I'm doing a one-shot side mission to let the Rebels test out some new heroes. Any suggestions? I want a mission that doesn't favor one side or the other, doesn't involve allies, and isn't too long or complicated.

Right now I'm considering "Generous Donations" from the core campaign.

I've never found Generous Donations to be very balanced. Even if the Imperials don't shoot open the door themselves, use an officer to move the eEngineer into position and then protect both Engineers with RG giving them bonus block, there is still a lot of threat on the board and a lot of teams will have problems dealing with it. Unless they have good enough gear to take out an Engineer in 1 activation you're probably looking at a wounded Rebel for each one. Late in the campaign it's a bit easier but doing this early seems pretty improbable.

If the group has Jyn, High Moon seems reasonable from my play through and what I've heard other say about it, otherwise in core it's the story missions that tend to be more balanced. I like Saska's side mission (doesn't need Saska) although it has allies and can be pretty rough on the Rebels. The Smuggler mission is also a nice one although again, it has an ally and it favors a side, Rebels this time.

I was planning on using the Mini-campaign setup: 3XP for each player, 400 Credits per hero, 10 Tier I items and threat level 3. Does that change anything?

I was planning on using the Mini-campaign setup: 3XP for each player, 400 Credits per hero, 10 Tier I items and threat level 3. Does that change anything?

I don't think they'll have the gear/abilities. Royal Guard or Engineers are rough that early, both at once as free bonus units with a sprinkling of Trandoshans on top... I would think it would be very rough with tier 2 gear, I don't think it is at all balanced with tier 1. If you can't take out the 2 Trandoshans on the first round it's just going to get ugly from there.

To be fair, it is at least an 8 round mission rather than the 5 or 6 a lot of the newer missions have. The Rebels CAN come out of it with a few tokens with careful play and they only need 4 to "break even" and 7 is really a "win" when it comes to rewards. I've never seen them get more than 4 tokens however and the risk of giving the Empire a pretty substantial 5 influence in a mission is a big gamble.

Well, the rewards don't matter much because we won't be continuing a campaign with that setup. It's just so they have a chance to get a feel for the heroes their using before trying them in a real campaign.

But the difficulty does matter; if it's going to be really difficult at that level, then I want to do a different one. What's the Smuggler one like?

The smuggler mission is pretty low threat. It's easy for the Rebels to get ahead of the Imperials. You could play it without the smuggler to even it up a little. It's sort of fun as a first play through because the Rebels have to go through doors and doors in IA always have that surprise to them, you never know if they're going to blow up on you.

Hmm okay. I'll have to look at it. Thanks for the suggestions!

Although I messed up a bit and played Back-Room Bargains at too low threat level (2 instead of 3) as an extended The Bespin Gambit campaign intro mission, it would also be something to try if you have the Hired Guns packs. I think with the correct threat level it would be more even.