Preview Side Missions, Experience, and Items in a Campaign

“Well, look at you! A General, huh?”
   –Han Solo, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

Enter the Star Wars universe with the thrilling campaigns and skirmishes of Imperial Assault, a tactical board game of cinematic missions for two to five players.

You can find two full games within Imperial Assault. The campaign game invites you and up to four friends to take part in a gripping narrative that pits a small strike team of Rebel heroes against the massive military power of the Imperial player. You’ll also uncover the tactical conflict of the skirmish game, which allow two players to muster their own forces and battle head-to-head over conflicting objectives. Whether you play the campaign game or the skirmish game, you’re sure to experience the Star Wars galaxy like never before.

In our most recent preview, we explored two of the heroes that you can play over the course of the campaign. In future previews, we’ll examine the skirmish game, as well as the various rewards and threatening options available to the Imperial player as he commands countless Stormtroopers, vehicles, and villains to crush the insignificant Rebellion. Today, however, we’ll turn our attention to the missions these heroes may choose to undertake, and the experience and items they collect along the way!

Take to the Field

The campaign included in the Core Set of Imperial Assault is split between story missions and side missions. Story missions form an overarching plot that reaches across the campaign – the Core Set campaign tells the story of a scheme to exterminate the entire Rebel Alliance with one fell blow. The outcome of a story mission directly influences the next available story mission, meaning that the events of your campaign will change and shift based on the actions of the heroes and villains you control.

Side missions fill in the spaces between story missions, as Rebel High Command gives your strike team other missions and your characters’ personal obligations require attention. At certain points in the campaign, the heroes must choose a side mission to undertake. In most circumstances, two side missions, drawn randomly from the Side Mission deck are available for the heroes to choose.

Before a campaign begins, the Rebel players must construct the deck of Side Mission cards. Four gray Side Mission cards are randomly included in the Side Mission deck, representing unique opportunities for the Rebel Alliance to take advantage of, including ripe Imperial targets or planets ready for rebellion. Successfully completing these missions grants the heroes a specific Reward card that may prove useful in future missions. The heroes must also include the red Side Mission cards that correspond to the heroes in the campaign. For example, if Gideon Argus participates in the campaign, the Friends of Old side mission must be included in the Side Mission deck. These side missions bring old debts and duties to the fore, and successfully completing a hero-specific side mission grants that hero a special Reward card that greatly increases his efficacy. The final step in building the Side Mission deck is for the heroes to select four green Side Mission cards. These side missions allow the heroes the chance to fight alongside an iconic Star Wars character, including Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, or Chewbacca. If the heroes successfully complete one of these mission, they may even call upon that character as an ally in other missions.

Our Just Rewards

The Imperial Assault campaign game offers you and your fellow players the chance to command a strike team in a series of missions that spans the Galactic Civil War. Of course, as your team embarks on mission after mission, they gain experience in their chosen area of expertise, whether leadership, stealthy movement, or use of the Force. And naturally, you’ll get paid for your hard work as well. A steady influx of credits ensures that your gear and weapons are always top-notch. Of course, if the Imperial player defeats you and achieves his objective first, he’ll receive the majority of the rewards.

At the end of each mission in the campaign, the heroes collect a number of rewards. Some missions offer a special Reward card that can provide powerful bonuses, but experience and credits are much more common rewards. Heroes individually gain experience that can be spent to purchase new Class cards. Every hero in Imperial Assault has an individual deck of Class cards, each of which offers new abilities. Some of these cards are relatively inexpensive for just one experience point, but more powerful Class cards, such as Gunslinger, can cost more. We looked at two heroes’ Class cards in our previous preview, and as we explore more heroes in future previews, we’ll examine their Class decks as well.

While experience invites your heroes to increase their skills, credits allow you to purchase new weapons and equipment. At the end of many missions, a number of credits are delivered to the heroes for purchasing new items.

Credits can also be earned through your actions during the mission. Whenever a hero is next to a supply crate, he may use an action to claim the crate token and draw a card from the Supply deck. These cards offer a variety of helpful tools, including an Emergency Medpac or Valuable Goods, but each crate token that you claim is worth fifty additional credits at the end of the mission, giving you the chance to purchase even more equipment.

Weapons, Armor, Equipment

Once you’ve received your experience and credits, you have the chance to spend them both before you begin a new mission. The Imperial player also has the chance to spend his rewards, which we’ll cover in a future preview. When spending experience, all of your hero’s Class cards are available at once – you can purchase any of them, provided you have the requisite experience. Item cards, on the other hand, are arranged in three separate tiers. As the campaign progresses, you’ll gain access to new tiers of Item cards, giving you the opportunity to buy more and more effective weapons, armor, and gear. In most cases, when you purchase items, the top six Item cards are revealed from the deck. You and your fellow heroes can spend your credits to purchase any number of these items, provided you can afford the cost.

Item cards give you the chance to customize your hero’s weapons and capabilities. As the campaign goes on, you can switch between a variety of weapons. A hero who starts with a ranged weapon may decide to use a melee weapon as well, or outdated weapons may be phased out once the campaign progresses. A DL-44 or a Vibroblade may be an excellent weapon for your first missions, but later on, a Sporting Blaster or a Force Pike proves more effective. In addition, you have the option to modify your weapons and make them truly your own. Many weapons display a number of arrows in the bottom right-hand corner of the card, which signifies the number of modifications that weapon can take. You may add a Shock Emitter to your melee weapon, for example, or an Overcharger to your blaster.

You’ll find more than weapons at your disposal in the Item deck. In a mission, every hero can carry two weapons into battle, but he can also carry one piece of armor and up to three equipment items. A Combat Coat can make the difference between life and death when blaster bolts are flying, and stocking up on equipment like a Portable Medkit or Extra Ammunition keeps you and your weapons fully functional.

Two Steps Ahead

Your heroes have the chance to choose new missions, hone their skills, and purchase new items in every Imperial Assault campaign. Join us for our next preview as we look at two more heroes you can play as over the course of a campaign.

Pre-order Imperial Assault at your local retailer today!

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