So this is a smidge unorthodox, but what do people around here think of running Skirmish games on traditional 3D terrain boards, a la Legion?
As it happens, this is how I first tested IA's Skirmish, and I've found it to be some of the most fun I've had in gaming. There's something about setting up a cramped imperial space port, replete with walkways and storage containers, and watch as two small bands of Rebels and Imperials scatter to secure objectives and harry the enemy forces. I've already run a couple of games with my little brother and one of my RPG friends, and it's immediately clear that the terrain takes IA to another level you don't experience with just the tiles.
Of course, the obvious question for me is: Why not just play Legion? Well, beyond not wanting to pop another eighty buckarinos (LGS price) to get a starter set with half a force for yet another Star Wars game, I've never been a fan of squad-based combat. I'm more a fan of man-to-man combat, like Mordheim or Infinity (though the specific rulesets for those games never spoke to me)--Skirmish gaming, if you will, which is literally what Imperial Assault Skirmish is about.
There are a couple of kerfuffles with the rules, but most of it is either self-explanatory or easy enough to resolve: distances are converted to inches, and you measure from base-to-base to find range; climbing either counts as moving vertical (e.g. climbing onto a 2" box costs 2" of movement), or if there's a lot of buildings can just take a full move (so you need to move up to the base, then take a full action to go from the bottom to the top--more of an off-the-cuff ruling than thought out); shooting from height means measure diagonal distance; cover is harder to judge, since there's no square corners, so I just say half-or-more cover is +1 defense result (i.e. cancels one damage), and obviously full cover is no-hit (what constitutes how much cover is a judgement call). All-in-all, it's very lighthearted and focused on having a fun time, and 100% unconcerned with meta--all I know is slap a bunch of cool lookin' models on the table and we're gonna have a good time.
So in all, it's a jolly fun time, and I'm curious whether others would be interested in the concept, or whether I'm some form of gaming heretic and ought report myself to the board-game inquisition post-haste.
Edited by Castlecruncher