As Terry points out below. I say gold instead of trade. And hot damn did i have to fight my brain to say "authority" and not health. Does anyone else find themselves using generic terms in games that have specific terms? Like gold, health, mana, tapping etc. Any game specific terms that just never stick with you?
And to buy this game go here www.boardgameprices.com/prices/starrealm/? And for frontiers, try here. www.boardgameprices.com/prices/starrealmfrontier/?
3 Minute Board Games I use generic terms all the time! I only had the sense to mention it because you used “authority” instead of “health” or “HP”. P.S. also add the link to Star Realms: Frontiers above (or better yet, in the description) since you recommend it over the base set.
I don’t play MtG but I still say “tap” because it’s a common vernacular amongst card games. That and it’s just easier and more efficient than “exhaust”. Game On! 👾
Star Realms is the gold standard of deckbuilders... and yes, I'm someone who burned out on the app, playing at least 1000 games of it. I have all of it. It's fantastic. Colony Wars is great for multiplayer, as is Frontiers. The multi-faction cards and 2 on 1 commander decks are cool too. Original SR with just a few additions -- promo pack #1, heroes and merc bases, is close to a perfect two-player game, very balanced. Stay away from Events in two-player, too swingy. Gambits are okay. I sold Hero Realms as I think Star Realms is better balanced, Hero Realms is great for co-op, multi-player and the class decks. Also lastly, SR has the single best graphic design of any deckbuilder of its level of complexity. So clear, so clean. For scoring just get an app.
Star realm frontier is better than the original Star realm. I also think it should be noted that the final reboxing is using the star realms frontier box (otherwise it won't fit everything)
I think in Star Realms it's called "trade", not gold ;-) It's worth mentioning the Star Realms App is an excellent way to try out the game. Aeon's End is a great suggestion if you like co-operative (IIRC it has an interesting mechanic where you don't shuffle your cards). I agree that the authority tracker in the original game is terrible (it also doesn't have a solo mode), In fact, the only thing good about it is, being smaller, it makes a portable 2-player game, though you can just take half of Frontiers with you to do the same. One thing important to learn after a few plays in this game is strategically there is a rock-paper-scissors mechanic in the game between the 4 factions. red > blue > green/yellow > red. If you remember that, your play becomes much sharper.
I hadn't noticed a rock-paper-scissors thing in the game at all. Can you go into more detail. (and yeah, I used gold for ease of explanation, when you play as many games as I do, you gloss over the specific terms each game has for Health, Gold etc. I had to force myself to say authority in this vid and not health. )
@@3MBG Sure! (But before I go on this tangent, I want to emphasize that/thank you for this great video of a pretty great deck-builder). First, I'm not expert in Star Realms so I might get some aspects of it wrong. First, Let's keep in mind that this is a 1st order rule that doesn't apply in every situation as there are cards with different intrinsic values (some cards even be nearly gamebreaking like Megahauler), or some that have utility outside their faction (stealth needle) and value shifts during the game stage (e.g. early game cards like cutter or blob fighter, late game cards, etc.). Finally, nobody sticks strictly with one faction when buying cards from the market. So how the basic rule of thumb/1st order effect: red > blue > green/yellow > red? The red faction has mostly deck pruning cards (in this game that is called "scrap") that when played, can allow you to potentially remove bad cards in the game (your starting cards, since explorers are self-scrapping). Blue builds a lot of authority (health gains) but less damage, so it doesn't represent an existential threat to red giving red a lot of cycles to scrap bad cards (starting deck and mistakes in early drafting). By the time a blue deck has drafted powerful damage dealers, red has turns with a tons of combos/synergies that are simply more efficient than blue's deck which is still littered with starter cards. Green and Yellow factions have some differences - green does more damage and more early game while yellow can have longer combos or force weaken the opponent's hand, yellow can also be scrapped if needed for a burst/you know you won't be cycling the deck again - but in general the concept is the same for both: deal damage efficiently. But blue typically has enough authority to sustain through green and yellow's onslaught early on and is not taken out quickly