They call it Star Wars Risk because Risk has more brand name appeal to the general masses than calling it Star Wars: Deathstar Attack or something like that.
+Ranerdar I bet it's called Risk because it's the only way the in-house designers could get Hasbro to reprint Queen's Gambit... they "tricked" them into reprinting it.
Really dumb marketing decision; until I watched this review I'd simply dismissed this as another retheme of risk! On the flip side, can you imagine if you bought this for a group of 3 expecting such a Risk retheme?
Ranerdar Partly, but mostly because they had the rights to release a game under the title Star Wars Risk. The specifics of gameplay was open but the title wasn't.
I was playing against my mother and she didn't attack any of my tie fighters and she still won she focused her efforts on taking down the shields and she was getting really good rolls then she just moved one ship near the death star and won with a 6 xD
I actually have come up with a fun rule to make the Luke vs Vader fight more critical to the game. Say, Vader killed Luke. Alright, so he decides to hop in a fighter and join the battle in space (which is where arguably the bulk of the game happens) now they would join the nearest friendly fleet to the Death Star. From then on the winner can use ether the lightsaber action to move two sectors or via the TIE Fighter action and would behave as a normal fighter would. All the same hit points would apply so widdling down their health during the duel would help and would receive damage on a 4+ and would roll four die if attacking independently of a fleet. The same would apply for Luke if he won or used the "Vader Redeemed" action. If the opponent kills Luke/Vader in the space battle they gain 3 bonus actions. What does everyone think? Kinda like how in "Queen's Gambit" where if Darth Maul kills Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan he can join the battle in the palace and makes the duel feel more important.
Looking this up I saw there was also a "black series" version of the game that was more expensive. Any idea what the differences are between this and the more expensive version?
+Daremachina Looking at the Hasbro website, it includes models for the death star, executor, millenium falcon, and stormtroopers instead of cardboard bits. www.hasbro.com/en-us/product/star-wars-the-black-series-risk-game:4C606C9F-5056-9047-F56C-294DB765F578
Jonathan Bates Thank you! That doesn't seem like enough to warrant the extra money or the extra wait until it comes out so I may jump on getting this version
Can anyone tell me if you gain a bonus card when you destroy a "sector" in hyperspace? 2. do you need to destroy all ship in hyperspace or only on the ones on the spaces?
Regarding the +1 tokens on the Battle of Endor... if you play two Imperial orders in a row, how do you place the +1 tokens? The first three will go on the first three spots in front of the Rebel team, do the next three you place go onto the same three spots, or do they go onto the three spots immediately following the ones you've already placed? I assume it's the latter, but wanted verification.
+soren123 this is correct you continue filling up the track to the shield generator till you run out of tokens or there are no avaliable spots to place tokens
The guy who was displaying it at the Anaheim convention stated that they go on the next set of spots. So if you have 3 already you put the next 3 in the next spots.
I played this game once, and it seems that the Rebel side can easily win if you focus all your efforts on taking down the shield generator. The space battles seemed almost irrelevant.
Picked it up today and upgraded the card board tokens with some old micro machines. Played 4 times and have no idea how the imperials are to win unless the rebels just roll horribly on endor. It doesnt seem like the empire can weed out ships fast enough to build a blockade or something around the deathstar. Most rebel players just spam endor then fly in with a massive group of xwings or ywing to the deathstar. Doesnt seem very balanced but hey its still a blast and is a dice chucker when it comes down to it. Games have been 30 mins long so I def am enjoying it.
Go for Luke if they go shield generator, or go for Their ships. Stack your ships and take advantage of your Star destroyer. My gf plays the empire and almost wipes my Troops out by either 1. Attacking with the Death Star or 2. Going straight for Luke. 4 bonus cards for her is she kills him
Interested in getting this, but a lot of mixed reviews on board game geek. Main problem seems to be that the game is a little inbalanced and more often than not the rebel player will win the game.
