Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game Rules: How to Play

Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game

2 players

30–90 min

7.8

The Rebel Alliance fights valiantly against the tyranny of the Galactic Empire. Each new victory brings the Rebels hope, and each heroic sacrifice strengthens their resolve. Still, the Empire's resources are vast, and the firepower of its Empire Navy is unmatched. With neither side willing to accept defeat, their war rages across the galaxy... In Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game, a head-to-head game for two players, the galaxy-spanning war between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance comes alive on your tabletop. In this easy-to-learn game, you and your opponent each choose a side, playing as either the Empire or the Rebels, and as the game progresses you both strengthen the power of your starting decks and work to destroy each other's bases. The first player to destroy three of their opponent's bases wins. In more detail, each player starts with a unique ten-card deck, with seven of those cards providing only resources to acquire new cards. Six cards from a galaxy deck are always on display, with Rebel cards facing the Rebel player, Empire cards the Empire player, and neutral cards turned sideways. You can spend resources to acquire cards in the galaxy row that don't belong to the opponent, and you can use attack power to take out cards that do belong to them, gaining a reward in the process. Each player starts with a base that lacks abilities (Dantooine for the Rebels and Lothal for the Empire), but when that base is destroyed, you get to choose a replacement from your base deck, with each base having a special ability. Choose wisely to counter your opponent's plans! In addition to having special abilities, capital ships absorb damage meant for your base. Players also fight for control of a Force track to gain additional resources or make use of "If the Force is with you..." abilities on their cards.

How to play

Setup, how a turn works and how the game ends, summarised from the rulebook by Eko, Meepzy's rules assistant.

Here is a general overview of how to play the game, based on the rules provided.

Setup

Choose your faction: either Rebel or Empire (p. 17).
Find the five base cards for your chosen faction to form your base deck, leaving the rest in the box for the beginner game (p. 17).
Place your starting base faceup in front of you, and place your remaining base cards facedown underneath it (p. 17).
Take the 10 starter cards matching your chosen faction and shuffle them together to create your player deck, placing it near your base deck (p. 17).

How a Turn Works The game is played over a series of alternating turns, with the Empire taking the first turn (p. 13). Every turn follows a specific sequence:

Beginning of Turn: If you do not have a base because your opponent destroyed it on their last turn, choose one of your remaining base cards to reveal as your new base (p. 13). If the Force is all the way to your side, gain one resource from the supply into your play area, and also gain any resources generated by capital ships you currently have in play (p. 13).
Taking Your Turn: On your turn, you can perform any of the following actions in any order, as many times as you are able and want to: play a card from your hand, purchase a card from the galaxy row or Outer Rim Pilot deck, use a card ability, commit cards to an attack, or resolve an attack (p. 6, 11, 15).
Ending Your Turn: When you are finished, discard all your unit cards from play, return your base and capital ships to their proper orientation, discard any remaining cards in your hand, return resource counters to the supply, and draw five new cards from your deck (p. 21).

How the Game Ends The first player to destroy three of their opponent's bases wins the game (p. 21). The game ends immediately after the third base is destroyed, without resolving any other cards, abilities, Force, attacks, or resources (p. 21).

This summary was written by Eko from the game's own rulebook. It covers the essentials, not every edge case. For a specific rule, ask Eko and get the page it came from, or open the manual in the Archive.