I find this game is actually won or lost mostly in the first two rounds. Getting off on the right foot is the difference between disaster and an organized plan. This game moves quicker than most new players realize. There is no time to play catch up.

THE EMPIRE:

How the Empire places its fleet is important. To get the most out of the military advantage the Imperial Navy enjoys, create two strong fleets. (Only leave 1 or 2 ground units on the other three planets.) Put them on opposite sides of the board and pick an initial direction both will begin searching in. For the fleet that is centered around a Death Star, pick its first target and place the battle station in the planet closest to it. (No more than two spaces away. You want to be firing the Super laser by Round 3 or 4.)

The trap that I see most Imperial players fall into is playing defensively in the opening rounds. With only four leaders, the Rebels are only annoying gnats at this stage. Play the opening two rounds as if the Rebels cannot hurt you. You need to accomplish two things: 1) Amass a third search/assault force and 2) Gain valuable projects like Superlaser Online.

In the opening round, grab as many 1 and 2 build queue planets as possible. Devote 2 or 3 leaders to subjecting two planets (possibly one to use diplomacy to change from subjugated to loyal) and 1 leader for Research and Development. Let the Rebels sabotage one of your planets (just don't let them sabotage 3 or more), as it is more important for you to play this card to draw 2 project cards. You need to find 1 of those Superlaser Online projects, then worry about fixing the sabotage.

Following this strategy will accomplish the two goals of this strategy guide. By Round 3 or 4 you should be blowing up a planet and be well on your way with a third fleet at your command. There will be no where for the Rebels to hide!

​Rebel Alliance

The most common error I see most Rebel players make is attempting to spar with the Empire on their terms. The Rebels have NO CHANCE of winning this game via military might. You must use espionage and hit and run tactics. The fun (and complicated) part about playing the Rebels is no two games will afford you the same route to victory. Remind yourself that time is on your side and your goal is to prolong the Empire, not win a war.

There are two goals the Rebels should be working on in the first two rounds. (1) Quick build up of an objective based (more on this in a moment) force and (2) gaining the Mission Cards you need to earn victory points. Accomplishing these goals will cause the Rebel marker to move quickly by round 4.

Set up is more complicated for the Rebels as well. If you get a powerful planet like Mon Calamari as one of your starter locations, you'll want to protect it the first two rounds. If you start on three planets that do not produce Ion Cannons, Shield Generators, or Cruisers, then you will want to find a way to gain one before the end of Round 1. Start off small in the Rebel base. 3 troops and an Airspeeder is my go-to starting base force.

Round 1 is VERY important for the Rebels. Gain loyalty in a planet or two (depending on need) to place units in the build queue. These are the units that you will need in Rounds 3 - 5! Infiltration is a must play in Round 1 (and probably 2 unless you gain a better mission card)! You need to get to the better Objective cards quickly! In the first 3 rounds, draw objective cards via missions and bring the ones you feel you can complete in a round or 2 to the top.

By the 3rd round, you should have a clear idea of how to score points and how to hold off the Empire. Ending the game by Round 7 or 8 is a good goal to have. You need to earn 6 or 7 points to achieve this. By round 4, you should be earning a few points a round.

In the first 2 rounds, while half of your leaders are working through your Objective deck, the other half should be gaining loyalty in planets with resources you'll need later in the game. If you're drawing Hit and Run type cards that need troops, concentrate on ground forces. If the Empire spreads itself too thin and you have cards that reward you for destroying ships (or the Death Star) then concentrate on building star fighters.

The final part of playing the Rebels successfully is being good at deception. Lure the Empire away from areas you don't want them to be. Use missions like Sabotage to force them to use leaders to stop you. Create a fleet just to engage the Empire in a meaningless fight. Remember, you don't need to keep planets, you just need them when it's time to build. You don't need to keep a grand army or navy. Their purpose is to complete objectives or to stall the Empire. Remember, many Bothans (and Y-wings, and troopers...) will die in order for you to gain sympathy in the galaxy.

Final Thoughts

Because the Objective, Mission, and Project cards dictate so much of what your later game strategy should be, it is hard to give advice on what a player should be doing in rounds 3 on. This is why the first two rounds are so important! Be sure to do everything you can early on to put your forces in a good position to utilize the cards you gain in these rounds. Rather than leaving it to chance, use the starting cards to help you shift through the decks and find the cards that most compliment the state of the board and your resources.

