Fantasy Flight Games - Imperial Assault Base Set - Board Game

Product Information

In the campaign game, you and your friends take on the roles of one of six heroes of the Rebellion, such as a smuggler, a veteran soldier, a Wookiee warrior, or even a Force user. Throughout the missions of the campaign, you continue to play one hero, gaining experience, new skills, and upgraded weapons and armor as the campaign goes on. You play these heroes throughout a campaign, even working with iconic characters like Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in some missions. Three resources contribute to the sense of progression between missions. Both the Empire and Rebel players will receive XP for completing missions. Beyond that, Rebel players will receive Credits and the Imperial player will receive Influence. While all three are awarded after every mission, the rewards for the side that reached their goal in the mission will receive more numerous rewards. Players may also receive Reward cards for specific mission victories. Publisher Fantasy Flight Games just recently called an end to its Star Wars: Destiny line of products, just three years after the collectible dice game first launched. Which is a damn shame because Destiny is actually a rather remarkable entry in the genre, with some interesting mechanics that made it more than just a card and dice game featuring classic Star Wars characters.

In every skirmish mission, you clash with your opponent in a battle of tactical skill and combat. Both players alternate activating a single deployment card and taking actions with the associated figures as they battle to complete conflicting objectives. Whether you’re competing to steal a valuable T-16 Skyhopper, or collecting contraband on behalf of the Hutts, the skirmish game offers tense, tactical battles in the Star Wars universe. As the game progresses both sides gain new skills to give their characters and further their individual objectives, eventually leading to some grand standoff between Rebels and Empire that you get to play out. These alternative story elements - as well as the strategic mechanics offered by the gameplay - are what make Imperial Assault one of the best Star Wars board games out there. Imperial Assault also has another issue of, frankly, being massive. There are dozens of small character expansions and a few larger ones. This is a completionist’s nightmare. I’m not the kind of person to criticize business models like this if the base game is enjoyable by itself (I’ll just ignore the extras), but even I think this is excessive. It feels like microtransactions in board gaming.We faced an ever-diminishing supply of chill-pills, some Imperial Guards, and some steps. We charged left, Jedi in the lead with smuggler managing a somewhat impressive rear-guard defence. Cleared out most of the troops with relative ease. Apparently, we only had to open a door and inside would be the lightsaber. Looking for something more lighthearted? Love Letter is already an excellent board game for 2 players, so sprinkling a Star Wars theme over the top makes this rework ideal for fans of a galaxy far, far away. Although it puts a sci-fi spin on the formula, Jabba's Palace keeps hold of the mechanics that make its predecessor such a classic. As you can tell, the Galactic Civil War is a popular topic for Star Wars board games, possibly because many fans don’t have a huge amount of goodwill for the prequels and the latest trilogy has yet to receive its own decent dedicated board game. Star Wars: Empire vs. Rebellion is a card game that sees two players engage in a tense standoff as the respective Rebel and Empire forces. It might seem like a bold move to distill something as grand as the Galactic Civil War into a straightforward card game, but it actually does a surprisingly good job of recreating the feel of the original trilogy. After each scenario, both sides get rewards to help them level up and acquire new skills. The winners, of course, get additional rewards. The Rebel side gets to use their XP and money to acquire new skills, weapons, armor, and other gadgets, and the Imperial side uses their XP to acquire new cards of doom that can be seriously annoying (I’ve primarily been a Rebel player so far). The third miniatures game on this list is one that focuses more on ground combat than X-Wing and Armada’s starship warfare. Star Wars: Legion is a miniatures game in the vein of Warhammer 40,000 designed to recreate iconic battles from the original trilogy, from the standoff at Hoth to the scuffle at Endor, in impressive detail. Including classic Star Wars infantry like stormtrooper units and iconic characters such as - you guessed it - Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, Legion gives fans a lot to play around with.

