Disclaimer: I was gifted this expansion through Ravensburger North America and did not pay for this product.

Ravensburger has done it again and created another brilliant expansion in the Villainous board game series. The latest expansion, Evil Comes Prepared, will be available for purchase on August 1st, 2019 and will be retailing for $24.99. This expansion is similar to the Wicked to The Core expansion that came out a few months ago, so you can play this expansion on its own or by mixing it with villains from Wicked to The Core or The Worst Takes It All.

With a title like Evil Comes Prepared, who do you think comes in this expansion? If you guessed Scar (from “The Lion King“), then you would be right. Scar is joined by fellow villains Ratigan (from “The Great Mouse Detective”) and my favorite Disney villain of all time, Yzma (from “The Emperor’s New Groove”.) Seriously, when I found out Yzma was going to be in the expansion, I may have done a happy dance.

Let’s go ahead and break down each of the new villains and what they do.

Scar (The Lion King)

Scar’s objective is to start his turn with at least 15 Strength in the Succession pile. The Succession pile is new and specific to Scar’s character.

So, what is a Succession pile? With any other Villainous character, when you vanquish a hero, they would go into your Fate discard pile. However, for Scar, they will be separated and put into this “Succession” pile. Then, when you have enough Heroes in that pile that the strength would equal 15 or more, you win. Easy enough, right? There is a bit of catch to this Succession pile, however. You cannot start putting heroes into your Succession pile until you defeat Mufasa. So, you could technically fight and defeat heroes before then, but they would go into the regular Fate discard pile instead of the Succession pile. Luckily, there are cards like Long Live The King that will allow you to quickly cycle through your Fate deck, so you can quickly find and defeat Mufasa. Scar’s Allies, in particular, our favorite hyenas Shenzi, Banzi and Ed will be key in defeating and fighting Heroes for Scar.

I thought that this mechanic was a fun idea, and it works very well for Scar’s character in particular. It also is incredibly thematic as you have to defeat Mufasa before you can even try and win. If you want to get even more into character, try some of the fun new The Lion King merchandise that Disney has been releasing this month.

Ratigan (The Great Mouse Detective)

Ratigan’s objective is to start your turn with The Robot Queen at Buckingham Palace.

Although, if Basil happens to discard the item The Robot Queen, which you need to win, your objective changes. The new objective becomes to defeat Basil, Ratigan’s arch-nemesis. Once the objective is changed, you cannot change it back and to win, you have to defeat Basil. What I enjoy about this mechanic is that Ratigan comes with an objective tile that is two-sided, that you can flip to whichever objective you need to win. This tile is then placed on the character side of the game board. Ratigan’s game board is also unique in that the space The Secret Lair doesn’t have any actions at the top of it, so Hereos can’t block any potential actions you want to take while in that space.

I’m going to admit and say this character didn’t excite me very much, and that could be because I don’t have a personal connection with “The Great Mouse Detective”. I have, however, added this film to my “need to watch list” and I’ll probably give him another go after I understand the movie and characters more.

Yzma (The Emperors New Groove)

Yzma’s objective: Defeat Kuzco with Kronk.

Yzma has a special setup that requires you to divide your Fate deck into four separate, smaller Fate decks. Each pile will go above each of the four locations on Yzma’s game board- The Palace, Pacha’s House, The Jungle and Mudka’s Meat Hut. In order to defeat Kuzco, you have to find him in one these four decks. Cards like Eavesdrop and Smash It With A Hammer help you search through the Fate decks, but this is still going to take some time and some luck. You also have to be careful with Kronk––who you need on your side to win––because while Kronk is a powerful Ally, he can turn against you and become a Hero. You’ll need him on your side (the path that rocks!) if you want to win.

And, if you love Yzma as much as me, you might find yourself becoming Yzma while playing this and full-on role-playing the character (I highly recommend it!)

Final Thoughts

Evil Comes Prepared is my preferred expansion to play if I had to pick between this one or Wicked To the Core. I think all of the characters are unique enough to feel different, but the mechanics still make sense for the character, thematically, and they feel more real. This, to me at least, makes playing the game more fun.

Ravensburger North America knocked out of the park on this one and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next. Be sure to pick up Evil Comes Prepared in stores on August 1st! Additionally, you can purchase the core set Villainous: The Worst Takes It All on shopDisney.