“You should have paid him when you had the chance. Jabba’s put a price on your head so large, every bounty hunter in the galaxy will be looking for you.”

–Greedo, Star Wars: A New Hope

The galaxy is a dangerous place. Smugglers risk their lives moving valuable and illegal cargo past Imperial patrols, and anyone can become the target of a trained bounty hunter. These low-lifes make up the seedy underworld of Star Wars™, and you can bring that underworld to your games of Imperial Assault with the Han Solo Ally Pack and the IG-88 Villain Pack!

In October, we announced seven new Ally Packs and Villain Packs for Imperial Assault, inviting you to embark on new missions and expand the campaign and skirmish games. Like the Luke Skywalker Ally Pack and the Darth Vader Villain Pack included in the Core Set, these figure packs offer detailed plastic figures to bring these iconic heroes and villains to life alongside a new side mission for any campaign and two new skirmish missions that share the same map. In addition, Ally Packs offer new Reward cards for the heroes, Villain Packs give the Imperial player new Agenda cards to draw on, and all figure packs contain new Command cards for enhancing your Command decks in skirmish missions.

Today, we’ll preview two of the seven new Ally Packs and Villain Packs: the Han Solo Ally Pack and the IG-88 Villain Pack!

Never Tell Me the Odds

In your games of Imperial Assault, Han Solo’s smuggling wiles can prove extremely helpful. With his Ally Pack, you don’t just gain a sculpted plastic figure – you gain new missions to highlight Han Solo and new cards to make him even more dangerous to the servants of the Empire.

The Han Solo Ally Pack introduces new content for the Imperial Assault campaign game, beginning with the Imperial Entanglements side mission, which invites you to repel Imperial boarders from the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo. Successful completion of this mission grants you a new Reward card: the Quickdraw Holster. While equipped with the Quickdraw Holster, you may suffer a strain and deplete the card when an attack is declared against you. Then, you may interrupt your opponent’s turn to attack your would-be attacker! With the Quickdraw Holster, you’ll always shoot first when it matters.

You’ll also find two new missions for the skirmish game in this expansion. Local Trouble challenges you to fight for control of a cantina, but the local thugs will attack anyone who comes close. Alternatively, you can gamble for victory in Sabacc Standoff by battling to control a sabacc table and increasing the victory points at stake with the Command cards in your hand. Whether you dive into the underworld with these missions or other skirmish missions, six new Command cards give you plenty of ways to enhance your Smugglers.

You may use Slippery Target to stay a few steps ahead of your opponent’s figures. By playing this card when a hostile figure moves adjacent to one of your figures, you can immediately move your figure away. Alternatively, you could sabotage your opponent by playing Disable to keep an adjacent figure from using surge and action abilities. You may even use I Make My Own Luck to seize initiative at the start of the round, ensuring that Han Solo makes his activation before any other figure has the chance to act. With these Command cards and the others included in this figure pack, Han Solo and your other Smugglers will leave their mark on any skirmish mission.

A Mechanical Hunter

Of course, for every being like Han Solo with a bounty on his head, there’s someone willing to hunt them down and collect the profit. IG-88 is one such bounty hunter, but he’s far more than just a killer. To some, IG-88 is a revolutionary, fighting to reject the inferiority imposed on Droids by the biologicals.

In your games of Imperial Assault, the Empire can take advantage of IG-88’s revolution with the Droid Uprising agenda set. This set begins with the Binary Revolution side mission, challenging the Rebels to survive a deadly Droid revolt and rewarding the Imperial player for victory by allowing him to use IG-88 as a villain in later missions. The agenda set continues with Sabotaged Plans. By playing this card and spending an influence, you may discard one Side Mission card, allowing you to keep the Rebel heroes from even starting the most profitable missions. Finally, by purchasing Firepower Upgrade, you can spend an influence to allow your Droids to trigger surge abilities up to twice per attack, granting them unparalleled combat prowess.

You’ll also find two new missions for the Imperial Assault skirmish game: Mind of its Own and Most Dangerous Game. The first of these missions challenges you to control terminals as an automated laser sweeps through the Ord Mantell junkyard. The second invites both players to hunt down their opponents’ figures with designated bounty hunters. Both missions promise new encounters and fast-paced combat in the Star Wars universe.

Whether you play one of the included missions or another skirmish mission, the new Command cards in the IG-88 Villain Pack bring new powers to the Droids and Hunters in your strike team. Merciless allows you to place your opponent in an unenviable position: he must discard the top two cards of his Command deck or you gain three victory points. Dirty Trick can be used whenever a hostile figure enters an adjacent space, forcing the figure to suffer three strain or become Stunned. Finally, you can use Blaze of Glory on IG-88 to ready his Deployment card, granting him an additional activation in a round! IG-88 suffers three damage at the end of the round, but an extra activation can result in far more damage to your opponent.

Hunter or Hunted

Whether you smuggle goods and fight for the Rebel Alliance alongside Han Solo, or hunt down your prey with IG-88, you’ll find cards and missions to enhance your games of Imperial Assault in these figure packs. Join us next time for a preview of the Chewbacca Ally Pack and the General Weiss Villain Pack.

Pre-order your Imperial Assault Ally Packs and Villain Packs at your local retailer today!