Fantasy Flight Games - Imperial Assault Base Set - Board Game

Product Information

An adventure board game for one to four players, Outer Rim takes place over a series of turns in which players select their missions, upgrade their ship and search for renown; the ultimate goal of the game is to gather enough fame to be remembered for centuries to come. Each player character has a unique personal goal they can fulfill, as well as general activities such as smuggling illegal goods and taking on jobs from warring factions that’ll increase your infamy. Every new job that players take on could mean more money and renown, but it could also mean an equal amount of danger and potential death. First, line of sight has been clarified and simplified, and it largely makes sense to how you think it should be. That’s always important with line of sight rules. They should both be simple and intuitive, or everyone’s going to be scratching their heads with the logic of it all. At the end of the day I have to give a high score because every time I play the game I have fun. It’s somehow captured the freewheeling spirit of the movies (ignoring the overwhelming and annoying too-seriousness from internet “fans”) without sacrificing too much strategic depth. The minis are great, and maybe 80% of the time the mission feels pretty balanced. Is this too low of a bar? Am I being too forgiving because it’s Star Wars? Probably. But if I want to play a deep, brilliantly designed hero story, I’ll pull out Mage Knight. If I want to blast some stormtroopers in the face and laugh, I’ll play Imperial Assault, despite its flaws. The missions are more consistently well-made than with Descent. There’s an imbalanced stinker in there every once in awhile, but most of the missions at least seem attainable by both sides (with 4 heroes; no matter what your player count you should use the full complement of 4 Rebel heroes). The imbalances, of course, come in over the campaign itself because of the built-in snowballing notorious in both this and the Descent games. The winners get stronger between missions by getting more XP and better abilities than the losers.

That'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).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. 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).

Now we were off to Tatooine to see Luke Skywalker. You never quite know until the Imperial player/DM reads out the mission details but either way it would involve sand. And, as it turns out, Darth Vader. What Are All These Figures For? 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. A two-player miniatures game, Legion sees its players controlling forces in the Imperial and Rebel armies as they engage in full-on warfare. With mechanics designed simulate the ‘chaos of battle’ and a wide variety of units to choose from, Legion provides all the tools players need to re-enact whichever Star Wars skirmish they desire. You’ll also get a fine collection of miniatures to assemble and paint yourselves, which is great if you’re looking to get into the hobby or happen to already be a seasoned painting veteran. Both these miniatures games do a fine job of allowing players to re-enact classic Star Wars space battles, whether you’re looking for something faster-paced like X-Wing or slow-burning like Armada.

Best Star Wars board games

As you complete campaign missions, your options for future missions change based on the outcomes of past missions, ensuring that you’ll never play the same campaign twice. You may be forced to take unexpected side missions when your ship is impounded, or if you’re captured during a raid on an Imperial base. Star Wars games tend to focus on the epic struggle or the details of one battle. Outer Rim fills the wide gap between with a strategic story of the lives of the scum and villains who ply their trade on the galaxy's edge. Except since they're your scum and villains, it's up to you how villainous you want them to be.