Star Wars: Imperial Assault
Imperial Assault casts you and your friends into the climatic events following the Death Star’s destruction above Yavin 4, and offers two full game experiences within the Star Wars saga.
60m - 120m
2 - 5 Players
Ages 14+
alenen
1st plays: This is a refined version of the Descent 2.0 system with a better theme. I really wanted to like Descent, but the hand of take-that cards always felt jarring, and the long turns caused it to drag a bit. Threaded actions and less gotcha's speed up the game and make for a positive experience. I do wish there were more Jedi/Sith though. 2nd plays: We played this multiple times in one night, and the campaign was interesting, each scenario was different, and not quite the frantic pace of Descent. It's still a race to complete objectives, but slightly less so, and still a very tight margin for error.
ajewo
Streamlined version of the tactical one vs many dungeon crawler "Descent 2nd Edition". Very good Star Wars theme integration. [b]Pros:[/b] + Artwork Detailed, clear format and iconography + Theme Covers plenty of characters and scenarios of the Star Wars movies. + Components Great, detailed minis + Streamlined, fun skirmish, combat system (dice-based) + Different characters with special abilities + Campaign with different scenarios / missions: go through and kill all does not work + Quests/side-missions are about the players + Different characters with special abilities that complement each other + Alternating turn sequence between Rebels and Imperium players [b]Neutrals:[/b] # Language dependent # Classic dice combat (dice for attack and defense) # Grid movement with line of sights # Decent, tactical decision-making but not very deep # Best with 2 or 5 players [b]Cons:[/b] - Expansions are a money sink - Campaign can become lop-sided (unbalanced) for one faction [b]Similar games:[/b] * Descent 2nd edition (not as streamlined, not so smooth gameplay between overlord and players) * Shadows of Brimstone (coop campaign game in Cthullu universe) * Space Cadets: Away Missions
Agnati
Same make but different model from FFG. There are some tweaks to rules from Descent 2nd Edition, but SW:IA is just as enjoyable with just as much (incredible amount) replayability and with FFG giving the community free reign to create content, it'll be fun to play for many years to come. It does take a little getting used to, though, where Descent, every attack could miss if the attacker rolled an X on the always-rolled "blue attack die". In SW:IA, there is no "miss" for an attacker. *A few* characters (both sides) roll a white defense die instead of black and the white defense die has a "pizza" (as we call it) face that means the attack on you misses completely. If I had to find something to criticize it would be the dice symbols. FFG seems to have picked arbitrary symbols for stuff like defense ("shield") or "evade" or "dodge" on the defense dice. It's important to note, though, that you're playing as the REBELS, not the JEDI as a lot of people fantasize about when wanting to play this game. There's one Jedi-trainee of sorts who uses some force-named abilities, but no lightsaber to speak of (save for one specific quest reward that you very well may never even come across).