“SO… What will we play ?”, this in hindsight was an asinine statement as Imperial Assault was sitting on the edge of a table, looming huge and colorful, beckoning like a bar on Bourbon Street to a brace of sailors who had just paid off. “Imperial Assault?”, the game at this stage was only short of throwing beads at the moth like gamers who were basking in it’s radiant gaming glow

Imperial assault it is and I once again slipped on the black gloves of Imperial Overlord and made plans to make the rebel scum pay for their winning impertinence last week……

I love imperial assault. I loved Descent and I own descent but I’m not IN love with it.  Imperial Assault is better.  More accessible and lots of happy.

Now what surprised me this time around was the amount of rules we struggled to figure out. The rules are comprehenive but our usual rules expert wasn’t with us so we had to rely on our own abilities. Yes! we struggled at least for a while until it all got up to speed

My biggest enemy once again was Hubris and it came back to haunt me. The scenario in question was “Capture”, the four rebels were incarcerated in a holding cell and having busted out, had to first of all to recover their gear handily stored in a locker not too far from the cell. Now call me pedantic but after the whole Exhaust Port Gate Scandal on the Death Star SURELY the prisoner’s weapons could have been placed in a more secure receptacle than a wire basket with a “get it here” flashing neon sign above it.

The prisoner’s first task was for all of them to recover their ditty bags without which they were fairly toothless. Apart from the Wookie of course who knocked fifty shades out of the hapless storm troopers then casually walked over and recovered his bits.

The facility was protected by both standard and elite storm troopers and a pair of smarmy imperial guards (the redshirts of the imperial assault world). At the end of each turn the imperial overlord earns points they can spend on reinforcements to bolster the defense. I opted to try two Ferrari red imperial bodyguards who floated in like demented nuns and did their best to slow down the rioting rebels. It wasn’t to be. The bodyguards as was pointed out in the painful autopsy/debrief were possibly not the best choice for containment and despite doing their best and wounding two rebels it was a one sided encounter.

One thing I noticed about the rebels is they are hard to kill let alone wound. They have wolverine like recovery and a quick rest will see all your hard won wounds on them melt away. I double and triple check the rules on this an it was so, however it mentioned that really the trick is not to kill the rebels just delay them enough that failing the scenario objectives in time will do the killing for you. It didn’t work. It was like a rugby scrum with internationals on one side and good natured vegans on the other.

Having pushed their way into the control room the rebels then gained access to the trash compactor and despite my best efforts (or worst depending on your viewpoint) forced their way through and out to the waiting escape ship. It was one sided, it was tough and I swear on one of the other players lives it will not happen again. For a forth time.

Life as an imperial is not all roses, heads will roll

Huzzah!

Vic

Descent, Descent.It’s very like Descent with laser guuuunnnnss da da da!

Imperial assault hit our table unexpectedly last thur. By hit I mean reverently placed and as Ava Marias were sung by those assembled, gently teased open by a white gloved Jedi initiate.

Imperial assault is decent 2.5. It’s a smoother experience. It’s somehow simpler, the theme is perfect and it plays really well.

You get a lot of bang for your buck with what is an expensive game. As the owner remarked he was OK with shelling out another €20 above the price of a standard game when you see what you get.

We played two scenarios and everyone present was Gung Ho for another game.

The similarity to descent is neither here nor there. It’s a neat system it plays well and it’s great clean no one loses an eye fun.

Once again the production quality is magnificent. The models are bang on. The cards and floor section solid. Fantasy Flight does this all so well If you’ve unboxed Descent this is it’s twin brother.

The game is similar to every dungeon crawler you’ve played. A team of up to four rebel scum try to complete a mission hindered by the imperial overlord who throws hordes of lesser Star Wars themed assailants at them. Storm troopers, check, Imperial Officers, check, Probe Droids and so on

The plucky rebel scummers have to hack their way aided by various equipment and special abilities to achieve various goals. Destroy these terminals. Grab those plans. Prepare a nutritious meal for Dark Vader etc etc. All very standard stuff but the Star Wars theme makes it that much better.

I was lucky enough to play one mission as rebels and one as Imperial overlord.  Both are a lot of fun and the missions were very well done and In the second one right down to the wire.  too close actually, we had them and we started out laughing and pointing too early.

The game contains twenty missions that should be played through as a campaign. Experience points and cash rack up each mission and both the characters and evil empire overlord get to buy extra stuff to aid them in their games

There’s nothing new in here. Nothing particularly innovative but what it does it does really well.

I didn’t get to play the skirmish rules but I could easily see myself playing this.

I really liked this game. I could see myself playing it again no problem. Would I rush out and buy it … Maybe. I have descent 2.0 and this is too similar to justify buying it. If I didn’t own descent I’d rush out and get it

Should have a copy of it at KNAVECON and I recommend stopping by and trying it

Until then (or next week)

Huzzah!

Vic

Ok having mused over it for a day. Despite owning descent i do want a copy of this game. it’s crackin.