Everyone loves heroes. However, heroes would be pretty dull, or not even heroes at all, if it were not for the villains. Some of the greatest villains of all time are the Disney Villains. Seven years ago a new game was released that let players take on the roles of these villains. In Disney Villainous, players could play as one of four fiendish and diabolical villains as they competed to be the most…villainous. Since that time, expansions have been released to add an additional 18 villains to the mix. Now two more villains make their villainous debut, Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean and Tamatoa from Moana, in Disney Villainous: Treacherous Tides.
Disney Villainous: Treacherous Tides is a stand alone expansion for the card-based Disney Villainous strategy game. It is designed for 2 players, ages 10 and up, and takes about 40 minutes to play. With other Disney Villainous games, up to six players can take part in a game. In the game, players take on the role of one of two Disney villains and work to achieve their unique objectives before the other villains. The game includes a hand management mechanic with some “take that” elements as well. It’s currently available for purchase from Target, with a suggested retail price of $19.99 for a copy of the game. Disney Villainous: Treacherous Tides was designed by Mike Mulvihill and published by Ravensburger, with illustrations by Johnny Morrow and Yuri Cameirana.
Here is what you get inside the box:
The villains are represented by their own sculpted movers which are used to show the location where a villain is on their realm. Disney Villainous: Treacherous Tides includes two unique movers.
Each villain has their own realm made up of locations from their story. Each realm has four locations, each with four symbols for actions which can be taken by the villain when at that location. The realm boards also list the objective for the villain to help remind you what you must do to win the game.
The villain cards are what you use to take control of your realm and work towards your objective. There are four basic types of villain cards in Disney Villainous: Treacherous Tides. Allies are characters who help you and can attack heroes that other villains may play on your realm. The number in the bottom left corner is their strength. Items are also placed in your realm and provide lasting effects. Effect and Condition cards are played immediately and then discarded. The number in the upper left corner of a villain card is the cost you must pay in power in order to use that card. Both Davy Jones and Tamatoa have some interesting and powerful cards.
Fate cards are unique to each villain and are played against you by other villains. Effect and item cards function similarly to those types of villain cards. Hero cards are similar to ally cards in that they represent characters. However, unlike allies, heroes are trying to prevent you from achieving your objective. They also have a strength number in the lower left corner.
Maui Cards are used by Tamatoa. While the Maui hero card is in play, Tamatoa draws a Maui card before moving to a new location. The effects of the Maui card are immediate and may change what happens during the turn. Some have a negative effect while others can be neutral or even positive for Tamatoa.
There is a villain guide included for each villain that explain in greater detail how that villain can win the game. It also offers tips to help you win and descriptions of how some of the cards in the villain deck work or interact with other cards. It is a good idea to read through the villain guide before you start playing. There is also a QR code on the back with a link to a quick video on how to play that specific villain.
The reference cards are useful reminders to use during play. One side lists all the action symbols from the realm boards and explains each action. The opposite side lists the objectives for each of the four villains to remind you what your opponents must do to win.
Power tokens are used to represent power, which is the currency in the game. There are also treasure tokens used by Davy Jones, and strength tokens which can be placed on allies or heroes to represent a modification to the strength listed on their cards due to effects during the game.
Ravensburger has created a video to quickly describe the rules for the Disney Villainous series. It can be found here.
The goal of the game is to be the first to fulfill your villain’s objectives.
Disney Villainous: Treacherous Tides is played in turns. During each player’s turn, they go through three main steps. First they move their villain move to a different location in their realm. They cannot stay in the same location. Next they perform as many actions as they wish that are available at that location. Finally, if the player has fewer than four cards in their hand, they draw cards from their villain deck until they have four in their hand.
