Review: Star Wars Unlimited: Twilight of the Republic Two-Player Starter – Begun, The Clone Wars Have

With Star Wars Unlimited’s first set, Spark of Rebellion, having launched in March, and second set, Shadows of the Galaxy, arriving in July, the third set Twilight of the Republic closes out a remarkable launch year for the latest (and definitely not the first) Star Wars trading card game. A new Two-Player Starter set is also available as part of the new set’s range; but is it worth picking up? Let’s find out!

What’s Included in the Twilight of the Republic Two-Player Starter Set?

Publishers Fantasy Flight have so far shown an admirable restraint with their Star Wars Unlimited set releases, limiting products for each new set to just a single type of booster pack and a Two-Player Starter set, making it incredibly easy and undaunting even for beginners to get involved with the game. Twilight of the Republic’s Two-Player Starter features the same assortment of contents as the previous two sets: two preconstructed decks, rules, all of the tokens and counters needed for both players, two paper playmats and even themed deck boxes for each deck.

It’s definitely worthy of mention that the set is entirely plastic free; the decks themselves are wrapped and sealed in paper, and all other elements of the set are either paper or cardboard based. (Note that this extends to booster packs for Star Wars Unlimited too, which also uses paper based packaging for booster packs, meaning that the entire Star Wars Unlimited card set range is fully plastic free, and as such, the end products are as environmentally friendly as they can be. It’s a commendable and considerate decision on Fantasy Flight‘s part.)

As with the previous two Starter sets, it’s not just the commitment to recyclable components that we’re impressed with; the whole set is remarkably complete and fully featured as a two-player game, with best-in-class playmats that make learning and playing the game incredibly easy, even for absolute trading card game novices. Though of course it’s intended as a springboard into buying booster packs and building decks, it’s not unfeasible for fans to pick up a Two-Player Starter and simply use it as a head-to-head Star Wars game, without venturing further out into the realm of boosters and deck building.

What Decks Are Included With the Twilight of the Republic Starter Set?

In keeping with the Clone Wars theme of the full Twilight of the Republic set, you’ll find one deck headed up by the Ahsoka Tano leader card, and the other with its leader card being General Grievous. As with all Leader cards, each is double sided, and can deploy onto the battlefield as unit cards over the course of the game. For more on how this works, check out our general review of Star Wars Unlimited, which goes deeper into the mechanics of how the game is played.

Ahsoka’s deck makes use of the new Coordinate keyword, and Grievous has cards which showcase the Exploit keyword, another which has been added as a new mechanic in Twilight of the Republic. Take a look at our guide to the Coordinate and Exploit keywords for more details on how they work (and see an example of each in the image below); in short, Coordinate rewards players for building up their forces on the battlefield, whereas Exploit gives bonuses to players willing to sacrifice their own units. Each deck also does a good job of introducing the new token units to players, with cards that create either Clone Troopers or Battle Droids to add to the ground arena, depending on which side of the conflict your deck is on.

Note that, in this Starter set, you won’t have to worry about the Bounty and Smuggle keywords that debuted in Shadows of the Galaxy; cleverly, the set doesn’t overwhelm new players with too much to learn. But do be warned that any and all Star Wars Unlimited keywords can appear in Twilight of the Republic booster packs.

As has been the case so far, the decks are brilliantly balanced against one another, and each of them gives players a really good taste for what the rest of the Twilight of the Republic set offers. With Spark of Rebellion covering the original trilogy era, and Shadows of the Galaxy focusing on the seedier underbelly of the Star Wars universe in a post-Return of the Jedi time period, it’s good to see the game covering even more of the saga’s history, with Twilight of the Republic bringing plenty of Clone Wars-era Jedi and Separatist characters into Star Wars Unlimited.

Though the prequel era isn’t my favorite in general (and do bear in mind, this is personal taste, so your mileage may vary), there’s no denying that it’s full of interesting characters. Also, with the Jedi being a strong, militarized peacekeeping force during this period, it offers a lot of opportunity for armies of Jedi and Separatists to take each other on in space and on the ground, with Star Wars Unlimited being genuinely great at representing opposing forces battling it out in different arenas.

Card artwork and clarity of the card design in general is fantastic in Star Wars Unlimited, and the same definitely applies to the two decks included in this set. For a closer look at the art of Star Wars Unlimited, check out our interview with Axel Hutt, one of the game’s most popular and prolific artists.

Is the Twilight of the Republic Starter Worth Buying?

The answer to this question will very much depend on your experience with gaming, collectible or otherwise, as well as whether or not you already have experience with Star Wars Unlimited. If you’re a less experienced gamer with little or no experience with trading or collectible card games (that’s TCGs and CCGs; both of which essentially mean the same thing), then Spark of Rebellion’s starter set will be the best option for you.

Shadows of the Galaxy introduced two new keywords and its starter is themed around The Mandalorian, with the decks featuring Din Djarin vs. Moff Gideon; given its slightly more complex nature due to the Bounty and Smuggle keywords, it’s probably not best for absolute beginners.

The same applies to Twilight of the Republic’s starter, which is probably best for players who have experience with TCGs and CCGs in general, and for fans of Star Wars Unlimited who want to get a feel for the new set, with a pair of decks that can be modified and improved with cards from booster packs. Coordinate and Exploit are slightly easier keywords to grasp for newcomers too, so Twilight of the Republic is probably the second best starter for slightly more experienced players.

Of course, if you do intend to use a starter set as a gateway to Star Wars Unlimited in general, it’s certainly not a bad idea to pick up Twilight of the Republic’s starter, as it’ll bring you up to date with the newest mechanics and cards, with booster packs that should be readily available. If you’re already familiar with Star Wars Unlimited and you already have the first two starters, we still think it’s great value for money, and does an excellent job of giving players a taste of battling it out in the Clone Wars, before (or even alongside) an exploration of the set’s other cards in booster packs (pictured above; note that they’re not included in the starter set).

The Card Gamer Verdict

 

If you’re interested in getting involved with other trading card games, check out our reviews of the family-friendly Altered, and the more complex UniVersus. If you’re looking for simpler two-player games to check out, take a look at our reviews of games such as Jaipur and Star Trek: Star Realms.