Recently I have been getting more into playing board games, one in particular I have got into recently is Villainous. Where you play as Disney villains each with their own goals, game mechanics and card decks. Having played many board games where everyone has the same objectives, this is a welcome change to make things more interesting.
Gameplay
Due to every character having very different goals, ranging from collecting just power tokens, to having to unlock locations and have the right cards in play, there is a character for every skill level in the game. However, you canโt just focus on your own goals, because that would allow everyone else free reign to meet theirs too without any opposition. So, you do end up having to be very clued up about their goals so you can put things in place to slow or stop them. For small games this isnโt too bad, but if you start playing with more people using the expansion packs, you have to remain on the ball at all times. Though personally I like this because it keeps me focussed on the game and stops it becoming monotonous.
Expansions: There are several expansion packs out there, these can be played without the base game as they contain everything you need to play, but they also seamlessly join to the base game too.
The box, and its contents are very well made with high quality materials, right down to the tokens you can see in the bowl below. Even though the character boards are folded, they don’t feel like they are joined weakly. The art work on the boards and cards is incredibly designed and printed. The villain movers have been very cleverly crafted to easily represent their characters without being a miniature figure of them directly.
Whilst can be played with as few as 2 players, my experience is the more players you have the more enjoyable a game can be as it allows more opportunities to use certain game mechanics.
Playing for the first time
When you play Villainous for the first time, the setup is very clear in the instructions and doesnโt take long to do. Though the rules do take some getting used to, as there are quite a few different things to get your head around such as the symbols and game mechanics. Thankfully for the symbols, there is a helpful quick guide given with each character. The standard mechanics are easy to get into, move your character, complete available actions, end your turn. It is the cards from your hand, or from the hero deck, that you have to read really carefully in order to understand exactly what they can do, but sadly there are some that can still be confusing on the first pass.
Winning the game
I have played as a majority of the base game characters, but seen all of them being played at some point. Some are very creative, such as the Queen of Hearts where you have to hit the ball through the croquet hoops. But each has a significance to their characters in their respective movies, so Prince John for example is greedy and just needs to collect power. Though, one thing that does seem off to me, is that too much of some of the winning mechanics is down to sheer luck. Like having to draw certain cards, whilst already having one in your hand and not being blocked by something. The most extreme case is Jafarโs character, who I am yet to know of someone to win with. This is down to how many steps and conditions are needed for you to win with his character.
My conclusion
The game is great fun and once you get the hang of the gameplay flow. It has been very well thought out by the creators and doesnโt feel like it drags on too long either. My only quarrel with it is that some of the characters have been designed to be nigh on impossible, in my opinion, to be won with and this does ruin it a little because I would want every character to be reasonably winnable.
Sam is a Web Developer who has always had a love for all things tech. He loves to see the latest technological advances arise and see what is coming next within the world of tech. AI is a particular area of interest, after studying it for his dissertation at university.
