While everyone loves heroes, the Disney Villains have become more popular with series of books about them and even movies that tell their side of the story. In fact, when you think about it, Disney Villains are some of the greatest villains of all times. Seven years ago a new game was released that let players take on the roles of these villains. In Disney Villainous, players could play as one of four fiendish and diabolical villains as they competed to be the most…villainous. An addition 20 villains were added in expansions. However, the game was suggested for players ages 10 and up since there was some reading and complexity to the game. However, now younger children can trade in their princess dress or princely sword and shield to take on the roll of four diabolical villains from Disney movies in the newly released Disney Villainous Unstoppable!
What Is Disney Villainous Unstoppable!?
Disney Villainous Unstoppable! is a card and board game for 2-4 players, ages 7 and up, and takes about 20-30 minutes to play. During the game, players take turns playing cards and moving plastic movers around the board as they take actions to work towards achieving their victory objectives. The game is currently available from your friendly local game store as well as online retailers such as Amazon for a suggested retail price of $24.99 for a copy of the game.
Disney Villainous Unstoppable! was designed by Brian Kirk, Daniel Greiner, and Mike Mulvihill and published by Ravensburger, with illustrations by Damon Brown, Jacob Mcalister, Julie Vu, and Wigwam Studios.
Disney Villainous Unstoppable! Components
Here is what you get in the box:
- 1 Main game board
- 4 Player boards
- 4 Movers
- 60 Villain cards
- 4 Reference cards
- 12 Hero tiles
- 13 Evil plan tokens
- 24 Action tokens
- 40 Power tokens
- 1 Fate die
- Instruction manual
The main game board is used by all of the players who place their player boards along one side of the game board. Players will advance their mover across the spaces on their player board and then around three sides of the game board before returning to their player board. The spaces on each of these boards contains symbols representing actions that villain may take when the mover lands on them.
Each villain has their own stylized mover that is used to advance along the track on the game and player boards.
Each player has 15 villain cards for their chosen villain. They can be played for movement or to perform an action. Villain cards not only have original art on them, but also symbols representing movement (top left), 1 or more actions (below the movement symbol), and a number showing the cost in power to perform an action.
When a villain plays a Fate action against an opponent, they may place a hero tile for that villain on a space on their player board. Hero tiles block spaces and prevent villains from moving to that space and performing the action there. The Fate die is used when a player performs a Fate action against another player and determines which hero will be used.
Evil plan tokens are used to keep track of each villains progress towards their victory objective. Most villains have four of these tokens. However, Hades has only one of these tokens.
There are two different types of tokens in the game. Action tokens are villain specific and placed by the player boards. When activated, they allow villains to perform two actions when landing on their spaces–the action on the token as well as the action on the board. Power tokens are the currency of the game and used to pay the cost for performing actions.
The four reference cards, one for each Villain. They contain a description of the villain, how that villain can win the game, and the steps for each turn on one side. On the opposite side, players can find descriptions of the various actions they can take as well as the icon for each action. These cards are very useful and contain the most important rules from the game so players do not need to refer to the instruction manual.
How to Play Disney Villainous Unstoppable!
The Goal
The goal of the game is to be the first to complete your villain’s objectives.
Setup
Start off by placing the game board in the center of the play area. Each player then choose a villain and takes their player board, villain mover, 15-card villain deck, and the three hero tiles matching that villain. Place the player boards along the edges of the game board so they fit into the indentations. Place the movers on the start space on their player boards and the hero tiles off to the side. Each player takes their Evil Plan tokens and place then to the side of the power board except for Ursula who places them on her player board with the sea creature side face up. Players then shuffle their action tokens face down and then place them in the six indentations along the sides of the power board, keeping them face down. Create a supply of power tokens in easy reach of all players and give each player 3 power tokens with which to begin the game. Finally, players shuffle their villain decks and place them in a draw pile to the side of their player board and draw four cards. After choosing a player to go first, you are ready to begin playing Disney Villainous Unstoppable!.
