Disney Villainous has exploded since its release in 2018, selling over 4 million units worldwide. The basic system remains the same (move your villain, perform actions, play cards, all in order to fulfill your victory condition), but Prospero Hall did an excellent job of building in a lot of potential nuance to make room for many different types of villains. I’ve enjoyed Villainous for many years for multiple reasons: fairly accessible gameplay, super appealing theme, nostalgia, and the way all 3 of those work together to make Villainous an easy choice for family game night (or if we want to run a massive tournament).
I’ve taken the liberty of adding a grading system for each villain, which is essentially meant to show how easy they are to win with. This is both subjective and empirical, as these ratings are based on Reddit and BGG forms as well as my own experience with each villain. Jump links for each section are below:
- Disney Villainous: The Worst Takes It All
- Marvel Villainous: Infinite Power
- Star Wars Villainous: Power of the Dark Side
- Disney Villainous: Wicked to the Core
- Disney Villainous: Evil Comes Prepared
- Disney Villainous: Perfectly Wretched
- Disney Villainous: Despicable Plots
- Marvel Villainous: Mischief and Malice
- Disney Villainous: Bigger and Badder
- Star Wars Villainous: Scum and Villainy
Note that I’m missing reviews for the following Villainous expansions, but I hope post them soon: Marvel Villainous: We Are Venom (2022), Disney Villainous: Filled with Fright (2023), Marvel Villainous: Twisted Ambitions (2023), Disney Villainous: Sugar and Spite (2024), Star Wars Villainous: Revenge at Last (2024).
General Review
Disney Villainous is not and was not intended to be a deeply strategic game. It’s more about enjoying the villain you’re playing as, embracing the warm nudges of nostalgia, and trying to give your character the best chance you can to get a win all while suffering through the devastating setbacks all villains face. Mathematically-based strategies abound, but the reliance on shuffled decks and the (fun) employment of asymmetrical villains make things too random for veterans to always beat newcomers, which is a good thing for a game with as wide an appeal as this.
To start, everyone will choose a villain to play as and collect their board (Realm), villain cards, and Fate cards. All villains within each universe are compatible with each other, but not all villains are created equal. Some villains will beat other villains 90% of the time, which is just what ends up happening when you have a bunch of asymmetric characters. That’s not a bad thing, and it can even serve as a nice handicap for experienced players going up against newer players.
On your turn, you’ll move your piece to 1 of the 4 locations in your Realm, and perform as many of the 3-5 actions there as you’d like. Most of the time, that includes gaining Power (Villainous’s currency), and playing a card. Sometimes, you’ll Fate other players, which means you’ll draw 2 cards from their Fate deck (conditions and Heroes) and play 1 of those cards so as to hinder the opposing villain in their quest for victory. Fating people is really all the player interaction Villainous offers, but it can be a lot of fun (and quite frustrating).
That’s the core system. Pretty simple. The nuances come in for each villain, as you’ll find out when you read about each set. The fact that the core system is so simple and yet so flexible is great because, once you understand it, you can learn a bunch of different villains without feeling like you’re learning an entirely new game. It’s more like you’re learning about a new way to play the game.
The components for these games are excellent. The player movers are tactile and chunky, and if there’s a problem with 1 (they’re mass-produced, after all), Ravensburger was great about sending the replacement part I needed when my Jafar mover leaned too much to stand on his own. The artwork has all been streamlined into an almost-3D cartoony look, which works great because they’re taking source material from cartoons of the 1920s as well as high-budget animated movies from the 2010s. The player boards and tokens are all excellent as well, and the cards have held up well to many shuffling. The unique artwork on each villains’ deck is also cool to look at and decipher what each symbol has to do with their original story.
My main general critique with the Villainous line is that games with higher player counts can drag on for 2+ hours. A decent chunk of villains’ win condition begins with: “At the start of your turn…” which means, if you’re playing as that villain, you’ll have to achieve the condition (say it’s have 6 bandits in your Realm), and then survive every other player fating you in order to win. Sometimes it happens, but a lot of Fate cards are brutal and will set you back 2-4 turns. When Villainous becomes a grind of fating the almost-winner for an hour until someone forgets, that’s when this game is at its worst. The core system is fun, but it’s not complex enough nor are the cards aren’t deep enough to warrant a 2+ hour game.
