Gameplay

This article summarizes the rules of the game for Disney Villainous. For more detailed information, see the indicated articles in each section.

Game Overview

Each player takes the role of a different Disney Villain. Each Villain has a different Objective they are trying to achieve. Each turn, players move their Villain Mover to a location on their Board and perform actions that are available there. As soon as a player has fulfilled their Villain’s Objective, the game ends and that player wins. Read the Objective on your Board out loud so that all players know your Objective.

Setup

A game setup using Villains from Bigger and Badder.

See: Setup

Each Villain takes their unique Mover, Realm board, Villain Guide, and two decks - Villain and Fate. You place your Mover in your leftmost location in your Realm, shuffle your two decks, and draw four cards from your Villain deck.

Turn

See: Turn

In clockwise order, players take their turns one at a time. When it is your turn, you first move your Mover to a new location. At the location, you may perform any or all available actions there (some may be covered by a Hero). When you are done performing actions, you draw cards until you have four cards in hand (if you already have four or more cards in hand, you don't draw at all), and pass to the player on your left.

Actions

See: Action

These are the actions that may appear in your Realm:

• Gain Power: take Power tokens from the Cauldron. Power is mostly used to pay the Cost of cards you play.
• Play a Card: play one card from your hand, paying its Cost, and doing what it says. If it is an Ally or Item, you play it to a location on your board; otherwise, you discard it.
• Activate: perform an Activatable Ability of an Ally or Item in your Realm. Doing this does not discard that Ally or Item.
• Fate: reveal the two top cards of an opponent's Fate deck and choose one of them to play against them, discarding the other.
• Move an Item or Ally: move an Ally or unattached Item in your Realm to an adjacent location.
• Move a Hero: move a Hero in your Realm to an adjacent location.
• Vanquish: defeat a Hero in your Realm using one or more Allies. The Allies used are discarded.
• Discard Cards: discard any number of cards from your hand.

Types of Cards

See: Types of Cards

These are the main types of cards that may appear in your decks:

• Ally: played to a location. Allies are played to the bottom of a location and have Strength. Some have Abilities, all can be used to Vanquish.
• Condition: played and then discarded. Conditions are not played using a Play a Card action, but instead are played during another player's turn when they do something to trigger it. Conditions do not have a Cost.
• Effect: played and then discarded. Effects can be in either Villain or Fate decks.
• Hero: played to a location. Heroes are played to the top of a location, where they cover actions.
• Item: played either to a location, or attached to an Ally or Hero. Items can be in either Villain or Fate decks.

Keywords

See: Keyword

These are words with specific gameplay meanings that can appear in card texts:

• Defeat: discard a Hero from your Realm. Defeating is mostly done by Vanquishing, but some cards have Abilities that can defeat Heroes.
• Discard: put in the appropriate discard pile.
• Find: search for a card, first in your Realm, then in the appropriate discard pile, then in the appropriate deck. If you search the deck, shuffle it. Once you have found the card, you will be told what to do with it.
• Look at: take one or more cards so only you can see what they are.
• Reveal: take one or more cards and show them so everyone can see what they are.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What if the text on a card or in a Villain Guide conflicts with the Instructions? The text on cards and in Villain Guides takes precedence over these Instructions. If a card violates a rule in a Villain Guide, the card takes precedence.
• If I can’t do what a card says, can I still play it? No. If you cannot do what the card says, then you cannot play it. However, if the card says “may,” the text that follows is optional. In this case, you may play the card and then choose whether or not to do that part of its Ability. If you cannot play a card, you can discard it by performing the Discard Cards action.
• Is there a hand limit? No. There is no limit to the number of cards in your hand at any time, but you will only draw cards at the end of your turn if you have fewer than four.
• What happens if I need to take Power, but the Supply is empty? Power is considered infinite. You can grab other tokens or coins to use as additional Power.
• Can I look through my discard piles? What about an opponent’s discard piles? Yes. All cards that are face up are public, and any player may look through any discard pile at any time.
• If I reveal a Fate card that cannot be played, do I get to reveal a new one? No. If a Fate card cannot be played (for example, you revealed an Item and there is no Hero in the Realm to attach it to), the card cannot be played and must be discarded. If you are taking a Fate action and both cards revealed cannot be played, you must discard both of them. Fate favored your opponent this time!
• Can I play or move a Hero to the bottom of the Board? No. Fate cards are always played to and moved across the top of the Board, unless a card Ability specifically instructs you to move a Fate card to the bottom of the Board.
• If multiple Heroes are at one location, do I have to defeat them in a certain order? No. If multiple Heroes are at a location, you may choose which Hero to defeat.
• I have a card that refers to a Hero with a Strength of 3 or less. Does this refer to the Strength printed on the Hero card, or do I factor in other card Abilities? Whenever referring to a Hero’s (or Ally’s) Strength, always consider all other card Abilities that are in effect in the Realm. For example, if a Hero has a Strength of 5 printed on their card, but another card in the Realm gives them -1 Strength, then that Hero’s Strength is considered to be 4 for all purposes.
• If a Hero’s Strength is reduced to 0 by other card Abilities, can I just remove that Hero from the Realm? No. You must still use a Vanquish action or card Ability to defeat the Hero. However, if you use a Vanquish action, no Allies need to be discarded. You can defeat the Hero even if you have no Allies at the Hero’s location.
• If I use a card’s Activated Ability, do I then discard it? No. The card remains in your Realm. There is no limit to the number of times you may activate a card’s Ability, provided you use an Activate action and pay the card’s Activation Cost, if any, each time.
• Can I play a Condition at any time during another player’s turn, as long as the requirement was met at some point during that turn? No. A Condition card can only be played when the requirement is met. For example, if the requirement is that another player defeats a Hero with a Strength of 3 or more, you must play your Condition card when that Hero is defeated. You may not wait until later in the turn. However, playing a Condition is optional. So in the same example, you may choose not to play your Condition, and instead play it later, when a different player defeats a Hero or the same player defeats another Hero.
• Before I can win, am I required to defeat all the Heroes in my Realm, or have my Villain Mover at a specific location? No. Only your Objective needs to be achieved in order to win. Your Villain Guide describes your Objective and how it is achieved. Some Villains are not required to defeat any Heroes, although leaving Heroes in your realm may slow your progress toward victory.

Clarifications

Played Cards and Triggers

When a card being played triggers something in play, you first finish fulfilling the original card before fulfilling the card that reacts to it. For instance, if you play Little John against Prince John at a location with a Warrant, and Prince John only has one power, Little John steals that 1 Power before the Warrant is activated, giving Prince John 2 more power.

This shouldn't be confused with things that affect the state of the game like Robin Hood. Robin Hood's ability isn't triggered, it's just a static effect reducing all power gains via card or action. Usually you can spot the difference via the word "When" or "Whenever" on the cards with triggered abilities.

Multiple Simultaneous Effects

If multiple things happen at the same time, or seem to because of the language used, you will need to resolve each effect individually. The order to do so is as so:

1. Effects on the Villain Board itself take precedence. (These are static abilities, like Robin Hood's.)
2. Fate cards effects are resolved before Villain card effects.
3. Villain cards in play resolve. If two villain cards have the same trigger, the active player chooses the order to resolve them.

Condition Cards

When a condition card is played, the active player finishes their current action before the card is resolved. If multiple conditions are played in a turn, they resolve in clockwise order from the currently active player.