What do you mean by the Rebels "Capturing" two planets in their opening round? I thought they could only use diplomacy.

What do you mean by the Rebels "Capturing" two planets in their opening round? I thought they could only use diplomacy.

You are correct. "Gain loyalty" would be the better term to use. Fixed and thank you.

I agree the first two turns for each faction are critical, especially for the Empire since they're under a turn limit.

I also place a token defense at the Rebel base, and I generally place my remaining units on a neutral system (Utupau and Geonosis are good ones) to get a head start on Build Alliance. Depending on the objective card I start with I might move the fleet on the first round or wait til the next one. Infiltration is a must early on, since there is a good chance it will go unopposed (the only risk is capture, but it's one less move for the Empire to make early in the game - you could save Riekaan for opposing it). Sabotage is not as effective early since the Empire *should* be playing R&D the first turn anyway (if you want to build SSDs you should get the project within the first two turns).

For the Empire early on I agree it's vital to make at least one fleet movement on the first turn, or two if you have a good starting setup. Rule by Fear is not necessary unless you begin the game with Corellia subjugated (or not at all), you want that SD build the first turn. This is also the best time to capture a Rebel since they probably won't have any rescue cards yet.

I agree the first two turns for each faction are critical, especially for the Empire since they're under a turn limit.

I also place a token defense at the Rebel base, and I generally place my remaining units on a neutral system (Utupau and Geonosis are good ones) to get a head start on Build Alliance. Depending on the objective card I start with I might move the fleet on the first round or wait til the next one. Infiltration is a must early on, since there is a good chance it will go unopposed (the only risk is capture, but it's one less move for the Empire to make early in the game - you could save Riekaan for opposing it). Sabotage is not as effective early since the Empire *should* be playing R&D the first turn anyway (if you want to build SSDs you should get the project within the first two turns).

For the Empire early on I agree it's vital to make at least one fleet movement on the first turn, or two if you have a good starting setup. Rule by Fear is not necessary unless you begin the game with Corellia subjugated (or not at all), you want that SD build the first turn. This is also the best time to capture a Rebel since they probably won't have any rescue cards yet.

Sabotage is a situational card. I find that it is best used when you want to force the Empire to spend a leader on trying to stop you or keeping a fleet from moving. Actually succeeding at the sabotage is usually secondary. The real goal is to slow down the empire and force them to expend resources in a way they did not originally plan.

That is a critical mistake Imperial players can make early in the game, they don't have enough leaders to oppose missions the first round and do what they need to do. The player needs to be a little calm early on and work on his or her plan. If I had to pick one I'd oppose Infiltration over Sabotage.

That is a critical mistake Imperial players can make early in the game, they don't have enough leaders to oppose missions the first round and do what they need to do. The player needs to be a little calm early on and work on his or her plan. If I had to pick one I'd oppose Infiltration over Sabotage.

Infiltration is the greatest tool the Rebel player has in the opening two rounds. It insures you're getting the most complementary Objectives. Sabotage is a situational card. It could end up directly becoming a part of your win strategy, or it might be a diversion tactic. I've often found getting the Empire to care and react to your Sabotage missions is the real objective (rather than actually succeeding at the missions.) Because the Rebels win by stalling, forcing the Empire to use leaders to oppose missions is a huge win for the Rebel Alliance. I often purposely pick weaker leaders to run these missions in the hopes of enticing the Imperial player to oppose with a stronger leader. I save the strongest leaders for the missions that will gain me (or set me up to win) objective points.

The Rebel faction is not as straight forward as the Empire. The opening planets, the first few objective and mission cards, and Imperial movement all effect the win strategy. I think that's what makes this game so much fun. The Rebels attempt to gain control while the Empire seeks to keep it.

Interesting read.

Personally, I do have some disagreements, but that's from my experience.

For example, I have yet to fire the super laser, and this has in no way slowed me down from winning as Empire time and again. Similarly I have found that if you concentrate your forces too much during deployment you can loose a system or two on turn one, depending upon your starting planets.

