Fan Continuation of the Game

By Averross, in Star Wars: Imperial Assault

The Andrew Navaro Q&A confirmed what many already knew: No more expansions, probably ever. Thanks Hasbro.

Like many of you, I don't think it's time for the game to die. In fact, I feel much more inclined to do custom content knowing that I can design something without having a better version come out right under me. Bitterman has a fantastic card creator to use, there are plenty of 3d printable files out there, and we have a great chance to rebalance everything that exists already. The Twin Shadows heroes sort of need to be brought up to date, there's so much great material from Rogue One that can't see an official release, and I, for one, think that Habitats have criminally wasted potential. Weather-based scenarios could be neat, and Climate Research Camp could be nuts . What are the community's thoughts?

Most Wanted Imperial Units

  • Scout Sharpshooters
  • Mudtroopers (Disposable)
  • Shore Troopers
  • Rukh (Noghri Assassin)
  • TX-225 Occupier Tank

Most Wanted Scum

  • Pretty much any named character in Solo .
  • Ewoks
  • Deathwatch Fighters (Jetpacks)

Most Wanted Rebels

  • Partisan Guerrillas
  • Pretty much any named character in Rogue One .
  • Captain Rex (501st Training)
  • Rebel Marines (aka Pathfinders)

Luckily, there are a number of models floating out there for people to buy off shapeways and the like, such as from Mel, as well as simply using Legion models for stuff for IA and then the community can come together to try and make fairly balanced content for campaign or skirmish mode.

I would aim your ire at FFG, not Hasbro.

but, that aside; fan created content has been around for a while. It’ll just have to be what left now.

I hope people get inspired to write new campaigns. @IanSolo_FFG & I were working on an ambitious campaign for a while, but we unfortunatelly lost steam and interest. 'tis a shame, really.

Let's hope all y'all have more luck than us :) My gf & I are definitely trying out all the complete custom campaigns for IA that we can find! :D

4 hours ago, angelman2 said:

I hope people get inspired to write new campaigns. @IanSolo_FFG & I were working on an ambitious campaign for a while, but we unfortunatelly lost steam and interest. 'tis a shame, really.

Let's hope all y'all have more luck than us :) My gf & I are definitely trying out all the complete custom campaigns for IA that we can find! :D

Here's hoping! I know building a good campaign is a lot harder than it looks.

4 hours ago, Enjeryuu said:

Here's hoping! I know building a good campaign is a lot harder than it looks.

i have started to develop a HUB world for the characters to role play a bit more, it is basically a skirmish mat, and some figures scattered around. it acts as the rebel upgrade stage. they can buy weapons from vendors, search for side missions, and maybe find some extra credits, or drink something at the bar that powers them up for the next mission

On 9/1/2019 at 4:40 AM, Majushi said:

I would aim your ire at FFG, not Hasbro.

You keep on doing you.

22 hours ago, Spidey NZ said:

i have started to develop a HUB world for the characters to role play a bit more, it is basically a skirmish mat, and some figures scattered around. it acts as the rebel upgrade stage. they can buy weapons from vendors, search for side missions, and maybe find some extra credits, or drink something at the bar that powers them up for the next mission

This is an idea I love. I think it can be standardized by taking some cues from Legends of the Alliance app.

For those not familiar, between some (most?) missions, the player may visit a planet, or have a conversation with the crew on their ship. During those encounters, the player gets text box choices that may lead to other choices, or the player does an attribute test and depending on the results they can get items, allies, reward cards and more.

On the one hand, I like the ability to "customize" these encounters based on how the rebel heroes are faring. On the other hand, there needs to be some concrete rules, cues and options for those of us who are less able to narrate these interactions on the fly.

Which skirmish map(s) do you use? If you use multiple ones, how do you decide which one? I'd like to be able to give the heroes an option as to what system they want to visit, or if they want to see what they can make happen around the ship. Then that choice will give other choices.

If the rebels are in need of some help because they've lost too many missions, and they stay on the ship, there's a possibility to win a reward card from a commander or recruit an ally for the next mission (or remainder of the campaign). Go planet side on Tatooine and get a booster drink at the cantina, or visit an arms merchant for the opportunity to buy a rare tier III item early in the campaign or get a discount on the standard items.

Of course, if the rebels are steam rolling, then they might find themselves in a bit of a firefight in a Mos Eisley back alley. Having to start the next mission with a little less health or endurance. Maybe they get robbed and lose a particular item or reward that has been giving them too much of an upper hand.

This kind of world building is stuff I love as well. I got a new group together that meets weekly, we're playing mission 3 of Twin Shadows this Thursday. I'm going to try and work this into the time after this next mission and I'll report how it goes. I'd love to hear more details on what you do as well. I think being able to add something like this to a custom campaign could help to mitigate issues with mission imbalance that may exist.

19 minutes ago, thestag said:

Which skirmish map(s) do you use? If you use multiple ones, how do you decide which one? I'd like to be able to give the heroes an option as to what system they want to visit, or if they want to see what they can make happen around the ship. Then that choice will give other choices.

If the rebels are in need of some help because they've lost too many missions, and they stay on the ship, there's a possibility to win a reward card from a commander or recruit an ally for the next mission (or remainder of the campaign). Go planet side on Tatooine and get a booster drink at the cantina, or visit an arms merchant for the opportunity to buy a rare tier III item early in the campaign or get a discount on the standard items.

Of course, if the rebels are steam rolling, then they might find themselves in a bit of a firefight in a Mos Eisley back alley. Having to start the next mission with a little less health or endurance. Maybe they get robbed and lose a particular item or reward that has been giving them too much of an upper hand.

