I’ve had StarCraft: The Board Game since its initial release in late October, 2007. Since that time, it has become the clear champion of my humble board game collection. Before I get to the review itself however, here’s a little background on my gaming history.

I initially got into boardgaming because of Fantasy Flight’s adaptation of DOOM back in 2004. My friends and I, longtime DOOM fans, were amazed at how much we enjoyed the adaptation. We then tried various other board game adaptations of board games we liked to varying results. Shortly after, my group began playing games that had not been translated from a video game origin and we decided that we should officially be labeled as board gamers (regardless of the fact that much of our experience has been limited to Fantasy Flight’s lineup). Upon hearing that Fantasy Flight would be releasing an adaptation of our group favorite video game, StarCraft, my group began counting down the days until its release.

We were not disappointed in what we received.

OVERVIEW

StarCraft: The Board Game is a sci-fi conquest game in which each player assumes the role of a commander of one of three races: the Terran (advanced spacefaring humans), the Protoss (super-advanced religious humanoid aliens), or the Zerg (mutating insect-like alien collective). The overall goal of the game is to achieve victory through accumulation of Conquest Points, meeting your Special Victory requirements, or eliminating the other players. Players spend their time building new units and buildings for their race, researching new technologies and combat abilities, and mobilizing their forces to battlefield victory.

RULES / RULEBOOK

The rules of the game may seem daunting at first but after about an hour’s worth of playtime, most players should be able to grasp them easily. The rulebook is well layed-out and contains examples of nearly everything talked about and there is an index at the end of it (which comes in handy). My only complaint with the rulebook is that there are certain unique situations in the game that may arise that the rulebook does not cover, though most of these situations are addressed online in the official FAQ at the Fantasy Flight webpage.

The game is broken down into three phases:

-Planning- The phase in which players place order tokens that dictate what the players will do over the course of each game turn. The mechanics that run this phase are quite well designed, as players must take into account that the first order token they place may be the last they get to execute. Players may also attempt to “obstruct” each other’s orders during this phase in order to prevent each other from using their orders until it’s too late.

-Execution- The phase in which players execute the orders they’ve placed one-by-one.

-Regrouping- The phase in which players destroy enemy bases and transports, check for victory conditions, gain conquest points, and play event cards.

As far as teaching the rules goes, I’ve found that it’s much easier to teach the game to players of the StarCraft PC game. It might be the fact that these players are familiar with the terminologies the game uses or simply because they know how the military units work. This is not to say that players who have not played the PC version before have not taken to the game. I’ve taught the game to four non-players so far and all of them have caught on rather quickly, two going so far as buying the now aging PC game because they had so much fun with the board game version.


COMBAT

Combat in StarCraft: The Board Game is driven by battle cards. Each player receives a deck of battle cards specific to their race and faction at the beginning of the game. Some of these cards are technology cards, or cards that must be purchased through research order tokens to receive their benefits. Combat cards contain two sets of numbers, red numbers indicating the card’s attack value and green numbers indicating the card’s defense value. In order to kill an enemy unit, a player’s unit’s attack value must equal or exceed that of his opponents health defense value. There are also two attack/defense values on each combat card in different font sizes; the player only gets to use the larger font numbers if his/her military unit is pictured on the combat card being used. There are, of course, numerous modifiers that can emerge to bolster the numbers present on each card.

The combat card-based fighting system is my personal favorite aspect of StarCraft: The Board Game. The lack of dice present leads to a far less luck-based system and allows players to analyze their opponent’s strategy without much difficulty, very similarly to the PC game.


COMPONENTS

As with every other Fantasy Flight product I’ve played, StarCraft: The Board Game’s components are expertly crafted and support the theme of the game amazingly. The card stock that the board pieces come on is of extremely high quality and is obviously manufactured to last over countless plays. The cards themselves, pivotal to the mechanics of the game, are finished with a protective coating to ensure durability and constant player handling, a finishing touch that could’ve have been left out but one that definitely suits the needs of most players and reflects the commitment Fantasy Flight has to their products.

The reference cards and faction sheets for each player are easy to read and are also highly durable and meant to last. There is a typo on the reference sheets concerning the Queen of Blades Special Victory condition (though this may have changed in later prints of the game), but it’s not a major foul on the quality of the game.

The crown jewel of the game’s components is of course, the miniatures. They’ve all been sculpted incredibly well and look absolutely stunning. The miniatures are part of the reason that my group and I love this game as much as we do, because their superb crafting reinforces the idea that we’re actually playing StarCraft so well. Flying units are represented by miniatures being held up in the air by transparent bases, another touch Fantasy Flight added that compliments the game very well. It should be noted that many players open their copies of StarCraft to discover one or more flying units with broken bases (I had two), but an email to Fantasy Flight can provide you with replacements free of charge.

THEME

The theme of StarCraft: The Board Game is presented extremely well by Fantasy Flight Games. The combination of the components of the game mixed with the rules and variable levels of player interaction lead to a board game experience that I feel simulates the PC game experience incredibly well. I’ve played as all three races on many occasions, and each race feels exactly like it does in the PC version. The Protoss are expensive and few in number but are incredibly powerful, the Zerg are cheap and relatively weak but their numbers can swell very easily, and the Terran are middle of the road in regards to the other two. It should be noted here that the game allows players to practice almost every strategy that was present in the PC game (almost meaning you can’t rush opponents with worker units like SCVs), another factor that makes the game fun to PC players. Initially I was disappointed with the fact that the game took a far larger approach to the StarCraft license (meaning, I didn’t like how players were taking over planets instead of a battlefield map like the PC game). Now however, I can’t see how the game would have worked if the developers hadn’t taken this approach.

CONCLUSION

In the end, I’d give this game a 10 out of 10 as long as all of the players know the rules ahead of time, if not, then 9.5/10. The only real criticism I have with the game is that it tends to lead many players into analysis paralysis during the planning phase of the game, but this doesn’t happen too often and it can be cured with a time limit on each player’s order placement. Every game of StarCraft that I’ve played has been a close game with all players having a chance at victory (minus the few that have been eliminated) and every game has played out differently. I really can’t emphasize enough how much my group and I love this game. I’ve never had a game in which I didn’t have fun (and that’s including the game in which my ghost managed to Nuke two carriers and I was then brought to the brink of elimination). StarCraft: The Board Game is an amazing translation of the PC game, and I guarantee that player’s of the PC version will love it.

And that’s my first review on the Geek. Hope it helps!