Star Wars is one of the most popular media franchises ever. It all started on the big screen almost 50 years ago and today you can watch, read, play, and listen to a smorgasbord of Star Wars media.
One of the avenues the franchise has explored is tabletop games. The world of Star Wars tabletop games includes everything from unpretentious deckbuilders to intricate miniatures games that boast legions of faithful fans.
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Star Wars Destiny
Let me start with something quick, simple, and made for two players: Star Wars Destiny. This game combines dice and cards to create the equivalent of a tasty snack you can finish in a minute.
The game revolves around the light and dark sides of the Force battling it out. The starter set features Rey and Kylo Ren from the sequel trilogy as the main heroes, accompanied by a cast of supporting characters, each represented by their own unique cards.
The rounds are brief, each consisting of playing cards from your hand, activating unique abilities with dice, and battling it out against your enemies.
If Star Wars Destiny clicks with you, there’s a massive booster pack for the base game that adds 160 new cards and a bunch of classic heroes such as Obi-Wan, Darth Maul, and many more.
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Star Wars: The DeckBuilding Game
Star Wars: The DeckBuilding Game is a tier above Star Wars Destiny regarding complexity, presenting a great pastime for fans who’d like a more substantial Star Wars experience with a high level of replayability.
This is a one-on-one duel between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance. Choose your side, and try developing your starter deck into a force powerful enough to defeat your opponent’s bases before they develop their own strongholds and do the same to you.
While both the Empire and the Rebellion players always start with the same two bases, the magic of Star Wars The DeckBuilding Game is in choosing the right replacements after your initial base gets turned to ashes.
No two games are the same, since you always need to adjust to your opponent’s moves. Each game follows its own emergent storyline that can branch into multiple paths, the only constant being the victory conditions.
If you want to shake things up, check out The Clone Wars Edition of the game, which keeps the same core but includes new characters and a slew of new bases and cards.
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Star Wars: The Clone Wars Board Game
Have you ever wanted to play Pandemic but in Star Wars style? Star Wars The Clone Wars Board Game lets you do just that. It takes the familiar Pandemic formula, adorns it with Star Wars colors and themes, and then tweaks the classic Pandemic rules to create a unique experience that feels fresh yet subtly familiar.
The game revolvers around the players cooperating as famous Jedi masters of the Clone Wars era, such as Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Mace Windu, in stopping the Separatist threat in four different scenarios.
Prevent droid hordes led by famous villains, including Count Dooku and General Grievous, from putting planets under blockades, accomplish missions that gradually turn the tide of war, and steadily liberate systems until the galaxy is free from the Separatists.
Each scenario features one baddie accompanied by a unique deck. You start each turn by taking four actions from a wider pool of options, with each player moving their character from planet to planet, attacking the Separatist forces, and embarking on missions.
Once the turn ends, it’s the Separatists’ time to gum up the works, with players drawing a card from the villains’ deck. Rinse and repeat until you’re victorious or until the galaxy is overwhelmed by Separatists. The average session lasts about an hour, and the game has enough replayability to entertain you for months.
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Star Wars: Outer Rim + Unfinished Business Expansion
Star Wars: Outer Rim is one of the most popular Star Wars board games, thanks to its relatively simple yet entertaining design. It’s perfect for people who’d like to dive into the world of Star Wars but don’t want to spend hours learning the ropes.
The game works great with two players, but it’s at its best when you manage to gather a party of four. As its name hints, Outer Rim sees you play as shady characters from the most dangerous neck of the Star Wars galaxy. Traverse the Outer Rim, complete illicit jobs, upgrade your ship, and try building your legacy.
The Unfinished Business expansion for the base game opens it up by introducing a fair number of new ships, gear, bounties, and other missions to complete. It also adds Hyperlanes to the Core Worlds, which offer better rewards if you’re willing to take higher risks.
The best way to play Star Wars: Outer Rim is bundled with the expansion because it gives you a higher number of avenues to explore from the get-go and a wider assortment of missions, ships, characters, and upgrades, thus allowing you to be more creative on your path to infamy.
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Star Wars: Rebellion
If Star Wars: Outer Rim makes you yearn for more Star Wars board game adventures, and you’re ready to be thrown into the deep end, Star Wars: Rebellion is the best fix.
This is probably the most popular Star Wars board game ever, in which you can lead the entire Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire and either reenact the original trilogy or take the left-hand path and crush the rebel scum as the Empire.
Each of the two game boards is massive and includes a ton of different planets from the original trilogy. You command regular troops, both ground and space forces, but also massive ships, including Corellian Corvettes, Star Destroyers, and even the Death Star.
The players also control famous characters from the movies who play key roles in taking over or taking back the galaxy. The two sides feature completely different play styles. While the Empire has access to numerous engines of war, the Rebels have to play it smart by launching small-scale missions and trying to persuade the galactic society to support their cause.
Star Wars: Rebellion is a complex game of epic proportions that requires some learning in order to master its many rules. But once you’re in the know, you’re going to have a blast!
The Rise of the Empire expansion brings a fair amount of new content based on the epic Rogue One movie, making battling it out for the fate of the galaxy even more exhilarating. The expansion also improves the combat, the weakest point of the base Star Wars: Rebellion experience.
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Star Wars: Legion
Fans of miniatures games should try Star Wars: Legion. This two-player clash focuses on ground combat, with the core set including a solid assortment of the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance troops alongside hero units from the original trilogy.
The game’s a bit complex to get into but very rewarding once you get knee-deep in its intricate collection of rules. If you end up getting drawn into its strategic gameplay, you can expand your army, or create a new one, thanks to a ton of expansion packs featuring units and heroes from both the original and prequel trilogies.
You also have access to a bunch of 3D print-ready STL files on Thingverse (free) and ImperialTerrain (free and paid). If you’d rather purchase finished and painted terrain, visit LegionTerrain.
If epic space battles tickle your fancy more, you cannot go wrong with the legendary Star Wars X-Wing 2nd Edition.
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Bonus: Risk: Star Wars Edition
Now, you might think that the Star Wars edition of one of the most popular board games ever would simply include a Star Wars-themed board with a galaxy map made of planets replacing the world map made of continents and countries. Risk: Star Wars Edition, however, has its own identity.
Instead of simply tasking you to conquer the galaxy, Risk: Star Wars Edition drops you in the final moments of Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. The second Death Star is nearly operational, and your job is to destroy it as the Rebel Alliance or defend it until it’s ready to fire as the Galactic Empire.
You can play the game as two teams of two players, or in two-player mode. The board is made of three theaters of combat, including the space around Death Star and the surface of Endor. The winner gets to destroy the Death Star or use it to crush the Rebellion.
While you can pick between a fair share of Star Wars board games, their numbers pale compared to the abundant collection of Star Wars video games. There’s a number of classic Star Wars games you must check out if you’re a fan, many of which deserve a sequel or at least a remaster. A good number of Star Wars games even allow you to play as Darth Vader.
