Will you step into the shoes of an evil witch, a little badass with a delusions of grandeur and an equally big desire for revenge or a complex teddy bear with separation anxiety and desire for power? In Disney Villainous, it can always be Bigger and Badder.
Background
The Villainous board game series now has multiple editions, stand-alone expansions and supplement sets. In this series of games, players take on the roles of various villains from different Disney (related) media. Bigger and Badder is a stand-alone expansion set for Disney Villainous featuring three new villains. That is, you can add this game to other Disney Villainous sets or play separately. This time, for the first time, villains from the Pixar universe are also participating, and two at once.
We have written reviews of Villainous before and we think these games are now very familiar to board players and at least the readers of this blog. Are you not familiar? Then you can read some reviews here, here one more, here one about Marvel and here one about Star Wars.
Which villains are Bigger and Badder?
Madam Mim (the Sword in the Stone)
Madam Mim may be better known to some Madam Mikmak: a recurring anti-hero and villain from the Donald Duck comics and magazines in various European countries, but her origins can be found in the movie The Sword in the Stone. In the film, in which a mad wizard named Merlin takes a young aspiring king under his wing and is loosely inspired by Arthurian legends, this evil sorceress Mim gets into a battle with the benign Merlin. During their battle, both Merlin and Mim take on multiple forms, notably transforming into different animals to hunt each other and escape, respectively. This is also exactly what players do when they assume the role of this madam.
Players try to get different transformations of Merlin on their game board and attack them with their own transformations. Madam Mim has no allies that can fight for her heroes, but a selection of transformations that can defeat specific forms that Merlin assumes. Players are less affected by played heroes because their game board is laid out differently than most. Fewer actions are blocked as a result.
Lotso (Toy Story 3)
The tragic bear from Toy Story 3 is back, and this emotionally complex character is eager to maintain his position in the nursery. The arrival of new toys threatens this position, and the purple/pink bear who smells like strawberries naturally does everything in his power to move the new toys into the Caterpillar Room, where the toddlers are in charge.
Lotso needs to get four heroes with a strength of 0 into the Caterpillar Room (a location on Lotso’s game board) along with Buzz Lightyear. By attacking heroes or using special effects, a player can make these heroes weaker, but not defeat them. Buzz Lightyear assumes a dual role just like in the movie. Buzz is permanently present on the game board but by playing certain villain cards or Fate cards, Buzz can be used by the demo mode as a villain or by the Spanish settings as a veritable Don Juan and protector of toys.
Syndrome (The Incredibles)
Syndrome harbors a personal grudge against the heroes and particularly The Incredibles. To defeat the heroes of the movie, he develops robots and tries to trap the heroes.
Syndrome gets a chance to take revenge for the heroes and so takes on the Incredibles themselves (the members of the Parr family) and heroes such as Frozone. Players try to upgrade their Omnidroid in time to defeat the different heroes with the final form of this Omnidroid. A battle against the clock and against the amazing good guys.
Conclusion
I am repeating myself when I say that Villainous is a firm favorite with us and that we recommend the various expansions if you are a fan of Villainous. This is also the case with Bigger and Badder. The new villains are again varied, interesting and very thematic. The heroes from Bigger and Badder are a tad more complex than you might be used to, but for us that is a welcome addition. We like that Pixar baddies are now appearing on the scene and can’t wait for more: except that my favorite Pixar movies often don’t have a classic bad guy….
