Star Wars: Imperial Assault

A game of legendary Star Wars adventure and tactical miniatures combat

It may be Descent 2nd Edition reskinned with a few tweaks, but who can deny the appeal of Imperial vs Rebel battles done in the high quality Fantasy Flight Games style? I must admit my personal vision of Star Wars tactical battles is played in much more expansive environments than tight corridors and small rooms. But once I got the game to the table and started playing the campaign I began to really enjoy it; the bad guys seem a bit stronger in this game than in Descent and it feels more fun for the Overlord equivalent (the Imperial player). There’s also a two-player skirmish mode in the box that adds value to the game.

Along with the rules summary, you’ll also find the first guest contribution on the EOG, a wonderful foamcore box insert design from EOG member David Acton.

Update Log

Rules Summary
Date Version Changelog
Jan 2019 2 Added expansions summary
Mar 2016 1.4 Added steps to combat sequence; other small clarifications throughout rules
Mar 2016 1.3 Small typo fix to attribute tests; change of order on campaign spending of XP steps
Sep 2015 1.2 FAQ changes: update to skirmish activation, other small clarifications
Jun 2015 1.1 Added Quick campaign summary
Feb 2015 1 Original release
Foamcore Box Insert Plans
Date Version Changelog
Feb 2015 1.1 Small fixes to bottom figures tray
Feb 2015 1 Original release

54 Comments

  • Kevin Perales says:

    Thank you so much for doing this, I can’t wait to make it! Quick question: is there a summary of “total amount of foam needed”? I’d hate to start working on it and find out I need a whole other board!

  • Art says:

    This is awesome! Any chance we’ll see a rules summary sometime in the future?

  • ggarfer says:

    I can answer you to that: With a 100×70 cm piece of foam core you should have enough.

  • Jesse says:

    Just finished making my own set. Fits great, even with my mediocre foam cutting skills! Depending on how much stuff we get with the pending expansion, there just might be room for them.

  • Davi says:

    Do you know if using the FFG card sleeves will make the cards too big to fit for this plan? That’s the only thing keeping me from building this, I like using their card sleeves but I also really like this storage system.

    • I have no idea, but if you find out the dimensions of the sleeves and check the plan, I’m sure you can work it out. 🙂

    • Bremic says:

      Many box mods fall apart when you try to make them work with sleeves. The FFG sleeves will add about 2mm to the width and height of each card, and about double the thickness – so you will probably find this mod won’t work.

      • Sergio says:

        Same here, I like to sleeve all my games. All the plans here are great, but don’t account for sleeved cards. Unfortunately is not a matter of just adding 2mm to each card compartment since that would throw off the entire plan. Keep up the great work though! I’m continuously impressed by the level of quality on the entire site.

        • Thanks! Sorry I can’t help with the sleeved cards thing.

          • juref says:

            About the sleeves – for the large cards, I use Fantasy Flight standard sleeves, for the small ones Mayday Yellow (mini USA). The large sleeved cards are 6 cm in width and 9.4 cm in length. This means that the spaces for the large cards have enough width for them but the ones on each end are about 0.4 cm to short, the middle row is perfect. I think I’ll try and make the same thing but without the middle four short walls to separate the decks, I’ll maybe glue in some thick paper instead.

            The small cards when sleeved measure 4.4 cm in width and 6.6 in length, this means that the smaller Tray 1 should fit them with no problems, the larger Tray 2 has spaces which are wide enough but about a millimeter or so too short – again, I think I’ll substitute the middle wall with thick paper or something similar.

            TL;DR: Depending on the sleeves, this design can be adapted for sleeved cards.

            ps. thanks to Universal Head for the awesome design in the first place 🙂

  • Jesper says:

    What thickness is the foam core use in the plans?

  • The8thPagan says:

    Had my first game of Imperial Assault today. Campaign mode to learn the rules (with obligatory reference sheet from the Esoteric Order). Few mistakes first game (as there always is), but think we sorted it out in the end. Didn’t get time to try Skirmish.

    Were we doing rest wrong for rebels? We interpreted rules as heal strain with excess going to wounds, which allowed them to heal very quickly if they have taken no strain.

  • Is the foam core insert made for sleeved cards?
    Thanks for a great site with awesome information

  • aviectus says:

    thank you about this!! many many many Kudos!!

