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 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Some of the discounts I'm seeing are bringing this game back into affordability. The Weiss Walker looks like the best deal going on. How come there are no Stormtrooper expansion packs?

Likely because they'd sell infinitely faster than all of the other expansions...and they figure people will buy multiple core boxes to get their Storm Trooper fix. We'll likely see one eventually, but It won't ever be in stock because of those collectors that MUST have legions of storm troopers.

The expansions announced so far cover the characters/troopers that appear in the scenarios in the core set but aren’t included in miniature form. There’s no scenario that requires more than 3 groups of Stormtroopers so at the moment there no need for Stormtrooper expansion. The core set gives you all you need to play all the scenarios.

I suppose this may change in the future if FFG plan of releasing more big-box expansions similar to the ones for Descent.

It's back to £60 (a seller but posted from Amazon) with free postage on Amazon.co.uk and once they sell out it will go up to £60.49 from Amazon directly.

Was uncertain about grabbing it but at that price along with some half price gift vouchers I picked up yesterday (bespokeoffers.co.uk have been offering £10 vouchers for £5 on and off over the last couple of days) making it effectively £30 I couldn't resist.

I was nearly tempted by this in my local shop this morning, even after every downside I've been reading about it.

What put me off though, was there wasn't a listed price (though I could have asked), and the box itself didn't have a precise list of minis there. Just '34' miniatures (Plus, I guess, Luke and Vader? Or do they count in the 34?)

I believe the miniature breakdown is -

6 heroes
3 Imperial Officer
9 Stormtrooper
2 Scout Trooper with Heavy Repeating Blaster
4 Imperial Guard
3 Probe Droid
1 AT-ST
4 Trandoshan slaver
2 Nexu

So Luke and Vader are in addition to the 34. Will be able to confirm when my copy arrives tomorrow.

Luke and Vader are additional.

I received my copy yesterday. Game tiles, tokens, cards, and rules are all top notch. The miniatures are a bit of a let down, to be honest.

I know this isn't only a miniatures game, but the figures are still disappointing(with a few exceptions). The proportions on the figures are the worst part. Head and hand sizes all over the map, and body sizes off to the point that "people are different sizes" just doesn't cover it for me. The Imperial Officer looks like a pre-teen/young teenager playing dress up compared to all of the other figures, and is the worst in the bunch. A couple of the player figures suffer from this as well, but to a lesser degree.

The notable exceptions to my disappointment are the AT-ST, the Soldier player, the Wookie player, the Trandoshan figures, Luke Skywalker and Dart Vader. The Probe Droids are pretty decent, but one of mine broke off of the base and I think they are under scaled as well.

Feels like a case of "Almost". Had they taken a bit more care with the figures, it would have been perfect, in my opinion.

Gameplay impressions when I get time to play it, which won't be soon unfortunately.

~Eric

Saw this on the shelf at the FLGS...is there a reason the box is so fething tall? It is thicker than Zombicide...and has fewer figures.

Please calculate the number of minis included in the game and all the additional material and then please explain to me how they could have included better minis. It is a board-game and for a board game the minis are above board-game standard.

And the box is that big so you can pack all the stuff without having to disassamble.

Taarnak, can I ask if you are comparing these to wargaming/display miniatures, or those of other board games?

Obviously it's no good if these compare poorly to say the miniatures found in Descent, but if they don't come up to scratch compared to Infinity or something then that is a different matter entirely!

 Duncan_Idaho wrote:
Please calculate the number of minis included in the game and all the additional material and then please explain to me how they could have included better minis. It is a board-game and for a board game the minis are above board-game standard.

And the box is that big so you can pack all the stuff without having to disassamble.

Space Hulk vs. Imperial Assault.

Space Hulk has more miniatures, no dublicate sculpts, better material (hard plastic), as well as more tiles in the box. It was also cheaper RRP, even after the re-release price hike, which was widely critizised on dakka for being unnecessary and a "rip-off".

If GW is expensive for what you get, FFG is obscene.

Pretty sure no one called space hulk a ripoff. It's an amazing deal compared to pretty much any other board game out there considering the quality of the miniatures.

SH would be way more expensive if released as a stand-alone game. Since its main goal ist to draw people into 40K calculation is completly different. SH has btw way less material in the box if you go through all the cards.

Tilewise they have approx the same number of tiles, but most SH-tiles are corridors and IA-tiles are way more varied (different prints on the back still not considered).

Also SH is the 4th iteration of the game.

 Duncan_Idaho wrote:
SH would be way more expensive if released as a stand-alone game. Since its main goal ist to draw people into 40K calculation is completly different. SH has btw way less material in the box if you go through all the cards.

Tilewise they have approx the same number of tiles, but most SH-tiles are corridors and IA-tiles are way more varied (different prints on the back still not considered).

Also SH is the 4th iteration of the game.

