An overview of the board games Star Realms
An overview of the board games Star Realms
Once glittering trade union cities are now bombarded by dreadnoughts from the Star Empire. All the while, the machine cult is hiding on the brink of battle, waiting to read the bones of the destroyed city.
The mysterious blob race responsible for the immeasurable genocide is slowly approaching the cautious trio without knowing everything.
Welcome to Star Realms. Try not to die. Let’s delve into our review of Star Realms board games.
- Fun Incredibly rich yet easy to learn to play games
- Portable The entire game is in a box that fits your ...
- Expandable One copy supports 2 players Add additional copies for ...
A brief overview of Star Kings
Star Realms is a duel building deck card game designed for 2 players .
Star Realms contains 4 different factions:
- Trade Union (blue)
- Star Empire (yellow)
- Machine cult (red)
- BLOB (green)
Each faction has a different specialty and is better at a different aspect of the game. Some are more striking, others better in economics. We'll dig a little deeper into that later.
Star Realms is a deck maker with a common purchase fund, so you don’t have to commit to a particular faction and you can change your strategy on the go.
Variations and extensions
As with all deck makers, there are many extensions here that add experience. Each focuses on a new concept or addition to basic mechanics.
Gambit
Gambit is a small package that adds a unique performance capability. Each player starts with 2 gambits and can use them throughout the game to move the tide.
Crisis series
The Crisis series includes 4 different packages:
- Bases and battleships
- Events
- Heroes
- Fleets and fortresses
This is the first presentation of Hero cards, which are immediately played for a bonus upon receipt. It also presents Events. When a flat card appears in the trade bar, the card is resolved and discarded.
- 1x mini package for events (12 tickets)
- A total of 48 new cards to add to the Star Realms universe
- 1x mini package Fleet & Fortresses (12 cards)
Great
United is another large series of extensions that includes 4 different packages:
- Assault
- Decree
- Missions
- Heroes
United presents more of the same and something extra. In addition to new ships, bases and heroes, you will also find missions. Missions give players an alternative condition to win so you can encourage your opponent to exclude him.
- While the wild struggle for supremacy in the galaxy, once unimaginable ...
- Star Realms: United - a complete set of all four mini extensions: ...
- Add hybrid factions, brand new heroes and mission goals ...
Star Kingdoms: Borders
Think of Frontiers as the love of Star Realms and Dominion . Themed elements, artwork, maps and gameplay from the original Star Kings take size and double the size. The Frontiers is designed to be played by 4 players and has more feel than the vanilla version.
- Powerful new warp gate technology has opened a distant border, ...
- New standalone Star Realms game with a brand new deck of 80 cards ...
- Complete color policy for PVP games for two players and super ...
Steam
If you’re on the fence at all, you can actually play Star Realms for free on Steam . You will have access to the full set of cards, but you will only be able to play on the computer if you do not buy the game. This is a great way to give it a try.
Star Realms: The Deluxe New Collection
The latest Star Realms replay is currently on Kickstarter. It is fully supported, so it will soon be in the hands of the players.
Unpacking Star Kings
There’s really not much to unpack because the whole game is about the same size as a greeting card. This is very sweet.
Inside the kernel you will find:
- 80 Trading Cards
- 16 scout cards
- 10 Explorer cards
- 4 Viper cards
- 12 permits (1/5)
- 6 permits (10/20)
- Rules
How to Play Star Realms |
You will need to know a few symbols before we start the game.
Trade (gold)
The store acts as a currency in the game. Each card with a gold trading symbol adds your purchase fund and allows you to buy cards from the trading line in a row. It doesn’t save between rounds, so either use it or lose it.
Combat (red)
That’s pretty self-evident. This is how strong you are in a given turn. Each battle point inflicts 1 point of damage on the opponent. You win by taking away the other person’s life points, so it’s good to be mindful of your struggle.
Area (green)
Each player starts with 50 authorities and acts as your life points. There are cards that add your authority, basically heal you, and every point of Fight spent against you reduces your authority (life points).
Preparation
Each player starts from the same deck with 10 cards, 8 scouts and 2 vipers. This is pretty standard for most deck builders and as the game continues, the game decks are very different from each other.
Beginner scouts are mainly used to gain trade and buy stronger tickets, while vipers will complete 1 point of combat.
In the middle of the table, shuffle the deck and deal 5 cards face up. This is a trading line where you will be able to buy in line when the cards are purchased by trading and they will eventually be exchanged.
The last series of cards to be placed is a pile of explorer cards next to the trade bar. These are always available for purchase and ensure that players can always gain more store. This prevents the player from completely ruining his deck and being left with no chance of getting new cards.
