We’re going back for a bit of a review. One the people that I’ve played Star Wars Unlimited had some cards from this game. The Star Wars Trading Card Game around 2002 came out with Clone Wars, all sorts of prequel stuff, but it didn’t last long. Is that because it was a bad game, or just came out a bad time for games like that? I think it’s more of the latter than the former. Is it as good as Star Wars Unlimited, well you’ll have to see my thoughts on the Star Wars Trading Card Game.

How To Play the Star Wars Trading Card Game

This game is pretty simple in how it plays, which is a good thing. The game basically works in two main phases. First, player build units and other cards that might need a build cost. Then you battle in various theaters of battle. The goal is to be the person who controls two of them at the end of a round. If you control two of space, ground, and characters, you win the game.

The game starts with players spending build points and drawing cards to build their initial starting position. Then you take turns attacking the other players. To do this, you roll dice and generally on a 4 through 6 you hit. If you deal enough damage through attacks or multiple attacks, you destroy enemy units. Then a die is rolled to determine you build points, and you go again until someone has control of two of the three areas.

But there are a few things you can do to manipulate the battles. You might have powers on your units, but there are also what amounts to action cards that you can play. They cost force. You start with three force and gain four per round. You spend that force and it prevents damage, or boosts attack, things like that to try and give yourself an advantage in one of the theaters.

The One Thing That Bugs Me

So, this isn’t the only thing that I don’t like as well about the game as I do with Star Wars Unlimited, but there is one main thing that bugs me. I dislike how you get your build points. At the start of the game, with how we played it, you get 30 build points. That’s awesome, you build up some cool defenses and battle it out. But after that it is a die roll.

Thankfully, it is a shared die roll. But you might roll a 6, great, you can play and boost an area where you are weak. Now it’s an interesting decision. Or you might play out a big heavy hitter face down and start building them over rounds. Or you might roll a 1. And nothing is able to be built so if you are losing in an area it comes down to luck of the dice.

The die roll for build points is a bit odd to me. I’d maybe limit the range it can be in, have a special die that is 3 through 8 on it. Then you probably can at least get a chunk of something done. If you don’t plan right, you might be stuck with a 6 cost ground troop that you need to get in, but if low numbers are rolled, you can’t. And I dislike that about the game.

The Three Theaters of War

That said, I like the three theaters of war element to the game. It feels different and unique in that you aren’t whittling down someone’s health or base hit points. It is a battle for control on three different lanes. There are games that I play that do this. Hanamikoji or Land, Air and Sea are good examples of this. Star Wars Trading Card Game just adds in more to it.

It also gives you good choices. Can you build up enough in two areas where it doesn’t matter about one. And often times I ignore one of the areas. It isn’t worth spending many build points, especially that first round on it. Or you might just have a hand that leans away from that. I like that about the game how it can push you into various plans and strategies.

Plus, as you build in future rounds, if you can (see above), you don’t always need to deploy. I might prep two ships to go into battle, but I won’t play one until the other one is ready. So it might be a bluff of what I have coming. I like that element of the game a lot.

Star Wars Trading Card Game vs Star Wars Unlimited

I think both are fun. I clearly have said, I like Star Wars Unlimited better. Some of it, it just works smoother. And I think the decision space of which cards to turn into resources versus which ones to keep in hand is a better decision. It also does away with being build point screwed. You always can add more each round.

That said, I did buy the starter box and decks for the Star Wars Trading Card Game, and I might see if I can find more cards eventually on eBay. Why, because it’s different and it’s a fun game. There is a bit of nostalgia playing a game like this, even though I didn’t play it before. It is rough around the edges, but it’s still Star Wars fun.

That is the case for me. I don’t think people should be hunting this down, even though you can find some on eBay pretty cheaply. It’s better to hunt down some Star Wars Unlimited Cards and get into that. There are more people already, with a game that’s about a month old, to play with, than people who play an old dead TCG.

Final Thoughts

Like I think I’ve said, this is a fun game. Hopefully my big negative rant didn’t make you think this is a bad game. It just has that one frustrating element that now TCG’s like Lorcana, One Piece, and Star Wars Unlimited have done away with.

And the game is fast. I think once it went four rounds and another time two rounds. It plays in ten to thirty minutes. I like that for a good head to head game. I plan to keep a few cards and maybe a simple deck or two in my collection to play once in a while. Get a friend over on May the 4th who loves Star Wars and lean into that theme. It won’t be a game I pull out all that often, but it will get played.

I’m going to only give my grade on this. I thought about what I’d say for casual and gamers. Gamers might hunt this down, but it is simple and the randomness of that one die is likely to turn people off. And for more casual gamers, they won’t hunt it down or stumble across it. But what do I think for me?

My Grade: B-

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