Star Wars: Imperial Assault
Fight cinematic missions as Rebel heroes against an Imperial player, build competitive skirmish armies, or let the Legends of the Alliance app control the Empire in Fantasy Flight Games’ tactical Star Wars dungeon-crawler.
Star Wars: Imperial Assault is a tactical combat game from Fantasy Flight Games set immediately after the destruction of the first Death Star. The physical core box contains two distinct games: a narrative campaign for Rebel heroes versus an Imperial player, and a competitive two-player skirmish mode.
A third official way to play arrived later through the free Legends of the Alliance companion app, which controls the Imperial forces and turns the game into a cooperative campaign. BoardGameGeek currently shows roughly 26,000 ratings, an average just under 8.0, and an overall rank around #88.
Why it stands out
Imperial Assault is effectively three games built on one tactical system: a one-vs-many campaign, a two-player army-building skirmish game and an app-driven cooperative campaign. The same miniatures, map tiles and dice support very different styles of play.
Why this is a major evergreen search gap
Imperial Assault combines a globally recognized Star Wars licence with a large established hobby audience. Even though Fantasy Flight now marks the line Out of Print, thousands of copies remain in collections and on the second-hand market.
The main search opportunities include how to play, campaign rules, actions, strain, attacks, surges, best heroes, Imperial player rules, skirmish army building, 40-point squads, Legends of the Alliance, solo/co-op play, expansion order, Return to Hoth, Jabba’s Realm, Heart of the Empire, Tyrants of Lothal and whether Imperial Assault is still worth buying.
Game at a Glance
Take Two Actions
Move, attack, interact, rest or use a special ability during each activation.
Resolve Tactical Combat
Roll attack and defense dice, compare damage to blocks and spend surge results on weapon abilities.
Upgrade Between Missions
Campaign heroes spend XP on class cards and credits on weapons, armor and equipment.
Build Skirmish Armies
Competitive players construct 40-point armies and 15-card Command decks.
The three ways to play Imperial Assault
| Mode | Players | Structure |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional Campaign | 2–5 | Up to four Rebel heroes vs one Imperial player across linked missions |
| Skirmish | Exactly 2 | 40-point competitive armies fighting over tactical objectives |
| Legends of the Alliance | Solo/co-op | Companion app replaces the Imperial player and runs dedicated campaigns |
How the traditional campaign works
One player controls the Galactic Empire while the other players control Rebel heroes.
Each campaign consists of linked story and side missions. The outcome of one mission can determine which mission appears next, while both sides improve over time.
Rebel heroes buy equipment and new class abilities. The Imperial player develops a class deck and gains access to stronger deployment options and agenda effects.
This creates an asymmetric campaign rather than a cooperative dungeon crawl where all players control heroes.
How Rebel heroes work
Each campaign hero has a Hero sheet, health, endurance, speed, defense die, attributes and character abilities.
Heroes also have individual Class decks. Experience points earned during the campaign unlock new class cards, so the same hero can become more specialized as missions progress.
The original core set includes six Rebel heroes, giving a full five-player campaign more heroes than can be used at once.
What does the Imperial player do?
The Imperial player controls Stormtroopers, officers, droids, mercenaries and villains used by the current mission.
They also manage deployment groups, reinforcement choices and mission-specific information that the Rebel heroes may not know.
Between missions, the Imperial player develops their own class abilities and uses Agenda cards to influence the campaign.
The role is therefore closer to a competitive scenario opponent than a neutral game master.
The five standard actions
During an activation, a figure can normally perform up to two actions.
- Move — gain movement points equal to Speed.
- Attack — make a ranged or melee attack.
- Interact — open doors, search crates or interact with mission tokens.
- Rest — recover strain and potentially damage.
- Special — use an ability marked with the action icon.
Heroes can normally attack more than once during an activation; non-hero figures are more restricted.
Why movement is flexible
A Move action gives movement points rather than forcing you to move immediately in one uninterrupted path.
You can spend those points before and after another action. A figure might move through a doorway, attack and then spend its remaining movement points to move into cover.
