Deck building is one of my favorite mechanics. I own and have played a decent amount of them. By far this is my favorite 1v1 deck builder. And the IP is definitely a plus for me. And another plus, the store where I bought it gave me a free pack of star wars themed sleeves and these where for anyone who buys the game. And the pack says that is not for sale on the back, so keep an aye for it in your local store.
I like it a lot. I prefer it over Star realms because of the richer theme and choosing the right base for the right occasion. Its easy and quick to get to the table, and that's something I appreciate more these days.
The richer theme is a matter of opinion though. Sure if you love Star Wars this is an easy buy. Star Realms on the other hand has 4 base factions and 4 new factions in Rise of Empire. Along with event cards, gambit cards, command packs, dual faction cards, etc. Tons and tons of variety and innovative cards in Star Realms which have brought the game a long way.
@@ryanh7844 At this point though I'd only compare base set to base set. Star Realms has been out for so many more years, I'm sure FFG will also add content to SWDG if it's successful.
it's a great game. Easily accessible, quick setup, not component heavy, adjustable game length with number of bases, great decision making and great theme/presentation. Agree 5 damage marker or damage slots on the planet cards would be nice. Also a 2v2 with one box would have been a nice consideration.
We play at lunch in the office and I really like it! I did notice other than IG88, there are no droids at all. I assume if there is an expansion, it may include astromech droids to repair capital ships or protocol droids to negotiate lower purchase costs of cards in the galaxy row.
Chris, if you read this, over the last few years, Disney has dismantled licenses for broad categories of games. So there wouldn't be a licenses for "Star Wars miniature games," for example. Instead, Disney now licenses every game on a per game basis: each game is pitched to their licensing department as its own project and multiple publishers could theoretically end up competing if Disney approved similar games. The most high profile example of this was when they terminated Electronic Arts' exclusive license to make Star Wars video games, after which multiple publishers announced video game projects using that IP.
@@DTChrisYi I don’t 100% know the timing. I read about it at the time they bought Fox and started selling off all of the Fox-owned video game studios. Part of the same policy overhaul was that Disney wouldn’t make games in-house, and only license them. It was a complete revamp of their licensing methods.
@@DTChrisYi 1313 was scrapped around when Disney bought Star Wars because they closed Lucas Arts and gave EA the exclusive license on Star Wars video games that lasted until somewhat recently.
I think Tom sums it up perfectly as an "A.I designed game." This just takes rules from various other deck builders and throws them into one package with a star wars skin. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but as a seasoned board gamer, it makes it hard to get excited about this one.
I played it and liked it pretty well on the first play. It has potential. It doesn’t replace Star Realms as it’s still different enough. This only plays 2 and it’s heavily faction based (only can buy Your cards or neutral cards), while Star Realms has 4 and up to 6 players. Once Star Wars gets some expansions under its belt, the balance will change dramatically. I’d like to see character packs like Hero Realms did, but these can be Jedi/Sith, Commander, Saboteur, Ace, Politician, and Smuggler. I also look forward to the solo/co-op opportunities or Boss battles. Jabba could be a great boss or any from crime faction from Tatooine, the Grand Admiral Thrawn, to assaulting the Sith Castle on Mustafar or the temple on Exegol. There could even be Imperial adventures like infiltrating the Temple base on Yavin 4. Bring all that and I’ll forget to dust the shelf that holds Star Realms and Hero Realms. Until then, I’ll enjoy Star Wars for what it is. Fun.😎
I think it's a great Gateway game to get people into boardgaming. Introduces deckbuilding in a nice easy way but with extra bells and whistles; it's highly interactive, with several strategic decisions to make at each point (without overwhelming a new gamer). And it implements a beloved IP in a wonderful way (the art, using the force, faction-specific cards, neutral cards, secret bases with fun abilities). Tbh I worry that if I introduce this to a new gamer, they will be completely underwhelmed by some older deckbuilders. I like that the cast is from the Original Trilogy and Rogue one, the 4 best movies in the whole series imo. Also, it has set a great foundation for expansions with deeper mechanisms... and of course characters (I want Wicket, Yoda and the Emperor... in that order lol!). But it still doesn't beat my GOAT deckbuiler ... Rune Age with its essential expansion. (Criminal that it only had one!)
My favourite deckbuilding game is Shards of Infinity. But I still got this one for a quick, Star Wars themed game. I don't regret the purchase at all as this works more as a filler rather than a serious game.
I'm looking forward to trying this one. I played a good amount of both Star Realms and Ascension, but only using the apps. The only 1v1 deck builders I've owned / played are Hogwarts Battles and sort of related Radlands. I feel I've seen what Star Realms has to offer so I think this is just a better way to get something same but different in mechanisms plus a theme that I would enjoy more. And right on Roy - core trilogy Star Wars is the stuff.
Great review thank you, I really am enjoying SW unlimited as well. Given yall enjoyed the starter decks so much, highly recommend you pickup a precon box (comes with 4 decks) of Sorcery TCG. It's hands down my most favorite new TCG in the last few years. All art is hand drawn and the grid mechanic really adds to the feeling that you are a sorcerer commanding your minions, chucking fireballs at your opponent etc. I'd love if Dice Tower tried the game out and gave it a review!
