IA Second Edition Top 20 wish list

Imperial Assault was published in 2014. In those 5 years, there have been 6 expansion boxes released and 40 ally/villain packs. Recently, the game has fallen out of prominence and at Star Wars Celebration 2019, Fantasy Flight Games (the company that makes Imperial Assault) announced that they had no more physical product planned. Being the second collectable Star Wars tabletop game from Fantasy Flight Games (henceforth to be called FFG), and especially after the announcement of X-wing Second Edition (the first collectable Star Wars tabletop game), it seems to me that Imperial Assault is next up to get revamped.

The following are a list of changes sorted by order of importance. For example, #1 should most definately happen, while my last change is just a maybe. With out farther ado, my hopes for Imperial Assault Second Edition.

#1. Build the game off a campaign-building app

Right now, the Legends of the Alliance companion app for Imperial Assault is quite successful (100,000+ downloads on Google Play). X-wing Second Edition also implemented an app to control the point structure for the game. All this to say, apps are becoming more accepted as a tool to better play board games. Therefore, I recommend FFG redesign Imperial Assault with this in mind.

I think, all campaigns should be built in the app. After telling the app your collection, the amount of time you have, and a difficulty level, it would compose an assortment of missions into a custom campaign. Then, similar to a roleplaying game, FFG would offer books that would be full of missions that the app would be able to weave into campaigns. This would give the game an unparalleled amount of flexibility and make it feel new every time. Then, all FFG would have to do to give fans new missions is publish a new Campaign Guide (the book full of missions).

Right now, in Imperial Assault, even if you own all of the expansion boxes, you will only be able to choose between a full-length campaign (about 10-12 missions) and a mini campaign (about 4 missions). This is quite restrictive. If I have a whole bunch of friends over for the weekend and we want to play a mega campaign, we'll have to home-brew something or just play multiple campaigns. Likewise, if I have only an hour and a half, Imperial Assault doesn't accommodate my time restrictions. The Campaign Builder App would change that. It would allow players to choose an approximate timeframe from a 1 hour campaign to a 8 hour campaign. This flexibility would make the game far more accessible and able to grow rapidly.

One last thing about the Campaign builder - it should have side missions built in. This would allow for a far more streamlined approach to the now messy and confusing side mission deck.

Final note - this is not a new Legends of the Alliance. This would simply tell you which missions out of the campaign books you will play.

#2 Fan-designed Missions

Personally, my favorite part of Imperial Assault is the new missions. You don't know how to navigate them and they feel new and exciting. If FFG went ahead and made a Campaign Builder App, they would have to support it with an abundance of missions. What a better way then to allow fans to submit missions they have designed. Instead of having to design all of the missions themselves, FFG could just review, refine and publish fan-submitted missions. This would be quite easy because they would not have to balance these missions at all - they would just reserve them for different difficulty levels. I know that I love designing missions and mini-campaigns and I would definitely submit some of my home-brew campaigns to FFG.

By allowing fans to design missions, FFG could make far more Campaign Guides and make them larger as well. This would keep campaigns new, adventurous and imaginative.

#3 Rebalance the Game

What is good and what is not has changed since the debut of Imperial Assault. Making a second edition would allow FFG to rebalance the game based off what kind of game that they want it to be. As of now, it kind of feels like the game is sprawled in all directions. A second edition would allow them to clean this up and focus the game on its core features.

#4 Campaign Only

I'm quite sorry to say this, but I think an Imperial Assault second edition needs to be solely a campaign-based game. Although skirmish is really fun to play, after the release of Star Wars Legion, it has fallen out of favor. Truthfully, if I want to play a ground-based tactical miniatures game - I would play Legion. By focusing on the campaign - a place where Imperial Assault excels, the game could focus on its strengths and prune its weaknesses - overall making it a better game.

