Hi all. Finally found a group to play the campaign through but have watched a lot of vids on it and they all seem to say that the threat has ruined it and makes it impossible for rebels to win??

One solution was a group adjusted the raised threat by half to make it more enjoyable and fair..!!!

Should we just bite the bullet and play through knowing we are on a hiding to nothing or am I seeing too much into with rebs coming good in the final rounds...TIA

To sum up: without playing even one mission, the players have decided that it would not be fun. Am I correct?

What are they comparing the game to? (They will have to unlearn Descent and relearn Imperial Assault.)

There is a lot of variability in the campaign. The first campaign will be a learning experience, and the imperial player usually learns things quicker. However, the imperial class deck and which heroes are used have a big impact. If you plan to play the core campaign, the heroes should lose Aftermath and collect all crates for maximum credits - it will get them into the easier path through the campaign.

The threat system is great. It allows the imperial player a fighting chance to keep up and adjust the groups to the class deck. (Also increases replayability and allows more fine-tuned balancing of missions.)

If the players have already decided that they won't like it - put the game back to your closet for a few months.

What is "we are on a hiding to nothing" ?

Dont pay attention to what people say. First time players will have a hard time as there are crucial things as a Rebel player to always remember and until you get your ass handed to you a few times, you will struggle and thats perfectly fine.

#1 Focus on the objective; dont focus on "killing" everything

#2 Never open a door on your last action

#3 Maximize your strain and remember Surges (~) can be used to remove Strain on heroes

#4 Line of Sight (LoS) is key

#5 Imperial player is not allowed to play Subversive Tactics

~D

From what I've seen and experienced first hand, when the game is played properly (and for the first time, at least for the rebels), the game is fairly balanced. Rebel heroes are very strong, but they are navigating into mostly unknown territory, while the imperial player knows what's going to happen, what's going on and sometimes even has access to the openly discussed strategy of his opponents, which balances everything out.

Threat doesn't ruin the game, it makes the game. It's an essential component to it. Just be sure that the imperial player actually understands threat. Many of the imbalances come about simply by a misunderstanding of the rules, mostly by the imperial player. Some don't understand properly how threat, threat level and reinforcements/deployment work, and it creates impossible challenges for the rebels.

Also, ya, subversive tactics is very strong and not really fun to play against. It's the noob-killer deck.

Dont pay attention to what people say. First time players will have a hard time as there are crucial things as a Rebel player to always remember and until you get your ass handed to you a few times, you will struggle and thats perfectly fine.

#1 Focus on the objective; dont focus on "killing" everything

#2 Never open a door on your last action

#3 Maximize your strain and remember Surges (~) can be used to remove Strain on heroes

#4 Line of Sight (LoS) is key

#5 Imperial player is not allowed to play Subversive Tactics

~D

This is all good advice. It isn't easy, don't get me wrong. I first came to the game from Star Wars minis, so my brain didn't concentrate on objectives either. The campaign is a bit counter intuitive for players because it isn't about eliminating the enemy. That being said, I've played the imperial player for inexperienced players and I've done some things to aid them, because i want the game to be fun. I think half threat is too much imbalance against the imperial player. Were you playing Aftermath , or where you trying to play an expansion starter mission? I once played Aftermath where I gave the Rebels the credits an XP of an expansion game, and they walked through it, because it is just that razor-edge balanced.

The core set campaign is designed to be a challenge for the rebels. All missions are winnable but all are balanced to favor the Empire. It's a cooperative, tactical experience, but the tactics necessary pander to the rules. You will find yourself often needing to run through incoming fire and ignore enemy figures in order to complete objectives before the deadlines. Every activation counts.

Considering the players represent a rag-tag group of outsiders who are willing to face off against a galaxy spanning empire that has 100x the resources and rely on little more than their wits, teamwork and the faint hope that they can do it right the first time...

I think the game hits the mark.

In my experience, it's a very finely balanced game.

Minor things can swing it either way in a mission, and it can even come down to one or two dice rolls some times.

The advice above is all good, but discounting it as too hard before even trying is possibly not the right attitude to have before going in.

If your players are after a cake walk, they're in the wrong business. It's supposed to be hard.

Ya I think Hello Kitty Island Adventure might be more up their alley if they just want a guaranteed win

Seriously though, IA isn't an easy game, but it gets easier once you learn it. They will have a tough time to start but once they figure out there is more to it than just shooting every single Storm Trooper they see, things will get easier. Party composition helps to though, Fenn, Diala and Gideon are the three most powerful heroes in the game, in that order IMO but that can be argued. If your Rebels are struggling maybe allow them to rebuild the party a few missions in.

