Thanks for the informative review. It avoided being fanboy-esque, while still showing your enthusiasm for the system. I'm very excited about this one...
Great review! Some excellent points about not stressing about having every enemy and piece of terrain shown in the book. Just modify and adapt the scenario and NPCs to what is available. We've done that in Frostgrave for a while and works great. Your reaction to the naysayers "It's just Frostgrave in Space" was spot on. Keep up the great reviews!
I'm a big user of fog in Frostgrave. It can be really effective in shutting down opponent shooting - and distracting neutral monsters. I imagine smoke grenades will be equally effective in Stargrave.
Awesomeness! I love Frostgrave and Rangers so I'm all in with Stargrave. I also plan on using my Blackstone fortress mini's as my crew and as the enemies.
Thank you for this review. At first blush when you said it was conceptually “Frostgrave in space” I wondered about using Games Workshop models, then you mentioned Rogue Trader and showed a few GW models! I really enjoy the 40k setting, but not the voluminous 40k rule set. This is now on my watchlist. Also appreciate your take on the the D20 mechanism here, and how it applies thematically. Thumbed!
I dont mean to be so off topic but does anybody know of a way to get back into an instagram account? I stupidly lost the password. I appreciate any tips you can give me!
@Nixon Leonidas Thanks for your reply. I got to the site through google and Im trying it out now. Seems to take quite some time so I will get back to you later with my results.
I recently painted 2 warbands for a sci fi skirmish game called Zone Raiders. I think I'll use them for Stargrave. It's nice that after 5 years, Frostgrave has been reskinned for sci fi, but I'm disappointed there are no rules for campaign conclusion. Sure, there will be no ascension in space, but still.
I think its important to note that d20 swinginess is mostly about optics or a designer not using the granularity of the dice accordingly. In your example of a +2 fight opposed by a +6 fight, that is only a 20% better chance of success by the +6 character. A +1 modifier on a d6 check is 16.6...% increased chance of success. Going in with a +1 modifer in a d6 game doesn't feel like a massive likelihood of success.
I really love what Osprey does....they make real "sandbox" type games. And affordable! One of my favorite games was Gamma World. It just wasn't widely accepted and had no where near the appeal of D&D. But the aspects of sci-fi mixed with swords and sorcery is appealing to a geek like me. If your old enough to remember Thundarr the Barbarian, that's the theme. Take all that and make it into a 3x3 skirmish game, instead of a pure RPG, yeah I'm sold. The d20 thing is problematic. I'd rather have d10, d12, or an assortment with "surges" or whatever to enable certain powers or whatever. Really great review and I appreciate the time you took with this. It's so close to what I'm really looking for.
Make several. With such a low model count it isnt hard. From older 40k models I have lying around I easily made an Imperial guard crew then crews based on, Craftworld eldar, dark eldar, chaos cultists, genestealer cultists, admech skitarii and that's just so far...
Really appreciate the thorough review. I’m wondering if you can provide some suggestions for my situation. Looking for a system to use a large variety of Star Wars Legion minis that would provide an experience that ideally sits between something like a tabletop war game like Legion and D&D. I would want some sort of narrative campaign that I can influence with progress and customizable characters for the players. I want to be able to support more than 2 players and probably make it a coop vs DM situation. Stargrave seems to check most of the boxes, but I was wondering if you have any other recommendations.
Stargrave would definitely be my vote. You might also check out Starbreach (which I've reviewed and really enjoy), or Five Parsecs From Home (which I didn't care for, but everyone else seems to like).
Why strain? Stress is a killer in real life, why wouldn’t straining for an important result not “hurt”? Adrenaline is toxic to our systems, but fight or flight is baked in to our DNA. One other way of looking at it...the madness mechanic in Cthulhu based games. Pretty sure running from that sewer dragon is going to cause you some anxiety. :)
Not really excited by this one, but I will say this much, the d20 combat system actually strikes me as *more* fitting for scifi than it was in fantasy. Yes, it's very swingy and sudden death is definitely a thing with it, but that feels appropriate when you're using pistols and shotguns and other high-tech weapons. Real firearms can kill anyone in a single moderately lucky shot and all the skill and combat experience in the world won't really prevent that, and Stargrave's using even more advanced weapons (in theory, anyway). Getting shot at should be dangerous, and the wonky combat system does a decent job of making it feel that way. The slightly lower average armor values in Stargrave also impact that a bit, although health values (at least on the soldiers) are a bit higher now as well so that may be a wash.
