Disney Villainous: Bigger and Badder

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It has been a full year, but Disney Villainous finally has a fifth expansion/stand-alone game, bringing the total number of playable Disney villains to a massive 21! Disney Villainous: Bigger and Badder brings to the table 3 new villains, including Madam Mim (“The Sword in the Stone“), Lotso (“Toy Story 3“) & Syndrome (“The Incredibles“). This is the first time that Pixar villains have been included in the game.

Although the release date was set for March, 2022, I discovered that there were very limited quantities in stores in late February. I was lucky enough to find a nearby store with 3 in stock, so I ordered a copy online and picked it up at the store the very next day. This was very hard to find.

This was also the first time that I bought a copy with an exclusive sleeve and game piece. I’ve known about these before, but they were never special enough to justify buying them. However, the exclusive “metallic” Syndrome game piece does look very nice. I’ve heard that the original is orange and it looks a lot like the Scar game piece.

Inside the Box

For the first time, the color of the instruction booklet matches the color of the box; the instructions are normally black/dark grey.

The exclusive Syndrome game piece is painted to resemble metal. Standard editions of the game will include a transparent orange Syndrome game piece.

In addition to the standard Power and Fate tokens, there are new Strength tokens, used by both Lotso and Syndrome. I wonder if these will be included in future games since they can also come in handy with other existing villains.

As for storage, the player boards, tokens, and villain guides still fit into the main box. I think there’s only enough room for 3 more boards.

Learn how to make your own reversible drawstring bag to store your power tokens.

The cards and game pieces still have plenty of space in my Gamegenic Dungeon Box. Read more about Gamegenic storage solutions here.

Gameplay

I played solo (check out the updated solo rules), which allowed me to take my time and really study the play style of each villain.

Madam Mim

For years, I had been hoping for Madam Mim to be added to the game. Her goal is to use all of her animal transformations to defeat all of Merlin’s animal transformations in a wizard’s duel. Each of Merlin’s transformations can only be defeated by a specific transformation of Madam Mim. This really forced me to burn through the Villain deck as quickly as possible to find the cards that I needed.

Madam Mim’s Fate deck sacrifices several cards to Merlin’s transformation deck. So, she has fewer Fate cards, but there will always be a Merlin card to defeat.

Lotso

I have to admit that I was never a fan of “Toy Story 3″—except for the ending with Andy and Bonnie. And, Lotso has never been a particularly interesting villain. But, I found him delightful to play. Lotso’s goal is to have four heroes at zero strength, and have Buzz Lightyear in the caterpillar room.

Buzz Lightyear has a unique tile card that can switch him between normal mode and demo mode. In demo mode, Buzz becomes Lotso’s ally, and he can help defeat other heroes.

Heroes are defeated (never really vanquished) by having their strength reduced to zero. This is where the strength tokens come into play.

Syndrome

“The Incredibles” and Syndrome is another movie/villain combo that I never particularly cared for. But, again, Syndrome is fun to play. It took a few minutes to figure out how to upgrade the Omnidroids, but it was simple afterward. To win, Syndrome has to defeat all three Omnidroids and have no heroes in his realm.

There are three Omnidroid tile cards that need to be played in order. The first two are played at the bottom of the board as allies, and they are used to defeat heroes. The third is played to the top of the board (if Syndrome’s Remote is in the realm) to be defeated by Syndrome.

Which Version Should Newcomers Buy?

Since Disney Villainous: Bigger and Badder is a standalone board game (2-3 players) in addition to an expansion of the core Villainous board game (2-6 players), Wicked to the Core (2-3 players), Evil Comes Prepared (2-3 players), Perfectly Wretched (2-3 players), and Despicable Plots (2-3 players), which version should newcomers buy?

For the most bang for your buck, newcomers should go for the core game. There are twice the villains to choose from (compared to just one of the expansions), which is great for replayability, and there can be more players in a single game. There is also a nifty cauldron to hold the power tokens. Comparing online and in-store prices, the core game doesn’t cost much more than one of the expansions, and there’s more than twice the content.

For newcomers who are only curious about the game, any of the expansion sets will give a taste of the gameplay. With so many villains now available, I recommend picking villains that are well personally well known. The gameplay is more enjoyable when a player knows the story and motivation—tightly integrated gameplay components—of their favorite villains.

But, personally, I say buy all of them!

How Many Players Are Too Many?

Try out our own set of solo play rules!

Combining every edition of Disney Villainous (to date) means that there can be up to 21 players playing across multiple games (the instruction book specifically states no more than 6 players per game). I recommend that players be broken into groups of 3-6. I personally wouldn’t go more than 4 players, although I’ve never played a 5-6 player game—I’ve heard that it isn’t as fun because you have to wait so long until your next turn. Three to four players just feels right as there is a lot that you have to pay attention to.

With these small groups, players can have a tournament. Who can play the best and rise above all of the other Disney villains!?

Verdict

Disney Villainous: Bigger and Badder is another must-buy whether you own the core game, the expansions, or nothing at all. It’s fun, it’s beautiful, and the tight integration of both gameplay and mechanics with the villains’ storylines will make you fall in love with the game again and again. This is a truly original game—a love letter to the Disney villains—and not a lazy Disney overlay of an existing board game.

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