I would also say that I think you can recover from early mistakes, this game can change very drastically very quickly and the dice gods can be immensely cruel when you need just 1 success with your 5 dice and they all come up blank lol! Or even crueller, you have 6 dice and a +2 and your opponent has 1 dice and he BLOCKS you!

I've found its a very different game each time I play and that my strategy changes dependant upon lots of factors; starting locations, early missions draw, leaders selected etc.

The Supper Laser Online card does three things for you. It removes a planet that is beneficial to the Rebels, gains loyalty in a system of choice in that region, and searches two systems at once for the Rebel base! It's a great early (and late game) tool.

As others have mentioned the game seems to be more forgiving to the Rebel player since they have different avenues to victory -even after a setback- and as a last resort can move the base. The restricted movement forces the Empire to be cognizant of distributing forces in the event they find the base so that they are not out of position to deliver a knockout blow.

Given the number of missions the Empire has that require captured leaders it's in the player's best interest to be active in this regard. Between carbon freezing and Lure of the Dark Side to swing the reputation marker (Empire needed one more these in my opinion), the missions that can help pinpoint the base and just as vitally reveal the Rebel hand of objective cards. Vader can do this early on until you get Fett or some two spec-ops characters. Plus you can prevent the No One Left Behind objective.

I find this game is actually won or lost mostly in the first two rounds. Getting off on the right foot is the difference between disaster and an organized plan. This game moves quicker than most new players realize. There is no time to play catch up.

THE EMPIRE:

How the Empire places its fleet is important. To get the most out of the military advantage the Imperial Navy enjoys, create two strong fleets. (Only leave 1 or 2 ground units on the other three planets.) Put them on opposite sides of the board and pick an initial direction both will begin searching in. For the fleet that is centered around a Death Star, pick its first target and place the battle station in the planet closest to it. (No more than two spaces away. You want to be firing the Super laser by Round 3 or 4.)

The trap that I see most Imperial players fall into is playing defensively in the opening rounds. With only four leaders, the Rebels are only annoying gnats at this stage. Play the opening two rounds as if the Rebels cannot hurt you. You need to accomplish two things: 1) Amass a third search/assault force and 2) Gain valuable projects like Superlaser Online.

In the opening round, grab as many 1 and 2 build queue planets as possible. Devote 2 or 3 leaders to subjecting two planets (possibly one to use diplomacy to change from subjugated to loyal) and 1 leader for Research and Development. Let the Rebels sabotage one of your planets (just don't let them sabotage 3 or more), as it is more important for you to play this card to draw 2 project cards. You need to find 1 of those Superlaser Online projects, then worry about fixing the sabotage.

Following this strategy will accomplish the two goals of this strategy guide. By Round 3 or 4 you should be blowing up a planet and be well on your way with a third fleet at your command. There will be no where for the Rebels to hide!

​Rebel Alliance

The most common error I see most Rebel players make is attempting to spar with the Empire on their terms. The Rebels have NO CHANCE of winning this game via military might. You must use espionage and hit and run tactics. The fun (and complicated) part about playing the Rebels is no two games will afford you the same route to victory. Remind yourself that time is on your side and your goal is to prolong the Empire, not win a war.

There are two goals the Rebels should be working on in the first two rounds. (1) Quick build up of an objective based (more on this in a moment) force and (2) gaining the Mission Cards you need to earn victory points. Accomplishing these goals will cause the Rebel marker to move quickly by round 4.

Set up is more complicated for the Rebels as well. If you get a powerful planet like Mon Calamari as one of your starter locations, you'll want to protect it the first two rounds. If you start on three planets that do not produce Ion Cannons, Shield Generators, or Cruisers, then you will want to find a way to gain one before the end of Round 1. Start off small in the Rebel base. 3 troops and an Airspeeder is my go-to starting base force.

Round 1 is VERY important for the Rebels. Gain loyalty in a planet or two (depending on need) to place units in the build queue. These are the units that you will need in Rounds 3 - 5! Infiltration is a must play in Round 1 (and probably 2 unless you gain a better mission card)! You need to get to the better Objective cards quickly! In the first 3 rounds, draw objective cards via missions and bring the ones you feel you can complete in a round or 2 to the top.

By the 3rd round, you should have a clear idea of how to score points and how to hold off the Empire. Ending the game by Round 7 or 8 is a good goal to have. You need to earn 6 or 7 points to achieve this. By round 4, you should be earning a few points a round.

