Hi all.

Bought the Core Set, not even read the rules yet but I am furiously painting the CS minis. Are there any figure expansions I can buy at the moment that would make sure I dont need to use tokens? I note that there are Rebel Trooper and a Walker tokens, are these pretty much in the game from the off?

If they are I will go get them as I want a fully painted game when I begin play but if they are things or addons u acquire later in the game I guess I can wait.

The rebel troops just look too cool not to get and I am looking for a reason ;p

Are there any other figures who you can get which feature in the game core rules set as tokens?

The following packs replace tokens for characters that may show up in the core campaign;

Han Solo

Chewbacca

IG-88

Royal Guard Champion

General Weiss

Rebel Troopers

Rebel Saboteurs

none of the packs are absolutely necessary, but if you're like me and don't want to use the tokens the these are what you need.

And to clarify, only a few of these will definitely show up in the campaign.

most will only show up in certain missions, and those missions will not be guaranteed to come up.

so far I've never had Chewbacca, Troopers or Saboteurs appear in two full campaigns.

If you play once a week or less often, you'll have plenty of time to get the figure(s) before the (potential) need.

Depending on which heroes you have in the game, you can proxy (use other figures to represent) Han Solo (Luke), Chewbacca (Gaarkhan), Royal Guard Champion (Royal Guard), General Weiss (AT-ST, and his pack doesn't have that good cards anyway), or use other figures -- we used Lego figures for the Rebel Troopers.

If you get their pack, Rebel Troopers can stand in for Rebel Saboteurs.

If it were up to me, I suggest you get General Weiss Pack.

***SPOILER***

He is one of the two final bosses that the rebels will fight. And it is underwhelming/anti-climactic when the final boss is a token.

It's funny, but I'd actually recommend Weiss as the last pack you should buy. I hated the idea of using tokens, but for Weiss you can just use the AT-ST that comes with the game instead. I did eventually buy the pack (because I am a sucker and a completionist) but my first time through the campaign I used the AT-ST and it didn't seem out of place at all.

If you are playing campaign mode only, dont bother wasting money on the ally packs. The rebel players will soon figure out that adding allies to assist on their mission are actually helping the imperial player more than the rebels. So eventually, the side missions that reward rebel allies will not be picked in the remainder of the campaign, or future campaigns.

In my playthough, IG-88 and Royal Guard Champion villains never showed up. I say you may skip on those too. However, if you plan to buy Jabba's Realm in the future, you may buy them since an Imperial Class deck in Jabba's Realm allows you to bring in any villain at any mission, like a special appearance, as long as you can pay its cost.

5 minutes ago, ManateeX said:

It's funny, but I'd actually recommend Weiss as the last pack you should buy. I hated the idea of using tokens, but for Weiss you can just use the AT-ST that comes with the game instead. I did eventually buy the pack (because I am a sucker and a completionist) but my first time through the campaign I used the AT-ST and it didn't seem out of place at all.

*** SPOILER ****

In one of the final Missions, The rebels will control an Imperial AT-ST , and they will use it to battle Weiss' AT-ST. You really need Weiss' AT-ST mini for the coolness.

Other than this reason, As ManateeX stated, there is no reason to get General Weiss' pack as you can use the core AT-ST figure .

The Echo Base Troopers give a big boost to rebels in the Return to Hoth campaign by giving the rebels an activation advantage. So, cheap allies are not useless when used correctly.

You won't have both General Weiss and the AT-ST for very long in any mission, or either side is playing badly. So, you don't really need General Weiss pack. Well, I have everything, so do what I say and not what I do.

Thanks for the input all.

Not even looked at the rules yet and didnt realise you had to 'earn' some characters etc...sounds fun.

Looking forward to getting cracking, all the Imperials painted, now on to the Rebels.

I'm in the don't buy Weiss camp, the AT-ST is a great proxy for Weiss and still very imposing, just say that he is inside of it, done.

Han Solo has such a classic pose that he is my favorite core + wave 1 mini, however he is only going to show up in one story mission and that mission sucks for the Rebels.. so I would even avoid playing it if possible.

If I was going to buy one pack it would be the RGC, he has a chance to show up in the campaign and his agenda set is very helpful for you.

***SPOILER***

Darth Vader is Luke's biological father

5 hours ago, a1bert said:

The Echo Base Troopers give a big boost to rebels in the Return to Hoth campaign by giving the rebels an activation advantage. So, cheap allies are not useless when used correctly.