You will also notice double-sided green cards. They are used simply to track the overall authority of each player (life points). You can use the included cards, pen and paper, or even an app. It doesn’t really matter, but I think the cards work pretty well.
Battle stations
Everything is ready and it’s time to process your battle stations, phases, lasers and end-of-day machines.
On the move, players can play as many cards as they have. Activation is free of cost, so you can simply hit them across the table while shouting obscenities against your opponent’s mother. Either way I play. When I play against my brother, it gets a little weird.
Some cards will have bonus abilities that will allow you to get extra cards for free, sort them in the merchant line, or even move your cards. Nothing is too complicated. Everything is clearly written on each card, so you will drop the symbols after a few turns.
It's not the moon!
There are some special cards that are pointed sideways instead of vertically. These are space stations.
In space battles, it’s always better to have the biggest and best space station. It's just common sense.
Space stations give bonus abilities that last through a detour until they are destroyed. They can be economically oriented and constantly add to your store at every turn. Battle stations that add combat or even specialized recycling facilities allow you to discard your card at every turn.
The most important feature of space stations is the added defense they provide. Players will have to break through stations before they can directly attack life points and add a much-needed defensive wall.
He wins the game
"There can only be one!"
The last player with any authority wins the game. It can increase quickly. In the first few laps, you’ll most likely merely accumulate your resources, but once the focus shifts, you can simply start breaking your opponent’s authority in a few turns.
Your first Star Realms game
Factions
Each faction is better at a certain aspect of the game. You don’t have shoes for a particular fraction. You can shuffle and match, but each faction builds its own cards. Card synergy is a big part of the game and many faction cards will award additional bonuses for playing more than one of your cards per turn.
It’s good to stick to one or two instead of trying to deck the menagerie.
Which to choose?
Let's take a look. Personally, I like Blobs. I am a fan of strong play.
Trade Union (blue)
As you can imagine from the faction with the word “trade” in the name, Trade Federation cards specialize in creating large amounts of trade. This is a great faction for those who want an economic advantage to literally buy any card on the board.
Star Empire (yellow)
The Star Empire is a vibrant group. They hit hard and make sure the opponent has a bad day by forcing him to discard the cards. What is disturbing is having the perfect hand to destroy it by forcibly rejecting it. I’ve been to the bad end of the Star Empire too many times.
Machine cult (red)
Machine Cult is probably my second favorite faction. Many cards allow you to remove cards from your own deck. So everything is nice and smooth. When you get everything perfect and remove all the weak starter trash cards, it’s very sweet when you get everything out of your deck. This way you always draw beautiful maps.
BLOB (green)
MY FAVOURITE. Blobs come and destroy everything for everyone. They hit and destroy tickets in the store very hard. This is very useful if you know that your opponent wants certain factions or cards. Maybe there’s something wonderful that you just can’t afford or that you want to make sure your opponent won’t win. A simple solution, blow it up. Did I mention they create a lot of fights too? Especially on some cheaper cards.
Advantages disadvantages
Advantages:
- The price is right
- 2 players
- Portable
- Great repeatability
Weaknesses:
- More players ...
I don’t really have a lot of bad things about the Star Kingdoms.
It is a full-size deck builder the size of a single box. This is a pretty impressive achievement in itself, but it can usually be found under $ 20 . The fact that the game is super fun puts Star Realms on top of me.
Normally, in a game of this size, you’re forced to buy a palette full of recovery packs to start playing decently, but extensions aren’t necessary either until you really play Star Realms to death.
The only thing I can blame her for are the multiplayer rules. They are there and you can play Star Realms with additional balance rules, but in my opinion they don’t work so well. This isn’t usually a problem because I have a lot of other multiplayer games, but there really aren’t that many really great two-player games.
TL; DR
Star Realms is an epic dueling game with match cards. He is an umbrella builder, so everything is needed to play in one field. Recovery extensions are available, but the content is set up. No coincidences or rare cards. You can find the contents of each package.
Star Realms is extremely portable and very budget-friendly, so it’s one of my card games that I carry with me almost everywhere. Although small, it has a big hit in terms of strategy and gameplay.
Conclusion: a verdict?
I love deck builders and I love Sci-Fi . They will always have a special place on my gaming shelf because when Kendra and I started walking, we played Dominion a lot. It was a great networking experience and one of the many reasons why I really love board games.
Star Realms really pushes it to the top of Portability . I can put the whole game in my back pocket. Ladies will find this a little harder, but that’s mainly because women’s pockets are stupid.
Star Realms has it all: a good price point, simple yet appealing mechanics, outstanding artwork and tons of repeatability.
- Fun Incredibly rich yet easy to learn to play games
- Portable The entire game is in a box that fits your ...
- Expandable One copy supports 2 players Add additional copies for ...
Have you played Star Realms? What are your favorite card games?
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