Star Wars Unlimited: Shadows of the Galaxy - Two-Player Starter

This is the box to buy if nobody in the room has played Star Wars: Unlimited before. It contains two complete, pre-built decks and everything needed to play them immediately, so a first game starts minutes after opening rather than after an evening of deckbuilding.

One deck plays as the Mandalorian, rewarding manoeuvring and precision. The other plays as Moff Gideon, rewarding pressure and overwhelming force. You learn by playing them against each other, which is the fastest route into a card game of this kind.

In the box:

• 120 cards, 10 of which cannot be pulled from booster packs
• 40 counters
• 1 quickstart rulebook
• 2 playmats that double as posters
• 2 folded deck boxes

The game is strictly two-player, ages 12 and up, and a match runs about 20 minutes, which makes it a realistic weeknight option rather than a whole-evening commitment. The box measures 2.8 x 5.1 x 5.7 in.

Where it stops being enough: once both players want to build their own lists you need boosters, and the Shadows of the Galaxy Booster Display is the next step. The folded deck boxes included here are fine for a few weeks, so a Gamegenic Bastion 100+ XL is the usual follow-up purchase.