Tough one for me. It looks interesting and different enough to maybe REPLACE an existing game (Star Realms?) but I’m over the need to buy EVERY game that comes along. I’ve gone to that dark side of the hobby and come out a “player” and not a “collector”. 😜 I’m rather picky about new games now. I have so many deck building games that I’m good with what I have. I’d get it as a gift for a Star Wars fan if I catch it on sale for about $10-$15. 🤷🏻♂️
I feel ya. These days i feel like i m buying boardgames (or even pc/console games) not to play it but instead for the purchasing rush(?) Or for the 'hope' of playing it one day 😢
@@SodaQuasar yeah, that’s where I was at. Shelves full of games. We couldn’t play them as fast as I was buying them, and it seemed every time my group got together, we were spending so much time learning a new one for the sake of getting it to the table, instead of just ENJOYING one we’d already learned, played and liked. I tell ya, when I realized that replaying a game many times over…and REALLY doing a deep dive into the strategy…was SO much more enjoyable than always playing catch-up to my spending… Wow. We are enjoying games more now, than ever before. 👍
@Tennethums1 👍 its good that you can find enjoyment of gaming again. I hope i ll be able as well. Nowadays for me, it's just hard to find people to play with. My usual pals all gotten busier with work and family so we hardly meet up as often. I tried to get my wife into the hobby without any success. So now I only play sometimes when I went over to our local gamestore with whoever there. Miss the good ol' time... but on the bright side, my daughter is getting old enough for me to teach her simple games. Hopefully i can play some w her later
@@SodaQuasar I actually found my way back into board game through MeetUp. My ex GF and I had decided to call it quits and I was living alone. While I did enjoy it to some extent (kept myself busy with fantasy miniature painting and video games) I was like “I gotta get out of this house!”. So joined a hiking group, reading group and yes…a board gaming group, all through MeetUp. Met a lot of great people and had a blast!
I agree with Zee. The market tailored to one faction at the beginning of game. I had no attack to remove them. It was all Empire cards. That game was horrible for me. Otherwise I think the game is fine.
I purposely kept the market clogged up with my cards while I was able to thin my deck down in my first few turns before the market became my ally. It was not a fun game for my opponent as they could not deal with taking out a couple Star Destroyers and Grand Moff Tarkin so early in the game.
The empires strength seems to be discarding/controling the galaxy row. Whilst the rebels discard empire players hand so it kind of balances asymmetrically and is thematic.
I actually think we may not get expansions. FFG is making a big deal of "Star Wars Unlimited" which is a Magic-style TCG coming up soon, and I suspect they'll want to avoid the confusion of two active card systems. And obviously, why sell one-time expansions when you can sell "Unlimited" booster packs... Still! As it is this is a neat little package, and like the guys said, probably the most accessible FFG Star Wars game yet to play with fans wo may not be heavily into board games.
I think we need to talk about how this game is an instant cash cow for FFG. I promise I will buy every expansion pack for this game as I have done with Star Realms. It has my seal of approval (for what it's worth) lol.
@@ConeDefense How though? I have Shards and I find them quite different. Shards has so much that is very different from here: how attack/defense works, how the power resource works etc. It has more similarities with Star Realms simply because that one is more basic.
@@KristoVaher Specifally the cards being duel purpose with the mercanary mecahnic. You can aquire the card, or you can pay the cost for an instant use. Alll star wars does is take that mecahnic and makes the cards one or the other depending on faction. It is essentially the same as combining monster cards and purchasable cards from the creators original game Ascension (what star realms copied off but changes the victory to elimination rather than points.) Which is why I make the comparison to shards/acesnsion rather than star realms, which I think is a comparsion only being made because more people know of it and it is another sci fi deck builder with space ships.
Chris- apologies but when my 3.5-year old daughter asked what your name was and pointed to you, I couldn't remember. So she said "let's call him Kerdabbo". So there you go Kerdabbo Yi
It is definitely a little too much like Star Realms for me. I am a seasoned star wars LCG and CCG player so that is what I am still hoping for from them. Another version of one of those. The base system is taken from Game of thrones LCG where you each select your next location to give you gold and other bonuses. So they are just reusing their own rules. So they didn't really create anything new at all. But I will say there is a little fun to be had here. But if you have Star Realms, it probably isn't worth it. Keep up the good work Dice Tower!
No Palpatine or Obi-Wan is super weird, but other than that it's a great game. I hope we get a Prequel Era expansion at some point. I wanna rip people up with Grievous and Cad Bane!
I think a more stripped down, simplified deck builder is a real perk. I disagree with Zee saying something like this sounded boring. There aren’t a lot of good introductory deck builders out there that play in 30-45 minutes. My one complaint is that there’s not a lot of cards in the box. When I first picked it up, I was surprised how light the box was compared to other deckbuilders that have a ton of cards. Perks for this one are being able to attack enemy cards, the force track tug of war, and choosing your base (which is pretty thematic as well).
This will probably go onto my “impulse buy when we’re two players” list. Thanks for the review, after Elder Sign X-Men I did not have super high hopes for it. :D
This made me realize that you guys never reviewed star wars villainous. It's SO much better than Disney or marvel in my opinion, and you've reviewed everything else villainous.
I'm really glad I added this one to my collection. It's not the most innovative or complex deck-builder. But, I can play several games in one sitting. My biggest complaint is that there aren't as many deckbuilding strategies; you're just doing the best with what you're offered. Hopefully an expansion will bring new ways of seizing power and making interesting, thematic decks.
