A new expansion is coming to Ravensburger’s smash-hit card-based board game “Star Wars: Villainous,” and the best news about it is that it can be played all on its own without needing to own other editions of the game. We at Laughing Place were fortunate enough to get our hands on an early copy of the “Scum and Villainy” expansion, and we played through a full game last night to get a sense of how it works.
As a fair warning, my wife and I had not played any version of “Disney Villainous” or “Star Wars: Villainous” before yesterday evening (LP reporter Alex Reif has reviewed previous editions of the game for this website) but we were excited to dive in and give it our first shot with the “Scum and Villainy” expansion. As I noted above, it is not necessary to own the core “Star Wars: Villainous” game to enjoy this version, so we were able to focus just on what’s new in this box, which adds the characters of Boba Fett, Cad Bane, and the Seventh Sister to the mix. The one thing I will say is a little misleading is that that “Scum and Villainy” box indicates it is playable for 2-4 players, but with this expansion alone you can really only play up to three (four would be the maximum number of players if you had access to the core game as well). Regardless, once we got started and chose our characters– I picked Cad Bane and my wife selected the Seventh Sister– we read through the instructions and figured out the process of playing “Star Wars: Villainous.” Essentially, each villain character has an objective they must achieve in order to win; the first player to reach their objective is victorious and the game ends at that point. As Cad Bane, my goal was to collect five “Target” tokens, which can be applied to various “Hero” cards by “Allies” (sidekick villains who work to help Bane achieve his goal). Once the Target tokens are assigned to Heroes using actions in each location, Bane can collect his bounties by using a special ability.
Conversely, the Seventh Sister’s objective is to eliminate three Hero cards from the game (my wife’s secret “Villain Guide” informed her which three specific Heroes needed to be eliminated) by using a certain amount of “Ambition,” which is represented by tokens collected using a variety of actions and movements. The board itself is known as each player’s “Sector,” each of which depicts four locations from the Star Wars galaxy– Cad Bane has Coruscant, Black Stall Station, The Box, and Bora Vio– but there’s also a “Deep Space” spot where players can deploy a spaceship for additional action options in gameplay. Many of the actions refer to cards from the “Villain” decks and the “Fate” decks, both of which can spell advantages or roadblocks for the villain characters, depending on luck of the draw. As you can tell already, there’s a lot to this game, which can mean a bit of a steep learning curve (Ravensburger recommends it for ages 10 and up), but once you’ve got the hang of it, it should be pretty smooth sailing through to the end. We did have to regularly consult the instruction manual for how certain functions worked within the game, and there were a few cards whose wording were not specific or clear enough (seemingly leaving things up to our own interpretation), but by and large it was pretty straightforward and moderately easy enough to master for anyone with a bit of experience playing this type of game.
Each turn is spent moving your character token to a different location in your Sector, performing actions that either further your own objective or hinder your opponent’s ability to achieve theirs, and strategizing for your next moves. We only played with two people, but I could see how games involving larger parties could lead to a lot of scheming and foiling the plans of other players. Now the real question: is “Star Wars: Villainous – Scum and Villainy” fun to play? I think this first playthrough was mostly spent getting the hang of things and making sure we understood how the game mechanics worked, so I would bet a second go-round would probably be more enjoyable, but if you’ve already got a copy of “Disney Villainous” or the “Star Wars: Villainous” core game you’re likely far better prepared to get a kick out of this right out of the box. The artwork on the cover, cards, and Sector boards is all extremely nice-looking, and the Star Wars theming should generally make sense to anyone even vaguely familiar with the George-Lucas-created universe. For me it was especially entertaining to step into the role of bounty hunter Cad Bane, and many of his in-game actions corresponded to his history and personality I immediately recognized from the Star Wars animated and live-action television series. All that said, I would most recommend “Star Wars: Villainous – Scum and Villainy” to those who know and appreciate the “Villainous” game series already, or Star Wars fans (particularly fans of bounty hunters) who are willing to dedicate a couple hours to undertake a rewarding new adventure.
“Star Wars: Villainous – Scum and Villainy” will be released on July 30th, but is available for pre-order right now.