Miami Dice, Episode 148 - Star Wars: Imperial Assault
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- Опубліковано 1 чер 2024
- Tom Vasel and Sam Healey take a look at this game based on the Star Wars universe from Fantasy Flight Games.
00:00 - Introduction
01:47 - Game Overview
14:34 - Final Thoughts
Buy great games at www.gamenerdz.com/
Find more reviews and videos at www.dicetower.com - Ігри
"We're not allowed to give three lightsabers up."
I like to think in the Dice Tower Constitution Article 27 says
"And thou shalt not giveth more than two lightsabers up."
Watching this review makes me want to go out and get this game, then host a Star Wars game day, playing Imperial Assault missions with x-wing battles in between the missions.
That's an AT-ST not an AT-AT. Imperial Assault looks like a lot of fun, I might put off getting Warmachine and buy this instead. Great review.
Yes me too. I did a lot of research into Warmachine/Warhammer and went with Warmachine. I spent hours and hours gluing those stupid things together and painting them only for them to look like shit (all I wanted to do was play not glue and paint). The game itself was disappointing to say the least. I was hopeful and kept buying expansions like an idiots thinking it would get better. I made landscape, hills, etc. Save your money and don't buy Warmachine. I just bought Imperial Assault and I'm looking forward to playing it.
I already knew I had to have this game, but it was fun to look at. So jealous you have it so early Tom!
I liked how you were trying to be all nonchalant about it! It will happily sit on my shelf with Descent, for much the same reasons as Tom said he was keeping it. I love the back and forth activations, so sick of having my hordes of unactivated monsters wiped out by some lucky hero jerks.
I was so hyped for this game before and now i can't wait to pick it up! I don't know how I'm going to survive until the release! At least I'll have time to save the megabucks needed but then the expansions!! How am I going to feed my need for both this AND X-Wing!?!?!
Kudos to Sam on this one. Sam, your last minute analysis regarding the tactics focus (putting theme aside) was very helpful.
I just wish they would have waited to announce this game this game until the day it came out. I am on NO sleep!!
Thanks for the review guys! Great job.
Like they said, it's a ground-battles type game. I reckon eventually they will release a campaign type expansion to tie-in both Imperial Assault and Star Wars X-Wing so you can have a ground battle leading to a space battle etc. Granted I haven't played either of these games, but I can see the potential for it (both in terms of fun for gamers and money for Fantasy Flight lol). Oh man, now I want both of these games!
Someone needs to buy this for Sam...I love his excitement over this. I love seeing people be so passionate about something, and appreciating the work that goes into it. I have never played a dungeon crawler type game, but I am definitely tempted by this (this is much more appealing to me than the fantasy theme of Descent).
Great video guys, you've earned a new fan, my friends and I are starting a long-term campaign within the next week, and you helped make that more exciting!
I really like the line of sight mechanics. It seems like they really listened to the complaints about line of sight in Descent, and did something about it. Good on Fantasy Flight for doing that! I can't wait for this game to come out. I was super excited to hear on boardgame breakfast that FFG managed to do the unheard of and release it early.
Tom, that wasn't boring analysis by Sam at the end. It's an important consideration for many of us, because I'm guessing many of us own Descent 2.0 and we want to know what are the main difference between the two games (despite the obvious re-theme: Sci Vs Fantasy). :)
You can play the campaign just fine with 2 peeps. Skirmish is mostly that you can play a total tactical skirmish game with open information and its story stripped out… A nice contribution!
The new back and forth turn order system sounds really interesting to me. As I usually played Overlord in both Descent v1 and v2, it has always been frustrating to see heroes steam roll monsters that did not even get a chance to move, except for the odd "ambush" or "trap" cards.
The new system sounds like the game is a little less tactical for the heroes - more chaotic you could say - but also lot more fair to the 'evil' player.
You guys genuinely had me going there on the verdict. Already bought the game still yet to set some time aside to play it. After this, I truly cannot wait ^_^
I have an uninformed opinion since I've never played Descent, but I'm intrigued by Imperial Assault due to the mention of engaging storyline. Thanks for the review :)
Its not only the turn sequence that got better or the combat dice. Also the threat and respawn mechanics got a lot better not to speak of the hidden information. It is really Descent 2.5 or what Descent 2 wanted to be.
