Game: Star Wars: Epic Duels

Thread: Re: LOTR Version Of Epic Duels In Progress...

robertmmoore1968 — 2008-11-27T03:43:45+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion. I have added a LOTR card (Sam) and a Batman Talent Card Sheet (Mr. Freeze) to the photo section.

Image

robertmmoore1968 — 2008-11-27T03:39:15+00:00

Mr. Freeze Talent Cards For Batman Expansion

Image

robertmmoore1968 — 2008-11-27T03:33:43+00:00

A LOTR Epic Duels Power Combat Card

Thread: Re: LOTR Version Of Epic Duels In Progress...

Dan R. — 2008-11-24T23:12:41+00:00

This sounds great. I strongly encourage you to post your work here as well, since a lot more folks are likely to see it.

Thread: LOTR Version Of Epic Duels In Progress...

robertmmoore1968 — 2008-11-24T02:26:26+00:00

At the Epic Duels Forum, some of us are working on a LOTR version. We are hashing out the card text and art.

You do not have to be a member of the forum to read posts. The discussion is here:

http://epicduels.3.forumer.com/

The artwork is being stored at the LOTR Yahoo Epic Duels Group Site. No one posts in there anymore but we are using the Photo section to so show and tell about the card images. You must be a member there to look at stuff.

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/EpicDuelsLOTR/?yguid=162...

Come join the fun and put in your two cents worth.

Thread: Re: Batman Epic Duels- A Fully Printable Fan Expansion

robertmmoore1968 — 2008-10-18T18:09:22+00:00

Just in time for our National Election, I present to you all, Lex Luthor, the next President of the United States!

Lex is ready to print in the Batman Epic Duels Group.

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/epic_duels_batman/

President Lex Luthor 13 HP Yellow+ Shooter
2 Bodyguards 5 HP Strong Shooters
*Secret Service Agents 1 HP (Share Lex’s Basic Cards)
*These characters do not start the game on the board.

X3 EXECTUTIVE POWER Inflict 3 damage to any character. The chosen character must discard a card at random.

X2 SECRET SERVICE Place 2 Secret Service Agents on the board adjacent to Lex. They have 1 HP each and share Lex's Basic Combat Cards.

X2 FOILED ASSASINATION *D Swap places with any Bodyguard or Secret Service Agent. That character can defend or take full damage from the attack.

X2 EXPERIMENTAL WEAPON 5A If your opponent plays a defense card then the printed attack value becomes the actual defend value. No red attack value on the card results in 5 direct damage from this attack.

X1 SMEAR CAMPAIGN Choose any opponent. That player must show his hand. Lex chooses 3 cards for the player to discard.

X1 COMMANDER IN CHIEF Lex, his Bodyguards, and Secret Service Agents each do 1 damage to every enemy character they are in position to attack.

X1 LEXCORP MEDICAL Divide 3 points of healing any way you like between all of Lex’s allies, even those controlled by another player.

Thread: Re: Han and chewwy died a slow death!

RaistlinMajere — 2008-10-05T11:51:50+00:00

Heh fun report!

And I agree with Moonsylver

Thread: Re: Han and chewwy died a slow death!

MoonSylver — 2008-10-02T01:00:57+00:00

Meeple1 wrote:
Han and Chewbacca nearly saved the day for the good side but were defeated by a coward who decided to hide and then fight instead of showing some guts!

For Maul, that's not cowardice: that's good strategy.

Nice report.
---MS

Thread: Re: Han and chewwy died a slow death!

mejustjustin — 2008-10-01T23:50:42+00:00

grats. lol, better be sure ur wife aint mad, haha.

Thread: Re: Han and chewwy died a slow death!

unixrevolution — 2008-10-01T17:43:51+00:00

I got this at a thrift store a while back, and I've been eager to play it. Nice article! Really makes me want to drag it out and give it a go.

Thread: Han and chewwy died a slow death!

Meeple1 — 2008-10-01T14:03:18+00:00

To start off I will say that I bought this game at a local Toys R Us, probably 5 or 6 years ago. This game was the one that got me into boardgaming.

Yes I owned chess and monopoly, but I only played those games once every now and again. I bought this game and played the crap out of it!
It set me on the path of buying exciting games which I would play again and again.