This kind of world building is stuff I love as well. I got a new group together that meets weekly, we're playing mission 3 of Twin Shadows this Thursday. I'm going to try and work this into the time after this next mission and I'll report how it goes. I'd love to hear more details on what you do as well. I think being able to add something like this to a custom campaign could help to mitigate issues with mission imbalance that may exist.

thanks for the feedback, i have written down some very basic ideas and notes. it is very free form, i can Direct Message them to you if you are interested. As for skirmish maps, it depends on the campaign. (example: the hoth campaign they are mainly in the makeshift rebel camp, so i may choose a snow based map.)

i get the heroes to do, strength tests, insight and tech tests to maybe get rewards (an extra item card at the vendor, or draw another side mission). too many successful strength tests and stormtroopers may come a looking.

also i was thinking of booby trapping crates on the map, and if the heroes dont insight first it can blow up in their face.

Really looking forward to seeing new Campaign materials developed by the community.

For folks looking for fixed Skirmish cards and a dynamic meta, check out the IA Continuity Project .

17 hours ago, Spidey NZ said:

thanks for the feedback, i have written down some very basic ideas and notes. it is very free form, i can Direct Message them to you if you are interested. As for skirmish maps, it depends on the campaign. (example: the hoth campaign they are mainly in the makeshift rebel camp, so i may choose a snow based map.)

also i was thinking of booby trapping crates on the map, and if the heroes dont insight first it can blow up in their face.

I would like to see whatever notes you have. If you post them here in case anyone else who is following this conversation may want to add or chime-in, but if you'd rather PM them I understand.

17 hours ago, Spidey NZ said:

i get the heroes to do, strength tests, insight and tech tests to maybe get rewards (an extra item card at the vendor, or draw another side mission). too many successful strength tests and stormtroopers may come a looking.

That's great. I never considered such an option to press your luck. See what you can get away with, push too hard and you might get in a firefight, lose credits in the form of a fine or just have to run for it with nothing to show for the tests up to that point.

I picked out the Anchorhead Bar skirmish map and set up some figures. I came up with some options for the players to make as far as who to interact with. I need to make a better write up of that and test it, hopefully this Thursday.

Edited by thestag

I'll definitely create more custom tiles and entire maps completely from scratch, like I did with this one. I'm also in the process of writing and playtesting mission rules for it...

mapMalachorFinalExample.jpg.8623da2601f7

Here is some ideas for custom troops. These are skirmish focused but i'm sure you can find something of value here.

7 hours ago, thestag said:

I would like to see whatever notes you have. If you post them here in case anyone else who is following this conversation may want to add or chime-in, but if you'd rather PM them I understand

sent you a DM of my ramblings. they are not coherent enough for a main post just yet

9 hours ago, cnemmick said:

Really looking forward to seeing new Campaign materials developed by the community.

For folks looking for fixed Skirmish cards and a dynamic meta, check out the IA Continuity Project .

This sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. Trying to join the Slack.

On 9/4/2019 at 1:28 AM, Fourtytwo said:

I'll definitely create more custom tiles

These tiles are really cool! Great work. I'm impressed.

On 9/4/2019 at 5:28 AM, Fourtytwo said:

I'll definitely create more custom tiles and entire maps completely from scratch, like I did with this one. I'm also in the process of writing and playtesting mission rules for it...

mapMalachorFinalExample.jpg.8623da2601f7

did you do the illustration work?

On ‎9‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 12:00 AM, Spidey NZ said:

did you do the illustration work?

Yes - they are created by me from scratch.

6 hours ago, Fourtytwo said:

Yes - they are created by me from scratch.

fantastic work, are you an illustrator or animator by trade

1 hour ago, Spidey NZ said:

fantastic work, are you an illustrator or animator by trade

Thank you! No, I'm not, but I've taught myself and continuously practiced a lot of creative skills since my early childhood - drawing, painting, miniatures painting, sculpting, digitally sculpting, digitally painting etc... I just love doing this stuff.

22 hours ago, Averross said:

a) I like these cards
b) what I'm saying here should be regarded as constructive criticism. hopefully to iron out the kinks in the design

  • First question is "have you ran your costs through this threat calculator? --> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1379638/formula-calculating-threat-deployment-costs-figure This is a pretty accurate thing. I'm not 100% sure if some of the costing is accurate, but using this formula will bring it closely in line to what they have in retail. Show Troopers being 5 for common is what makes me wonder (little surprising given their utility)
  • Mortar Trooper: I kinda think his design is more suited to campaign than skirmish. Which isn't a bad thing per-se ... but in campaign settings (which usually have tighter corridors) you usually won't have line of sight to a useful character to pivot from. Not sure how to adjust the design so it's more viable, tho (lot of ways you could)

Thanks for the cool designs, tho!

I’m bummed we never got 4-LOM or Zuckuss.

Yoda would be cool, but not too sure how he would work with the game.

Ewoks and Scout Troopers for sure.

19 hours ago, thinkbomb said:

a) I like these cards
b) what I'm saying here should be regarded as constructive criticism. hopefully to iron out the kinks in the design

  • First question is "have you ran your costs through this threat calculator? --> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1379638/formula-calculating-threat-deployment-costs-figure This is a pretty accurate thing. I'm not 100% sure if some of the costing is accurate, but using this formula will bring it closely in line to what they have in retail. Show Troopers being 5 for common is what makes me wonder (little surprising given their utility)
  • Mortar Trooper: I kinda think his design is more suited to campaign than skirmish. Which isn't a bad thing per-se ... but in campaign settings (which usually have tighter corridors) you usually won't have line of sight to a useful character to pivot from. Not sure how to adjust the design so it's more viable, tho (lot of ways you could)

Thanks for the cool designs, tho!

I like that calculator. It's a little unweildy, but it seems to work as i go through it. I think it would have been the best approach to fix skirmish using a fixed formula, rather than just shifting numbers around until there majority agrees they are happy with it.