On the positive side, it is a lot of fun playing as these familiar villains. There’s roleplaying opportunities here too as you play as the villain, go through your multi-step victory condition, and fight off Heroes. You’re creating your own story as you play the game, and you’re using familiar characters, which is great. Moreover, the gameplay itself isn’t bad, it’s just bad when it pushes that 1.5-2 hour mark. While it’s fun to play Villainous with 4+ players, I’ve had the most fun, from a gameplay perspective, at 2 players. 3 players is a nice sweet spot too if you’re looking to keep the strong gameplay and throw in a bit more chaos.
Core Sets
These provide the best value if you’re looking to jump into Villainous. Also note that I will be discussing villains in terms of tiers: A, B, C, and D tiers, with A-tier villains being the best set up to win quickly, and D-tier being the slow burners who will rarely win unless they’re playing against other C or D-tiers.
Disney Villainous: The Worst Takes It All (2018)
This set includes 6 villains: Captain Hook from Peter Pan, Jafar from Aladdin, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, Prince John from Robin Hood, The Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, and Ursula from The Little Mermaid.
Captain Hook (B-tier) must locate the Neverland Map and then lure Peter Pan to the Jolly Roger and defeat him. While it can feel wasteful burning through his deck to find the Neverland Map, Hook can use that time to build up traps and allies to defeat Pan easily once he does find him. It’s straightforward gameplay that’s easy for new players to grasp, though the 3rd and 4th plays aren’t as exciting as the first few. Fortunately, Hook doesn’t suffer from any silver bullet Fate cards, and by that I mean there aren’t any Fate cards that will set him back 5+ turns.
Jafar (C-tier) must find the amulet to unlock the Cave of Wonders, seduce the genie to become his Ally with his snake staff, and maintain possession of the magic lamp until the beginning of his next turn to win. If it sounds like a lot, it’s because it is, but Jafar is a favorite of mine because of how versatile his villain deck is and how his sneaky plan in Aladdin is so well-replicated here. It feels extra Jafarian when you use the snake staff to convert Heroes to your allies, then use them to defeat each other. And of course there’s a card called A Necessary Sacrifice that lets you discard an item or Ally to gain 3 Power. Excellent, versatile, thematic gameplay.
Maleficent (C-tier) must begin her turn with a curse at each of the 4 locations in her Realm. Maleficent is a fun puzzle to solve because when you get close to playing all 4 curses, you have to look at her board, look at the Heroes in play, and figure out the best place to put the remaining curses because they each have different powers. She is difficult to win with because you have to start your turn with all curses out, and a good portion of her Fate deck is geared towards removing curses, but she’s still a fun play for me because I enjoy the puzzle and the darkish fantasy artwork.
Prince John (B-tier) must begin his turn with 20 Power. Basically, he’s a hoarder. He’s all about the cash-grab, and his cards offer tantalizing investments, while his Fate cards threaten financial loss. Prince John can be quite fun to play as if you’re trying to maximize his investment cards and allies (especially the Sheriff of Nottingham who taxes Heroes), and he can also be boring (yet equally satisfying?) to play as because there’s a viable strategy of him jumping back and forth between his 2 gain Power actions for the slow-but-sure victory.
The Queen of Hearts (A-tier) must successfully take the shot. She does this by converting her card guards to wickets and drawing cards to see if her shot is successful or not. The more guards she has in her Realm, the more likely her shot will succeed. She’s straightforward and pretty easy to win with. Something unique about her is that she can shrink Hero cards so they only cover up 1 of the top actions in a space, while her Fate deck can enlarge Hero cards, which allows them to cover up 3 of the top actions.
Ursula (D-tier) must begin her turn with the Trident and the Crown, which usually involves defeating King Triton as well. This is made more complicated by an ever-present lock token in Ursula’s Realm, which will move from each location depending on whether she’s in human or sea-witch form. It’s a fun concept, that, along with Ursula’s multi-step win condition and her inability to defeat Heroes outside of the use of Binding Contracts (which defeat a Hero when they’re at x location) make Ursula a complex villain to play as. Immensely rewarding if you manage to win with her, but not a villain you’d recommend to a new player.
