Ravensburger Star Wars Villainous Power of the Dark Side - Darth Vader - Expandable Strategy Family Board Games for Adults and Kids Age 10 Years Up - 2 to 5 Players

As a star wars fan, I’ve always been on the lookout for new Star Wars board games. My wife is a huge Disney fan, and loves the original Villainous board game and all its expansions. Getting this was a no brainer, and if there was a way to get my significant other into a star wars based game, this had to be the one! First up, if you’ve played any villainous games before, the mechanics are basically the same except for some new specific rules which make it feel much more Starwarsy, like starships and ‘ambition’ as an extra form of currency applicable to all characters. The addition of starships as playable ‘extra’ locations is a particularly nice touch and adds some immersive depth to gameplay. Similar to some of the expansions to Disneys Villainous, the two characters I’ve played (Darth Vader and Kylo ren) had a lot of facets and steps to complete in order to win, with some novel mechanics unique to each character. Darth vader was certainly more complicated than Kylo Ren (I guess testament to their characters in the films) and his end goal felt very on theme with his narrative. Even though I lost while playing as him, I can’t wait to play again and master his deck and play style. It’s nice to know that the designers have made certain characters more complex than others, so as to cater for all types of players. The cards are beautifully designed, and despite the illustrations being clearly lifted from the films, they are made to look like original artwork which is a nice touch. The cards are named after characters or quotes (I.e. ‘your son is gone’ and ‘release your anger’) and the effects they have feel relevant to their titles. The game boards, or sectors, are nicely designed, sturdy and very similar to the layout of the original board game. The character pieces are nice and chunky and pleasing to look at, especially if you have an interested toddler trying to disrupt your game! You need to get this if you’re even vaguely into star wars or an original villainous fan. It’s not an overly complicated board game but it flows well and is extremely fun, even with just two players. I can’t wait to try the other characters, which if you’re a fan of the clone wars or the Mandolorian will be pleased to see Ventress and Gideon make an appearance. I really hope they bring out expansions to this one, although who are we kidding, this is Disney we’re talking about, of course they will!

Excellent game

Came perfectly. I love these board games and variations. We're collecting them.

I bought this in a Black Friday sale alongside a few sets from the Disney Villainous mainline, under the impression that I would be able to combine the villains from this game with those of the main franchise, longing to see Darth Vader bump up against Scar and other animated Disney villains. Imagine the possibilities of that! However, I was surprised to find that this version of the game itself is in fact not compatible with previously released Villainous sets, something which I felt was not adequately advertised to me as a customer. The game is described as ‘expandable’ which I now understand is making reference to the future expansions that will be made specifically for this game featuring Star Wars villains such as Maul and Dooku, but which I originally took to mean expandable in the sense that it would work with Disney and Marvel Villainous sets such as Infinite Power, Bigger and Badder and The Worst Takes All. I feel this could be made clearer in order to avoid future confusion, but I digress. What I did receive was an enjoyable game on its own featuring five Star Wars villains (Vader representing the original trilogy, Kylo Ren for the sequels, Moff Gideon bringing in some Mandalorian content and both Asajj Ventress and General Grievous hailing from The Clone Wars). The choice of these villains have confused my gaming group compared to The Worst Takes All, which featured an all-star set of heavy hitters in the form of Hook, Ursula, Jafar, Prince John, Maleficent and The Queen of Hearts. While Vader, Ren and Grievous all seem like fitting picks of a similar calibre to TWTA’s choices and I can see the motivation behind including Gideon as The Mandalorian is still super popular, the inclusion of Ventress seems like something for an expansion, as her era and locations seem very similar to Grievous’ and we get one less villain than we got in the Disney Villainous starter pack. Whereas that game seemed thrilled to give us six characters (five of which could have been the crown jewel of separate expansions), here we get a smaller sprinkling of characters in which it is much more obvious that they are withholding the fan favourites to sell them off in future expansion packs. I wish we could have seen The Emperor and Dooku or Maul for a fifth and sixth character in this set. But let me push my two criticisms aside and praise the content that we *do * get in this set. The boards and cards are fantastically stylised and the art on each one is eye-catching and iconic, given the source material’s world renowned status. So far, I have only played Vader against Grievous, but it was a gripping match in true Villainous style - irrespective of the sci-fi lick of paint and the addition of a new form of currency in Ambition points (gained passively at a rate of 1 per turn), the core gameplay of Villainous remains as interesting and exciting as ever, and that’s why this set is quite hard to go into much detail about outside of giving newcomers a rundown of how to play the game. If you like Marvel or Disney Villainous, you’ll like this too, especially if you’re a Star Wars fan (which is statistically quite likely given the popularity of the franchise). Just don’t expect to be able to port these characters over into your Disney Animated Studios game without having to deal with the stress of adapting the rules slightly, overlooking certain clauses and running with the possibility that there could be some hiccups. I’m sure it’s possible to make it work with the main game but there’s an overwhelming feeling that Ravensburger really don’t want you to. In spite of that, I’m looking forward to seeing where this new franchise of Villainous goes and in a few years, I feel like the game will be able to stand on its own two feet outside of the shadow of Disney Villainous. I really do have a lot of respect for Ravensburger as outside of a few strange decisions in terms of character picks and the lack of adaptability in this particular Star Wars title, their games and materials have always been very solid, sturdy and both artistically and mechanically well designed. I’m a real fan of what they’ve created and I encourage you to pick the franchise of your choice and jump right in. If you’re more of a superhero fan or you just want to get nostalgic over the classic animations, see Marvel Villainous: Infinite Power or Disney Villainous: The Worst Takes All for different ways into the game, and if you appreciated this review, drop a like and check my profile for more Villainous and board game content. Thanks for reading!

Great game and got at a discounted price, very happy with overall purchase

Perfect gift for the star wars fan in my life! The game takes at least one play session to get to grips on the rules and gameplay, so don't be put off if it doesn't seem simple straigt away, but it is good fun and a nice little challenge. I also love that there are variations and expansion packs for the Villainous games! We also have the Disney villians version!

This game was very fun once we’d gotten the hang of it. It is difficult to understand at first and I didn’t think the video tutorial was very useful but once you get going it is very fun. I would also say it can take a bit longer than suggested. I played it yesterday with 3 teams and it took roughly 1 hour and 30 minutes, but this was not a problem. Would definitely recommend.

Great

Un super villainous jouable à l'infini. Attention il est en anglais :)

Le doy 4 estrellas por qué el paquete solo llegó en una bolsa y la caja llegó golpeada y abollada, todo lo de adentro venía en exelente estado y me emociona mucho empezar a jugarlo

Mijn kleinzoon was er super blij mee

Great!!!

Fun version of villainous