The other games I had bought put this one on the shelf and it was not looked at again for a few years until tonight.

Tonight I opened the box and remembered that when I first opened the game from its shrink wrap I had somehow received an extra pack of cards, so I have 62 cards for 4 of the character groups!
Has this happened to anyone else?

Anyway my wife wanted to play with Han Solo and his sidekick Chewbacca, while I was Darth Maul and 2 crappy battle droids.

I rolled the high number and went 1st, so Darth Maul ran behind Jango Fetts ship to hide and draw much needed cards, leaving the 2 battle droids to fend for themself.

Melissa (my wife) shot at a battle droid killing it insantly with her first action then decided to draw a card with her second action.

Me being the coward that I am decided to still hide and draw more cards but I also moved my last battle droid so that he was'nt in line of fire from her characters

To bad for me because I could not move him far enough away and he was disposed of quickly by 2 attacks, 1 from Han and 1 from Chewbacca.
This left Melissa with not many cards and I saw my chance to fight back.

I stayed still and decided to draw more cards which worked well with my plan as she split Han and Chewbacca up to circle around Jango's ship, she also decided on drawing more cards.

To bad for her as I decided on attacking Chewbacca 1st, which was a good choice as she had no cards for him, I used a Super Sith Speed and a Sith Speed plus 2 normal attacks to get rid of him.
Next came Han and he shot me badly putting Darth Maul near deaths door,
But I had the cards going for me and I used another Sith Speed and 1 normal attack to lower Hans health right down, Melissa's eyes met with mine and she knew what I was doing next, I played Athletic Surge for 8 points of damage to slice Han Solo in two.

Han and Chewbacca nearly saved the day for the good side but were defeated by a coward who decided to hide and then fight instead of showing some guts!

But a win is a win in my book and it doesn't matter how the win was achieved!

Playing this game after such a long absense, I am sure it will be played again in a couple days, not years because I now remember how good and simple it is

Thread: Re: Batman Epic Duels- A Fully Printable Fan Expansion

robertmmoore1968 — 2008-09-20T02:46:10+00:00

I use Heroclix. If you dropped about $50 (includes shipping)you could probobally get all of the figures (approximately 40) needed to make the Batman Expansion. Here is a link to my favorite Miniature site for buying individual Heroclix for $1 or less each. I get the "Rookie" Yellow-Ringed Heroclix minis (cheapest) and use the figures as is or modify them somewhat (color changes, customizing) as needed.

http://www.cardagora.com/Heroclix.php

Most of the minis are DC Heroclix (obviously), but I did use Marvel SWAT Heroclix for my Commisioner Gordon deck's add on Swat characters. I also am customizing an Agent from the Heroscape starter set to make a Detective Bullock figure. I am modifying a Marvel Heroclix Morlock (Ultimates Set)mini to make a better Killer Croc than the DC mini. Morlock looks so much more like the BTAS Croc than the DC Heroclix Croc. All I am doing is changing his hands.

Anyway, glad you like what you see. I designed all of the cards using Photoshop CS.

Thread: Re: Batman Epic Duels- A Fully Printable Fan Expansion

petegrey — 2008-09-17T16:46:17+00:00

This looks really cool.

What kind of minis do you use when playing?

Thread: Re: Batman Epic Duels- A Fully Printable Fan Expansion

robertmmoore1968 — 2008-09-14T21:09:34+00:00

I created the decks and posted them at the Epic Duels Forum site. I received a fair amount of imput on the designs there in the DC Heroes section of that site. When I was happy with the decks I then created them and posted them on my Batman Epic Duels Yahoo site after I had already created them. The reason I never posted them on the original Yahoo SWED site is that that site is specifically for Star Wars characters. There are a few other sites for non Star Wars decks, but no one uses them anymore. Here go the names;
Everything Epic Duels
Lord Of The Rings Epic Duels
X-Men Epic Duels

So I posted my stuff at the Forum within the DC Heroes section to follow protocol. By no means are my Batman decks set in stone. It would only take a few clicks in Photoshop to change things. You are more than welcome to weigh in on my decks at either the Forum or my Batman Epic Duels site. Thanks for the reply.

