Skip to main content

Star Wars: Imperial Assault v1

Star Wars: Imperial Assault

…It’s not fair! They promised me they fixed it! It’s not my fault!

Never underestimate the power of the EOG … the Star Wars: Imperial Assault rules summary is now operational.

I really don’t like the new system FFG has adopted for their rules. Now, I’m completely prepared to believe that it’s a great way to learn games, but for that I’ll have to rely on the opinions of other gamers. The thing is, I don’t learn rules the way FFG thinks I should. Which is to have one rulebook with the basic rules rules in it, enough to get me playing, and then another which is an alphabetical encyclopedia of every rule in the game that I can refer to when an issue crops up during play. Oh and by the way, there are some advanced rules at the end of the basic rules. And for this game, it’s all divided into campaign rules and skirmish rules. Gahhhhrrrooooahhhh! (wookie cry of frustration)

I don’t learn games like that, and it sure makes it hard to write a rules summary. This Star Wars: Imperial Assault summary was one of the most painful I’ve ever produced (and there have been some doosies in the 230 or so I’ve done over the years). This new system repeats itself in an excruciating way, so after I’d summarised the basic rules, I then had to go through the Rules Reference Guide entry by entry, adding rules and continually rewriting rules in my existing summary and deciding which were so pedantic they could be left out (eg. “The table space in front of a player is known as his play area. This is where a player keeps all game components that belong to him but are not on the game board.”)

To make things worse, rules are expressed differently in the reference guide than they are in the main rules, which causes confusion. And worst of all, I discovered one instance where they contradicted each other, and another when two steps were in a different order.

I’m not surprised, because the whole thing is a proof-reader’s nightmare!

Seriously, I applaud FFG for trying to improve their rulebooks. I just can’t keep feeling that an extra level of complexity has been added, when what was needed was simply better writing.

Anyway, after that rant, here it finally is, the Star Wars: Imperial Assault rules summary. I do hope it makes the process of learning the game easier if, like me, you’re not enamoured of the rulebooks. If you require more detail, may I respectfully direct you towards the game’s 28-page Rules Reference Guide.

7 Comments

Leave a Reply to CK Lai Cancel Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.