Experienced players can win with any team, but Fenn is very newbie friendly, just hand him your biggest gun and take Tactical Movement after mission one. It's all easy street from there!

I honestly miss the early days, enjoy them while they last. Soon your Rebels will have figured it out and the game becomes more about Max and Minning every action :/

A *lot* of the campaign balance comes down to the players, and the group dynamic. Some groups will want a fully competitive game, with both Rebels and Imperials trying to win. Some will want the Imperial to essentially be a GM to facilitate an RPG like experience, rather than trying to actively win. Many will want a balance between those two extremes. And in a lot of cases, different members of the group may have different views on everyone's roles.

A 'hardcore competitive' Imperial player will destroy the Rebels in a lot of cases, simply through knowing what is coming, and taking advantage of tactics that are 'play to win', but not neccasarily fun. This is fine is the Rebels are equally as competitive, but otherwise it'll probably lead to the Rebels quitting.

Rebel players that don't stick to the mission, just want to shoot stuff, or generally play very poorly, will probably lose even against an Imperial player who's going soft on them.

Overall, the campaign is somewhat balanced, but it's a pretty fine balance. It doesn't take much to tip it one way or the other.

So, to me, it's important to work out what the group wants, and go from there. It is the kind of game that plays better where everyone is roughly on the same page in terms of competitiveness etc- e.g. if your group has 'That guy', it might cause some problems. In particular, one big thing to understand is whether the Rebels expect to win the campaign in the end, as that will probably determine whether the Imperial player is playing to win, or playing to facilitate everyone else's fun.

Also, one other important thing to note - the *campaign* may be balanced, but individual missions often aren't. This can range from one side being slightly advantaged, to the other side probably shouldn't even really bother to show up. This is particularly pronounced on a first play through, where unknown surprises or missed rules can ruin an entire mission. So understand there may be a bit of that (Though, this applies less for Return to Hoth, which seems to be a little bit less swingy than the Core campaign, and it's something they've said they are trying to fix further with Jabba's Realm. Not sure about the mini campaigns).

The campaigns are fairly well balanced. I played the first campaign we ever did as Imperial and lost badly. The few first missions were really close but after that, it started snowballing for the rebels. But the finale was closer than I thought possible going into it.

The next few campaigns I've played, I've been a rebel and the Imperial player has been really competitive. He chose Subversive Tactics for 2 campaigns which is absolutely nightmare to play against (you can do that but it's not fun). We lost those campaigns. Our rebel group composition has been crap though.

But overall I think the campaigns are balanced. The only one I don't like, is the Bespin campaign.

In my experience, Missions are always close. Heroes will learn in the First Mission the Importance of Triggers (f.e. Opening a door).

Problem is, if the Imperial Player is the best boardgamer who tends to win in most boardgames, he will win this too, and it's the same on the Rebell side. It's a boardgame after all and if you read the forums, you will see as many complaints that say "The Game is imbalanced, Heroes are too strong" and "The Game is imbalanced, the Imperial is too strong").

The game mitigates that a bit, if the Heroes win the first mission, they are on the "hard track", with missions that favor the Imperial Player, and the other way around.

But overall I think the campaigns are balanced. The only one I don't like, is the Bespin campaign.

Too many narrow paths. The Imperial player can block objectives so easily.

The other side of the coin.

But overall I think the campaigns are balanced. The only one I don't like, is the Bespin campaign.

Too many narrow paths. The Imperial player can block objectives so easily.

The other side of the coin.

Too many narrow paths, Fenn with Rebel Elite and Underbarrel HH-4 can clear out whole groups of upto 6-health figures before they can activate.

That isn't the other side of the coin, that is just pointing out how Fenn is broken. His high movement and blast wrecks a lot of missions that have packed initial placement or few deployment points. Requiring a broken hero to make Bespin playable doesn't make Bespin any less of a pile of crap.

There are statistics on the win/loss rates of each campaign mission (I'm too lazy to search for them now, though).

They have a relatively small source group, but you can see that some missions seem to favor one side over the other- but remember, the overall campaign is really where the ultimate victor is decided, and that seems to be a little more balanced.

We were new to Imperial Assault and started the campaign as Fenn, Mak, Gideon and Diala. My brother is running the Imps.

At the start, since we were all new, the rebels failed EVERY mission. It was so frustrating but did feel thematic. The evil Empire crushing the rag tag group.

