What’s more, it looks like this board game actually includes imagery from the new trilogy of Star Wars films - which makes a nice change from most of the other games on this list. (Not that the original trilogy of films is a bad source of inspiration to take from, of course.)

Following on from his wider thoughts on future expansions for Fantasy Flight games, Navaro responded to specific questions about why Star Wars: Imperial Assault had stopped receiving content, citing “business reasons” but suggesting that Imperial Assault had reached a natural 'completion'. 2. Is Imperial assault still supported? In the campaign game, you and your friends take on the roles of one of six heroes of the Rebellion, such as a smuggler, a veteran soldier, a Wookiee warrior, or even a Force user. Throughout the missions of the campaign, you continue to play one hero, gaining experience, new skills, and upgraded weapons and armor as the campaign goes on. You play these heroes throughout a campaign, even working with iconic characters like Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in some missions. Star Wars Imperial Assault is a game where 1-5 players aged 14 years and over will play as imperial or rebel forces and fulfil mission objectives. This strategy board game of missions and tactical combat offers two games of both battle and adventure set in the Star Wars universe! That's because they're in control of each scenario. Broadly speaking, anyway. From setup to game-end, team Empire is responsible for controlling all enemies, narrating the plot, and deploying any twists that come up during each mission. However, this doesn't give them too unfair an advantage. Despite being undeniably powerful, Imperial units can't hold a candle to the Rebellion's best and brightest. This hardened team will make short work of the average Storm Trooper, and our playtest featured a wookie warrior that was able to carve through their ranks like butter (all while shrugging off blaster fire like a furry Terminator).The campaign element makes it sort of like an RPG. You’ll level up Rebel characters whilst the Imperials will get more, and better, reinforcements as the war rages. The map changes each mission by combining tiles to create a board (a tiny bit like legend of Dr’izzit). After a set number of missions, you’ll reach the end of a predetermined story. Then you can choose to play skirmish missions (one-off battles). Or you can work through the campaign again by swapping roles, changing characters, or taking a different approach. An adventure board game for one to four players, Outer Rim takes place over a series of turns in which players select their missions, upgrade their ship and search for renown; the ultimate goal of the game is to gather enough fame to be remembered for centuries to come. Each player character has a unique personal goal they can fulfill, as well as general activities such as smuggling illegal goods and taking on jobs from warring factions that’ll increase your infamy. Every new job that players take on could mean more money and renown, but it could also mean an equal amount of danger and potential death. Outer Rim shakes things up by sidestepping the war between Rebels and Empire; rather, it's about getting famous. You see, this particular Star Wars board game revolves around scoundrels like Lando Calrissian and Boba Fett. As is befitting for such self-interested rogues, you're aiming to become the best-known mercenary in the galaxy. Picture it: the Death Star has just exploded over the surface of Yavin 4 and the Empire is desperately seeking the Rebels responsible. Meanwhile, a team of courageous Rebel soldiers are currently infiltrating the Empire’s base in search of a way to further undermine their regime. It’s pretty gripping stuff. This translates into dungeon-crawling gameplay by having a group of players assume the roles of Rebel heroes as they attempt to complete a series of covert missions, before trying to flee the Empire base without being eliminated by enemy forces. An opposing player (unless you’re using the game’s companion app to make things fully co-op) controls the armies of the Empire in their quest for dominance and the destruction of the Rebellion - in other words, kill all the Rebel units before they escape.

As you can tell, the Galactic Civil War is a popular topic for Star Wars board games, possibly because many fans don’t have a huge amount of goodwill for the prequels and the latest trilogy has yet to receive its own decent dedicated board game. Star Wars: Empire vs. Rebellion is a card game that sees two players engage in a tense standoff as the respective Rebel and Empire forces. It might seem like a bold move to distill something as grand as the Galactic Civil War into a straightforward card game, but it actually does a surprisingly good job of recreating the feel of the original trilogy. The missions are more consistently well-made than with Descent. There’s an imbalanced stinker in there every once in awhile, but most of the missions at least seem attainable by both sides (with 4 heroes; no matter what your player count you should use the full complement of 4 Rebel heroes). The imbalances, of course, come in over the campaign itself because of the built-in snowballing notorious in both this and the Descent games. The winners get stronger between missions by getting more XP and better abilities than the losers. There’s an introductory mission to help you figure out the basic game mechanics and it’s worth playing that. Not to mention some useful tutorial videos that can be found online. Well, each mission can take a different length of time. But combining set-up and set-down you probably need at least 90 minutes per mission. But that doesn’t tell the whole tale of commitment. Alternatively, you could play Star Wars: Force and Destiny, a roleplaying game more concerned with the struggle between the Sith and Jedi than the two major armies. In Force and Destiny, players can choose between following the dark or light side of the Force as they develop their very own Force-sensitive character. Join the Rebellion, become part of the Empire or ignore the conflict altogether and go your own way - Force and Destiny lets you decide.Destiny may no longer be actively supported by Fantasy Flight, but it’s liked enough that it could see a fan-supported afterlife similar to the one experienced by departed living card game Android: Netrunner. Regardless, there are still plenty of ways to get your hands on cards and dice for the time being, so Destiny isn’t quite dead and gone yet. Star Wars: Age of Rebellion is an TRPG in which players become Rebel soldiers fighting during the height of the Galactic Civil War. The roleplaying system allows players to really experience what being the underdog is like, as the Empire looms over the galaxy and the Rebel Alliance desperately attempt to pull-off missions to undermine their power. Despite the inordinate amount of trash that populates the Star Wars board game galaxy like a drifting asteroid field, there are actually quite a few decent - nay! - even excellent examples of tabletop experiences set in the classic sci-fi universe. Whether you’re looking for a co-op board game filling in the gaps between Episode IV and V or a storytelling RPG where players can become powerful Jedi, here are the ten best Star Wars board games to play this Star Wars Day. Best Star Wars board games

After each scenario, both sides get rewards to help them level up and acquire new skills. The winners, of course, get additional rewards. The Rebel side gets to use their XP and money to acquire new skills, weapons, armor, and other gadgets, and the Imperial side uses their XP to acquire new cards of doom that can be seriously annoying (I’ve primarily been a Rebel player so far).I think Matt (who you know from the podcast) put it best: Fantasy Fight’s Descent 2nd Edition is a fun game despite itself. Dungeon crawling is just a fun genre. I love having my own character with their individual attributes and skills. I like having the trappings of an RPG without the required commitment. And even though I typically enjoy more heavily strategic games, sometimes it’s fun to throw a bunch of dice around. Which led us nicely into buying equipment (we didn’t), buying new abilities (we did), and heading off to our next campaign mission where we decided to try taking Luke along with us. Luke Isn’t That Useful