Available now is a new two player card game from Fantasy Flight Games called Empire vs Rebellion.
Seeing as it came in a small box and was only $12 I decided to pick it up.
Leo and I sat down to play it and here’s how it went.
Rules overview:
In Empire vs Rebellion one player plays as the Empire and the other player takes the role of Jabba and his goons. Just kidding they’re the Rebellion.
Each player has a mostly identical deck, with the only differences coming from the unique character cards.
Each round players are contesting an event that is represented by a card that explains the specific restraints of the round.
Players take turns palying cards off the top of their deck. You don’t get a hand of cards, you just play what comes and deal with it.
You’re aiming to get the influence total of your cards up to the target influence on the event without going over.
Different cards have different effects that can trigger if you take your turn to exhaust them.
Character cards have the most powerful effects, though their influence value drops dramatically if you exhaust them to use their ability.
You also have a deck of 5 strategy cards. You secretly choose one each round and it resolves after the round ends. These can really change things up, since there is one that says if you lose you win, so it really makes you question your opponent’s strategy.
So that’s mostly it. I left some stuff out but if you really want to read all the rules you can read the official rulebook here.
Impressions
Joe: I think it’s alright. It initially feels like there’s not a lot of strategy or decisions to make, but after you’ve played it for about a round you realize that there are some interesting choices.
Rounds actually tend to drag on as you and your opponent go back and forth messing with each others’ cards and trying to manage your own cards. Then the round ends and you figure out who won the round and you’re just like, oh, that’s it then. Not a lot of excitement in this game.
The card quality is great, though I’m never really a fan of using movie screens on cards. Especially when Fantasy Flight has such an incredible catalog of Star Wars art that they use in all of their other games. Though maybe I’d expect more out of the game if it had that great art in it…
Leo: I’d have like to see a little more variety in the cards. You have several copies of each type of card (Diplomacy, Politics, etc.) which will have power values of 1 through 5. It would have been nice to have had different pictures for different power values, particularly since they’re just using shots from the movies and not original art.
Frankly, I found the gameplay to be slightly tedious. With some tweaks this possibly could be a much better game. More strategy cards with more interesting effects could shake things up quite a bit. As it stands right now, it’s generally pretty easy to guess which strategy your opponent is playing, especially after the first couple rounds when your opponent only has half of them left to choose from. I also think this game could be a lot more fun with more players. Four players, in my opinion, would be a lot better as it would be harder to keep track of what cards your opponent has or has not played already with that many people. I think it would emphasis the bluffing aspect of the game a lot more.
Joe: If you’re looking for a compact easy to learn two player game, this might fit that bill, though there are probably better two player games. If that’s not something you’re looking for, you’re probably not really missing out on anything.
Leo: As cheap as it is it’s hard to feel too cheated on the game. Still, I’d probably recommend giving this game a pass unless you’re looking for something to play with a younger Star Wars fan.
Joe: Also sort of neat is the event card backs. The aurebesh on it says “X-Wing Rules” and “Long live Kyle Katarn.” Neat little Easter eggs.
