The Age of Rebellion Beginner Game never really took off for us, as we were more into the Jedi and smuggler paths in the Star Wars universe, and those held a higher interest for us. There is a stark good-versus-evil in the Jedi boxed set, and the smuggler boxed set was a classic "space rogue" where your allegiances could shift depending on which way the credits were flowing.
My copy came with the old-style box, and I wanted to see the newer, high-quality box, but I understand if cost concerns were a thing. Still, I would have loved to see the new-style box on my copy.
This set is focused on the rebels, but it never felt like it answered the question, "Who wants to fight in a war?" And while the genre may seem ripe for anti-Imperial sabotage missions and deep strikes, most players of the game will have never fought in a real war, and real wars are brutal, neighbor-against-neighbor, scary, randomly terrifying, horrible things.
Also, unless you are a team of special commandos and have some freedom and agency, like the secret strike team of a diplomat, you may find yourself under a huge command structure, stuck on a planet fighting a war of attrition, and locked in a battle where you have no freedom at all. You play the "troopers in Hoth base" - have fun in the trenches!
The answer is always to play as a small, dynamic, mission-oriented team, not "soldiers in the barracks."
I prefer the dynamic campaign type that covers special operations, elite strike squads, undercover military strike teams, and other high-agency operations, where players have some flexibility in how they accomplish their goals. A smaller team with a direct line of command to an authority figure and clear objectives is a far better setup.
Imagine Princess Leia with a small rebel strike force at her disposal, and her wanting to give them missions she can deny any knowledge or involvement in, but the success of those missions directly helps her fight against the Empire - even with her operating as a senator from within.
You get a small, heroic, and covert team that needs to keep things quiet when the shooting stops, they are not stuck in a military base, and they get to participate in intrigue and social situations frequently, and then they get to "go in" and suit up into battle for those high-stakes missions, and get out before the Imperials swarm in and shut it all down.
The gear they have is likely all disposable and will be destroyed when the mission is complete, and they will all blend back into normal society. The transport and contacts are all paid well to keep quiet. And after the chaos, it is as if none of them were even there, yet the wreckage is still smoldering.
And you all melt back into society, going your separate ways. Then, you are given a location to go to, and no further information. You know this is the next mission, where you will all meet up again at a safe house, say your hellos, have a drink and a laugh, and the next set of plans is made...
While the game exclusively covers rebels, you could 100% play this from the Imperial side as a faction that is against tyranny and the Sith. The Legends universe at the end of the EU timeline has a noble house that is an Imperial remnant, strong in the Force, who end up being more the good guys than the bad, yet they are still Imperials. They even have a princess, their own Imperial Knights, and a very cool faction setup that puts them in the middle of the war.
Remember, many future rebels will come from the borderline and good-aligned Imperial sectors such as this, so there is a lot of gaming to be had with a civil-war-style scenario where it is just stormtrooper-against-stormtrooper, with rival governments and sector Moffs fighting for dominance in the post-Death Star chaos. It does not have to be a declared "rebellion" to fit within this game's framework; it just has to be a small military unit fighting for an objective.
That sector could "flip" to the Rebellion later, and then all the TIE pilots get shiny new X-Wings. Or, the sector could stay Imperial, and you get TIE on TIE bloodbath fights with the PCs hoping to get better ships someday, but making do and being careful in their flying deathtraps.
The old TIE Fighter PC game has a huge campaign focused on TIE pilots and Imperials, and it was widely considered to have an amazing story and to be the best Star Wars video game of all time. Of all the games in the Edge Studio collection, the Age of Rebellion game will be the best one to run a campaign like this that focuses on the Imperial side.
If you focus solely on the Classic lore and universe, you can enjoy all these amazing experiences and games without any modern movies or missteps. I would love to play in a TIE Fighter campaign, and watch the brooding Sith skulk about acting high and mighty, and trying to figure out which commander to trust, and which ones are being paid by the Hutts, and trying to survive in flying tissue-paper boxes.
Sure, you may get chewed out for failing another mission, perhaps this time you failed it on purpose, but at least you are alive. This is good, survival-focused, garbage-equipment, who-do-I-trust, the-Sith-suck, stay-alive-another-day, intrigue-based gameplay.
You won't be "living the high life" as a pilot in Yavin base, with a shiny new X-Wing, and you may never defect, but your adventures will be legendary struggles from within a corrupt system, trying to do good in a limited way, and making a small impact from within that will have ripple effects throughout the galaxy.
Perhaps the senator's shuttle that your fighter wing was asked to "accidentally destroy" you all "missed on purpose," and she got away, and you knew letting her get away would be better for everyone. You all silently agreed, "this is how it would go down," and while your corrupt commander may chew you all out for being incompetent, you know the galaxy will be a better place tomorrow.
Still, if you play Imperials, keep it to the smaller, mission-oriented special missions teams, even on the starfighter side, a small squadron that does special missions together is just fine.
These sorts of stories I love, and Classic Star Wars was built to tell them.
The inclusion of a spy character is a good one, since it nicely sets up the "special missions" flavor I prefer. The spy is the intelligent, plotting, leader type, while the soldier is the heavy. They do tend to pick great character archetypes for these start sets, and these are no exception. The spy is a cool, sneaky guy, while the soldier is the shooty guy.
We have a Jyn Erso-type pilot in here, and a cool mechanic character. I can see the Calamari as my favorite (as a kid), setting all sorts of traps, only to yell "It's a trap!" when I trigger one. Each and every trap. I don't care how old it gets; he is shouting it out every time.
Since his name is Tendaar, I can see my nickname for him being "Chickee."
That sort of stupid, kid humor is why I still love Star Wars. This is not the infantile Grogu type of goo-goo gaa-gaa humor, but the dumb, adolescent, ha-ha type of bad pun dork humor that keeps me coming back.
"It's a trap!"
We finish with a generous rulebook that covers the basics of the game. I love these starter sets; they are everything you need to play a fun adventure, plus a rulebook to create your own adventures with, before you dive in and get the full game. This is a high-quality, long-lasting, excellent value starter set.
We finish with dice, tokens, and a map. I love these tokens and maps, and they are fun to play with. I am making my own 1"/25mm tokens myself, and it is a fun project with a lot of character.
As the least appealing starter set for us, I am beginning to see where the fun is regarding this set. If you put the troops in a barracks, you won't have any fun. If you make the team a dynamic special-missions force, now we are talking.
A fun starter set, one I never realized the true potential of, but now I see a little more clearly with time and perspective.
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