Risk Star Wars The Clone Wars Edition Classic Risk Game but now you fight to control the Galaxy before the Sith do. Game includes , Gameboard , 4 Armies, 10 Dice , 36 Cardboard Ships , Darth sidious pawn , 59 fraction cards , 17 turn reference card , 9 Separatist Tokens and the Instruction bo
Customer Review: Before You Listen to the Negative Reviews, Hear Me Out
Because of the huge controversy over Order 66, I will state my argument on that first. Then I will explain why I like this game as a whole.
First off, what is the fuss all about? What is Order 66 in this game? Put simply, at the start of the game, Sidious is placed on a track numbered 1 to 11. At this track starting at space “2″ is an “8″ protruding out the side, then “8,7″ then “8,7,6″ and so on until the very end where it’s “8,7,6,5,4,3,2,” The reason that’s there is because in addition to the typical six-sided die, there are also eight-sided die. When the Separatist player invokes Order 66, then they declare a planet that the Republic owns and an eight-sided is rolled. If the roll matches or exceeds the lowest number on the track where Sidious is standing, then the troops and ships on the planet are removed and replaced with an equal number of troops and ships for the Separatists. This is done for each and every planet the Republic owns. Sidious automatically moves forward once per Separatist turn. The further along he is on the track, the more powerful Order 66 becomes.
Most negative reviews on here say the Order 66 mechanism makes it way too easy to win as the Separatists. They’re half right. IF the Republic is simply not aggressive enough, and/or IF they just don’t or can’t break through and gain a significant amount of the board in the early and mid-game, then yes, the Separatists will not have a problem winning.
If, on the other hand, the Republic starts off aggressive and stays aggressive, fighting with everything they have and refuses to let up, maintaining their early game advantages and keeping the initiative, then Order 66 will have to be called earlier, which lessens its effect.
Order 66 is a much better time limit mechanic than Risk 2210 and Risk Godstorm’s 5 round limit (a round being defined as each player playing once.) In both cases this mechanic is artificial, arbitrary. The designers could have just as easily made the limit 4 rounds, or 6. Assuming both players are playing correctly, with Order 66, the Separatist player must carefully weigh when to activate this. If they use it too early, it will avail them little. If they take too long, then they’ll be wiped off the board and lose that way. In situations where complete annihilation seems imminent and Sidious is one space away from a better die roll, it’s unclear what to do. Should the player wait and hope to last? Or should they go and play O66 with the lesser chance to slow the Republic down? This oftentimes tough decision where die rolls and random card selections determine the results of a battle is further complicated when you consider the fact that if the Republic entirely wipes out one Separatist color, then that color cannot return upon declaring O66 AND the Republic now has a double turn.
So, in short folks, don’t listen to the people who say the game is unbalanced. It’s not. The game designers knew what they were doing when they put this mechanic in and it’s only a serious problem if the Republic plays incorrectly.
Now then, on to the actual review!
This game is my favorite variant on Risk. In addition to standard Risk, I also have Risk 2210, Lord of the Rings Risk, Star Wars the Original Trilogy Risk and an electronic version of Risk 2210 known as “Invade Earth.” My experience with Risk dates back 13 years when my mother and I found the standard Risk at Walmart.
This version is not just Risk with Star Wars pieces; it can be played as such, but it has its own rule set and uses the Risk gameplay mechanics as a foundation upon which to build this rule set. Cards can still be traded for troops but also have the ability to be redeemed for ships (die bonuses) and special powers that give advantages to the user. However, only one of these functions can be used per card and once a card is played, it is out of the game, lost forever, a few cards’ special powers notwithstanding. This is also a team game. Each faction has two armies that cannot attack one another nor share resources, but both work together to achieve the common goal of eliminating the other side. Coordination and teamwork is key on both sides. Each army must ensure that they do not cut one another off or both hold planets in the same region. The Republic must fight hard and win the leadership tokens, explained in a minute, while the Separatists must defend those tokens then later, Sidious at all cost.
The tokens are drawn like cards and placed on the board face down. Extra cards are won for the Republic if they take the planet the token is placed on. Then after Order 66 the tokens are all removed from the board, but now the Separatists have an even larger priority. They must protect the planet Sidious is on. If that planet falls, the Republic wins instantly.
Also since this is a team game, it’s best played with three or four people. It can be played with two, but more is better.
The rules are not very hard to understand, and veteran Risk players will easily pick up on the game, although first time Risk players may want to play a standard game of Risk before committing to the Clone Wars rule set.
You may want to bring a lot of small sandwich bags to separate out the pieces, as this gets very tedious and the built in tray is useless. I would recommend putting either the larger army pieces in a bag and the smaller ones in the tray or vice versa. Alternatively, you can put large army pieces of one color in the tray of the other. This way, separating is far faster.
If you like this game, I would also recommend the Original Trilogy Risk as well.
Customer Review: Nice War Game for Star Wars Fans
I believe the game is fairly well balanced in spite of some of the other reviewers comments. I’ve won with both sides. In fact, the Republic has won three of the 4 games I’ve played.
The Republic must capture seperatist Tokens in the early going. The faster you capture them, the more cards you draw and the more reinforcments you can bring into the game. Timing is everything. If the Republic dominates early, the Separatist’s will be forced to declare Order 66 ‘earlier’ than they want to. If this happens, the Separatist’s won’t be able to defend the planet with the Darth Sidious piece for long as not enough troops will haved turned to the dark side; let alone defeat every Republic piece.
The one thing I don’t like is having two separate hands of cards; when playing with just 2 players. One hand of cards for the Red faction and one for the Gold faction. This can get confusing. A good ‘house rule’ is to combine the cards into one hand and allow up to 6 cards. Then use the cards for either of your factions.
Yes, the game seems overwhelmingly complicated at first. It really isn’t. I recommend playing 1 basic game first using the red cards. Then try the advanced version using the blue cards. It may take a few readings of the manual to get all the rules correct.
