This two-player board game allows you to rewrite the story of Star Wars move by move. In a galactic game of cat and mouse between the Rebels and the Empire, hours pass in what feels like minutes. Note: an affinity for Star Wars is a must.
Summoning his ground troops, my colleague Luca overruns the Wookies’ poorly defended home planet of Kashyyyk. My two Rebel squadrons are no match for the might of the Empire. For the imperial troops, it’s an out-and-out victory.
My plan has worked.
Alas, my joy is short-lived…
«Do. Or do not. There is no try.»
«Never tell me the odds!»
I’m forced to change my tactics.
«In my experience, there’s no such thing as luck.»
When I flew the family nest over 15 years ago, I suddenly had to cook for myself. But it wasn’t long until this necessity became a virtue. Today, rattling those pots and pans is a fundamental part of my life. I’m a true foodie and devour everything from junk food to star-awarded cuisine. Literally. I eat way too fast.
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You see, what Luca doesn’t know is that Kashyyyk was supposed to fall. I’d left the resource-rich planet with scant protection on purpose, giving me the chance to stage a coup d’état. With Chewbacca at the ready, I instigate what will later go down in revised Star Wars history books as «The Wookie Uprising». The rebellion is a success. With one devastating blow – and a little help from Luke Skywalker – I drive the invaders away from Kashyyyk and take the planet back. My opponent’s desperate attempt to contain the losses, and prevent the uprising with Colonel Yularen’s help, fails. I’m certain this is it – the decisive victory that’ll turn the tide in this war over a galaxy far, far away.
Chewbacca and Luke stage an uprising as Colonel Yularen looks on dumbly in his linens. Source: Simon Balissat
It doesn’t take long to explain the idea behind Star Wars: Rebellion. Basically, the Empire has sprung into action to find the Rebel base. To help them do so, the evil despots have an arsenal of spaceships and ground troops at their disposal. The base is hidden on one of the 32 planets on the board. Heavily outnumbered, the Rebels try to stay hidden, using targeted disruption to bring about the Empire’s demise. In addition to Star Destroyers, AT-ATs, X-Wings and Corellian fleets, characters from the original trilogy play a crucial role. Nevertheless, each side has just a handful of heroes. Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and other characters can move fleets around the board, be called on for their support or complete missions. Bring them into the fray in one round, and you won’t be able to use them for other missions. It’s decisions like these that give the game its allure. Every turn, something makes me come up short. If, for instance, I move several squadrons and complete two missions to boot, I don’t have any pieces left to counter my opponent’s attacks or missions. Such a predicament is to become my undoing after the Wookie Uprising.
So, where is it? The rebel base is hidden on one of the 32 planets. Source: Simon Balissat
This is because while I’ve focused all my attention on Kashyyyk, Luca has sent his bounty hunter Boba Fett into the neighbouring Saleucami system unencumbered. Without much resistance, Fett manages to kidnap none other than Mon Mothma. This leaves me short of a heavyweight who’d previously won several planets over to the cause of the Rebel Alliance with her negotiating skills. Now, things get even worse for the Rebellion. With the help of the Emperor himself, Fett is able to draw Mon Mothma to the dark side of the Force, thus gaining control over her. Even the hastily summoned Lando Calrissian is powerless against the allure of the Emperor. Mon Mothma caves, doing the bidding of the empire for the rest of the game.
Storytelling is Star Wars: Rebellion’s greatest strength. Both sides do build an army, and minor skirmishes do break out from time to time, but it’s almost more important to deploy your heroes smartly to achieve your goals, rewriting the Star Wars story in the process. Using the process of elimination in the form of probe droid cards, the Empire can keep crossing planets off the list of places the Rebels could be hiding. In turn, the Rebels achieve secret goals which bring the game to a close more quickly. The Empire, incidentally, doesn’t have forever. If the galaxy is convinced that the dark dictatorship needs to be wiped out before Darth Vader and his ilk have tracked down the Rebel base, the Rebellion wins. This is all embedded in the storyline of the Star Wars universe. There isn’t usually a major battle until the end of the game, when the Empire finds the Rebel base and there’s no prospect of escape.
Generals waiting for their deployment Source: Simon Balissat
This is exactly what our game comes down to. First, Luca enlists the help of defector Mon Mothma of all people to bring the planet Mon Calamari, home of one of the Rebel Alliance’s most important shipyards, firmly under the tyranny of the Empire. After that, my small-scale Star Destroyer attacks over Geonosis fail too. And to make matters worse, Luca suspects that my Rebel base is on Dantooine.
I move the few units I can somehow still assemble over to my Rebel base so that I’m ready for the final battle. After all, I do still have a trump card up my sleeve. A mission card allows me to send Luke Skywalker to Dagobah where Yoda is to train him as a Jedi – right before the final battle. Luca wants to thwart this plan, but fails. Does this mean victory for the Rebels, led by their messiah wielding a green lightsaber?
The game components have to be well organised. Source: Simon Balissat
The clever game mechanics are varied, but not overly complicated. Missions consist of cards, whereas battles are mostly settled with dice. Since both factions have four fixed missions to be carried out in both rounds, there’s less randomness and the game is more manageable. What emerges is a perfect balance between the tactical approach and luck, guaranteeing a close outcome in almost every game. The fact you’re rewriting the Star Wars story is another enchanting aspect of it.
After all, Luca has another ace up his sleeve too. I’d actually wanted to rally the support of Master Luke Skywalker in the crucial battle of Dantooine. However, I’d failed to reckon with an old acquaintance from before – the go-getting bounty hunter Boba Fett. At the last minute, he’s able to track Luke down on Dagobah and keep him there for a round – one round too many. My rebels don’t stand a chance against dozens of Stormtroopers and AT-STs. Although I can still take Luca’s Empire’s completely unattended homeland of Coruscant with the help of a small squadron (everything’s riding on one card for him too – I’d have won the round if I’d survived it), I have to admit defeat. The Empire destroys the Rebel base. The dark side is victorious.
FFGFFGD3002 - Star Wars: Rebellion, Board game, basic game, 2-4 players, ages 14+ (DE edition)
German
4
Star Wars: Rebellion is an absolute must-play for Star Wars fans. It’s rare that a board game manages to tell completely new stories with each game and stay exciting. The carefully designed game components get you right in the mood. It’s important to note that although there are three-player and four-player versions of Rebellion, the two-player version is most fun. At the end of the day, the Empire isn’t ruled by two emperors. Admittedly, it takes a bit of practice and a couple of rounds before the splendour of the complex game unfolds. A beginner-friendly version makes the initial games, which can take up to five hours, easier. Once you’ve practised, you can play to the end in one evening. The complex game mechanics and multitude of decisions make Rebellion an intense experience requiring plenty of mental effort and concentration. If you prefer simpler games such as UNO or Frustration, and aren’t big on Star Wars, you should steer clear of Rebellion. Everyone else can buy it without hesitation.
