure is defeated (i.e. removed from the map). When all figures in a group are defeated, a non-unique deployment card is returned to the imperial player's hand and can be redeployed during the next optional deployment. Defeated figures can be reinforced for their reinforcement cost if the group still has some undefeated figures in play. Also, possible conditions are assigned to figures, not to groups.
See Rules Reference Guide: Group, Damage, Health.
Edited by a1bertThanks that's the way I was playing it, I looked in the groups section and it didn't seem as clear as how you described.
Great, roll on Saturday