I imagined that. Anyway I see this as a skirmish game between Armada and Rebellion with expansion (that adds shield generator), failing to have an advantage between these two. To me the definitive games are Rebellion (with expansion) and Pandemic The Clone Ears for old trilogy and prequels respectively. Any other game is a space or ground skirmish game.
Clicking on this video, with the word Risk in it, I was surprised to see such a cool looking game. Risk Legacy notwithstanding. Tom appears to be right though, it isn't really Risk.
By calling it Risk they are driving away people who hate Risk, but would probably enjoy this game. Though they are probably a minority and watch reviews like this. So a win-win for Hasbro. But still dumb. Or.. wonder if some Risk fan gets this and founds out that this is not even remotely resembles Risk, wouldn't he feel cheated?
i disagree about the order of the different battles...the empire ships started to loose the battle because the emperor died...so the begining of the end was the end of Palpatine aka the battle between luke and darth vader.
Tom I love this review but I think you’re being too nitpicking about it having nothing to do with Risk. Technically it is a different game but having returned to playing Risk recently I do see feel the similarities. The small colored plastic playing pieces, controlling sectors, battling opponents in an adjacent sector, that’s Risk. So granted the name might be deceiving but I see some connection.
I'm a bit disappointed Mr. Vassal didn't knock the components/artwork more. It seems to me like he really soft balled this review. Those tie fighters and x-wings are just all over the board. Why don't they have bases like the Y and B wings? Millennium falcon/Executor cardboard tokens.. really? The rest of the tokens looks like it was done by a complete photoshop novice. Not even a storm trooper helmet for the +1 endor battle tokens? And finally, the Advanced Tie fighter board looks to me like a really bad gimmick and more so horribly wasted potential for great artwork. Overall it looks like Hasbro just scraped a game together using the cheapest left over components and art designer they could find.
Try playing Rebellion with expansion. Expansion has shield generator. It takes a full afternoon. You will see what a definitive Star Wars game is. $100 for base box may seem expensive but it has 153 miniatures. My first battle was in Naboo and I lost 2 Star Destroyers against Ackbar and rebels only lost an X wing squad. I also unleashed an AT-AT at a lone snowspeeder and guess what. I forgot the rear harpoon... I did not destroy any planet but I wiped out rebel ground troops with a single reactor ignition. I also used Boba Fett to capture Luke at Dagobah but Han rescued it. I also captured and turned Mon Mothma to the dark side.
I ignored this " Risk" game for years. But I found a new copy in a thrift store for $3 and I was like "What the hell". Turns out I may have found a good one after all.
Decent review but definitely NOT an excellent game. Not being RISK might be good in your opinion but false advertizing from Hasbro is never a good thing: the game has a board (low-grade materials), and dice, and cards... might as well call it Monopoly! RISK games should contain risk (to attack or not, to cash-in now or later, etc), but this game is more like Economics 101: each card offers 1 action, you can "buy beer or Pizza but not both" (that's how I learned Economics). Why does Kylo Ren have a HUGE spot on the cover? So you have to pay more in royalties or so you get tricked into curiosity like I did, maybe. The strategy is childish and thus it should be labled ages 15 and under!!! I've never lost playing as the Empire, I just use all my turns on attacking the Rebel fleet; usually I can destroy the good guys with over half my tie fighters still in the bag. We will absolutely be contacting Hasbro to demand a full refund! Thanks TheDiceTower for pointing out the Avalon Hill game for grown-ups!
Definitely not an even balanced game unfortunately! The empire can only win like 1 in a 100 times! Looks cool and feels fun while you are playing but will be let down with this game. Ages 5 to 10!!!!
"The theme is strong in this one"
I see what you did there :D
+Wojciech Król Yeah, I noticed that too and was about to comment lol
They call it Star Wars Risk because Risk has more brand name appeal to the general masses than calling it Star Wars: Deathstar Attack or something like that.
+Ranerdar I bet it's called Risk because it's the only way the in-house designers could get Hasbro to reprint Queen's Gambit... they "tricked" them into reprinting it.
