In skirmish, two or more players create custom squads to control and battle on unique maps. Players take turn activating their figures until one player has accumulated 40 Victory Points (VPs). Players earn VPs through defeating their opponents’ figures or by completing objectives defined by the current map and mission. You’ll need to play to your army’s strengths and press your luck to win!

If you have played the campaign game mode of Imperial Assault, you’ll know the basics on activating figures & attacking. Be sure to read FFG’s Skirmish Guide that came with the Core Set. A major rule that has been changed by FFG is when a figure is defeated, the opposing player scores VPs equal to that figure’s figure cost. See FFG’s IA FAQ for more details on that change.

If you’ve never played Imperial Assault before, make sure you’ve read through FFG’s Learn to Play Guide to familiarize yourself with the basics and then read the Skirmish Guide (linked above). We’d also recommend watching Shut Up & Sit Down’s Learn to Play IA video.

Your army should contain cards costing up to 40 Deployment points. Your Command card deck should not exceed 15 cards and 15 Command card points.

The easiest way to build your army is using the TabletopAdmiral.com IA listbuilder. When there’s an IACP card with the same name as an FFG card, use the IACP card. It’s better! Your opponent should also use IACP cards in their list.

Not sure how to make a good army? Check out the Skirmish Holocron & IA Academy sections below. You can also check out our IACP List-building Primer articles, or peruse lists that people have built on Tabletop Admiral. 

Make sure you and your opponent have at least one IA Core Set and any additional tiles you need to assemble the skirmish map. Download the Printable Cards PDF and print out the IACP cards you are using. You can put IACP Command cards in mini card sleeves with other FFG Command cards. Or you can select another FFG Command card to use as a “proxy” for the IACP card (e.g. your physical “Sit Tight” card actually represents the “Get Behind Me!” IACP card).

IACP doesn’t produce physical figures for new cards. The Printable Cards PDF has tokens you can print out and attach to coins or other small objects. You could also “proxy” a figure for an IACP card with another Imperial Assault figure, a Star Wars figure from another game that fits reasonably on the map tile squares, a Lego minifig of that character, or some other object. Just make sure what you use isn’t confusing for you and your opponent.

Most IACP online players use Vassal with the Vassal IA Skirmish module. There’s a growing playerbase using Tabletop Simulator with the TTS IA Skirmish mod.

Our community has created how-to-use videos for both Vassal and Tabletop Simulator.

You can find opponents to play at the IACP Discord Server. Inexperienced players are encouraged to introduce themselves in the #jedi-trials-league channel where they can find opponents who are also learning the game.

Zion’s Finest Slack (invite link) is full of experienced players who enjoy teaching & sharing the skirmish game. You can post your question in the #rules channel and receive a prompt reply. You can also post your rules question at the IACP Reddit community.

Keep in mind when at least one player is playing with IACP cards, all IACP cards and rule changes specified in the Official Changes document applies to that game. The Official Changes documents contains a list of FAQs on how new abilities work in special cases. Otherwise the rules specified by FFG’s Rules Reference Guide and FAQs applies.