Forum Link;
http://epicduels.3.forumer.com/

Thread: Re: Batman Epic Duels- A Fully Printable Fan Expansion

reapersaurus — 2008-09-13T20:25:00+00:00

1) Did you post the decks to the main Epic Duels group?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/epicduels

You could get a lot of assistance with balance, tweaks, corrections, etc there

2) I think that most Epic Duels decks, the main character is not supposed to have range.
Boba and Jango Fett are exceptions, because they are very weak decks.
Having a strong main character be ranged may be overpowering.

Thread: Batman Epic Duels- A Fully Printable Fan Expansion

robertmmoore1968 — 2008-09-13T02:15:21+00:00

I have completed my Batman version of the game. You can download any of my decks and print them from the following site;

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/epic_duels_batman/

I have one map (Batcave) created. There are 12 different decks, 3 Good Guys & 9 Bad Guys.

Each of the following decks can be found in the files section. Enjoy!

Batman 15 HP Yellow+ Shooter
Robin 7 HP Strong+ Minor Shooter

Commissioner Gordon
13 HP Yellow + Shooter

Nightwing (14 HP) Yellow+ Ranged
Batgirl (8 HP) Strong+ Shooter

Bane (16 HP) Red Melee
Riddler (6 HP) Shared Melee Minor Deck
Mad Hatter (6 HP) Shared Melee Minor Deck

The Joker (14 HP) Yellow+ Shooter
Harley Quinn (9 HP) Strong+ Shooter

Mr. Freeze (15 HP) Yellow+ Shooter
2 "Moles" {Female Henchmen} (4 HP) Strong+ Shooters

Poison Ivy (13 HP) Yellow Shooter
2 Plant Monsters (3 HP Each) Shared Melee Minor Deck

Killer Croc (17 HP) Red Melee
Scarecrow (9 HP) Melee Minor

Ra's al Ghul (12 HP) Blue Melee
Talia (10 HP) Strong+ Shooter

Two Face (14 HP) Yellow+ Shooter
Penguin (9 HP) Strong+ Shooter

Man-Bat (16 HP) Blue
She-Bat (9 HP) Melee Minor

Scarface (13 HP) Yellow+ Shooter
Catwoman (10 HP) Melee Minor

Thread: Re: Rules Question

The_Sultan — 2008-09-02T17:49:48+00:00

This is a topic of much contention among Epic Duelsists; it is discussed on the Answerless FAQ page of the ED wiki.

But my vote is for the dark side: Maul still loses.

Thread: Re: at local thrift (Denver)

Daddys_Home — 2008-08-27T16:50:33+00:00

EvilTimmy wrote:
You should delete this thread in 24 hrs because it will surely be gone by that time.

yep it's gone.

Thread: Re: at local thrift (Denver)

reapersaurus — 2008-08-27T08:08:18+00:00

whoops!
my bad - I missed the minis being absent.

Not such an obvious pick up then - but there are lots of nice substitute pre-painted minis from SW minins game for it....

Thread: Re: at local thrift (Denver)

midnightmadness — 2008-08-27T03:54:21+00:00

reapersaurus wrote:
jeRm! wrote:
If anyone is interested I saw this today for $2.99 at the ARC store at Iliff and Quebec in Denver. It looked like it had all the parts except the character minis.you didn't pick it up when you were there?

If no, why not, if you knew it was a wanted game?
You could have made money on it, or just made a little money and given a feelow BGGer a break that wanted it, etc.

Kudos for taking the time and effort to post about it - it seems like it would have been easier to just pick it up....?

Actually, if it's missing all the minis, I kinda think that makes the game pretty much worth the 3 dollars they're asking for it, and not much more. Sorta a MAJOR component to, you know, play the game. This is a parts buy at best, and certainly not one I'd go out of my way to buy or sell.

Thread: Re: at local thrift (Denver)

reapersaurus — 2008-08-27T00:47:55+00:00

jeRm! wrote:
If anyone is interested I saw this today for $2.99 at the ARC store at Iliff and Quebec in Denver. It looked like it had all the parts except the character minis.you didn't pick it up when you were there?

If no, why not, if you knew it was a wanted game?
You could have made money on it, or just made a little money and given a feelow BGGer a break that wanted it, etc.