I haven't played the campaign yet but the skirmish is incredible. Can't wait for the companion app!
Thank you for the video! This review made me want to buy the game instantly!
Very coolz. I like the fact 2 groups can get different value from the game, playing just campaign vs skirmish. I'm thinking really hard about this one. I really like mice and mystics and the narrative it has. And it feels like this would compete with that for tablespace. How does the descent system compare to level7?
It's like the ghost of Walt walked by, waved his hand and said, "You will praise the game. Pretend I was never here, but mention my name at least once."
Thanks for the review of the game, I'm really looking forward to this one. What scale are the miniatures? Are the similar to the ones from the Star Wars Minis game?
I'm more into fantasy than star wars BUT I think it's awesome that the syfy guys have a descent like game. This looks amazing! Great job FF.
So my question is can I use my Star Wars CMG maps with this? I have a ton of 1" square maps for the collectible minis game, and would like to see if I can use them PvP part of the game.
Play session please. I'm so excited for this.
I have decent and I still have my starwars minis set. I still feel like I need this game. :(
I don't think I have ever seen Tom gush over a game so much. :)
I am definitely looking forward to this game (for the minis if nothing else). I would have liked to see the skirmish game version in action a little bit.
I would've never guess a Star Wars game could create this kind of mayhem! It's like samcro and the mayans in this comment section. SW is a divisive theme... wow.
i know im really late but i just bought this so i wanted to know what you guys thought about the campaign mode. Personally my one gripe is that i have to put stickers on the nice minis to differentiate between different storm trooper groups, etc.
This just blows me away. I MUST own it. Take my money now FFG!
I'm okay with being in the minority. A lot of people liked Twilight too. It's just not very good. Maybe for kids, though my son doesn't like it. HOWEVER, I like the idea of Star Wars and it's characters and love Descent, so I'm interested in this one. Great review, guys. You're the best in the business!
Thanks for the review. It looks the biz!
Stormtroopers rolling for "to hit"...isn't that an oxymoron? :D Seriously, they should be rolling on whether they hit themselves, other Imperials, or randomly walking into doors. (yes, I went there)
Hey Tom & Sam,
How would you compare this to Doom? I own Doom but never finished playing a game. The last time I tried to play it, I think we started at 8 pm and quit at 1 am or 3 am. In my opinion, the problem was that my gaming buddies didn't obey the "1 minute per turn" house rule and that's why it dragged on.
So, how is the set up time for this? Is there a need to have a "1 minute per turn or lose it" house rule?
Doom was pre-Descent 1, and this is based on Descent 2, which is designed with more bite-sized missions. It's supposed to take around 2-3 hours per mission. Of course missions are supposed to be strung along in a campaign, but that's not all going to be in one sitting.
Nathan Cushman I never played Descent. So the only real change was that FFG recognised the levels in Doom were too long?
Thanks for the review.
I really would like to know Sam's opinion on Imperial Assault vs Omega Protocol since he said in another recent video that this one would probably make Omega Protocol go down on his list.
Probably will be elaborated on later...but initially, this is a lighter game that Level 7: Omega Protocol, and as such, fits a different mold, so to speak. Do I enjoy it more than OP? Yes, but mainly because of the theme. I like each game in different ways and for different reasons even though they are similar. Imp. Assault fits in between Descent and OP concerning complexity...almost like a sweet spot. I don't know...we'll see.
Sam Healey the inevitable expansions will probably make a big difference between those games overtime.
Javier Perez Yep. I still hope Privateer Press will do one expansion at least. L7OP is much closer to D1E in terms of gameplay depth and session length. I do think you can also decouple single missions out of the campaign book very well. You can’t do that with SW:IA then. So owning and playing both (even along Descent 1) makes much sense. The only child on the shelf that is going to be left alone in the dark woods is Descent 2 - simply obsolete.
you guys are really good at reviewer
What I want to know. How possible would It be to kinda combine X-wing and Imperial assault into a big mega game.
Hahaha, looks like Vader has a limp schwartz.
