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While I understand the gripe, I imagine that certain parts of the game have been left out of the box to assure it can fall within a certain price point.

yeah,
I would agree except that they didn't need to put IG-88, Royal guard champion, Han or Chewie in the core missions at all.
And they could still be released as expansion packs, with extra missions, upgrades etc...

A little break down of chit useage...

Mission 4 - uses Rebel Troopers chits
Mission 5 - uses Han solo chit
Mission 7 - uses Chewbacca chit
Mission 8 - uses Rebel Saboteurs chits
Mission 14 - uses Rebel Troopers chits and Royal Guard Champion chit
Mission 16 - uses IG-88 chit
Mission17 - uses General Weise Chit
Mission 20 - uses Han Solo chit and IG-88 chit
Mission 22 - uses royal guard champion chit
Mission 23 - uses General Weise Chit
Mission 25 - uses General Weise Chit

Panic...

Sure does sound like core mechanics were removed from the core box.

It sorta sounds like FFG are testing out "DLC" for their tabletop games...

It also makes me wonder if they'll release a version without Vader / Luke.


To be honest, I'm going to stay clear of this one and stick with my various spaceships.

Including my Star Wars Armada preorder...

FF is not first or last games company to only put half the figs in the starter box set

GW did it over multiple editions of 40K & warhammer
all the core troops was in the game but the card board cutout of the dreadnought or wyvern included so you could get them as an add on for your collection.

I'm torn.

I hate the idea of cut-content becoming DLC, and I also don't fancy having any more big boxed games taking up room in my place.

At the same time, dem tiles yo! And the miniatures (that will expand as releases come out) can pull double duty with the Star Wars RPG, and that's an attractive proposition. And yeah, dem tiles.

I would agree with the idea that they had to pull content to meet either a packaging footprint or price point.

First edition Descent was in the giant coffin box at I believe $100, years ago now. Same size box as Twilight Imperium.

That had easily double the minis that Descent 2ed has in the Expansion sized box that is now FFG's standard.

With a property like Star Wars it was probably difficult to pare it down to what they finally decided were essentials.

I see it more as the designers worked so long with chits that the packaging restriction may have come up later.

Does FFG put anything in the coffin box anymore?

If there are 40 missions in the basic game, it's not entirely unreasonable to my way of thinking that you have to buy extra models to play all of the missions. The price of the basic boxed set would need to be much higher if it included all of the figures.

That said, it kinda "feels" more like a game for boardgamers than a wargame. Not that it wouldn't be fun anyway.

If I had been FFG I would have put more models in the box, had them painted by a Chinese company, made it more expensive, and sold it off the top of the hype surrounding the new film.

 skrulnik wrote:


Does FFG put anything in the coffin box anymore?

Mercifully, no. Those big boxes were just the worst.

Thanks for the impressions and unboxing pics, Panic!

yeah,

 Kilkrazy wrote:
If there are 40 missions in the basic game, it's not entirely unreasonable to my way of thinking that you have to buy extra models to play all of the missions. The price of the basic boxed set would need to be much higher if it included all of the figures.
That said, it kinda "feels" more like a game for boardgamers than a wargame. Not that it wouldn't be fun anyway...

I should point out again that the game looks amazing.
The skirmish game mode makes it almost a wargame lite!

The issue with the missing rebels, and any others you buy in the future, is that they can called in on any campaign mission as an ally.
The empire as a threat meter that as it increases can be used to brings in reinforcements.

The Rebel Player during mission set up can elect to bring 1 ally.
The ally is taken during the mission by paying it's skirmish cost on the empires threat meter. (giving the empire player more resources)

So the Rebel Troopers chits can be taken as an ally by advancing the empires threat meter 6 points and the Rebel Saboteurs chits for 5 threat meter points.
The Han chit costs 12 threat meter points and the mighty Chewie 15!
So basically the 7 Rebel chits/figures can be a part of every mission!

They can all also be used in skirmish play meaning that the rebel force could mostly consist of chits...
This isn't what I signed up for I wanted a miniatures game!

Panic...

yeah,
Found this on you tube.
Check this out. but try to skip the start!!! it's aweful!



PAnic...

 Panic wrote:
yeah,

 Kilkrazy wrote:
If there are 40 missions in the basic game, it's not entirely unreasonable to my way of thinking that you have to buy extra models to play all of the missions. The price of the basic boxed set would need to be much higher if it included all of the figures.
That said, it kinda "feels" more like a game for boardgamers than a wargame. Not that it wouldn't be fun anyway...