I've seen people wondering when they're going to add an expansion so 4 people can play, and that line of thought baffles me. There seems to be a lot of attacking resources here, so you're either going to end up with: a game where the correct play is to blast one opponent into the Stone Age so it's a 2v1; a game where players on a team are just alternating who's in control of everything or divvying up responsibilities (which is just BEGGING for alpha player syndrome); or you're basically playing two separate games next to each other... which you can already do.
Did you have a look at Gosu X? It's amazing, we talk a lot about it in france, along radlands, mindbug and Pagan as the great 2 player games out this year.
@@KristoVaher Yes and having played it, it's much more than a re-release! You really get some deep TCG feel, with the draft and all the combos, within an all in one package.
From what I can see, and having read the rulebook, I don't see how you recover from a Galaxy Row blocked by all expensive cards, or a Galaxy Row that, through bad luck or shuffling, only has cards of one sides appearing.
You can house rule the maximum number of same faction cards in the row. If another one gets drawn of the same faction you can either discard it or have the person whos faction is choose to discard or replace it with another already in the row. It also seems to me that this is only the problem at the inital draw, so maybe they could have an initial deck for the galaxy row for the first 10-15 cards, then switch to the main deck.
This looks OK. I miss the old Fantasy Frump Games when they had a massive catalog of games from different IP's. Now it's pretty much Star Wars & Lord of the Rings.
It's a decent 7 game, but I can't overlook how much of a "copy/paste" game it is and I'd rather play Star Realms over this. The market row can also stagnate quite often where it's all geared to one player and there are some cards that are so powerful they pretty much end the game. Get Vader and Tarkin in the same hand and you will just obliterate the enemy. Seal of excellence by half a mark!
In too many games the entire galaxy row has been blue. Leaving the rebels unable to play. I really want a way to deal with enemy capital ships In The centre, last time I was imperial we had 4 blue ships and 2 strong units. And the rebels could do anything.
As both an avid gamer and an avid Star Wars fan, the last Star Wars game I purchased was Outer Rim. IMO, everything since then has been essentially just reskins of previous games, with this an inferior reskin of Star Wars: The Card Game (which I already own and like) with a Star Realms/Legendary mechanic, and Legion a far more expensive (money pit) and larger table hog, reskin of Imperial Assault.
I am combining Star Realms with this and having elements from one game into the other game. Each game will serve as an expansion for the other. The power levels seem similar between the cards. With the cards sleaved, they can be mixed together. So, I will use Star Realms as a way to expand it.
I've played this a number of times now and found the game to be very imbalanced in favour of the Rebels. Many of their cards have an ability to force the Empire to discard cards. The Empire don't have that ability. They're ability is merely to discard cards from the Galaxy Row, which can help the Rebels if a good and affordable card replaces it. As a result you end up playing most turns with 4 cards and very little hitting power in return. This needs addressing if expansions are released. We've played 7 games and the Rebels have won 6 times no matter who plays as which side. Maybe it's just the luck of the Galaxy Row. I played a game just now as Empire and just about every card that came out in the Galaxy Row was a resource card and not an attack card. It took me 2 or 3 rounds to amass any kind of decent attack power. In the meantime my opponent were forcing me to discard cards, draw cards to the top of their deck, draw more cards then attack the hell out of me. I'd give this a 6/10 due to all of the above. Oh, and the Force starts all the way with them too. Lucky Empire, you get to go first, again massively imbalancing and giving Rebels an advantage before the game begins.
well here its the other way around with the imperials strong ,exiling cards is available for both sides ,if you bloat the deck you lose either way!! Capital ships are key with main characters and exile cards and combat modifier cards
Id argue this isn’t meant to compete with those games either. It’d be like comparing Ascension to the LCG games. This will be more like Shards, Star Realms, Ascension and Thunderstone. That said, it’s a logical question since most of their investment has been in LCGs.
I enjoy this game but I feel like your decks get easily bloated. Sure there are some exile cards but they only help to an extent. Still a good game that I’ll probably buy the expansion for.
Bro they will only get bloated if you buy dem cards ,spend only only on capital ships , the main characters and top end and some of the big hitters and damage repair exiles ,plus keep the standard exile cards filtering thru
We liked it a lot to begin with, but after a few games it felt pretty samey. We think it needs an expansion to have more longevity. Feels a bit flat and very iterative (not in the best way).
I wasn't expecting good scores on this. I'll probably still stay away from it since it's FFG and I'll have to buy ten expansions to get the full game. But not bad for an AI created game. 😉
FFG already had two Star Wars card games that they spontaneously stopped supporting (both of which were great). They're not going to get me to invest into a third one. BTW all 3 of their card games are PVP, when many of their fans have been clamoring for a co-op game.
Played this 2 weeks ago at a meetup. It's not bad, but it was very much; 'been there, done that', so came off very bland, although I did like the base system.
Agreed, but this game has absolutely nothing to do with love letter style games. You might as well say a standard deck of cards is more portable than Twilight Imporium, therefore it's better.
I think the 2 factions are not well balanced. You have to stick with your faction's strategy or else you will lose, so it takes out a big part of fun for me to try new strategies each time. Not a lot of interesting combos. And the possibility of a one sided galaxy row (which happened on my very first game) is a big flaw for me. I will stick with Star Realms which is 10 times better in my opinion! I often agree with you guys, but not this time.