This is the best way to jump into the world of Villainous. 8/10
Marvel Villainous: Infinite Power (2020)
This set includes 5 villains: Hela, Killmonger, Taskmaster, Thanos, and Ultron.
What’s different here is that all villains share the same Fate Deck, which is customized depending on which villains are playing, and most of these villains will be spending time in other players’ Realms, which helps increase the player interaction piece. There’s also the added benefit of +1/-1 Strength tokens, which are helpful tokens to alleviate some confusion present in Disney Villainous. However, setup and teardown are a bit longer, as you’ll need to add all the villains you’re playing with’s Fate Decks into the main Fate Deck.
Hela (B-tier) must have a combination of 8 Allies and Soul Marks and no opponents at Odin’s Vault. Soul Marks are tokens unique to Hela, and she can play cards to place them on any Heroes. When a Hero with a Soul mark is defeated, their Soul Mark goes to Odin’s Vault, which helps Hela. This is a fantastic mechanic that increases player interaction, manifests Hela’s theme as the Goddess of Death, and leads to interesting decisions by other players: should they defeat a pesky Hero when they know its Soul Mark will go to Hela? This is what Villainous is all about, not to mention her awesome Draughr Swordsmen.
Killmonger (A-tier) must take control of the Mines and relocate 2 explosives to any domain outside of his own. To accomplish that, Killmonger must complete a series of sequential missions: defeat Klaw (who starts out at The Golden City), find and defeat Black Panther, and then he can move explosives if he controls the mine. It sounds like a lot, but it all plays out fairly smoothly, often resulting in easy victories, even if others are ganged up on fating him. He’s an easy recommendation for a first-time player, but most returners will find him too easy.
Taskmaster (B-tier) must have 4 Allies with 5 or more Strength at different locations. To do that, he’ll of course need to play some Allies, but he’ll also have to buff his Allies using cards in his Villain Deck. While simple enough to understand, this does create some back-and-forth tension regarding when Taskmaster should defeat an annoying Hero and when he should buff his Allies. Some of his cards allow him to do both, but often, a difficult choice must be made. As one of my favorite Marvel villains, it’s a fun time army-building and army-training, especially since Taskmaster features 7 unique Allies.
Thanos (D-tier) must collect all 6 infinity stones and snap his fingers! Thanos is the most fun Marvel villain to have in any game of Marvel Villainous. His infinity stones will pop up randomly in other players’ Realms, giving them a very powerful buff for as long as they can hold onto it, and Thanos will send his minions across the Realms to find those stones and collect them for himself. Such a fun design mechanic that translates surprisingly well to the Villainous mechanics. The major downside here is that Thanos is tough to win with, but he’s so fun to play as that most people won’t mind taking 1 for the team and enjoying the ride.
Ultron (A-tier) must reveal Age of Ultron. Ultron has 4 double-sided objective cards that he must progress through in order to reveal Age of Ultron. Each time he completes an objective, he flips it over and gains its special ability, effectively upgrading as he progresses. While this idea is on-brand for the character, it’s really difficult to stop via fating, and so, like Killmonger, Ultron becomes a good recommendation for a first-time player, but the ease at which he wins will dissuade some.
Marvel Villainous: Infinite Power adds more player interaction with the exciting ability to hop around other players’ Realms, and the shared Fate deck replicates the Avengers as well as anything in the Villainous system could. However, the trade-off is a longer playtime, especially with more than 2 players, and less thematic coherence: because of the shared Fate deck, Black Panther could be trying to take down Thanos while Black Widow squares off against Hela. Not a big deal-breaker, especially because of the endless scenarios provided by the comics, but not as thematically tight as each villain having their own Fate deck. This core set is a bit more complicated than the Disney Villainous core set, but it’s still not overwhelmingly so. It is, however, bogged down by 2 easy-win villains (Killmonger and Ultron) that won’t see a lot of tabletime in more serious groups.
