This is a game with a lot of excellent design elements, but hampered by a few, particularly late-game, play issues. I currently have the core Villainous game and the three expansions available at the point of writing this. I'll elaborate later, but in short, should you buy this? This game works BEST for intermediate to advanced level adult board gamers with an affection for Disney movies: classic to 90s. The age recommendation is 10 and over but unless you have a young player very engaged by problem solving and patient enough to withstand a lot of setbacks in the flow of the game, I would avoid it. What I will say is that it is an amazing implemantation of a Disney Villain theme into the mechanics of a board game, and it's just a beautiful looking game to have out. If you are a fan of these characters and not averse to some challenging gameplay, it's definitely worth a shot. Specifics: you play a villain! Here they are... Core game: Maleficent, Captain Hook, Prince John, Queen Of Hearts, Jafar, Ursula Evil to the Core: Evil Queen (Snow White), Dr. Facelier (Princess & Frog), Hades Evil Comes Prepared: Scar, Ratigan (Great Mouse Det.), Yzma (Emporer's New Grv.) Perfectly Wretched: Cruella De Vil, Mother Gothel (Tangled), Pete (Steamboat Willie et al) MY favorites: Hades, Scar and Pete. All other villians are still fun, though Ursula and to a lesser extent Jafar I think suffer from comparatively poor play design. Everything is combinable; each expansion can be played without the core or other expansions. Objective: You are a villain and are competing against a number of other villians to realize your evil dreams before they do. Every villain has their own goal, their own allies and resources, and their own set of heroes the other villains will be playing against them. Components: There are a set of black power tokens that act as the game's currency of sorts, and 2-3 other pieces used universally. The core set comes with a plastic cauldron to put the power tokens in, but just a pile will do just fine. These pieces are serviceable but, unlike the villains' components themselves, nothing special. All the villains' components are completely unique and very high-quality. Each has their own fold-out board and two decks. The board and decks feature GREAT art pulled from the source material, given some painterly touches for more vibrant color. Each villain has their own player token, stylized figurines and very nice indeed. In terms of components, this is among the nicest games I've seen, particularly for licensed Disney. Gameplay: You and your opponents take turns. You move to different locations on your board giving you 2-4 different options; these options are sometimes limited by the heroes your opponent can choose to play against you. The turns are normally quite quick, though at the late game you might get some overthinkers. Each villain has a vastly different goal, and the pace of play varies greatly depending on how each one goes about winning. The Good: The implementation of theme into the gameplay is superb. Prince John collecting his taxes, constantly hampered by outlaws, Hades pushing his titans toward Mount Olympus, Scar setting his hyenas and killing lions on his way to the throne, Maleficent cursing the land as the fairies and forces of good try to stop her, the Evil Queen poisoning all those pesky dwarves! If you can get into the spirit of being one of these characters and especially if know your movie well, there is a whole lot of fun to be had here. The amazing art and design specificity make the immersion easy. It cannot be stressed enough how good the cards and the boards look; the art and color pallete really make each villain you play feel special. The Bad: The complaint I hear most often, and it is a valid one, is that your plans are too easily foiled. Opponents, if they sense you are about to win, will play your heroes more actively against you. One opponent hitting you is bad, 2-3 can bury you, and this back and forth can extend the game overlong to the point of frustration. Many times you will be set to win next turn and have victory snatched away. The way to beat this is to get good at the game: understand your specific winning conditions, have a bit of a poker face to avoid gang-ups and set yourself up with contingency plans. You're a villain, remember? Conversely know your opponent's villian and what tools work against them; it's very different for each one. But not every player is going to like to do this, so again, know what you are getting into. If you want to make the jump, Queen of Hearts, Hook, Prince John, Ratigan and all the Perfectly Wretched villains are much easier to play in this regard. Start with them and be aware the others are more challenging. Final thoughts I really do like this game a lot. It's easy to learn, but surprisingly deep and hard to master. The core game is fun, but the expansion villains are uniformly better in design, which is expected with continued play I suppose. I wish it has some official solo variant, but you can always make one yourself. If you are a very casual gamer, or just looking for something quick to play with the kids, I would think twice (OR start with the Perfectly Wretched expansion and go from there-it's an easier set of villains and less $). If you are a serious fan of the films and the characters it's worth taking a chance on it. If you also happen to like midlevel board games and want a Disney addition to the collection this is a villainously perfect choice.
