I have been a Star Wars fan since my next door neighbor sold us an original RCA VHS VCR (that’s a lot of now irrelevant abbreviations) and we got copies (or bootlegs) of each Star Wars film.
I own and enjoy the original Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game and was very excited to get to review this game with an equally uninspired name, Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game: Clone Wars Edition. As you will soon see, it is equally uninspired in its changes to the original game.
Gameplay Overview:
If you’ve played a single row deck building game before or played the original Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game, this game will feel familiar. If you have read Tony’s review of the original, this review will also be very familiar, as nothing significant has changed with this edition.
One player will control the Separatists (instead of the Empire), while the other controls the Republic (instead of the Rebels). Each player starts with a 10-card starter deck (that only differs thematically). The three basic currencies of the game are Attack Power, Resources, and Force. On a player’s turn, they can play any cards from their hand of five cards for free.
All cards immediately provide Attack Power, Resources, or Force upon playing. Unit cards are played for this benefit and possibly an Action written on the card; they are then discarded at the end of the turn. Any capital ships stay in play, turn after turn, until destroyed by your enemy. Any resources generated can be used to purchase cards from the galaxy row, which go to your discard pile. Force points will move the force marker in your direction on the force track. Some cards will have benefits if the “force is with you.”
Finally, there is attack power. Attack power from units and capital ships can be used to attack your opponent’s capital ships and bases. The ships must be attacked first, as they defend the base until they are destroyed. If you don’t want to attack your opponent’s base, you can instead use your attack power, from Units only, to attack your opponent’s cards in the galaxy row. This not only sends them out of the market but earns you a nice little bonus.
Once you’ve done enough damage to destroy an opponent’s base, it’s replaced with a new one (that comes with a handy special power). There are 10 in total, but the first player to destroy 3 of their opponent’s bases wins.
Game Experience:
If you have played the original and like it, you will enjoy this game equally. It is basically the same game with the Clone Wars theme instead of the Original Trilogy. There appeared to be more exiled cards in the Clone Wars game, which can counter a bad Galaxy Row draw and a new rule that allows you to buy out a neutral card that previously would be stuck blocking a Galaxy Row spot. This was intriguing at first, but I usually would just buy the card and take it.
The killing of cards in the Galaxy Row and the bonuses you receive is a great early-game action, but seems like a waste of damage points that could be spent destroying the three bases you need to win. Tony called the original game swingy, and I agree with that description. Depending on what cards come out in the galaxy row, it can be a quick swing to one side. There appear to be better combinations that you can make in Clone Wars vs the Original game.
Consider an example with Republic cards. With Kamino as a base, the first time you play a Trooper add a Trooper from your discard pile to your hand, if you have Arc Troopers they deal 2 damage if there is another Trooper. Clone Commander Cody also allows you to add a trooper from the discard pile to the top of your deck or to your hand if the force is with you. This can combo very nicely and lead to a lot of damage.
The Force remains the most thematic element of the game, but still appears to be underutilized. The bonuses are usually worth playing for, but the cards that benefit from the force being on your side remain few and far between.
Cross Edition play and 2v2 Multiplayer Mode
These two game modes are what made me most excited about playing this game and much like the second and third movie trilogies, some parts of what was delivered fulfilled my hopes while some let me down. In Cross Edition play you can use the original game and the Clone Wars edition, but not really together. You choose one of the four factions, Empire, Rebels, Separatists, or Republic. Your opponent chooses another. Then you choose either of the neutral decks and only use that one, without combining. I assume this is to prevent mixing the decks and losing the cards, but this could also have been solved by just putting Clone Wars somewhere on the front of the new cards. So you can not have Jenga Fett and Boba Fett on the same or opposite teams. It feels like a miss to not just combine, shuffle, and then discard 30 cards at random so that the games are fully combined without making the draw deck enormous. So if you own both or you own one and a friend owns the other game, this mode can give it more variability but is not a compelling reason to buy both.
On the other hand, 2v2 Multiplayer Mode may encourage you to own both. If you, like me, play a lot of 4-player games and that was reducing how often the Star Wars Deck Building game made it to the table, this offers a decent solution. In 2v2 Multiplayer, there is again no mixing of the decks. Rebels and the Republic Factions unite to play against The Empire and the Separatists. The game plays mostly like a split game, Empire and Rebels purchase from the same galaxy row and can only attack their galaxy row, while the same is true for Separatists and Republic factions. Each Faction chooses a base and the capital ships of the Alliances protect both bases. The alliances can combine attacks/damage to the same base or capital ship, but never combine resources. The side that defeats three bases from each opposing faction (not simply 6 total bases) wins the game. Again a bit of a miss, that you can’t combine decks, but it makes clean up easier.
Final Thoughts
Overall, if you are a Star Wars fan and don’t own the Original Star Wars The Deck Building game and prefer the Clone Wars theme, then buy Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game Clone Wars Edition. If you like Star Wars Unlimited, but don’t want to break the bank, buy either this game or the original, but probably there’ sno need to get both. If you love the Original, but your group is four players, buy this game. Otherwise, stick with the original or find a deck-building game whose theme matches your interest more.
Final Score: 3.5 Stars – Fast paced, highly interactive deck-building game that while swingy, does have abilities to counter some of the swings.
Hits:
• I enjoy The Clone Wars theme. I like having my trooper combos on the Republic side, and I get excited when General Grievous appears for the Separatists.
• The 2v2 multiplayer means the original will be played more at my house.
• Attacking the galaxy row can even out bad early deals of the cards.
Misses:
• There is nothing new in this game, it adds nothing to the original.
• The inability to just mix the games prevents fun cross timeline mash-ups of Luke fighting alongside his mom or General Grevious and Vader fighting side by side.
• The Force being on your side is underutilized, again.
