Star Wars and Pandemic??? Did someone just raid my dreams? As you may already know, I love both of these IPs so bought this straight away!! But, did it live up to my expectations? Let's take a look into Pandemic: Star Wars The Clone Wars!
Pandemic Vs Pandemic Star Wars
First, let's discuss the differences between this and regular Pandemic of which there are quite a few. In Pandemic Star Wars the droids that you place like infections in regular Pandemic do no spread to new adjacent locations if they go over 3 at a location; instead you add a blockade token to that location and then move the threat track down. Your cards that you gain in hand are crew cards and do not cure diseases but, aid you in attack and defense. You are also trying to complete missions instead of eradicating diseases and there is a lot of them which adds great variety in to this game.
In this game removing a drone is not guaranteed and you must role the attack dice which is a big blue D12. This dice brings with it a good chance of success but, also some sides that inflict a hit back to the player. For each damage done to a player than cannot be blocked out the player must discard a crew card. When attacking or attempting a mission you must turn sideways any cards that you are using to increase successes and exhaust them (a bit like how you do in Marvel Champions when taking turns with your heroes or allies).
Gameplay
Each round follows a similar pattern, first you take your player turn which consists of readying any cards used last round and then taking any 4 actions; move, attack drones or the villain, attempting missions or drawing another crew card. After this you activate the main Villain by drawing one of their cards and doing the actions listed on them. Then finally you place droids out, similar to infections in regular Pandemic, depending on the Invasion level.
Components & Mini's
The components here are excellent; the droids do not all have the same stance (but there are some repeats) and the hero and villain minis are great. There is always someone playing Yoda as his mini is so good!! Definitely a good set if you want to paint the minis too. There are 7 hero miniatures and 4 villain miniatures plus, 3 blockades and 36 Droid miniatures.
Final Thoughts
Compared to standard Pandemic there is so much more replayability in here with the 4 villains, multiple different missions and the different combination of heroes at your disposal. If you are a Star Wars fan then I highly recommend this to you. I love Pandemic and Star Wars so love this game too. The gameplay is fun and quick, the card play is simple to understand and you can really become engrossed by the theme due to the excellent components. I highly recommend this to all Jedi and Sith alike.
That concludes our thoughts on Pandemic: Star Wars The Clone Wars. Do you agree? Let us know your thoughts and tag us on social media @zatugames. To buy Pandemic: Star Wars The Clone Wars today click here!