Yes me too. I did a lot of research into Warmachine/Warhammer and went with Warmachine. I spent hours and hours gluing those stupid things together and painting them only for them to look like shit (all I wanted to do was play not glue and paint). The game itself was disappointing to say the least. I was hopeful and kept buying expansions like an idiots thinking it would get better. I made landscape, hills, etc. Save your money and don't buy Warmachine. I just bought Imperial Assault and I'm looking forward to playing it.

Joachim Beunckens I think it should. It is going to be released officially before xmas and you should be able to order the international/us version prior to march 2015.

Probably will be elaborated on later...but initially, this is a lighter game that Level 7: Omega Protocol, and as such, fits a different mold, so to speak. Do I enjoy it more than OP? Yes, but mainly because of the theme. I like each game in different ways and for different reasons even though they are similar. Imp. Assault fits in between Descent and OP concerning complexity...almost like a sweet spot. I don't know...we'll see.

Sam Healey the inevitable expansions will probably make a big difference between those games overtime.

Javier Perez Yep. I still hope Privateer Press will do one expansion at least. L7OP is much closer to D1E in terms of gameplay depth and session length. I do think you can also decouple single missions out of the campaign book very well. You can’t do that with SW:IA then. So owning and playing both (even along Descent 1) makes much sense. The only child on the shelf that is going to be left alone in the dark woods is Descent 2 - simply obsolete.

Gasp!!! Someone with a FX industry support green scree "logo" has not seen any of the Star Wars movies that drove the FX industry to new heights. This is weird to me.

I'm sure you will enjoy this game (it looks awesome), but I would encourage you to also watch the movies! especially the original trilogy.

I did! I saw the first trilogy, and I'm mid-way through episode 1. I also got x-wing and expansions and Imperial Assault cause it's AMAZING!

glad to hear you watched the films! :)

This week. Probably tomorrow.

Awesome, thanks!

haha

Maui Chris Man I miss Dune (instead of Rex) as well as a Dune Miniatures game…

ionas82 Also a Dune Themed Cosmic Encounter ;)?

During our play-through, I actually quoted, "He who controls the spice controls the universe..." when he explained what the containers were filled with...;)

… you have to do, what you have to do to get space travel working (so sad I don’t smoke pot… *wants to be a navigator too*). So Sam and Tom, try to convince the Herberts to do some awesome Dune games with Arcane Wonders, will you :P?

@@SamHealey6 CHOAM

Doom was pre-Descent 1, and this is based on Descent 2, which is designed with more bite-sized missions. It's supposed to take around 2-3 hours per mission. Of course missions are supposed to be strung along in a campaign, but that's not all going to be in one sitting.

Nathan Cushman I never played Descent. So the only real change was that FFG recognised the levels in Doom were too long?

I'm with you. I'm not a fan of SW at all, and love sci-fi. I would be absolutely giddy if this was Trek/BSG/Firefly, but the game still looks really cool and I do like the idea of SW. So this will probably be the first SW anything I've ever bought.

That's because Star Wars is Science-Fantasy - the IP's that Michael Gardner names, Trek/BSG/Firefly are all Sci-Fi. Think of it this way: if it's set in a future world as our own, that's most likely Sci-Fi. Science-Fantasy incorporates Fantastical elements to the setting (the Force). That could be why some people are confused when they like one and not the other.

I'm 36, and my fav scifi was made before SW. I think the once-upon-a-time-ness is just too much for me. I grew up with Star Wars and liked it as a kid, but then discovered Trek and didn't look back.

Joseph Bradshaw What I did like about SW was the more subtle moral issues where things are grey. There is no pure good and pure evil. There are rather "good" people that sometimes do not too good things and the other way around. KOTOR really shines here. Alignment mechanics is something that is totally missing in SW:IA. Personally I like the game very much but it did not carry what SW is about for me in comparison to KOTOR. But then I am not a big SW fan anyway (especially not when its just about action).

gideons .mob I did really only like EP3. If EP1 was more of a dream facilitating troubles and narcissism I'd have loved the whole EP1-EP3 as a fiction of transition - but as it is only EP3 really delivers here. The other movies are more what Lucas once said in an interview: sword fighting action adventure movies (like the Excalibur theme) set in a space theme.

The campaign mode easier in terms of gameplay. It doesn't have many complex choices unlike the skirmish mode. Also i would highly recommend trying out the skirmish as i find it way more enjoyable than the campaign.

The maps grow and morph with each individual mission. From what I've seen, they start smaller in earlier missions and get bigger as the campaign goes along.

Sam Healey Ahh yes, Sam! Tell us your experience with this game! Were there any moments in which you thought it was dry or are there any pet peeve of yours in this game?