In the first 2 rounds, while half of your leaders are working through your Objective deck, the other half should be gaining loyalty in planets with resources you'll need later in the game. If you're drawing Hit and Run type cards that need troops, concentrate on ground forces. If the Empire spreads itself too thin and you have cards that reward you for destroying ships (or the Death Star) then concentrate on building star fighters.

The final part of playing the Rebels successfully is being good at deception. Lure the Empire away from areas you don't want them to be. Use missions like Sabotage to force them to use leaders to stop you. Create a fleet just to engage the Empire in a meaningless fight. Remember, you don't need to keep planets, you just need them when it's time to build. You don't need to keep a grand army or navy. Their purpose is to complete objectives or to stall the Empire. Remember, many Bothans (and Y-wings, and troopers...) will die in order for you to gain sympathy in the galaxy.

Final Thoughts

Because the Objective, Mission, and Project cards dictate so much of what your later game strategy should be, it is hard to give advice on what a player should be doing in rounds 3 on. This is why the first two rounds are so important! Be sure to do everything you can early on to put your forces in a good position to utilize the cards you gain in these rounds. Rather than leaving it to chance, use the starting cards to help you shift through the decks and find the cards that most compliment the state of the board and your resources.

Could you explain why the Imperials start with just two fleets? I feel the Imperials start with more than that compared to the Rebel fleets, the death star with some ground troops is basically a fleet in itself.

If you can explain what constitutes a fleet and why, that would go a long way for me to understanding your point.

I think the rest of the analysis is spot on, I am just trying to understand what you mean by a fleet.

I think Stone37 is referring to expeditionary fleets; I am of the belief that Coruscant needs a token force of at least an Assault Carrier with TIEs or possibly even a Star Destroyer depending on the starting systems to mop up any possible surprise incursions into Corellia. The SD could be left in the core worlds to subjugate nearby systems and then defend against Heart of the Empire plays.

Loading up the other two fleets prevents any possible strikes against poorly defended Star Destroyers to protect against a surprise Rebel Assault early in the game.

Could you explain why the Imperials start with just two fleets? I feel the Imperials start with more than that compared to the Rebel fleets, the death star with some ground troops is basically a fleet in itself.

If you can explain what constitutes a fleet and why, that would go a long way for me to understanding your point.

I think the rest of the analysis is spot on, I am just trying to understand what you mean by a fleet.

Great question! I often find Imperial players getting into trouble by spreading their forces too thin. By rule, at least one unit has to be in each system you start out with. Know that later on, Coruscant is going to be a hit and run target for the Rebels. You have a few rounds before you really need to worry about this though. Divide the majority of your navy and army into two groups. An early goal for the Rebels will be to destroy a Star Destroyer. Do not leave one vulnerable. By limiting your forces to two groups in the beginning you create overwhelming forces for the Rebels to contend with. The losses would be too great for the Rebels to engage one of your two fleets.

Also, with only 4 or 5 leaders, you don't have the resources to effectively command more than two fleets in the early game. By the time you hit 7 or 8 leaders, you should have a third powerful fleet at your command to move into the direction your other two fleets missed. The Empire starts with a huge military advantage and should keep it that way. Don't give the Rebels any easy points!

While I agree the first two turns are very important I wouldn't say the game is "won" in the first two turns. A more accurate statement would be that you can "lose the game" in the first 2 turns. But not win. If either player doesn't make a glaring mistake like consolidating the empire's fleet, not taking the starting rebel systems, losing the rebels fleet, not taking a high value system for the rebels etc. then yes it can be hard to come back. But if both players don't make major mistakes then it remains close for most of the whole game. And after a couple games it's rare that players will make one of these major mistakes.

I am really struggling as the Empire to keep up on the first turn. It seems like the Rebels always have a way to get at least one, if not two Mon Cals right away. If they start with Mon Calamari, they can build Alliance on Utapau and boom, there's two. This is even worse if the Rebels start with the Mon Mothma action card, which allows them to first use it on Utapau and get a free Mon Cal cruiser. If that fails, they can play the Support of Mon Calamari card for another cruiser. If you don't start with Corellia, they now have a two turn capital ship advantage. It's a simple matter for them to then Build Alliance and/or Sabatoge Corellia and seriously limit production capabilities.

