I know that Jabba's realm is supposed to be a big box expansion, and should offer similar contents as Hoth, both contains 3 hero and 16 minis (4 pirates 4 Ga.guards 4 jet troopers 3 hero 1 rancor)

So does anyone know (if announced) whether or not they have the same number of missions? I remember Hoth have 16 missions in total

The thing raised my eyebrow was the # of map tiles. Hoth (under 'community wiki -> contents') is said to have 37 map tiles, but Jabba's Realm (under 'description') only have 18 map tiles?? which makes me wonder if Jabba doesn't have as much contents to offer as Hoth

So can anyone help me in justifying the purchase?

Give me a month or so and I'll let you know.

Jabba may also re-use more of the Core tiles than Hoth was able to (considering Hoth needed all new frozen indoor/outdoor tile sets, while Jabba has access to all of the Core set's scum indoor/outdoor tiles)

Ok, Hoth had wampas and Jabba's has RANCOR!

Maybe the tiles are bigger. Maybe they get reused a lot. May it uses the core and 1st expansion tiles. Maybe it just has a really freakin huge RANCOR!

Huh. That does seem to be the official description, and it's a fairly large difference in the number of tiles. So sounds like there may be a bit less content on that side (Also, re the Rancor vs Wampas - remember, Hoth also had the Repulsor Tank so in terms of plastic it probably ends up being about even).

Having said that, a decent number of the tiles in Hoth were 'filler' tiles - the two square room tiles so every map isn't a series of boxes, and the snow/building connector tiles. So while there might be less cardboard in the box, I'd say there will probably be a similar amount of 'big' tiles, with the filler tiles being reused from the core.

It would be nice if there was maybe a little bit extra somewhere else to make up for it though, if the price is going to be the same.

It would be nice if there was maybe a little bit extra somewhere else to make up for it though, if the price is going to be the same.

Rancor!

For Skirmish:

Hoth: The rHKs are really good, the rest from the box is not.

Jabba's Palace: At least one version of every unit is really good (maybe except for Onar).

What's sad is it probably won't use tiles from Twin Shadows... But if you look at the preview articles, they show some really interesting tiles... like a forest tile with a bridge over water?

What I'm curious about is the articles imply the heroes are stuck in Tatooine... So what about side missions? What about all those ally and hero missions set on other planets? And they spoke in the developer's diary article about updating how rewards work in the campaign... I'm wondering if a) no side missions, but a more complex campaign path, b) something similar to Hoth's threat missions, or c) completely new side missions for every body?

Also, forest tiles on Tatooine? Maybe they're for the skirmish maps. Or the campaign won't just revolve around being stuck on Tatooine...

The article says that rewards give more "incomplete but close objective" bonuses instead of rewarding even more the "completed objectives and done exceedingly well" to rein in the rich-become-richer issue. Paul says in the article that the changes are small but players get more choice in mission selection, which does sound like there are no fundamental changes.

All expansions this far have only needed their own stuff and the tiles, deployment cards and other stuff from the core. I don't think Imperial Assault is ready for expansion-expansions yet. You would still only need Jabba's Realm and the core to make good use of the material in Jabba's Realm.

I shall throw money at the rancor, because it's a rancor.

I always play imperial DM. I can't wait.

The announcement article said you are working for Jabba, and he has ties outside of Hoth. So we could find ourselves elsewhere in the galaxy.

Would be odd if the crime lord on Tatooine only had ties on Hoth, which seems, less populated.

Would be odd if the crime lord on Tatooine only had ties on Hoth, which seems, less populated.

I think he meant Tatooine?

The announcement article said you are working for Jabba, and he has ties outside of Hoth. So we could find ourselves elsewhere in the galaxy.

Quoted from the initial announcement:

Your escape is discovered, however, and you’ve been shot down on Tatooine. Here, the power of the Empire is not as strong as elsewhere—but that doesn’t mean you’re out of danger. This is the domain of Jabba the Hutt, and you’ll need to play by his rules if you want to survive.

It implies you're stuck on Tatooine? If you can leave Tatooine then why is Jabba an issue? Unless you leave after the first one or two missions and the rest of the campaign is running away from bounty hunters?

Maybe Jabba has a small plantation. Like the garden in the palace on Arrakis.

The main explanation would be that there is one less sheet (like in Bespin or Twin Shadows) of tiles, OR that they have bigger, landmark tiles like the cantina interior, the trash compactor tile, the carbon facility and the t16 skyhopper tiles. I think the larger landmark add more to games (both skirmish and campaign) thematically than smaller end pieces or corner pieces do. One of the things you'll notice in both games are that the maps become very repetitive as they tend to use the same landmark pieces and the little corridors all look about the same. I would applaud more landmark pieces because I believe it would add more to both games and hopefully add more variety in games. It also allows for larger maps, in both games, the maps almost seem to be shrinking because of the pieces the designers are "forced" to use. Having more large tiles makes the maps larger when you really just need to interconnect a few larger tiles to each other.

i think having larger tiles also could open up possibilities to having paper expansions later where you don't necessarily need new figures, just new instructions and maps with missions. So you could mix the Hoth, Bespin, Core, Tattooine tiles for more exciting locations.