Kudos for taking the time and effort to post about it - it seems like it would have been easier to just pick it up....?

Thread: Re: at local thrift (Denver)

Daddys_Home — 2008-08-26T23:49:34+00:00

That's a little far for me, and not a store I've been to, I guess I could make an exception.

Thread: Re: at local thrift (Denver)

EvilTimmy — 2008-08-26T23:42:05+00:00

You should delete this thread in 24 hrs because it will surely be gone by that time.

Thread: Re: Emperors Force Lightning wording issue

The_Sultan — 2008-08-16T04:54:35+00:00

From a purely grammatical perspective, you can say that because the character chosen is the only antecedent offered, the pronoun "this" must refer to the chosen character.

(If your brother is a true grammatacist though, don't use that argument because it can be deconstructed quite easily.)

Thread: Re: Advanced rules?

The_Sultan — 2008-08-15T19:44:30+00:00

craniac wrote:
Someone in another thread referred to "advanced rules." Is there a semi-canonical collection of house rules that people generally use with Epic Duels?
Check out the House Rules page on the ED wiki.

craniac wrote:
Another question! Which tweaks to the Vader deck are in widest use? That's a tough one, but here's mine, based on quite a bit of research and experience (not all my own, either).

craniac wrote:
Which are the most thoroughly tested and used of the unofficial expansion decks? I might be biased in this answer, but I'd say the EU Expansion is hands down the best expansion for ED to date.

Thread: Re: Padme, Leia, and Dead Mains

The_Sultan — 2008-08-15T19:35:05+00:00

Nikoms wrote:
:shrug:

We simply allow minors to keep playing, as long as their is a realisticchance of them winning.

This has been termed the Personalities Can Win rule, and is quite popular as a solution to evening out the imbalances of the game. (Feel free to substitute "sidekicks" for "personalities" - sounds a ton better.)

Thread: Re: I lost a character card...

The_Sultan — 2008-08-15T16:26:48+00:00

Message me: sultan (at) dorkistan (dot) com. I'll hook you up.

Thread: Re: Online Epic Duels?

The_Sultan — 2008-08-15T16:14:27+00:00

reapersaurus wrote:
I really doubt there's enough online players to reliably get a match going.

Check out the EDOL for a group of ED VASSAL players. We go through highs and lows, but it's a fairly reliable group for finding a match online.

Thread: Re: Complete list of mini's?

EvilTimmy — 2008-07-16T18:32:09+00:00

Thanks! I guess I'm mixing up Stormtroopers and Clone Troopers. They all look alike to me

Thread: Re: Complete list of mini's?

spaztian — 2008-07-16T15:38:47+00:00

Here you go!

Anakin Skywalker / Padme

Yoda / 2 Clone Troopers (#3, #6)

Mace Windu / 2 Clone Troopers (#2, #5)

Luke Skywalker / Princess Leia

Han Solo / Chewbacca

Obi-Wan Kenobi / 2 Clone Troopers (#1, #4)

Darth Vader / 2 Stormtroopers (#1, #2)

Count Dooku / 2 Super Battle Droids (#1, #2)

Emperor Palpatine / 2 Royal Guards (#1, #2)

Jango Fett / Zam Wesell

Darth Maul / 2 Battle Droids (#1, #2)

Boba Fett / Greedo

Thread: Re: Online Epic Duels?

RaistlinMajere — 2008-07-16T14:37:58+00:00

Jackofhearts4321 wrote:
So, rumor has it there is an incredibly vibrant online community for this awesome game. Where do I go to start playing?

Here is the forum:

http://epicduels.3.forumer.com/index.php?http://epicduels.3.forumer.com/

Many of the 'great minds' behind the custom side of the game are there to discuss about everything concerning the game

Thread: Complete list of mini's?

EvilTimmy — 2008-07-16T14:01:37+00:00

For posterity and future reference, could someone please post a complete list of the 31 mini's that are supposed to be in this game? I can't even find a pic in the gallery that shows all of them together. TIA

[edit]
Ok, so there is a pic, but it would still be nice to have a text list.
]]>

[edit]
Ok, that pic only shows 30 figures when there are supposed to be 31. I can guess from my incomplete set that there are supposed to be 8 Stormtroopers (pic only shows 7)

Thread: Re: Custom Miniatures

reapersaurus — 2008-07-08T19:33:46+00:00

Yes, the best way is to select specific minis from the Star Wars miniatures game, and match them up with some of the good custom decks.