Wish this was Star Wars Destiny, in cube/set form. Not interested in any new offerings from Fantasy Flight (particularly SWs branded anything) after how they mishandled Star Wars Destiny.
I feel like Roy’s seal of excellence is not super fair just based on his relationship with the designer. The game feels through and through like a “seal of approval” type of game. Above average and good, nothing more
At first, I agreed then I thought on this a bit more. Relationships with designers are pretty common for people who attend multiple gaming conventions. It would be really hard for anyone in the reviewing world not to know some game designers. Especially since they have interviewed so many of them over the last decade+. All that being said, that’s why these new types of reviews, with multiple people’s opinions, are so helpful. Among these reviewers, who has the most similar taste to you? For me, it would between Tom and Roy. So, his input was very helpful.
His review might be biased by his connections. But it’s likely more biased by his overwhelming love for space, fantasy, and Star Wars. And his history with Magic? Idk I assume Magic influenced Star Realms?
I just dont get it. When a designer ripsoff another game is called out and the game thrown into obscurity. This game is just Star Realms with the force mechanic slapped on. Why there are all these comments everywhere about buying this just for the Star wars IP? This game should not exist if resembles that much a prexisting game and should not be promoted as an alternative just because people like the "theme". This allows big companies such as ffg to rip other games and place their IPs however they like. If Star realms would have come out after this game everyone would have called a ripoff.
@@balukawaiirenekton7537 everyone has the right to disagree. However i saw the Dice tower review for thunderstone and the differences from it to star realms are far more than star realms to this star wars dbg
I get your point, but reusing game mechanics happens constantly in the board game industry. I haven’t played it yet but it seems they did make some changes to the gameplay of star realms and I’m looking forward to playing it.
The force track, the way center cards can be bought, as well as the way cards can be eliminated all make this different enough. If not, we’re getting close to saying you can’t make a center row deck builder in space.
This is not the deep, thematic, one-box card game with classic Star Wars theme we are looking for. . . . This is just a trashy reskin of "Star Realms" with slight improvements.
@@daniellebackus819 There is a difference between trashy and trash. Trashy is a style like a cheap and corny/campy/kitschy version of something or looking as-if it's trash but isn't really trash. (Sorry, can't explain it better, I'm not a native English speaker.)
I hoped that this was a reboot of the original Star Wars TCG. I think card games are too similar. It is the Magic the Gathering style. A player places resources, makes actions to affect their opponent and repeat. Modern games follow this format. It is overdone and stale. Vampire the Masquerade, 7th Sea and Dune have multiple win strategies. These are excellent examples of creativity in card game design. It comes down to money. This game follows the MTG format. It is reliable. The IP is going to make money. Eh. I am shocked I agree with Zee. We usually are polar opposites on board game opinion. Tic-Tac-Toe is a time investment for him 😁
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate.
Hate leads to shuffeliiiiing.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory.
Understand the Force of Will, you do.
Deck building is one of my favorite mechanics. I own and have played a decent amount of them. By far this is my favorite 1v1 deck builder. And the IP is definitely a plus for me. And another plus, the store where I bought it gave me a free pack of star wars themed sleeves and these where for anyone who buys the game. And the pack says that is not for sale on the back, so keep an aye for it in your local store.
My favorite quote was at @23:55 - it’s a slam dunk for people who want a short, rules-light, easy-to-get-into game…in a small compact box
It's the Yoda of deck builders. Small but awesome.
I like it a lot. I prefer it over Star realms because of the richer theme and choosing the right base for the right occasion. Its easy and quick to get to the table, and that's something I appreciate more these days.
The richer theme is a matter of opinion though. Sure if you love Star Wars this is an easy buy. Star Realms on the other hand has 4 base factions and 4 new factions in Rise of Empire. Along with event cards, gambit cards, command packs, dual faction cards, etc. Tons and tons of variety and innovative cards in Star Realms which have brought the game a long way.
@@ryanh7844 At this point though I'd only compare base set to base set. Star Realms has been out for so many more years, I'm sure FFG will also add content to SWDG if it's successful.
I prefer Shards of Infinity over Star or Hero Realms. But I got this one for a quick Star Wars game as I'm a fan of the IP 😊
Richer theme? How are four bland off-brand 40k factions a richer theme than the most popular sci-fi universe?
it's a great game. Easily accessible, quick setup, not component heavy, adjustable game length with number of bases, great decision making and great theme/presentation. Agree 5 damage marker or damage slots on the planet cards would be nice. Also a 2v2 with one box would have been a nice consideration.
We play at lunch in the office and I really like it! I did notice other than IG88, there are no droids at all. I assume if there is an expansion, it may include astromech droids to repair capital ships or protocol droids to negotiate lower purchase costs of cards in the galaxy row.
Small note - galaxy row (card market) is 6 cards 😉
Chris, if you read this, over the last few years, Disney has dismantled licenses for broad categories of games. So there wouldn't be a licenses for "Star Wars miniature games," for example. Instead, Disney now licenses every game on a per game basis: each game is pitched to their licensing department as its own project and multiple publishers could theoretically end up competing if Disney approved similar games. The most high profile example of this was when they terminated Electronic Arts' exclusive license to make Star Wars video games, after which multiple publishers announced video game projects using that IP.
This makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the info! Was this around the same time 1313 got scrapped?