enough. (Blue also has a lot of bases which have a high hit points (shield??) but are not blocking like the outposts so, while killing them is optional, they suck a lot of damage to be removed.) By late game, blue has so much trade it buys powerful cards that overwhelm a green or yellow faction. Green or yellow against red is obvious. For red to scrap the bad cards out, it needs many cycles of the deck. During this time, red is healing for nothing so every point of damage green/yellow does sticks. They are also doing enough damage every turn to destroy all of red's outposts, making them inefficient (by design, bases/outposts have to last more than a single turn to give more value than a ship). By the time red has its deck-engine built, the authority gap is too much to recover from. … How does this work in a real game? Let's assume your opponent is someone who has played a number of times, but isn't an expert. A very common pattern may be that they "love" to draft Trade Federation (blue) because "it is the most powerful faction and they always seen to win with it" - the reality is they've won a lot because it beats more factions than any other one and because the cutter is such a strong early game unit and it happens to be blue). In your game, you notice this opponent drafting almost entirely blue cards. Using the rock-paper-scissors rule above, you should shift to starting to draft red units that can scrap things because cutters and freighters and embassy ships represent no threat to your authority pool. You'll have a lot of time to cycle your deck and use the scrap ability to remove the vipers then the scouts. It helps that you still get enough damage to destroy blue bases before they get out of hand, and your outposts are just strong enough to allow you to take zero damage sometimes from the potshots that blue gets in the early games. Eventually, you've pruned enough you can transition to picking up another faction (or continuing on the one you paused) to build a lot of damage with combos to take your opponenet out (it helps that red had middle game cards like Mech World and Stealth Needle which can combo with the faction you transition to as well as a card (forgot the name) that flexibly transition between trade and damage). … Because I stopped playing games just before MtG took over the industry (I had just entered college), I'm not super proficient with deck-builders (I believe Star Realms was designed by MtG tournament players), but from a game design perspective, there needs to be balance and thus it's important to keep in mind that rock-paper-scissors mechanics are often necessary in games in order to preserve that balance _by_design_ (as opposed to just playtesting a lot like a big monte carlo simulation). Even if there are no "factions" to combo out of, any card-based euro is going to work along the lines of "engine building > stat building > damage dealing > engine-building." In this game: engine-building = scrap > stat building = authority/trade > damage dealing = damage > scrap. In a video game like League of Legends it is the maxim "sustain beats poke beats kill beats sustain." Similar relationship but different in actuals in a tableau engine-builder (Scythe, Terraforming Mars, Anachrony), and so on.
Amazing game! Stakes never feel too high since games are short, which makes a loss bearable. While a win is still satisfying! I bought Frontiers purely for solo play and having a blast. It’s very affordable too
I love this game. I’m tickled that this many years after its launch people are still talking about it. I have Colony Wars but have never played it and Frontiers that I’ve only played solo. My gaming group is more Dominion or Thunderstone Quest at 3 and 4 player or Ascension for just two. Luckily I’m not burned out on the app since it’s about the only way for me to play it. Game On! 👾
For people who like Star Realms but want an alternate win condition, there's also Shards of Infinity for a very similar feeling without stalling out on someone healing up to ridiculous amounts in the late game!
@@shaneannigans No, it makes me feel worse because you'll crush me at Star Realms. :D Also, let me guess? It's because they haven't made a Hero Realms app yet? Star Realms app is EVIL! :D
@@tychay I dunno. I've never played against an actual human so maybe I'm not that great. That said, I would LOVE a Hero Realms app!! But Ruin of Thandaar will have to do in the meantime 😊
Hi! I don't own any Star Realms decks. I am looking for a co-op game, and this one seemed interesting. From what I've read, this expansion is the only content that supports co-op. If I start with Star Realms: Frontiers, can I then use the other (older) available content as part of my co-op game? Or will it then switch the nature of it to competitive?