I recommend Scott Haggerty's decks available at the Epic Duels Online Wiki.
Many of the name characters are rare or very rare, though.
However, many of the less-popular characters are rather cheap.

I want to get the Aayla Secura deck and the Acklay deck into play when I can.

Anotyher source for minis would be the Star Wars Unleashed battle packs. There are some sweet sculpts and paintjobs in those (usually 4 to a pack).

Thread: Re: Custom Miniatures

statman8 — 2008-07-08T03:17:23+00:00

eBay usually has the miniatures from the SW Miniatures game for cheap as long as you don't want the rare figures. Groups of commons can be had for a few bucks. Use the duplicates to customize your own to make the more familiar characters (e.g. Buy a common wookie warrior = Chewbacca!, A Corellian Pirate = Han Solo). Most of all, have fun.

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?type=4&cam...

Thread: Custom Miniatures

Jackofhearts4321 — 2008-07-08T02:42:27+00:00

My friends just got me Epic Duels for my birthday (which is, incidentally, the nicest present anyone outside my family has ever gotten me), and I now feel it is my duty to trick it out and make it even awesomer than it already is. I've printed and cut out decks for Lando and Grievous, and already have another 6 planned, but i'm trying to figure out what to do about the miniatures. Is there a place to buy miniatures from the miniatures game for cheap? Like less than $10? or is there a more elegant, less expensive method? Thanks for your help!

Thread: Re: Online Epic Duels?

reapersaurus — 2008-07-03T18:03:21+00:00

Well, the reading resources are right there, IIRC (the fan-made decks, the analysis, the FAQ's, etc).

To PLAY the game online requires VASSAL, a seperate game engine, as I understand.
I've never installed and configured it because IMO it's a pain, and I really doubt there's enough online players to reliably get a match going.

Thread: Re: Online Epic Duels?

mejustjustin — 2008-07-03T12:02:16+00:00

reapersaurus wrote:
I think that would be http://epicduels.pbwiki.com/

Site kinda confused me some. Do you have to download it in order to play?

Thread: Re: Online Epic Duels?

reapersaurus — 2008-07-03T07:30:49+00:00

I think that would be http://epicduels.pbwiki.com/

Thread: Online Epic Duels?

Jackofhearts4321 — 2008-07-03T07:01:25+00:00

So, rumor has it there is an incredibly vibrant online community for this awesome game. Where do I go to start playing?

Thread: I lost a character card...

WarInsideMyHead7 — 2008-06-25T08:30:28+00:00

...anyone know where I can get a picture of jango fetts character card, so I can just print it out on some card stock and be able to play again? I mean I know I can still play without it, but I don't like having to tell people they can't play as him.

Thread: Re: A unique gem in the Star Wars franchise

jrescan — 2008-06-24T00:09:15+00:00

BradyLS wrote:
What an informative review! Well done!

There are links to the Yahoo Group and an Epic Duels wiki which should open the doors to all sorts of custom decks made by players over the last few years.

Transformers: Armada, released shortly after Epic Duels, carries the same system into another franchise.

GMT's new Napoleonics-themed battle game, Manouevre (OHTHIS), feels similar in some ways to Epic Duels. Fans of one game that unaware of the other should are in for a treat.

Part of the design team behind this game went on to create Heroscape. Heroscape at times feels like the ultimate ED mod. You still have themed troops and characters that have interesting, unique powers; play is now on a fully customizable map; movement is much less restrictive, though still regulated; card play is replaced with dice and the special power(s) that are continuously available. (A Star Wars version of Heroscape would be pretty cool, IMO. But with the success of the collectible miniatures game, this seems very doubtful. Especially after the lukewarm reception of the Heroscape: Marvel game.)

Thanks to this review and your recommendations I finally decided to bid on ebay for SW:ED, losing all. For my absolute surprise I found it at Amazon (used but complete) and order it. I had the chance to finally play it and I will never regret I got it. Hopefully they decide to re-print it for many people who didn't have the chance to buy it back in 02.