@@DTChrisYi I don’t 100% know the timing. I read about it at the time they bought Fox and started selling off all of the Fox-owned video game studios. Part of the same policy overhaul was that Disney wouldn’t make games in-house, and only license them. It was a complete revamp of their licensing methods.
@@DTChrisYi 1313 was scrapped around when Disney bought Star Wars because they closed Lucas Arts and gave EA the exclusive license on Star Wars video games that lasted until somewhat recently.
I think Tom sums it up perfectly as an "A.I designed game." This just takes rules from various other deck builders and throws them into one package with a star wars skin. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but as a seasoned board gamer, it makes it hard to get excited about this one.
Thank for summing up my feelings so succinctly. It's not malice, just vague disappointment at the total lack of creativity.
I played it and liked it pretty well on the first play. It has potential. It doesn’t replace Star Realms as it’s still different enough. This only plays 2 and it’s heavily faction based (only can buy Your cards or neutral cards), while Star Realms has 4 and up to 6 players. Once Star Wars gets some expansions under its belt, the balance will change dramatically. I’d like to see character packs like Hero Realms did, but these can be Jedi/Sith, Commander, Saboteur, Ace, Politician, and Smuggler. I also look forward to the solo/co-op opportunities or Boss battles. Jabba could be a great boss or any from crime faction from Tatooine, the Grand Admiral Thrawn, to assaulting the Sith Castle on Mustafar or the temple on Exegol. There could even be Imperial adventures like infiltrating the Temple base on Yavin 4.
Bring all that and I’ll forget to dust the shelf that holds Star Realms and Hero Realms. Until then, I’ll enjoy Star Wars for what it is. Fun.😎
I think it's a great Gateway game to get people into boardgaming.
Introduces deckbuilding in a nice easy way but with extra bells and whistles; it's highly interactive, with several strategic decisions to make at each point (without overwhelming a new gamer).
And it implements a beloved IP in a wonderful way (the art, using the force, faction-specific cards, neutral cards, secret bases with fun abilities).
Tbh I worry that if I introduce this to a new gamer, they will be completely underwhelmed by some older deckbuilders.
I like that the cast is from the Original Trilogy and Rogue one, the 4 best movies in the whole series imo.
Also, it has set a great foundation for expansions with deeper mechanisms... and of course characters (I want Wicket, Yoda and the Emperor... in that order lol!).
But it still doesn't beat my GOAT deckbuiler ... Rune Age with its essential expansion. (Criminal that it only had one!)
My favourite deckbuilding game is Shards of Infinity. But I still got this one for a quick, Star Wars themed game. I don't regret the purchase at all as this works more as a filler rather than a serious game.
I'm looking forward to trying this one. I played a good amount of both Star Realms and Ascension, but only using the apps. The only 1v1 deck builders I've owned / played are Hogwarts Battles and sort of related Radlands. I feel I've seen what Star Realms has to offer so I think this is just a better way to get something same but different in mechanisms plus a theme that I would enjoy more. And right on Roy - core trilogy Star Wars is the stuff.
Need to get this game.
The video colours seem muted.
Great review thank you, I really am enjoying SW unlimited as well. Given yall enjoyed the starter decks so much, highly recommend you pickup a precon box (comes with 4 decks) of Sorcery TCG. It's hands down my most favorite new TCG in the last few years. All art is hand drawn and the grid mechanic really adds to the feeling that you are a sorcerer commanding your minions, chucking fireballs at your opponent etc. I'd love if Dice Tower tried the game out and gave it a review!
Tough one for me. It looks interesting and different enough to maybe REPLACE an existing game (Star Realms?) but I’m over the need to buy EVERY game that comes along.
I’ve gone to that dark side of the hobby and come out a “player” and not a “collector”. 😜
I’m rather picky about new games now. I have so many deck building games that I’m good with what I have.
I’d get it as a gift for a Star Wars fan if I catch it on sale for about $10-$15. 🤷🏻♂️
I feel ya. These days i feel like i m buying boardgames (or even pc/console games) not to play it but instead for the purchasing rush(?) Or for the 'hope' of playing it one day 😢
@@SodaQuasar yeah, that’s where I was at. Shelves full of games. We couldn’t play them as fast as I was buying them, and it seemed every time my group got together, we were spending so much time learning a new one for the sake of getting it to the table, instead of just ENJOYING one we’d already learned, played and liked.
I tell ya, when I realized that replaying a game many times over…and REALLY doing a deep dive into the strategy…was SO much more enjoyable than always playing catch-up to my spending…
Wow. We are enjoying games more now, than ever before. 👍
@Tennethums1 👍 its good that you can find enjoyment of gaming again. I hope i ll be able as well. Nowadays for me, it's just hard to find people to play with. My usual pals all gotten busier with work and family so we hardly meet up as often. I tried to get my wife into the hobby without any success. So now I only play sometimes when I went over to our local gamestore with whoever there. Miss the good ol' time... but on the bright side, my daughter is getting old enough for me to teach her simple games. Hopefully i can play some w her later
@@SodaQuasar I actually found my way back into board game through MeetUp. My ex GF and I had decided to call it quits and I was living alone. While I did enjoy it to some extent (kept myself busy with fantasy miniature painting and video games) I was like “I gotta get out of this house!”.
So joined a hiking group, reading group and yes…a board gaming group, all through MeetUp.
Met a lot of great people and had a blast!
Rules correction: the force starts out at max rebel.