Any chance we could get a play session done of this? I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan, but this would be an easy sell for the people I play with.
so can the Overlord player in this game be appropriately called the Emperor?
5:00 AT-AT? Sorry Tom but that's an AT-ST (All terrain scout transport)
On a separate note...when is the next top 10 list? I like Tom, Sam, and Zee and their banter...I miss it. It would be cool if you guys revisited Top 10 Co-ops with your new format (each doing their own top 10s) since there may be a couple new ones on the list. It would also be cool if you showed the boxes again like you used to (but I do like how Tom writes the details of the game, but it is also cool to see what the game looks like).
This week. Probably tomorrow.
very nice thanks allot!
Hi Sam, if you were doing your top 100 games now, what position would this be? Given Descent isn't in Zee's top 100, would he like it?
This looks really good! Won't be out here in Belgium until March 2015 at the earliest, but who cares. I'm putting this on my wish list!
Joachim Beunckens I think it should. It is going to be released officially before xmas and you should be able to order the international/us version prior to march 2015.
I AM JUST FINDING OUT YOUVE ALREADY REVIEWED THIS!!!!!!!!
I am really into board gaming. I have never seen any Star Wars movies, cartoons, etc. This game is, personally, my most hyped game of the year, and I'm going to buy it as soon as I can find it. Does that say something? It should! haha :)
Gasp!!! Someone with a FX industry support green scree "logo" has not seen any of the Star Wars movies that drove the FX industry to new heights. This is weird to me.
I'm sure you will enjoy this game (it looks awesome), but I would encourage you to also watch the movies! especially the original trilogy.
I did! I saw the first trilogy, and I'm mid-way through episode 1. I also got x-wing and expansions and Imperial Assault cause it's AMAZING!
glad to hear you watched the films! :)
Tom and Sam your almost like gushing pre teen fanboys in that review.
As a fellow Star Wars fanatic and grognard all I can say is "God Bless You both"!
I like how the Level 7 [Omega Protocol] and Descent boxes are just over Tom's shoulders throughout the discussion. And that leads to my question. How does Imperial Assault compare with Omega Protocol? For example, I've never played Descent so I don't know how much fun the "GM" player has with this type of game.
i'll probably buy this just for the minis and terrain for use with my D6 star wars games
If I hadn't invested in the D&D Adventure Series, I probably would consider picking this up. However, half my play group could "take or leave" Star Wars as a theme since it's got such a highly charged fandom. This is also why they basically said "ehhh" to the Firefly game until they played it. Now it's on "the list of games we should get back to someday".
Is it weird they'd probably react better if it was a generic thing rather than Star Wars. Or Star Trek.
OK, i dont like SW much, dont know why, i usually like sci-fi. But man, this game looks SO GOOD. And some mechanics are much better than Descent 2,0 i almost feel bad that descent dont use them. I will probably stick to Descent now, because im waiting for more pure cooperative expansions...
I'm with you. I'm not a fan of SW at all, and love sci-fi. I would be absolutely giddy if this was Trek/BSG/Firefly, but the game still looks really cool and I do like the idea of SW. So this will probably be the first SW anything I've ever bought.
That's because Star Wars is Science-Fantasy - the IP's that Michael Gardner names, Trek/BSG/Firefly are all Sci-Fi. Think of it this way: if it's set in a future world as our own, that's most likely Sci-Fi. Science-Fantasy incorporates Fantastical elements to the setting (the Force). That could be why some people are confused when they like one and not the other.
I'm 36, and my fav scifi was made before SW. I think the once-upon-a-time-ness is just too much for me. I grew up with Star Wars and liked it as a kid, but then discovered Trek and didn't look back.
Joseph Bradshaw
What I did like about SW was the more subtle moral issues where things are grey. There is no pure good and pure evil. There are rather "good" people that sometimes do not too good things and the other way around. KOTOR really shines here. Alignment mechanics is something that is totally missing in SW:IA. Personally I like the game very much but it did not carry what SW is about for me in comparison to KOTOR. But then I am not a big SW fan anyway (especially not when its just about action).
gideons .mob I did really only like EP3. If EP1 was more of a dream facilitating troubles and narcissism I'd have loved the whole EP1-EP3 as a fiction of transition - but as it is only EP3 really delivers here. The other movies are more what Lucas once said in an interview: sword fighting action adventure movies (like the Excalibur theme) set in a space theme.