BTW, I also bought Manoeuvre, haven't arrived yet since I decided to buy it cheaper from ebay and a crook there took my money not sending the game. Hopefully I can save some more money and get it in the future, the game looks really interesting and napoleonic themes are my weakness.

Back to SW:ED, for all those guys trying to get it at ebay paying high prices (and risking their money) I would suggest checking from time to time at Amazon.

Thread: Re: Rules .pdf

chris1nd — 2008-06-23T18:00:31+00:00

Thanks Jim, you rock!

Thread: Re: Rules .pdf

jimmcmahon — 2008-06-16T18:33:42+00:00

http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Star_Wars_Epic_Duels_G...

Jim

Thread: Rules .pdf

chris1nd — 2008-06-16T18:22:20+00:00

I bought this game used and there were no rules.

Does anyone know where the full rules can found on-line?

Or could someone scan and send to me?

chrsi1nd@cmich.edu

Thread: Re: A unique gem in the Star Wars franchise

reapersaurus — 2008-05-05T06:07:51+00:00

Ozvortex wrote:
Yes, a rare film/game tie-in that's actually not too bad. I'm sure having Craig Van Ness (of Heroscape fame) being one of the designers had something do with it being fun little game.Actually, ALL of Craig's movie tie-ins were good/great :

Epic Duels
Queen's Gambit
Clash of the Lightsabers

Thread: Re: A unique gem in the Star Wars franchise

Dre2Dee2 — 2008-05-05T05:10:13+00:00

BradyLS wrote:

Part of the design team behind this game went on to create Heroscape.

Oh really? well that's interesting! Good to see the designers went on to more games, they are obviously pretty good!

Oh and thanks for the comments guy, this was my first review. Maybe I'll make more.

Thread: Re: A unique gem in the Star Wars franchise

Ozvortex — 2008-05-05T04:53:10+00:00

Yes, a rare film/game tie-in that's actually not too bad. I'm sure having Craig Van Ness (of Heroscape fame) being one of the designers had something do with it being fun little game.

Thread: Re: A unique gem in the Star Wars franchise

BradyLS — 2008-05-05T04:52:17+00:00

What an informative review! Well done!

There are links to the Yahoo Group and an Epic Duels wiki which should open the doors to all sorts of custom decks made by players over the last few years.

Transformers: Armada, released shortly after Epic Duels, carries the same system into another franchise.

GMT's new Napoleonics-themed battle game, Manouevre (OHTHIS), feels similar in some ways to Epic Duels. Fans of one game that unaware of the other should are in for a treat.

Part of the design team behind this game went on to create Heroscape. Heroscape at times feels like the ultimate ED mod. You still have themed troops and characters that have interesting, unique powers; play is now on a fully customizable map; movement is much less restrictive, though still regulated; card play is replaced with dice and the special power(s) that are continuously available. (A Star Wars version of Heroscape would be pretty cool, IMO. But with the success of the collectible miniatures game, this seems very doubtful. Especially after the lukewarm reception of the Heroscape: Marvel game.)

Thread: A unique gem in the Star Wars franchise

Dre2Dee2 — 2008-05-05T02:17:56+00:00

Star Wars: Epic Duels is a quick, fast paced game. It combines card game elements and very basic miniature mechanics to make very interesting and unique gameplay. I'll try to cover each aspect of the game in fair depth. On with the review!

Components: 6/10

Overall the components in Epic Duels are decent enough. You get a deck and a health card for each character team in the game. The quality of the deck cards themselves aren't really that great. They are pretty flimsy and get bent very easily. The deck cards are just decent enough to serve the purpose. The health cards are on a better cardstock and you shouldn't have any problems with those.

The game also comes with lots of little cardboard tokens to track health, as well as a special dice for deciding movement. The dice faces have stickers on them. Again, the quality isn't that great, but is decent enough that you shouldn't have problems with it. The game comes with various maps, all the same size, printed on pretty good cardboard. The illustrations are colorful and look interesting. You get various famous locations from the Star Wars movies. The maps are the best made component of the game.