I agree with Zee. The market tailored to one faction at the beginning of game. I had no attack to remove them. It was all Empire cards. That game was horrible for me. Otherwise I think the game is fine.
I purposely kept the market clogged up with my cards while I was able to thin my deck down in my first few turns before the market became my ally. It was not a fun game for my opponent as they could not deal with taking out a couple Star Destroyers and Grand Moff Tarkin so early in the game.
The empires strength seems to be discarding/controling the galaxy row. Whilst the rebels discard empire players hand so it kind of balances asymmetrically and is thematic.
I actually think we may not get expansions. FFG is making a big deal of "Star Wars Unlimited" which is a Magic-style TCG coming up soon, and I suspect they'll want to avoid the confusion of two active card systems. And obviously, why sell one-time expansions when you can sell "Unlimited" booster packs...
Still! As it is this is a neat little package, and like the guys said, probably the most accessible FFG Star Wars game yet to play with fans wo may not be heavily into board games.
I think we need to talk about how this game is an instant cash cow for FFG. I promise I will buy every expansion pack for this game as I have done with Star Realms. It has my seal of approval (for what it's worth) lol.
It most closely resembles shards of infinity, which is surprising to me that none of you mentioned that.
How though? Shards of Infinity has symmetric sides and cards, except for single ability. They only really share "deckbuilder" as mechanism.
People are too focused on the Star Realms comparison, but I think Shards is the closer game.
@@ConeDefense How though? I have Shards and I find them quite different. Shards has so much that is very different from here: how attack/defense works, how the power resource works etc. It has more similarities with Star Realms simply because that one is more basic.
@@KristoVaher Specifally the cards being duel purpose with the mercanary mecahnic. You can aquire the card, or you can pay the cost for an instant use. Alll star wars does is take that mecahnic and makes the cards one or the other depending on faction. It is essentially the same as combining monster cards and purchasable cards from the creators original game Ascension (what star realms copied off but changes the victory to elimination rather than points.) Which is why I make the comparison to shards/acesnsion rather than star realms, which I think is a comparsion only being made because more people know of it and it is another sci fi deck builder with space ships.
Chris- apologies but when my 3.5-year old daughter asked what your name was and pointed to you, I couldn't remember. So she said "let's call him Kerdabbo". So there you go Kerdabbo Yi
No need to apologize for the coolest nickname I've ever gotten!
@@DTChrisYithats a star wars name if i ever heard one
@@DTChrisYi haha great! And you convinced me to grab BGStats and I'm loving that, so thank you
Just to be clear, the force starts in the rebel side in the beginning of the game?
Yes
21:15 so all the same complaints Star Realms' Colony Wars set had?
That settles it. I am getting a copy.
I am curious if you guys tried the 4 player variant by using 2 copies of the game.
It is definitely a little too much like Star Realms for me. I am a seasoned star wars LCG and CCG player so that is what I am still hoping for from them. Another version of one of those. The base system is taken from Game of thrones LCG where you each select your next location to give you gold and other bonuses. So they are just reusing their own rules. So they didn't really create anything new at all. But I will say there is a little fun to be had here. But if you have Star Realms, it probably isn't worth it. Keep up the good work Dice Tower!
No Palpatine or Obi-Wan is super weird, but other than that it's a great game. I hope we get a Prequel Era expansion at some point. I wanna rip people up with Grievous and Cad Bane!
Prequel expansion releases late August!
I think a more stripped down, simplified deck builder is a real perk. I disagree with Zee saying something like this sounded boring. There aren’t a lot of good introductory deck builders out there that play in 30-45 minutes. My one complaint is that there’s not a lot of cards in the box. When I first picked it up, I was surprised how light the box was compared to other deckbuilders that have a ton of cards. Perks for this one are being able to attack enemy cards, the force track tug of war, and choosing your base (which is pretty thematic as well).
This will probably go onto my “impulse buy when we’re two players” list. Thanks for the review, after Elder Sign X-Men I did not have super high hopes for it. :D
This made me realize that you guys never reviewed star wars villainous. It's SO much better than Disney or marvel in my opinion, and you've reviewed everything else villainous.
Ah, quick review - I didn't like it at all. It took a fun little game and made it super complex.
I'm really glad I added this one to my collection. It's not the most innovative or complex deck-builder. But, I can play several games in one sitting.
My biggest complaint is that there aren't as many deckbuilding strategies; you're just doing the best with what you're offered. Hopefully an expansion will bring new ways of seizing power and making interesting, thematic decks.
Great review guys.
What annoys me most about this, is that the Empire isn't red
Sounds really fun 😀👍 Thanks for your review ❤️
I've seen people wondering when they're going to add an expansion so 4 people can play, and that line of thought baffles me. There seems to be a lot of attacking resources here, so you're either going to end up with: a game where the correct play is to blast one opponent into the Stone Age so it's a 2v1; a game where players on a team are just alternating who's in control of everything or divvying up responsibilities (which is just BEGGING for alpha player syndrome); or you're basically playing two separate games next to each other... which you can already do.
Thank God I already knew the rules, because that was almost impossible to follow. Seems like no planning went into that presentation.
Great review
Did you have a look at Gosu X? It's amazing, we talk a lot about it in france, along radlands, mindbug and Pagan as the great 2 player games out this year.
Gosu X is the thing to look at. Polished re-release of an older game that's also quite unique.
@@KristoVaher Yes and having played it, it's much more than a re-release! You really get some deep TCG feel, with the draft and all the combos, within an all in one package.
