Happy Star Wars Day! It being a great time to celebrate one of the most popular science fiction settings around, I thought it would be a appropriate to give a shout out to some of my favorite Star Wars branded boardgames. Two recent titles (and thus should be easy to find) are Star Wars Super Teams (what if CandyLand had actual decisions, strategy AND you could move other people) and Star Wars: Battle of Hoth (an introductory wargame, based around the invasion of the ice planet.) Super Teams would be great for younger folks, maybe 7+, while the latter is deep enough for adults to enjoy but is also playable by a gamer 10 year old.

Star Wars Super Teams

Star Wars Super Teams is a souped-up candyland-adjacent style race for 2 to 4 players. Each player controls a pair of (very cool looking) Star Wars ships and plays cards from their hand (of 6 cards) to move pieces along the board. Not that I said pieces, not their pieces. The twist here is that cards have numbers and colors and cards move a matching colored piece a set number of spaces, no matter whose pieces they are. Players take turns playing out all 6 of their cards and then new cards are dealt out and play continues.

Many of the board spaces affect how ships move. A ship starting on a hyperspace spot will double its movement, asteroids give the next card for that ship a “1”, black holes (the red sections) must be passed over completely. If there isn’t enough movement to get across they stop at the front edge. There are also bonus cards which can give one’s ship a slight bump, even interrupting someone else’s turn.

Very cool little minis – each player gets 2!

All this combines into a game that is only a few steps up from CandyLand complexity, but it elevates the experience to an actual game. Decisions matter. You’re forced to move other players along as well as your own pieces. Can you find the least opportune time to move an opponent while simutaneously looking for the most opportune time to move your own? With fast-playing rules, even a 4 player game can finish under a half-hour.

Star Wars: Battle of Hoth

Star Wars: Battle of Hoth is another take on the Memoir ‘44 system, a very approachable wargame for a wide range of WWII battles. Players fight over a game board divided into left, right, and center sections. On a turn, a player chooses a card from their hand in order to “activate” one or more units on the board. An activated unit will move and then attack. These played cards typically allow a player to move X units in a specific section (left/right/center) or possible X number of a type of unit. In this way, players are not just free to activate the same unit over and over again. Managing one’s options in hand is almost as important as picking the right units to attack.

In addition to the theme and very cool miniatures, Battle for Hoth keeps the main parts of Memoir ‘44 but creates a faster moving, shorter game. This means a single battle can be easily played in less than an hour, possibly even 30 minutes if the players are more experienced. With 4 players, each team has their own set of cards and alternate turns. While things can get a little tight with 4 players, this might be a great way to play with a younger or less experienced partner as you can discuss strategy amongst each other. Although the game is clearly set up along the lines of the Star Wars battle on the planet of Hoth, the game comes with 16 different scenarios setups, providing some variation.

A large, 18th scenario is also included which requires two copies of the game (presumably you might have a friend with the game…) In a slight change from Memoir ‘44, players can shuffle a leader (set of 3 cards) into their deck which provides fairly powerful, unique effects. Finally, there are two mini-campaign booklets included. Each is a set of four-ish sequential battles where the next battle setup is adjusted based on the previous result. Did you lose the last battle as the Empire? Maybe Darth Vader is added to your deck – your failure has required him to show up to “take care of things personally.”

Tags: Game Reviews, Misc, Unplugged