Marvel Villainous does add enough interesting new mechanics to make it worth playing (Thanos’s player interaction alone almost makes this set commendable), but unless you’re a big Marvel fan, you’re likely better off sticking with the base game. 6.5/10
Star Wars Villainous: Power of the Dark Side (2022)
This set includes 5 villains: Asajj Ventress, Darth Vader, General Grievous, Kylo Ren, and Moff Gideon. Full review here.
I’m a huge Star Wars fan, so ever since my first game of Disney Villainous, I’ve been telling my wife about how they could make a Star Wars version, what characters they could use, what their objectives could be, so to see this come to fruition is very exciting, but I also come at it with high expectations.
Star Wars Villainous adds a new space on villains’ Sectors (“Realms” didn’t sound right for Star Wars?): deep space. Deep space is cool because villains can play ships there, which provide a special ability and extra actions if the villain token moves there. Deep space can also be contested by Fate vehicles, which, if left unengaged, will reduce your hand size by 1 per vehicle out there. Deep space is a welcome addition to the Villainous world because it opens up more options strategically.
Another new mechanic is a resource called Ambition. While Credits replace Power, Ambition, which villains gain 1 of at the start of their turns, is used for special cards and often for win conditions. Another great idea from designers Prospero Hall and Michael Mulvihill. Ambition works so well because it acts as a threshold timer for win conditions. Even if a villain luckily has all the right cards to win the game in a few short turns, in Star Wars Villainous, he can’t, because he only gets 1 Ambition per turn, and there’s not many other ways of getting it. No more Dr. Facilier or Queen of Hearts winning in 5 turns because they got super lucky.
Asajj Ventress (C-tier) must complete 3 (of 5 available) missions via meeting certain conditions on her board. She plays similar to Pete, though Pete’s missions seem to be easier (fitting because he has to complete 4 of them). However, Asajj’s missions often involve multiple steps, which means that a well-placed Fate card sets her back quite a few turns. She also has a lot of unique (only 1 copy) cards in her deck which you’ll need to use carefully.
Darth Vader (A-tier) must seduce Luke, bring him to the Emperor’s Throne Room, and pay 6 Ambition to defeat him before the Emperor. Darth Vader feels like the most polished villain of any Villainous pack. Every card in his deck makes a ton of sense, and he doesn’t have too many different cards, which increases his overall system alignment. Vader makes a great villain for a first-timer to play as, but he’s also really fun if you like maximizing everything because it’s easy to do, just don’t expect much of a challenge (read: “All too easy,” in Vader’s words).
General Grievous (B-tier) needs to make 8 fine additions to his collection (collect 8 lightsabers). He plays like a Scar-Cruella de Vil crossover with some of his own flair thrown in. He has a ton of allies at his disposal, and I like the thematics of the battle droids starting with a Strength of 0. Because all he needs to do is find the Jedi and defeat them, his win condition is essentially a timer. He won’t win every game, but if a game goes on long enough, he’ll eventually win it.
Kylo Ren (C-tier) must fully give in to the dark side. In other words, he needs to move all 6 destiny tokens towards the Dark Side of his 3-section board (Light Side, neutral, and Dark Side). Many of his Ambition cards allow him to do this, and the cards are thematic and often include Kylo Ren quotes like “I can take what I want” and “Your son is gone.” However, Rey is incredibly problematic as a Hero because she moves all tokens towards the light side. This seems overpowered and is honestly a gut-wrenching game-buster if she comes out late. I understand that those types of plays are part of what Villainous is, but I still don’t like it because it seems unrecoverable (unless the game lasts another hour, which is another problem).
Moff Gideon (D-tier) needs to perform experiments on Grogu with Dr. Pershing to win. I like Moff Gideon a lot as a character. Unfortunately, he is the worst-designed character in Star Wars Villainous. His Sector only has 1 Fate action, which makes it poor in general but especially in a 1v1; he relies heavily on moving his allies around but he only has 1 move action and it’s on the Hero side, which makes it an easy target for Heroes; his whole win condition revolves around finding 2 cards (of which he only has 1 copy each), capturing Grogu, and playing those cards to captured Grogu’s location, but the big problem is that 1 of those cards can be discarded when played by Fate actions and that whole win process takes several turns to set up; he has no cards that let him look through his discard pile or main deck for either of those 2 cards he needs (even Jafar had that). Sure, the 2 ships he can play add a Fate action and a move action, and there’s only 1 Hero vehicle, but his whole playstyle is so dependent on luck that if you’re unlucky it’s unplayable. This is especially frustrating because all the other characters are so good.