I should point out again that the game looks amazing.
The skirmish game mode makes it almost a wargame lite!

The issue with the missing rebels, and any others you buy in the future, is that they can called in on any campaign mission as an ally.
The empire as a threat meter that as it increases can be used to brings in reinforcements.

Star Wars is a damn expensive license, so yeah, they designed it to make you want to buy some expansions. We were going to pay for those figures one way or the other, either in a huge $200 basic game, or a $100 game + expansions. They chose the lower price point to reach a wider audience, as not everyone has $200 to throw down on a board game in one go. Some customers are kids/parents on a budget, and a huge entry price drives them off.

They left out some of the cool guys because they actually want to sell expansions.They know Han will sell, so he got left out and replaced with the female smuggler. Because they need to sell more than just the core game. Much of the complaints seem to be that you cant get all the movie mains in the box and have the expansions just be crap no one cares about like Weequay skiff guard #4 (OK, I'd buy him, but still). They're a business, and don't want a "one and done" purchase on a line like this.

At least they gave you the pogs so you can play the game, even if it leaves you wanting more. Also, if they gave you the rules for Han etc you could always just grab a mini off ebay for a few bucks. However the single figure expansions really dont seem a bad deal for $10 (or less online) since you get the figure, stat cards and new missions.

It is strange that Luke/Darth are just in a baggie. It seems likely they were originally going to be separate (hence the retail mock ups for the packaging), then they decided the main box better have SOME big names in it, so scrapped the individual packaging on those two planned expansions and threw them in the box.

Game looks sweet - I cant wait for mine!

So wait, the Nexu isn't in the core box? it's in all of the promo pics...

 Panic wrote:
yeah,

 Kilkrazy wrote:
If there are 40 missions in the basic game, it's not entirely unreasonable to my way of thinking that you have to buy extra models to play all of the missions. The price of the basic boxed set would need to be much higher if it included all of the figures.
That said, it kinda "feels" more like a game for boardgamers than a wargame. Not that it wouldn't be fun anyway...

I should point out again that the game looks amazing.
The skirmish game mode makes it almost a wargame lite!

The issue with the missing rebels, and any others you buy in the future, is that they can called in on any campaign mission as an ally.
The empire as a threat meter that as it increases can be used to brings in reinforcements.

The Rebel Player during mission set up can elect to bring 1 ally.
The ally is taken during the mission by paying it's skirmish cost on the empires threat meter. (giving the empire player more resources)

So the Rebel Troopers chits can be taken as an ally by advancing the empires threat meter 6 points and the Rebel Saboteurs chits for 5 threat meter points.
The Han chit costs 12 threat meter points and the mighty Chewie 15!
So basically the 7 Rebel chits/figures can be a part of every mission!

They can all also be used in skirmish play meaning that the rebel force could mostly consist of chits...
This isn't what I signed up for I wanted a miniatures game!

Panic...

Yeah. The thing about Star Wars is that you need the "official" figures to make the game. Once you have good figures, you could use any SF rules ranging from Laserburn to 7TV, with appropriate selective adaptation, to run a game.

The FFG rules sound pretty good in themselves, though.

Bossk_Hogg wrote:


They left out some of the cool guys because they actually want to sell expansions.They know Han will sell, so he got left out and replaced with the female smuggler. Because they need to sell more than just the core game. Much of the complaints seem to be that you cant get all the movie mains in the box and have the expansions just be crap no one cares about like Weequay skiff guard #4 (OK, I'd buy him, but still). They're a business, and don't want a "one and done" purchase on a line like this.

At least they gave you the pogs so you can play the game, even if it leaves you wanting more. Also, if they gave you the rules for Han etc you could always just grab a mini off ebay for a few bucks. However the single figure expansions really dont seem a bad deal for $10 (or less online) since you get the figure, stat cards and new missions.

The issue with that approach is the sales they may well lose because the full game is not included in the box. While it may seem better to sell expansions on top of the main game, that means nothing if they aren't getting people into the game in he first place.

