Queen of Hearts

> "*If I lose my temper, you lose your head.*"
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**Queen of Hearts** is one of six playable Villains in the Villainous base game, *The Worst Takes It All*. She is from the movie *Alice in Wonderland*, released in 1951, in which she is voiced by Verna Felton and animated by Frank Thomas.

Queen of Hearts has a unique mechanic: Shrinking and Enlarging Heroes. Cards in her Villain deck can Shrink Heroes, turning them 45° so that they only cover one action instead of two. Cards in her Fate deck can Enlarge them, turning them 90° from normal to cover three actions - the normal two, as well as one at an adjacent location, chosen by the Fating player. An Enlarged Hero can be attacked in a Vanquish action by Allies at either location, or both. If multiple Heroes are at a location, the priority is: Enlarged > Shrunken > Normal; so adding a Hero to a location with a Shrunken Hero will not cover back up the uncovered top action, but later Enlarging that normal Hero will successfully cover three actions, even though a Shrunken Hero is also present.

## Objective

Queen of Hearts must play and convert Card Guards into Wickets, move them as needed so she has at least one Wicket at each location in her Realm, and play Take the Shot.

## Realm

Queen of Hearts' Realm contains the following locations, from left to right:

* Courtyard
	+ Discard Cards | Move an Item or Ally
	+ Gain 2 Power | Play a Card
* Hedge Maze
	+ Play a Card | Activate
	+ Gain 3 Power | Play a Card
* Tulgey Wood
	+ Fate | Play a Card
	+ Discard Cards | Vanquish
* White Rabbit's House
	+ Play a Card | Gain 1 Power
	+ Activate | Fate

## Villain deck

The following cards are in Queen of Hearts' Villain deck:

* Card Guard (×8)
	+ *Club* (×2)
	+ *Diamond* (×2)
	+ *Heart* (×2)
	+ *Spade* (×2)
* Off With Your Head! (×3)
* Spear (×3)
* Take the Shot (×3)
* By Order of the Queen (×2)
* Fury (×2)
* Judgment (×2)
* Makes You Smaller (×2)
* Very Merry Unbirthday (×2)
* Stopwatch
* The King
* Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum

These include 10 total Allies (Card Guard; The King; Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum), 4 total Conditions (Fury; Judgement), 12 total Effects (Off With Your Head!; Take the Shot; By Order of the Queen; Makes You Smaller; Very Merry Unbirthday), and 4 total Items (Spear; Stopwatch).

## Fate deck

The following cards are in Queen of Hearts' Fate deck:

* I'm Late! I'm Late! (×2)
* Makes You Larger (×2)
* Mome Raths (×2)
* Alice
* Caterpillar
* Cheshire Cat
* Dodo
* Dormouse
* Down the Rabbit Hole
* Mad Hatter
* March Hare
* White Rabbit

These include 7 total Effects (I'm Late! I'm Late!; Makes You Larger; Mome Raths; Down the Rabbit Hole) and 8 Heroes (Alice; Caterpillar; Cheshire Cat; Dodo; Dormouse; Mad Hatter; March Hare; White Rabbit).

## Strategy

Queen of Hearts is a very strong Villain, particularly because she doesn't need to wait until the start of her next turn once she's met her win condition. In addition, she has several great tools for dealing with Heroes, and can consistently amass a lot of Power.

Unlike all the other Villains who want to conquer the world and/or murder a minor, Queen of Hearts just wants to play some croquet. To do this, she first needs to set up the playing field with Wickets - converted Card Guards - then play Take the Shot. Technically there's only a chance that she'll win, as she compares her Wickets' Strength total to the sum of the Costs of the top five cards of her deck, but it's a very high probability.

Queen of Hearts needs to get out her Card Guards and convert them into Wickets quickly. Make liberal use of the Discard Cards action to get to them, then play and Activate them speedily. The only other cards you should hold onto are The King, Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum, and the Stopwatch (all of which should be played as soon as you draw them), and maybe a copy of Off With Your Head! if you have any pesky Heroes around. Spears should either be discarded, or attached to the Tweedles if they're around and you have nothing better to do with your turn. Very Merry Unbirthday can net you a lot of Power, but don't try to hold onto it waiting for more Allies to buff it, just play it and be done with it, or discard it if you're still looking for Card Guards.

For the most part, Card Guards should be turned into Wickets at the first possible moment, but don't be afraid to sacrifice some to Vanquish Alice - the rest of the Heroes can either be beheaded, Shrunk, or dealt with by the Tweedles.

Once you have four locations with Wickets, play Take the Shot, and win! However, ending your turn with four Wickets is a very clear telegraph to your opponents, who will absolutely Fate you. It can thus be worth it to to hang on to a Card Guard in hand (or leave one unconverted), then move to the Hedge Maze and get your Wicket and Take the Shot all in the same turn. If you have two Wickets and two unconverted Card Guards, you can do similarly with By Order of the Queen. All you need to do is make sure you have enough Power to pull it off, which Judgment can help with (it's more likely to trigger in the late game, anyway).

Remember that you have three copies of Take the Shot. Try to discard at least one other copy of it before playing it, as revealing both other copies essentially guarantees you don't win that turn.

Queen of Hearts' Fate deck is a decent mix of proactive and reactive cards. You'll want to get out Alice, Dodo, and White Rabbit early, for maximum effect, while Cheshire Cat and Mome Raths can push her back from a winning position. Keep an eye on her board - once she has three Wickets, she'll be able to win on her next turn if she has the right cards and enough Power.

Queen of Hearts is unique in that her Fate deck can put her into a position where it is impossible for her to win: with Alice out, Mome Raths can stack all the Card Guards in one location that they can't move out of, and if \*all\* her Allies are in play (in a location other than Alice's), then Queen of Hearts can no longer complete her Objective. In practice, this is highly unlikely to happen, and is balanced by the strength of Queen of Hearts' cards. However, this is still all the more reason for her to get rid of Alice as soon as possible.

 **Villain deck**
*8 Copies:* Card Guard
*3 Copies:* Off With Your Head! • Spear • Take the Shot
*2 Copies:* By Order of the Queen • Fury • Judgment • Makes You Smaller • Very Merry Unbirthday
 **Fate deck**
*2 Copies:* I'm Late! I'm Late! • Makes You Larger • Mome Raths
*1 Copy:* Alice • Caterpillar • Cheshire Cat • Dodo • Dormouse • Down the Rabbit Hole • Mad Hatter • March Hare • White Rabbit

 **Wicked to the Core**
 **Evil Comes Prepared**
 **Perfectly Wretched**
 **Despicable Plots**
 **Bigger and Badder**
 **Filled With Fright**
 **Sugar and Spite**
King Candy • Shere Khan