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Want to let out your inner villain and try your hand at the force at the same time? Well then, Star Wars Villainous, Scum and Villainy has all that and more!
As one of the newest additions to the Villainous range, this expandalone provides you with three star wars villains to try your hand at; Boba Fett, Cad Bane and Seventh Sister All of which have their own unique objectives and playstyles.
In this review, I’ll explore all there is to know about this exciting new Villainous installment. And although there’s no story to spoil, I’ll still leave enough mystery for you to explore whilst you play it.
Villainous strategy
As with all of the Villainous games, you take on the role of one of Disney’s famous villains and do whatever it takes to achieve your unique objective and take victory. But that isn’t as easy as it sounds.
To emerge the victor, you’ll have to use the cards in your villain deck to manipulate cards from your fate deck that contain the means to achieving your objective. Simply put, find your heroes and use allies to banish them with any requirements that your objective has; all before your opponents do.
Dark side treasure
But before we get stuck into what each of the characters do, let’s take a look at what we get inside the box! Once open, inside you’ll find:
● 3 sculpted villain movers
● 3 villain guides
● 90 villain cards
● 45 fate cards
● 75 tokens
● 3 reference cards
● 3 domains
● An instruction booklet
One thing that struck me immediately upon unpacking the game was the incredible component quality. The movers are made in striking colours and have brilliant sculpts of the villain they represent. With a bit of time and patience, you could even paint them to give more character to your game.
The cards are thick and adorned with beautiful art, and clear game instructions. They’re easy to read and can handle a lot of shuffling without showing wear or tear. And the same goes for the cardboard tokens that are included. These tokens are made of thick card, embossed with unique designs and sound great when they’re handled or placed on the board.
But the beauty in the Villainous game design doesn't stop there. Although you have everything you need to get playing straight out of the box; you also have the option to combine the characters from this expansion with any of the other Star Wars villainous games. This opens up the game to more show downs, mechanic clashes and gives you the chance to relive famous rivalries from the franchise.
Rebel Playstyles
But before you start mixing the expansion, let’s introduce the characters from Scum and Villainy, and explain what you can expect to find when you play each one.
Starting with Boba Fett, it’s all about bounties, of which you need to complete 4 to win the game. To do this, Boba Fett needs to play contacts into his sector and then place bounties on them. As tasks are fulfilled, the bounties will be completed and once you complete 4, victory is yours! The cards in your deck are either related to complete tasks and bounties or allow you to cycle through the cards in your deck to find the bounties and tasks you need.
Next we have Cad Bane, who always hits his targets. To win the game, you need to collect 5 targets which you can gain by banishing the heroes that are holding them. Each card in the deck focuses on adding targets to heroes in your sector or gaining targets without the need for banishing. It’s a deck with a slow start but one that ramps up really quickly.
Finally, we have the Seventh Sister, the one with a hatred for rebels. To win, you simply need to remove 3 rebel scum from the game which will have an ambition cost to do so. Therefore your aim is to gain as much ambition as possible, find your heroes and remove them in one fell swoop. Do that, and the game is yours.
Having played all three characters, my favourite has to be Seventh Sister as it plays to the same mechanics I enjoy in other card games. But with that being said, Can Bane is a lot of fun to play as well.
Forcing my hand
With this being my first experience of the Disney Villainous game series, I didn’t know what to expect and wasn’t sure if it would be another Disney game aimed at the younger audiences. Thankfully it wasn’t.
Star Wars Villainous, Scum and Villainy is an absolutely perfect family board game that combines strategy, cunning and an ounce of betrayal where needed. I had far more fun playing it than I ever expected and I intend on picking up all the other star wars installments as soon as I can get hold of them.
Honestly, I would even go so far as to say that this is a game for adults. The kids will love the art and the characters, but to come out on top with this game it takes strategy and tactics that older players will be all too familiar with. That being said, it would serve as a fantastic introduction to strategy card games for those new to the genres and would even be a great gateway into playing trading card games.
And with that, there’s not much more to delve into without taking all the fun out of it. My only recommendation is to pick up a copy of Star Wars Villainous, Scum and Villainy and experience this gem of a game for yourselves!