This makes positioning more flexible than games where every move must be fully completed before another action begins.
How strain works
Campaign heroes can suffer strain to power abilities and gain extra movement.
The official rules allow a hero to suffer one strain to gain a movement point, normally up to twice during that activation.
Resting removes strain first and can then recover damage if enough recovery remains.
Strain is therefore both a resource and a limit: spending it aggressively creates tempo, but an exhausted endurance pool removes flexibility.
How attacks work
The attacker rolls the colored attack dice shown by the weapon or unit. The defender rolls their defense die.
Attack dice generate damage, accuracy and surge results. Defense dice generate blocks, evades and sometimes a dodge result.
Blocks cancel damage. Evades cancel surges. A dodge can cause the entire attack to miss.
Ranged attacks also need enough accuracy to reach the target after line of sight has been established.
What do surge results do?
Surges are spent on weapon or unit abilities after dice are rolled.
Common surge effects include extra damage, additional accuracy, Pierce, conditions or other special effects.
The same number of raw damage symbols can therefore produce different outcomes depending on which surge abilities are available.
Evade symbols on defense dice remove available surges before they are spent.
Line of sight and ranged attacks
Ranged combat requires both line of sight and sufficient rolled accuracy.
Walls, figures and map geometry can affect whether an attack is legal, making corner positioning and doorway control important.
This is one of the rules areas most likely to create questions in early games, so the official Rules Reference is worth keeping nearby.
When should heroes rest?
Resting consumes one of a hero’s two actions.
That can feel expensive because many missions have hard round limits or escalating Imperial pressure.
However, a hero overloaded with strain may lose access to powerful abilities and bonus movement, while heavily wounded heroes risk becoming incapacitated.
Editorial strategy principle: rest before endurance becomes the reason you cannot execute a critical turn.
XP, credits and campaign progression
Campaign progression takes place between missions.
Rebels gain experience to buy Class cards and credits to purchase Item cards such as weapons, armor and equipment.
The Imperial side also improves through its class and campaign systems.
Because upgrades persist, a campaign develops a tactical identity rather than resetting both sides after every scenario.
How Imperial Assault skirmish works
Skirmish is a separate competitive game for exactly two players.
Each player brings:
- An army worth up to 40 deployment points.
- An exactly 15-card Command deck.
Players score by defeating hostile figures and completing mission objectives. A standard skirmish ends when one player reaches 40 victory points.
Skirmish factions
Imperial Assault skirmish armies are built around three primary factions:
- Rebel Alliance
- Galactic Empire
- Mercenaries
Deployment cards and Skirmish Upgrade cards define the army, while the Command deck adds combat tricks, movement effects and faction synergies.
What is Legends of the Alliance?
Legends of the Alliance is Fantasy Flight’s free companion app for Imperial Assault.
It replaces the Imperial player by controlling enemy activations, mission setup and hidden information.
That turns Imperial Assault into a fully cooperative experience where all human players can control Rebel heroes.
The app is not simply an automated version of the printed campaign. It includes its own campaign content and mission structure.
Can Imperial Assault be played solo?
The original physical rules are designed around an Imperial player versus Rebels or a two-player skirmish.
However, Legends of the Alliance makes official no-Imperial-player play possible, so a single person can control one or more Rebel heroes while the app runs enemy forces.
This is the most straightforward official solo route. It should be distinguished from fan-made solo systems for the printed campaign.
What campaigns are in the app?
The original Legends of the Alliance release includes a tutorial and the five-mission Flight of the Freedom Fighter campaign using only the Core Set.
Fantasy Flight later added additional digital campaign content, including Jabba’s Realm.
Owning physical expansions can also increase the pool of heroes, items and other components available to the app.
Imperial Assault boxed expansions
| Expansion | Type | Main theme |
|---|---|---|
| Twin Shadows | Small-box campaign | Tatooine and new Rebel heroes |
| Return to Hoth | Large-box campaign | Hoth aftermath, Snowtroopers, Wampas and new heroes |
| The Bespin Gambit | Small-box campaign | Cloud City / Bespin |
| Jabba’s Realm | Large-box campaign | Tatooine, Jabba and bounty-hunter underworld |
| Heart of the Empire | Large-box campaign | Coruscant and the Imperial capital |
| Tyrants of Lothal | Small-box campaign | Star Wars Rebels-era Lothal and Thrawn |
Return to Hoth
Return to Hoth is one of the largest and most recognizable expansions.