From what I can see, and having read the rulebook, I don't see how you recover from a Galaxy Row blocked by all expensive cards, or a Galaxy Row that, through bad luck or shuffling, only has cards of one sides appearing.
You can house rule the maximum number of same faction cards in the row. If another one gets drawn of the same faction you can either discard it or have the person whos faction is choose to discard or replace it with another already in the row. It also seems to me that this is only the problem at the inital draw, so maybe they could have an initial deck for the galaxy row for the first 10-15 cards, then switch to the main deck.
This looks OK. I miss the old Fantasy Frump Games when they had a massive catalog of games from different IP's. Now it's pretty much Star Wars & Lord of the Rings.
It's a decent 7 game, but I can't overlook how much of a "copy/paste" game it is and I'd rather play Star Realms over this. The market row can also stagnate quite often where it's all geared to one player and there are some cards that are so powerful they pretty much end the game. Get Vader and Tarkin in the same hand and you will just obliterate the enemy.
Seal of excellence by half a mark!
Dominion, for 2, with a theme we love. It’s been a hit at my place.
I rather play Spaceballs: The Deck Building Game
I would probably wait to buy Spaceballs: The Deck Building Game until they released their expansion, The Quest for More Money.
Spaceballs the lunch box!
@@chauveet Spaceballs the Flame Thrower!
“I see your deck is as big as mine, now let’s see how you handle it.”
I always have coffee when I read RUclips comments, you know that!
Oh, waited for it! Thank You!
Like a mix of Argent Saga and Star Realms. Seems like it's okay slapped with Star Wars. I'm sure it will sell out.
Best review dynamic I've ever seen
In too many games the entire galaxy row has been blue. Leaving the rebels unable to play. I really want a way to deal with enemy capital ships In The centre, last time I was imperial we had 4 blue ships and 2 strong units. And the rebels could do anything.
The exact same thing happened to me on my first game...
As both an avid gamer and an avid Star Wars fan, the last Star Wars game I purchased was Outer Rim. IMO, everything since then has been essentially just reskins of previous games, with this an inferior reskin of Star Wars: The Card Game (which I already own and like) with a Star Realms/Legendary mechanic, and Legion a far more expensive (money pit) and larger table hog, reskin of Imperial Assault.
This seems a lot like star realms
Is this a replacement for Rebellion? In terms of table space and time, will this scratch a similar itch?
I have not played this (got it on order), but I feel confident in saying NO....as these are vastly dissimilar games.
This appears to be a stormtrooper level game. Rebellion is Emperor level game.
I am combining Star Realms with this and having elements from one game into the other game. Each game will serve as an expansion for the other. The power levels seem similar between the cards. With the cards sleaved, they can be mixed together. So, I will use Star Realms as a way to expand it.
I've played this a number of times now and found the game to be very imbalanced in favour of the Rebels. Many of their cards have an ability to force the Empire to discard cards. The Empire don't have that ability. They're ability is merely to discard cards from the Galaxy Row, which can help the Rebels if a good and affordable card replaces it. As a result you end up playing most turns with 4 cards and very little hitting power in return. This needs addressing if expansions are released. We've played 7 games and the Rebels have won 6 times no matter who plays as which side. Maybe it's just the luck of the Galaxy Row. I played a game just now as Empire and just about every card that came out in the Galaxy Row was a resource card and not an attack card. It took me 2 or 3 rounds to amass any kind of decent attack power. In the meantime my opponent were forcing me to discard cards, draw cards to the top of their deck, draw more cards then attack the hell out of me. I'd give this a 6/10 due to all of the above. Oh, and the Force starts all the way with them too. Lucky Empire, you get to go first, again massively imbalancing and giving Rebels an advantage before the game begins.
well here its the other way around with the imperials strong ,exiling cards is available for both sides ,if you bloat the deck you lose either way!! Capital ships are key with main characters and exile cards and combat modifier cards
See what happened when they release the next few expansion
I’m figuring who made the noise at the last second of the vid. Is that a reference to Jar Jar? Haha🤣
So this isn't a LCG? For a FF game, do you see an improvement in anyway from FF Marvel LCG or Lord of the rings LCG?
FFG already had a Star Wars LCG. This is a deckbuilding game, so it's not really comparable to Marvel LCG or LotR LCG.
@@daedalus25 I see. Hmm interesting, thanks :)
Id argue this isn’t meant to compete with those games either. It’d be like comparing Ascension to the LCG games. This will be more like Shards, Star Realms, Ascension and Thunderstone.
That said, it’s a logical question since most of their investment has been in LCGs.
surprised this didnt get higher scores
The expansions will make this game shine.
The expansions will make it expensive, but probably not shine.
I'll get it. No brainer there. I like Star realms and this is Star Wars. Too easy.
I played this once and bought it immediately. I have Star Realms, and the new additions to this game make it objectively better than Star Realms
Play 4 Bases after your first play through.
I enjoy this game but I feel like your decks get easily bloated. Sure there are some exile cards but they only help to an extent. Still a good game that I’ll probably buy the expansion for.
Bro they will only get bloated if you buy dem cards ,spend only only on capital ships , the main characters and top end and some of the big hitters and damage repair exiles ,plus keep the standard exile cards filtering thru
Who else got triggered from Roy pronouncing "TaNtooine" during the overview?
