Hi all, New recruit to Imperial Assault.

I like the allies and villain packs, and see they are a necessity to skirmish but I have a question how they interact with the base game.

For example, if I pick up Kayn Somos, will I be able to use him in campaign without twin shadows? Or for that matter any alky/villain beyond wave 1 which are in short supply?

Thanks for any answers.

Allies and unique villains can be used in campaign but must be "won" with a quest you may or may not draw. Non-unique villains (Dewback Rider (Captain Terro), Hired guns, Bantha Rider) can be used whenever with some restrictions (Bantha Rider outdoor desert only).

As you say, packs are more necesary for skirmish so if you're playing that, then just focus on that and whatever packs you get for that you can generally use for campaign, although some, like non-unique villains, more than others.

For campaign:

The Kayn Somos villan pack includes an agenda set you can select when building the agenda deck for a campaign, like all villain packs.

The agenda side mission of Kayn Somos pack requires Twin Shadows tiles, so you cannot play it and thus earn Kayn as a villain without Twin Shadows (at least without proxying the tiles).

Ally packs include a side mission to include when building the side mission deck at the start of the campaign. The reward may be the ally or some reward card.

Some packs come with items to be added to the item decks.

Additional reading:

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1629755/generic-question-about-espansions

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1429599/ally-villain-packs

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1350410/packs-worth-getting

Wow cool, thanks for the answers! Ill check out those links

http://boardwars.eu/ally-and-villain-packs-for-star-wars-imperial-assault/

I have found this website to be very useful for deciding what packs I should buy, and their contents are. They also indicate whether the mission to gain the hero/villain or other reward requires tiles from expansions. Generally speaking, only packs from wave 2, 5 and 6 (and now, probably wave 8 with JR expansion) will require tiles from expansions, because they were released alongside them.

Generally yes, Bantha Rider being the exception and needing tiles from Twin Shadows for the campaign mission.

Generally yes, Bantha Rider being the exception and needing tiles from Twin Shadows for the campaign mission.

And Boba Fett being the exception that he doesn't need any expansion tiles