‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ Board Game Designer Talks Adapting ‘Pandemic’ Rule System for the Game, Adding Homages to Animated Series
Are you an avid board game player? Are you also a fan of the Clone Wars animated series? If you answered yes to both of those questions, then Z-Man Games and Asmodee have recently released a board game that you might be interested in. Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a new cooperative board game — based on the fan-favorite animated series — using the same mechanics as Z-Man Games’ popular Pandemic series of board games.
StarWars.com recently spoke with Alexandar Ortloff-Tang, who was the game designer for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, about the philosophy behind the game’s rules and all the care that went into making sure that it provided an authentic Clone Wars gaming experience.
Fans of the animated series will be happy to hear that Ortloff-Tang did a healthy amount of research when making the game, which included rewatching the entire show several times. The development team also drew inspiration from specific moments in the show when making art for the game.
“The first thing I did when I started on the project was to watch the whole series from start to finish to make sure it was fresh in my mind,” Ortloff-Tang says. “Over the course of the project, I ended up rewatching it a bunch of times, both for inspiration and just for entertainment. It was fun to immerse myself in that era.”
“We tried to include a lot of little nods to the source material. Much of the art is based on particular moments from the series — I love the idea of seeing a favorite character and having the art take you back to a specific moment in their story.”
As fans of the animated series know, the show visited a vast number of planets from across the Star Wars galaxy throughout its seven-season run. The development team behind the new board game recognized this aspect of the show, and they tried to include as many beloved locations from the series as possible in their game.
“Some planets felt obvious from the start because they are so integral to the Clone Wars, like Coruscant and Kamino. Some were the sites of memorable and evocative events, so we included them as locations for mission cards; Umbara comes to mind, as does Lola Sayu. And some were fan-favorite planets, like Tatooine and Corellia, which we knew we wanted to appear even if we didn’t set a mission there.”
If you play lots of board games, you might already know how the Pandemic rule system works. If not, that won’t be a problem because Ortloff-Tang and his team made sure that the game would be easy for newcomers to learn. If you’re on the fence about buying the game and want to figure out if it’s for you or not, you can download the rules for free and read them before you decide.
“Different players learn better in different ways,” he says. “There are some great videos online that teach the game quickly and clearly, so those can be a great resource. And if you’re lucky enough to know someone who has played before, having them teach you is always the easiest way.”
The team even took the time to develop a solo mode for the game in case you’re having trouble scheduling a game night with friends, or if you’re just the kind of person who prefers solo play.
“Solo rules are becoming more common in board games, and I see it as a great trend. Solo rules give you the option to engage with the game even if no one else is around. They can also make it easier for a single person to learn a game before introducing it to others. And some people just really love playing board games solo on their own time at their own pace. All good reasons to make the game playable [for] one.”
If you’re interested in bringing some Clone Wars-era action to your gaming table, you can get Z-Man Games’ Star Wars: The Clone Wars straight from their website. For the full interview, you can check out StarWars.com. Stay tuned to SWNN for more Star Wars tabletop gaming news.
Eric has been a fan of Star Wars ever since the age of five (or so) when his parents sat him down in front of a TV with pizza and a Sprite and showed him the original trilogy. He keeps trying to convince more fans to read the amazing 1980s Star Wars newspaper comics by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson. When he's not reading, watching or playing Star Wars media, he's often enjoying other great fantasy and science fiction sagas or playing roleplaying games with his friends.
