Here are my thoughts on how the Imperials benefit from the new expansion:

http://rollfordamage.net/index.php/2017/10/20/heart-of-the-empire-meta-first-impressionspredictions-part-2-imperials/

Well, i might be going mad, but since the meta is getting more "face to face" than before, i actually would like (you aswell) to try something totally unusual, like this list:

http://ia-armies.com/army/aIV9HlkG

The major issue you might find here is eRiot taking the place of eJets, because they're a bit harder to get rid of, you can reinforce them and (main reason for the purpose of testing them) they cause weaken to the enemy for free (just deal 1 damage and you're done).
I'd like to know what are your feelings after playing 1 or a couple of games with the list

With the Han fix, Nal Hutta Swamps map, and more trooper damage command cards I don't see the meta getting more "face to face" at all, in fact the opposite. I think elite Riot Troopers could be good, but not until there is a map change.

23 minutes ago, brettpkelly said:

With the Han fix, Nal Hutta Swamps map, and more trooper damage command cards I don't see the meta getting more "face to face" at all, in fact the opposite. I think elite Riot Troopers could be good, but not until there is a map change.

Han fix is more than insane, you can't just blast him with one of your troopers, since he will just be shooting back for 4/5 damage (making your blast not worth), so you either damage him without attacking (emperor is very good at that, same goes for Vader) otherwise you need to fac him with something really strong in defense, like Vader (i'm speaking as imperial ofc). Driven by Hatred helps sooo much with that
As for the map, i think things will change soon, HotE is having quite a success in terms of players interest (despite of the printing issues)

57 minutes ago, erlucius90 said:

Han fix is more than insane, you can't just blast him with one of your troopers, since he will just be shooting back for 4/5 damage (making your blast not worth), so you either damage him without attacking (emperor is very good at that, same goes for Vader) otherwise you need to fac him with something really strong in defense, like Vader (i'm speaking as imperial ofc). Driven by Hatred helps sooo much with that
As for the map, i think things will change soon, HotE is having quite a success in terms of players interest (despite of the printing issues)

Nal Hutta isn't going away any time soon.

23 minutes ago, brettpkelly said:

Nal Hutta isn't going away any time soon.

True but another map will be coming in. Sure you will have to deal with Nal Hutta (there are ways to mitigate it if you are a melee character but it is tuff), but say the skirmish map that comes with Heart of the Empire core box gets rotated in. That map gives Ranged characters all sorts of fits, and Melee characters will love it. I'd love to see some balance brought back into the map rotation, so that there are maps that are advantageous to both melee or range. Right now the balance is out of wack.

1 minute ago, kingargyle said:

True but another map will be coming in. Sure you will have to deal with Nal Hutta (there are ways to mitigate it if you are a melee character but it is tuff), but say the skirmish map that comes with Heart of the Empire core box gets rotated in. That map gives Ranged characters all sorts of fits, and Melee characters will love it. I'd love to see some balance brought back into the map rotation, so that there are maps that are advantageous to both melee or range. Right now the balance is out of wack.

If FFG sticks to their current map rotation strategy the next map will be the one from the Ahsoka Tano pack, replacing Obi-Wan's map. I haven't taken a look at the new skirmish maps yet.

10 minutes ago, brettpkelly said:

If FFG sticks to their current map rotation strategy the next map will be the one from the Ahsoka Tano pack, replacing Obi-Wan's map. I haven't taken a look at the new skirmish maps yet.

Since the regional I'm going to won't be until March. I'll have to check out the Ahsoka's map, and see how it played. I really enjoyed the variety in the Heart of the Empire core skirmish map, both in the objectives and the fact that there was something for each type of army to benefit from.

I'm a filthy melee lover, I loved this expansion for the empire. My MVPs this past weekend were the elite riot troopers, so I have to kindly disagree with your assessment of them. I haven't found the 3 speed on the emperor to be in issue in the slightest. The range on his abilities is insane and more than makes up for his slow speed.

2 hours ago, erlucius90 said:

Well, i might be going mad, but since the meta is getting more "face to face" than before, i actually would like (you aswell) to try something totally unusual, like this list:

http://ia-armies.com/army/aIV9HlkG

The major issue you might find here is eRiot taking the place of eJets, because they're a bit harder to get rid of, you can reinforce them and (main reason for the purpose of testing them) they cause weaken to the enemy for free (just deal 1 damage and you're done).
I'd like to know what are your feelings after playing 1 or a couple of games with the list

Just a nitpick, but since you removed ejets and replaced them with eriots, you’ll need to take out call the vanguard since it requires a figure cost of 4 or higher. But good news! That is two more points in the deck you can use

10 minutes ago, MadFuhrer said:

I'm a filthy melee lover, I loved this expansion for the empire. My MVPs this past weekend were the elite riot troopers, so I have to kindly disagree with your assessment of them. I haven't found the 3 speed on the emperor to be in issue in the slightest. The range on his abilities is insane and more than makes up for his slow speed.

Weaken is definitly going to be the core status of the empire (Palpatine, Riots, Terro, Dewback, who knows perhaps 0-0-0 will see the light), or at least this is IMHO.
There are a lot of cards giving that condition not to consider this possibility.
Another thing that i noticed is that Vader's Choke combines SO WELL with Palpatine's tempt, you have no range issues plus you force your opponent to take damage in order not to discard command cards. Lately i've been using Vader more to choke while "walking", while striking with the saber only once or twice, ofc killing something 100% of those times.

