Ratigan

"Oh this is wicked. So delightfully wicked!"

Ratigan is one of three playable Villains in the Villainous expansion, Evil Comes Prepared. He is from the movie The Great Mouse Detective, released in 1986, in which he is voiced by Vincent Price and animated by Glen Keane.

Objective

Ratigan's two Objectives.

Ratigan, The Superior Mind, must play The Robot Queen, move it to Buckingham Palace, and start his turn with it there. To do so, he must accumulate 15 Power (or enough Cost-reducing Items), and draw The Robot Queen from his deck. He can only win this way at the start of his turn.

If The Robot Queen is discarded by Basil, Ratigan becomes The Rat, and his Objective changes. Now he must defeat Basil, either using Allies to Vanquish him, or a Marvelous Trap.

Ratigan has an Objective Tile to track which win condition he must meet, turning it over when his Objective changes. He is the only Villain with more than one possible Objective.

Realm

Ratigan's mover.

Ratigan's Realm contains the following locations, from left to right:

• The Secret Lair
  • empty
  • Fate | Play a Card | Activate
• Flaversham's Toy Shop
  • Play a Card | Discard Cards
  • Gain 3 Power | Play a Card
• Big Ben
  • Gain 2 Power | Move an Item or Ally
  • Play a Card | Vanquish
• Buckingham Palace
  • Fate | Play a Card
  • Move an Item or Ally | Gain 1 Power | Discard Cards

Ratigan is the only Villain to have both a location with 3 actions, and a location with 5 actions.

Villain deck

Ratigan's Villain deck card back.

The following cards are in Ratigan's Villain deck:

• Gears (×5)
• Capture (×3)
• Ruffians (×3)
• Devious (×2)
• Extravagant (×2)
• Greatest Criminal Mind (×2)
• Marvelous Trap (×2)
• Uniform (×2)
• Airship
• Bartholomew
• Bell
• Felicia
• Fidget
• Fidget's List
• Royal Robes
• The Robot Queen
• Tools

These include 6 total Allies (Ruffians; Bartholomew; Felicia; Fidget), 4 total Conditions (Devious; Extravagant), 5 total Effects (Capture; Greatest Criminal Mind), and 15 total Items (Gears; Marvelous Trap; Uniform; Airship; Bell; Fidget's List; Royal Robes; The Robot Queen; Tools).

Card Gallery

5 Copies:

3 Copies:

2 Copies:

1 Copy:

Fate deck

Ratigan's Fate deck card back.

The following cards are in Ratigan's Fate deck:

• Queen's Guards (×3)
• Call for Help (×2)
• Sabotage (×2)
• Basil
• Dawson
• Flaversham
• Makeshift Balloon
• Mrs. Judson
• Olivia
• The Mouse Queen
• Toby

These include 4 total Effects (Call for Help; Sabotage), 10 total Heroes (Queen's Guards; Basil; Dawson; Flaversham; Mrs. Judson; Olivia; The Mouse Queen; Toby), and 1 Item (Makeshift Balloon).

Card Gallery

3 Copies:

2 Copies:

1 Copy:

Strategy

HOW to WIN with RATIGAN Villainous Strategy Guide

Lord of the Board's strategy video.

Ratigan is unique in having two possible objectives. However, rather than being two diverging possible paths, the second win condition is more of a consolation prize if your first one gets foiled. He is a relatively strong Villain, who can often snag a surprise win if his opponents aren't paying attention.

Ratigan has two goals to start with:

1. Accrue 15 Power, either directly or through proxies (Gears, Tools, Flaversham).
2. Find The Robot Queen.

As the first can be done along the way, as Ratigan has relatively cheap cards, focus on getting through your deck quickly. Use the Discard Cards action, play Greatest Criminal Mind for card draw, and Activate Fidget's List often if you can find it. Gears and Tools should be played as soon as they're drawn. Unlike other Villains, there isn't really a lot of chaff in Ratigan's deck - the only things you should really be discarding are early game Extravagants, Marvelous Traps, and Uniforms, as well as Captures if there are no suitable targets. Felicia can also be safely discarded, as she can be retrieved with the Bell later.

Once you've drawn The Robot Queen, shift focus fully to Power gain. Play Greatest Criminal Mind for Power, visit Flaversham's Toy Shop more often, and stop playing cards you don't absolutely need.

Play The Robot Queen as soon as you can afford to. The only reason to delay would be if you want to use the Airship and need to visit The Secret Lair to Activate it. The Airship is easily the best option to move The Robot Queen, as it can take her there in a single turn, but you can also easily use Ruffians to copy Move an Item or Ally actions.

There are two ways The Robot Queen can be foiled, and both can be solved in the same way. Basil or The Mouse Queen can both be defeated with Felicia, so try to make sure you have an extra Ally or two in your Realm leading up to your endgame. Then simply go to Big Ben and clinch your win. Marvelous Trap can also be used, though it takes a little longer and isn't guaranteed. One trick is to set a Marvelous Trap at Buckingham Palace once The Robot Queen is there, so that if Basil comes to discard your mechanical figurehead, he'll be immediately dealt with on your turn - however, this requires Ruffians shenanigans and some extra Power to pull off, unless The Mouse Queen is also squatting in Buckingham Palace.

When playing against Ratigan, you want to Fate him early to slow down his Power gain and distract him. It can be tempting to have Basil discard The Robot Queen as soon as it's played, but it's better to hunt for The Mouse Queen, as it is rather easy for Ratigan to defeat his rival. If you don't use Basil to get rid of The Robot Queen right away, make sure not to leave him at Buckingham Palace, or he won't be able to come to the rescue when needed.