Each location on the villain’s realms has four action symbols. There are seven different types of actions. The Gain Power action lets the player take a number of power tokens from the cauldron equal to the number in the symbol. The Play a Card action allows a player to play one card from their hand. They can play one card for each symbol of this type they have in their current location. First a player must pay the power cost in the upper left corner of the card by returning that many power tokens to the cauldron. Ally and item cards are played to the bottom of the realm at any of the four locations. Effects and condition cards are played and then discarded immediately. The Fate action lets you choose another villain to target. Draw two cards from their fate deck. Choose one to play and then discard the other. If you play a hero card, place it on the top of one of the locations so that it covers and blocks the top two action symbols. While blocked, the villain cannot take an action at that location. Move an Item or Ally lets you take an item or ally already in your realm and move it to another location. Move a Hero lets you move a hero from one location to another in your realm. The Vanquish action lets you defeat a hero at a location where you have one more more allies. The ally must strength equal or greater than the hero in order to remove them from your realm. You can also must multiple allies at the same location as the hero and combine their strength to defeat the hero. Any allies whose strength was used to defeat a hero are discarded. Finally, the Discard cards action lets you discard any number of cards from your hand. This is a good way to get rid of cards you don’t need so you can draw new ones at the end of your turn.
The game ends as soon as one villain achieves their objective. That player is the winner.
The Disney Villainous series is one of my favorite games. I also enjoy Star Wars Villainous and Marvel Villainous, separate Villainous lines which are not compatible with each other or Disney Villainous. First off, the Disney Villainous games look incredible and have a classy table presence. The art on each card is original, but based on the movies from which the respective villains came. For example, the art on Davy Jones’ cards are illustrations and not photo images from the movies. I like how each villain has different objectives and as a result plays a bit differently. The villains in Disney Villainous: Treacherous Tides are no exception.
I order to win, Tamatoa needs to have both Maui’s hook and the Heart of Te Fiti at its lair. Maui’s hook is a villain card which Tamatoa can play. However, once an opponent plays the Maui fate card, Maui takes the hook and must then be defeated for Tamatoa to get the hook back. The Heart of Te Fiti is a fate item card. Tamatoa has cards which allow him to look for items in the fate deck. Otherwise, Tamatoa must wait for opponents to play the Heart of Te Fiti. Tamatoa also has several villain cards that give him power. This helps when you want to play the You Look Like Seafood card since it can defeat a hero by playing power equal to the hero’s strength. Tamatoa’s fate cards only have three heroes: Moana, Maui, and Hei Hei, the chicken. However, opponents can use fate cards to take away power from Tamatoa as well as move items and heroes around to get them away from allies which might defeat them.
Davy Jones can be a bit tougher to play as. He needs to collect all five treasure tokens. However, in order to do this, you must first place a treasure token on a hero in play, then use a card such as The Black Spot to reveal the treasure. Then by defeating that hero, you collect the treasure. Doing this five times can be tough because several of Davy Jones’ fate cards can take away a treasure from a hero and give it to another while un-revealing it. Also each treasure when revealed has some negative affect on Davy Jones. The Kraken is a powerful ally and you want to get it as soon as you can for vanquishing heroes. You can purchase it for 5 power if it comes into your hand, or you can play Summon the Kraken and discard an ally to search for the card and place it in Davy Jones’ location. Not only does the Kraken have 8 strength, it also is not discarded when it defeats a hero so you can keep using it.
When playing, it is easy to focus on completing your objectives. However, it is important to also play fate cards as often as possible against your opponents. That is where the interaction between the players really takes place. Nothing can be more satisfying, or frustrating, is when a fate card wrecks a carefully laid plan–especially when getting close to winning. Playing fate cards requires some strategy of its own as you try to determine which of the two cards you draw will have a greater effect on your opponent.
While Disney Villainous: Treacherous Tides comes with only two villains, they are compatible with all of the other Disney Villainous games and expansions. These two bring the total number of villains in the series up to 24! By adding more villains, you can also bring the number of players up to six for a single game. I have found that while a two-player duel is fun, adding one or more players can make things more interesting. Sometimes in a two-player game, when a player gets close to winning, it can be tough for one opponent to stop them. However, with multiple opponents, there is a great chance to prevent them from completing their objectives.
I really enjoyed playing as both Davy Jones and Tamatoa. They are great additions to the line-up of villains. Each plays differently and has great interactions among their cards. If you have never played Disney Villainous, then Treacherous Tides is a great place to start. It is considered an expand-alone game since you can play it with two players by itself or use it to expand the series. If you already have some of the series of games, then I highly recommend adding Disney Villainous: Treacherous Tides to your collection.
Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes.
Source: geekdad.com