Hey, whatever worked. :)
+Ranerdar There is a Star Wars Risk game...Got it...I don't like risk, but I was really surprised in the good way by this one.
Really dumb marketing decision; until I watched this review I'd simply dismissed this as another retheme of risk! On the flip side, can you imagine if you bought this for a group of 3 expecting such a Risk retheme?
Ranerdar Partly, but mostly because they had the rights to release a game under the title Star Wars Risk. The specifics of gameplay was open but the title wasn't.
I was playing against my mother and she didn't attack any of my tie fighters and she still won she focused her efforts on taking down the shields and she was getting really good rolls then she just moved one ship near the death star and won with a 6 xD
The Executor is pronounced like Executive. As in the Executor of a will.
+Nicholas Palmer Thanks for clarifying this. I was worried I was pronouncing it wrong when I heard Tom and Sam pronounce it the other way. :)
I'm very interested in this, but I think I'll hold out for the Black Series edition.
Anything about the Risk: Game of Thrones edition?
Got it for five bucks at a yard sale the other day. Me and my lady really enjoyed it.
This is a great game, that unfortunately most people will write off as "mass market" garbage without even giving it a chance.
I actually have come up with a fun rule to make the Luke vs Vader fight more critical to the game. Say, Vader killed Luke. Alright, so he decides to hop in a fighter and join the battle in space (which is where arguably the bulk of the game happens) now they would join the nearest friendly fleet to the Death Star. From then on the winner can use ether the lightsaber action to move two sectors or via the TIE Fighter action and would behave as a normal fighter would. All the same hit points would apply so widdling down their health during the duel would help and would receive damage on a 4+ and would roll four die if attacking independently of a fleet. The same would apply for Luke if he won or used the "Vader Redeemed" action. If the opponent kills Luke/Vader in the space battle they gain 3 bonus actions.
What does everyone think? Kinda like how in "Queen's Gambit" where if Darth Maul kills Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan he can join the battle in the palace and makes the duel feel more important.
Tom, how would you compare it with Risk:Star Wars Original Trilogy Edition?
+GrandAdmThrawn Can't compare both. But the one you're talking about is nice though, I took pleasure playing it. Best with 3 or 5 players...
+VinceYT2408 I'm thinking of buying it (I've never played Risk before) till it's still available.
Looking this up I saw there was also a "black series" version of the game that was more expensive. Any idea what the differences are between this and the more expensive version?
+Daremachina Looking at the Hasbro website, it includes models for the death star, executor, millenium falcon, and stormtroopers instead of cardboard bits. www.hasbro.com/en-us/product/star-wars-the-black-series-risk-game:4C606C9F-5056-9047-F56C-294DB765F578
+Jonathan Bates They should have included minis for Luke & Vader, just to track their health. It'd be neato.
Jonathan Bates Thank you! That doesn't seem like enough to warrant the extra money or the extra wait until it comes out so I may jump on getting this version
+Daremachina Also has Minellium falcon and death star modesl too, and a few others i think.
Any appreciable difference between editions of the game or are they just cosmetic?
Can anyone tell me if you gain a bonus card when you destroy a "sector" in hyperspace?
2. do you need to destroy all ship in hyperspace or only on the ones on the spaces?
Regarding the +1 tokens on the Battle of Endor... if you play two Imperial orders in a row, how do you place the +1 tokens? The first three will go on the first three spots in front of the Rebel team, do the next three you place go onto the same three spots, or do they go onto the three spots immediately following the ones you've already placed? I assume it's the latter, but wanted verification.
+soren123 I have no idea. I just place mine in the next three spots.
+The Dice Tower I'm assuming that's correct, since it could make the 4's and 5's impossible to pass.
+soren123 this is correct you continue filling up the track to the shield generator till you run out of tokens or there are no avaliable spots to place tokens
The guy who was displaying it at the Anaheim convention stated that they go on the next set of spots. So if you have 3 already you put the next 3 in the next spots.
