With only the core set I would get the Heirs of Blood campaign book. Its a way better campaign. Probably more balanced. That would be your cheapest upgrade. Then just start getting everything. Everything is good IMO. Big boxes have more stuff, obviously. Lieutenants will help balance things out. And hero Monster packs give you more hero choices and more monsters. Everything you get gives you more monsters and more options to try and stop the heroes.

Sort of to turn this around on a lighter note. I've been accused of cheating because I know the rules to a game really well. I'll get to know the ins and outs of the rules. Is it my fault people cannot read the rules? But I still get blamed for cheating.

I agree with FunkFried. The game is way to hard with 3 heroes, for the Overlord. Look at it as a challenge when you get better at the game. Also the original campaign kinda sucks. The other ones are better. There are definitely quest geared to 1 side or another. If you have everything (which is a lot when you are new) there are a lot of ways to make the game easier or harder. Also hero combinations can be a huge part of why you lose. I won't let my players pick any more. They get 3 random, and can pick from those. One thing I didn't realize in all the years I've been playing is the Overlord actually gets to pick all his decks AFTER the heroes are picked. This can make a huge difference when you get into lieutenants and stuff. I used to do it all at the same time. So one of my decks was based on traps and poison. But the heroes picked were either immune or could get rid of conditions super easy. So i was pretty much a useless overlord. Had I picked after heroes were picked I would not have picked that particular lieutenant. Plus there are tactics to be learned. Focus on your goals and not just killing the heroes. Do not play like a DM in D&D. You are there to make the heroes lives miserable. Do not take it easy on them if you start to feel bad for them in a quest or 2. The tables can get turned around easily. And finally I find the heroes have an easier time in Act I then they will in Act II

It really is remarkable how different mentalities are expressed and regarded. Much like the OP, and much like a few posters, I get the argument but it's not as applicable or important to me. This is a really hard point to get across without seeming like psycho. I'll use Hockey as an example because I coach. The end result of winning is not important to me. I would rather loose 3-2 and have my kids try their hardest then win a game 15-0. If you are not trying to win against me you are always going to lose. And we won't have those great games where I will loose 3-2. And you will get tired of losing and probably stop playing. Those kids do not skate hard because skating hard is fun. They do it because they want to win. Some of the most exciting games i have been part of I've lost. And I would not trade those games for any amount of wins. Winning is everything, but the end result is not. If you are there just for fun and not trying to win, you probably are not building the best fleets, you probably are not making the best decisions to try and win and our game probably won't be fun because you are not doing your best to win. If I crush your fleet because you are not trying to win, that is not fun for me. If winning is not important then that also means you are not trying to get better or improve at the game. If you don't get better while I do, again you will always lose and I would probably get tired of playing you because its not fun. Competition is where the fun is. But winning is what fuels competition. Winning at all costs is where the cheaters come in. The end result of winning, and not the fun of competition, is what they are interested in. If you are doing your best to Win and you think winning is not applicable then you are lying to yourself. Winning is everything because it fuels competition, which in turn makes the game fun. Its the end result of winning and losing that does not matter as long as both sides tried their best. And you cannot try your best if you are not trying to win, it is impossible.

Does anyone know of any Editable galaxy maps or software that creates these maps. I have some ideas for a campaign but I need to be able to make maps. I've done some searching but haven't found much. I did find something Called Galaxy forge. I can make some very nice galaxies but I can't really edit anything, like put Imperial symbols above planets or anything.

Winning and keeping score is how we can strive to succeed. The guy who said "winning isn't everything" never won a **** thing. If you are not trying to win, then there is zero point in playing. But that does not mean loosing is a bad thing either. You learn more then the winner does. What I do not get, is how do people who cheat feel about their wins? Its not real. If you cheated you didn't actually win. Coming from Flames of War I found that people were just so driven to get that prize support they would do anything to win, including cheat. If you really need the prize support that badly you can have it. I just want a good fair game. I won a lot of tournaments, so I just started playing the kids that were at the bottom of the list and loose to them on purpose. I'd much rather see the light in someones eyes that rarely wins, then deal with some crazy person who wants the prize support so bad they will go crazy if they don't.

Careful... I've seen that mistake made. Initiative does not automatically go to who has lowest fleet build. As Nicky pointed out, it is the lowest fleet build that gets to choose who will have initiative.

ya. Its a lot easier when you have been collecting since the beginning, and can just buy things as they come out.

There is already a class which benefits from Duel weapons. I can't remember which one, i'd have to look. But the player is allowed to use surge abilities form both weapons. If you start adding all kinds of weird duel weapon house rules you may break this class.

i'm keeping my 1e stuff. I have every thing and you never know when I might want to go back and play that version. The conversion kit wasn't that expensive. maybe I should sell my entire 1e set? I wonder how much it goes for? Do you have all the lieutenants? I have absolutely everything. i'm a completionist.

No, it doesn't. It puts it in the hands of the script that generates the fleets I agree, I've seen some pretty crazy random fleets. Some pretty useless cards and combos get added. Its great for fun games, but never for a tournament. I would never play in a tournament where I can get screwed by the random fleet generator. Like getting corrupter and no Tie Bombers...that was awesome!

lol sounds more like that Scene from austin powers. That is some poor rebel flying if the slow imperial ships are able to ram into rebel ships...on purpose!