We liked it a lot to begin with, but after a few games it felt pretty samey. We think it needs an expansion to have more longevity.
Feels a bit flat and very iterative (not in the best way).
Why are rebels on the red side of the force?
Weird... I don't like the landscape cards having to be played vertical like that
I wasn't expecting good scores on this. I'll probably still stay away from it since it's FFG and I'll have to buy ten expansions to get the full game. But not bad for an AI created game. 😉
FFG already had two Star Wars card games that they spontaneously stopped supporting (both of which were great). They're not going to get me to invest into a third one. BTW all 3 of their card games are PVP, when many of their fans have been clamoring for a co-op game.
Not co-op is holding me back. I don’t want to play the Empire. At least in Destiny I could be whatever yellow was.
Shouldn’t there be six cards on the galaxy row?
Played this 2 weeks ago at a meetup. It's not bad, but it was very much; 'been there, done that', so came off very bland, although I did like the base system.
Star Wars Love Letter has to be simpler and more portable lol
Agreed, but this game has absolutely nothing to do with love letter style games.
You might as well say a standard deck of cards is more portable than Twilight Imporium, therefore it's better.
I think the 2 factions are not well balanced. You have to stick with your faction's strategy or else you will lose, so it takes out a big part of fun for me to try new strategies each time. Not a lot of interesting combos. And the possibility of a one sided galaxy row (which happened on my very first game) is a big flaw for me. I will stick with Star Realms which is 10 times better in my opinion! I often agree with you guys, but not this time.
Wish this was Star Wars Destiny, in cube/set form. Not interested in any new offerings from Fantasy Flight (particularly SWs branded anything) after how they mishandled Star Wars Destiny.
They should have remastered or redone Star Wars Destiny instead.
I feel like Roy’s seal of excellence is not super fair just based on his relationship with the designer. The game feels through and through like a “seal of approval” type of game. Above average and good, nothing more
Tom also has relationships with a LOT of developers. Is that an issue for you too?, or is your issue with Roy?
Tom and Zee gave it an 8. Roy gave it an 8.5…am I missing something here?
At first, I agreed then I thought on this a bit more. Relationships with designers are pretty common for people who attend multiple gaming conventions. It would be really hard for anyone in the reviewing world not to know some game designers. Especially since they have interviewed so many of them over the last decade+. All that being said, that’s why these new types of reviews, with multiple people’s opinions, are so helpful. Among these reviewers, who has the most similar taste to you? For me, it would between Tom and Roy. So, his input was very helpful.
His review might be biased by his connections. But it’s likely more biased by his overwhelming love for space, fantasy, and Star Wars. And his history with Magic? Idk I assume Magic influenced Star Realms?
I just dont get it. When a designer ripsoff another game is called out and the game thrown into obscurity. This game is just Star Realms with the force mechanic slapped on. Why there are all these comments everywhere about buying this just for the Star wars IP? This game should not exist if resembles that much a prexisting game and should not be promoted as an alternative just because people like the "theme". This allows big companies such as ffg to rip other games and place their IPs however they like. If Star realms would have come out after this game everyone would have called a ripoff.
There is enough things here different from star realms. Star realms was just a few small changes from thunder stone.
@@balukawaiirenekton7537 everyone has the right to disagree. However i saw the Dice tower review for thunderstone and the differences from it to star realms are far more than star realms to this star wars dbg
I get your point, but reusing game mechanics happens constantly in the board game industry. I haven’t played it yet but it seems they did make some changes to the gameplay of star realms and I’m looking forward to playing it.
The force track, the way center cards can be bought, as well as the way cards can be eliminated all make this different enough. If not, we’re getting close to saying you can’t make a center row deck builder in space.
@@rawkyle9385 If you like it, more power to you! I just don't like that ffg can slap their IPs in a lazy manner as this.
Phoned in game. The recycled art, the identical mechanics. Come on.
What a spiteful, ignorant comment.
Have you played it?
if it was a APP and not a physical product I would buy it for sure
If it's 3€ max, then maybe.
This is not the deep, thematic, one-box card game with classic Star Wars theme we are looking for.
.
.
.
This is just a trashy reskin of "Star Realms" with slight improvements.
Trashy is taking it too far. You can call it a reskin, that’s fair. But it’s not trash.
@@daniellebackus819 There is a difference between trashy and trash. Trashy is a style like a cheap and corny/campy/kitschy version of something or looking as-if it's trash but isn't really trash. (Sorry, can't explain it better, I'm not a native English speaker.)
@@joeferreti9442 I wouldn’t call it trashy either. When someone says trashy I think of something that’s probably not appropriate for a family channel.
The one that rated it the highest knows the designer… hmmmm
Nonsense and Balderdash. I know the designers of MANY of the games I review, has nothing to do with it. Please don't call us liars on our channel.
To be fair, that might have easily just been a small joke.
I hoped that this was a reboot of the original Star Wars TCG.
I think card games are too similar. It is the Magic the Gathering style. A player places resources, makes actions to affect their opponent and repeat. Modern games follow this format. It is overdone and stale.
Vampire the Masquerade, 7th Sea and Dune have multiple win strategies. These are excellent examples of creativity in card game design.
It comes down to money. This game follows the MTG format. It is reliable. The IP is going to make money. Eh.
I am shocked I agree with Zee. We usually are polar opposites on board game opinion. Tic-Tac-Toe is a time investment for him 😁