And finally, one of the selling points of the game, the minis! You get 31 mini-figs for all the character teams. The sculpts are very basic, as are the paint jobs. The plastic itself is also pretty flimsy and you'll probably get a couple of bent figures. Generic troop characters (like storm troopers and battledroids) have anywhere from 1-4 indents on them so you can distinguish them from each other. Since most of the troop figures aren't even painted, these little indents are somewhat hard to see. You'll often have to pick them up to get a close look to see which one it is.

Overall, the components of the game are decent, but not great. The cards, minis, and game board will seem fairly small compared to other games. The small size of the game however, does make it easy to setup anywhere. Whether or not you like the small size will depend on your taste.

The redeeming factor to the lackluster quality is the amount of stuff you get. You get tons of Star Wars characters and cards. This is definitely a case of quantity over quality.

Mechanics: 8/10

The game is fairly simple: each turn, a player gets to roll to see how he moves his pieces and then gets to make their choice of 2 actions. You can do any combination of the following, and you can even choose to do the same action twice:

- draw a card
-discard to heal
-play cards

The movement dice is broken into 2 kinds of results: ones that let you move one of your characters a lot of spaces; or a result that let's your whole team move, but only a small amount. This mechanic is pretty balanced and greatly reduces the down time of the game to non-existant. Along with the small size of the map, you'll get into the action right away!

When you attack, you and your opponent both pick a card from your hand and play it face down. Once both players have played a card, you reveal them. If your attack is higher than their defense, you damage their character, and they lose health equal to the difference. Reduce their health to 0, and that character is removed from the game.

If your henchmen dies (which really, it's their job to do), you can't use their cards anymore. To try and keep players from drawing dead cards, this game has a healing mechanic. You can discard a card for a dead henchman to gain one health point. Sadly, this is pretty useless. A negligible 1 health point and the fact that it takes up one of your two actions for the turn, makes this a bad play 90% of the time. Expect to house-rule this one.

The Decks: 8.5/10

Each deck is made up of 2 kinds of cards: basic attack cards and special cards. Each character on your team has their own cards that only they can use.

Basic attack cards have two numbers on them: attack and defense. These make up about half of the deck and are used for, you guessed it, attacking and defending. During battle, you can play one of these cards and use the appropriate number, depending on whether your attacking and defending. Whoever reveals the higher number in a fight, wins that encounter.

The other type of cards are specials, and this is where the real flavor of the characters come out. There are lots of interesting and unique cards. Some cause your opponent to discard from their hand. Others can deal damage and stop your opponent from moving. Some cards allow you to hit the opponent multiple times or draw extra cards, and lots of other effects. There is a lot of variety to the special cards in this game.

Character teams are broken into two henchmen types and two fighting styles (none of these are official terms, but are observations I've made). Characters like Vader, Dooku, and Yoda, have "soldier" henchmen. They get 2-4 henchmen that are fairly weak in combat. Soldier henchmen only have basic attack cards. They have low health and serve as a distraction as well as provide some support.

The other henchmen type is "sidekick". Han, Luke, and Boba Fett have sidekick characters that have more health than soldier henchmen and are generally better at fighting. Unlike soldiers, sidekick characters have both basic attack and special cards.

The two combat styles are melee and ranged. Melee can only attack pieces they're adjacent to, while ranged characters can attack anyone as long as they have line of sight. The character teams come in a mix of soldier, sidekick, melee, and ranged type combinations. There's enough variety here to keep strategies and gameplay interesting.

Another really impressive part of the game is how the characters are represented. Each character deck lend themselves to unique strategies. For example, the Emperor has a lot of cards that force your opponent to discard, which really plays to his manipulative and scheming flavor. His basic attack cards are however, fairly lousey. Maul on the otherhand, has lots of cards that let him attack multiple times, or attack and then move. You really get the sense of a berserker fighting style from his cards. Yoda's cards play very defensively. Each of the character decks feel different and represent the characters well.

The one problem with the decks though, are balance. The Boba Fett deck, for example, just feels very weak and pretty useless compared to more powerful characters like Yoda and Vader. Most of the characters are pretty good, but after a few games, you'll notice a few characters have some disadvantages.

