Preview Two Heroes from Imperial Assault

“Someone must have told them all about my little maneuver at the battle of Taanab.”
   –Lando Calrissian, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

Seize the chance to be a hero of the Rebel Alliance in Imperial Assault! This board game of tactical combat and adventure in the Star Wars universe offers two complete game experiences. The campaign game allows you and up to four friends to play through a gripping narrative story, while the skirmish game invites two players to muster their own forces and battle head-to-head for victory.

In a previous preview, we took a closer look at two of the heroes you can play over the course of an Imperial Assault campaign: Gideon Argus, a fearless leader, and Jyn Odan, a fast-moving smuggler. Most recently, we explored the ways that heroes grow and change throughout a campaign, gaining experience and new items, allowing you to customize your hero and make every campaign truly unique.

In future previews, we’ll explore the tactical considerations of the Imperial Assault skirmish game and delve deep into the unlimited resources and countless soldiers available to the Imperial player. Today, however, we’ll look at two more heroes of the Rebellion that you can command in the campaign game!

Haunted by the Past

Although she is not a fully trained Jedi, Diala Passil is undoubtedly sensitive to the ways of the Force. Training and honing her weapon skills in secret, she has now thrown her lot in with the Rebel Alliance in the hope that she can do her part to overthrow the Empire.

Diala Passil has trained with melee weapons, such as her Plasteel Staff, for years, and her expertise gives her abilities that few others can claim. Her Precise Strike ability allows her to suffer two strain after declaring an attack with a melee weapon to choose and remove a die from her target’s defense pool. Many stormtroopers, Imperial officers, and other servants of the Galactic Empire have only one defense die in their defense pool, meaning that Diala Passil’s Precise Strike leaves them helpless.

Diala Passil’s affinity for the Force also gives her an unexpected amount of Foresight in combat. She may suffer one strain to use the Foresight ability, allowing her to reroll one defense die. Diala Passil naturally rolls the white defense die, which bears fewer overall block results than the black defense die. The white die, however, is the only die with the dodge result, which causes an attack to miss entirely. With Diala Passil’s Foresight, you can double the chances of rolling a dodge when she is attacked.

Diala Passil’s Class cards give her even more tools for calling upon the Force and the training of her long-dead master. Force Throw offers her a variety of useful applications. By suffering two strain and exhausting this card, you may choose another small figure within three spaces of Diala Passil and test Insight. If Diala passes this attribute test, she can push the chosen figure three spaces, forcing it to suffer a damage if it’s hostile. Diala’s Defensive Stance card, on the other hand, gives her a better chance of surviving an attack. While you possess Defensive Stance and use the Foresight ability, Diala automatically applies one block to her defense results. As an added bonus, if an attack targeting her causes no damage, she becomes Focused. Focused is a beneficial condition that adds a green die to the next attack or attribute test your figure performs, giving an extra boost to achieve your goals.

Diala Passil can deal extra damage in combat with Snap Kick. By exhausting this card after you resolve a melee attack, you can roll a green attack die and deal its damage to an adjacent hostile figure. Not only does Snap Kick deal damage in addition to your normal attack, but your target has no chance to roll defense dice, meaning any damage is unblocked. At the height of her power, Diala Passil’s command of her weapon is truly impressive. Dancing Weapon invites you to take an action and suffer a strain to perform a deadly ranged attack with a melee weapon. With this ability, even faraway foes aren’t safe from Diala Passil’s fearsome attacks.

Son of Alderaan

A native of Alderaan, Fenn Signis joined the Rebel Alliance at seventeen years old and served two full tours of duty as an exemplary soldier. He was garrisoned at the Rebel base on Arda I when he heard of Alderaan’s destruction by the Death Star. Swearing to avenge his homeworld, Fenn Signis joined a Rebel SpecForces squad, and now, he aims to put his deadly skills to work against the Galactic Empire.

Fenn Signis’s fury and skill with arms can quickly fell any Imperial soldier. His Havoc Shot ability allows him to suffer a strain while attacking with any ranged weapon, including the Infantry Rifle that he starts a campaign with. The attack gains Blast 1, allowing him to deal one damage to every figure adjacent to his target. By using Havoc Shot against tightly massed groups of troopers, you can quickly mow through enemy ranks.

Like every professional soldier, Fenn Signis relies on his comrades, but he also has a powerful independent streak. If Fenn Signis ends his activation with no adjacent friendly figures, you can take advantage of his Lone Wolf ability to recover one strain. By positioning Fenn Signis so that he recovers a strain at the end of his activation, you’ll have more strain to move extra spaces, trigger Havoc Shot, and take advantage of his Class cards.

Take Cover is just one of Fenn Signis’s Class cards that requires strain to activate. By suffering a strain and exhausting Take Cover when an attack is declared against you, you can add a white defense die to your defense dice pool. In normal situations, Fenn Signis rolls a black defense die, which can provide more blocks, but has no ability to completely dodge an attack. Adding a white defense die offers that possibility. While Take Cover increases Fenn Signis’s defenses, Weapon Expert increases the potency of his attacks. By suffering a strain when attacking, Fenn Signis can use Weapon Expert to increase his chances of a successful hit and pierce through enemy blocks.

Fenn Signis gains a way to enhance the power of his Havoc Shot with Suppressive Fire. You can trigger Suppressive Fire whenever you attack using Havoc Shot. Every figure that suffered damage from Havoc Shot must either take an additional damage or become Stunned. Because Havoc Shot has the Blast 1 ability, damage from this attack can quickly spread through a squad of troopers, and Suppressive Fire forces even more damage upon your targets. Superior Positioning helps you set up these potent attacks. As an action, you can suffer a strain to use Superior Positioning, gaining movement points and becoming Focused. Not only that, but Superior Positioning allows you to add a bonus block while you are Focused and defending!

Take the Fight to the Empire

You may play an Imperial Assault campaign as Fenn Signis, Diala Passil, or another hero, but no matter which hero you play as, you’ll have to contend with the forces of the Galactic Empire before too long.

Join us in our next preview, as we take our first look at the terrifying massed forces of the Galactic Empire!

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