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Go Forth, My Deathless Warriors! Destroy All In Your Path!
Driven by personal desire, the Horned King hatches despicable plots to unleash an army of skeletal zombies upon the world in an attempt to become a god among men. Once the black cauldron has been claimed, he must use his cauldron born warriors to control the world and win the game. It’s up to… erm… well other villains to try and stop him by using his own fates against him. Play heroes Taran, Gurgi, Princess Eilonwy and more against him to try to foil his plans and save the world from his tyranny and destruction.
Well, I See No Reason Why You Can't Go, If You Get All Your Work Done
Lady Tremaine ambitiously attempts to orchestrate the wedding of Anastasia, or Drizella, to Prince Charming. I mean she doesn’t massively care which daughter so long as it’s not Cinderella whom she treats like a servant in her own home! Lady Tremaine just wants to increase her social status whilst not being burdened by the existence of the step child she despises so much. She may not care for the fates as much but those glass slippers are certainly going to put a dampener on her plans!
Look At Her, LeFou. My Future Wife...
Gaston on the other hand thinks throwing poor Belle’s books in a muddy puddle will of course convince her to love him. I mean who wouldn’t love that sexist fiend? Fortunately she has heroes like Mrs Potts and Chip, Cogsworth and even the Beast himself to try to help stop nasty Gaston from convincing Belle he’s the perfect man for her. Whilst other girls may ‘swoon’ over him Belle see’s his nasty temper and knows him for who is really is… he’s the real beast, make sure Belle remembers that!
Knowledge can be power in this game of Villainous… knowledge of how to stop these dastardly villains win that is. Despicable Plots is the latest expansion in the Disney Villainous series for 2 to 3 players to battle against each other to see who will be the biggest, baddest villain of them all.
Like with all other Disney Villainous games you can mix and match characters from the base set of six or any of the other five expansions of three villains each making this game incredibly replayable as many combinations can be made from the 21 villains available. However, should you only choose to purchase this set you have everything you need included to play a great game of Villainous as Gaston, The Horned King and/or Lady Tremaine face off to see who is the most despicable of them all.
Components
The character pieces within this game are lovely and feel nice quality. I particularly love the Horned King’s piece which has some great detail to both the cauldron and the horney king himself. Lady Tremaine’s piece is probably the least impressive, being represented by just her hair style and since Gaston likes to buff out his chest his playing piece is just that, his torso.
Similarly to other Villainous games you have the power tokens which are thick enough cardboard to play with well, albeit I found that they could run out if you had power hungry maniacs playing against you. Other game quality card pieces include the lock to go on the ballroom and the Black Cauldron card. Gaston has obstacle pieces he needs to remove that are placed directly on his player board.
Speaking of player boards, again as with all Villainous games each player has their own playing board. They have their own fate deck that harms their progress and their own playing deck that helps them with their despicable plots to win the game. These individual boards provide a summary of your objective and allow you to take action throughout the game such as earn power, play cards or play the fates against your opponent/s.
How To Play In A Nutshell
If you’ve played the base game or any of the other Disney expansions gameplay is done in exactly the same way. This is slightly different to recent versions of Marvel or Star Wars Villainous. In Disney villainous you have your individual player board and individual player and fate decks. When it is your turn you choose to move to a location on your player board (as long as it is unlocked, if applicable) and can then perform actions based on those available at that location.
If you play a fate card you use your opponents fate deck against them and play their heroes to their player board. When you play a hero to another players location you prevent them from being able to use the top actions of that location as these become covered by the hero card.
You can gain differing amounts of power at locations on your player board from 1, 2 or 3. Though note, Gaston has two locations with 1 power and two locations with 2 power whilst the king and Tremaine only have 3 locations with a power of 1, 2 or 3 and having that power cut off is REALLY annoying!
You could choose to play a card for example add allies to your location, use items, effects or conditions. These all cost you power so make sure you have the power to pay to use the card.
You begin with a hand size of 4 and will refill your hand to this amount at the end of your turn if you fall below. This means if you need to try and find a certain card, like the invitation to unlock the ballroom or get your cauldron born you can use the discard action to burn though those cards.
Other actions include move an item or ally, vanquish or activate. By choosing your actions wisely and playing your cards carefully you need to complete your objective whilst preventing others from completing theirs to become the villain kingpin of Disneyland!
Final Thoughts
This latest expansion brings three new characters to the Villainous world. I enjoyed playing each of them but found Lady Tremaine to be my least favourite playing piece, but favourite playing character. Her objectives were vast but straight forward. Unlock the ballroom, get the prince, have him marry a daughter and get that pesky Cinderella out of the way should she show up. Simple, precise and in line with the movie. The Horned King was my favourite playing piece but his was a hard objective if the cards were not in your favour. Gaston, well, who likes a chauvinist? Though all he has to do is move obstacles… I mean he has an easy ride really. I’d suggest you buy this game yourself to discover who will be your favourite villain!
That concludes our thoughts on Disney Villainous Despicable Plots. Do you agree? Let us know your thoughts and tag us on social media @zatugames. To buy Disney Villainous Despicable Plots today click here!
