The Galaxy Is Under Siege! Star Wars: The Clone Wars

(Photo credit to Z-Man Games)

Written by Ed Carter, Movin Meeples Staff Writer 

Star Wars : The Clone Wars

Card drawing, action movement, based on the Pandemic engine

1-4 players

Published by Z-Man Games

On first look, like so many other gamers,  my first thought was OK another “Star Wars” game that’s a reskin to Pandemic. While this does use the Pandemic mechanics, and that is a great system, the question arose, do we need another one? The original Pandemic and Pandemic Cthuhlu are both solid games and with the World of Warcraft one as well, is this another cash grab on a trusted Intellectual Property?  I, like Tom Vassel of the Dice Tower, was pleasantly surprised. This is a solid game in its own right and can sit right along with Pandemic and stand on its own.

If you are familiar with how to play Pandemic, this is going to be very easy to learn with just a few tweaks. But before we dive into that, let’s first learn about how to play this one, and then I will break down what I think of it.

 

The Force is with us! The players turn

Credit to Z-Man Games

To start, set the board out and decide what villain you want to play against out of the four available.  Take the Villain card placing it on the beginning side, the villain miniature, and the six action cards for the villain. Take out the invasion cards, and put the white and the orange cards on the bottom of the discard area. Shuffle the remaining and draw two, placing three droids on each planet, then draw two more and place two droids on those, then draw two more and place one droid on each but on the final planet add the villain, so you have a  total of six planets.  Set the threat marker to zero, the invasion track to two, shuffle the squad cards, and place them in a face-down pile.  Each player selects a Jedi to play and takes their card and miniature.  Shuffle the five player aid cards and randomly give one to each player. On the back is the starting planet for their Jedi.  Finally, take the mission cards, and based on the difficulty, draw that many and place them in a face-down pile, returning the rest to the box.  Draw two; one for the orange area and one for the white. Place the matching mission tokens on each of the corresponding planets.  Deal each player a number of squad cards based on the player count. Players lay their cards out face up so all can see them.  Decide who the first player is and you are ready to go.

The game is played in a series of rounds alternating between the players and the villain.  Players lose if the threat track ever reaches the emperor icon.  A player can take four actions on their turn, (Fly, attack, attempt a mission, or reinforce).  A fly action allows a player to move their Jedi from one connecting planet to another.  A reinforce action lets a player draw a squad card. There are five types of squad cards that players can use to help with actions. (Transport, Assault & Stealth, Armor, and Ally.)  Assault and Stealth add hits to an attack but you can only combine the same type in an attack.  Armor reduces damage to your Jedi, Transport increases a fly action and each ally provides unique actions. Squad cards, except ally cards, are not discarded when used but are tapped and then reset at the start of the player’s next turn.  To attack, roll the attack dice and deal the damage indicated as well as any damage and take any damage based on the damage indicated; adding any squad cards to increase it.  One damage point defeats a droid, two for a blockade and each villain has a number of health points on their card.  Damage does not accumulate, so you have to have enough damage to defeat the unit in that attack action.  To attempt a mission, roll the dice and add any squad cards matching the type allowed. If the total is equal to or above the mission value, the mission succeeds. Take note of any special rules on the mission card when attempting to complete it. Each mission has damage that must be taken as well when completing it, in addition to any damage indicated on the die as well as one for each remaining droid. If the attempt fails, only the damage on the die has to be taken.  When a Jedi takes damage, they have to discard a card from their hand for each damage symbol they roll, damage indicated when completing a mission, or remaining droid after an attack. Damage can be reduced by using armor cards.  Each player can have a maximum of seven cards in their hand and must discard down to 7 whenever they have more.

 

The Power of the Dark Side! The Villains turn

After a player has taken their four actions, the villain activates. Flip the top card of the villain’s deck and follow the instructions. Their action is based on whether the villain is on or off the board.  Each villain deck has a Planet Under Siege card.  The card explains the actions to take (increase the invasion track, draw the bottom card of the invasion deck and place three droids on it, take that card with the discard pile, shuffle it, and place it on top of the invasion deck. If you cannot place a 4th droid, increase the threat level and place a blockade marker.  No actions can be taken on that planet until the blockade is defeated first.

 

Prepare for assault! The Invader phase 

After the villain has activated, it’s time to invade planets.  Draw a number of invasion cards, based on the invasion track, and place one droid on each. If there are ever not enough droids or blockade markers to place, then increase the threat by one for every droid or blockade that cannot be placed. In addition, if you are not able to advance the invasion track, increase the threat by one.

Once all the missions are completed, the players will attempt the final mission to defeat the villain and win the game. Flip the villain card and place the villain on the indicated planet.  The final mission will usually require more than one Jedi to defeat.  Jedi can contribute cards if they are on the same planet to complete a mission.  If the Jedi defeat the villain, they win the game.

 

Final Debrief: My final thoughts

While this game uses some of the Pandemic rules, there are a lot of differences from Pandemic. There is only one way to lose in this one, by increasing the threat.  There are no outbreaks, or card sets to turn in, as cards are tapped and refreshed again. Each villain has a set of cards that determine their actions. The invasion action is similar to the infect step in Pandemic, but the game is not lost if there are no more droids, the threat increases.  There are only three blockade markers, so threat can be increased quickly if they are all on the board.  The Planet Under Siege works similarly to the contagion cards in Pandemic, as they add the risk of more droids on planets already under assault.

The theme was not just pasted on this game, each mission corresponds to an episode of the animated series, “The Clone Wars,” even the “Bad Batch” is in this as an ally. It feels like a “Star Wars” experience working to complete the missions and defeat the villain.

I  am going to give this game a solid 9/10.  For fans of “Star Wars,” it is an automatic buy, and it adds one more game to a great entry-level game for cooperative games.  The miniatures are well made, they really add to the experience more than colored cubes. The squad cards mechanic is really smart, where you can reuse your cards instead of turning them in and set collecting.  Having specific missions to complete rather than gathering card sets is a great addition to improving the replayability in addition to adding to the theme of the Galaxy at war. I love how the Jedi do not take direct damage, but it reduces their squad instead.

I am glad that I did not pass this one because I already have Pandemic. For fans of cooperative games and “Star Wars,”  I believe that you will find this a solid addition to any game collection. Click on Z-Man Games, Amazon, or better yet, visit your local board game store.

 

 

Lynn Makes

Hi, I’m Lynn, and I Make.
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