Great video! Do you think that this is suited to solo play as well?
Awesome, thanks!
Yay Imperial Assault review :)!
And here's Darth Vader with a.. whip :)
haha
dang if it goes up past 100$ for 2 plastic figures they be pulling a warhammer
To be honest, Tom. I don't like Star Wars anymore. But I will be picking this up.
Why? Maybe I feel the need to fix what was broken? Repair my childhood memories.
And maybe because it a good game.
9th-most-watched Dice Tower review (as of November 28, 2016.
Now I just have to wait for my pre-order. Aaaaaaaaaaaah!
spice? like in dune?
couldn't resist :)
Maui Chris Man I miss Dune (instead of Rex) as well as a Dune Miniatures game…
ionas82 Also a Dune Themed Cosmic Encounter ;)?
During our play-through, I actually quoted, "He who controls the spice controls the universe..." when he explained what the containers were filled with...;)
… you have to do, what you have to do to get space travel working (so sad I don’t smoke pot… *wants to be a navigator too*). So Sam and Tom, try to convince the Herberts to do some awesome Dune games with Arcane Wonders, will you :P?
@@SamHealey6 CHOAM
This is a very expensive game here in Australia ($US100) but my boyfriend just watched this video and I think it's pretty much solidified us getting it this weekend
Do the rules of Imperial Assault allow for an eventual Sith Expansion where you play the bad guys?
It's like FFG took X-Wing and Decent and smooshed them together. I don't mind at all. This is an insta-buy for me. I love the theme and both the games I mentioned earlier. I hate those mini-cards though.
Funny to see that a lot of the artwork is from Star Wars Rebellion.
I LOVE STAR WARS! Represent and thumb up!
Would the skirmish be good to play first fi you're not used to this sort of game, or can you go straight to the campaign and learn the mechanics just fine?
The campaign mode easier in terms of gameplay. It doesn't have many complex choices unlike the skirmish mode. Also i would highly recommend trying out the skirmish as i find it way more enjoyable than the campaign.
The maps seem quite small. I'm hopeful that it's a better, more balanced, more tactical game than Descent 2e.
The maps grow and morph with each individual mission. From what I've seen, they start smaller in earlier missions and get bigger as the campaign goes along.
Sam Healey Ahh yes, Sam!
Tell us your experience with this game! Were there any moments in which you thought it was dry or are there any pet peeve of yours in this game?
Sam Healey Good to hear, Sam. It is a definite must-buy.
khan507 One of my biggest gripes against Descent 2.0 was the line-of-sight rule...any part of one square to any part of the other, and you have LOS...*(spit)*. LOS in SW:IA is more intuitive (having to draw clear lines to both facing corners of the targets location), while not being the same ol', "middle-to-middle". It might sound fiddly, but this, for me, gives the game a lot more credibility and reality. Having both friendly and enemy units block LOS also lends to this positivism.
Vader is uber-powerful...which is fitting, I suppose...being a dark lord of the Sith and all. The vanilla characters are fitting to the universe, too...with the caveat that the Jedi is a bit of a push-over at first...you know, we all expect the lightsaber wielding Jedi to step through the smoke, which is colored by the hue of his weapon...but he starts with what amounts to a quarterstaff...not exciting, but fitting for the eastern mysticism feel that Jedi have. I'm sure he'll be way cool once you find his lightsaber, but that's one of those side missions the video talks about. I had fun playing the vanilla wookie, and got to do his side mission, helping Chewie pay off one of Han's debts, in the second mission we played. Seeing the two in action side by side, Chewie was definitely more powerful and had better abilities, but the vanilla wookie could still hold his own. The special abilities that come along with each vanilla character are all very thematic, and help each one have their own feel. So, I'm looking forward to having more plays, and seeing how each character grows.
Ultimately, as a core set, this is a grand slam. It's only going to get better with expansions. FFG have very nearly outdone themselves, in my opinion. Now to go cross my fingers and hold my breath for a Star Wars themed TI3...;)
The most important thing to me is that the overlord player has some ability to push back against the heroes. I think what Sam Healey was trying to say in the video is that in Descen 2e, the heroes can steamroll the monsters because the latter tend to pop like piñatas with one or two good hits.
