First off - I'm fairly new to Imperial Assault, and I really like everything it has to offer. In general I'm usually the one playing Empire in campaign mode (which I love doing). It's also worth noting that I'm playing opposite a skilled player who's able to handle and navigate most everything I throw at him (we're still having fun, but it's a fair even match).
One concern I have, but haven't been able to verify, is the long-run balance of the rebels bringing in allies.
Normal rules is that the empire gets to increase the initial threat by the deployment cost for the initial optional deployment.
What I'm concerned is that it just creates an initial difficulty spike for the rebels ... and if they're able to weather that they'll have the extra firepower to deal with the rest of the mission easily (owing to economics of reinforcements and whatnot).
I'm curious if this is a valid concern or not ... and if it is if there's an effective house rule to balance it.
Thanks in advance