Help anyone 🆘... Im looking for a scifi wargame. I been playing eastfront, mbt, panzer battles, combat comander, etc. And i love them but im getting tired of historical wargames. Im looking for something like those games but with a futuristic theme... Maybe set in other planets. Any recommendations??
Hard one Lord Z. I can recall some older games, like Battleforce, Renegade Legion: Prefect, Horus Heresy and Battle for armageddon. But i'm really reaching here.
Hello! so, I'm a complete noob, what should I buy to learn to play this game? and once I buy that, is it complete? or I have to buy more cards or set boosters? thanks!
Just the core box is all you need. The extra cards and boosters just give more options later on. Its complete as is. I'd only buy the expansions if you play it a lot.
As Terry points out below. I say gold instead of trade. And hot damn did i have to fight my brain to say "authority" and not health. Does anyone else find themselves using generic terms in games that have specific terms? Like gold, health, mana, tapping etc. Any game specific terms that just never stick with you?
And to buy this game go here www.boardgameprices.com/prices/starrealm/?
And for frontiers, try here. www.boardgameprices.com/prices/starrealmfrontier/?
3 Minute Board Games I use generic terms all the time! I only had the sense to mention it because you used “authority” instead of “health” or “HP”.
P.S. also add the link to Star Realms: Frontiers above (or better yet, in the description) since you recommend it over the base set.
I play Magic and Keyforge. Its hard to say exhaust instead of tap a lot of times. So I totally get you
Avery Spencer Richard Garfield says tap in interviews all the time when talking about Keyforge don’t feel bad. ;)
I don’t play MtG but I still say “tap” because it’s a common vernacular amongst card games. That and it’s just easier and more efficient than “exhaust”. Game On! 👾
Star Realms is the gold standard of deckbuilders... and yes, I'm someone who burned out on the app, playing at least 1000 games of it. I have all of it. It's fantastic. Colony Wars is great for multiplayer, as is Frontiers. The multi-faction cards and 2 on 1 commander decks are cool too. Original SR with just a few additions -- promo pack #1, heroes and merc bases, is close to a perfect two-player game, very balanced. Stay away from Events in two-player, too swingy. Gambits are okay. I sold Hero Realms as I think Star Realms is better balanced, Hero Realms is great for co-op, multi-player and the class decks.
Also lastly, SR has the single best graphic design of any deckbuilder of its level of complexity. So clear, so clean. For scoring just get an app.
Star realm frontier is better than the original Star realm.
I also think it should be noted that the final reboxing is using the star realms frontier box (otherwise it won't fit everything)
I included that as a joke, to show just how overloaded that poor box is.
@@3MBG Hahaha that is true. I recently sub your channel. Your video is great!
I havent seen this new version! I only ever knew about the original. I'm stoked to get this and play with a group!!!
Downloading the app right now. Can't promise to not burn out on it again. Great review
I think in Star Realms it's called "trade", not gold ;-)
It's worth mentioning the Star Realms App is an excellent way to try out the game. Aeon's End is a great suggestion if you like co-operative (IIRC it has an interesting mechanic where you don't shuffle your cards). I agree that the authority tracker in the original game is terrible (it also doesn't have a solo mode), In fact, the only thing good about it is, being smaller, it makes a portable 2-player game, though you can just take half of Frontiers with you to do the same.
One thing important to learn after a few plays in this game is strategically there is a rock-paper-scissors mechanic in the game between the 4 factions. red > blue > green/yellow > red. If you remember that, your play becomes much sharper.
I hadn't noticed a rock-paper-scissors thing in the game at all. Can you go into more detail. (and yeah, I used gold for ease of explanation, when you play as many games as I do, you gloss over the specific terms each game has for Health, Gold etc. I had to force myself to say authority in this vid and not health. )
@@3MBG Sure! (But before I go on this tangent, I want to emphasize that/thank you for this great video of a pretty great deck-builder).
First, I'm not expert in Star Realms so I might get some aspects of it wrong.
