Discover the Power of the Dark Side with Star Wars™ Villainous

The award-winning Villainous franchise enters the legendary Stars Wars™ galaxy! In Star Wars™ (Power of the Dark Side) Villainous, you’ll use your Villain’s sinister influence and unique abilities to achieve your dark destiny. Play as Darth Vader, Asajj Ventress, Kylo Ren, Moff Gideon, or General Grievous.

Immersive Gameplay Elements

As with past Villainous franchises, new gameplay elements were introduced to fully immerse players in the Star Wars™ universe. One of these elements is Ambition. Not everything can be bought or manipulated with Credits, the main currency of Star Wars™ Villainous. You can use your Villain’s Ambition to use special Ambition Abilities as well as play special Ambition cards. These Ambition Abilities express a Villain’s unique powers, whether they’re using the Force, leading an army, or manipulating events in their favor. You’ll gain 1 Ambition at the start of every turn and may also gain Ambition from other cards and actions.

Incorporating iconic ships from the Star Wars™ universe was also crucial to embracing each Villain’s story. A new “Vehicle” mechanic allows you to play ships and transports to a new “Deep Space” section of your player board (called “Sectors in Star Wars™ Villainous). To play Vehicle cards, you’ll pay its Cost in either Credits or Ambition. Vehicle cards add a new location to your Sector, complete with action icons as well as a special Ability that triggers whenever you move there. Vehicle cards are present in both Villain and Fate decks and can “engage” with each other. For example, Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced X1 could face off against the Millennium Falcon. 

Darth Vader 

Darth Vader, the main antagonist in the original Star Wars™ trilogy, must defeat Luke Skywalker to emerge victorious in the game. He can only defeat Luke Skywalker by paying 6 Ambition while Luke is in the Emperor’s Throne Room (a location in Darth Vader’s Sector) and while Luke is conflicted. 

Luke Skywalker is represented by a tile in the game. Instead of being classified as a Hero, Luke Skywalker is a Jedi, and is unaffected by Abilities targeting Heroes. One side of the tile shows a focused Luke Skywalker. Heroes sharing a location with Luke while he is focused cannot be targeted by Vanquish actions. Many of Darth Vader’s cards allow him to turn the tile over, showing a conflicted Luke Skywalker. While Luke is conflicted, he can be moved one location closer to the Emperor’s Throne Room each time a Hero is defeated. 

Once the Conflicted Luke Skywalker is in this location, Darth Vader must move to the Emperor’s Throne Room along with Emperor Palpatine to pay 6 Ambition and win. Darth Vader will need to move quickly, as Heroes like Princess Leia.  increase the cost of Ambition actions, and Fate cards like May the Force Be with You remove Ambition, making it harder for this Villain to complete his objective.

General Grievous 

General Grievous is known for his hatred of Jedi Knights. To win in the game, Grievous must collect 8 Lightsabers by defeating Heroes. 

While most Heroes will only award General Grievous with one Lightsaber, there are some that allow him to collect two, such as Ashoka Tano. In addition, there are cards like Add to My Collection that award one Lightsaber to Grievous without requiring him to defeat a Hero. As General of the Droid Army, Grievous has many Allies to call upon, and is not afraid to sacrifice them for his purposes. General Grievous can use his ship Malevolence’s Ability to remove two Allies to defeat a Hero. 

However, General Grievous may be forced to make unwanted sacrifices. Opposing Heroes have ships like The Negotiator, which can block the actions and effects of Grievous’ own Vehicle cards. Grievous may need to sacrifice a Vehicle to remove a Fate Vehicle placing him at a disadvantage.

Asajj Ventress 

As a Sith assassin and bounty hunter, Asajj Ventress must complete three Missions. 

Each Mission has a different amount of Ambition that needs to be gained to complete it. Asajj Ventress has cards at her disposal that allow her to plan ahead, like Count Dooku, which lets the player look at the next two Missions and place them in the most convenient order. In addition to this, Asajj Ventress can make use of the Trident vehicle card to draw a random card from her discard pile, which may prove useful as she completes her Missions.

Moff Gideon 

The leader of a remnant of the Galactic Empire, Moff Gideon’s objective is to capture and experiment on Grogu.  To win in the game, this Villain must have Grogu on the Villain side of his Sector along with Doctor Pershing and Laboratory Samples at the same location.  While Grogu cannot be put in play if there are no Heroes in Moff Gideon’s Sector, there are ways this Villain can take matters in his own hands. Using the Outland TIE Fighter, Moff Gideon can reveal Fate cards until he can find a Hero to put in play and get to Grogu. 

To slow Moff Gideon down, his opponents have ways to keep Grogu safe. For example, Unexpected Help frees Grogu and maneuvers all Allies from his location until Moff Gideon manages to defeat a Hero.

Kylo Ren 

Kylo Ren must commit his destiny to the Dark Side of the Force to win. To achieve this objective, he’ll need to move all six of his Destiny tokens to the Dark Side of the Destiny tracker. To move Destiny tokens to the Dark Side, Kylo Ren can defeat a Hero or use his Ambition. Additionally, this Villain has cards within his deck that allow him to gain more Ambition if he defeats a Hero, like The Knights of Ren. 

Kylo Ren will need to take decisive actions to commit to the Dark Side. Cards within his Fate deck like Come Home can sway him to the Light Side. 

Join the Dark Side 

Star Wars™ (Power of the Dark Side) Villainous is intended for two to four players ages 10 and up and takes about 20 minutes per player to play. Look for it in August at your friendly local game store!