Learn the game
Easy to begin. A galaxy of strategies to discover.
Two paths to victory
Take control of two of the three planets, or exhaust your opponent’s draw deck. Your deck is both your resource and your staying power: every defeated character may cost you cards.
Build your deck
Choose the Light Side or the Dark Side. A full deck has 60 cards from that side: exactly 10 cards of each of the six dot colors. Include at least one location from Naboo, Tatooine and Coruscant.
Collect four copies of a card to unlock any legal quantity in your decks. With one to three copies, you can use that many. Cards can be reused across saved decks.
Characters do the fighting. Weapons add power. Battle cards create surprises. Locations can give your characters an edge. Menace of Darth Maul contains 140 cards, split evenly between the two sides.
Explore the deck workshop →Start the game
Both players draw destiny. The higher number goes first; ties are drawn again. The first player chooses a starting location from their deck. Both decks are shuffled, including those destiny cards, and each player draws six cards.
Your first deployments on each new planet are hidden for one turn. Reveal them at the start of your next turn. Hidden cards cannot battle or use their game text.
Deploy. Battle. Even up.
Deploy
Spend up to six counters to deploy characters and weapons. Change the scene by playing another location from the current planet.
Battle
Optionally attack if both players have face-up characters. Each player secretly arranges a battle plan.
Even up
Draw or discard until you have six cards. Before drawing, you may discard locations or recycle your entire hand.
Deployment and battle are optional. Evening up is mandatory. At the end of the turn, check whether either player has taken control of the planet.
Make a battle plan
Arrange your face-up characters in the order they will fight. Put a weapon immediately before its character. A Battle card comes from your hand and goes before the weapon and character. Each fight may use one Weapon card and one Battle card.
Each pair of opposing characters fights once. Compare printed power, location bonuses, weapon effects and Battle card effects. The stronger character survives. Discard the weaker character with its weapon, then discard cards from its owner’s draw deck equal to its damage. A tie defeats neither character.
Unused attacking characters break through: each causes one card of damage to the opponent’s deck. Defending characters do not cause breakthrough damage.
What is a destiny draw?
Reveal the top card of your draw deck and use its destiny number for the effect. After a weapon destiny draw, that card goes into your hand. A higher destiny can turn a difficult fight around.
How do Battle cards work?
Battle cards enter from your hand when you prepare your plan. Their conditions and bonuses are printed on the card. Discard them after use. Many bonuses apply only to a named character or combination.
Control the galaxy
At the end of a turn, you take control of the current planet if you have at least one face-up character and your opponent has no characters, including hidden ones. Control two planets to win.
The player who lost the planet chooses a location on an unplayed planet and takes the first turn there. Remaining cards are stranded on the controlled planet. Starships can evacuate eligible stranded cards according to their text.
Naboo
Palaces, swamps and battle plains.
Tatooine
Desert landings and podrace glory.
Coruscant
The heart of the Republic.
Unique characters and stacking
A stackable persona can be on only one planet at a time, including a previously controlled planet. Extra copies may join that persona on the same planet. Each copy fights separately unless a Battle card lets them combine. Generic characters can deploy separately. Weapons can also have stacking restrictions; read their card text.
Deck exhaustion
Your draw deck is also a clock. Drawing, damage and other effects reduce it. If your deck runs out before your opponent’s, your opponent wins a deck victory.
Modern or Classic
Choose your rule profile before a skirmish or when creating a multiplayer room. Both profiles use only the original 140 Menace of Darth Maul cards.
Modern — the default profile
Modern uses the Battle of Naboo rules and the latest supplied FAQ, including the updated Hyperspace starship rules. Deploy starships face up to your Hyperspace pile for free during your Deploy step, including your first turn. A transport in your fleet lets you attempt an evacuation. Your opponent may deploy ships and intercept, and both fleets prepare space battle plans. The arena guides the evacuation and interception choices.
This profile excludes Lightsaber Dueling and Podracing. The Modern format’s expansion-card restrictions do not affect this base-set-only card pool.
Classic — original starship procedure
Classic uses the original one-transport evacuation and one-starfighter interception procedure. Play a transport from your hand to evacuate characters and weapons. Your opponent may intercept with a starfighter; the result determines whether the cargo returns to your draw deck or is lost.
Go deeper
This guide summarizes the core rules. Read the supplied rulebooks and FAQ for full details.