So Frankly...

So Frankly...

Saturday, June 3, 2017

New Adventures in Star Wars

Fantasy Flight Games recently released the first expansion for it's epic Star Wars Rebellion game. For a while I haven't been blogging as actively, and since then two games have come out related to Star Wars that I think really need to be discussed. If you are a fan of the films, you'll be happy to know they really bring things to life.

Image from Hasbro
The first game is Risk: Star Wars Edition. This game reenacts Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi.. With one player acting as the Empire and one as the Rebellion, they are competing in three different arenas: the surface battle to shut down the Empire's shield, the space battle to destroy the new Death Star being built, and the fight between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. All of these are happening simultaneously. The basic mechanism is hand management and card play, with some dice rolling to resolve combat. It is not at all a true Risk game, but seems to just borrow the title for marketing reasons. It is amazingly good, and fairly simple gameplay. It plays in about an hour, so it can be played by kids of all ages. Being from Hasbro, it is still relatively easy to find even though it has been out for about a year and a half. At one time they were being sold in Target, and might still be, I have not been in a Target in a long time. Certainly they are available on Amazon.

The other game is Star Wars Rebellion, from Fantasy Flight Games. If you are at all familiar with Fantasy Flight, you know that they tend to produce licensed games with a lot of awsomeness. There is card play and dice rolling in this one too, but the main mechanism is taking the story's heroes and villains and sending them out on missions to complete. Where as the first game I discussed is a battle game, this one is also about diplomacy, resource management, and politics. This is also a much longer game. Risk: Star Wars takes about an hour, Star Wars Rebellion takes about four. It is definitely more of a gamer's game, and takes a bit of a commitment. It also covers Episodes IV through VI, which makes the time to play understandable. The new expansion just released for it introduces the latest set of characters in the saga.

Image from Fantasy Flight Games


Both of these are wonderful game.  Risk: Star Wars Edition is the kind of game I would normally cover in this blog. It is excellent but won't feel like work. It's a great game for casual play. The second is more complex, and won't be for everyone.  I love them both.

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