Star Wars Rivals: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Head to Head, Area Control, Collectible, Modular
Player Age: 7+ Player Count: 2 Players Time to Play: 20 Minutes
Game Designer: Prospero HallPublisher: Funko GamesYear Published: 2023BGG Weight: 1.33Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher and Lets Play Games.
Player Age: 7+
Game Designer: Prospero Hall
Introduction:
The first set of the new Star Wars collectible game by Funko Games, Star Wars Rivals, has been released. 30 characters from across the Star Wars franchise will duke it out in this two-player 15-minute area control game. Each player will choose either the light or the dark side and then select three characters to create their team. Every round players will fight over locations in the centre of the board where the locations being scored will be determined by the dice. After all locations have been scored, whichever player has the most points tallied by their victories and scored character cards will dominate the force.
Game Anatomy:
Characters:
Each playable character comes with a character mover, a character card and three action cards.
Character Movers:
Each character has a mover that represents them as each round, they will be designated to fight over a location.
Character Cards:
Each character card has the influence value of the character as well as that character's attributes such as force user or droid.
Characters can also gain negative influence counters from the action cards and locations. If this occurs these counters will stay on the character card, reducing their influence until they end a round in the bacta tank.
Action Cards:
Each character has three unique action cards relating to that character. These action cards will have a unique effect that will either move characters, modify influence or change the board state in another way.
Missions:
Several characters have a mission at the bottom of the card. If you meet this condition during the round you can remove the card from your hand and place it in the scoring pile. This will give you points at the end of the game and help to streamline your deck during play.
Locations:
The locations you are vying for control over have points that will be awarded at the end of the game and will sometimes have different effects that will affect certain elements such as the -1 counters or influence characters have at this location.
Hologram Characters:
Hologram characters are the rare chase characters of the game. They have the same card abilities as the non-hologram version but have a lower influence. This is due to the fact that having one hologram on your team extends your hand limit to four cards.
Location Markers and Die:
Not every location will score each round and instead, a die will be rolled. There are location markers denoted with 1 to 3 that are allocated to location and will show which ones are indicated in the die roll. The ‘V’ result will relate to the highest valued location being scored.
Setup:
- Determine which side is light and dark.
- Each side picks three characters for their team and collects their character cards, movers and action cards.
- Each player shuffles their action cards together, forming a nine-card deck, then draws three cards for their starting hand. This will be four cards if they have a hologram character on the team.
- Shuffle 12 location cards to create a face-down deck.
- Reveal three location cards to the middle of the play area and use the location markers to denote their number allocations.
- Put the influence loss tokens and die within reach of the players.
- Choose which player will go first, the high ground token will be flipped to their shade. The high ground marker will determine player order throughout the phases.
How to Play:
Each round has five phases and play will continue over multiple rounds until locations have been scored.
Deploy Characters:
To begin this phase, players will choose which locations to place each character. A location can house multiple characters and not every location requires a character. There is also a fourth location, the Bacta Tank, that completely removes accumulated negative points from a character.
Roll the Die:
Once players have assigned their characters the die will be rolled to determine which locations are in conflict this round. When the last three locations are revealed the die is no longer used and each locations score every round. Until every round has been score (there could be multiple last rounds).
Play an Action Card:
Every player chooses one card simultaneously from their hand to resolve in this phase. This starts with the player who has the high ground and their action will be resolved in full.
Score Location Rolled:
Once the actions are resolved, the locations that are scoring this round will be won by the player with the most influence. This is determined by the total influence value of the characters for that location on either side. If the values are tied, the player with the high ground wins. All scored locations go to the winning player's victory pile.
End of Round and Game End:
Multiple end-of-round effects will occur, including:
- Each player discards the played card and redraws their hand of three cards (four if that player has a hologram).
- The missing locations are replenished.
- The characters in the bacta tank are healed and all characters return to their players.
- The high ground marker is flipped.
The game ends once the last location has been scored. All points are tallied for each player’s score pile and whoever has the most points has won the battle.
Final Thoughts:
- Great range of characters from Star Wars Universe.
- Each character has a unique engine and, often has a unique way to score.
- The chase characters have a balanced but unique mechanism.
- Wagering which location will score when you place your mover helps to balance the game.
- Appeals to kids but has strategy and depth for everyone.
- Collectability and toy factor.
Star Wars Rivals is a game that first appears to be targeted at children with its toy factor and collectability. However, for a 15-20 minute game there is plenty of decisions and modifications to keep the game exciting for all ages. Not to mention that the Star Wars Universe was created too long ago to only appeal to kids. The unique focus of each individual character really helps to grow a decent team from only three members. Their different focuses can include drawing cards, reducing influence, moving characters, increasing influence, playing more cards, re-arranging the draw pile and getting benefits from the discard pile. All this from only three cards per character. Alot of the characters also contain a unique scoring objective that gives the player another twist on team building as they are not only focusing on scoring the locations but also their private objectives. The gameplay has plenty of depth with each player’s deck consisting of 9 cards so the player will get a feel for the synergies and combos of their team quite fast. There is a wagering system where players will position their characters before the scored locations are determined, this forces players to consider whether they want to cover all locations or focus more on locations with less resistance. Many of the characters have movement possibilities so it isn't too punishing if the dice doesn’t roll in your favour. The last interesting detail is the influence modification. The positive modifications only last for that round but the negative modifications will stay until the player finally sacrifices a round to send that character to the bacta tank. For all these reasons i can't recommend this fast area control game enough, if you are a Star Wars fan looking for a quick play time with plenty of decisions and personality, then I urge you to check out Star Wars Rivals and hopefully it will be gaining more sets. Star Wars Rivals has easily earnt a Silver Seal of Approval.
Click...feed the addiction:
Comments
Post a Comment