Star Wars Unlimited: Spark Of Rebellion Trading Card Game Review
Summary: Fight epic battles in the Star Wars universe via trading cards.
4.5
Card Combat
I’m going to be very up front here… I’ve not played a trading card game before. Well not outside of a few games in digital format (I do quite like a game of Gwent) With that in mind Star Wars Unlimited: Spark Of Rebellion is a great starting point as it contains two fully built decks, rules and tokens to get you started.
I will say it can be a bit overwhelming when first getting started. Digital card games do a lot of the heavy lifting for you by prompting you and either allowing or disallowing actions, for Spark of Rebellion you may well have the rules beside you for your first few games… but after a while you should get the hang of it.
This particular starter pack also contains playmats/posters… these have a layout on one side for where to place your cards and a quick reference for the rules (thank you!) whilst the other side features a rather impressive image of either Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader. Obviously once you have a good grip on the game you could do away with using them as playmats and use them as posters in your gaming room.
The core of the game revolves around you trying to destroy your opponents base, to do this you have a leader card, ground units and space units, events and upgrades. Building your deck with the right combination of cards that will allow you to get started and build your force until you can defeat your opponent whilst also defending your own base is the tricky part. Further to the different types of cards, they also have aspects, these determine whether they are suited to your deck or not. There’s flexibility here in that you would probably be wise to choose cards for your deck that have complimentary aspects… but if you happen to have cards that have different aspects to your leader and base card, you can still use them, but you will suffer an aspect penalty.
Once both players have their decks sorted, they essentially take turns going through an action phase and a regroup phase… one essentially being the combat and the other the preparation. Attacks can either be against enemy units or the base directly. Things can get quite detailed here as there are abilities and upgrades that can also come into play and make a big difference to how successful you are.
Aside from the actual game mechanics… it would be wrong not to mention the artwork here. Rather than use still frames from the franchise (which might have proved a little limiting artistically anyway), each card has a fantastic piece of art depicting the character, vehicle etc. Opening a deck is as much about seeing the impressive images as it is learning what new units you have to add to your deck.
Final Thoughts?
If you are new to trading card games (especially if you are a Star Wars fan), Star Wars Unlimited: Spark Of Rebellion is a great option to get you started. Having two full decks ready to go means you can grab a friend and get to know the game together without having to accumulate booster packs to get started. On the topic of booster packs… apparently each comes with a leader and base as standard so each pack is bound to get you started pretty well if you want to expand your options. It can be a little confusing to get started but with the quickstart guide (also available online) after a few games you should be comfortable picking up and playing any time you have an urge to fight against/for the empire. Definitely worth grabbing.
About the Author
Chris O'Connor Father of four, husband of one and all round oddity. Gaming at home since about 1982 with a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Moving on to the more traditional PC genre in the years that followed with the classic Jump Joe and Alley Cat. CGA, EGA, VGA and beyond PC's have been central to my gaming but I've also enjoyed consoles and hand helds along the way (who remembers the Atari Lynx?). Would have been actor/film maker, jack of many trades master of none.
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