Personally, I think I'm definitely out on this one now, despite my initial enthusiasm. At first, I figured the price, while high, was fair for something I could buy, paint up, and have a complete game with, and unlike X-wing and Armada, I actually figured there was enough value in this box to get me to drop cash on it. But now, no way, as it's basically incomplete, and once you factor in higher cost of the expansion sets over here for some reason and how many I'd need to get the full game, it's tipped to the other side of that value scale, so I won't touch it.

On a side note, I do think FFG would make a killing if they released the minis on their own at a reasonable price and without the stuff that would be superfluous to anyone not using ygheir rules. If they matched Mantic or even GW prices per mini I'd buy dozens for RPGs and DZ/Infinity mods, but as it stands, they won't be seeing a penny from me.

The wait for decent, affordable Star Wars minis in 28mm goes on...

Yes it does, but then I do think that's what this release was ever going to be.

It's a board game. I'll get it, enjoy painting up some storm-troopers, hopefully the board-game itself will be half decent - I suppose a lot comes down to what kind of product you were expecting from this!

I think its a bit disingenuous to call the game incomplete. You can play it right out of the box. It doesn't have all the premium bonus items, like a Han Solo figure you need for TWO missions out of 25+. Lots of games with marginal use items do that. They put the main components in a premium material/make minis fr them, and the one off escort guy in one random mission you have a token or a cardboard standup or something like that for.

As it stands, $10 is within reason for a plastic solo figure with stat cards and scenarios. You mentioned GW and Mantic - GW charges $15 for a single guy, and its rules are just terrible. Mantic's single Deadzone figures are $8 or so (without having to pay for an expensive license) so IMO comparable. FFG just didn't get the license just to do cheap RPG only figures - and might not actually be able to depending on how licensing breaks down. There are tons of old WOTC figures on ebay for $1-3 however.

I'm not sure why expansions are basically more than double price in the UK. Not sure how much miniature market or warstore or discount games charges to ship there, but it might be worth checking out for those interested, as the savings are significant. Were I paying the equivalent of $16 per figure rather than $7, I'd balk too.

So what scale are the mini's at?

Bossk_Hogg wrote:
It doesn't have all the premium bonus items...

Since when were they "premium bonus items"? Who made that distinction/classification?

 Commissar-Danno wrote:
So what scale are the mini's at?

Around 30mm, with slightly more heroic proportions than Infinity. Not GW heroic, but the hands and guns are noticeably bigger when compared with the WotC minis. But they will look fine mixed in with your other 28-30mm minis.

With regards to the price of the add-ons, BoardGameExtras in the UK have the best price (that I've found). It's still more than most people would want to pay after shelling out ~£70 on the base set, I think, but hey.. savings are savings.

Bossk_Hogg wrote:
I think its a bit disingenuous to call the game incomplete. You can play it right out of the box. It doesn't have all the premium bonus items, like a Han Solo figure you need for TWO missions out of 25+. Lots of games with marginal use items do that. They put the main components in a premium material/make minis fr them, and the one off escort guy in one random mission you have a token or a cardboard standup or something like that for.

Fair enough. I suppose coming at it as a Wargamer here colours my perspective a little, as I don't see cardboard as comparable to a mini, but I imagine to the target audience of boardgames it's not as much of an issue. The other thing I was hoping was that the product would a 'fire and forget' purchase where I could get a whole game in one box and be done with it, essentially having a complete game I can box up and take to clubs/friend's places ect.

So it's not that it's a bad product per se, it's just not what I'm looking for.

As it stands, $10 is within reason for a plastic solo figure with stat cards and scenarios. You mentioned GW and Mantic - GW charges $15 for a single guy, and its rules are just terrible. Mantic's single Deadzone figures are $8 or so (without having to pay for an expensive license) so IMO comparable. FFG just didn't get the license just to do cheap RPG only figures - and might not actually be able to depending on how licensing breaks down. There are tons of old WOTC figures on ebay for $1-3 however.

I'm not sure why expansions are basically more than double price in the UK. Not sure how much miniature market or warstore or discount games charges to ship there, but it might be worth checking out for those interested, as the savings are significant. Were I paying the equivalent of $16 per figure rather than $7, I'd balk too.

$10 before discount would be fine, and I'd be tempted, it's just that here in the UK, we end up paying nearly double that (same with X-wing from what I've seen as well) for no reason I can see. The link above puts them at £7.50 for expansion sets which isn't too bad, though.