#5 Add More Item and XP Cards

One of the best parts about a narrative campaign is upgrading your heroes. In order to farther facilitate that, I think FFG should expand the collection of Item and XP cards available. First, I would sort the Item cards into 10-12 smaller decks. These would be attributed to where you are (landscapes, planets, what people are there). These smaller decks would not only place more emphasis on where you are in the galaxy but also allow FFG a clean way to add more variety and freshness to the game. For example, I know exactly how every weapon I have works and have tried them all. But if there were far more weapons, this would prevent me from gaining such a knowledge of my collection to the point where my upgrade phase is stale.

Next, for XP cards, I would recommend giving 12 XP card to each hero (3 for each XP value). This would allow them to expand on concepts and make a better rounded hero. Additionally, this would again make the upgrade phase more original.

#6 Graphic Design

This one is pretty simple - just make everything look better. X-wing did a great job of this and I think FFG should have a pretty easy time with this.

#7 Add more dice

I love the dice from Imperial Assualt. So, I think it would be great to have more. Even if they just added 2 more colors (purple and orange maybe) weapons would gain so many more options for their pools. I would make the purple die the force defense die (blank, blank, Block, Evade, Deflect - attacker suffers 1 damage and you gain 1 block - , evade) and the orange die (blank, blank, 1 damage, 1 surge, 1 damage, 2 damage + Evade). As you can see, both of these dice would be less powerful than the existing 4 dice. This would mean that you could throw them on for added support without disrupting the balance of the game. For example any force user, we'll use Diala in this example, would have an extra purple defense die to represent their force capabilities. Because the purple die is not that powerful, they could still balance her while giving credit to her force powers. The orange die would be to give weapons an extra die. Instead of attacking with +1 damage, you could simply add an orange die to the attack pool, adding more variety to the results.

#8 Expand on the exhaust system

To me, the system of exhausting card is quite useful and clean. But I think they could go a step farther with the system. First, add the tapped level. This would be the exhaust position that is in the game currently. Then, during the same round, you may tap it again and move it down to the exhaust position, upside down. Here, if you tapped it again, it would be depleted. Next, I would do the same for the exhaust position, could could exhaust it once it is exhausted to deplete it. This would add a certain level of disision making to exhausting cards. Additionally, FFG should add a symbol indicating how many taps a card moves up ( 1 would move a tapped card to ready or an exhausted card to tapped). This would allow them to make some cards, maybe secondary weapons or something, to be used only once (deplete) twice (exhaust) or three times (tap).

#9 More Timelines

Right now Imperial Assault only takes place between episodes 4-6. But in Imperial Assault Second Edition, this should change. Adding campaigns between episodes 3-4 and after episode 6 would make the storyline seem quite complete. Maybe once the game has grown they could add Clone Wars era, but for now just a small expansion outside of the traditional timeline would greatly enhance the narratives of Imperial Assault.

#10 Make More Conditions

Small point here - I love conditions. They interact with the game in various different ways and add a level of strategy and complexity to the game that really spices it up. So, please, add more. Similar to my advice with attack dice, I would make less powerful conditions that you would use as a currency (gain this condition to perform a move action). This would enhance the usage of Conditions and make them more accessible. (Distracted, startled, sniping, panicked, weary are just a few I would love to see added).

#11 Eliminate Massive Figures

To me, Imperial Assault is a game of spies running through coordors - not Rancors battling AT-STs. So, I think they should eliminate massive figures and make them supports. These supports would operate just like standard units except they would not be on the board and would not be able to suffer damage. Instead, they would be able to activate and perform 1 attack on any figure on the board. Not only would this significantly clear the board, helping stop a blocking strategy, but it would make massive figures far more mobile and interesting.