Every single game I play, the rebels come screaming out of the gate with at least 2 Mon Cal Cruisers on the first turn. By the time I get deep into rebel territory, there are Mon Cals waiting to destroy my Star Destroyers for a free objective point....EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING.

What can possibly be done about this, short of holding back Palpatine to ATTEMPT to block build alliance? This seems like a terrible idea - it's not guaranteed and it eats up 25% of my moves to expand the fleet and search the galaxy for the rebel base.

This is nuts. I am really struggling to understand how this is balanced. You NEED a fleet to move through the galaxy and you NEED to keep expanding and searching for the rebel base. You can't do this if you spend every turn on your heels, tying up your leaders, trying to Rule by Fear just to build loyalty up to build Star Destroyers. What's an imperial officer to do?

You know what...after closely reviewing the rules all afternoon and going back and forth with my brother, the Rebel player....we are idiots.

For some reason, we got it in our heads that the loyalty marker also moved every turn, such that the timer marker and the loyalty marker met and the game ended on turn 7. Now that we know that is not the case, I have DOUBLE the time to find the base and attack it.

Considering our games have been really close up to this point, when he gets 7 free loyalty points per game, I am looking forward to seeing how things pan out with this misinterpretation of the rules corrected.

On 2.8.2016 at 5:21 PM, Stone37 said:

Round 1 is VERY important for the Rebels. Gain loyalty in a planet or two (depending on need) to place units in the build queue.

How is it possible for Rebels to gain 1 loyalty each in two different systems in one turn?

23 hours ago, Raahk said:

How is it possible for Rebels to gain 1 loyalty each in two different systems in one turn?

I think that you can but with some luck, as you must have drawn for your first 2 Missions at least Contingency Plan (to use Build Alliance twice in the same round) or one of the other Missions that lets you gain loyalty. It's the only way I can think of now

23 hours ago, Raahk said:

How is it possible for Rebels to gain 1 loyalty each in two different systems in one turn?

Look through the rebels mission cards, there are quite a few that allow you to gain loyalty in a system. Plus there is that lando mission that allows you to form an alliance twice in a turn.

You just go on two separate missions that allow you to gain loyalty.

3 hours ago, Jobu said:

Look through the rebels mission cards, there are quite a few that allow you to gain loyalty in a system. Plus there is that lando mission that allows you to form an alliance twice in a turn.

You just go on two separate missions that allow you to gain loyalty.

It is a common mission card found in the Rebel deck. I have yet to play an opening round where I could not at least attempt to gain loyalty in 2 systems.

I'm actually a bit confused as to why the Rebel player wouldn't punish you for this setup by getting units in Corellia/Coruscant turn 1 cutting off your deployment points to the core and threatening a future "Heart of the Empire" scoring if you don't pull one of your mega-fleets back to respond. And also make a "Cut Supply Lines" scoring trivial.

I'm reading your OP again - NO space forces to Coruscant/Corellia? That's incredibly easy to exploit, just deploy 2 starfighters to Alderaan on opening setup, one to Corellia, one to Coruscant. Boom, done.

I'm getting the feeling that your Rebel opponents are playing too passively. Which is really the biggest problem I often see with Rebel players, they're too timid about early (first turn) military actions without the objective to match. Objectives are important, but don't discount your forces ability to disrupt and harass even if they're not scoring objectives. In fact, I almost always attack action 1, Turn 1. I can start anywhere. Imperials have six systems to split forces between. There's somewhere that's weak - somewhere that you can do damage. If Imperials assign a leader to defense, they've pinned the fleet and ceded you last action (Sabotage!), if they don't you have a tactics advantage. An d I guess your setup is gracious enough that I don't even need to fight, just simply move into orbit.

Also, are you playing the setup rules right, Stone? Rebels get to deploy starting forces in any NEUTRAL or Loyal system? I find that's a common mistake in groups that see Rebels playing too passively.

I will agree that Superlaser Online is a powerful card and often criminally underrated by a lot of players.

Al

3 hours ago, Stone37 said:

It is a common mission card found in the Rebel deck. I have yet to play an opening round where I could not at least attempt to gain loyalty in 2 systems.

