AsmodeeStar Wars: Rebellion Board Game - Epic Galactic Empire vs Rebel Alliance Conflict, Tabletop Miniatures Strategy Game for Adults, Ages 14+, 2-4 Players, 3 Hour Playtime

Star Wars Rebellion is without a doubt the crowning achievement from Fantasy Flight Games, and that is saying a lot. I've played many of their titles including Twilight Imperium, Forbidden Stars and X-wing Miniatures. Rebellion combines elements from these games into an all-new play style that feels streamlined but not overly simplistic and that allows for lots of unique game play strategies. Most importantly, it feels like Star Wars thanks to the excellent execution of thematic elements.One element of the game that makes it very intriguing is the asymmetrical objectives of each side. Just like in the films, the Imperial player will have unmatched military power that it is able to rapidly deploy in the early game. Their objective is deceptively simple: find and destroy the Rebel Base. I say "deceptively" as deception is the key tool the Rebel player must deploy in order to keep the Empire guess as to the whereabouts of this base. At any time, the Rebels can move their base and undo some of the search efforts of the Empire. Furthermore, many of the Rebel missions are designed to harass the Empire and distract them from their goal. To win as the Rebels, you complete objectives listed on objective cards drawn at the end of each turn. Each objective gives you influence points, which effectively reduce the number of turns the Empire has to find and destroy the base. The Rebels need only survive long enough for the turns to expire in order to win, as this means their influence will have grown large enough for the galaxy to rise up against the Empire in a full-scale Rebellion!Since I mentioned the missions, let me give an overview of game play, which occurs over three stages: Assignment, Command and Refresh. During Assignment, you will choose which of your leaders you will deploy on missions during the Command phase, which are chosen from a deck of cards with the mission details printed on them. Unassigned leaders remain available to move units an oppose missions of the other player (i.e. force them to roll, with a chance that mission might fail). During the Command phase, players take turns either revealing missions or moving units. In this phase, players can gain influence over planets to increase their resources for ship deployment, capture and rescue leaders, launch surprise attacks on their opponent or engage in direct combat by moving units it a system occupied by the units of another player. In the Refresh phase, you do a number of actions to prepare for the next round including retrieving units, building/deploying units and recruiting new leaders. Rebel players will draw objective cards, while the Imperials will draw two probe droid cards, revealing two locations where the Rebel Base is NOT hidden.I can't imagine a more thematically on-point Star Wars board game experience. The missions of each side feel true to the things we see the Rebels and Imperials do in the original trilogy films. Some of them mirror major plot events of the series, including the sudden appearance of Imperial Troops on a remote system where they believe the Rebel Base is hidden (like Hoth), the training of Rebel leaders in the ways of the force by Yoda, freezing important Rebel heroes in Carbonite or seducing them to the Dark Side, and the noble sacrifice of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Each game has a chance of unfolding just like them movies, or it may yield an entirely new combination of plot events. There is a lot of Nerd-tastic satisfaction to be had in each play through, which will be dramatically different as you switch between Rebels and Imperials across consecutive games.As a fan of Fantasy Flight Games, I wanted to throw in a few notes of comparison here. First, I think this game fills an important niche in the Fantasy Flight library. It provides some excellent 4X game play that is tailored specifically a 2-player experience (although you can team up in 2v2 games), which sets it apart from Twilight Imperium (minimum 3, recommended 4+ players) and Forbidden Stars (possible with 2, but much better with 3 or 4). I also appreciate that it balances the combat styles of those two games, which feels a little too light in Twilight Imperium and perhaps too cumbersome in Forbidden Stars. At the same time, Rebellion is sufficiently unique from them both that it doesn't feel like a clone of either experience. Each game provides its own spin on the 4X genre. That said, I may be playing a lot more Rebellion in the future simply because it is much easier to find just one other person with 2-4 hours on their hands rather than 3-5 other people with 6+ hours.Altogether, I can't recommend this game enough to Star Wars fans and tabletop enthusiasts. It's unlike anything else out there and fills many unmet needs among tabletop game collections. Find your childhood friend with whom you used to make-believe Star Wars with and play this with them. I can guarantee you will have a blast!

If you ever wanted to experience the original trilogy, this is your chance. For Star Wars fans it is the best experience as it is 100% thematic.It is supposed to be for 2 to 4 players, but with 3 or 4 players, I suspect disagreements and miscommunication could happen, so it is best for 2 players.Videogames have hardware requirements, this game has table size requirements. The board is huge, like 120cm x 60 cm and you need some extra room for other things, so you need a 180 cm x 75 cm table to play.Also it takes a long time to play, and I mean really long, especially when you are learning, as it has many steps, and you can do lots of things. The story you know could be different in your game. In my first full game it took us 2 days to finish it. I do not know if we were too slow or what, but this is what it took us. Probably there were other factors that slowed it down, like the fact I was playing with a non English speaking player, so I had to translate everything, and also I had to separate miniatures in sandwich plastic bags, so handling these bags to put miniatures in or out also took time.The core box has the rules to play the old trilogy, and starts with a Death Star. The expansion adds Rogue One, so it starts with a Death Star under construction.The core box resolves combat using dice only, so aside of assigning damage to enemies, there is not so much decision power from players. You could think of it as dice automation of combat. The expansion adds some decision power to players, but I feel the expansion makes rebels to be a bit overpowered.Some people believe the expansion improves combat rules. I see no problem with core box rules. The only real difference is the amount of control over the outcome of combat as in the core box it is too luck dependant.Steps change from the core box to the expansion. I feel that the expansion is more of a patch. So it is like having 2 separate similar games.You can build ships, start projects, move fleets, conduct missions, recruit new leaders which you will require to move fleets, conduct missions and oppose missions.This core box has a very solid system, but some players may find it complex at first. If you know the steps, you will see that the rest is about understanding how to do different things.You will not find a better Star Wars strategy game. After playing this you will find any other games very simple. I am really impressed about how things work in this game.