The artwork here is awesome. It captures the Star Wars feel while still bringing that usual, slightly watercolor Villainous vibe. The components are great, as usual, and the villain movers are sweet. However, there are simply not enough tokens, even for a 3-player game, which is an embarrassing oversight for such an established company/game series.
All the nods to the source content manifesting themselves into gameplay are also a delight: Darth Vader crushing his own Heroes for more Ambition with I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing, Kylo Ren’s back-and-forth from light to dark, and General Grievous’s complete disregard for his battle droids while trying defeat Jedi.
There’s room for growth here, and I fully expect to see a Star Wars Villainous expansion in the next year or so. There’s still a lot of great options out there (Darth Maul? Jabba the Hutt? Nute Gunray? Count Dooku? Chancellor Palpatine? Cad Bane? Boba Fett?). However, Star Wars Villainous has some great villains that work really well.
The bang for your buck is better with the original core set, but the Star Wars theming is of great personal interest to me. While it’s still not as strategic as I’d like, and Moff Gideon has a huge disadvantage, it’s still fun playing the Star Wars version of Villainous. 7.5/10
Expansion Sets
These sets are all fully playable and do not require any core sets to be able to play, but individually, they are limited to 2-3 players. Multiple can be combined for any player count, so long as the expansions are within the Disney Villainous, Marvel Villainous, or Star Wars Villainous universe.
Disney Villainous: Wicked to the Core (2019)
This set includes Dr. Facilier from The Princess and the Frog, The Evil Queen from Snow White, and Hades from Hercules.
Dr. Facilier (A-tier) must draw Rule New Orleans from his special, separate fortune deck. He can be a lot of fun if you’re in a riverboat-gambler kind of mood, but he’s pretty easy to win as. He has the potential to win the game faster than any other villain, but he can also take a while to win too if he’s radically unlucky.
The Evil Queen (A-tier) must play all spells in order to unblock Snow White’s cottage, then transform herself into an evil hag, and finally poison Snow White. She’s the most engaging of the group because of her multi-step path to victory, and she’s also the most satisfying because you almost always feel like you’ve accomplished something on your turn with her.
Hades (D-tier) must play his titans to The Underworld, which is the left-most space in his Realm, and march those bad boys all the way to Mount Olympus, all the while dodging Heroes like Zues who can immobilize the already-slow-moving titans. I love playing as Hades, but he’s so difficult to win with, especially because he has to start his turn with 3 fully-functional titans at Mount Olympus. .
This pack has some of the more fun characters and has some diverse gameplay mechanics, so it’s worth having, but it’s too imbalanced to justify having on its own. 7/10
Disney Villainous: Evil Comes Prepared (2019)
This set includes Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective, Scar from The Lion King, and Yzma from Emperor’s New Groove.
Ratigan (B-tier) must either successfully move the Robot Queen to the palace or defeat Basil if the Robot Queen is defeated. Ratigan has a handful of allies he can use, as well as plenty of gears that reduce the Robot Queen’s extravagant 15-Power cost. Ratigan makes use of items that he can activate, and his Realm includes a location (The Secret Lair) that is helpful to keep pesky Heroes. However, if the Robot Queen plan fails, defeating Basil requires plenty of foresight. Ratigan can use Marvelous Traps to defeat Basil on the next turn, but if he’s Fated and Basil is moved, the Marvelous Trap is useless.
Scar (D-tier) must defeat Mufasa and then begin his turn with 15 Strength in his succession pile, which is essentially a “defeated Heroes” pile. While this sounds simple, it’s excruciatingly difficult given Scar’s hard-hitting Fate deck that can even resurrect previously defeated Heroes. Moreover, finding and defeating Mufasa is already a tough assignment, and if other players’ Fate you early, those extra Heroes are going to make defeating Mufasa even harder. Scar is fun to play as, and there are some fun combinations possible with the hyenas that gain Strength when they’re around other hyenas and the Stampede card, but don’t expect to win often.
