Even though the game has been around for a while, I am still exploring it. At first the game seemed a bit complex, but after playing with a nephew of mine yesterday I was able to have a very satisfactory game and am impressed by how deep this game is. Here are some thoughts.

Lots of swing: What I mean by this is that the balance of power can swing very quickly between players. I was playing the Jedi and my opponent was playing the Sith. At one point I was barely scratching his defences when he deployed the Coursant defence fleet and was erecting Sith Libraries to destroy me. I had another turn where two hidden Jedi, one with a lightsabre, were able to board and destroy the Coursant defence fleet and almost destroy the objective. I say almost because we lost the edge battle which denied us that final blast token we needed to finish the job.

Another time I thought I was going to win because I had only one more damage token I needed to destroy the last objective. However, all of my units were exhausted or destroyed, the deathstar dial was up to 8, and the Dark side of the force was ascendant, and Vader was in play. However, I did win when, next turn, I was able to activate Luke and launch an unopposed raid into the final objective.

Very Thematic: Red Five flies into an objective and deploys a bomb load which causes 3 blast tokens. In the next bombing run, Red Five loses manouver to the Couresant defence fleet and gets blasted to oblivion in space. Then, two hidden jedi board the Coursant defence fleet and send it crashing while also killing the interrogation squad and a human replica droid, before Vader uses his power and has all units banished. Then, the sith hunt down Yoda on Dagobah and interrupt his meditation and drive him into exile once again. Vader destroys a rebel unit and brings the power of the Dark side back to ascendance in the Galaxy, before a young Luke Skywalker leads a raid to an imperial objective and finally breaks the back of the empire.

Just playing the game tells a story. It kinda reminds me of Talisman where you can just play the game and a story just evolves without needing a storyteller.

Balance between players: I used to think that the Dark Side had the upper hand, now I would say that I think that the light side has the edge. The Light side is the classic Guerilla army which can focus attacks on lightly defended objectives. If the light side can lead a raid which is unapposed, use blast tokens, use Hit-and-run which adds one damage, use edge cards like target of opportunity, and have the light side on the ascendance, they can theoretically destroy an objective per turn. The death star clock then ticks very slowly if the light side has destroyed 2 objectives and the death star dial is only at 6. Still, a good turn of events can crush the rebellion and lead to a speedy victory.

Overall, I love this game. I am going to grab my wallet and see if Edge of Darkness is available.

Other impressions of the game

Yoda: For 3 resource points, Yoda looks like a steal. I tend to have him commit to the force and just sit back and enjoy having the force in my favour. However, I learned that all the enemy needs to do is use a unit like probe droid with tactics icons to put a focus token on Yoda and take him out of the next force struggle. Which brings me to...

Probe Droid: The humble probe droid is a very helpful unit. I would think that it is not only a probe droid but rather the broader imperial intelligence which is gathering information. Using a tactics icon (which does not require winning an edge battle) can incapacitate Yoda for a turn and bring the Dark side of the force back into the galaxy.

Force Lighting: Using a probe droid to put a focus token on Yoda and then destroy him with Force lighting is even better.

Red Five: Great for leading lightning strikes onto objectives. Again, if the attacks are unopposed and you win an edge battle and have hit and run, you can destroy an objective per turn.

Heart of the Empire: I actually think this objective is a liability for the Empire. Simply put, if this is one of the objectives at the beginning of the game, there is no reason the Rebels would not just bee-line all their attacks on it. Suddenly the rebels need only 10 damage tokens rather than 15 to win the game. Blast tokens, hit and run, target of opportunity, unapposed attacks, and the light side of the force all add up pretty quick.

Welcome to the game! It is indeed much deeper than it appears at first. I suspect even your initial opinions posted above will change as you play more.

Also, I think you mean the Interrogation Droid, not the Probe Droid ;-)

Your right, Interrogation Droid!

I was so excited I bought Edge of Darkness today. Just the ability to play Boba Fett and Jabba makes this expansion worth the price.