Well, the cards are nothing but unnessecary bloat that add zero value.

If GW would start to print little cards like FFG does, you'd have 10 cards for 10 termies, each with an equipment card for each powerfist and each stormbolter, etc. ..

Just because FFG's games require you to have 3 identical copies of the rules for equipment piece x, if you want to use it 3 times, whereas GW is ok with people equipping even a huge 40K apoc army with, say, powerswords, even if you only own the rules for it once, rather than a card for every single powersword you bring, doesnt mean there is any added value to the respectives games.

FFG's "cards policy" is just money extortion for no game-related purpose.


Also, Imperial Assault is also the 4th iteration of Descent and Space Hulk doesnt serve the purpose of Dark Vengeance or other starters. You really believe it is a loss-leader?

Dude if you dont like FFG than skip their games.
In you dont like GW dont buy their stuff either.

I just played 3 games of imperial assault and it was great fun. Each game was decided in the very last second and the forces lvld out greatly between imps and rebels.

I just cannot understand all this bitching about the game. Is it cheap ... No ... Is it really good ... Yes imo it is. So I pay the price and am happy with the buy.

And the FFG a card policy is great imo. There are lots of people who like to play a game now and than and don't want to memorize books upon books of rules before the play. Would I need it, no but I do not only game with tabletop gamers and FFG produces games for every taste.

Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about.

Well, the cards are nothing but unnessecary bloat that add zero value.

If GW would start to print little cards like FFG does, you'd have 10 cards for 10 termies, each with an equipment card for each powerfist and each stormbolter, etc. ..

Equipment and character development are quite at the core of a dungeon crawler and add really a lot to the game. They allow me to customize my character way beyond the starting options. Inquisitor 40K comes closest with regard to a dungeon crawler and also needed quite some extra material, though most of it was in book-form. Each Rebell character has a different card and cards for Imperials are either for single characters or groups. Cards also differentiate between standard an experienced opponents. Claiming they add zero value is

Just because FFG's games require you to have 3 identical copies of the rules for equipment piece x, if you want to use it 3 times, whereas GW is ok with people equipping even a huge 40K apoc army with, say, powerswords, even if you only own the rules for it once, rather than a card for every single powersword you bring, doesnt mean there is any added value to the respectives games.

FFG's "cards policy" is just money extortion for no game-related purpose.

Yeah, sure! You really never had a look at the cards, cause the items with multiple cards need them to be multiple cause they are attached to the characters owning them. A Stormtrooper has his weapons on his card, you only need to hand out weapon cards to single-characters and mainly to the Rebells.

Also, Imperial Assault is also the 4th iteration of Descent and Space Hulk doesnt serve the purpose of Dark Vengeance or other starters. You really believe it is a loss-leader?

Nope, though it shares some elements with Descent a lot of brains and changes went into IA. SH mainly changed the minis, the rules stayed more or less the same. And calculations for games that are intended to in the end draw people into playing 40K are quite different from a game that is intended to stand alone. Without 40K as support the minis for SH would have been way more expensive.

 Pacific wrote:
Taarnak, can I ask if you are comparing these to wargaming/display miniatures, or those of other board games?

Obviously it's no good if these compare poorly to say the miniatures found in Descent, but if they don't come up to scratch compared to Infinity or something then that is a different matter entirely!

I was mostly comparing them to each other. Proportion issues are in the original sculpts and have very little to nothing to do with them being board game figures.

If I was to compare them to another board game, it would be Zombicide, which has better sculpts and casts than Imperial Assault. It is arguably an higher quality product made by a less experienced manufacturer.

If FFG had taken a bit more care with the miniatures in the sculpting stage, the product would have been stellar. As it is, it's "only" really good. Lol.

~Eric

Lorien wrote:
Dude if you dont like FFG than skip their games.
In you dont like GW dont buy their stuff either.

I just played 3 games of imperial assault and it was great fun. Each game was decided in the very last second and the forces lvld out greatly between imps and rebels.

I just cannot understand all this bitching about the game. Is it cheap ... No ... Is it really good ... Yes imo it is. So I pay the price and am happy with the buy.

And the FFG a card policy is great imo. There are lots of people who like to play a game now and than and don't want to memorize books upon books of rules before the play. Would I need it, no but I do not only game with tabletop gamers and FFG produces games for every taste.

Star Wars games cannot exist without nerdrage. Some people are always going to think the game is an epic fail, as if they are being forced to play something they don't like. Even XWing, as great as it is, has some people still acting put-out because all the latter wave releases are "screwing" players to buy "non-canon" ships if they want anything new.

Wonderwolf wrote:
Space Hulk has more miniatures, no dublicate sculpts, ...

The genestealers are all duplicated.

 Duncan_Idaho wrote:
Since its main goal ist to draw people into 40K calculation is completly different.