Yzma (B-tier) must find and defeat Kuzko. Easy, riiight? However, Kuzko is hiding in Yzma’s Fate deck, and Yzma’s Fate deck is actually split into 4 Fate decks, 1 for each location in her Realm. Yzma has plenty of cards that let her look through Fate decks to find and play Kuzko, but her Fate cards also allow opponents to help Kuzko flee. Emperor’s New Groove is one of my all-time favorites, and the Yzma’s whole play represents the movie’s humor and on-the-run theming so well. Also, Kronk is front and center in Yzma’s gameplay, and if she’s not careful, he will eventually turn into a Hero that she has to deal with!
Evil Comes Prepared wins the “which Disney Villainous expansion has Spencer’s favorites” contest, but it once again suffers from an imbalance because of a weaker villain. However, both Ratigan and Yzma are unique enough to make this a worthwhile investment. 8/10
Disney Villainous: Perfectly Wretched (2020)
This set includes Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmations, Mother Gothel from Tangled, and Pete from Steamboat Willie.
Cruella de Vil (C-tier) must begin her turn with, you guessed it, 101 Dalmatians. This is accomplished through collecting tiles that have 11 or 22 puppies on them. While this collecting bit feels similar to Prince John and/or Scar, puppy collecting is a tad more complicated than Power hoarding and defeating Heroes. Cruella must first discover puppies before she can collect them, and in order to discover puppies efficiently, she’ll need to employ the use of her henchmen, Horace and Jasper (and her Roadster, though that can get wrecked through Fate cards). Great movie-gameplay implementation.
Mother Gothel (C-tier) must begin her turn with 10 or more Trust, a currency unique to her (though the same Power tokens are used). The hero Rapunzel never leaves Mother Gothel’s Realm as she gradually makes her way from Rapunzel’s Tower to Corona, usually 1 turn at a time. Mother Gothel must plan multiple turns ahead to defeat Rapunzel at the right time so she doesn’t lose valuable Trust. There’s some great nods to Tangled in here, as well as some fun gameplay mechanics where Mother Gothel shows Rapunzel that her Heroes weren’t all they were cracked up to be (or vice versa if you’re using the Fate deck).
Pete (B-tier) must accomplish his 4 goal tokens to win. Pete has a total of 5 goal tokens, but he’ll only play with 4, so opponents are left guessing what goal was left out (though some Fate cards allow them to look at Pete’s goals). Right up there with Yzma as far as the most unique villain goes, Pete will employ his vast array of allies and items to accomplish his goals, which could range from holding up the whole Realm to winning a poker game. Pete is a favorite of mine to play as, as his whole villain deck feels versatile enough to eventually tackle any challenge thrown at him.
Another innovative set that presents new gameplay mechanics. While I don’t personally enjoy these villains’ characters more than the ones in Evil Comes Prepared, gameplay-wise, this is the best Disney Villainous expansion to date with balanced villains and exciting mechanics. 8.5/10
Disney Villainous: Despicable Plots (2021)
This set includes Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, Lady Tremaine from Cinderella, and The Horned King from The Black Cauldron.
Gaston (C-tier) must remove all 8 obstacles from his Realm. It sounds simple, and it is. The biggest trick comes in planning when to remove obstacles because, as soon as you get down to only a few, other players will Fate you, and Gaston’s Fate Deck hits hard. There is a play where he can remove 5 obstacles in 1 turn, but it’s tough to pull off. Unfortunately, as much as I like Beauty and the Beast, Gaston is easily 1 of if not the most uninteresting villains in Disney Villainous because of the straightforward gameplay and difficulty of pulling off a win. He would make a great first play for someone, but there’s really not much here to keep anyone coming back.
