Claim victory in the Galactic Civil War in Star Wars: Empire vs. Rebellion, a
fast-paced card game for two players. In every game, you and your opponent match
wits and resources over key events. If you can thwart your opponent, you claim
the event, bringing you closer to victory. Whether you seek to triumph through
military might, or use diplomacy to achieve your ends, the fate of the galaxy
rests in your hands.
On one side of this galactic battleground are the heroes of the Rebel
Alliance. Only rarely can these heroes go toe to toe with the unlimited reserves
of the Imperial Navy and Army. Instead, the iconic characters of Star Wars and
the unsung heroes of the Rebellion must work in secret, utilizing diplomacy,
reconnaissance, and the Force to achieve their aims. Even when the Rebellion
deploys its full military strength to win a battle or destroy a key Imperial
emplacement, they need the groundwork put in place by Alliance Special
Forces.
Opposing the heroic endeavours of the Rebel Alliance is the massive power of
the Empire, led by the twisted Emperor. The dark side of the Force is strong
with the Emperor and Darth Vader, and the military might of the Empire is
unparalleled across the galaxy. Whether you undertake aggressive negotiations or
hire bounty hunters and scum to ferret out Rebel spies, making the Empire the
ultimate power in the galaxy rests in your hands.
Master an Event
In every round, the Empire and the Rebellion struggle over the outcome of a
contested event, whether infiltrating Imperial Center or carrying out a surgical
strike on an enemy base. Each struggle requires you to use all the resources of
the galaxy-spanning Empire or the Rebel Alliance, including cunning diplomacy,
martial prowess and manipulating the Force. At the beginning of each round, one
event card is revealed from the deck, determining the location of the Empire and
Rebellion’s newest conflict.
You bring more resources into play at the struggle for an event by drawing
and playing resource cards from your deck, each of which has a resource value in
the upper left-hand corner. Your goal in playing these resource cards is to get
as close as possible to the event’s objective value without passing it. If
you pass the objective value, your secret exploits have become obvious to your
opponent, allowing them to seize the event. You must also consider the
event’s capacity, which limits your level of interference in the event,
keeping you from playing more cards than the capacity.
Resources for Battle
To successfully win these struggles and reclaim the galaxy in Star Wars: Empire
vs. Rebellion, you will need to utilize all of your resources. Every turn, you
can increase your faction’s presence at the current event by drawing the top
card from your deck and putting it into play. Each resource card you play gives
you more power and brings you closer to the objective value of the current
event. As an example, the resource card shown to the right has a resource value
of five, which it contributes to your total resource value while in play.
Playing more resource cards may bring you closer to your target, but it also
makes your efforts more obvious. If your total resource value ever passes the
event’s objective value, your forces are discovered and your opponent claims
the event.
Instead of playing a new resource card, you can also trigger the power of a
resource card currently in play, exercising the might of the Empire or the
cunning of the Rebel Alliance. To activate a resource card’s power, you must
exhaust it by rotating it 90Â degrees clockwise. Once a card is exhausted, you
can’t use its power unless it becomes ready again. In addition, an exhausted
card contributes its exhausted resource value, shown in the lower left-hand
corner of the card while the resource is ready.
The struggle between the Empire and the Rebellion is fought on a multitude of
battlefields, through canny diplomacy, military force, timely reconnaissance, or
commitment to the Force. Accordingly, there are four different types of resource
cards with distinct powers. By flexing your faction’s military might you may
discard one of your opponent’s resource cards, depriving him of his most
important resources. Diplomacy cards can discard either themselves or one of
your other cards, allowing you to manipulate the ways your forces affect the
current event and keep you from surpassing the event's objective value. Recon
cards provide critical intelligence by inviting you to look at the top two cards
of a resource deck and discard one of the cards, helping you filter upcoming
resources for yourself or your opponent. Finally, you may find the power of the
Force to be most helpful in exhausting one of your opponent’s resource cards
and reducing their options for coming turns.
If you don’t want to draw a new card or your best resources are already
exhausted, you may spend an influence instead. The Rebel Alliance has
connections stretching across the galaxy, and there are always individuals eager
to sell information to the Empire in exchange for credits. By spending influence
to help tip the balance of a current event, you may ready one of your exhausted
cards, allowing you to use its power again and maximize its effect on the
current event.
When both players choose to pass their turns, the player whose total resource
value is closest to the event’s objective value without surpassing it seizes
the event and its victory points, along with any influence he may receive from
victory. When the Empire or the Rebellion reaches seven victory points, it
demonstrates its dominion over the galaxy and wins the game of Empire vs.
Rebellion.
Heroes and Villains
As you shape the fate of the galaxy, overarching strategies and the aid of
iconic characters add greater depth to your games. Characters are shuffled into
your resource deck, where they can arrive to shift unfolding events in the favor
of the Empire or the Rebellion. A character’s preÂsence can inspire your
troops to great efforts, and characters have the highest resource value in the
game while ready. However, circumstances may require your characters to take a
more personal hand in events. Exhausting a character causes his resource value
to fall to one, but triggering a character’s power is often worth it.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, for example, allows you to use his wisdom and preparation to
play one resource card of your choice from your discard pile, potentially
restoring a key card that your opponent discarded with a military resource card.
General Veers, on the other hand, attacks your opponent’s reÂsources. By
exhausting General Veers, you may discard the top card of your resource deck,
then force your opponent to discard his cards with a lower resource value, using
the General’s cunning to eliminate the Alliance’s ability to utilize its
resources.
Strategy cards offer another way to alter an event struggle. At the beginning
of each event struggle, both players secretly select a strategy. AÂ strategy
shapes how a faction will engage with the current event, whether you choose to
infiltrate an enemy base, or even deceive your opponent with the Deception
strategy. Choosing the correct strategy for an event struggle is one of your
most effective tools for claiming victory in Empire vs. Rebellion.
The Fate of the Galaxy
The future of thousands of species and planets rests in your hands in this
fast-paced card game. You will need all the resources available to you to best
your opponent during the most crucial events of the Galactic Civil War. Will the
Rebel Alliance overthrow the tyranny of Emperor Palpatine or will the Empire
quickly crush the last vestiges of opposition? The choice is yours in Star Wars:
Empire vs. Rebellion.
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