First, Let's keep in mind that this is a 1st order rule that doesn't apply in every situation as there are cards with different intrinsic values (some cards even be nearly gamebreaking like Megahauler), or some that have utility outside their faction (stealth needle) and value shifts during the game stage (e.g. early game cards like cutter or blob fighter, late game cards, etc.). Finally, nobody sticks strictly with one faction when buying cards from the market.
So how the basic rule of thumb/1st order effect: red > blue > green/yellow > red?
The red faction has mostly deck pruning cards (in this game that is called "scrap") that when played, can allow you to potentially remove bad cards in the game (your starting cards, since explorers are self-scrapping). Blue builds a lot of authority (health gains) but less damage, so it doesn't represent an existential threat to red giving red a lot of cycles to scrap bad cards (starting deck and mistakes in early drafting). By the time a blue deck has drafted powerful damage dealers, red has turns with a tons of combos/synergies that are simply more efficient than blue's deck which is still littered with starter cards.
Green and Yellow factions have some differences - green does more damage and more early game while yellow can have longer combos or force weaken the opponent's hand, yellow can also be scrapped if needed for a burst/you know you won't be cycling the deck again - but in general the concept is the same for both: deal damage efficiently. But blue typically has enough authority to sustain through green and yellow's onslaught early on and is not taken out quickly enough. (Blue also has a lot of bases which have a high hit points (shield??) but are not blocking like the outposts so, while killing them is optional, they suck a lot of damage to be removed.) By late game, blue has so much trade it buys powerful cards that overwhelm a green or yellow faction.
Green or yellow against red is obvious. For red to scrap the bad cards out, it needs many cycles of the deck. During this time, red is healing for nothing so every point of damage green/yellow does sticks. They are also doing enough damage every turn to destroy all of red's outposts, making them inefficient (by design, bases/outposts have to last more than a single turn to give more value than a ship). By the time red has its deck-engine built, the authority gap is too much to recover from.
…
How does this work in a real game? Let's assume your opponent is someone who has played a number of times, but isn't an expert. A very common pattern may be that they "love" to draft Trade Federation (blue) because "it is the most powerful faction and they always seen to win with it" - the reality is they've won a lot because it beats more factions than any other one and because the cutter is such a strong early game unit and it happens to be blue). In your game, you notice this opponent drafting almost entirely blue cards.
Using the rock-paper-scissors rule above, you should shift to starting to draft red units that can scrap things because cutters and freighters and embassy ships represent no threat to your authority pool. You'll have a lot of time to cycle your deck and use the scrap ability to remove the vipers then the scouts. It helps that you still get enough damage to destroy blue bases before they get out of hand, and your outposts are just strong enough to allow you to take zero damage sometimes from the potshots that blue gets in the early games. Eventually, you've pruned enough you can transition to picking up another faction (or continuing on the one you paused) to build a lot of damage with combos to take your opponenet out (it helps that red had middle game cards like Mech World and Stealth Needle which can combo with the faction you transition to as well as a card (forgot the name) that flexibly transition between trade and damage).
…
Because I stopped playing games just before MtG took over the industry (I had just entered college), I'm not super proficient with deck-builders (I believe Star Realms was designed by MtG tournament players), but from a game design perspective, there needs to be balance and thus it's important to keep in mind that rock-paper-scissors mechanics are often necessary in games in order to preserve that balance _by_design_ (as opposed to just playtesting a lot like a big monte carlo simulation). Even if there are no "factions" to combo out of, any card-based euro is going to work along the lines of "engine building > stat building > damage dealing > engine-building." In this game: engine-building = scrap > stat building = authority/trade > damage dealing = damage > scrap. In a video game like League of Legends it is the maxim "sustain beats poke beats kill beats sustain." Similar relationship but different in actuals in a tableau engine-builder (Scythe, Terraforming Mars, Anachrony), and so on.
Amazing game! Stakes never feel too high since games are short, which makes a loss bearable. While a win is still satisfying! I bought Frontiers purely for solo play and having a blast. It’s very affordable too
I am not a big card game player but this is an excellent game that is easy to play and understand. I believe it is very under rated.