  • Anyone tested this with the Twin Shadows expansion, does it fit?

  • The8thPagan says:

    Twin Shadows arrived today along with Mr Fett and a pair of droids. I haven’t foamcored IA yet, but may once I try cramming it all in. Or may use Twin Shadows box for miniatures and core box everything else.

  • Joseph Lemire says:

    What expansions/ally/villain packs have you been able to fit into this?

    Thanks!

  • Mack says:

    I made a custom insert for this game inspired by your other foam core posts. If I got around to making a pdf of it, would you be interested in showcasing it? I have the design made up in Google sketch up, although that isn’t a nice pdf document.

    • I really appreciate your offer Mack but I’m going to stick with just this one solution for the time being. This solution was submitted by a contributor, and making it up so it fits the format I use is quite time-consuming. If I did it for multiple submissions it would all get it a bit out of hand. Again though, I do appreciate the offer! Perhaps I will host user-submitted designs for other games in the future.

      • The other great thing to do would be to show it off it in the forums, where you can get feedback from other members of the EOG and possibly field requests for the plans – that would be excellent!

  • The8thPagan says:

    Been ages since I played Imperial Assault and never got around to side missions, but planning a campaign soon.

    I know how to build a side mission deck, but can’t find the reference to ‘activate a mission’.

    Do the Rebels just draw a card at end of the story mission?

    • The mission itself tells you what to do at its end, and whether a story card is added to the story mission deck. This may be affected by Imperial player Influence cards (which may send the players on a forced mission).

  • The8thPagan says:

    It’s the side missions I’m confused about. It goes story, side, story, side etc.

    Not sure how the side missions are added.

    • Mission Stage > Post-Mission Cleanup, you draw a Side Mission card as an active side mission. When it’s side mission time in the mission log, the players choose one from the active side missions. When it’s story mission time, choose an active story mission.

  • CK Lai says:

    @8th ; after you finish the Introductory mission for a campaign, the rules say “If players just resolved the introductory mission, shuffle the Side Mission deck, and then draw two cards placing them faceup on the table. These are the active missions that Rebel players can choose to resolve during future Mission Stages.” (page 13). That’s how you get your Active Side Mission Deck.

  • The8thPagan says:

    Thanks. Missed that skimming the rules. I was wondering why it implied a choice if only one card drawn.

  • The8thPagan says:

    Been reading the forums at FFG and some of the missions are problematic I hear, extremely difficult for Rebels to win. Anyone experienced this and found solutions?

    • Thre’s one where (from memory) the strength of a door increases to ridiculous levels, and if I’d ‘gamed’ that one the rebels wouldn’t have had a chance. But that was the only one I noticed. In our campaign, the rebels won.

  • Satanicmoogle says:

    Hi Universal Head,
    Have you ever thought about creating a campaign log for Imperial Assault? I’ve seen a few on BGG that include check boxes for the heroes items/skills, but none that include the expansions. Plus they lack your artistic eye.

    • I thought about it when I started the first campaign, but then I realised that (for me) the sheet provided and some ziplog bags were all you needed to keep track of the campaign from game to game, and anything else was overkill.

  • The8thPagan says:

    Just watching FFG keynote online and they revealed that there will be Imperial Assault app for co-op… no surprise there. Sometime next year was the vague release date.

  • The8thPagan says:

    Jabba’s Realm arrived. Looking forwards to painting some scum. Be interesting to field Rancor vs AT-ST in skirmish game.

  • Jb Lecaillon says:

    Hi, Thanks for this plan !!! Do you have some plan for Hoth or Jabba’s Realm ? Thanks

  • I’d like to adapt your designs to 3D printed frames mounted to foam core bases (because 3d printing the flat base board would be a waste of time and plastic). If it works well, I’d like your permission to share the models on Thingiverse with attribution back to your site. Any objections?

    • This is one of the few things on the site I didn’t design personally, so I can’t give you permission, no. You’ll have to contact David Acton.

      • Well, looking further into it, I decided to skip the 3D printing and just do the foam for a few reasons, but mostly because the pieces would be quite a bit larger than my print bed and trying to print everything in pieces that all need to be glued together would be a paid. Thanks though!

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