Hello all,
Started playing the campaign with my wife. She's the rebel player (playing with 4 heroes as recommended by a few peeps) and decided to include Luke (Jedi) as a side mission (I own Jaba's Realm). Lucky for her, Luke was the first side mission she drew, so immediately we played it right after the "Aftermath" mission, because who doesn't want Luke!!

\SPOILERS for side mission. {Only Imperials allowed.}
I'm just wondering if anyone has played the mission and found it HEAVILY in the imperials favour? By turn 2 I had wounded 2 of her heroes. She rushed Luke to the terminal and then the AT-ST came on. Now the AT-ST doesn't activate as normal but every time a hero ends their activation, it can attack and move 1 space. Do you think that's too much? I don't know if I did something wrong. So I was just blasting everyone like 4 times a round with the AT-ST. Even though Luke gets 2 attacks, they weren't enough for 2 black die...

Thanks for reading and any help would be appreciated. Just not sure if something went wrong.

I have not played this mission but it is best to not judge a mission based on a playthrough during side mission 1. Side mission 1 tends to be harder than normal due to not having much gear yet.

That said, my friend also thought it was a very tough mission, tho in another topic, Union said he won easily. So, shrugs.

Unfortunately, when it comes to side missions. It is a toss up whether it is balanced or not.

Worth noting, too, that the first side mission can often be very difficult for one side, typically the Rebel player- this is due to the Rebels possibly not having the skills/items needed to take on some of the stuff that the Empire might have in these missions- an AT-ST with non-standard activations is a pretty prime example of that, actually.

Also, it generally seems as if the more valuable the hero, the more difficult their acquisition mission (though this might just be balanced in the fact that acquisition missions typically let the rebels use the hero for no cost, so the Empire gets a ton of units to balance it|. Jedi Luke is a pretty valuable hero, so she was certainly going to face stiff opposition.

So, funny that you say drawing this mission first was "lucky for her", as she might have had a much easier time if she'd played it later.

Valuable allies and villains are harder to gain.

I also agree about the side mission 1 slot being poor indication about balance. Missions are much more swingy either way in that slot. Luck of the rolls and luck of the strategy plays a large role.

(And I have come to feel that if rebels win side mission 1, they are much better off throughout the campaign. The imperial player really should try to win side mission 1 without mercy.)

We got it early in Jabba's Realm but there was no point doing it until Murn got Waylay and Company of Heroes, so it ended up being played as the third side mission (first was C3-P0/R2-D2, second was Vinto) and won it on turn 2. Shayla ran around and hit the terminal as the first activation on round 2, Luke hit the walker twice for some obscene amount of damage and then I think Onar finished it off with 1 shot. Took longer to set it up and tear it down than to play it.