Star Wars: the Queen’s Gambit might be the very best Star Wars game that you’ve never played. Released in 2000 to tie-in with the Phantom Menace, it let two to four players refight all four of the big battles at the finale of the first prequel movie, from the plains of Naboo to the space lanes above it – and all at the same time.
It’s a big, flashy Star Wars board game, absolutely packed with miniatures. That might be a bit of an eye-roller these days – what Kickstarter game doesn’t come packed with miniatures? But Star Wars: The Queen’s Gambit released when internet shopping was in its infancy, and crowd-funding had hardly been dreamt of. The huge number of droids, gungans, royal guard, and Jedi in the box set were a treasure trove for any kid who got their hands on a copy.
Its scope is audacious. Across four separate board areas, the players fight the land war between Gungan and Trade Federation forces, Princess Amidala’s efforts to capture the Trade Federation Viceroys in Theed Palace, Obi Wan and Qui-Gon’s duel against Darth Maul, and Anakin’s space battle to destroy the Droid Control Ship.
The republican forces need to shut down the Droid Control Ship, and get enough forces into the Throne Room to capture the Viceroys, to win. Each turn, players select cards to activate their forces in different arenas – they’ve got to commit to their cards at the start of the turn, not knowing what moves their opponent will make, and where they might push the fight
Success in one part of the battle can feed into another. It’s possible to send reinforcements into the battle for Theed Palace from the main battlefield. And whoever wins the Duel of the Fates, Jedi or Sith, can enter the fray and have a huge impact.
For a fuller rundown, this classic Dice Tower review can give you more of the picture:
We’re not going to call it the best strategy board game ever. But we do want to emphasise how cool The Queen’s Gambit was in 2,000. This was before mainstream bookstores and big box retailers stocked the best board games from the hobby game market – fans just got lucky that a designer working for Avalon Hill within Hasbro decided to pull out all the stops.
In fact the Queens Gambit was the first major title by Rob Daviau, who has since gone on to do some incredibly cool things. He worked on the first edition of the super accessible miniature game Heroscape, and the classic B-movie board game Betrayal at House on the Hill. He and Chris Depuis invented the Legacy game format with Risk Legacy, and Daviau arguably perfected it when he joined forces with Matt Leacock to create Pandemic Legacy.
While The Queen’s Gambit is long out of print, its simultaneous multi-theatre conflict was later reimplemented in Risk: Star Wars Edition. Just make sure you get the variant with the Tie-fighter shaped board.
Star Wars fans are spoilt for choice these days. We’re incredibly excited about the news of Star Wars: Battle of Hoth, an upcoming reimplementation of the Commands & Colors rules from Memoir ‘44 set in the galaxy far, far away. And the Star Wars Legion roadmap is absolutely packed with great releases this year.
Is a copy of The Queen’s Gambit sitting with pride of place in your board game collection? Do you think that an even older Star Wars game is an even bigger underrated gem? We’d love to hear from you in the Wargamer Discord server.
Source: Wargamer