Customization: 10/10

If there ever was a game that was meant to be tweaked with, it was this one. The great part about this game is making up your own character teams and decks. Wanna play as R2-D2 and C-3PO? Make a deck for them! Have a favorite expanded universe character, or a jedi character you've made up on your own? The possibilities for custom decks are really endless. The mechanics of this game have enough depth where you can make lots of interesting and cool effects while still representing the flavor and feel of the character.

There are plenty of websites that offer custom teams people have made as well. A lot of these custom decks are surprisingly very good and balanced, even with the decks that come with the game. Custom decks add a ton of replayability and variety to this game, as well as adding new and unique strategies. Using custom made decks really is a must for the game!

Overall: 8.5/10

Star Wars: Epic Duels is really a solid game, especially for Star Wars fans. If you enjoy card games like Magic: the Gathering, then you'll be right at home with the deck aspect of the game. Fans of miniature battle games might be disappointed with this one. The miniature rules are very basic and minimal at best. The strategy to movement doesn't get more complicated than getting close enough to someone to hit them.

The components of the game aren't really that great, but the game mechanics are pretty fun. This is a great game to bring out and play a quick few rounds with. This game is really bigger than the box, in that making your own decks or rules adds a lot to this game. If your the kind of person that loves to tweak games or play with a lot of house rules, this game is definitely for you!

Thread: Re: Two Hours, Six Players, and the Balance of the Force

Jeremiah_Lee — 2008-04-27T11:46:34+00:00

I suggested that we play several 1v1 battles due to quickness, but everyone seemed more interested in a big game, so we played that. I had read that time-bloat was an issue, but it wasn't much of an issue with us. The game was 20 minutes for each player (two hours total), and the community spirit was enough to keep it fun throughout.

I'd like to play some 1v1, and expect that I will.

Thread: Re: Two Hours, Six Players, and the Balance of the Force

reapersaurus — 2008-04-27T07:10:20+00:00

Because of the downtime and enhanced game length when doing 3 v 3 (and even 2 v 2) battles, I think Epic Duels is just a better game when played 1 v 1.
When there are more people, the other 4 probably would gain more benefit from playing a game designed for 4 (or even best yet, 3 simultaneous seperate Epic Duels duels and make it a best 2 out of 3 challenge, light v dark).

But even with the extended length, a 3 v 3 battle is certainly epic and memorable.

Thread: Two Hours, Six Players, and the Balance of the Force

Jeremiah_Lee — 2008-04-26T11:46:46+00:00

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My good friends and neighbors from Touchstone Cohousing got together to enjoy another good game. This time we sat down to play Epic Duels. We decided against doing three 1v1 Duels, and instead went for a big 3v3 Light vs. Dark showdown. We just butted two maps together (the Arena, and the Carbon-Freezing Chamber) to have some more space, and went at it.

Three out of the six of us are pretty serious gamers, two are occasional gamers, and another (who played Jango Fett) has only played Sorry! in his adult life of gaming. I believe this gaming session was fun enough to bring him into more games.

The game itself went quite well, with very little issues with the rules (the question "can I attack twice in one turn" was asked three times). The game plays easily, and while there can be some pretty substantial downtime when playing with this many players, things moved along quick enough. There was enough pure fun in the game to make the time between turns interesting.

The Light side triumphed, with the final record of combatants as follows:
Anakin & Padme (killed)
Obi-Wan & Clones (killed x2)
Han (killed) & Chewbacca

Dark Side, all killed
Count Dooku & Battle Droids
Jango Fett & Zam Wessel
Emperor Palpatine & Royal Guards

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operamang — 2008-03-05T05:26:25+00:00

Epic Duels -vs- Star Wars Miniatures : Palpatine/Royal Guards

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herman_the_german — 2008-01-25T17:04:44+00:00

Epic Duels and Transformer Armada pieces comparison.

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riledguy — 2007-12-18T15:32:34+00:00

Yoda's Special Cards

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riledguy — 2007-12-18T15:31:00+00:00

Darth Vader's Special Cards

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riledguy — 2007-12-18T15:30:00+00:00

Obi-Wan's Special Cards

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riledguy — 2007-12-18T15:28:56+00:00

Mace Windu's Special Cards

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riledguy — 2007-12-18T15:26:25+00:00

Luke's Special Cards

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riledguy — 2007-12-18T15:24:57+00:00

Jango Fett's Special Cards