Hey all,

I’m considering picking up IA for the campaign aspect, but I’ve got a few questions.

1) Can a person use an ally as there character, example Ahoska Tano, or is it just the heroes on the core game and boxed expansions?

2) I initially started looking at IA for use with the SW RPG, with the miniatures and tiles is it still a decent buy for the price as an rpg accessory?

3) Is it a good pick up game for sporadic game days?

Thanks for the assist folks!

1) it's herpes

2) you decide. You could get SW minis a bit cheaper if you get them from other brands (like the old wotc minis), I guess.

3) I'd say so. 1 vs 4 (GM vs players) is harder to organize - but the Skirmish 1 vs 1 game is pretty fun as well. Recommended to have a few more packs/boxes for variety though.

As long as you are ok with painting the minis to look cool, they are of much better quality for rpgs than you will find elsewhere

The painting doesn’t bother me, I enjoy it

1) Technically, you can't use an ally character as your Rebel hero. Although there is nothing stopping you from buying the Han Solo figure, and using the character abilities for Jyn Odan (the smuggler/rogue type hero from the Core Box). The only area where you would run into trouble is if you wanted to play a mission that specifically calls for using Han as an ally.

2) It's tough to say if it's worth it. It's certain possible, but with all of the command cards, deployment cards, item cards, reward cards, etc that you'd quickly acquire... if I were to do find myself with all those cards and tokens and things and never use them, it would be difficult for me to not feel like I was wasting my money. That's just me though

3) If you are just doing it for campaign as you have said, I'd say it's not ideal for a pick-up game. You can learn to play in an afternoon, but the game is best with a solid crew of 2-4 Rebels playing the same heroes and 1 Imperial Player playing the game on a (semi) consistent basis. But if you are a seasoned Game Master with a background in RPGs and don't mind doing some extra planning, you could probably weave the skirmish missions into the narrative of the campaign to cover for when some people can't be there. This could make for a rather slow paced story though. Or you could ask the Rebels for permission to have other people play their character when they are not there.

1) Unless you do as @Pollux85 said and use an Ally sculpt with hero abilities, you can't really use an ally character as a hero. However, the heroes can earn allies in campaign. They are basically played in addition to the heroes, and are pretty much run by the Heroes as a community.

2) Honestly, if you're just looking for the minis and have no other plans for IA, then I would say you can probably buy cheaper minis. WOTC has a nice line, and you can pretty much pick and choose what you want from it. They're pre-painted, too.

With IA, you're not only buying minis, but a ton of cards, tiles, missions, tokens, etc. There's a lot of production that goes into this game, and the prices do reflect that. While I think IA is a great deal for players who actually use it, it's not the way to go for people just looking for figures to collect.

If you think you'd also play IA... well, synergy is nice! You might as well invest in IA, then! While expensive, it's totally worth it, in my opinion. Definitely my friends' favorite game (as well as my own).

3) Honestly, I think campaign is best played sporadically. I know some people who have marathoned IA, but unless you're doing it for a good cause (as I know someone did recently) then I'd say that could be an absolute nightmare.

For instance, I'm on my fifth full campaign right now (three of the core set, one Hoth, and now in the middle of Jabba's Realm). We have a group of 5 players (me and four friends who play as the heroes). We started in late October, and are about 6 missions in, usually playing on Sundays. It's a pretty great setup, and while I wouldn't mind maybe doing two mission a night (as it's not hard to prepare for a story and side mission side by side) I wouldn't really change much else.

However, that's a pretty ideal scenario. Having a group of exactly 5 friends who can regularly meet is, as many players here would agree, is pretty much a perfect situation. If you have a friend who is regularly flaky, or if your game night generally consists of a rotating roster, you're going to run into more hurdles. Not completely crippling hurdles, mind you, but still problems that you'll have to solve.

Luckily, if and when you come to those hurdles, these forums are a great place for inspiration!

On 12/24/2017 at 3:39 PM, Findariel said:

1) it's herpes

Is your autocorrect qualified to make that diagnosis ?