Tom, I noticed you didn't say "Into my collection!" Is that because you already have (the assumingly superior) Queen's Gambit?
Master Yoda, after seeing the game : "The Theme is strong with this one..."
OMG!!!! Thank you sooooooooooooo much for reviewing this!!!! I was thinking about buying it!
"The theme is strong in this one..." :)
Any chance of a live play with Jason? Jason needs the chance to redeem his honor from the queens gambit😆
I played this game once, and it seems that the Rebel side can easily win if you focus all your efforts on taking down the shield generator. The space battles seemed almost irrelevant.
I was just thinking of splurging for my brother's birthday and get him Queen's Gambit, now I'll just get him this!
HA ! Battle of Endor retheme ! I called it ! Way back in the miami dice on QB (I remember Sam enjoying my "rubber ducky spaceship" remark)
+Andromedax01 I actually remember some people musing in the comments about this. :)
Yeah, I can safely assume other people thought about it.
Still... Feeling smart feels good :p
Wasn't the "Executor" Star Destroyer actually called the Executioner in Return of the Jedi???
+gurtana It was never called by it's name in the movie afaik. But yes, it was the SSD Executor.
+azraelswrd Also it isn't pronounced how Tom says it. It is eg-ZEK-u-ter. Not EX-a-cute-er
Hey, everyone. I want to buy a game as summer's coming around and I don't know which one is better. Star Wars risk or Pandemic.
Picked it up today and upgraded the card board tokens with some old micro machines. Played 4 times and have no idea how the imperials are to win unless the rebels just roll horribly on endor. It doesnt seem like the empire can weed out ships fast enough to build a blockade or something around the deathstar. Most rebel players just spam endor then fly in with a massive group of xwings or ywing to the deathstar. Doesnt seem very balanced but hey its still a blast and is a dice chucker when it comes down to it. Games have been 30 mins long so I def am enjoying it.
Go for Luke if they go shield generator, or go for Their ships. Stack your ships and take advantage of your Star destroyer. My gf plays the empire and almost wipes my Troops out by either 1. Attacking with the Death Star or 2. Going straight for Luke. 4 bonus cards for her is she kills him
Good idea! I actually have an old set!
"..the THEME is strong in this one.."
super excited to play this one!
It seems Not too Bad, Compared to tge Other Star wars Board games that Came out Recently.
Interested in getting this, but a lot of mixed reviews on board game geek. Main problem seems to be that the game is a little inbalanced and more often than not the rebel player will win the game.
I imagined that. Anyway I see this as a skirmish game between Armada and Rebellion with expansion (that adds shield generator), failing to have an advantage between these two.
To me the definitive games are Rebellion (with expansion) and Pandemic The Clone Ears for old trilogy and prequels respectively. Any other game is a space or ground skirmish game.
Seems fun regretfully the production values seem a bit less.
+Ronald Delval Check out the Black edition of this.
The theme is strong with this one
"The theme is strong in this one."
how many players is it?
+jonldavis 2 players, but there's also a 4-player team variant
Nice hat Tom!
Do a star wars risk clone wars edition and originol triligy edition revew
RISK is not a swearword :) I wouldn't play RISK but some variants are fun every now and then.
Given the apparent dominance of the space battle, I suggest renaming this "Star Wars: It's a Trap!"
"The theme is strong in this one": should have been said in a Yoda voice.
Clicking on this video, with the word Risk in it, I was surprised to see such a cool looking game. Risk Legacy notwithstanding. Tom appears to be right though, it isn't really Risk.
Finally got to play this game tonight.... So good!
By calling it Risk they are driving away people who hate Risk, but would probably enjoy this game. Though they are probably a minority and watch reviews like this. So a win-win for Hasbro. But still dumb.
Or.. wonder if some Risk fan gets this and founds out that this is not even remotely resembles Risk, wouldn't he feel cheated?