Would be odd if the crime lord on Tatooine only had ties on Hoth, which seems, less populated.

I think he meant Tatooine?

The announcement article said you are working for Jabba, and he has ties outside of Hoth. So we could find ourselves elsewhere in the galaxy.

Quoted from the initial announcement:

Your escape is discovered, however, and you’ve been shot down on Tatooine. Here, the power of the Empire is not as strong as elsewhere—but that doesn’t mean you’re out of danger. This is the domain of Jabba the Hutt, and you’ll need to play by his rules if you want to survive.

It implies you're stuck on Tatooine? If you can leave Tatooine then why is Jabba an issue? Unless you leave after the first one or two missions and the rest of the campaign is running away from bounty hunters?

There could also be the possibility that Jabba is not always the antagonist. He could be providing his "help" with getting you off planet at the price of doing him a favor (which will place the heroes at odds with an Imperial force). That would also be an easy way to get the missions off Tatooine.

I'd actually prefer that you fight against Imperial AND Rebel forces. That would give even more variety to the Imperial side as he could play rebel forces as well.

I'd actually prefer that you fight against Imperial AND Rebel forces. That would give even more variety to the Imperial side as he could play rebel forces as well.

That could be interesting. The inclusion of Rebel figures might tip off the heroes that something's not right but one could work around it. Set up indicates Imperial ISB agents are disguised as rebel sympathizers in an attempt to secure some secret McGuffin. Jabba sends you as he wants the info himself.

Toward the end of the adventure, a Imperial Officer is placed (hunched over a computer terminal in a darkened office). Heroes have to make an insight test. Each time they fail, they continue to operate as if it's the bad guy. Once someone passes, they recognize that it is Luke and depending on how long they continued to fight him leads to varying success.

Give the "Imperial Officer" boosts in health and attack to show he's actually Luke and not an Imperial spy.

For Skirmish:

Hoth: The rHKs are really good, the rest from the box is not.

*cough* Snow Troopers *cough*

~D

Most often I play Empire. Snowtroopers don't see much play in my lists. I prefer Stormtroopers.

I'm thinking primarily as a way for the Imperial DM to have a little flexibility and variety. I think a lot of us have that group were certain personalities always end up in the same roles. Whoever the most responsible or most experienced player, ends up being the Imperial DM, not that he wouldn't enjoy another role, but if someone else runs the campaign, then the whole thing falls apart after 1-2 missions.

For Skirmish:

Hoth: The rHKs are really good, the rest from the box is not.

*cough* Snow Troopers *cough*

~D

MHD-19 is a great skirmish piece. The Wampas are fun, but I'm the guy who runs 5 Nexu in a list and has Gideon walking his cats (not necessarily competitive, but it freaks out the opponent and on certain maps where spacing is available, you can clear a room pretty quick with lots of Nexu.)

Snow troopers seem to have too much going on. Stormtroopers have one role and the better surges. Having the extra health is great, the Enviromental Recovery Gear is great, but it uses an action which knocks it down a peg and it is situational. The rough terrain movement is a plus, but at the end of the day, you want your troopers to be plentiful (reinforce them faster than the other guy) to overwhelm an opponent and you want to consistently put damage on, which is where the stormtroopers beat out snow troopers, they just consistently put out damage and die, reinforce and repeat until they can't anymore, and they cost 1pt cheaper. The regulars feel too expensive for what they do. I've seen 2 elite stormtroopers and 1 regular snowtrooper to back them up, but the reg snowtroops are even worse at getting damage through.

the Reroll is really good for damage, you'll always get a little through and the health is so close. I think most people would just take elite stormtroopers.

I would like to see your SnowTrooper list if there is such a thing as I have 2 elites and 1 regular that never get played.

We know that there are forest tiles and Rebel Rangers. What if there is a mission in which you have to go to Nar Shaddaa to stop a rebel raid on a Hutt warehouse. Your mission is to stall the rebels for 6 rounds. There could be a special rule that reads: If a hero performs an attack, and the attack hits, cancel all damage results and the target of the attack gains two stun tokens. This would definitely fit with the notion that this is a different sort of campaign.

I would like to see your SnowTrooper list if there is such a thing as I have 2 elites and 1 regular that never get played.

Typical list is:

eStormtrooper x2 (18)

eSnowtrooper (10)

Imperial Officer x2 (4)

And can either go Agent Blaise + Zillo Technique + Rule by Fear or Royal Guard for the remaining 8 points.

~D