But what I meant was that I'd like to be able to buy whole squads of Stormtroopers for the price of a box of SM, at which point I could accept paying a premium for heroes ect. Again, it's not that the prices or product are bad, just that I was hoping for something a little different. As I said, I was more hoping for minis I could use with other games, but you're right that this isn't what FFG have the licence for, so it's not a reflection on or the game that I'm no longer interested.

First: A SW-license is not as expensive as many think, it is even one of the cheaper ones. Lucas always went the route of many lower-price licenses instead of one hyper-priced license and was financially right.

Second:

As someone how has played and demoed the game a lot since October I do know quite well what is inside the box:

> It is not incomplete, all you need to play the missions is in the box. Some in the form of chits, but it is still there. And there is a lot of it in the box. And the box is really heavy, cause it comes with a lot of cards, minis, etc. Any more stuff and it would have needed to be resized, which would have made it more expensive.

> Every expansion comes with quite some extra stuff and I can´t see how that could have been included within the box without upping the price notably.

> There are no rules missing, all possible situations are explained in detail and even a glossary book is included. The TT-rules are on the compact side, but the game in its basic form offers so much content, that I understand quite well why they decided to extend them in later expansions.

Now to every single of you who calls the game incomplete: You get a lot for your money and there are quite a lot of boardgames out there that offer you less for your money in comparison. And the same goes for the expansions, they come with a lot of stuff. And in the end FFG needs to earn some money and the game is a good deal, so don´t expect them to sell that stuff as a loss-leader as GW does with its starter.

@chin-gun

Use a hair-dryer and heat it up a little bit and it will slot in easily.

@Dice

They are actually easier to read than the Descent-dice and symbols are quite easy to read for gamers already familiar with the RPG.


@X-wing

It really sells out fast. The production gets ramped up with every run, but demand is that high... Imagine a big sea-conatiner full of blisters being sold empty within 4 hours and you get the demand...

That was actually really good to read Duncan_Idaho, and has alayed a lot of my concerns (I'm sure the same for a lot of other people on here also).

Cheers for taking the time to post it.

Keep the questions comin, I will answer them as soon as possible.

In comparison to Descent:

I think it is the better Descent. The long-range-fight is more important and the game plays like a lot of small TTs.

Both sides have to do a good job to win. If you let the Wookie always tank without calling him back to heal you will surely lose and if you send your Stormtroopers out one by one they too will loose.

Is this game worth getting? does the game flow nicely or is their a lot of upkeep and token counting through the game?

And a question out of curiosity, for the skirmish game why didn't they include a rectangular map for skirmish play like with star wars minis?

I'm guessing there is no chance of getting a Darth Maul in the near or distant future? when FFG first released X-wing they mentioned something about not having the rights to produce material from the prequels (no Naboo fighter)

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Bossk_Hogg wrote:
It doesn't have all the premium bonus items...

Since when were they "premium bonus items"? Who made that distinction/classification?

Its like griping that Betrayal at the House on the Hill gives you a miniature for the character you use in every single scenario, but only a cardboard cat chit you use in one. Or Arkham Horror's pre-painted miniatures vs. the tokens that come in the box. Cthulhu wars has cardboard gate tokens in the main box, but you can buy gate miniatures if you want. Han Solo isnt the main hero character you play.

 Piston Honda wrote:
Is this game worth getting? does the game flow nicely or is their a lot of upkeep and token counting through the game?

And a question out of curiosity, for the skirmish game why didn't they include a rectangular map for skirmish play like with star wars minis?

I'm guessing there is no chance of getting a Darth Maul in the near or distant future? when FFG first released X-wing they mentioned something about not having the rights to produce material from the prequels (no Naboo fighter)

Interesting. That last point is consistent with the content they have put out so far (e.g. no prequel content in the RPG or the Star Wars LCG either, to my knowledge) but if it is true, it would also be a real shame.

yeah,

Bossk_Hogg wrote:
...Han Solo isn't the main hero character you play.

But you can take Han, the troopers or any of the characters in every mission if you want to.
By paying their threat cost, giving the imperial player more resources it balances the mission out.
So yeah important characters are missing.

And while you can play the skirmish game with rebel trooper chits, who wants to?

Panic...

Another unboxing here, showing off the Droids, Nexu and Trandoshans that I didn't see on last one.
http://gmortschaotica.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/star-wars-imperial-assault-guest.html


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and can someone in the know post a list of the expansions you'd need to play the box missions with all the required minis?