Looks like you got a limp Vader at 4:42
Wow, Tom scored this WAY early. I'm well jeal.
My biggest problem with this game is that it seems biased against ranged characters. When I played, I found that the hallways and opening/closing doors were very claustrophobic and that my ranged character almost never had line of sight to contribute anything significant to the party's efforts without exposing himself to massive damage. Maybe I need to play more, but it seemed to me like melee was the only viable strategy, which was disappointing.
Gee, I wonder if they liked it? Hmm...hard to say.
Yeah, I've already pre-ordered this badboy.
how does it compare to level 7 omega protocol?
all FFG wants to do anymore is essentially get you to buy a monthly subscription. it's starting to feel like they're treating almost every game like an LCG now.
Maui Chris Sadly, that’s quite true, FFG is the new WotC :(.
Awesome. Descent 2 with a Star Wars theme. I'm glad I never bought Descent this looks better.
FFG is starting to take Games Workshop road - less and less stuff for more and more money.
Just for comparison:
1st Descent: 80 figures
2nd Descent: 39 figures
Imperial Assault: 35 figures
(I am not even counting how many other things were cut in Descent 2nd edition comparing to 1st edition )
Of course prices went up.
FFG policy of milking wallets is getting disgusting.
This comment isn't really correct. Descent 1 was $100 ten years ago. Adjust that for inflation, and the fact that oil prices went through the roof, directly effecting plastic prices. Imperial Assault comes with a figure that is MUCH larger than any of the Descent figures. AND they are paying for the Star Wars license.
The Dice Tower
Last reprint of Descent 1st edition was in 2010. I could buy it then in my country for about 93 dollars. Taking inflation into consideration the same game these days would cost me 113 dollars. In 2010 oil prices (West Texas Intermediate) were in range of 73-84 dollars per a barrel. Taking an inflation into consideration it means 79-91 dollars these days. Now, looking at the current oil prices - at the end of 2013 barrel of oil costed 110 dollars and this price steadily declined into 70 dollars per barrel range. So no, I dont think prices of oil should have as big impact on prices of games, taking into consideration that newest FFG products are about half the size of their old games.
embir82 So every publisher in existence who has told me this is lying?
The Dice Tower Yes.
To be clear, that's EVERY PUBLISHER IN EXISTENCE.
Looking at the scale, it looks like you can use the old Star Wars mini's for the game. That would beef up the skirmish part and I like the idea of both!!
ok so this could be better for me than Descent. I once watched people play Descent on UA-cam and it just looked like dice Rolling and completely random and based on luck. When you say that Imperial Assault is also about tactics I will have an eye on it (I really liked Andor which also requires more of thinking :-) )
Star Wars is fantasy, but compared to Descent it's closer to science fiction.
I love Star Wars but there's little reason for me to get this. We already have Descent as well as other similar games. Also i kind of dislike that you have to prepare missions beforehand in these kinds of games. I love Dorn because that game always works the same, yet it still plays differently every time, no preparation necessary. If i have to prepare something beforehand i might as well go all the way and play pen and paper.
RPGs do require a huge commitment. That much is true but some people like to do that much work because they feel it's worth it. I recently finished my campaign with a huge dungeon that took some time to prepare. The preparation was fun though. That's how it should be. Also the sessions (i think it took 4) were a blast and, without tooting my own horn, i think the players will remember this adventure for a long time. They seemed to be enjoying themselves very much.
I also think you're exaggerating. It's not THAT much work. If your preparation takes longer than the actual gaming session you're either doing something wrong or you're simply not the game master type. You're not writing a movie script here.
I'd like to know why these big games are disappearing (although i do think that rpgs will also be around in one form or another because there's simply nothing like it). Is it because people have shorter attention spans or is it because people are too stressed out to be willing to do work for their hobby?
This looks awesome, Descent: Star Wars. Great idea. But what's the price? Fantasy Flight tend to charge a lot for their games already. And Disney aren't known for NOT being greedy...
