Having trouble with the decks and choosing side missions. We played "Aftermath" and it went fine, but, moving on from there is the issue.

And what seems to be the issue exactly?

2 minutes ago, frotes said:

And what seems to be the issue exactly?

Not sure how to go about setting up the deck and picking the next mission.

Okay, here goes.

Rules may vary slightly campaign to campaign (as well as in big vs mini campaigns) but this is the typical setup.

1) Grab each red side mission that corresponds to a rebel hero being used. Set in in a pile.

2) Grab four random grey side missions. Set them in the pile with the red.

3)Grab 4 green side missions for Allies that the Rebels want to earn. Put them with the red and grey. Shuffle that pile. that is your side mission pile.

4) The Imperial player chooses six agenda sets. These consist of three cards apiece, for a total of 18 cards. Shuffle that pile, and set it aside.

5) Play the first campaign mission (Aftermath, if you're playing the core campaign).

6) At the conclusion of that mission, the rules will tell you which Story mission is played next. This is typically decided by who won or lost. Find the story mission card for that and set it aside.

7) After you finish the first mission, dole out rewards, credits, influence, etc. It is also during this time that the Imperial player may purchase an Agenda card from his pile.

8) Look at the Campaign Log. It is likely that the next mission is a Side Mission. Draw 2 side mission cards, and choose one to play.

9) Play that mission. Leave the other side mission that was not chosen in play. After you resolve the current mission, draw a new side mission. Next time you choose a side mission, it's between what you just drew, and what you didn't choose last time.

Just a couple of notes:

A) When the next mission is a story mission, resolve the active story mission instead. Then, as always, it will tell you what to do for the next story mission.

B) If the Imperial player chooses an Agenda Side mission, place it next to the current active side missions. The Rebel player may choose this as a side mission, to oppose the Imp player gaining its reward. If it is not chosen, it is discarded after the next side mission has concluded, and the Imperial player automatically gains its reward.

C) The Imp player may also purchase a Forced Mission- alternatively, some mission effects may also put a Forced Mission into play. These are played immediately, and exist outside of the normal structure of the campaign (in that they do not take up a space on the Campaign Log as either Side or Story Missions). They're often reactions to things- for instance, a hypothetical one might be gathering parts to repair a hyperdrive in the wreckage of your ship if you lost the previous mission and the flavor text featured you crashing your ship.

D) The game does not follow a perfect alternating pattern of Side Mission/Story Mission/ Side Mission, but that is often the case. Even so, the best rule is to simply print off a few Campaign Logs and use them as your bible for the campaign. They'll give you info on each character, the Imperial, the campaign progress, what types of missions are next, and the current threat level. It's very important to keep one handy.

Hope that clears it up. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Since some people don't notice the difference in the wording of the agenda missions:

C) There are only a few Forced Missions, and all of them are from the core set agenda sets and cost 4 influence. All other agenda missions are agenda side missions (3 cost), which become additional alternatives to the two side missions that have been drawn from the side mission deck.

From what I remember, until you acquire some expansions, the only variation in the mission deck will be based on the heroes the Rebel players choose. The Agenda deck will not change...I think.

The core set only comes with enough cards that you will have no choice. Once you start buying expansions, this will change.

18 minutes ago, kingbobb said:

From what I remember, until you acquire some expansions, the only variation in the mission deck will be based on the heroes the Rebel players choose. The Agenda deck will not change...I think.

The core set only comes with enough cards that you will have no choice. Once you start buying expansions, this will change.

You know, I always wondered why Wave 1 had so many allies. Makes sense now, since they'd need at least a full set of 4. Plus, skirmish, I guess.

The core set comes with Luke and Vader packs, so there is 1 agenda set and 1 grey side mission to leave out.

Also new to campaign....can I clarify, the missions to play always follow the campign log, so-

Always aftermath first.

Then always a Side mission (picked by method outlined above)

Then a Story mission (decided by outcome of Aftermath)

Then a new side mission

Correct?

From looking at the log (4 story missions before finale) there will be a lot of unused Story missions? Im guessing this is for replay ability if I have that right?

Yes, follow the campaign log - the rebels choose a mission among the ones of the right type for the current mission slot. Usually there is only one active story mission, but there can be more (starting from the Jabba's Realm campaign). There are always 2 or more side missions to choose from. See "Story and Side Missions", RRG page 17.

The exception is Forced missions which are played immediately when put into play and they do not take a slot on the campaign log (there are separate boxes at the bottom). There are only 3 forced missions (Captured, Impounded, Wanted) - one becomes active from mission results, and two are agenda forced missions. Other agenda missions are agenda side missions. Just follow the instructions on the cards when purchased.

Think of it kinda like a Bioware or Telltale video game, it that helps.

The outcome of Aftermath will determine whether mission A1 or B1 is played. Then, the outcome of that story mission determines whether mission A2 or B2 is played... and so on.

There are ways that the campaign can branch off, but in the core campaign that thread is never further than a degree of separation from all other possible threads. So, as far as story missions go, you'll only play about half on your first playthrough- and it'd probably take a ton of campaigns before you'd have naturally played them all.

Note that other campaigns (Jabba's Realm, Return to Hoth, and obviously the mini-campaigns) may follow a slightly different formula as far as structure goes, but it's all done basically the same way.