In Star Wars: The Deck Building Game, the intergalactic war between the heroic Rebel Alliance and the evil Galactic Empire comes to life on your tabletop. In this new card-based competition from Fantasy Flight Games, two players each choose a side — the Empire or the Rebels – and work to strengthen the power of their starting deck and to destroy each other’s bases. The first player to destroy three of the opponent’s bases wins the game.
Meant for players ages 12 years of age and older, it is designed to be fast-paced, with an estimated completion time of 30 minutes or less.
GAMEPLAY
Each match begins with both players in possession of a unique ten-card deck. Most of the cards provide resources needed to acquire new cards during play. Six cards from a galaxy deck are always on display: Rebel cards face the Rebel player, Empire cards face the Empire player, and neutral cards are turned sideways. During play, resources are spent procuring additional cards in the galaxy row that do not belong to the adversary, calling on the attack powers of numerous cards, and gaining rewards in the process.
Players begin with a basic base card — Dantooine for the Rebels and Lothal for the Empire. Once that card is destroyed, players can select a new card from their base deck. Each of the follow-up base cards features a special ability that can be used to counter an opponent’s plans, while a host of capital ship cards are also included that can be used to absorb damage meant for your base. If that’s not exciting enough, players will also battle for control of a Force track to either gain additional resources or make use of unique “If the Force is with you…” abilities indicated on their cards.
COLLECTIBLE CARD GAMES
This is not the first time the Star Wars Universe has been transformed into a collectible card game.
From 1995 until 2001, Decipher released Star Wars: The Customizable Card Game. Featuring several expansion packs, specialty purpose sets and promotional releases, the game was a top-tier seller that encompassed all three of the original Star Wars movies and The Phantom Menace respectively. After the license expired, it was quickly picked up by Wizards of the Coast. In April 2002, they released Star Wars: The Trading Card Game, which was created by game designer Richard Garfield, creator of the first modern trading card game, Magic: The Gathering.
Star Wars: The Trading Card Game was offered until late 2005, before being placed on indefinite hold by Wizards of the Coast. This would soon result in the formation of the Star Wars: The Trading Card Game Independent Development Committee, which continues to design new cards and make them available as free downloads through its official website.
With Star Wars: The Deck Building Game, Fantasy Flight Games continues a grand tradition that has defined this iconic film franchise for close to 30 years. While it is currently unknown if there are plans in place to release any additional expansion packs, the base game can be purchased right now through several retailers for around $37.99 USD.
Clearly, the Force is strong with this one!
