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To think it was barely 18 months ago that Fantasy Flight unleashed their Jedi-infused deck builder to the world – a two-player Star Wars game that didn’t need two dining room tables to play or a completionist streak a mile wide. Yes, times were good… for all of three months, when Fantasy Flight released Star Wars Unlimited, a two-player Star Wars game that didn’t need two dining room tables to play and only required a mild completionist streak. But… but…
Anyway, I played them both and could honestly say that I preferred the deck builder, one, because I really didn’t need another TCG in my life (but another deck builder is fine, Rob? Hush now, internal dialogue…) and two, the first time I played Unlimited, I found myself locked out of the game – just a wee hintette, if you want me to play your game, then LET ME PLAY THE NERF-HERDING GAME!
Now, I realise that I may be in the minority here, but I have never been one to swim in the mainstream – you don’t know what the majority have done in there (akin to water companies in the UK – amiright?). So I was as happy as a Sandperson when I heard that an expansion/standalone was coming out, based on the prequels. But what could it offer me that the original couldn’t, apart from a much less scuffed up box? Well, let’s see if the force is strong with this’un…
It’s An Older Code, But It Checks Out…
Star Wars: The Deck Builder – The Clone Wars is mechanically the same as the original game, so if you are familiar, you can skip this bit. I can’t, though, as that’s not how writing works. For those of you who want to join me on this voyage of journalistic discovery… (GET ON WITH IT!) Fine.
Star Wars: TDB is for two players, with one playing the ‘good guys’ and one the ‘bad guys’. Each player starts with a deck of similar cards that can do damage, allow you to buy things and increase your ‘force’ – these are the three resources in the game, and you get a whole loada yellow cubes (spendies), purple cubes (fighties) and a force tracker to show if the ‘force is with you’ (basically, a cube moves back and forth between the two sides – if it is on your side, the force is with you and allows certain things to happen; if it is at your end of the track, you also get an extra spendy) to keep track of what have and what you can do with them.
You also have a set of planets. These represent your lives and, depending on how long you want the game to be, once you have defeated so many of your opponent’s planets (by piling on the purple cubes), you win the game and the galaxy is yours – cue the carnivorous teddy bears playing on the armour and feeding on the flesh of their vanquished foes (what?).
To do this, you play the game over a number of turns until those planets are defeated. A turn sees the active player use the cards in their hand (usually five to start) to buy cards from the Galaxy Row (or an Outer Rim Pilot), attack your opponent’s planet or capital ships or attack your opponent’s cards in the Galaxy Row. There are some other effects that come into play on the cards, like drawing more cards, but part of the fun is finding out, isn’t it?
When cards are bought they go to the discard pile (unless otherwise stated – see ‘other effects’ from the previous paragraph); when your opponent’s capital ships are attacked, pile on the damage cubes until they are KOd to the discard pile; when planets are attacked, pile on the purple cubes until they cannae take no more, cap’n! (sorry, crossover) – they will not be replaced until the beginning of your opponent’s next turn, so you can’t just chain dog-pile your opponent’s planets. Attacking your opponent’s cards in the Galaxy Row is different though. You have to one-shot those puppies, but when you do you get a sweet bonus, usually in the shape of extra spendies, extra force or the chance to exile cards from your discard pile – thin that deck for maximum efficiency!
The other thing to be aware of is that when one of your planets gets knocked out, it’s not the end of the world – I mean, it’s the end of THAT world, but not yours. Replacing it with another planet will give you either a one-time effect, like grabbing a card from the Galaxy Row and putting it in your hand, or an ongoing effect, like all your droids do more damage. And that’s about it for play, and where we rejoin with those who are already familiar with it. All together? Everyone got their excursion buddy? Good - into the newness we go!
Begun, The Clone Wars Has…
At first, you could be forgiven for thinking that this game is a simple re-skin of the original game – for instance, the Imperial Transports are now Separatist Shuttles, the Rebel Soldiers are now Clone Troopers (oops) – and as the gameplay has not changed at all, that thought may begin to gain momentum. But then you start to play.
For those who have reappraised the prequel films, there are certain traits of the two opposing factions that become tragically apparent (for one faction at least) after repeated viewings – the Separatists’ dependence on an endless stream of ultimately disposable droids and the Republic’s dependence on an ancient order of space wizards and their utterly faithful clone army (who could have foreseen THAT going wrong). And this version of the game leans more into those themes, especially with the introduction of individual exile piles. The Separatists now have ways of gaining ‘droid’ cards from their exile pile and bringing them into play, while the Republic have more cards that gain effects by having a Jedi in play – there’s more of the combo element that is known and loved in other deck builders than the previous SW:DB.
This means there’s more fun to be had playing your deck rather than against your opponent’s – the Rebels had more cards that could discard cards from the Empire’s hand, meaning that they often got an unfair advantage. Here there is more balance to the force… and we know how it all ends in the end, so it feels more thematically accurate.
The neutral cards also get more interesting – bounty hunters can still get bonuses for sniping the Galaxy Row, but there is more of an incentive to get neutral cards together – almost like its own faction – especially with heavy hitters like Cad Bane and Jango Fett. There is also a very annoying card that costs nothing – yes, it’s Jar Jar – but when you play it, you get to give it to your opponent at the price of two cards but the benefit of a force. A bit more like Ascension’s Infest cards. At least it’s not forcing you to lose cards from your hand for little to no benefit.
There are some interesting new planets too – one of them even allows you to carry over spendies from a previous hand, an unheard-of mechanic in deck builders (actually…) UNHEARD-OF! So, despite the initial feeling of familiarity, there is definitely a disturbance in the force. In a good way.
Lose The Spare? (Sorry, Wrong Franchise…)
Deck builders are, by nature, prone to expansion – I mean, that’s the whole mechanic, so what do you expect? – so this was inevitable, but as a standalone, is it essential? Hmmm… well, no board game is essential (BLASPHEMY!), but there’s a touch of the Dune Imperiums vs Uprisings here, though there is more reason for keeping ‘the base game’ than with the other sand-related franchise, despite the reason being pretty much the same (four player SW:DB is fine, but who really wants to play Dune Imperium as a six-player semi co-operative? You do? Well, no offence intended…). Besides, my copy of the original is looking fairly ‘well loved’ now, so I’m keeping it.
The Clone Wars Deck Builder is, however, a better iteration of the game as it has more play mechanics that don’t depend on making your opponent suffer more that they have to. You also get to play General Kenobi
(hello there!), though there is no sign of Yoda or The Emperor… yet. It may not be reinventing the deck building wheel, but if you don’t have the first game, this is definitely the one you are looking for. Now, you can go about your business. Move along…
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