Sam Healey Good to hear, Sam. It is a definite must-buy.

khan507 One of my biggest gripes against Descent 2.0 was the line-of-sight rule...any part of one square to any part of the other, and you have LOS...*(spit)*. LOS in SW:IA is more intuitive (having to draw clear lines to both facing corners of the targets location), while not being the same ol', "middle-to-middle". It might sound fiddly, but this, for me, gives the game a lot more credibility and reality. Having both friendly and enemy units block LOS also lends to this positivism. Vader is uber-powerful...which is fitting, I suppose...being a dark lord of the Sith and all. The vanilla characters are fitting to the universe, too...with the caveat that the Jedi is a bit of a push-over at first...you know, we all expect the lightsaber wielding Jedi to step through the smoke, which is colored by the hue of his weapon...but he starts with what amounts to a quarterstaff...not exciting, but fitting for the eastern mysticism feel that Jedi have. I'm sure he'll be way cool once you find his lightsaber, but that's one of those side missions the video talks about. I had fun playing the vanilla wookie, and got to do his side mission, helping Chewie pay off one of Han's debts, in the second mission we played. Seeing the two in action side by side, Chewie was definitely more powerful and had better abilities, but the vanilla wookie could still hold his own. The special abilities that come along with each vanilla character are all very thematic, and help each one have their own feel. So, I'm looking forward to having more plays, and seeing how each character grows. Ultimately, as a core set, this is a grand slam. It's only going to get better with expansions. FFG have very nearly outdone themselves, in my opinion. Now to go cross my fingers and hold my breath for a Star Wars themed TI3...;)

The most important thing to me is that the overlord player has some ability to push back against the heroes. I think what Sam Healey was trying to say in the video is that in Descen 2e, the heroes can steamroll the monsters because the latter tend to pop like piñatas with one or two good hits.

RPGs do require a huge commitment. That much is true but some people like to do that much work because they feel it's worth it. I recently finished my campaign with a huge dungeon that took some time to prepare. The preparation was fun though. That's how it should be. Also the sessions (i think it took 4) were a blast and, without tooting my own horn, i think the players will remember this adventure for a long time. They seemed to be enjoying themselves very much. I also think you're exaggerating. It's not THAT much work. If your preparation takes longer than the actual gaming session you're either doing something wrong or you're simply not the game master type. You're not writing a movie script here. I'd like to know why these big games are disappearing (although i do think that rpgs will also be around in one form or another because there's simply nothing like it). Is it because people have shorter attention spans or is it because people are too stressed out to be willing to do work for their hobby?

This comment isn't really correct. Descent 1 was $100 ten years ago. Adjust that for inflation, and the fact that oil prices went through the roof, directly effecting plastic prices. Imperial Assault comes with a figure that is MUCH larger than any of the Descent figures. AND they are paying for the Star Wars license.

The Dice Tower Last reprint of Descent 1st edition was in 2010. I could buy it then in my country for about 93 dollars. Taking inflation into consideration the same game these days would cost me 113 dollars. In 2010 oil prices (West Texas Intermediate) were in range of 73-84 dollars per a barrel. Taking an inflation into consideration it means 79-91 dollars these days. Now, looking at the current oil prices - at the end of 2013 barrel of oil costed 110 dollars and this price steadily declined into 70 dollars per barrel range. So no, I dont think prices of oil should have as big impact on prices of games, taking into consideration that newest FFG products are about half the size of their old games.

embir82 So every publisher in existence who has told me this is lying?

The Dice Tower Yes.

To be clear, that's EVERY PUBLISHER IN EXISTENCE.

Maui Chris Sadly, that’s quite true, FFG is the new WotC :(.

$68.99 for pre-order right now on www.coolstuffinc.com...jus' sayin'

This is true, $68.99 and $6.79 for one of the 8 expansion packs ready for preorder... just take my wallet FF

Sam Healey Yeah I saw that, kickass price. Alas, I don't believe Coolstuff ship overseas. I'm in Norway. :/

MrJenssen I'm in Argentina and almost everything in my collection is from CSI.

MrJenssen I'm from Brazil, and always order from CSI.

+Ben Shabtai Some say that SW:IA is a little bit better (although very very similar). Some differences are quest length, line of sight mechanic and how monster groups and heroes take turns (instead of all heroes finishing their turn and then all monster groups). Personally I've only played Descent 2nd Ed and I love it. Some really hate it though because they say Heroes are OP, while others say the Overlord is OP. As with any game that involves luck (rolling dice) you should be careful about complaining about balance. I'd recommend both, but if you're not really into Star Wars (like me) and enjoy the fantasy theme, I don't see why you would go for SW:IA over Descent 2nd Ed.

justsignmeup911 then how do you get into your characters if you don’t care about the universe?