The Star Wars universe is easily one of the most influential when it comes to popular culture - and board gaming is no different. In fact, Star Wars fans who are looking for a tabletop experience set in their favourite thematic world are genuinely spoilt for choice. Fantasy Flight Games holds the Star Wars license, and they’ve released a number of excellent games; here are the best ones.
Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Games
In many ways, X-Wing was where it all began. The oldest game on this list, it was such a massive success that it paved the way for the rest. If, like me, your favourite part of the Star Wars movies was the spaceships and the dogfighting, this is simply a no-brainer. X-Wing manages to somehow capture that feeling of outnumbered Rebels twisting and turning while waves of TIE fighters howl around them and translate it to one of the best tabletop gaming experiences I’ve had.
Star Wars: Armada
Say, however, that you cared less about the X-Wings and the TIEs and your heart was stolen by the colossal capital ship battles. Not to worry - Armada’s where you’ll get your Star Destroyer fix. Appropriately enough, Armada feels like a heavier, more deliberate joust than X-Wing, as you maneuver fleets of capital ships and frigates while closing for battle — and, all the while, squadrons of bombers and fighters buzz around like wasps. If you like the sound of space combat but you want your viewpoint zoomed out a bit, Armada is the game for you.
Star Wars: Imperial Assault
Rogue One, the latest movie in the Star Wars cinematic universe, was one of last year’s biggest hits; and, if you’re looking for a game that comes close to conveying that movie’s emphasis on ground troops fighting their way through a series of backs-to-the-wall situations, look no further — Imperial Assault is your man.
Imperial Assault features campaign play, with some players controlling Rebel heroes looking to accomplish various objectives, while another player takes the side of the Empire and plays the puppetmaster of the Imperial forces standing in their way.
Star Wars: Destiny
Destiny is the brash young upstart of this list, having only just released in November last year. However, it’s a surprisingly solid attempt at dethroning the reigning Dice Masters genre of games.
Like Dice Masters, Destiny is a card-and-dice battle game where your goal is to knock out the other player. Most of the initial buzz about this game has been positive, so it looks like a worthy contender for a head-to-head duel game.
Star Wars: Rebellion
According to BoardGameGeek, Rebellion is the 5th best board game in the world. That may change with the passing of time, but there’s no denying that Rebellion is easily the most ambitious, far-reaching and - although this word is overused these days, it absolutely applies here - epic game on this list.
Rebellion lets you effectively redo the events of the original trilogy - maybe you’ll send Chewie to retrieve the Death Star plans (with Ackbar as backup) or maybe the Empire will discover the Rebel base hiding on Tatooine and blow it to kingdom come.
The possibilities are endless; this is a game that lets you change how the movies played out to your heart’s content, and it’s easily the most exciting Star Wars board game you can buy.
(Arjun is a gamer, book lover and an all-round renaissance man)