Now, however, as we enter the finale, our heroes + Luke (which we luckily won) are a little machine. We have won the last 4-5 missions in a row. Gideon is the lynchpin and Mak with No Escape kills whatever he wants. We might lose the finale, but at least now we are bringing the Empire the same level of frustration.

There are statistics on the win/loss rates of each campaign mission (I'm too lazy to search for them now, though).

They have a relatively small source group, but you can see that some missions seem to favor one side over the other- but remember, the overall campaign is really where the ultimate victor is decided, and that seems to be a little more balanced.

Core: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1331517/how-balanced-each-scenario

Twin Shadows: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1625347/poll-how-balanced-each-scenario

Return to Hoth: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1512996/poll-how-balanced-each-scenario

Bespin Gambit: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1624965/poll-how-balanced-each-scenario

Misc: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1631911/wave-1-7-poll-how-balanced-each-scenario

Note that these polls are for first-time players/playing of the missions, so the inexperience will show at least for the core campaign.

-Pasi

Thanx a lot people...my problem was ive watched tooooo many vids and blogs while trying to get friends to put down xwing and got into the wrong mindset...((((

We start soon so bring on aftermath...))))))

The video blogs are great for a way to get an idea, I do think they ruin some of the 'Oh my gosh! What just happened!' factor.

I don't read the last chapter of a book, and I don't download cheats, or strategy guides for games. I'm old school and proud of it: I like to have my hat handed to me and learn from the experience as what not to do.

The only real problem with balance is that decisions are permanent. Not taking Gideon with core is going to mean the party will be much weaker than they could be. Spending XP on poor abilities (which every character has) because new players just can't tell which abilities will be very helpful every turn and which will never get used, will likewise have the party end up being much weaker than they could be. The missions are balanced assuming players don't make any huge mistakes like this. The empire player has fewer choices so sub-optimal choices are much less common. Deployment card choices are different every game unlike hero choices and agenda tends to be much more temporary than equipment. Letting players swap heroes or refund XP for abilities is a good houserule, especially for beginners.

The danger is that with people saying: Don't take that, Don't do that, You will need this, etc. The game loses a little gloss, I understand that people like to win (don't we all!), but there's a required learning curve I think. Which means that yes, someone will buy something or select an ability that really isn't that useful.

It's all good.

The danger is that with people saying: Don't take that, Don't do that, You will need this, etc. The game loses a little gloss, I understand that people like to win (don't we all!), but there's a required learning curve I think. Which means that yes, someone will buy something or select an ability that really isn't that useful.

It's all good.

+1

The last time my group played, after finishing the mission and deciding on which Items to buy during the Rebel Upgrade stage, one of my players just quickly checked on his phone what was good and what wasn't for his Hero and decided (based purely on that) not to buy anything. That frankly made me a little sad. The game just goes from being a great on-theme adventure for both sides (as the IP, I never look further ahead than the next mission we're playing to keep the story fresh) to "Who Can Get the Best Numbers in a Spreadsheet" The Game ... :-(

The danger is that with people saying: Don't take that, Don't do that, You will need this, etc. The game loses a little gloss, I understand that people like to win (don't we all!), but there's a required learning curve I think. Which means that yes, someone will buy something or select an ability that really isn't that useful.

It's all good.

+1

The last time my group played, after finishing the mission and deciding on which Items to buy during the Rebel Upgrade stage, one of my players just quickly checked on his phone what was good and what wasn't for his Hero and decided (based purely on that) not to buy anything. That frankly made me a little sad. The game just goes from being a great on-theme adventure for both sides (as the IP, I never look further ahead than the next mission we're playing to keep the story fresh) to "Who Can Get the Best Numbers in a Spreadsheet" The Game ... :-(

Agreed. To be honest, any player that won't find the phrase "It's balanced enough" may simply just not like the game.

The campaign is all about experience, fun, and adventure. Sometimes the Rebels are gonna lose badly- sometimes, the Empire will be steamrolled. You're just gonna have to accept that as players, because if the game gets too hyper-competitive, you may as well just be playing skirmish (not a dig at skirmish, by the way, just an observation that the competitive mindset is better suited for it).

I think the rules for Campaign should have been written a little bit differently, in that the Imperial Player was a facilitator and not a competitor. Not that Imperial player shouldn't make it a challenge, they should. And the Rebels need to loose sometimes.

I think the rules for Campaign should have been written a little bit differently, in that the Imperial Player was a facilitator and not a competitor. Not that Imperial player shouldn't make it a challenge, they should. And the Rebels need to loose sometimes.

There is a game that does exactly this, it's called Edge of the Empire. IA on the other hand is an asymmetric semi-co-operative board game