Board Game Review: Disney Sorcerer’s Arena: Epic Alliances – Leading the Charge Expansion (Elsa, Buzz Lightyear, Scar)

The world of Disney Sorcerer’s Arena gets a little bigger with the third expansion to the tabletop game from The Op. Adding Elsa, Buzz Lightyear, and Scar,  the Leading the Charge Expansion gives players even more options as they take the fun of Sorcerer’s Arena out of their mobile devices and into the real world. And the first thing you need to know is that this box is an expansion, not its own standalone game, meaning you need the Disney Sorcerer's Arena: Epic Alliances Core Set in order to have fun with the Leading the Charge Expansion.

Based on the popular mobile game of the same name, The Op’s tabletop game of Disney Sorcerer’s Arena lets players draft their team of heroes and villains from a variety of Disney and Pixar properties. The Core Set eases players into the game with two easier modes of play with two characters until the concepts are mastered. Each character has a pawn, explanation card, and deck of cards. As they encounter rivals on the board, actions are played in an effort to win the game. When adding expansions, players should be comfortable with the third level of gameplay (level 4 adds character upgrade abilities).

The expansion comes with everything you need to add Elsa from Frozen 2, Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story, and Scar from The Lion King to the game. It comes with a new status effect called Invulnerable, which blocks an attack. Each character includes a pawn, turn order token, 10-card deck, and ability cards, which become a helpful guide to playing as each character. In addition to the Invulnerable effect token, the box adds 3 Immobized tokens and 3 blank effect tokens, which can be updated by players as needed if more tokens of a certain type are ever required.

With these character configurations, players can assemble a heroes squad that includes Elsa and Buzz Lightyear. I paired them with Ariel from the Core Set and Moana from the first expansion, Turning the Tide.

Scar can also be added to villains from the Core Set, which featured Dr. Facilier, Maleficent, and Gaston. Of course, these are just suggestions. There’s no rule that states who characters can or can’t be paired with. In face, if you have a friend with their own Disney’s Sorcerer’s Arena, you could even end up with two of the same character on opposite teams! They’re easy to differentiate by the colored bases that also keep track of each character’s HP.

From there, the rules of the game are basically as you’ve always known them. Elsa is the only character whose rules allow for the use of Invulnerable. While each character’s skills and upgraded abilities are themed to their story, they don’t affect gameplay as much as the Turning the Tide Expansion did, which added Ocean Tiles to the game board to give the three included characters (Moana, Stitch, Davy Jones) an advantage.

What the Leading the Charge Expansion essentially does is add these three characters to the game, useful if you’re a big fan of the characters included or are collecting the entire set. In addition to the artwork on the pawns, each character’s deck of ten cards features new artwork in the style of Disney Sorcerer’s Arena.

If you want to take your Disney Sorcerer's Arena: Epic Alliances Core Set “Into the Unknown” or “To Infinity and Beyond,” then “Be Prepared” to add the new Leading the Charge Expansion to your collection.

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Alex Reif
Alex joined the Laughing Place team in 2014 and has been a lifelong Disney fan. His main beats for LP are Disney-branded movies, TV shows, books, music and toys. He recently became a member of the Television Critics Association (TCA).