I’m Really Loving ‘Star Wars: Unlimited’ — and You Should, Too
Finding packs of Star Wars: Unlimited can be tough right now, but take that as a sign that people are having a great time with it.
There’s no easy way to sugarcoat this, but while some stores are running out of Star Wars: Unlimited starter packs and booster boxes, Fantasy Flight Games sent me a huge box of stuff to show off to you all today. They’ve already announced they will be working hard to deal with the scarcity in the future. But for now, let’s get into why you should be checking out Star Wars: Unlimited as soon as you can.
Star Wars: Unlimited Overview
Of the CCGs out there right now, at least the ones I know enough about, Star Wars: Unlimited is closest to Lorcana mixed with Magic: Commander. The players’ overall objective is to reduce their opponent’s Base to 0 HP. Most bases start with 30 HP.
Each deck also has a Leader. The leader starts in a sort of passive mode, providing some small benefit or ability to use. However, once a player activates their Epic Action, they enter the battlefield as a unit like any other. But epic actions can only be activated once per game, so losing your leader means they return to their passive state for the remainder of the game.
Individual units are played to either Ground or Space, as noted at the top of their card. When attacking, the unit can attack another unit in their area or their opponent’s base directly. They deal damage equal to their Power, in the red on the left, and have HP equal to the blue number on the right. They also have aspect icons in the upper left. These are mostly about deckbuilding, but essentially, the cards in your deck should have aspects that match those of your leader and base.
Any card can be played facedown as a Resource. These resources are used to play cards from the hand by exhausting resources equal to that card’s cost in the upper left. There are units that can attack and activate abilities, events that offer single-use effects, and upgrades that attach to units for extra bonuses.
Gameplay
Each round is broken up into the Action Phase and the Regroup Phase. In the action phase, players go back and forth taking a single action:
- Play a card
- Attack
- Action Ability
- Take Initiative
- Pass
Players take actions until they both choose to pass. A player who Takes Initiative will go first in the following round. But also means they will Pass for the remainder of the action phase. So their opponent might get a few extra actions until they also pass, which ends the phase.
The Regroup phase is clean-up stuff. Players draw 2 cards, opt to play one of the cards in hand as a resource and refresh their played cards. Then, the next round begins, and the cycle continues until one player’s base is reduced to 0 HP, giving the other player the win!
Get Started With Star Wars: Unlimited
The Starter Set is obviously a great place to start. It’s got everything you’ll need for a full game for 2 players; two decks, two playmats, tokens, and deck boxes.
If you’re looking to really deck out your deck, you can also pick up some official deck boxes. They come with space for a fully-sleeved deck and a separate space for your token box.
You may have noticed the cool hyperspace dual-player Game Mat XL. It’s got space for both players and has a great construction and feel. There’s also the single-player mat without any indicators for a more clean playspace.
Finally, hard acrylic tokens will hold up a lot better than the cardboard ones that come in the starter set. If you’re going to be playing a lot of games (and you will), you’ll want to pick up a pack of these as well. There are damage tokens, activation tokens, initiative tokens, stat boost tokens, and others.
There are a lot of resources out there to make sure your Star Wars: Unlimited setup can survive any wear and tear. I’m telling you, once you get in a few games and start building your own decks, you’ll want to play a lot. You’ll be glad you picked up these upgrades when you did.
