When I was in junior high school (age 12-13) LucasArts released the computer game Star Wars: Rebellion and I was instantly taken in with the idea of fighting the war between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire on an Epic Scale, from either side. Needless to say, when I was able to get a copy of the game, I explored every aspect of the game, playing it many, many times against AI opponents as well as my friends. I was an avid Star Wars fan who had read many of the books in the (then known as) Expanded Universe, and the computer game included many of the best characters from those stories.
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Short Explanation of How to Play
When I heard that there was a board game called Star Wars: Rebellion that tried to accomplish a similar goal, I was intrigued and had high expectations for the board game version.
The presentation of the game is epic in scale, with over 30 planets on two very large game boards and more than 150 miniatures of X-Wings, Star Destroyers, and many other familiar troops and ships. The basic premise of the game is that you make use of various leader characters to carry out missions and movement to attack your opponent.
What separates this game from a typical territory grabbing war game like Risk or Axis and Allies is the differing goals of the two sides. The Empire wants to track down and destroy the hidden rebel base that could be on any one of the planets that the Empire does not occupy before the time runs out. For the Rebels, they need to gain loyalty to shorten the game, making sure that they keep the Empire guessing and out of their base until the time runs out. The game play includes many interesting events that can happen through the mission cards, the construction of fleets and armies to replenish both sides to continue toward their goals, and combat.
Why it Works/Doesn't Work For Our Family
What Worked: As we went along, the gameplay of sending leaders on missions, accomplishing goals, and building fleets and armies became more smooth. It was fun for the Empire to search for the rebel base. While the scale of the game wasn’t quite as massive as the computer game I had played last century, I was not looking for The Campaign for North Africa, especially when playing with my daughter. We were able to play through the game and complete it, so the scale was workable for us. We enjoyed the game, particularly with the Star Wars theme.
What Was Challenging: The biggest challenge of the base game was the combat. Combat that uses cards makes sense. Combat based on dice rolls makes sense. Combat that combines two different color dice rolls that can only hit different types of targets while mixing in cards? We figured it out and worked through it but it wasn’t my favorite part of the system. I have read that the Rise of the Empire expansion for the game fixes the combat issue and makes it more enjoyable, but the drawback is that you have to have a high investment level to buy the base game and expansion to get the most enjoyment out of the experience. Time is the second challenge. If you want to do a full playthrough with someone who is learning the game, it will take awhile to learn the rules and do the first few rounds of play.
Why it Works/Doesn't Work With Friends
While I could see this game working with my gaming friends, I won’t try to force it to the table if there isn’t interest from one of my friends to try it. It takes awhile to set up and is a long play, so you need the buy-in for the playthrough up front. If we end up trying it, I’ll update this post.
Teacher's Corner
One of the things I love about games like this is resource management. The economics of delayed gratification are present here, as some of the things you purchase do not hit the board for 3 turns after you bought it. Planning and preparation are important. There is a political aspect to this game, but the “loyalty” system is a fairly simple tug of war and doesn't get into the depth and nuance of political topics beyond the overarching idea in Star Wars that authoritarianism causes pushback in society. I would look toward other games to teach concepts of political science.
Overall opinion, rating, and recommendation
6 year old son - Was not interested in playing it. He liked playing with the cool miniatures that were included with the game, but did not want to try playing the actual game even though he likes Star Wars.
9 year old daughter - Enjoyed it, but did not like that it was more complicated for her than Axis and Allies 1941 (which is the game that was the closest frame of reference for her). When we first started playing it, she did not understand what was written on the cards for the rebel alliance. The learning curve was a bit of a challenge since concepts like “attempt” and “loyalty” have very specific meanings in this game, so it took awhile to pick these things up. As the game went along, she gained a better understanding of what she was doing, but once we had finished she was ready to move on to trying something new or play something she was more familiar with.
Mine - I will rate this game Heavy Adult. That being said, if a kid really wants to play it, an adult who understands the mechanics of the game can walk them through it. In that case, the game may not be the full experience for the adult player. I enjoyed the playthrough and would play it again, but finding someone else to play it with me might be a challenge due to the time, setup, and rules investment necessary to make this game happen. The gameplay experience was not the same level of depth as my galactic adventures from the LucasArts game from ‘98, but it was a faithful representation of the original Star Wars Trilogy. Many aspects of this game did overlap with the computer game I enjoyed growing up, particularly the hunt for the rebel base and battles between the Rebellion and the Empire. If you are a Star Wars fan and/or enjoy an epic scale game, this game will be in your wheelhouse. If you have concerns about length of game, aren’t interested in the theme, or despise wonky combat mechanics, be cautious here.
Games with similarities with this one at each rating level:
Casual Family: Where’s Waldo or I Spy
Heavy Family: Axis and Allies 1941
Casual Adult: Stratego
Heavy Adult: War of the Ring
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