How to Play

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

1-5 players 60-60 min 7.5 Board Game Geek Rating

Players control legendary Jedi across a besieged galaxy using Pandemic-style cooperative mechanics. Battle droids continuously spawn and threaten planets with blockades. Teams must coordinate movement between worlds, engaging enemies through dice-based combat while completing critical missions. Victory requires successfully pushing back the Separatist invasion before planets fall permanently under enemy control.

Published 2022

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Place board and components

Put the board in the center of the table and place droids and blockades nearby to form a general supply

Set track markers

Place 1 track marker at the start of the invasion track and 1 track marker at the start of the threat track

Choose villain

Select 1 villain to play against (Asajj Ventress recommended for first game)

Create invasion discard pile

Place 2 "Mission Planet" invasion cards face up near the "Invasion Discard" indicator, then shuffle the invasion deck and place it face down near the "Invasion Deck" indicator

Populate planets with droids

Draw 2 invasion cards and place 3 droids on each matching planet

Select Jedi

Each player chooses 1 Jedi card and takes the matching Jedi miniature

Prepare squad deck

Shuffle the squad deck and place it face down near the "Squad Deck" indicator

Build mission deck

Select difficulty level and take the corresponding number of random mission cards

Draw starting missions

Draw the top mission card and place it face up near the orange mission indicator

Determine first player

The player with initiative takes the first turn and takes the die

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Ready cards

At the start of your turn, ready all exhausted squad cards in your hand by turning them upright so they can be used for their effects

Fly

Move your Jedi to a connected planet; enemies do not affect Jedi movement

Reinforce

Draw 1 squad card (you may draw even at the 7-card hand limit; if over 7 cards, you must play or discard ally cards until you have only 7)

Attack

Roll the die to deal damage to enemies on your planet

Attempt mission

On a mission planet without a blockade or villain, roll the die and contribute cards for successes

Assault and stealth cards

Exhaust to add successes to an attack on your planet (only one type per attack)

Armor cards

Exhaust to prevent 1 damage per card to a Jedi on your planet

Transport cards

Exhaust to double a flight, allowing a Jedi to move twice during that flight (limit 1 per flight)

Ally cards

Discard to use the effect; can be played at any time unless otherwise specified

Free action

Use your Jedi card's special ability once during your "Do 4 Actions" step without counting toward your 4 actions

Check reminder token

If the reminder token is on the villain deck, resolve the effect on the villain sheet before drawing a villain card

Draw villain card

Draw 1 card from the villain deck, resolve its effect from top to bottom (skip effects that cannot be resolved), and place it face up in the villain discard pile

Planet Under Siege card

When drawn, advance the invasion marker 1 space right (or advance threat if at the end), draw the bottom card of the invasion deck and fill the matching planet to 3 droids, then shuffle the invasion discard pile and place it face down on top of the invasion deck

Flip invasion cards

Flip cards equal to the current invasion rate shown on the invasion track

Trigger occupation

When a 4th droid would be placed on a planet, do not place it

Blockade restrictions

While a planet has a blockade, Jedi cannot affect missions, droids, or villains on that planet; blockades are removed after taking 2 damage

Maintain hand limit

The hand limit of 7 cards applies at all times; if you have more than 7 cards, you must play or discard ally cards until you have only 7

Suffer damage

When you take damage, discard that many squad cards from your hand to the squad discard pile; if you have no cards, additional damage has no effect

Winning

How to claim victory.

Win condition

Complete all missions in the deck, then complete the finale on the back of the villain sheet to win instantly

Finale activation

When the last mission card is completed, immediately flip the villain sheet and resolve all "FINALE SETUP" effects; only the finale side applies for the rest of the game

Finale completion

Each villain sheet specifies what must be done to complete the finale and win (most finales require completing 1 or more missions; you may attempt missions on a planet with a villain during the finale)

Lose condition - threat

If the threat marker reaches the bottom of the threat track, all players immediately lose

Occupation

Advance threat 1 space when a 4th droid would be placed on a planet

Empty supply

Advance threat 1 space for each droid or blockade you cannot place due to empty supply

Invasion track full

Advance threat 1 space instead if the invasion marker cannot advance further

Villain effects

Some villain effects advance the threat marker