Star Wars Destiny

Today's review is of the 2016 release, Star Wars Destiny.  This collectible card and dice game is for two players and takes 30 minutes.

Overview

In Star Wars Destiny, you build a team of characters (not to exceed 30 points total) and a deck of 30 cards to battle an opponent.  Each character has a color (red/blue/yellow/gray) and an association (hero/villain/neutral).  Squad and deck-building restrictions:
- you can't mix heroes/villains
- the color(s) of your heroes determines the color(s) of cards allowed in your deck (so if you have one red and one blue hero, your deck can include only red or blue cards).

After building, you set up:
- place your character cards (with their dice) in front of you
- place your battlefield
- shuffle your deck and draw 5 cards

You and your opponent roll your initial dice; higher score chooses which battlefield to use for the game.  The loser gets two shield tokens to place on his character(s).  Then, the game begins!

This game is one of alternating actions.  On your turn, you take one action, which can be:
- play a card (paying any resource costs)
- activate a character/support (roll their dice and put it in your pool)
- resolve dice in your pool (must have same face to be resolved as one action).  This is the heart of the game- resolving dice can damage your opponents, heal yourself, or more.
- discard a card to re-roll your dice
- use a card action
- claim the battlefield

example cards and their associated dice; image from here

Players alternate actions until both pass; then the upkeep phase happens:
- ready any exhausted cards you have (you exhaust cards when you activate them)
- gain 2 resources
- discard as many cards as you like from your hand and draw up to five

Then a new round begins (alternating actions/etc.).  This cycle continues until:
- one person's characters are defeated
- a person is out of cards to play

a game in progress; image from here

That's all there is to it!  More detailed rules are here.

Review
Normally a sucker for collectible games, I resisted this successfully for two years.  Yes, it's Star Wars, but what's this "card and dice game" business?  But a starter set hit clearance,and I couldn't resist. 

One review said "this is a whole lot better than I expected."  My thoughts exactly.  The alternating actions concept is excellent and forces constant meaningful decisions.  For example, having rolling and resolving dice be two separate actions heightens the suspense- if you roll well, you have to wait through (and survive) your opponent's action before you can resolve it.  And many other things like this exist, making for an 'on the edge of your seat' experience.

The dice are of high quality, and the overall concept is simple but good.  Check this one out.

Check out the official site for a video tutorial, rules, and more.

Rating: A