I might be misremembering, but there's only a handful. Establish Trade Relations, Support of the Mon Calamari, Wookie Rebellion, and Contingency Plan. Am I forgetting any?

2 hours ago, Uglymug said:

I'm actually a bit confused as to why the Rebel player wouldn't punish you for this setup by getting units in Corellia/Coruscant turn 1 cutting off your deployment points to the core and threatening a future "Heart of the Empire" scoring if you don't pull one of your mega-fleets back to respond. And also make a "Cut Supply Lines" scoring trivial.

I'm reading your OP again - NO space forces to Coruscant/Corellia? That's incredibly easy to exploit, just deploy 2 starfighters to Alderaan on opening setup, one to Corellia, one to Coruscant. Boom, done.

I'm getting the feeling that your Rebel opponents are playing too passively. Which is really the biggest problem I often see with Rebel players, they're too timid about early (first turn) military actions without the objective to match. Objectives are important, but don't discount your forces ability to disrupt and harass even if they're not scoring objectives. In fact, I almost always attack action 1, Turn 1. I can start anywhere. Imperials have six systems to split forces between. There's somewhere that's weak - somewhere that you can do damage. If Imperials assign a leader to defense, they've pinned the fleet and ceded you last action (Sabotage!), if they don't you have a tactics advantage. An d I guess your setup is gracious enough that I don't even need to fight, just simply move into orbit.

Also, are you playing the setup rules right, Stone? Rebels get to deploy starting forces in any NEUTRAL or Loyal system? I find that's a common mistake in groups that see Rebels playing too passively.

I will agree that Superlaser Online is a powerful card and often criminally underrated by a lot of players.

To be fair, Uglymugs strategy is a good opening one. Its just not the only opening one that will work. You can't actually cover all your bases in this game, heck you can barely cover a single base :).

There are a lot of advantages of jumping an Imperial system early on, especially a lightly/poorly defended one.

2 hours ago, Uglymug said:

Al

I might be misremembering, but there's only a handful. Establish Trade Relations, Support of the Mon Calamari, Wookie Rebellion, and Contingency Plan. Am I forgetting any?

Thats it. You tend to see many of them during a game, but I think its a stretch to say there is almost always one of them in the two cards you initially draw.

Also, Support of MC has a decent chance to no not help you 1st turn since there is a 3/5 change that it will already be loyal to you. Wookie Rebellion is one you tend to want to hold onto to to do the most damage, plus you know 3 spec op icons are out of the rebels reach 1st turn.

I have had games where I play one of them for each of the 1st three turns. I have also had games where none of them show up.

Unless the Rebel player starts with Temporary Alliance or Establish Trade Relations, you're looking at an almost scripted first turn:

-Mon Mothma on Build Alliance (almost inevitably on Utapau)

-Leia or Rieekan on Sabotage (either on a subjugated system or if saved for last on Corellia)

-Leia or Dodonna on Infiltration

-Dodonna or Rieekan launching an attack or simply moving units

-In terms of base deployment I've often seen the airspeeders and a few fighters, and unless the Empire leaves a juicy target it helps to save the speeders.

A case could be made for Incite Rebellion if the Empire starts with a poorly garrisoned subjugated system but that mission might be best saved for scoring Liberation.

For the Empire there are a few things to consider:

-I believe in subjugating at least one Rebel system to cut into their production, especially Mon Calamari or Bothawui if possible.

-Not starting with Corellia isn't the end of the world but if the Rebels start with Mon Cal and you're not adjacent to it you might have to bite the bullet and waste two actions making it loyal. An alternative would be going on R&D to fish for building a SSD or Construct Factory.

-I like the four corners push for the Empire, as it puts pressure on a Rebel base located in a remote system. If you have the luxury of taking Bespin it does put heat on Endor or Hoth. Moving to Naboo also helps push toward Utapau, Geonosis and Ryloth, all valuable systems for the Rebels.

-If Corellia starts loyal you could afford to go on R&D to protect it.

-As mentioned, deployment is critical, you could have four fleets (DS being one of them) with concentrated ground forces, leaving a few stormtroopers on the other two systems. If needed you could chase a Rebel assault at an adjacent system, especially if there's a chance to strand airspeeders or take out a few fighters.