Gameplay
Gameplay in Disney Villainous Unstoppable! takes place in turns. Each turn consists of three steps: move, take actions, and draw cards. Let’s take a look at each step in order.
At the start of their turn, a player selects one of the cards from their hand and plays it for movement. They then move their mover around the board and their player board in a clockwise direction, moving the number of spaces shown on the card. The card used for movement is then placed in a discard pile next to the draw pile. When moving, if a space contains another player’s mover or a hero token, then skip and do not count that space. You cannot stop on an occupied space.
During the Take Actions step, a player may perform an action from the space where their mover has stopped by playing a card with a matching action icon and paying the price in power tokens. If the player does not have enough power tokens, they cannot take that action. If the villain lands on a space on their player board with an upgraded action token, they may take two actions as long as they have a separate card for each action and can pay for both actions. There are five different actions.
The first action is Gain Power. When using this action, the player collects a number of Power tokens from the supply equal to the number shown on the card played. The Upgrade your Realm action lets a player flip over an action token on their player board, thus providing a second action at that location. The Advance your Evil Plan action is one of the most important since you need to use it to win the game. Depending on which Villain you are playing, you use the Evil Plan tokens to advance toward victory. The Fate an Opponent action is used to hinder your fellow villains in their quest for victory. Once you have played and paid for this action, roll the Fate die and find that villains hero with the matching symbol and place it on one of the spaces on their player board, blocking it. If the result of the die roll is a Hero token already on the board, then leave it where it is and that player must discard two Power tokens to the supply. Finally, the Defeat a Hero action allows a villain to remove a Hero token from their player board and place it to the side of the board, opening up that space once again.
After a player has completed all of the actions they wish to take, they then draw cards from their draw pile until they have four in their hand. Their turn is now ended and the player to the left then begins their turn.
Game End
The game ends immediately when one villain has completed their victory objective.
Why You Should Play Disney Villainous Unstoppable!
I have been a huge fan of the Disney Villainous series since it was released and also enjoy the Star Wars and Marvel versions of the game as well. However, since each villain plays differently and most of the rules and actions for a villain is contained on the villain and fate cards, it is not very accessible to younger children who are developing their reading and comprehension skills. Therefore I am glad Ravensburger created a new version of the game that is more appropriate for families with younger children. The only reading outside of the instruction manual is on the reference card. The villain cards contain no text–just art and symbols. The game board and movement around the track provides a linear method of advancing and choosing the next action.
Until a player has upgraded their action tokens on their player board, they only can perform one action after moving, so gameplay stays quick so their is little down time when it is not your turn. In fact, while you are waiting for your turn, you can see which actions you have on your cards and which card you should use to move so you can land on actions you need to take. This is some of the strategy within the game, but still fairly light. I also like that not only are you working towards your victory objective, there is also a ‘take that’ element to the game as you play Fate actions against your opponents and place heroes on spaces with actions they need to win.
While the rules and gameplay have been simplified, the game still has the feel of Disney Villainous and helps prepare younger players to eventually play the original series. In addition, the game looks great and has a nice table presence. The movers are similar to those in the original series and the art on the cards is beautiful. In fact, not only does each villain have their own victory conditions and heroes, the art for each villain was done by different artists so each villain has their own style of art.
Since Disney Villainous was released about 7 years ago, I feel like I have been an ambassador for the series since I enjoy playing it and sharing it with others. Recently my daughter-in-law has become a fan. Now I can share Disney Villainous Unstoppable! with younger children and get them into the series. As a high school special education teacher, I am looking forward to playing Disney Villainous Unstoppable! with some of my students. The original series is a bit too complex for them. However, many are Disney fans and I think they will really enjoy playing this game. Even though the game is simplified, I still enjoyed playing it. In fact, the rules are quick to learn and easy to teach. Even though each villain has a different way to win, they really only need to perform the Advance the Evil Plan action four times. If you are a Disney fan and have younger children, then I highly recommend Disney Villainous Unstoppable!. It is a great game for families whether you have played the original Disney Villainous series or not and can be a gateway to Disney Villainous as well as Star Wars Villainous and Marvel Villainous series.
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Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes.
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