If you've played Frostgrave, it's just like upgrading your "base". Basically, you spend X number of credits to get special ability for your crew. One example off the top of my head is one upgrade allows you to take 5 specialists instead of 4.
I do actually. I've been playtesting it quite a bit, and will have a video going up alongside their Kickstarter. I've really been enjoying it. It's in the same vein as Rangers of Shadow Deep, but definitely not a clone. I only have experience with the demo scenario being published with the launch of the KS project. Haven't got into character creation/campaign stuff. (To be transparent, I am being paid for the preview video. Doesn't affect my assessment, but I wanted to mention it).
Thanks. To me Star Breach is more on the "system" side, whereas Stargrave is a more fleshed out world to dig my teeth into. Granted, it's designed to be a catch-all system as well, but there's more little nooks and crannies of fluff and what not that pulls me in.
@@DriveThruReview So, if I were interested in playing Kill Team with 40k figures + lore and wanted a better system you'd recommend Star Breach over Stargrave? I'm less interested in the universe and more about quick to play systems. Have you looked into any of the OnePage rulesets?
@@MrNimhbus Man. That's a tough one, and this is probably seventh or eighth time I've been asked now. You've convinced me to do a video on it! In the mean time, Star Breach is free... so you can at least try that one out first and see if you like it. But, it's a tough answer honestly. Video forthcoming. Link to free rules: www.starbreach.com/free-download-page
Is there anything for combat on a ship, or ship to ship boarding actions? I was hoping for something similar to the PC game Faster Than Light where you deploy crew members to different ship areas and repel/launch borders and exchange fire that damages zones
You can upgrade the ships yes. I touched on it briefly towards the end of the gameplay overview bit. Some of the scenarios do take place (or at least "could" take place on a ship), but... so far... there's no like dog fighting or anything :)
@@DriveThruReview I saw that right after I commented and had to edit, woops! Thanks for the really detailed evaluation of this, it looks very promising. I bet it wouldn't be too hard to set up the map as ship floor plans with doors between, and perhaps something like Bolt Action's preliminary bombardment for the ship fire. And thanks for the really fast reply!
@@bombarded15 You could probably have a board like Kill Team Arena or something that's corridors and doors. And just add "use an action to open/close doors".... or have some doors locked and make it a WIL roll like you would opening a loot token.
If you're looking for more of a boarding action focus, you might take a look at Gorilla Games' Battlestations game instead, it's got the same kind of simultaneous ship & personal combat thing going on that FTL did. It's a co-op versus gamemaster system though, rather than being head to head like Stargrave. Other games I can think of that dealt with boarding skirmishes include Rogue Stars (which has some boarding scenarios and very dangerous rules for fighting on board a ship), AE Bounty (which is OOP last I checked), and the old GDW games Snapshot and Azhanti High Lightning (same basic system, essentially a Traveller mod, very different scales of play).
Good Review. I also share alot of your opinions. Especially concerning the criticism about a resin of frostgrave. The only thing I am questioning in your review is: why didn't you use your tinkerturf terrain. Undoubtedly that is a very very subjective and personal critique. But I actually found you because of that sweet cardboard terrain which I have (besides battlesystems) and which waits eagerly to be used for star grave. 🤣 to get a tiny bit more serioys: I think those cardboard terrain systems deserve more attention.
Thanks for the informative review. It avoided being fanboy-esque, while still showing your enthusiasm for the system. I'm very excited about this one...
Great review! Some excellent points about not stressing about having every enemy and piece of terrain shown in the book. Just modify and adapt the scenario and NPCs to what is available. We've done that in Frostgrave for a while and works great. Your reaction to the naysayers "It's just Frostgrave in Space" was spot on. Keep up the great reviews!
Thanks Todd!
I'm a big user of fog in Frostgrave.
It can be really effective in shutting down opponent shooting - and distracting neutral monsters.
I imagine smoke grenades will be equally effective in Stargrave.
Awesomeness! I love Frostgrave and Rangers so I'm all in with Stargrave.
I also plan on using my Blackstone fortress mini's as my crew and as the enemies.
Right on! Have fun.
Enjoyed the review. I have my copy on preorder and excited to start playing.
Oh, this looks fun. Frostgrave in a space setting... sold!
Thanks, Joel!
Thank you for this review. At first blush when you said it was conceptually “Frostgrave in space” I wondered about using Games Workshop models, then you mentioned Rogue Trader and showed a few GW models!
I really enjoy the 40k setting, but not the voluminous 40k rule set. This is now on my watchlist.
