Ravensburger Star Wars Villainous: Power of The Dark Side - Strategy Board Game for Ages 10 & Up, 2-4 players

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Darth Vader has the task of flipping Luke Skywalker from his Focused side to his Conflicted side. Then, Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, and Luke Skywalker (Conflicted) must be in the Emperor's Throne Room on Vader's Sector card. After paying six Ambition tokens to defeat Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader wins. Disney Villainous contained six playable characters but Star Wars Villainous follows the Marvel variant’s trend and only includes five: Darth Vader, General Grievous, Asajj Ventress, Kylo Ren and Moff Gideon. It’s a nice selection covering the width and breadth of the Skywalker Saga timeline, whether you’re a fan of the originals, prequels or sequels. Cards in the Deep Space area are considered to be in your Sector. Villain cards should be played on the bottom half of the Deep Space area, and Fate cards should be played on the top half, maintaining the general layout of cards within your Sector. Each villain has a small board called a Sector, which houses their mover and informs their actions during the game. Neat additions for new players are five unique Villain Guides that explain a few key details about each character and five identical Reference Charts that briefly explain what all of the action icons mean and each of the villains’ objectives. It’s worth mentioning that the Activate action is not used by any villain and will presumably come into play via future expansions. I’ve played quite a few games now with varying numbers of players and I can safely say that the game feels very well balanced, though I do think that a 2-player game can perhaps tip the scale in favour of certain characters on occasion.

Meet Your Destiny, Become an iconic Star Wars Villain! Use your sinister influence and unique abilities to manipulate events in your favour. Are you powerful and clever enough to fulfill your dark destiny before your opponents? Whether you're wielding the Force, commanding an army, or using stealth to infiltrate your enemies' hideouts, each Villain uses unique abilites and strategies to win. Explore your sector to earn credits, recruit allies, deploy ships, and set obstacles in the way of your opponents. Achieve your objective before the other Villains to defeat them! Every time it's your turn, you repeat the process of taking one Ambition token, relocating your Mover piece to a new location, carrying out any actions you want to, and drawing new cards, if necessary. It’s a scary galaxy out there. Keep a sharp eye around corners and stay away from Dathomir this month, okay? For other games using the Villainous gameplay engine, see the Disney Villainous wiki or the Marvel Villainous wiki.

Adventure? Excitement? Not when you run into these folks.

Several other elite Jedi hunters became known to Ezra Bridger and his band of rebels -- including the Seventh Sister. Armed with a cadre of ID9 seeker droids, the Spectres first ran afoul of the Mirialan Inquisitor as she stalked Bridger and Sabine Wren aboard an abandoned medical station. With a plan and the bold cunning to carry it out, the Seventh Sister proved a dogged enemy to both the rebels and former Padawan Ahsoka Tano as the latter fought to prevent Inquisitors from seizing Force-sensitive children throughout the galaxy. Deadly with a lightsaber, determined, and manipulative, the Seventh Sister remains a constant, menacing threat to Bridger’s friends.

Certain cards have a Cost showing an Ambition symbol in the lower left of the card art image, indicating that the card can only be played using an Ambition action, and by spending that amount of Ambition. For strategy game fans, Star Wars Villainous is a definite step up from the original Disney Villainous game. The new resources and board space create a lot more strategic options to work with, adding to the fun and replay value. It’s a shame the price we have to pay for this is shutting out some younger or less patient fans of the franchise. But if you’re up for the challenge, this is a compelling addition to the Star Wars tabletop line-up. Star Wars Villainous: Power of The Dark Side review: Also consider First unveiled in 2018, Disney Villainous: The Worst Takes All flipped the script in the world of tabletop gaming by allowing players to take on the roles of infamous evildoers from classic Disney animated films. That initial title was developed by Prospero Hall ( now part of Funko Games) and included Maleficent ( Sleeping Beauty), Ursula ( The Little Mermaid), Jafar ( Aladdin), Prince John ( Robin Hood), Queen of Hearts ( Alice in Wonderland), and Captain Hook ( Peter Pan). There was something for every kind of classic Disney animation fan — including compelling, card-based gameplay and a hefty dose of screw-your-neighbor-style competition. The Villainous series is now developed in-house and published internationally by Ravensburger. A pair of homicidal inorganics with bloodlust in their circuits and the tools to get the job done. Regularly partnered with Doctor Aphra, this pair is downright evil, just waiting to destroy. To slow each other down, players will have access to vehicles — a franchise first. Vehicles brought into play with Ambition will provide villains with new and powerful moves to perform on their turns. Meanwhile, vehicles brought into play with Fate will be flown by in-fiction heroes bent on taking the bad guys down.In 1980, Darth Vader, in his attempt to turn Luke Skywalker, uttered the words that would leave many wishing they could have a taste of the Dark Side. Wondering if they too could become as powerful as Lord Vader himself, if only they had the means…well now they can in Star Wars Villainous: Power of The Dark Side. Currently there are many versions of Villainous available including Disney Villainous along with its multiple expansions and of course, Marvel Villainous. Different incarnations of the game seem to have their own twists and differences which make for a refreshing experience each time you play. The list of additions only continues to grow as Ravensburger is showing no signs of slowing down in adding to this fantastic franchise. Hello There Two major additions that sets Star Wars Villainous apart from its predecessors are the introduction of Ambition and Vehicles. The former acts as a second currency alongside Credit Tokens and is collected in a variety of ways including one token at the beginning of every turn. Some cards require Credits to play, while others require Ambition. The currency can also be used to activate card abilities and in some cases win the game –once other criteria are met. Star Wars Villainous is a strategic tabletop game where you take the role of an iconic Star Wars franchise Villain. Your goal is to fulfill the evil scheme your Villain was trying to accomplish in the movie or series they are from - whoever completes this first, wins! The only thing that differs between players is their villain’s unique objectives. For example, all eight of General Grievous’ Lightsaber Tokens are positioned away from the Sector and in easy reach as the Separatist commander will have to collect them throughout the course of the game. STAR WARS VILLAINOUS: PLAYING A GAME