That “too bad” 😂😂😂
AND THE DREADED BLOB
I love this game. I’m tickled that this many years after its launch people are still talking about it. I have Colony Wars but have never played it and Frontiers that I’ve only played solo. My gaming group is more Dominion or Thunderstone Quest at 3 and 4 player or Ascension for just two. Luckily I’m not burned out on the app since it’s about the only way for me to play it. Game On! 👾
For people who like Star Realms but want an alternate win condition, there's also Shards of Infinity for a very similar feeling without stalling out on someone healing up to ridiculous amounts in the late game!
what a coincidence i just bought this a week ago before seeing this video, im playing the hell out of it daily!
Your phone listens to you that's why!
Try Volfyirion it’s a really fun new take on this deck building style! It fired Hero Realms for me. :) Made by Tabula Games.
I love your videos!!
Looks like a good 2 player "Twilight Imperium 4 Lite"
Great game!
I prefer the theme of Hero Realms but it's essentially the same thing :)
Shane Annigans Them’s fighting words! 😤😜
@@tychay Hahaha
If it makes you feel better, thanks to the app, I've probably played Star Realms hundreds of times more than Hero Realms ✌😉☮
@@shaneannigans No, it makes me feel worse because you'll crush me at Star Realms. :D
Also, let me guess? It's because they haven't made a Hero Realms app yet? Star Realms app is EVIL! :D
@@tychay
I dunno. I've never played against an actual human so maybe I'm not that great.
That said, I would LOVE a Hero Realms app!! But Ruin of Thandaar will have to do in the meantime 😊
Hi! I don't own any Star Realms decks. I am looking for a co-op game, and this one seemed interesting. From what I've read, this expansion is the only content that supports co-op. If I start with Star Realms: Frontiers, can I then use the other (older) available content as part of my co-op game? Or will it then switch the nature of it to competitive?
You can use all the cards together, the co-op stuff is kinda separate. I have all my in one massive deck now
@@3MBG thank you!
This entire video I felt like I was being enlisted in the Clone Wars
Makes sense, The clone wars were almost entirely fought by people from New Zealand :)
Help anyone 🆘... Im looking for a scifi wargame. I been playing eastfront, mbt, panzer battles, combat comander, etc. And i love them but im getting tired of historical wargames. Im looking for something like those games but with a futuristic theme... Maybe set in other planets.
Any recommendations??
@Shi Yu Meng i already play Warhammer 40k. Im looking along the lines of war boardgames like those i mentioned.
Surprisingly few decent Sci-fi wargames with that level of complexity. Space Empires 4X might be one to check out.
@@3MBG thanks its exactly like im looking for. Too bad there isn't ground combat scifi ones, only space.
Hard one Lord Z. I can recall some older games, like Battleforce, Renegade Legion: Prefect, Horus Heresy and Battle for armageddon. But i'm really reaching here.
hope you had a lot of fun with any game you bought. I recommend Dune: Imperium.
Much bigger fan of Ascension than Star Realms. Probably a theme issue for me though.
Hello! so, I'm a complete noob, what should I buy to learn to play this game? and once I buy that, is it complete? or I have to buy more cards or set boosters? thanks!
Just the core box is all you need. The extra cards and boosters just give more options later on. Its complete as is. I'd only buy the expansions if you play it a lot.
@@3MBG Thank you! 🥰
@@3MBG thank you! this was very helpful, I bought it and I'm playing it now, is so easy and fun!
Does this and Shards of Infinity scratch the same itch basically? Or is Star Realms better for multiplayer?
Not sure, have no knowledge of shards of infinity.
Very late to the game. Ordered and waiting to play
Closer to 4 minutes, that’s some pretty bad rounding.. 👉🏼
The premise of the channel is reviews from 3:00 to 3:59. Hence why the videos are called "in about 3 minutes" and not "in exactly 3 minutes"