#12 Condense Groups

Right now, in my campaigns, there is nothing more time-wasting then having a group of stormtroopers activate and attack a tanky hero. We all know that they will most likely get 1 or 2 damage but we have to activate them individually and move them and then shoot. I recommend Imperial Assault take a card from Star Wars Legion's playbook and make units shoot as one. For example, I would have 1 miniature (on a 1 by 1 base) move to represent all of the stormtroopers. Then he would attack with 1 blue die and 1 green die for each unit in his group (FFG would probably want to reduce the number of dice stormtroopers roll to acccount for the fact that they now roll against 1 defense die. Maybe have them attack with blue-orange). When a group with multiple units suffers damage equal or exceeding its health, you would place a man-down token on it. This would reduce the amount of attack dice that unit would roll. Lastly, this would make all damage be placed on cards, instead of having to be stacked next to units on the board. Overall, I think this would speed up the game, lower clutter on the board and make every attack meaningful.

#13 No duplicates

Right now, the campaign often throws multiple of one unit at the heroes. I think that this should be done away with. If skirmish is eliminated, it would be quite easy for FFG to stop duplicating units. Instead, they could make 3 levels of each unit (trainee, standard, elite) all with a different miniature. Not only would this allow you to look at the board and see who you are facing, but it would eliminate the cumbersome stickers and tokens to mark out duplicates. Small point, but one I would like to see.

#14 More Allies

Another small point, working with allies is really cool and I think in a second edition there should be more allies built into the campaign missions and available to be earned.

#15 Make maps easier to build

Quick fix here - FFG should make slightly larger tiles that encompass more space. This would allow larger maps to be assembled more quickly - increasing the time you actually get to play the game.

#16 Add Villains

One of my favorite parts about Star Wars, is the incredible villains that hunt the rebels time after time. In fact, I often find myself hoping the villain comes to trap the hero - cause truthfully Star Wars villains are really cool. So, I think they should be in Imperial Assault. Graphically and functionally, they should be like another hero. Each villain would have a threat cost and all of their "XP" cards would also add to that threat cost. Then during the course of the game, you could deploy villains to add another layer of intrigue. (Note: villains would not take any XP away from Villain class decks. Instead, at the end of each mission that is won, the imerpail player may choose any card from the villain's class deck. This card would come at an threat cost to deploy the villain). As for mechanics for including villains in your game, I think the campaign builder app would more than cover this. You could include 0-2 villains and the number you choose would make the missions harder or easier, respectively.

#17 Expand the Imperials

One reason why the imperials are less desirable to play is because you are alone - it's you vs. all of your friends. But, with my villains system, you could have 1-3 players play as the Empire. One or two of your friends could control a villain and be rooting with you against the rebels. Not only would this make playing the Empire more fun, but it would also expand the maximum player count to 8 and it would create a "I'm a loner villain" feel (for example, does anyone personally involved in fighting the rebels just tell Darth Vader when and where he should fight? NO! He comes when he feels he should and doesn't take orders from anyone.

#18 Add the Force

Similar to X-wing Second Edition, I think the force should be incorporated more into Imperial Assault. Force users would gain a certain amount of force tokens at the beginning of each mission and these would (for the most part) not replenish. A force token could be spend to apply +1 surge or +1 evade to any of your dice rolls (including attribute tests). Additionally, any Force wielders would also have specail abilties that would psend these toeksn. Overall, this is a small point, but it would give the force a bigger roll int the imperial assault game.

#19 Make side Missions important

For the most part, the story missions give the most rewards and mean the most for the overall arc of the plot in Imperial Assault. I think this should change. It would be really cool if the side missions were almost equally as important - giving extra XP and Credits. Right now, most side missions are kind of boring. But upping the ante would definitely make some of them really fun.

#20 Make it a card and dice game (kind of)

I understand the FFG has been almost blocked from making any more Imperial Assault product. Apparently the game has been reclassified as a board game which FFG can't make because Hasbro owns the rights to Star Wars board games. But I think there is an easy way around this. Have Imperial Assault 2.0 contain cardstock tiles (instead of cardboard). Then, anyone who played Imperial Assault 1.0 would just use their cardboard tiles. But the game technically wouldn't contain any board-like material - that would be an intentional after-market improvement. I don't think that this would be really good for the game - but it would allow the game to evade any licensing issues.