The Horned King (B-tier) must have a Cauldron Born at each location in his Realm. To do so, he’ll need to play Ancient Soldiers and transform them into Cauldron Born using the Black Cauldron. The darkish fantasy artwork here is really cool, but he feels too similar to Maleficent. He does have the added wrinkle of needing to transform the Ancient Soldiers into Cauldron Born, but if anything it’s a less interesting version of Maleficent because when the Ancient Soldiers get flipped to Cauldron Born, they become indestructible, which is on-theme but superior to many villains. He’s not bad by any means, but he can feel overpowered if he gets a strong start. In short, as a longtime fan of Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain, I was slightly disappointed (but then again, I was disappointed by the movie, too, so what did I expect?).
Lady Tremaine (C-tier) must get 1 of her daughters in a ball gown dress to the Ballroom and activate Wedding Bells when no Glass Slippers are in play. The most interesting villain gameplay-wise gets even more interesting when you take into account that she’ll have to first unlock the Ballroom and locate either Ball Gown Anastasia or Ball Gown Drizella, all while removing those pesky Glass Slippers. Incredibly thematic, and the necessity of planning ahead really makes you feel like Lady Tremaine. Side note: Cinderella’s mice always annoyed me, so it was nice to get to sic the upstanding Lucifer on them from time to time.
This is the most balanced expansion, but it pays for its balance with redundancies in gameplay. Passable unless you’re really into these villains. 6/10
Marvel Villainous: Mischief and Malice (2021)
This set includes Loki, Madame Masque, and M.O.D.O.K.
Loki (B-tier) must gain and spend 10 Mischief tokens. He gains these tokens by playing cards, especially his alternate Lokis, which are played in other players’ Realms, often giving other players (and Loki) an additional boon when that player uses that location. It is incredibly fun to annoy and tempt players with alternate Lokis, which means that the less players in the game with Loki, the more powerful Loki becomes because he ends up just annoying 1 or 2 players. Loki’s mover is arguably the coolest/most thematic in Marvel Villainous. The helmet features swooping horns and his staff acts as the backbone, an unnecessary but awesome detail.
Madame Masque (C-tier) must complete 8 Vendetta Vanquishes. Her income is the most unique that I’ve seen in any villain from the entire Villainous lineup: in order to gain Power, Madame Masque’s Nefaria Allies must control her Realm’s locations (no Heroes on the location means she controls it). When she Vanquishes a Hero, she can either choose to gain Power via Contract Vanquishes, or advance her objective via Vendetta Vanquishes. While she is certainly intriguing to play as, she is challenging to win as.
M.O.D.O.K. (C-tier) must raise his A.I.M. loyalty to 5 and activate the Cosmic Cube with Creating the Cube in play. His multi-step winning process is familiar to the Villainous lineup, but having to obtain 2 specific cards while building up loyalty to A.I.M. is tough. There are a few Fate cards that can really set him back; however, if his villain-specific Fate event gets played on him, it can actually be incredibly helpful because it gives him 5 loyalty to A.I.M.
Something I really like about this expansion is that the villains are well-balanced, don’t feel too similar, and they all have a decent number of things going on. This is not a great starting place for those looking to get into Marvel Villainous, but it provides veterans with plenty to sink their teeth into. The biggest drawback for me is that I’m not really a fan of any of these villains. 7.5/10
Disney Villainous: Bigger and Badder (2022)
This set includes Lotso from Toy Story 3, Madam Mim from The Sword and the Stone, and Syndrome from The Incredibles.
Lotso (C-tier) must reduce the Strength of all 4 Heroes and move them to Caterpillar Room, and also have Buzz Lightyear there too. Lotso has lots-o moving parts, and he’s not recommended for new players because if someone goes after his win conditions early, all that work will be undone by his tough Fate Deck. Lotso also makes use of 5 unique allies that can be quite powerful if played properly. Theme-wise, the back-and-forth of Buzz Lightyear, similar to Kronk, is exciting, and who doesn’t Toy Story? Due to all the moving parts, Lotso can encounter a glitch that makes it nearly impossible for him to win if you’re not careful, which on 1 hand is a potential design oversight, but on the other hand should be avoided by careful players.
Madam Mim (B-tier) must defeat all of Merlin’s Transformations. Similar to Scar, Mim essentially needs to rack up her kill count. Her wrinkle is that she must play the exact form that can defeat each of Merlin’s Transformations. Her objective is pretty straightforward, but how she can go about achieving it will vary depending on the cards she draws and who her opponents are. The artwork is hilarious, as per the source content of the Wizard’s Duel, but there’s not much else here to recommend Mim. She’s middle of the road, and will no doubt delight The Sword and the Stone fans, so long as expectations aren’t too high.