Also appreciate your take on the the D20 mechanism here, and how it applies thematically.
Thumbed!
Happy to give you the 100th like! Thanks for the review.
I like the Bounty Hunter solo rules that Joe is putting out for this. I'm thinking of doing a Necromunda bounty hunter game
I dont mean to be so off topic but does anybody know of a way to get back into an instagram account?
I stupidly lost the password. I appreciate any tips you can give me!
@Sean Lukas Instablaster ;)
@Nixon Leonidas Thanks for your reply. I got to the site through google and Im trying it out now.
Seems to take quite some time so I will get back to you later with my results.
@Nixon Leonidas it worked and I actually got access to my account again. I'm so happy!
Thank you so much you saved my account!
@Sean Lukas you are welcome :D
Best review yet.
I recently painted 2 warbands for a sci fi skirmish game called Zone Raiders. I think I'll use them for Stargrave. It's nice that after 5 years, Frostgrave has been reskinned for sci fi, but I'm disappointed there are no rules for campaign conclusion. Sure, there will be no ascension in space, but still.
I think its important to note that d20 swinginess is mostly about optics or a designer not using the granularity of the dice accordingly. In your example of a +2 fight opposed by a +6 fight, that is only a 20% better chance of success by the +6 character. A +1 modifier on a d6 check is 16.6...% increased chance of success. Going in with a +1 modifer in a d6 game doesn't feel like a massive likelihood of success.
Maybe i would make something starlord MCU focused... a rogue... making a living and getting a space crew.
That could be a sweet crew.
Very good review. Thank you
I really love what Osprey does....they make real "sandbox" type games. And affordable!
One of my favorite games was Gamma World. It just wasn't widely accepted and had no where near the appeal of D&D. But the aspects of sci-fi mixed with swords and sorcery is appealing to a geek like me. If your old enough to remember Thundarr the Barbarian, that's the theme.
Take all that and make it into a 3x3 skirmish game, instead of a pure RPG, yeah I'm sold.
The d20 thing is problematic. I'd rather have d10, d12, or an assortment with "surges" or whatever to enable certain powers or whatever.
Really great review and I appreciate the time you took with this. It's so close to what I'm really looking for.
Great! waiting to play it :D still cant decide which type of crew i will make...
Make several. With such a low model count it isnt hard. From older 40k models I have lying around I easily made an Imperial guard crew then crews based on, Craftworld eldar, dark eldar, chaos cultists, genestealer cultists, admech skitarii and that's just so far...
Really appreciate the thorough review. I’m wondering if you can provide some suggestions for my situation. Looking for a system to use a large variety of Star Wars Legion minis that would provide an experience that ideally sits between something like a tabletop war game like Legion and D&D. I would want some sort of narrative campaign that I can influence with progress and customizable characters for the players. I want to be able to support more than 2 players and probably make it a coop vs DM situation. Stargrave seems to check most of the boxes, but I was wondering if you have any other recommendations.
Stargrave would definitely be my vote. You might also check out Starbreach (which I've reviewed and really enjoy), or Five Parsecs From Home (which I didn't care for, but everyone else seems to like).
Why strain? Stress is a killer in real life, why wouldn’t straining for an important result not “hurt”? Adrenaline is toxic to our systems, but fight or flight is baked in to our DNA.
One other way of looking at it...the madness mechanic in Cthulhu based games. Pretty sure running from that sewer dragon is going to cause you some anxiety. :)
Not really excited by this one, but I will say this much, the d20 combat system actually strikes me as *more* fitting for scifi than it was in fantasy. Yes, it's very swingy and sudden death is definitely a thing with it, but that feels appropriate when you're using pistols and shotguns and other high-tech weapons. Real firearms can kill anyone in a single moderately lucky shot and all the skill and combat experience in the world won't really prevent that, and Stargrave's using even more advanced weapons (in theory, anyway). Getting shot at should be dangerous, and the wonky combat system does a decent job of making it feel that way. The slightly lower average armor values in Stargrave also impact that a bit, although health values (at least on the soldiers) are a bit higher now as well so that may be a wash.
Thanks for the review. What’s the story about the Nashville Skyline plaque on the wall?
My brother got it for me for Christmas several years ago. It's just an autographed record framed.
@@DriveThruReview “Just” 😂
@@LeviathanW98 Haha. Well.... he got it for me because it's one of the few covers where Dylan is smiling, lol. (I'm a huge fan obviously).
im curious about upgrading the starship bit..
