We presented it a few weeks ago. Now, finally, our Disney Villainous Review, the game that rewards the baddest of all. Ready to conquer the table?
It intrigued us since its presentation and this weekend we finally managed to play it thanks to the types of the Goblin Cafè, one of the most pleasant and welcoming places in Pisa. And we are ready to tell you about it in this new Review dedicated to Dinsey Villainous, the fairy tale villain game created by Wonderforge and distributed in Spain by Ravensburger.
The Structure of the Game | Disney Villainous Review
The objectives
As you may have guessed from the title, Villainous is a game based on Disney cartoons. The protagonists, as well as the roles assumed by the players, are six villains of the most beloved cartoons: Ursula, Maleficent, Captain Hook, the Queen of Hearts, Prince John and Jafar. The aim of the game, for every villain, is to achieve their "Happy End", which is to achieve their goal. These are the goals for each villain:
- Ursula: Begin the turn with the Trident and the Crown of King Triton, both in his lair.
- Malefica: start the turn with a Curse in each Place of his Kingdom.
- Captain Hook: Find Peter Pan and defeat him on the Jolly Roger.
- The Queen of Hearts: having placed at least one Playing Card in each Location of his Realm and attempting a cricket shot to win.
- Prince John: start the round with at least 20 power tokens.
- Jafar: take control of the Genie of the Lamp and bring the lamp into the Sultan's Palace.
Each villain has his own Realm, represented by a board with five Places from his story. This is his playground and he will only be able to move within it. In addition, he has two decks of cards, specific to his character: the Villain cards, which represent his resources, and the Destiny cards, or the threats he will have to face.
Game Actions
Each turn, each player moves his villain token to any Location in his Realm (as long as it is not blocked), and activates a number of Actions of his choice within it.
The actions available for each Place are:
- Gaining Power: power represents the ability to perform other actions. Each card, in fact, has a Power cost to pay when it is played.
- Play a card: if you have enough power to do it, you can play a card from your hand, and place it under a Location of your choice. They can be Allies, Effect Cards, Curses, and so on.
- Activation: some cards have gods special powers, which can be activated with this action.
Destination: the more interactive side of the game. By activating the fate skill, you can interfere on an opponent's Realm of your choice, by drawing two Destiny cards from his deck and choosing one to place on his Location. Destiny cards contain Heroes, items or actions that make life difficult for opponents.
Move an object or ally: It allows modify the structure of its resources, for example to defeat a Hero in a given place or to get closer to your goal.
Move a Hero: it allows to move a Hero in their Realm from one Location to an adjacent one.
clash: is the action that allows get rid of Heroes in your Realm, making them clash with your Allies. Both cards (Allies and Heroes) have a Strength score. To win, the combined strength of your Allies must be greater than that of the Hero. At the end of the encounter, both the Hero and all the Allies who participated in the action are discarded.
Discard cards: you can choose to discard any number of cards from your hand to be able to draw more at the end of the turn. In fact, at the end of each round, you must always have five cards in your hand.
After choosing the Actions to be performed and resolving the effects, the turn ends and the used cards are fished out until you have five cards in your hand again. The game goes on until one of the bad guys fails to Get his Goal.
The Expansions | Disney Villainous Review
For this Disney Villainous review we tested only the basic version, the only one currently presented in Spain. But they are already available in English Evil Comes Prepared, e Wicked to the Core, which introduce new Kingdoms and new Villains to the game. Grimilde, Hades, Dr Faciliter, Yzma, Scar and Ratigan arrive accompanied by new Achievements to make Disney Villainous an even more captivating game. Both expansions can be played either alone or side by side with the base game, thus enlarging the table and increasing the number of players.
Our Impressions | Disney Villainous Review
Fun and stimulating, Disney Villainous turns out to be an excellent companion for evenings at the table. With streamlined and intuitive mechanics, excellent versatility of actions and interesting peculiarities given by each villain, it gives hours of play that are always tasty. We have enjoyed trying different villains in turns, working out different strategies and hindering each other in ever new ways.
The most captivating part of the game is undoubtedly the one given by the Destiny Cards. The ability to interfere with your opponents' plans increases tactical difficulty and stimulates reasoning, forcing each player to pay attention to both their own moves and the potential moves of their opponents. The competition is high and pushes you to play using that bit of ruthless tactics we love so much.
The fact that it is based on the villains of the Disney stories also makes the title attractive even to those who know little about the world of board games but love that of Disney cartoons. Thematic cards, movie-inspired Kingdoms, and even direct quotes in card names and actions convey the very idea of interacting with the world of Disney.
The only negative note that we report, is the possibility that the game lasts a very long time when played with 5 or 6 players. The continuous interference given by the Destiny Cards, in fact, slows down the achievement of the Objectives and it is easy for the game to drag on even for several hours before someone manages to achieve victory.
In summary, Disney Villainous is an age-appropriate, fun and competitive game. Simple in mechanics but tasty in construction and gameplay.
Technical details
- Type: Game for Families
- Author: Disney
- Publisher: Wonderforge
- Distributed in Spain by: Ravensburger
- Duration: 50 minutes
- Players: by 2 to 6
- Age: 10+
- Price in Spain: € 49,90
- Discover the Mal in you! Drawing the kind heroes, Villainous is an addicting and unwelcome strategy game for the whole family!
Points in favor
- Fun and challenging
- Simple and intuitive mechanics
- Entirely based on Disney Cartoons
- Good interaction and high competitiveness
Points against
- In 5/6 players it tends to last a long time