Fantasy Flight describes it as a full-length campaign set after the Battle of Hoth. It adds 37 double-sided terrain tiles, 16 plastic figures, three Rebel heroes, Snowtroopers, Wampas, HK Assassin Droids and an SC2-M Repulsor Tank.
It also expands skirmish play and introduced official rules for four-player skirmishes.
Jabba’s Realm
Jabba’s Realm shifts the focus toward Tatooine, criminals, mercenaries and Jabba’s network.
It adds another substantial printed campaign and was later given its own campaign support inside Legends of the Alliance.
For players who prefer bounty hunters and Outer Rim Star Wars over Imperial military bases, it is one of the most thematic additions.
Heart of the Empire
Heart of the Empire moves the campaign to Coruscant.
It adds new heroes, Imperial and Mercenary forces, map tiles and campaign content while also significantly expanding skirmish options.
The expansion arrived late enough in the game’s life that many of its units became important to the mature skirmish metagame.
Tyrants of Lothal
Tyrants of Lothal brings the setting and characters of Star Wars Rebels into Imperial Assault.
The associated wave includes characters such as Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, Sabine Wren, Zeb Orrelios, Grand Admiral Thrawn and Hondo Ohnaka through the box and separate figure packs.
It is a smaller campaign box rather than a replacement base game.
What are Ally Packs and Villain Packs?
Imperial Assault has a very large line of small figure expansions.
Ally Packs replace tokens or introduce Rebel/hero characters with their own campaign and skirmish cards. Villain Packs do the same for Imperial or Mercenary characters.
Examples include Han Solo, Chewbacca, IG-88, Boba Fett, Emperor Palpatine, Maul, Ahsoka Tano and many others.
These packs are not standalone and their availability varies significantly now that the product line is out of print.
Is Imperial Assault out of print?
Yes, according to Fantasy Flight’s current Imperial Assault product catalog.
The official support page still hosts the complete rules, FAQs, campaign logs and expansion documents, but the catalog is marked Out Of Print.
Individual legacy product pages may still show historical prices — for example, the Core Set detail page displays $109.99 — but that should not be interpreted as a reliable current retail price or proof of stock.
Buying Imperial Assault in 2026
Because the line is out of print, prices vary significantly between remaining retail stock and used listings.
Before buying a used Core Set, verify the following:
- All 34 core plastic figures are present.
- All 59 double-sided map tiles are present.
- The custom dice are included.
- Hero sheets, Deployment cards, Item cards and mission cards are complete.
- The Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader core-pack content is present.
Missing cards or map tiles can be more disruptive than a missing miniature because many missions require exact component sets.
Which expansion should you add first?
For campaign players, Return to Hoth and Jabba’s Realm are strong first large-box choices because each adds a substantial campaign, heroes, enemies and map tiles.
For app users, physical expansions are most useful when they add content supported by Legends of the Alliance.
For skirmish players, the decision is more collection-dependent because individual Ally/Villain Packs and Deployment cards can matter as much as the large boxes.
How Imperial Assault relates to Descent
BoardGameGeek lists Imperial Assault as a reimplementation of Descent: Journeys in the Dark and Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition.
The lineage is visible in grid-based tactical missions, one-vs-many campaign structure and persistent hero upgrades.
Imperial Assault significantly reshapes that system around Star Wars movement, combat, missions and a separate competitive skirmish mode.
Imperial Assault vs Star Wars: Rebellion
| Feature | Imperial Assault | Star Wars: Rebellion |
|---|---|---|
| Scale | Individual heroes, squads and rooms | Entire Galactic Civil War |
| Players | Campaign 2–5; skirmish 2; app co-op available | Primarily 2 |
| Campaign | Persistent hero progression | One self-contained strategic war |
| Combat | Grid tactics and line of sight | Fleet/ground battles across planets |
| Best fit | Dungeon-crawl-style missions | Epic strategic Star Wars experience |
Imperial Assault vs Star Wars: Battle of Hoth
Star Wars: Battle of Hoth is a much lighter, more focused tactical game.