Syndrome (B-tier) must defeat Omnidroid v.10 using his remote and remove all Heroes from his Realm. This is a multi-step process, as he will need to locate his remote and use his 4 Omnidroids to defeat Heroes. Syndrom’s game plan starts out as playing Heroes on himself to progress his Omnidroids, but once Omnidroid v.10 is in his Realm, he’s quite open to fating, as opponents will want as many Heroes as possible in his Realm. Because of the 2 phases that he goes through, Syndrome is quite enjoyable to play as; unfortunately, Syndrome has 1 Fate card that can figuratively murder him, setting him back 5+ turns. I also appreciate that there’s a Fate card called “Monologuing.”
Though this expansion includes 2 beloved Disney film villains and a cult classic villain, it still doesn’t reach the gameplay heights reached by Perfectly Wretched. However, there’s still plenty to enjoy here, especially with the complex Lotso. 7/10
Star Wars Villainous: Scum and Villainy (2023)
This expansion includes 3 villains: Boba Fett from the Original Trilogy, Cad Bane from The Clone Wars, and Seventh Sister from Rebels.
Boba Fett (B-tier) must complete 4 bounties. In order to complete bounties, Boba Fett must first play contacts into his Sector, and then play counties on those contacts. Contacts dictate what rewards Fett will receive when completing the bounties. Bounties are multi-step processes that usually have Fett defeating multiple Heroes. His whole play style manifests his character well, and it’s also a lot of fun being a big bad bounty hunter. However, don’t plan on that additional 5th action: Fett only has 1 ship. In spite of that, he’s easily one of my favorite villains to play as on this entire list.
Cad Bane (B-tier) must collect 5 target tokens. When Bane defeats a Hero, he can place a target token on the Hero, which Bane can then collect by defeating that Hero again via certain cards. While similar to Boba Fett, Bane offers a more consistent play style because he’s simply in the business of collecting targets, not necessarily maneuvering cards in his Sector to complete bounties. While this can at times feel redundant, Bane has enough cards to keep things interesting.
Seventh Sister (C-tier) must remove 3 Rebels from the game. In order to completely remove a Rebel from the game, Seventh Sister must pay the required Ambition when defeating a Rebel. This is nice because that pesky Rebel won’t come back, but it’s also easier said than done because these Rebels will severely handicap Seventh Sister’s abilities. It’s nice to see a Rebels-only villain, although I think Grand Admiral Thrawn would have been a better choice (hopefully he’ll come down the pipeline at some point). While no Fate cards will resurrect a removed Rebel, there are some stingers in here that can make it tough to pull off a victory.
As a longtime Star Wars fan, this expansion is worth the nab for Boba Fett and Cad Bane alone (I could take or leave the Seventh Sister). Perhaps the only slight frustration is that all 3 villains’ playstyles are quite similar; however, they’re all either bounty hunters or assassins, so how can we expect different?
Conclusion
Ravensburger’s Villainous lineup has a lot to offer. Here’s my short-and-sweet recommendations:
- If you want the best introduction, go with Disney Villainous: The Worst Takes It All. You’ll get 6 villains to play as and plenty of gameplay options.
- For the most chaotic version of Villainous, go with Marvel Villainous: Infinite Power. With a shared Fate Deck and the ability to travel to other players’ Realms, this can be a riot.
- For the most balanced version of Villainous, go with Disney Villainous: Despicable Plots. While it features some of the less iconic villains, most of your games will likely come down to the wire.
- For the most interesting expansion set of Villainous, check out Disney Villainous: Perfectly Wretched. All 3 villains do something quite a bit different than other villains up to that point, and Pete is still a favorite of mine to play as on account of his variability.
- For the most robust, strategic version of Villainous (and my personal favorite), check out Star Wars Villainous: Power of the Dark Side. With the addition of Ambition and a space location, there’s a bit more going on here, and you get the added benefit of the best theming (in my humble opinion).