Star Wars Unlimited’s ninth set, Homeworlds, started its prerelease rollout today — and it’s bringing one of the wildest leader mechanics the game has ever seen. If you’ve ever wanted to turn a mid-level Imperial bureaucrat into a planet-cracking superweapon mid-game, this is the set for you.
Homeworlds kicked off prerelease on October 2, with full retail release following on October 9 (a few regions, including Australia and New Zealand, are running a slightly later October 15–16 window due to shipping). It’s a big one: over 260 new cards exploring iconic planets, creatures, and civilizations across the galaxy — from the forest moon of Endor to the dunes of Tatooine.
Fortify: Upgrades Finally Hit the Base
For anyone newer to Star Wars Unlimited: your deck is built around a Leader (your commanding character, with abilities on both the front and “deployed” back of the card) and a Base (the objective you’re defending, with its own health total). You play Units and Events using resources tied to your Leader’s two aspects (color identities like Aggression, Vigilance, Command, Cunning, and so on), and normally any Upgrades you play attach to a unit to boost it.
Homeworlds changes that math with its new keyword, Fortify. A card with Fortify gets attached to your Base instead of a unit — a first for the game. It’s a clean way to build long-game value that doesn’t disappear the moment your board gets wiped, since it’s stuck to the thing you’re actually trying to protect.
The set also introduces two new token types. Beast tokens are the biggest generic tokens the game has produced so far — 3 power and 3 HP apiece — while Weakness tokens flip the script on the existing Experience token, permanently shaving power and HP off whatever unit they’re slapped on. And every primary aspect is picking up four new Common bases themed around specific worlds — Tatooine, Naboo, Endor, and Kashyyyk — giving deckbuilders more planet-flavored options when they’re putting a list together.
The Headline Act: Grand Moff Tarkin Becomes the Death Star
Homeworlds ships with two Spotlight Decks, and the Imperial one is the real showstopper. Grand Moff Tarkin, Tyrant of the Outer Rim leads the deck on his front side, where his passive lets you ignore the usual aspect penalties on any Fortify upgrades you play — rewarding you for splashing those new base-attached cards outside your main colors.
But his Epic Action is the headline: once you control 9 or more resources, you can deploy Tarkin as The Death Star — a 2-cost, 12-HP Leader Unit that becomes the first card in Star Wars Unlimited able to deploy as a capital ship rather than a ground or space unit in the usual sense. Once it’s out, at the start of every regroup phase you may simply defeat an opposing base with 10 or less remaining HP. No combat required. That’s about as on-brand a late-game finisher as Star Wars gaming gets.
On the other side of the conflict sits the Rebel Spotlight Deck’s Chewbacca, Relentless Rebel, who takes a scrappier approach: for 2 resources and exhausting himself, he lets a friendly unit attack even while exhausted (though that unit can’t swing at bases that turn). It’s a tempo tool built for grinding down an opponent’s board rather than racing for a one-shot finisher — a nice philosophical contrast to Tarkin’s slow-burn superweapon plan. New supporting cards for the Rebel side include Chewbacca’s Bowcaster, Ewok Archers, Adamant Ewoks, C-3PO, and Ezra Bridger, while the Imperial side picks up The Tarkin Doctrine, Carbonite Chamber, and Director Krennic.
If you’re brand new to the game, Homeworlds is a surprisingly friendly entry point: both Spotlight Decks are built to play right out of the box, and the core loop — deploy your Leader, defend your Base, play Units and Upgrades to control the board — stays approachable even with Fortify’s new wrinkle layered on top. Whether you’re drawn to Tarkin’s late-game superweapon or Chewbacca’s grind-it-out aggression, there’s a clear plan to pilot from turn one.
Got questions about Homeworlds, want to talk Fortify-upgrade tech, or just want to tell us which Spotlight Deck you’re building first? Come say hi on our socials, or find more spotlights, guides, and TCG news at manariotgames.com. 🔦 Thursday Spotlight is a different TCG in the spotlight every week — a new one lands every Thursday, so follow along to catch next week’s game.