I haven't played many variations of the pandemic system but I am very much enjoying the Fall of Rome version quite some bit. Horrified replaced the og pandemic for me but I think fall of Rome is different enough to warrant a place on my shelf particularly due to the solo ruleset. All this said, I just ordered SW pandemic and can't wait to give it a shot.
Great review! Can't wait to try this one. I absolutely adored the WoW version, so I figured I'd probably like this as well. I'm almost hoping that they release a legacy expansion for this one, just because Pandemic Legacy is already great and these "pandemic system" games are dripping with theme and ripe for great legacy stories.
Thanks for the review! My wife and I love Pandemic Legacy and Kings of Israel and also enjoy Star Wars so we were curious about this. With your video this one just got added to my list.
Found the video because I got the game for Christmas and wanted to find out how it was substantively different from Wrath of the Lich King, but omg, the idea of a Stormlight Archives Pandemic system game! Everybody do all the social media at Sanderson right now!
It would be really cool if they released an expansion with two or three new villains and three new jedi. I'm thinking of Cad Bane and Pre Visla as villains you can fight and Plo Koon, Kit Fisto and Ki-Adi Mundi as playable characters. It would also be really cool if they included Palpatine as a villain and his ability is that he turns all your squad Cards against you, just like Order 66! But before that maybe he could give you extra missions or helpful bonuses and order you around the board, simulating that he's playing both sides of the war and is distracting the Jedi.
As a man who owns this game, I can say that it is more complex than Pandemic, and it is a lot of fun, but do not think for one moment that it is easy to win. Yes, the system is fundamentally simple to grasp, but you will need to be communicative and strategic with your teammates in order to win. I highly recommend this game.
Although this one, The WoW one, and the Cthulhu one look great, I have never played those versions. With that being said, my current favorite is The Fall of Rome. I love ancient history and war games so I enjoy it a lot.
Very good game. Played asajj and lost, but played Maul and got confused. How does Maul end? Maul becomes locked in a never ending cycle because the threat never reaches 7. Thoughts?
As a big fan of the Lich King game, this edition has some subtle improvements over the previous version. Squad cards as health + having nothing happen when taking damage with 0 squad cards = maintaining the necessity of avoiding damage while removing WoW's fiddly health tracker & hero death rules. Drawing cards as an action adds strategic depth while also cutting upkeep bloat (some turns can completely ignore drawing cards if they have a decent squad already). Contributing squad cards to missions work nearly the same as WoW's quests, but this game having the hero deck be a squad theme with unique names makes it feel more "Your squad of soldiers is contributing towards the mission." vs. WoW's "Your collection of colored cards with art pulled from a videogame helps advance the quest track token." Basically these subtle differences are either cutting out LK's bloat, or tying the theme better to the mechanics.
I just recently got into solo tabletop games with Power Rangers Heroes of the Grid and so when I heard about this game, I really wanted to try it. I never played pandemic before so it was all new for me and it is fun. It seems a lot easier and simpler than Power Rangers, I haven’t lost any games yet, and definitely not as intense. I think it’s good if you wanna play a less stressful solo game or if you wanna play a casual co op game with friends.
I'm a huge Star Wars geek, so I think I'll have to pick this up. I held off on the WotLK version, but this may be the one to get for me, even if the movie was Meh.
Maybe I’m old, it’s a reference to Sinead O’Conner who was a popstar that famously shaved her head. Had an absolute banger with her cover of “Nothing Compares 2 U”.
I don't understand this game as, in the show, Palpatine controlled both the Jedi and the Seperatist armies. So it was impossible for the Jedi to "lose". Is this aspect even hinted at in this game?
It seems that you have to take down the villain and end the Clone Wars quickly before the war escalates to the point where Chancellor Palpatine activates Order 66. At least, that’s how I choose to interpret the “Threat” track with Palpatine’s face on the last space.
Fully cooperative. You can play solo as 2 Jedis (very easy to manage and enjoyable, there’s a token you can use to help you remember to alternate which Jedi goes first) or you can play with up to 5 players.
I believe this game is for Star Wars fans. So if you are going to rank Pandemic games, this game should not be considered for fans of Pandemic. Why? Pandemic is about response rate vs infection rate. Clone Wars game has droids as a matter of concern, but droids spreading is a sideways concern to bring emotion to the game. Not the core of the game. So basically Clone Wars is not a pandemic game, even if it uses the system. Clone Wars will generate complaints from pandemic fans because it is less pandemicky as droids do not spread, they entrench. Vilains are the ones spreading, so deciding to stop the spread means to go after villains. And for those advanced games expecting a boss fight, villains in clone wars were not like these villains who sees you and kills you. These villains were more like harassers, like Megatron was in Generation 1 TV show in the 1980s. Megatron had a goal and he failed, he would retreat to come and harass some other day. Villains in the TV show are more like that. Advanced players expecting the intensity of Rebellion, and pandemic players expecting to stop the spread, will see this game as "meh". That is because Clone Wars game contains the very spirit of the show. Clone Wars game has missions that correspond to episodes of the show. The types of units in each mission are the types of units that you could see in the episode. And the villain mission correspond to the final encounter with the villain in the show or prequel movies. All this is a huge thing for fans, but "meh" for others. So this game is best combined with the TV show to rewatd episodes. I have heard nitpicky complaints, and some valid ones (from a certain point of view). For example * why is that all the clones look different but do the same? They are clones!! This is why they do the same!! * The map is also criticized. But if you notice, there are many planets. If they did what was done in Rebellion, you have a more stylish map, but it takes more space and is more confusing. So I do not see a way to design a "better map" * Droids are too small? Yes. You need to place droids, Jedis, blockades, villian so you need droids not to take lots of space. Arts are great, miniatures are great, cards are great. I could not ask for a better game.
