So, my group is almost through the Return to Hoth Campaign; we've played through the base game and Twin Shadows, both of which I have won as the Imperial player, but they've grown a lot over the missions, and they have become very skilled and strategic players, very familiar with the rules, working well together etc.

So far, they've won between half and two thirds of the missions in RtH (for various reasons; me choosing the suboptimal Armored Onslaught Class deck to try it out (and some of the cards just for fun), me playing the missions a little more fast and loose (since I won the first two campaigns etc.) and of course, also because they've really started focusing a lot more hardcore on the win conditions and objectives, as better players.

And now, we've reached the "Disaster Mission", which I would really like to win, to stop their onslaught. And I could use a hand.

They're playing Verena, Loku, MHD (because we wanted to try out the new heroes as we've tried all the old ones) and Gideon (because he's basically just the best...), and they managed to really save up and equip their guys to the teeth.

Verena has Combat Momentum, Create Opening, Student of Battle and Master Operative, and is equipped with a Pulse Cannon with a Tactical Display, Laminate Armor and a Combat Knife.

Loku has Combat Spotter, Scouting Report, Spectrum Scanner and Mon Cala Special Forces, and is equipped with a Valken-38, Combat Coat and Extra Ammunition.

MHD has Improper Procedure, Field Surgeon, Fuel Injection and Bacta Radiator, and is equipped with Systems Upgrade and a Sporting Blaster.

Gideon has Fearless Leader, Air of Command, Mobile Tactician and Masterstroke, and has a Military Blaster (and Chance Cubes, hence the vast pile of credits they have spent...)

So, they all have 3-dice attacks (Gideon never attacks, he just bosses the other guys around...) and one-shots most standard figures, so I have a hard time keeping figures on the board as you can imagine.

Any thoughts on open groups and strategy for the mission would be greatly appreciated. Cheap Units? eHK's to always have line of sight to the evacuees? Use Mortar and just focus fire on the evacuees and ignore the heroes?

Is Gideon keeping the chance cubes between missions? The Chance Cubes card is a supply card, which means it gets shuffled back into the supply deck after each mission. You don't get to keep it and continue to use it; you have to draw it from the supply deck again if you want to use it again.

Edit: also, they have to discard a crate token to use it, which essentially means that they lose 50 credits to have a chance at gaining 200.

Is Gideon keeping the chance cubes between missions? The Chance Cubes card is a supply card, which means it gets shuffled back into the supply deck after each mission. You don't get to keep it and continue to use it; you have to draw it from the supply deck again if you want to use it again.

Edit: also, they have to discard a crate token to use it, which essentially means that they lose 50 credits to have a chance at gaining 200.

And they can only use it for one crate, not every crate they brought back from the mission.

Is Gideon keeping the chance cubes between missions? The Chance Cubes card is a supply card, which means it gets shuffled back into the supply deck after each mission. You don't get to keep it and continue to use it; you have to draw it from the supply deck again if you want to use it again.

Edit: also, they have to discard a crate token to use it, which essentially means that they lose 50 credits to have a chance at gaining 200.

Yeah, they have lost the roll a few times (because we house ruled it to just be a piece of equipment, I mean, why do dice only work once?), but overall, it has earned them more credits that they have spent using it. But thanks for the clarification...

Is Gideon keeping the chance cubes between missions? The Chance Cubes card is a supply card, which means it gets shuffled back into the supply deck after each mission. You don't get to keep it and continue to use it; you have to draw it from the supply deck again if you want to use it again.

Edit: also, they have to discard a crate token to use it, which essentially means that they lose 50 credits to have a chance at gaining 200.

Yeah, they have lost the roll a few times (because we house ruled it to just be a piece of equipment, I mean, why do dice only work once?), but overall, it has earned them more credits that they have spent using it. But thanks for the clarification...

It could go either way in a (relatively) short campaign, but in the long run it's always going to earn them more than they spend to use it. You've got a 1/3 chance of winning but if you win you win 4x the bet. The odds are in the Rebels' favour.

I mean, why do dice only work once?

Its not the dice that work once... Drawing the card means that after the mission the heroes decided to stop for some fries and coke at McSpace King and gambled the supplies they found with the local bookie. When they get back to Rebel High Command, Mon Mothma will probably be very put out that they gambled away stuff they should have brought home...

I think your guys have a gambling addiction if they're stopping after every mission...

I mean, why do dice only work once?

Its not the dice that work once... Drawing the card means that after the mission the heroes decided to stop for some fries and coke at McSpace King and gambled the supplies they found with the local bookie. When they get back to Rebel High Command, Mon Mothma will probably be very put out that they gambled away stuff they should have brought home...

I think your guys have a gambling addiction if they're stopping after every mission...

Yeah, I've tried an intervention, but they won't listen! Anyway, it hardly matters now - we only have "Disaster" left before the grand finale... Afterwards, it's straight into Rebel Rehab for all of them..

The chance cubes in fact give an expected value of (approximately) +17 credits over just keeping the crate, it's very little value when it's a supply card and only happens once but if you can do it with every crate you get...

The chance cubes in fact give an expected value of (approximately) +17 credits over just keeping the crate, it's very little value when it's a supply card and only happens once but if you can do it with every crate you get...

Well, they did only get to use it once per Mission Clean-Up Step. But still - at least two times, it got them over the mark for buying something they otherwise couldn't have afforded.

So, things went well and the victory went to the glorious Empire! I decided to fill up on cheap open groups and conserve as many of the starting groups as possible. I basically had 2 Probe Droids, 1 EProbe Droid, 2 Imperial Officers, 1 EImperial Officers and some stuff. The Rebels failed to open a door during Round One, but opened two doors during Round 2 - but I usually had more activations than them, so I could maneuver my figures around with Orders and Executive Orders, meaning that I claimed a trapped evacuee every turn until they opened the last door during round 4 *and* defeated another evacuee every turn. The game ended with my first activation during Round 5, where they had to focus fire on Sorin in his AT-ST, but then a Probe Droid could move in at Heavy Firepower and Explosive Munitions my seventh evacuee.

Phew. The Heroes felt the pressure from the very beginning and even though they said they it was going to be a rough win, it was really close. They are used to me bringing in more expensive units, so I think the flood of cheapos took them a little by surprise. They are now at 6 wins and 4 losses before going into the finale.

I must say, Return to Hoth has been the best campaign we've played so far. During the Core Game Campaign, we were still learning the basic rules and strategies, and they felt that the Imps had the upper hand (the IP won). Then, during Twin Shadows, some missions almost demoralized them, while they really shone during others (the IP won again) and now, with RtH, almost all of our games have come down to the wire, the very last roll or the very last activation. It's been really cool. So, I'm a bit bummed to hear that Bespin seems so unbalanced...

That was that. Thanks for your input.