It's true that the game isn't perfect. For instance, I'd recommend the original Villainous instead if you're unfamiliar with the series (Power of the Dark Side is slightly more complicated than its predecessors). However, that isn't to say newcomers should avoid it - it just requires a little patience. Indeed, perseverance will reward you with one of the better strategy board games for adults you can get right now. With deep-set eyes and bone-white skin, bounty hunter Aurra Sing stirs up visions of skeletal horrors as she guns her unfortunate prey into oblivion. Aurra gleefully partners with the worst the galaxy has to offer, including Cad Bane and the aforementioned Bossk, with whom Sing coldly jettisoned a pod filled with Republic cadets into space simply because they knew too much. Her skills as a sniper make her one of the most notorious -- and feared -- hunters in the galaxy.

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As we near 4 million Villainous games sold worldwide, we are excited to expand the Star Wars Villainous ​galaxy,​ with Boba Fett, the most highly requested villain in the galaxy,” said Florian Baldenhofer, international category director at Ravensburger, in a news release. The Villain Movers are beautifully designed, but the flakes embedded within each figure aren’t evenly distributed and can make them look unintentionally damaged. (Image credit: Future) Other new features include the use of credits and ambition as forms of currency. Credits are often used to play cards from a player’s hand whilst ambition allows players to use more powerful abilities in the game. Each turn players will gain 1 ambition token and can earn more through cards in their hand. Some villains will require lots of ambition to reach their objective, so it is a key element of this game. When she’s not writing, you can usually find Sarah baking something delicious, hiking up a mountain, or playing video games. Gameplay gets a big thumbs up as well, even if it's a lot to take in at first (you'll definitely need to play a throwaway session to get the hang of things). Namely, the addition of vehicles from across the franchise isn't just a glorified ally card; they provide legitimate ways to enhance or hinder gameplay that you'll need to build into your strategy. Unless you want to grind to a halt when someone deploys an X-Wing that reduces the number of cards you can carry, of course.

It doesn't change the game per se, but the idea gives you interesting new ways to interact with Villainous as a whole. Each Vehicle card provides a new location for your Sector that your Villain can move to at the beginning of your turn, and will provide you with actions and a special Ability. An early version of Darth Vader’s sideboard reveals his various locations, as well as a new Deep Space location for vehicles. Image: Ravensburger and Lucasfilm Ltd.If you enjoy the Star Wars licence there are lots of other games to consider but they’re all very different from Villainous and most are as much, if not more, complicated. Perhaps the most accessible is Star Wars: X-Wing, where you fly ready-painted models of iconic ships in deep space dogfights. It looks great and plays great but be aware that it’s the thin end of a wedge, with eye-popping numbers of additional ships available if you want them. Star Wars Villainous will be the first in what is now the franchise’s third game system, the first two being Disney Villainous and Marvel Villainous. Characters aren’t compatible between the three systems, so no putting Thanos up against Hades or Darth Vader for instance. But that means Star Wars Villainous’ new mechanics are also unique and distinct. The components in each Villainous game have always been done to a very high standard. The artwork on each of the character boards, Villain Guides, and the cards themselves are beautiful and quite often can give the player a real sense of nostalgia. Of course, the most striking component of any Villainous game are the villain tokens themselves. Beautifully sculpted to reflect the essence of the character they are emulating, these hefty playing pieces are made with great care, attention to detail and are often the visual focal point of the game. Choosing villains from the Star Wars universe for this introductory game must have been by no means an easy feat. There are just so many wonderfully evil bad guys to choose from! Thankfully, Ravensburger did a great job with their choices.