Hi,

The rule book doesn't give an answer - frankly said it does, but I don't like it.

I'm not sure, how to handle the situation as imperial player, if my rebels decide to deploy an ally in campaign... my hesitation is about the timing, when to select the cards for my open groups. Is it before or after I know the there is an ally?

If I read the rules correctly, the imp player selects first the open groups, and later the rebel scum decides if/which ally to deploy. But this feels unfair, because it's stupid to load the open groups with expensive troops which you normally couldn't afford or bring in play far too late. It's all about the missing information how much threat will be available during the mission.

I guess, an experienced imp player can provide a swift reply with a good advice. Maybe there was in later expansions a rule change which can be applied also to the core campaign? Or do I bother simply to much?

You choose the open groups before the rebels choose to bring an ally.

It's a mindgame. You need to be flexible.

There are new ally threat rules in the expansions - the IP gets threat slower, but more of it if the ally stays in play. See http://www.iki.fi/a1bert/TheConsolidatedImperialAssaultRules.pdf

I see, this challenge (or mindgame as you say) seems to be by intention. Understandable as it would be too easy by countering Han with Vader. There is much discussion in the forums about the cost and value of the allies, especially of the core box and early waves. But now I realized that there is a hidden (at least for me until now) advantage by winning an alley in a campaign: it's the constant threat in the mission setup phase to bring or not bring an ally on board... this factor of the unknown and the possibility that the imp player makes a weak choice of the open groups.

The later rules change look very interesting. What are the experiences about the balance? Can it be applied to allies of all waves?

Thanks for your response, really helpful.

The new ally rules can be used in any campaign.

I don't have personal experience with this rule, I think the rebels already have a big benefit from activation advantage every time they have allies. This mostly applies to experienced rebel players though.

However, the new rule encourage the rebels to bring allies (makes the game more varied from campaign to campaign), and discourages the IP from defeating the ally. So it does what it aims to accomplish.

Agree with a1bert, since we introduced the new ally rule my Rebel players have chosen to bring an ally every time they had the opportunity. Where before they'd only take one half the time. Since I bought and painted the figures I'm happy to see them used even if it gives them a boost.