Star. Wars. Rebellion. F. F. G. O. M. G.

Yeah, that is a downside too. Two players, 3+ hours...and solo, you have to give up all of the deduction/surprise/bluffing/subterfuge which is a huge part of the game. You can go through it and see how it works and still have fun with the mechanics/setting, but you're not actually playing it.

As for replay, I think if you play it twice a week for a month, you'll start to see that if you are Imperial and the Rebel player is sending out Mon Mothma and Leia across a system, they probably have the objective that gives them rep for having all of the systems in a region. But hey, maybe there's a bluff there, I haven't seen that yet.

But most folks aren't going to play it like that, it's very much an "event" title. But I also think that unlike a lot of those kinds of games, this one would be much easier to pick up and play after letting it alone for a couple of months or even a year.

Pete. Keep that condom in your wallet. It might come in handy if you have a Star Wars Boner.

Played again with my daughter. I was the Rebels this time, and won fairly easily at turn 9. She had the same problem I had as the Empire, in not moving around the units enough. I think you have to (fittingly) be very aggressive as the Empire, to root out Rebel pockets and to try to discover that base. Regardless, there were several awesome moments, including Darth cutting down Obi-Wan.

Total play time was 2 1/2 hours. It flows pretty well once you have the hang of things. I should be playing the 4p version on Saturday. Anyone tried that yet?

It's easy to get over-focused on those missions...but as the Empire, you have got to keep moving- even if it's just a couple of "expeditionary" forces. The Probe Droid cards give you at least some direction to triangulate possible locations...I love how that puts a timer on it too, the net sort of automatically tightens as the game goes on. You've got to remember that this game has Fury of Dracula/Scotland Yard/Letters to Whitechapel in its DNA, as much as Risk is in there. It is a deduction game. And there are effective Imperial tools and options to narrow down the location of the base, but that sort of plain old "going door to door" is important to do throughout the game.

I've played a lot of FoD this year, and I thought the same thing about Rebellion, that there's a similar kind of feel to it. Very different mechanics and game type, but there is a familiar type of hiding and misdirection going on, and trying to root out the enemy within a ticking time frame. Plays quite different as both sides, too. I love it so far, but I think you guys are right that there could be a point when you know the other side's tricks and it could seem a little scripted or same-y.

I played it again last night, again as the Rebels, but against a buddy of mine instead of my brother. Liked it even more the second time around. There were a whole lot of missions I didn't see again, and I had a few hands that were really difficult to plan out. There are a few cards that can pull Leia and Mon Mothma away from their usual missions and that will kind of have a ripple effect on everything else you plan out. If anything, more cards that do that would be a welcome addition, or cards that require one of two different attribute, or hell, two attributes. That would certainly open up the game for more bluffing.

Aside from certain characters usually being the best choice for certain missions, I still think the replay is fine and in fact, knowing the game and what can come up only strengthens the experience. My buddy didn't have a huge fleet around the Death Star, so knowing the Objective deck better this time, I had Leia do the Stolen Plans mission and sure enough, got the Objective for blowing up the Death Star. I would have done it, too, but the Empire stumbled upon my base and just so happened to have the Superlaser lined up and ready to go.

So I can definitely say I love this game. I see a few comparisons to other games, but there really isn't anything like it. Certainly something of a revelation in both the DOAM and worker placement genres, and is the first FFG game since I don't know what that is truly a _new_ design, not a reprint, re-theme, reimagining or streamlining of previous games.

Putting the combat card variant I came up with in the "what games..." thread in here.

Don't use the tactics cards at all. Before you make your combat roll, each ship may contribute one extra die of the appropriate color, with a total of extra dice not exceeding your leader's tactic rating in the current theater (you have the choice as to which ships contribute extra dice if the decision needs to be made). "Lightsaber clash" die results count as a hit (but not a "direct hit) and can be rerolled (ala "exploding sixes") OR be used to block a hit. Aside from this, normal combat rules apply.

