“It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. I've outrun Imperial starships. Not the local bulk cruisers mind you, I'm talking about the big Corellian ships now. She's fast enough for you old man. What's the cargo?”

–Han Solo, Star Wars: A New Hope

Scoundrels in the Star Wars galaxy have to stay on the move. Whether they're avoiding entanglements with the authorities or searching for a fresh well of credits, the bounty hunters and scoundrels that populate the Outer Rim can never stay in one place for too long. And as these scoundrels make their way across the edge of the galaxy, tales of their adventures turn their journeys into legends.

If you hope to become the most famous or infamous scoundrel in the galaxy, you can’t nest on one planet. Odd jobs will only get you so far and your adventures will take you from planet to planet as you expand your legacy in the Outer Rim. But be warned, you aren’t alone. Rebels, Imperials, Hutts and Crime Lords all have a stake in the Outer Rim, and their patrols stalk the skies.

Join us today as we preview how to move across the galaxy in Star Wars™: Outer Rim, a board game of bounty hunters, mercenaries, and smugglers for one to four players.

On the Move

Whether you choose to hunt bounties, smuggle cargo, or partake in other illicit activities, you need to travel the galaxy to accomplish your goals.

At the start of your turn, you’ll have to plan your next steps, as you choose one of four options: recover any damage on your scoundrel or ship, do odd jobs—from herding nerfs to temporary security gigs—and earn some extra credits, use a planning ability on a card, or, most commonly, move across the map.

If you choose to move, you can move your character on the map a number of spaces up to your ship’s hyperdrive value. As you upgrade your ship further, your hyperdrive will increase, letting you travel the Outer Rim with ease.

As you travel the galaxy, you’ll soon find three distinctive types of spaces on the Outer Rim board: navpoints, planets, and the maelstrom. Each of these spaces leads to different encounters and adventures for your scoundrel!

Later in your turn, you’ll have an encounter based on your location. Ending your movement on a planet may provide new opportunities for a job or encounters with iconic Star Wars characters, while ending your turn in the silence of space may lead to more mysterious encounters. Or perhaps you’ll test your mettle in the dangerous maelstrom, where only the bravest pilots dare to venture!

So long as you can survive these encounters, you’ll be delivering cargo and bounties from the lush forests of Naboo to the arid deserts of Tatooine in no time!

Imperial Entanglements

As you move across the galaxy, you can't just think about the next job waiting for you. You’ll also have to avoid entanglements with the Hutts, Crime Lords, Rebels, and Imperials. While it’s possible to gain a positive reputation with these factions by doing jobs for them, chances are you’ll want to avoid at least some of them during your time on the Outer Rim.

Each faction is represented on the board by patrol tokens. Defeating these tokens in combat and wiping them off the board can yield a nice reward, but the faction you attacked is sure to retaliate, sending larger and larger forces to hunt you throughout the game!

After you've moved on your turn, you’ll also have the chance to purchase new opportunities and gear from various market decks, so long as you’re on a planet. We’ll examine these decks in a future preview, but today we’ll see how they influence the patrols across the galaxy.

After you buy a card from a market deck, you must reveal the top card of that deck. Then, if there is a patrol movement icon on the newly revealed card, you'll move a patrol!

As you can see on the card above, each patrol movement icon features a faction and a distance. The faction indicates which patrol will move, and the distance determines how many spaces the patrol moves toward you. If a patrol ends its movement in your space and you have a negative reputation with that faction, you'll have to man the turrets and engage in combat! Tangling with patrols is a risky proposition, but in danger there is always an opportunity. Going toe to toe with a Hutt Crime Lord could be the step your scoundrel needs to cement themselves as a legend in the Outer Rim.

Legacy into Legend

If you hope to become a living legend across the galaxy, you can’t stay in one spot. You’ll have to make your way across the Outer Rim, outrunning patrols, delivering cargo, and hunting bounties to expand your legacy. To view a full playthrough of Star Wars: Outer Rim, click here! Do you have what it takes to survive on the edge of the galaxy?