We have tried aftermath twice now, with different heroes, and the imperials have won handily both times. I haven't even had to reply reinforcements. Is this normal?

I've used Aftermath as the demo at a store and I've found that it really comes down to die rolls. If the Rebels get a few good initial die rolls and clear the board off, they can win, but if they don't get good rolls right off the bat, they'll get overwhelmed.

It's a problem with IA where poor performance early in the mission will cause a loss because it lacks a balancing mechanic. What happens is that if Rebels can "just keep up" with Imperial threat generation then bad rolls early on leave enemies on the board that will effectively stick around for the whole game. For instance if bad rolls left 4 threat of troopers on the board on round 1 and each round after the Rebels just manage to deal with the new deployments but not "catch up" and kill the 4 threat they "missed" on turn one, then over 5 rounds that 4 threat, if it's 2 troopers for instance, are going to get 10 attacks in. 10 "extra" attacks due to bad rolls on the first round will mess the Rebels up and lose them the game.

So for Aftermath I've seen bad rolls lead to the first door never even getting opened! I've also seen good rolls early lead to an easy win.

Aftermath is quite balanced, and the imperial player does not have much chance against moderately experienced rebels. Rolls can go either way, and the rebels may pick up Shock Grenades from a crate to have much easier time.

But, it is good for you to lose Aftermath, whichever side you're on. The rebels do get missions that are considered easier if they lose Aftermath.

What do you mean about reinforcements? It may be you're having some rules misunderstandings if you did not need to reinforce or redeploy.

See What are some crazy or common rule-breaking mistakes your group made whilst learning the game?

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1319188/

I mean once my units were killed I didn't pay any threat to put them back on the board in later rounds. The few that came in a apart of the mission were more than enough for the players.

Certainly sounds like something is wrong there, or the rebels are just very poor in learning the game.

Do the heroes know that they can attack twice and suffer strain for movement points? And did the imperial player read them all of the rules he should have so the rebels know what they need to do? (See the second page of the campaign book.)

See a few plays of Aftermath here:

Rebel win: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/18738657#18738657

Rebel win: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/19000806#19000806

Rebel loss: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/19132049#19132049

And check out the Common rules mistakes thread I posted earlier.

I'm playing the imperials. I think we are following he rules correctly. They just don't seem to kill the imperials fast tonight. Once the door opens and the eweb starts laying down fire it all get clogged up. In our second game, they killed all but one trooper by the second turn. They opened the door at the beginning of turn 3 and never made it through the hallway. It could be a result of rolls though. They had several imperials damaged but not dead.

Rebels should also remember that the mission objective is almost never to defeat the imperial figures. Defeating them is just one way to stay healthy long enough to achieve their real mission objective.

E-Web Engineer is only one unit. Heroes can easily double-move from the door to the Store Room. One of them may get shot at and wounded, but that happens. The objective is not for all heroes to stay healthy, the mission objective in Aftermath is to take out the terminals and keep one hero healthy.

Also: their priority is to attack imperial figures that have not activated yet, and the figures you can defeat in one attack, and only then other figures.

I think that you played completely wrong. I always have a hard time keeping the rebels behind in the Aftermath missions. Most of the times i played Aftermath the result was determined at the last round and most of the times in the last activation of rebels. 2 wins for imperials 1 for rebels so far in Aftermath.

Cutting through 16 health of terminals with 1 or 2 block is a pretty big ask with starting weapons and no abilities. This can be particularly problematic with certain party arrangements. For instance if you have Fenn he can start by using blast on the middle trooper and get an extra 4 damage in between the other trooper and probe droid. This can make a pretty big difference. Even with poor die rolls the rest of the party should be able to finish off the probe droid and troopers so they'll have a round to destroy the terminal and get in position at the door and be well set to win. If they don't have Fenn you're looking at significantly less damage at the start and you are really going to be hostage to your starting die rolls. Fenn further shines because his blast will hit terminals, so when the Imperials stick a figure between the two terminals in the final room to protect them both, Fenn can just shoot the Imperial and damage both terminals as the same time. If you don't have Fenn the mission, and lot of other missions, are a lot harder.

Rebels lost both times we have played Aftermath as well. The choice of adding health to the terminals clinches it both times, and the round limit makes it very difficult. Like most of the scenarios in IA, I feel that Aftermath is definitely weighted towards the Imperials, and as mentioned, one mistake or a couple bad rolls and it is over for the Rebels.

