Star Wars: Unlimited’s take on the Clone Wars rips
When Star Wars: Unlimited launched in March – shortly after its competitor Disney Lorcanaand among some of Magic: the meeting‘s most influential modern sets – it easily stood out from the crowd. Critics and fans alike admired it for its aggressive increase in power and complexity, and its dedication at launch to the lore of the original trilogy. The third set of cards, titled Twilight of the Republicleans into what makes the game unique. It also kicks the theme and story up several notches.
Twilight of the Republic introduces token cards to the game, which are double-sided with a Clone Trooper on one side and a Battle Droid on the other. They do not go into the deck, but are brought to the table by skills on certain cards. Two other new mechanics complement the wave of combatants on the table, called Coordination and Exploit.
Grievous’ deck makes the most use of Exploit, which allows players to remove units, including tokens, from the battlefield and exchange them for cards of higher value. For example, a player can play an On the Doorstep event card with four resources to reveal three Battle Droid tokens. On the same turn, they can remove those Droids and earn a credit of two resources for each, making the Separatist Super Tank only cost three resources instead of nine.
On the other side of the table, Ahsoka’s deck uses Coordination, which requires players to have at least three units on the battlefield. Once they do that, players can use some interesting abilities. For example, Republic commandos, once coordinated, can carry out acts of sabotage; Coruscant Guards gain Ambush, which gives them the ability to attack on their first turn into play; and Clone Heavy Gunners may add two more to their attack scores.
In motion, the new keyword capabilities fit well with the recognizable characters and are reminiscent of scenes from the Clone Wars cartoons and Disney Plus streaming series. You can imagine a line of battle droids marching across the horizon, only to give way to heavier siege weapons in the rear. You can feel Ahsoka’s anxiety as she barks orders to a new batch of troopers, only to find that they work exceptionally well as a team.
Most importantly, the entire package – which also includes two poster playmats – has clearly been designed with new players in mind. If you had postponed earlier this year to see if Star Wars: Unlimited it was worth it, I’m here to tell you it is. And if the Clone Wars era is your favorite part of the Star Wars canon, it’s time to gather your forces and join the battle.