Even before they had the cool abilities, my forces could barely hurt them unless I had an Epic (who was quickly owned of their powers or dodged by them running). Hard to keep a squad of Stormtroopers on the field when Heroes have attacks that can attack and kill multiple units in one hit. Two Heroes can easily kill a squad of troopers in one turn and still have two actions left over to do whatever. Can't do reinforce if they kill them all in one go. Am I supposed to hide one trooper off in a corner or something? That seems silly and cheap and a sign of unbalance.
How is it cheap? It's how the game is designed. Descent 2E ruleset was made around making the game more about having the "bad guy" player be more of another player in a competitive game. You are not a GM or host to a game like in previous edition or some RPG, you are actively trying to beat the players. Why the game also doesn't have a clear end point by one side simply winning the mission, you keep going. So yes you should be using hit and run tactics, why should you play the game dumb? Unlike heroes who can make double attacks, you should be attacking and taking cover when possible. Also the abilitiy to move, attack and use rest of your speed points to keep moving lets you do all kinds of hit and run attacks.
Wounding rebels is easy? You playing right? Three rebels means they have extra hitpoints and can heal up easily, not to mention an extra activation. Defense is low but Heroes activate first and get to demolish my troops before I can attack. If I do attack, they just double rest while another member finishes the objective. And with all the cool Rebel powers and two out of three Rebels rolling the white dice, I'd say that yes, defense rolls cancel out a lot of "at most" 4 damage a trooper can do.
You are focusing on just troopers, its never your only unit or your main damage dealer. Even then a player typically have average of around 12hp before wounding. A probe droid is a common unit that can often easily deal close to 4-5 damage an attack, combine that with any other troopers, and a single trooper on a single turn can be brought close to being wounded.
They can heal? Of course, good let them heal, it costs them actions to do which slows down the rebels. Easiest way to beat the rebels in most missions is by slowing them down till they fail to accomplish objectives on time. If you are letting players wipe out all your forces so easily though, they are going to have an easy time, you need to play to win, and heck why should your imperial units be brainless drones who run to the players to die? Have them attack and run for cover.
Also its well known in this ruleset, that attack trumps defense statistically. Defense is mainly there to reduce damage, but it was made also random instead of static to make it even more unpredictable, as in previous ruleset it was a static value and easy to cheese that players were so hard to damage. The odds are in favor of even the crappier units when attacking, are still going to usually deal some damage, even if its only a little.
Timed missions is the only time I might have a chance but never win. Imperial troops aren't roadblocks either cause Rebels can move through them (yes, with 2 movement points) or the Jedi can just come up and push anyone away as it is not an action. So roadblocks can't happen unless there is a door (that can be destroyed in one attack most of the time).
Roadblocks is a figure of speech, just being present is a roadblock, be in to capture a terminal, causing players to stop to attack, or dealing damage to force actions to be wasted on healing, these are all roadblocks. Point is maximizing your resources to delay the rebels in any way possible. Find the weak spot in the team, focus fire on it and take him out if need be. Most objective timed missions require players to split up to do it in time, this is perfect time to go for the weakest link forcing the players to reorganize and waste time as they readjust their strategy in time before timer runs out.
Wookie is leveled up so the cleave does 2 damage (same with Jedi), one away from killing a Stormtrooper which the cleave CAN'T be blocked. So main attack kills a trooper and cleave does most damage to another. Jedi has a massive attack so she can kill the other trooper and use cleave on the remaining trooper...both still have 1 action and that's only if they started next to trooper. Heck last night, the wookie wrecked my trandos (not killed but almost) because the mission started them together. And how am I supposed to provide roadblocks if I don't put them together? Half of the Imperial abilities rely upon figures being near each other to use their abilities so...
The abilities that require the troops to be near each other are often not worth it, don't bunch up your units. You move and attack, if you really want that advantage, then move next to and attack, or position the bonus that at least one unit is safe out of LOS while conferring benefits. Again you should be playing to win, you got to be cheap, the players are going to be cheap when fighting you.
I don't divulge any info but objectives/story, starting board, number of open groups I have, threat level, and Special deployment. They asked me about my deployment spots last night and I didn't say anything. Surprise doesn't change their super powers. The abilities I can equip are cool...if you pick the right deck...if you can get enough XP to buy them. Rebels win, they get more rewards. Rebels keep on winning, they keep getting more powerful and the Imperials get diddly squat.
You get XP and influence each mission, your upgrade cards upgrade typically all your units or all units of a particular type. With influence you get access to many surprise cards that let you pull off a little trap on opponents. And the threat level rises as you progress, making it quicker to reinforce or buy more pricey units into the game. Imperials get stronger as the game goes on as well. If the Rebels are winning they are going to be at an advantage of course, as they are earning more XP and rewards than the imperial player. Counter to say my main campaign where Imps have been winning most games so i've been getting more XP and Influence making me grow stronger quicker. It is a slight issue with game that it can swing in favor of one side if there is a streak of victory, but I guess that's the whole point of reward, but if it continues then yea later on a side will become unbalanced, but campaigns aren't meant to last that long in this ruleset. You likely dont have much further to go after 7 missions.
Nope, I am playing that right part 100% right.
-Wookie charges and kills a Stormtrooper and weakens another cause cleave.
-Stormtroopers move and shoot and does max 4 damage IF lucky
-Jedi goes and kills the other full Stormtrooper and the weakened one...all three are gone.
Even played the mission where the Imperials get to go first. Only time I did any damage was with my Royal Guard Champion but he only does ONE action after every HERO activation so they'd take advantage of that and let the Rebel Troopers come in and do serious damage on the Champion.
Shouldn't have all your troopers in range of two character activations in a row. Attack and run, spread em out, and if need be hide them out of LOS. Shouldn't be able to pick off a whole group. Not saying it's not possible, but groups should be split up and spread, act like a player and take cover as much as possible. Heck I've had many rounds where I never attacked players, just to regroup my forces, build up threat, and increase my numbers for an overwhelming attack in the future.