I won't be surprised if they ask $90 or 100 for this game. Which to me wouldn't be worth it even slightly.
$68.99 for pre-order right now on www.coolstuffinc.com...jus' sayin'
This is true, $68.99 and $6.79 for one of the 8 expansion packs ready for preorder... just take my wallet FF
Sam Healey
Yeah I saw that, kickass price. Alas, I don't believe Coolstuff ship overseas. I'm in Norway. :/
MrJenssen I'm in Argentina and almost everything in my collection is from CSI.
MrJenssen I'm from Brazil, and always order from CSI.
Did you notice the crate looks like a companion cube?
They say this is not an incomplete game but they use tokens to represent some of the characters? :(
You say it's not a Descent killer. But is it an Level 7: Omega Protocol killer?
Haha, "A rogue... a leader..." xD
How would you describe this? RPG, Turned Based Strategy?
Well of course you have to make your lightsaber first. It's the real STAR WARS then... :D
The LCG is really good.
I like the original trilogy. Don't care about the Universe. I'm glad that Darth and Luke are in this.
justsignmeup911 then how do you get into your characters if you don’t care about the universe?
Tom, I like the clean-shaven look. It makes you look younger :)
Tom is like a giant among men.
All those people standing around at the end were creepy. They all looked like they were dead...
Is this out yet?
name of intro music anyone?
Eight Lightsabres up? Does it have a chance to take TI3's throne, Sam Healy? ;-)
This looks good and I do love starwars but 2 things are bugging me 1.) It makes no sense, if you want new Jedi and new people that's awesome. That's what I want. Or if you want Luke and Vader going at it. That's cool too but both seems weird. This can't fit into the starwars history anywhere 2.) I don't see much if any difference between this and descent.
How about, it's just a board game, a board game about Star Wars. A board game that lets you live out your Star Wars fantasy - whichever one that may be, whether it's Vader vs Luke or Luke vs some expanded universe character.
1) It's based on the Star Wars universe...it doesn't necessarily HAVE to fit anywhere specifically in the universe in order to make sense. That being said, the different scenarios' storylines could very easily fit nicely into the extended universe with minimal effort.
2) This is similar to Descent in some ways, but overall, this is a much more tactical version of Descent.
I think there's definitely ways around any odd seeming bits of theme. Having Luke and a brand new Jedi, try to think of the new one as Luke's apprentice. That's the beauty of boardgames. Your imagination plays a massive factor.
Lyle Jackson Despite claiming it feels like SW, it feels like an awesome game, but not much like SW but like a bug fixed version of Descent 2.0 (sell it off) (and a good streamlined iteration of Descent 1.0).
So, this or Descent, for people who aren't very familiar with Star Wars?
+Ben Shabtai Some say that SW:IA is a little bit better (although very very similar). Some differences are quest length, line of sight mechanic and how monster groups and heroes take turns (instead of all heroes finishing their turn and then all monster groups).
Personally I've only played Descent 2nd Ed and I love it. Some really hate it though because they say Heroes are OP, while others say the Overlord is OP.
As with any game that involves luck (rolling dice) you should be careful about complaining about balance.
I'd recommend both, but if you're not really into Star Wars (like me) and enjoy the fantasy theme, I don't see why you would go for SW:IA over Descent 2nd Ed.
This video seems really biased. I'm putting all the blame on Tom here, I feel like Sam could have done his own review. It just seems like you guys are just selling a product, if you really wanted to do a review have zee do the video with you. We know Tom will like it, (he's been talking about since gen con last year.) and we(the fans) know zee will hate it. So we get both sides of the coin. Just saying
That is exactly the reason why I don´t subscribe. I say that even though I like Imperial Assault and I know at the end of the day it is my responsibility what I use my money for (I talk about Dice Masters in particular that was a huge let down and money sink). Still specifically Tom´s hype left me with a sour aftertaste not just a few times. Especially when he is "ignoring" the game not that much later because there is overhype again for the next thing. Don´t think IA is in his top 100 as of 2019 because he decided he likes fantasy better ;).
For me the AT-ST did not slide in, I had to fix it with hot water and a knife.
Just take my money FFG! Looks too good to say no...
Corey Konieczka ftw!