+wr00t would love to know that too, and see his expression after he finish the game :)
+wr00t I think most risk fans just haven't discovered "proper" games yet so this should help right?
Girlfriend just found this on sale for 10 bucks for me. Awesome!
i disagree about the order of the different battles...the empire ships started to loose the battle because the emperor died...so the begining of the end was the end of Palpatine aka the battle between luke and darth vader.
Tom I love this review but I think you’re being too nitpicking about it having nothing to do with Risk. Technically it is a different game but having returned to playing Risk recently I do see feel the similarities. The small colored plastic playing pieces, controlling sectors, battling opponents in an adjacent sector, that’s Risk. So granted the name might be deceiving but I see some connection.
LOVE the review... Thank you - I was wondering about this one and you pushed me over to the Add to Shopping Cart button...
That said... *Exec-U-Tor :D
Come on Tom... you're a grown man. It's pronounced: ig-ˈze-k(y)ə-tər .
Looks nifty -- finally a SW theme game I could support after a week of meh. :D
Try Rebellion with expansion. You may think $100 is expensive for the base box but it has 153 miniatures.
I'm a bit disappointed Mr. Vassal didn't knock the components/artwork more. It seems to me like he really soft balled this review.
Those tie fighters and x-wings are just all over the board. Why don't they have bases like the Y and B wings?
Millennium falcon/Executor cardboard tokens.. really?
The rest of the tokens looks like it was done by a complete photoshop novice. Not even a storm trooper helmet for the +1 endor battle tokens?
And finally, the Advanced Tie fighter board looks to me like a really bad gimmick and more so horribly wasted potential for great artwork.
Overall it looks like Hasbro just scraped a game together using the cheapest left over components and art designer they could find.
um you need clips from the movie tom and sounds of starfighter lazers pewpew pew
"The theme is strong with this one." HAH
the board looks like a tie intercepter not a tie fighter.
+Andrea Pereira It's shaped like Vader's TIE Advanced X1.
thank you for letting me know
We’ve played 5 games tonight, back to back, and the Empire won 0 times. I’m convinced it can’t be done.
Try playing Rebellion with expansion. Expansion has shield generator. It takes a full afternoon. You will see what a definitive Star Wars game is.
$100 for base box may seem expensive but it has 153 miniatures.
My first battle was in Naboo and I lost 2 Star Destroyers against Ackbar and rebels only lost an X wing squad.
I also unleashed an AT-AT at a lone snowspeeder and guess what. I forgot the rear harpoon...
I did not destroy any planet but I wiped out rebel ground troops with a single reactor ignition.
I also used Boba Fett to capture Luke at Dagobah but Han rescued it.
I also captured and turned Mon Mothma to the dark side.
3rd star wars risk
NINETY THIRD!
I ignored this " Risk" game for years. But I found a new copy in a thrift store for $3 and I was like "What the hell". Turns out I may have found a good one after all.
All that plastic, and they make the Falcon a token. Weak.
Decent review but definitely NOT an excellent game. Not being RISK might be good in your opinion but false advertizing from Hasbro is never a good thing: the game has a board (low-grade materials), and dice, and cards... might as well call it Monopoly! RISK games should contain risk (to attack or not, to cash-in now or later, etc), but this game is more like Economics 101: each card offers 1 action, you can "buy beer or Pizza but not both" (that's how I learned Economics). Why does Kylo Ren have a HUGE spot on the cover? So you have to pay more in royalties or so you get tricked into curiosity like I did, maybe. The strategy is childish and thus it should be labled ages 15 and under!!! I've never lost playing as the Empire, I just use all my turns on attacking the Rebel fleet; usually I can destroy the good guys with over half my tie fighters still in the bag. We will absolutely be contacting Hasbro to demand a full refund! Thanks TheDiceTower for pointing out the Avalon Hill game for grown-ups!
Definitely not an even balanced game unfortunately! The empire can only win like 1 in a 100 times! Looks cool and feels fun while you are playing but will be let down with this game. Ages 5 to 10!!!!