Imperial Assault: The Agony and the ....

Over the holiday Jean and I powered through an Imperial Assault campaign. Imperial Assault is a tactical miniatures combat strategy game set in the Star Wars universe. I took the the role of two plucky rebel heroes and Jean played as the Empire.

Rebel hero Diala Passil is a force sensitive Twi'lek with
some Jedi training. This Diala is much better painted than mine. 

My other rebel hero was Mak Eshka'rey,
a Bothan Sniper. This Mak also
has a better paint job. 

And here's what Jean had to work with. You probably recognize most of these characters.

Imperial Assault was produced by Fantasy Flight Games, a company known for their games' strict adherence to theme. In almost every one of the 13 missions it looked like the rebels were up against impossible odds but often with some luck and resourcefulness they would scrape by. Diala would force throw a rescued prisoner the last few steps to the escape ship before the royal guards closed the distance or Mak would draw out a group of storm troopers only to dart around them and secure a terminal.

Of  course there were some failed missions too. There was this impregnable blast door that the rebels couldn't take down so Diala took to force throwing storm troopers into it with some success until the Empire hit the pause button on deploying storm troopers.

Going into the final mission the rebels had won seven mission and the empire five but the victor of the last mission won the campaign. Previous missions were to accrue resources, skills and allies. Over the series of the campaign Mak had evolved into a pretty slippery operator able to get in and out quickly while staying out the imperials' blaster sights. Diala was a formidable fighting machine. She had failed in a mission to recover her late master's light saber but armed with a force pike she could waylay entire squads of unwary storm troopers. They had won the respect of a couple of Wookie warriors who allied with them. Of course the Empire under Jean's calculating control had grown in strength too.

I'll point out what follows will include some spoilers so Jean's parents should probably stop reading because we might make them play this next time they visit. You've been warned...

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The campaign story takes places not long after the Battle of Yavin when the first Death Star was destroyed. Over the course of the campaign the rebels uncover a plot under the direction of General Weiss to develop a smaller version of the Death Star super laser that can be mounted on capital ships. Really? Another death star but smaller? Talk about creativity. I think it should have been a sinister plan to clone an army of Rian Johnsons to flood the universe with poorly written and directed movies, with gaping plot holes, useless subplots, and terrible characters. I think that kind of threat would have have gotten a response from the outer rim.

Anyway, Diala and Mak captured an imperial officer who after some persuasion let on that there was no miniaturized super laser in the works. General Weiss has just been playing a lot of mine sweeper on his computer and the whole super laser scheme was a feint designed to lure the Rebel forces into a trap.

So, trap avoided. Victory for the rebels right? Not quite, the final mission for the Rebel duo was to infiltrate a heavily guarded imperial base where Weiss was holed up and capture him. Why you ask? There's no super weapon and the rebels would just be falling into the trap the Empire set for them right? Apparently, the answer to the why question is above Mak and Diala's pay grade. They weren't doing anything this weekend anyway. Fortunately, the Wookie warriors weren't doing anything either and agreed to come along with them.

I filmed a time lapse of the last mission. The camera took a picture every minute. I'll let you do the math to determine how long the last mission took. That's were the agony comes in. Also, if you want to get a feel for the experience we listened to this youtube video of Star Wars music on repeat while we played.

   

So, if you didn't catch all that...

Mak, Diala, and the Wookie warriors engaged with Imperial forces just outside the base. Diala leapt out knocking down an entire squad of storm troopers in one sweeping strike with her force pike. Mak sniped at a royal guard and then rolled over and took out an e-web engineer gun emplacement. Then Diala force threw a royal guard into the clutches of the wookie warriors who tore him apart. The Nexu pounced on Diala and a Wookie Warrior. Diala activated a force field generator moments before the creature's claws would have ripped through them. Its attack repelled the creature retreated.  Mak and Diala closed in base entrance quickly dispatching the Nexu and the wounded royal guard at the door.

Breaching the base the heroes rushed in knocking back the defenders while the Wookies cleaned up stragglers.

Moving into the hangar the situation deteriorated quickly when it became apparent that the Empire had been holding a few surprises in reserve. A relatively innocuous probe droid had been armed with some enhanced weaponry. It stunned and bloodied Mak. A mundane imperial officer turned out to be a special operative with the Imperial Security Bureau. He peppered the the rebels with blaster fire with uncanny focus. Elite storm troopers charged into the hangar their specially equipped ion blasters blazing.

Having taken heavy fire in the initial onslaught, Diala took cover behind Mak to bind some of her injuries. Mak lay down suppressing fire taking out the elite storm troopers before they had an opportunity to close in. He stepped away to block off a royal guard bearing down on their position. Seeing the opening a probe droid swept in .Then a Nexu pounced, grievously wounding Diala. Bleeding badly Diala turned her force pike on the droid and creature dismembering them both in a single fierce blow.

Mak sprinted around to the door of the command center. Holding off several enemies he bypassed the lock on the door. It opened to reveal General Weiss on his knees before the imposing figure of Darth Vader. Vader's hand was outstretched and the General was clutching his own throat as he pleaded with the Sith Lord. Weiss crumpled to the ground and Vader turned to face the open door. Igniting his red light saber Mak fired two volleys into the figure's chest. His breast plate smoking but otherwise seemingly unfazed Vader lunged toward them.

Scrambling away, dismay filled Mak as he saw the hangar's blast door closing.  A Wookie warrior leapt into the room just before the the door slammed shut. Pressing up against the wall dodging blaster fire Mak glimpsed a billow of dark cape around the corner and then he couldn't breathe. As his vision  began to darken, he suddenly felt another force yanking his body through the air. The grip on his throat released as he crashed down behind cover. Mak looked up to see Diala lowering her open hand. She gave him a grim smile and then limped toward the Sith Lord, weapon bared.

Vader seemingly caught off guard, stepped back behind the corner exposing his outstretched hand. The Wookie warrior yowled and began to writhe grabbing at his throat. Within moments he collapsed.

Mak used the opportunity to rush to the blast door. If he could retract it they could fight a retreating action. Diala moved in to engage Vader her force pike lashing out. His light saber met the attack partially deflecting the blow as it grazed his shoulder.

As Mak drew his sights on the dark figure, a probe droid flew out from the back of the hangar stopping steps away from him. He glanced over looking into the droid's singular bulbous lens. The droid chirped and Mak dropped his rifle barrel with sinking realization. A moment later it exploded and Mak lost consciousness.

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And so, the Imperials won the day. The game was a lot of fun although it lends itself to over-analysis which which points to the title of this post and the ellipsis. I was going to use the title Imperial Assault: The Agony and the more Agony but that was working on the post only hours after the rebels' crushing defeat. Reflecting the next day I have some ideas for modifications to the game that could help with speeding it up and not making a less than optimal decision so punishing that hopefully players aren't compelled to spend as much time calculating.