Had my second playing yesterday and while I really like it overall, I agree that combat is a week point. Many of the combats are walkovers as players exploit a weakness; these are quick to resolve, esp if one side does not have a leader. But even a seemingly innocuous combat can drag. We had one where Ackbar and two capital ships faced off against Vader , a Star Destroyer, and two Assault Carriers. I think it went 7 or eight rounds. Another one with a stormtrooper, an AT-ATvs 3 Rebel Troopers went I think 4 rounds. I'd like to see something shorter. This game isn't about combat, its about strategy , bluffing, and resource management.

Played a 2p this past weekend, with me as the Rebels. The rules explanation went pretty well, I thought, and we spent probably five hours playing a learning game. (I think this is probably an unusually long time; he and I both play kind of slow, and there's a lot of text to process, especially at first when it's unfamiliar). My win as the Rebels is tainted by the fact that I forgot that Rapid Mobilization requires moving the Rebel base at the start of the Refresh phase, not when the mission is executed, so I was bebopping around a little too freely, but the game still ended up very close, and if the Imperials hadn't been arguably a little too concentrated, my last base at Ilium would've been found maybe a turn sooner, and I wouldn't have been able to defend it. This game would probably have been the highlight of most any weekend for me had I not played my first game of Triumph and Tragedy the next day.

Incidentally, is it just me, or does the Death Star under construction model not fit that snugly together? The other two came together fairly easily. I'm also a little annoyed at myself for chewing up some of the bases on the standees with the plastic stands when I should've known better having seen that happen with Arkham (and here the standards are transparent).

The combat cards are fine, and add a small advantage for having a leader in a fight who gets more of them. Where it can get a little wonky is when you roll a bunch of light sabers and draw a couple cards, then maybe draw some more, then sort through all of the damage and stuff you have available.

Where I might have simplified is to say that light-saber rolls can be used to trigger card effects (as they do), or re-rolls (including re-rolling themselves). That might have been a simpler, cleaner way to do things. But along with that, I think some leaders could have permanent effects, as if you always have a certain battle card in play with that leader, so there's always something for a light-saber roll to trigger (assuming you have that leader in the battle).

Played 3p the other night. I like how the team game works, alternating between Rebel-Empire-Empire-Rebel turns in the Command Phase. We did play it wrong the first few turns, where we had each person play everything on their turn, instead of alternating one action at a time. That probably gave a pretty heavy advantage to the Rebels (me), and sure enough I won pretty easily. The game did include a Jedi Luke blowing up a Death Star, so, you know, fun times.

Play time was 2 hr, 20 min, plus about 20 minutes of 'splainin'. But I think I won in turn 7-8, so it would have been another 20-30, at least, if it hadn't been a relatively easy Rebel win.

I may eventually use the War of the Ring combat system. Leaders just count as re-rolls. Simple straight forward quick.

KingPut wrote: I may eventually use the War of the Ring combat system. Leaders just count as re-rolls. Simple straight forward quick.

That was my first thought but then remembered the "X" results. I suppose I could change my variant to just using it for re-rolls, keep the X results being hits or blocks, your choice. The tactics cards are pretty much just blocks, hits, two hits, or reroll 2 dice, right? Yeah, they're boring and unnecessary.

I'm thinking that the leader rating just adds dice...2/3 leader gets two extra dice in space, three on the ground. Screw the blocking from the cards, that just slows it down. But you still get a sense of command effects.

I've decided the combat as written is stupid. The rest of the game is so great, and then there's this asinine mini-card game going on for the battles- which really aren't the focus of the design. They do this kind of shit to trick people into thinking that cards on top of dice give you more control. But all it needs is the die roll, two different levels of damage, and leadership to work. Not block cards.

Weirdly, it's kind of the same issue in We the People.

So people, I just got this bad boy as a birthday gift. DANG is that box big in a post coffin era.

A few updates if you please?

1. Is the combat REALLY that bad? I know it's off, but it also doesnt sound like an easy fix that anyone's come up with since its release.

2. How's 4 player? We're a group that I think would have fun with the team aspect and internal errors/self inflicted wounds. Adds to the authenticity of the chaos of war. Is there something otherwise really bad about it?

So excited for this one.

The combat isn't THAT bad.

3-4 player works slightly differently and the flow of the game can be a bit strange. You should be fine though.