The success of this tactical space fighting game has spawned imitations across the hobby. But X-Wing has two things its mimics do not. First, it's Star Wars. Second, the figures are pre-painted to a high standard, so you can have amazing-looking games for zero effort. And if you collected Star Wars toys as a kid, the nostalgia appeal is impossible to ignore. Needless to say, we were about to lose until the Imperials took great pity on us and flooded the map with reinforcements. This meant that Darth Vader changed from being the world’s strongest man to roughly the same strength as your elderly grandmother struggling with a large Ikea parcel. It didn’t seem fair. So it was that we found ourselves on Yavin. We were in search of a special lightsaber for the Twi’lek. Another small board with two route options, one guarded by the bitey, jumpy animals; the other by what appear to be elite Imperial Guards. Who knows what they’re doing there?In addition to surges, another currency available to the Rebels is strain, which can be spend to activate various character abilities and gain additional movement points. Strain management is the most compelling tactical part of the game from the Rebel perspective. Genuinely difficult decisions have to be made here, because while activating abilities is fun, and there are certainly going to be enough enemies to target, you need to make sure that you’re actually pursuing the goal of the mission. Destiny may no longer be actively supported by Fantasy Flight, but it’s liked enough that it could see a fan-supported afterlife similar to the one experienced by departed living card game Android: Netrunner. Regardless, there are still plenty of ways to get your hands on cards and dice for the time being, so Destiny isn’t quite dead and gone yet.

Classic Risk sees players deploying their forces to conquer different territories of the game board, rolling dice against their opponents whenever they engage in combat with their infantry and gaining control of that territory should they win. The Star Wars edition includes an unusual TIE Fighter-shaped game board featuring the different control points of the Empire and the Rebels, with players choosing to command the forces of either side. The board game plays much the same as the original Risk, but the novelty of controlling Star Wars soldiers and ships to either destroy or defend the Death Star makes the experience stand out enough on its own. In the campaign game, you will play through a cinematic tale which is set in the Star Wars universe. One player will command the armies of the Galactic Empire and threaten to forever put out the flame of the Rebellion. Other players will become the heroes of the Rebel Alliance and engage in operations to undermine the Empire. Both the Imperial player and Rebel heroes will gain new skill and experience which allows their characters to evolve. Of course, some of them are undeniably awful - Trivial Pursuit DVD: Star Wars Saga Edition has incredibly strong 2005 vibes, and 1977’s Escape from Death Star set a poor standard from the off. Others are simply straight-up copies of existing board games, such as the many, many versions of Star Wars Monopoly out there. However, some are prime examples of how to make excellent movie franchise board games to fill in gaps in the narrative or to let players live out their Jedi or Sith fantasies. Despite the inordinate amount of trash that populates the Star Wars board game galaxy like a drifting asteroid field, there are actually quite a few decent - nay! - even excellent examples of tabletop experiences set in the classic sci-fi universe. Whether you’re looking for a co-op board game filling in the gaps between Episode IV and V or a storytelling RPG where players can become powerful Jedi, here are the ten best Star Wars board games to play this Star Wars Day. Best Star Wars board gamesThat's because they're in control of each scenario. Broadly speaking, anyway. From setup to game-end, team Empire is responsible for controlling all enemies, narrating the plot, and deploying any twists that come up during each mission. However, this doesn't give them too unfair an advantage. Despite being undeniably powerful, Imperial units can't hold a candle to the Rebellion's best and brightest. This hardened team will make short work of the average Storm Trooper, and our playtest featured a wookie warrior that was able to carve through their ranks like butter (all while shrugging off blaster fire like a furry Terminator). In the campaign game, Imperial Assault invites you to play through a cinematic tale set in the Star Wars universe. One player commands the seemingly limitless armies of the Galactic Empire, threatening to extinguish the flame of the Rebellion forever. Up to four other players become heroes of the Rebel Alliance, engaging in covert operations to undermine the Empire’s schemes. Over the course of the campaign, both the Imperial player and the Rebel heroes gain new experience and skills, allowing characters to evolve as the story unfolds.