Since when? It was limited stock, sold only in GW stores, arrived with no fanfare and left with even less.

It was not and never was intended to be a gateway game.

Space Hulk was released to take advantage of nostalgia-driven sales made even desperate by a limited release, nothing more. Its why they refuse to keep it in stock. Its not really a gateway game at all. The starter sets do that better as they actually use 40k rules.

Hell, thats what got me to buy a copy a couple years back, because I never got it in the 90's.

 Taarnak wrote:

 Pacific wrote:
Taarnak, can I ask if you are comparing these to wargaming/display miniatures, or those of other board games?

Obviously it's no good if these compare poorly to say the miniatures found in Descent, but if they don't come up to scratch compared to Infinity or something then that is a different matter entirely!

I was mostly comparing them to each other. Proportion issues are in the original sculpts and have very little to nothing to do with them being board game figures.

If I was to compare them to another board game, it would be Zombicide, which has better sculpts and casts than Imperial Assault. It is arguably an higher quality product made by a less experienced manufacturer.

If FFG had taken a bit more care with the miniatures in the sculpting stage, the product would have been stellar. As it is, it's "only" really good. Lol.

~Eric

Cheers for the feedback Eric

Think I will have to give this game some more consideration - of course the game being fun is paramount, but also wanted to paint me some stormtroopers and Han Solo!

SH was a gateway game when it was first conceived and produced and it brought quite some folks to 40K.

Cool. That was in 1989. We're talking about now.

That´s simply cashing in on existing stuff and not much extra-work for the designers.

Lorien wrote:
Dude if you dont like FFG than skip their games.
In you dont like GW dont buy their stuff either.

I just played 3 games of imperial assault and it was great fun. Each game was decided in the very last second and the forces lvld out greatly between imps and rebels.

I just cannot understand all this bitching about the game. Is it cheap ... No ... Is it really good ... Yes imo it is.

Not sure we disagree?

I never doubted the game is good. I only disagreed with people saying it was cheap, which it is not. Other companies, including GW, which itself is considered "expensive" and therefore a useful benchmark, make games cheaper. Wanna do the comparison with Mantic Games instead?

FFGs are great fun, but they are up there in the premium league of highly expensive. Indeed, they can only afford to ask the prices they do, because the have a reputation for making good games. But for the same reasons, their margins are enormous. Many other companies make due (and profit) with half of FFGs margins (though, if they could, they'd ask for higher prices too).

Simply the argument that FFGs prices their products on a razor-slim margin of license and production costs is stupid, yet some people still claim it is. Apparently some people cannot like FFGs without acknowledging that it is not cheap and, as it stands, slightly more expensive than the miniatures games company that usually gets the most flak for being pricey.

FFG is quite normally priced for boardgames, actually they include even more components than some other competitors.

You don´t have much contact with boardgames?

Having all the components right now side by side, there is way more stuff in the IA box than in the SH-box. Taking into account the average street prize SH gets you less for your money.

Friend got this last week. We all like Star Wars (him to a huge ammount) so we sat down and played it.

Just like Dice tower said, its Descent 2.0 with Star Wars. Yes, there are minor tweeks, but its the same.

If your a huge fan of Descent then youll love this, or if you never played Descent you might like it.

In a world of millions of board game options, this one is very low for me, and id rather not play it again personally.

Compaired to hot board mini games out there right now, Shadows of Brimstone and Arcadia quest pass it greatly. Both have far better figures and rule sets. Tiles are about the same, its hard to mess that up now-a-days

SW:IA just feels like a carbon copy. Slap Star Wars on a system already done and your basically just printing money (I dont blame them, id slap Star Wars on everything and watch it fly off the shelves to make a buck)

Note * I am a avid supporter of FFG products as they most of the time have some of the best

Played the first several scenarios over the weekend.

fething AWESOME.

Fixes all the problems I had with Descent 2e and is VERY nail bitingly tense.

Unsure what the complains are about. All the components are of exceptionally high quality, rules are fantastic. The rules index book is the best idea anyone has ever had for boardgame presentation ever.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just read complaints about the cards in the game? I'm not sure how they're unnecessary. You have equipment cards which do different things. You can get little add-ons. Like one of our characters has a sweet blaster that has the scope slotted onto it now, for automatic +2 Accuracy. Without the little equipment cards I don't know how anyone would remember what color dice to roll and what Surges mean for each item, etc. I'm playing the veteran soldier and I needed to referenced it for two of the three games we played before I memorized it, and then I upgraded and got a Storm Trooper blaster rifle thing (I'm not a big Star Wars fan so I don't know the terms)

It is partially Decent, but an improved version of Decent with the issues worked out. Actually, people that would have liked to play something like Decent but not Decent were more than happy with IA. So there really must be a difference.

You really get the difference when you played 3-4 games. I would consider it more tactical than Descent and all battles were decided by the better tactician.