If you've played Frostgrave, it's just like upgrading your "base". Basically, you spend X number of credits to get special ability for your crew. One example off the top of my head is one upgrade allows you to take 5 specialists instead of 4.
Im wanting to figure out how i can adapt my star trek models and the Trek universe to this game.
As they say... "Just do it!" :)
@@DriveThruReview Got to get my hands on game first
Joel have you seen or played Core Space? Would be really interested in your views on that one!
I've seen it. Haven't had a chance to play it yet.
Drive Thru Games it kinda feels like if Stargrave was a boxed minis game. Mat, full table of terrain and everything you need to play.
@@bassboyjon Ya. I'm definitely curious about it.
Joel - - how have you avoided Core Space? Dying to hear your thoughts on this miniatures sci-fi game.
It was out of print for a bit there. I need to look back into it.
Do you have any knowledge of or experience with Lasting Tales from Blacklist Games?
I do actually. I've been playtesting it quite a bit, and will have a video going up alongside their Kickstarter. I've really been enjoying it. It's in the same vein as Rangers of Shadow Deep, but definitely not a clone. I only have experience with the demo scenario being published with the launch of the KS project. Haven't got into character creation/campaign stuff. (To be transparent, I am being paid for the preview video. Doesn't affect my assessment, but I wanted to mention it).
Great review, thanks! What do you think of this game versus Star Breach?
Thanks. To me Star Breach is more on the "system" side, whereas Stargrave is a more fleshed out world to dig my teeth into. Granted, it's designed to be a catch-all system as well, but there's more little nooks and crannies of fluff and what not that pulls me in.
@@DriveThruReview So, if I were interested in playing Kill Team with 40k figures + lore and wanted a better system you'd recommend Star Breach over Stargrave? I'm less interested in the universe and more about quick to play systems. Have you looked into any of the OnePage rulesets?
@@MrNimhbus Man. That's a tough one, and this is probably seventh or eighth time I've been asked now. You've convinced me to do a video on it! In the mean time, Star Breach is free... so you can at least try that one out first and see if you like it. But, it's a tough answer honestly. Video forthcoming. Link to free rules: www.starbreach.com/free-download-page
Great Review!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
*me without my glasses on, looking at the cards* ...Hoggle? Like the puppet?
Haha :)
bought it. cant wait to get the rule book
Is there anything for combat on a ship, or ship to ship boarding actions? I was hoping for something similar to the PC game Faster Than Light where you deploy crew members to different ship areas and repel/launch borders and exchange fire that damages zones
You can upgrade the ships yes. I touched on it briefly towards the end of the gameplay overview bit. Some of the scenarios do take place (or at least "could" take place on a ship), but... so far... there's no like dog fighting or anything :)
@@DriveThruReview I saw that right after I commented and had to edit, woops! Thanks for the really detailed evaluation of this, it looks very promising. I bet it wouldn't be too hard to set up the map as ship floor plans with doors between, and perhaps something like Bolt Action's preliminary bombardment for the ship fire.
And thanks for the really fast reply!
@@bombarded15 You could probably have a board like Kill Team Arena or something that's corridors and doors. And just add "use an action to open/close doors".... or have some doors locked and make it a WIL roll like you would opening a loot token.
If you're looking for more of a boarding action focus, you might take a look at Gorilla Games' Battlestations game instead, it's got the same kind of simultaneous ship & personal combat thing going on that FTL did. It's a co-op versus gamemaster system though, rather than being head to head like Stargrave.
Other games I can think of that dealt with boarding skirmishes include Rogue Stars (which has some boarding scenarios and very dangerous rules for fighting on board a ship), AE Bounty (which is OOP last I checked), and the old GDW games Snapshot and Azhanti High Lightning (same basic system, essentially a Traveller mod, very different scales of play).
...didn't see this coming for atleast half a yr
Good Review. I also share alot of your opinions. Especially concerning the criticism about a resin of frostgrave.
The only thing I am questioning in your review is: why didn't you use your tinkerturf terrain. Undoubtedly that is a very very subjective and personal critique. But I actually found you because of that sweet cardboard terrain which I have (besides battlesystems) and which waits eagerly to be used for star grave. 🤣 to get a tiny bit more serioys: I think those cardboard terrain systems deserve more attention.
Just because I played it with a Rogue Trader theme. I will use my Metro Morph etc... when I play other games or in other landscapes :)
@@DriveThruReview all is fine I was joking. I like how much time you invested in this review!
@@NikSantSurvivedEndor Ah OK. My bad. My other view didn't show the emoji :)