Imperial Assault is considerably heavier and more expandable, with campaign progression, character equipment and a large map-tile system.
Choose Battle of Hoth for quicker battlefield scenarios; choose Imperial Assault if you want character-level missions and long-term campaign development.
Seven strategy principles for campaign heroes
- Mission objectives usually matter more than eliminating every enemy. Imperial reinforcements can make a pure attrition plan impossible.
- Use movement points flexibly. Move, act and finish movement rather than treating Move as one rigid block.
- Spend strain for tempo when the mission clock matters. Extra movement can save an entire action.
- Rest before your endurance is completely locked. A hero unable to suffer strain loses tactical options.
- Coordinate activations. Rebels always have information about which friendly heroes remain ready.
- Build around surge reliability. An expensive weapon is weaker if your dice rarely produce the surge effects it needs.
- Know when not to attack. Opening a door or reaching an objective can be worth far more than one defeated Stormtrooper.
Eight things to know before buying
- The physical line is officially out of print.
- The traditional campaign needs an Imperial player. Use Legends of the Alliance if everyone wants to play Rebels.
- The app does not simply automate every printed campaign. It has dedicated digital campaigns.
- Skirmish is a separate two-player competitive game.
- Large expansions are not standalone.
- Small Ally/Villain Packs can be hard to find. Do not assume a complete collection is practical.
- Historical FFG prices are not current market prices.
- Check used copies carefully. Missing cards and map tiles can stop missions from being playable.
Star Wars: Imperial Assault FAQ
How many players?
The physical campaign supports 2–5 players, while skirmish is exactly two players. Legends of the Alliance enables cooperative/app-driven play without a human Imperial player.
How long does a mission take?
BoardGameGeek lists roughly 60–120 minutes.
Is Imperial Assault cooperative?
The printed campaign is one-vs-many. Legends of the Alliance adds an official fully cooperative option.
Can you play Imperial Assault solo?
Yes, using Legends of the Alliance and controlling Rebel heroes yourself.
How many actions does a figure get?
Normally two actions per activation.
What are the normal actions?
Move, Attack, Interact, Rest and Special.
How large is a skirmish army?
Up to 40 deployment points, plus an exactly 15-card Command deck.
How do you win skirmish?
Normally by reaching 40 victory points through defeated enemy units and mission objectives.
Is Imperial Assault out of print?
Yes. Fantasy Flight’s current product catalog marks the line Out of Print.
Which boxed expansions exist?
Twin Shadows, Return to Hoth, The Bespin Gambit, Jabba’s Realm, Heart of the Empire and Tyrants of Lothal.
What is the best large expansion first?
Return to Hoth or Jabba’s Realm are strong choices for campaign-focused collections.
Sources and scope
- Fantasy Flight Games: current Imperial Assault support page and Out-of-Print status
- Fantasy Flight Games: legacy Core Set details, components, historical $109.99 listing and physical player count
- Fantasy Flight Games: official Learn to Play rules
- Fantasy Flight Games: Legends of the Alliance co-op rules
- Fantasy Flight Games: official Skirmish Guide and 40-point army / 15-card Command deck rules
- Fantasy Flight Games: app-supported cooperative mode and Flight of the Freedom Fighter
- Fantasy Flight Games: Return to Hoth expansion contents
- Fantasy Flight Games: Tyrants of Lothal expansion
- BoardGameGeek: ranking, ratings, play time, complexity and design credits
Checked October 9, 2026. Fantasy Flight currently marks Star Wars: Imperial Assault Out of Print, so legacy product-page prices should not be treated as stable current MSRP. The official support page remains available with rules and FAQs. Strategy and buying guidance are original editorial analysis; no firsthand campaign review is claimed. Editorial policy and corrections.