Board Game Break Time: Villainous

Board Game Break Time is a new feature we're bringing in, where we play board games and review them. 

Title: Villainous
Manufacturer: Ravensburger / Wonder Forge

Release Date: 2018

Game Type: Card Game

# of Players: 2-6  

Ages: 10+

Play Time: 50 Minutes

  

Average Rating: 7.1

Average Rating: 4.2

This game is so much fun. I was hesitant at first to play it, because it looks super complicated. And while it takes a bit to get used to it, it's actually pretty easy once you get going.

Of course we're all HUGE disney nerds in our family, so this was definitely the game for us.

There are several characters in the original game to pick from including Maleficent, Jafar, Ursula, Captain Hook, Queen of Hearts, and Prince John. There is also an expansion now that adds Hades, The Evil Queen, and Dr. Facilier. 

The cards and the artwork are stunning, the pawns are beautiful, the objectives are easy but difficult. 

I love how every person has their own objective and how you can screw others too. 

This game is definitely best with 3 players, anything more takes too long and anything less is too easy. 

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This is one of my favorite games. I have only played it a handful of times but I love it each time. What I love about the game is that every character had a different goal and different strategy. Now this does make it a bit more difficult to get the hang of the game each time you play, as you have to learn a new game strategy if you are playing a new character, but it also brings so much replayability into the game. 

The game play is as simple as this... each villain has a particular deed that they must accomplish to win the game. Some villains have a set of things to do... Their player guide tells them how to accomplish such deeds. Each villain comes with their won board, pawn, and cards. They move the pawn along the board each play to determine which actions they will perform that particular turn. There is also the part of play that each villain can do to attempt to stop the other villains from completing their mission. It's a thin balance between offense and defense. 

I love that there is a new expansion pack that has more characters to play with. I have so far played, The Evil Queen, The Queen of Hearts, Ursula, and Jarfar. I love the Evil Queen the best so far. But there are so many others to try. I will say I am not all that good at this game I have played 5 times I think... I have won once. So yea I am not that good. But that doesn't take away from how fun it is. I do wish there was a better player guide for each character. Some of the cards are hard to understand and can be interrupted wrong easily. The cards also need to match the  player guide. Sometimes the cards had less detail which led to misinterpretation. Other than that... such a fun game. Oh and the artwork is classic Disney... which makes it fun to look at. 

I have found that this game is best played with 3-4 people. Two people seems a little too easy and not as exciting... five people the game drags a bit. 

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What Michael Thought: 

Sometimes it’s fun to be a villain. This game takes some of the best villains from Disney films (Queen of Hearts, Maleficent, Jafar, Ursula, Captain Hook, etc) and gives you an option to play them. You get a choice and each villain comes with its own set of objectives and ways to win the game. This gives the game lots of varied gameplay making it fun to choose a different villain each time. I really like how you have your own board and own set of cards as you work to complete your objective. The game does have some take that type of play though. As you can choose to play a fate on one of your adversaries. Which you get the 2 cards of the fate deck which can be heroes to put on that players board to make it harder for them to win; or it could be a card that can stop you temporarily from achieving your goal by creating an obstacle.

We recently got the Wicked to the Core expansion which adds 3 new villains you can choose from Hades, Dr. Facilier, and the Evil Queen from Snow White. I have played Hades and Dr. Facilier and enjoyed both play styles. And I actually finally won as Dr. Facilier as the objective was to have the talisman and then get the Rule New Orleans card picked randomly out by a fellow player. I really like the artwork and the pawns they used in this game. It is easy to pick and play even for the people that aren’t board game savvy. You can teach this game to many people. And most people will like the fact they can pick their villain. I recommend this game as it is a fun and very well thought out game.

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