Star Wars Villainous – Revenge at Last

• Designers: Prospero Hall
• Publisher: Ravensburger
• Players: 2+
• Age: 10+
• Time: 45-60 min
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

In Star Wars Villainous: Revenge at Last, players choose to play one of two iconic villains from the Star Wars galaxy: Darth Maul or Captain Phasma.

For players who select Captain Phasma, they have to channel the military leader’s “Ambition”, keeping her best soldiers in play after a “Vanish” action to establish a First Order Stormtrooper Officer at each location. As the ruthless commander, players can even sacrifice allies to promote others with the effect “Forged in Battle”.

Players taking on the role of Darth Maul within the game will need to take revenge on the Jedi by recruiting a hero as their apprentice, building up their strength, and manipulating them to beat another hero at the top of the sector. Darth Maul will use his allies not to vanquish heroes, but to weaken them. When players take a “Vanquish” action, they do not discard the hero, but instead give them a -1 strength token.

This standalone game also incorporates villain-specific missions and rules for iconic ships and transports from all corners of the Star Wars galaxy. Villains in Star Wars Villainous: Revenge at Last can also be mixed with those in Star Wars Villainous: Power of the Dark Side or Star Wars Villainous: Scum and Villainy.

In Star Wars Villainous – Revenge at Last, each player takes on the role of a Star Wars villain: Darth Maul or Captain Phasma. Each villain has their own board and deck of cards. The goal of each player is to be the first to achieve their unique victory condition. The game ends immediately when this occurs.

To start, each player chooses their villain, and takes the matching board, deck of cards and strategy guide. The board is placed on the table in front of them, leaving space for cards to be played both above and below the board. The deck of cards is split into its two types of cards – the colored villain deck and the white Fate deck. The acrylic player mover is put on the leftmost location space of the board.  Each player gets a hand of four cards from their Villain deck, and players get a starting supply of Credit tokens based on initial turn order.

Players then take turns to go through their three phase turn. First, the active player gains 1 Ambition token and then must move their character to a new location on their board. Movers (and cards) will never leave the area associated with that character! 

Second, the player can perform any or all of the actions visible on that space – in any order that they desire. The possible actions include:

• Collect Credits – gain a number of credit chips equal to the number on the icon
• Ambition – Use your Ambition to play Ambition cards or to use Ambition abilities
•  Play a card – play a Villain card from your hand. Pay a number of Credits as seen in the upper left of the card. Villain cards are always played to the bottom of your board.

• Maneuver a card – move an already played card to a different location on your board
•  Activate a card – choose a previously played Villain card in your area and activate it – perform the ability printed on the card
•  Fate – draw 2 cards from your opponent’s Fate deck.  You may play the card of your choice by placing it on the top of their board – this may cover some of the action icons in that opponent’s space, and your opponent cannot take those actions until the Fate card is removed. Many of these cards are Hero cards which are specific to the villain.

•  Vanquish – defeat a Hero by using Ally or Allies that are present at the same location. The total strength of the Ally cards at least equal to the strength of the Hero.  The Hero and Allies are each placed in their respective discard piles.

Again, you can only use Action icons that you see.  If you have had Fate cards played to your location, this will obscure some icons, and you cannot perform those actions until the Fate card is removed.

Third, you draw cards from your Villain deck to bring your hand back up to four cards. If your Villain deck is exhausted, shuffle your discard pile and draw from the new deck. Play then rotates to the next player UNLESS the active player has met their victory condition… if so, the game immediately ends.

Darth Maul wins if he can defeat a Hero with another Hero.

Captain Phasma wins if she has a First Order Stormtrooper Officer at each location.

My thoughts on the game

Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve played Villainous, and this small 2p game was a great way to reintroduce myself to the system.  The game has evolved a bit since the original release, and the tweaks to the rules have definitely added a bit more to the game.  You still need the currency of the game – now called Galactic Credits – but also now have to track Ambition.  This second currency adds a nice timing mechanism to the game as you often have to wait until you have enough Ambition to enact certain cards.  As you only gain 1 Ambition at the start of your turn, it can take awhile to build up enough.  (There are also Vehicles in the card deck which open up a new location on the board, but honestly, these haven’t come into play much in my games with this set, and it makes me wonder if they are more important for some of the other SW Villainous characters).

The complexity of the game is surprisingly high for something which is meant to be sold at an big box store for the mass market. Players will have to navigate a deck of 30 Villain cards with casting costs, some activation costs, and some conditional actions. As you can see from the win conditions listed above, getting to the win condition is not particularly straightforward.

One other positive change from the original that I’ve noticed is that the win conditions here are not luck based.  None of these “Draw card A when you have card B on your board” win conditions.  You’ll definitely have to come up with a plan to manipulate the cards in play to get the win and not just execute a lucky draw.

I like the game in this 2p Duel format.  It’s not possible to gang up on a single player (like in the original Villainous that can play up to 5 players).  The game length also is manageable; and there is not much downtime at all – as you’re only one turn away from your next, and any attacks/Fate cards necessarily target each other. 

That being said, for others that want to play with more, Star Wars Villainous is expandable and these characters can be played with any of the other SW Villainous sets already released.  While I haven’t played the game with more than 2, I have had reports from friends that the 4p game can really take awhile to play.  As we had the same dragging issue with the base Villainous, this doesn’t surprise me.  As luck would have it, this is my first foray into SW Villainous, so I have no option but to only play with 2, and it works well for me at that count.

As with the other Villainous titles, this is a great choice for anyone invested in the IP.  The artwork is great, and obviously takes a lot from the Star Wars universe.  As you take on the role of a villain each time, you can choose your favorite or take turns playing the different characters.  For budding gamers, you’ll also get to work with each of the different decks and learn how to play them well.  (Sure, the strategy guide takes away a lot of the discovery process, but you could also choose to ignore those to learn everything on your own. 

As I outlined earlier, I think that the gameplay is a bit more interesting here than the original, but the IP is really the largest motivator in who is going to eventually play this.  It’s definitely a step up from roll-and-move, but not so complicated that folks will have problems understanding how to play it.  As you might expect, and similar to my feelings on the other Villainous games – this is a game that I might not suggest to play myself, but I’d be happy to give this as a gift to a non-gamer who I knew liked the franchise.  (And, yes, I’d be glad to teach them how to play it!)

Until your next appointment

The Gaming Doctor