3 vsd 2 Gladiators 2 imperial fighter packs 2 core sets worth of fighters 3 nebs 3 corvettes 2 assault frigates 2 rebel fighter packs. But still only 1 x17 turbolaser

I might try the boiling water trick anyway. the VSD banking is sweet looking.

I'm not really sure why you want to do that. There are quests where you have to kill certain monsters, there are quests where you have to kill all of them, and there are quest where you have to do something else. There is plenty of combat in Descent. If you make all the quests more combat you kind of defeat the purpose of the quests. I know IA is less about kill stuff even then Descent is. I played it twice and sold my copy. The campaign that comes with Descent also isn't very good. If you don't want to buy any more expansions then get the Heirs of Blood Campaign book. Only uses the base game, and a way better campaign.

Ya don't think i've ever lost that quest as the OL. Especially if the heroes have never played it before and don't truly understand how the goblins can chain carrying the prisoner. And yes I've played it that they can use both actions to move the prisoner.

the core game plays as 150 point game. I believe it caps at about 224 if you play both sides. a normal game is 300 points so you would need a bit more then the core game to play full games. I just bought 2 of everything.

I've found this tough to do with one of my own ships. usually you have to land on them because they are so close and then your opponent gets to place them back on the board. I found it better to place my bombers in the path of the ship. So that when his fighters do engage me and then his ship lands on the fighters I get to place them.

You should count the cards instead. This is what I did. I can't remember my calculations. I"ll see if I can find them. But FFG will tell you need 1 green package of sleeves even if there is only 1 card of that size in the box. Its a little bit of work but I'm pretty sure when I sleeved everything I was able to cut down on each type of sleeve by at least 2 packs, maybe more. But if you don't have everything yet is is also just to buy what they say because then you will have extra for the next expansion you buy.

I beg to differ. I'm thinking about getting a chess clock just for my one buddies. He suffers from Paralysis by analysis. It takes him over an hour to pick his fleet. And then 3 hours to play a 300 point game. Every decision seems to be life and death.

You might just have to check on availability. Older things maybe out of print or waiting for a reprint. The reason I put Lair of the Wyrm later is because those rumor quests are more unbalanced as far as your rumour deck is concerned. Later ones there are actually consequences if the heroes don't do rumour quests. Lair of the Wyrm is the oldest expansions so i'm not sure of availability. just keep an eye on that one deciding.

lol thats exactly what I was thinking? How come no one I know tries this. I would love for someone to try it.

I'm a completionist so I would say get it all, but this is the order I would suggest. Heirs of Blood - campaign book that only uses the base game. Way better then the base game campaign. * start grabbing base game lieutenants here and there. Labyrinth of Ruin - Big box with a new campaign. * Get lieutenants from Labyrinth of Ruin The Trollfens - small box * get lieutenants Manor of Ravens - small box * get lieutenants Lair of the Wyrm - small box * get lieutenants Shadow of Nerekhall - big box with a new campaign * get lieutenants Get monster hero collections - each one comes with 2 more Rumour quests to add to your campaign. I would get the upgrade kit if you plan on collecting slowly over time. It immediately gives you a lot of monsters and heroes to use. But they do get upgrades. If you plan on buying everything very quickly then don't bother. Just get the Monster hero collections. Oh ya forgot about the coop ones. Get those for sure if there are only 2 of you Forgotten Souls and Natures Ire only use the base game Dark Elements use Lair of the Wyrm as well as the base game.

Why? Simplest way is to not change it at all.

oh man, not this topic again. As i'm sure everyone else has said ramming is perfectly viable tactic, and how does any ship last 2-4 turns, (and probably 1 coming in) against a VSD?...blah blah blah If you don't like Ramming then don't play the Open Salvo Objective. Near the end of the game, I realized I was close to winning. I just had to damage the VSD, and I would gain enough points to win. Through bad rolling and other circumstances I hadn't managed to damage the VSD with shooting, so I planned to try and ram him just to gain 40ish points. I headed 2 corvettes over. Getting a little excited that I was about to win I managed to ram the vsd and damage him on the 6th turn. But not paying attention, my 1 corvette managed to ram my other corvette, which also happened to have Dodonna on it. Needless to say I ended up loosing because of ramming my own flag ship. A very exciting finish. And people want to deny me that very exciting game because they think ramming is broken? Come on... I know a couple of people have mentioned this as well, but instead of saying a game is broken, learn and adapt. This is one of my pet peeves about gaming forums. With in hours of a game being released there are people already posting that its broken and making up house rules in order to fix it. This exact same topic was discussed the very same day the starter set came out. 90% of the time they got most of the rules wrong anyway. Which is my guess here since a ship survived 4 rounds at close range to a VSD. A game like this needs to be played 20+ times before you can tell me something is broken. How much you want to bet someone posts the ISD is overpowered within hours of its release? How about take it as a challenge and try to beat that strategy instead of saying its flawed?