You won't have both General Weiss and the AT-ST for very long in any mission, or either side is playing badly. So, you don't really need General Weiss pack. Well, I have everything, so do what I say and not what I do.

Echo Base Troopers aren't cheap though, and require Hoth. I recommend Alliance Smuggler if you want cheap. C3-PO is also good and occasionally R2-D2 although they require Twin Shadows. It's pretty rare that Rebels want to delay anyway, usually getting things off the board before they activate is SOP and activating an ally, other than Jedi Luke who hits as hard as a hero, isn't what you want to be doing.

20 hours ago, Union said:

Echo Base Troopers aren't cheap though, and require Hoth. I recommend Alliance Smuggler if you want cheap. C3-PO is also good and occasionally R2-D2 although they require Twin Shadows. It's pretty rare that Rebels want to delay anyway, usually getting things off the board before they activate is SOP and activating an ally, other than Jedi Luke who hits as hard as a hero, isn't what you want to be doing.

Considering that the OP is looking for minis that might appear in the core campaign, I actually wouldn't recommend Alliance Smuggler- he'll never appear in anything unless you get his pack!

Based purely off of my own experiences, you're probably going to want to get Weiss. I don't want to go too into detail (though I see someone did already) but there's a pretty specific reason the AT-ST won't always work as a Weiss proxy- basically, there's always the possibility both might be fielded at the same time... (plus, he's just a really cool mini!).

Han also comes up relatively frequently, I've noticed.

Outside of their respective acquisition missions (and later missions after they've been earned), I've never had Ig-88, ROGO Champ, Chewie, Rebel Troopers, or Rebel Sabs show up. That being said, Rebel Troopers have a decent chance of appearing, it's just never happened to me. Same goes for ROGO Champ and Chewie, to a lesser extent.

As far as minis that you might want to eventually get, based on players possibly wanting to earn them-

Han and Chewie are pretty iconic. They're actually not great in the campaign as they're quite overcosted, but first time players might want to get them just for fun.

IG-88 is also pretty overcosted. Probably don't need to splurge for him at first.

ROGO Champ is actually pretty good. If your Imp player is pretty competitive, he or she may want to consider earning it.

Rebel Sabs are decent, from what I've heard. Never played with them, but Blast is always a good keyword for the Rebels.

In my experience, Rebel Troopers are absolute garbage. In our last campaign, they'd almost always be completely annihilated by the end of the first turn (sometimes before they could even activate), thereby serving as nothing more than a nice 6 pt. bonus threat for the Empire and a brief distraction for the Rebels.

Cheers again for the input all.

Cant wait to get started on the actual rules and playing the game (but must finish painting first ;p)...sounds interesting how certain units can be 'activated' etc...looking forward to seeing how it works.

On that note, can I just put the Cards for Luke and Vader in with the other decks now...im not going to compromise anything am I?

I will be playing Imperials...I AM competitive...but wont be going crazy as I will initially be playing against the wife who wont have a clue whats going on

Yes, add all cards and other components to their respective decks/supplies when you add expansions (including the Luke and Vader packs that come with the core).

The campaign creation rules and other rules take that into account. You will be only using a subset of each supply for one reason or another.

On 2/27/2017 at 8:25 AM, VAYASAN said:

Thanks for the input all.

Not even looked at the rules yet and didnt realise you had to 'earn' some characters etc...sounds fun.

Looking forward to getting cracking, all the Imperials painted, now on to the Rebels.

Yes you have to earn them, and it's basically never worth it to include them unless they are automatically included in a mission. So if you're only playing campaign, you can pass on all of the hero packs. And to be honest, most of them aren't very good in skirmish, either, unfortunately.

If you want to replace tokens but go the most 'bang for buck' route, I'd get Han, the Royal Guard Champion, IG-88 and Weiss.

Those characters show up in various story missions in the original campaign. While you may not end up playing the particular mission with one of them, that's still a much higher chance of them appearing than any of the other characters that only show up in side missions that you may or may not draw and may or may not play even if you draw.

The real question (and one you can't answer until you read the rules) is whether you want to play more campaign, skirmish, or both. In campaign play you don't need the figures that replace the tokens (although they are nice to have) and the side missions or agendas they come with aren't really all that necessary since you only have a few side mission opportunities in each campaign.

If you play skirmish, however, you need figures (and cards) for every unit you field. Now, a lot of the early characters (IG-88, Boba, Han, Chewie and to a lesser extent Vader) are really overpriced and ineffective in skirmish games at the moment. However, one of the new packs coming out soon comes with a "fix" for IG-88 that looks very nice. If they go that route for the other characters, they may be worth picking up.