I just did it last night. I used Biv, Mak, Jyn, and Fenn. I was doing it so I could write about it in a fictional form. Anyway, as was said, you have to keep moving. The dice did go with me in the beginning and we managed to cripple the existing forces in round one and make big gains towards the door . The imperial countered by using threat to restore 1 trooper to the 1 remaining the squad. I managed to finish off the patrol, get the crate, and then be ready for the E-web. Biv got perforated by the E-web and the troopers coming out of the supply room. He was already damaged, and now he was wounded. Mak and Fenn moved foward. Make took a shot at the E-web, doing some damage, while Fenn began shot the terminal. The crate did give us the grenade, so that was good, as it would come in handy later. At the start of round 4, Biv charged the E-web and took it out with close and personal. I wish I would have been able to shoot a different target after that. The Stormtroopers "killed Biv off" Fen hit the group with blast, and Mak finished the terminal while Jyn fought a probe droid coming in from behind. Anyway, I killed the troops and Mak and Fenn rush in. It was in round six, after using a grenade in 5 to kill an officer and cause damage tot the terminal that Fenn and Mak were able to finish off the terminals. It came down to Fenn's final shot and managed to get the two damage he needed.

I think it ended with Jyn having 5 damage. Mak having 4 and Fenn having 10. All were strained out by that point.

I just did it last night. I used Biv, Mak, Jyn, and Fenn. I was doing it so I could write about it in a fictional form. Anyway, as was said, you have to keep moving. The dice did go with me in the beginning and we managed to cripple the existing forces in round one and make big gains towards the door . The imperial countered by using threat to restore 1 trooper to the 1 remaining the squad. I managed to finish off the patrol, get the crate, and then be ready for the E-web. Biv got perforated by the E-web and the troopers coming out of the supply room. He was already damaged, and now he was wounded. Mak and Fenn moved foward. Make took a shot at the E-web, doing some damage, while Fenn began shot the terminal. The crate did give us the grenade, so that was good, as it would come in handy later. At the start of round 4, Biv charged the E-web and took it out with close and personal. I wish I would have been able to shoot a different target after that. The Stormtroopers "killed Biv off" Fen hit the group with blast, and Mak finished the terminal while Jyn fought a probe droid coming in from behind. Anyway, I killed the troops and Mak and Fenn rush in. It was in round six, after using a grenade in 5 to kill an officer and cause damage tot the terminal that Fenn and Mak were able to finish off the terminals. It came down to Fenn's final shot and managed to get the two damage he needed.

I think it ended with Jyn having 5 damage. Mak having 4 and Fenn having 10. All were strained out by that point.

Out of curiosity, when the door went down did the imperial player choose to give extra health to the terminals or close the door?

I just did it last night. I used Biv, Mak, Jyn, and Fenn. I was doing it so I could write about it in a fictional form. Anyway, as was said, you have to keep moving. The dice did go with me in the beginning and we managed to cripple the existing forces in round one and make big gains towards the door . The imperial countered by using threat to restore 1 trooper to the 1 remaining the squad. I managed to finish off the patrol, get the crate, and then be ready for the E-web. Biv got perforated by the E-web and the troopers coming out of the supply room. He was already damaged, and now he was wounded. Mak and Fenn moved foward. Make took a shot at the E-web, doing some damage, while Fenn began shot the terminal. The crate did give us the grenade, so that was good, as it would come in handy later. At the start of round 4, Biv charged the E-web and took it out with close and personal. I wish I would have been able to shoot a different target after that. The Stormtroopers "killed Biv off" Fen hit the group with blast, and Mak finished the terminal while Jyn fought a probe droid coming in from behind. Anyway, I killed the troops and Mak and Fenn rush in. It was in round six, after using a grenade in 5 to kill an officer and cause damage tot the terminal that Fenn and Mak were able to finish off the terminals. It came down to Fenn's final shot and managed to get the two damage he needed.

I think it ended with Jyn having 5 damage. Mak having 4 and Fenn having 10. All were strained out by that point.

Out of curiosity, when the door went down did the imperial player choose to give extra health to the terminals or close the door?

Extra health to the terminals. It wasn't easy to knock off seven points I can assure you. I agree that the roll of the dice great influences the outcome of many missions.

Getting through Aftermath was one of the most difficult things I've ever done. The writing style was dry and choppy with some of the. shortest. sentences. ever. Slogging through that book took twice as long as a normal book that size. It DEFINITELY was the most difficult Star Wars related tasks I've ever accomplished.

Ohhhh. You meant the campaign mission. Yeah, almost impossible for a new rebel team. For a seasoned team that know the triggers, pitfalls, and time limit it is still tough but very winnable.