2 minutes ago, Brigadierblu said:

Just a nitpick, but since you removed ejets and replaced them with eriots, you’ll need to take out call the vanguard since it requires a figure cost of 4 or higher. But good news! That is two more points in the deck you can use

OMG you are right!! Then i'll go for Emergency Aid and heal Palpatine in the time of needs XD

54 minutes ago, brettpkelly said:

If FFG sticks to their current map rotation strategy the next map will be the one from the Ahsoka Tano pack, replacing Obi-Wan's map. I haven't taken a look at the new skirmish maps yet.

Nal Hutta broke that pattern, since it was also from a Rebel pack but should have been an Imperial pack. It would seem they are just going to start using the maps they like instead of a specific pattern.

2 hours ago, erlucius90 said:

Han fix is more than insane, you can't just blast him with one of your troopers, since he will just be shooting back for 4/5 damage (making your blast not worth), so you either damage him without attacking (emperor is very good at that, same goes for Vader) otherwise you need to fac him with something really strong in defense, like Vader (i'm speaking as imperial ofc). Driven by Hatred helps sooo much with that
As for the map, i think things will change soon, HotE is having quite a success in terms of players interest (despite of the printing issues)

You can also just overwhelm his ability with volume of fire since it can only be used once per round and he's rolling a white die.

Good call, I didn't think about Nal Hutta breaking the pattern. Maybe I'll take a look at the maps today and make a prediction.

1 minute ago, Tvboy said:

You can also just overwhelm his ability with volume of fire since it can only be used once per round and he's rolling a white die.

(white die + Nexu skill) Still an advantage for the Rebel player if you just go all-in on Han only XD
You can, but you'll get hurt >.<

Just now, erlucius90 said:

(white die + Nexu skill) Still an advantage for the Rebel player if you just go all-in on Han only XD
You can, but you'll get hurt >.<

Especially if you are keeping 3PO near him. An auto block and evade is solid defense before even rolling.

34 minutes ago, brettpkelly said:

Good call, I didn't think about Nal Hutta breaking the pattern. Maybe I'll take a look at the maps today and make a prediction.

I predict that if the Heart of the Empire skirmish map makes it into rotation. Smuggler's Run will be included in every Rebel list, as mission B is made for that card.

3 minutes ago, kingargyle said:

I predict that if the Heart of the Empire skirmish map makes it into rotation. Smuggler's Run will be included in every Rebel list, as mission B is made for that card.

It's still only a 50% chance on one mission in rotation. I predict it will still be terrible forever.

Edit - though I have to admit the mind games would be fun.

1 minute ago, TheUnsullied said:

It's still only a 50% chance on one mission in rotation. I predict it will still be terrible forever.

Actually the way that map is setup, I could see it being more like 75% chance, depending on how your opponent deploys and which smugglers you have. But yeah, for one map it may not be worth it.

5 minutes ago, kingargyle said:

Actually the way that map is setup, I could see it being more like 75% chance, depending on how your opponent deploys and which smugglers you have. But yeah, for one map it may not be worth it.

How are you getting 75% actually now that I look at it smugglers run is a unique attachment so whoever you put it on they'll just make you deploy in your zone. It might give you some more say with how you want to deploy but that's it.

Just now, TheUnsullied said:

How are you getting 75% actually now that I look at it smugglers run is a unique attachment so whoever you put it on they'll just make you deploy in your zone. It might give you some more say with how you want to deploy but that's it.

It will trigger in mission B, at the start of Round 2. As you need to split your squad into two teams. The second team will have the smuggler on it, when you deploy them out on the lift you protect it so that one figure gets to trigger and get the 5 points. The other 25% is clearing out a path probably on the left hand side of the map, in order to get whoever you have (probably an Alliance Smuggler, or whoever has the fastest speed that is a smuggler), and making a dash across the map to the deployment zone. Maybe it'll be more like 10% additional chance, but again as you said for one Map it might not be worth the cost as there are more useful 1 point cards that play better across the various maps. This map just peaked my interest on it due to the way it is setup and particularly how the B mission lifts work.

11 minutes ago, kingargyle said:

It will trigger in mission B, at the start of Round 2. As you need to split your squad into two teams. The second team will have the smuggler on it, when you deploy them out on the lift you protect it so that one figure gets to trigger and get the 5 points. The other 25% is clearing out a path probably on the left hand side of the map, in order to get whoever you have (probably an Alliance Smuggler, or whoever has the fastest speed that is a smuggler), and making a dash across the map to the deployment zone. Maybe it'll be more like 10% additional chance, but again as you said for one Map it might not be worth the cost as there are more useful 1 point cards that play better across the various maps. This map just peaked my interest on it due to the way it is setup and particularly how the B mission lifts work.

Yes but whoever you put the attachment on will just deploy like normal. So pretty much every time you will have to run across the entire map.

3 minutes ago, TheUnsullied said:

Yes but whoever you put the attachment on will just deploy like normal. So pretty much every time you will have to run across the entire map.

I don't have the second mission card with me... but the second team deploys into your opponents deployment zone on one of the lifts at the end of round 1. So that second squad is guaranteed to be in the opponents deployment zone. No need to run across the map in that case.

6 minutes ago, kingargyle said:

I don't have the second mission card with me... but the second team deploys into your opponents deployment zone on one of the lifts at the end of round 1. So that second squad is guaranteed to be in the opponents deployment zone. No need to run across the map in that case.

Yes but you've read the card wrong I think. You split up your own forces but your OPPONENT chooses where they spawn. So whoever you attach the card to they will just have that group spawn across the map.

Just now, TheUnsullied said:

Yes but you've read the card wrong I think. You split up your own forces but your OPPONENT chooses where they spawn. So whoever you attach the card to they will just have that group spawn across the map.

As I said, I was going by memory if that is the case... then boo.. nobody will ever deploy their opponents figures anywhere but away from them Way more fun if you had to deploy them in your own deployment zone.