Star Wars: Rebellion Board Game Will Put You In The Epic Galactic Civil War

Over the last few years I've become obsessed with tabletop gaming, and I've been trying to slowly bring tabletop coverage to /Film when it seemed appropriate: be it my feature on which board game movies Hollywood should make next, to Jacob Hall's Cardboard Cinema features (his first two-part article was on the board games Star Wars fans would love).

Today, Fantasy Flight Games announced a new Star Wars board game called Star Wars: Rebellion which seems very cool. Lets take a look at the Star Wars Rebellion board game, after the jump.

Star Wars: Rebellion is a board game of "epic conflict between the Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance for two to four players!" Here is what Fantasy Flight Games has revealed about the game:

The game is set during the Rebellion era (aka the original trilogy) and lets players experience the Galactic Civil War.

Players control the entire Galactic Empire or the fledgling Rebel Alliance, commanding starships, moving troops, and rallying star systems to your cause.

Star Wars: Rebellion features 170 detailed plastic miniatures, including Stormtroopers, Rebel troopers, X-wings, Y-wings, TIEs, AT-ATs, Star Destroyers, a Death Star and even a second partially constructed Death Star.

All of these forces have their combat statistics, attack dice and hit points, listed clearly on your faction sheet. If both players have starships in a system, they engage in a space battle before opposing troops engage in a subsequent ground battle. Any leaders in the system may allow players to draw tactics cards, which can be used to deal more damage, block damage, or surprise opponents in other ways.

The game is played over two game boards that you place next to each other to form one play surface with thirty-two of the Star Wars galaxy's most notable systems divided into eight regions.

Players battle over these systems with capital ships, starfighters, troops, speeders, and walkers in an "attempt to win their people to your cause, and if you do, they will share their resources, allowing you to recruit more troops and build more vehicles and starships."

The game also comes with 10 custom dice, over 170 cards, a Learn to Play Booklet and a Rules Reference guide.

Player forces are led by 25 iconic heroes or villains whose individual talents drive everything you do. The leaders will conduct secret missions that will "evoke many of the most inspiring moments from the classic trilogy."

For example, you might "offer Boba Fett a bounty to capture Han Solo, or you might task Wedge Antilles to lead the Rogue Squadron in an attack against an Imperial build yard" or you may "send  Luke Skywalker to receive Jedi training on Dagobah or have Darth Vader spring a trap that freezes Han Solo in carbonite!"

Both the Imperial and Rebel players begin the game with four leaders available to them:

The Galactic Empire starts with Emperor Palpatine, General Tagge, Grand Moff Tarkin, and Darth Vader.

The Rebel Alliance starts with Mon Mothma, Jan Dodonna, General Rieekan, and Princess Leia.

You'll also be able to recruit more leaders over the course of your game, including such notable characters as Luke Skywalker, Lando Calrissian, General Veers, and Soontir Fel.

The game will feature massive fleet battles, desperate attempts at espionage (Imperial officers may capture Rebel spies and interrogate them for valuable information), Jedi training, political maneuverings (planets will join the Rebellion before they're overrun by the Empire and subjugated), the possibility to lure important Rebel heroes to the dark side of the Force, and a hotshot Rebel pilot may land a one-in-a-million shot against the Death Star and destroy it.

Star Wars: Rebellion is an asymmetrical game, which means that the Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance come with different play styles and win conditions to thematically represent the different forces.

The Galactic Empire:  As the Imperial player, you can command legions of Stormtroopers, swarms of TIEs, Star Destroyers, and even the Death Star. You rule the galaxy by fear, relying on the power of your massive military to enforce your will. To win the game, you need to snuff out the budding Rebel Alliance by finding its base and obliterating it. Along the way, you can subjugate worlds or even destroy them. You'll even have the opportunity to eliminate entire worlds with your Death Star. But if you do, the Alliance may later be able to inspire sympathy among those who fear befalling a similar fate.

The Rebel Alliance: As the Rebel player, you can command dozens of troopers, T-47 airspeeders, Corellian corvettes, and fighter squadrons. However, these forces are no match for the Imperial military. In terms of raw strength, you'll find yourself clearly overmatched from the very outset, so you'll need to rally the planets to join your cause and execute targeted military strikes to sabotage Imperial build yards and steal valuable intelligence. To win the Galactic Civil War, you'll need to sway the galaxy's citizens to your cause. If you survive long enough and strengthen your reputation, you inspire the galaxy to a full-scale revolt, and you win. You might send your leaders to Establish Trade Relations or Incite Rebellion , but as the Imperial player you're more likely to keep the local systems in line with a Display of Power . Of course, you might simply tighten your security in order to capture Rebel leaders and then use them to lay your own traps, such as deploying a Homing Beacon .

How cool do all those minis look? And the game comes with 170 miniatures, which is pretty insane for a mass market game.

I love how much the theme of the classic Star Wars trilogy seems to come through in this game. The only downside of an asymmetrical game like this is that its essentially a one-on-one two person game. Fantasy Flight Games says the game supports 2 – 4 players, but I'm assuming this is accomplished with teams of some sort like many of the other two player games out there.

It could be interesting if a expansion were released allowing a third faction, Scum and Villainy perhaps, to get in the mix. It would be interesting to have a third set of character on the board, bounty hunters and what not, who could assist both sides in trying to accomplish their own objectives to serve their own interests. Again, this is just me speculating on the possibility of an expansion, but Fantasy Flight Games often plans for these kind of things.

Star Wars: Rebellion will be released in stores sometime in the first quarter of 2016 with an msrp of $99.99.