Edit: If you do want to play Skirmish and play competitively, you do unfortunately have to buy a lot of stuff. There is a rotation of maps legal for Skirmish tournaments, so you need to buy the packs that have that Skirmish map as well as the expansions that include the necessary tiles. Also, if you buy any figure packs, DO NOT THROW OUT THE PAPER INSERT. That's where the Skirmish and side mission maps are.

8 hours ago, Engine25 said:

Yes you have to earn them, and it's basically never worth it to include them unless they are automatically included in a mission. So if you're only playing campaign, you can pass on all of the hero packs. And to be honest, most of them aren't very good in skirmish, either, unfortunately.

Well, I'm not sure that's entirely fair to say.

While you do have to "pay" for heroes with threat each mission even after having earned them, and while sometimes that threat ends up biting the rebels in the butt later, some allies really can change the course of the mission. Expensive allies and villains like Han Solo and IG-88 have gotten criticized a lot, and rightly so- but even in the right context, they can be vital. Then, there are other heroes that, as the Empire, I often dread my Rebels bringing. R2 is incredibly cheap, and is great for running tests and simply serving as an extra activation for the Rebels. 3-P0 is a surprisingly effective support unit. Leia is also good at support, and has decent regenerative abilities. Then there's the new Jedi Luke, who does give the Empire 12 threat, but then slices through them like a hot knife (or lightsaber) through butter.

Then, there are some units that are just kind of awful. In my last campaign, my Rebels earned Rebel troopers- and I pretty easily disposed of them by turn one almost every time they were brought in. They quickly learned that the 6 threat they gave me wasn't worth the slight distraction their blaster fodder troopers gave them.

I think it's more than fair to say "Be careful who you choose as allies, and try to think each mission whether bringing them will be helpful or harmful". But, at least in my experience, I wouldn't say that "it's basically never worth it to include them." Unless you're talking the heroes strictly in the core box- in which case, you'd at least be more accurate, as they're less than stellar.

I just got the stuff I wanted from a collecting/painting standpoint, and to build skirmish forces themed around movie locations like Hoth, or an all-Sandtrooper army. Once I had done that, I found I had proxies for everything in the core game. I got Weiss to use in Hoth skirmish battles. The Hoth rebels can be saboteurs, an assassin droid can be IG-88, etc. The only thing I lack a convincing 3D proxy for is the guard champion, but I hate that model so I will not buy it. I guess I will cross that bridge if/when I come to it. Granted, I picked up a pretty massive collection all at once. But if you just shop all your favorite models, you'll probably wind up with enough extra stuff to proxy your way through any core campaign.

I would recommend buying RG Champion figure. First, it has quite high chance to appear in base campaign.

Second, his mini is looking great (in fact, this is my favourite one among the ones I got), and not similar to Royal Guards at all.

Third, RG Champion pack has very good agenda cards in it.

Im a bit of an OCD collector when I get round to games.

I havnt actually started a campiagn yet, but played the wife several times on the tutorial mission so we can both learn the basics.

I have already bought the following - Chewbacca, RG Champ, Han and Rebel Troopers and im sure knowing me ill get the rest too!!

On 2017-03-06 at 3:56 PM, subtrendy said:

Then, there are some units that are just kind of awful. In my last campaign, my Rebels earned Rebel troopers- and I pretty easily disposed of them by turn one almost every time they were brought in. They quickly learned that the 6 threat they gave me wasn't worth the slight distraction their blaster fodder troopers gave them.

Now imagine taking Han, who dies just as easily, does less damage and gives twice the threat. LOL!

1 hour ago, Union said:

Now imagine taking Han, who dies just as easily, does less damage and gives twice the threat. LOL!

True.

Though the biggest issue with the Troopers was I was running Military Might, and often put riot grenades to good use against them once a round. Since they were often adjacent to each other, couldn't take the observation test, take strain as damage, and only have 3 health, the card was absolutely devastating to them. Being able to knock out a 1/3 of the health of each figure in a deployment group without even attacking is brutal, especially when that group uses white dice and probably won't survive a second attack.

Plus, Rebel Troopers are pretty much the Rebel equivalent of Stormtroopers- but since military might buffed up my stormtroopers to be far superior to Rebel Troopers, it just never made sense for the Rebels to bring them. It was just a slaughter each and every time.