Every Game Of Star Wars Unlimited Is A Climactic Cinematic Battle

Forbes

30-05-2025

The month of May is a big one for fans of Star Wars. At the beginning is May the Fourth, which went from a silly pun holiday to an important pop culture day for new releases and announcements of upcoming movies and shows. The original film was released on May 25th, 1977 and has changed the world ever since.
I spent a lot of my fan time this month playing Star Wars Unlimited from Fantasy Flight Games. It's a trading card game in the modern style featuring characters, locations, ships, droids and more from all across the Star Wars universe. Asmodee North America sent along some Star Wars Unlimited materials for this review.
Star Wars Unlimited is a fast paced card game where players build decks around specific people and places from the various films, TV shows and books about Star Wars. Players face off with a simple goal to reduce their opponent's hit points to zero first. The game takes place on two arenas of land and space and players must balance their attacks and defenses on both sides of the board.
Cards are also used as resources in the game. Generally this means the card is out of play, though there are some cards that can be brought back at the right time. This setup keeps the bad start of many games like this to a minimum.
Each release comes with a pair of decks built around specific Star Wars personalities. Additional leader and base cards are available in booster packs for fans who want to construct their own deck. The booster packs also have cards geared for collectors such as foils, full bleed art and alternate art options.
The leaders offer specific bonuses but they are also part of the game clock. At a certain point, each leader can come out onto the field and start doing massive damage to their opponents. Deploying a leader at just the right time can swing the momentum of a game or drive a victory home.
The first set of Star Wars Unlimited cards focuses on the classic era in and around Star Wars: A New Hope. There are a lot of iconic characters in the set. The starter features a classic clash between the father and son duo of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader as the pre-built decks.
One of the things that's helped Star Wars stand out as a franchise is that it's not afraid to explore the seedier side of the galaxy. That's the focus of this expansion which allows players to bring in criminals, syndicates and other morally ambiguous characters from the franchise. The pre-built decks here feature The Mandalorian (and Grogu, of course) facing off against Moff Gideon.
The Clone Wars get their time in the sun with this expansion. There are a lot of great ground side cards in this expansion plus plenty of Jedi and Sith at the height of their power. Ahsoka Tano and General Grievous lead the pre-built decks in this expansion.
This period and the prequels remain controversial to many Star Wars fans. The good news here is that this expansion is one of the easiest and most inexpensive to find online because of those feelings. Fans that want to get into this game without a big investment should look for these boxes.
This expansion focuses on pilots and starships. Cool rides from several different eras get their own cards here. Han Solo and Boba Fett face off in the spotlight decks which are sold individually rather than a combined starter.
Jump to Lightspeed marks the first series that sells Carbonite Boosters. These premium booster packs feature more of the collector style cards per pack. Fans who want to find the perfect centerpiece for their deck or a high value card they can flip to other players should check these out.
The upcoming expansion expected in July draws from the massive history of the Jedi. Characters come from the High Republic era all the way down to the sequel trilogy. Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul are at the head of this release's spotlight decks.
The dual battlefields capture the feeling of the final act of the best Star Wars movies where the action cut back and forth between a massive space battle and individual heroes slugging it out on the ground. Developing the skill of knowing when to strike an opponent's cards versus when to hit the base is the key to winning the game. Every expansion adds a new keyword mechanic but the cards are very good at explaining what it does on the card rather than forcing players to pause while they look up a rule.
Gamegenic continues to do excellent work with its premium game accessories. The Xtra Wide Game Mat helped me keep my cards straight on the table while featuring my favorite ship in the Star Wars fleet. The Premium Tokens made it easier to read the game state from across the table.
Everybody has a favorite Star Wars character. With every expansion, more and more leader cards come out, which makes it very easy to build decks around nearly any named character. While it's not an effective deck for me yet, I really enjoyed building one around the dual leader of Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious which really mirrors the future Emperor's two-faced ways during the Clone Wars.
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One of my favorite things to do with a box of boosters is sit with family and friends and open them together. It lets everyone show off their Star Wars knowledge by identifying where a specific card is from. It also leans into the trading aspect of the trading card game when foils and other special cards come out of a pack.
The first ever Galactic Champion of Star Wars Unlimited will be determined in Las Vegas on July 25-27th, 2025. Check your local game store for more information as well as Organized Play opportunities.