This is my first review ever so I wanted to start with a game that I know very well and really like. I have played Starcraft probably close to 50 times now, but I am writing this review because I am constantly playing this game with and teaching this game to different people. I am (or have been) a member of several game groups, and additionally I have a number of friends who occasionally play some light games like Settlers but prefer games like monopoly or Bohnanza. StarCraft has been one of the first “heavier” games I try to get people to play, with good results, but more on that later. First: my first review!

Game Play

StarCraft is modeled after a Real Time Strategy (RTS) type of computer game. I don’t know how, but everyone I know who plays RTS games is in agreement that the board game captures the feel of an RTS game to the letter. There is a constant battle for territory, a tight resource budget, attacks and counter attacks, and throughout the game you feel constant pressure to accomplish your goals. You have to take and hold territory and resources, expand, attack, defend, and yes out maneuver. It’s a wonderfully tense game, it is not as slow and calculating as many other board games, and never suffers from analysis paralysis (there simply isn’t time).

You start your turn by placing orders on various planets which allow you to take actions on these planets. When several of these orders are placed on a planet they form a stack with only the top one available. This sets up an incredible tense, player interactive phase of the game and sets the tone for the whole round. One of the (many) reasons I love this game is because of this step. Here you have to choose what you want to do with your limited resources. But that’s not all! You also have to plan for what your opponents might do, possibly by leaving yourself an out. You have to try to disrupt your opponent’s plans if you can by covering up their orders so they don’t mess you up. You have to watch your back! Its no good focusing on a single opponent if someone else can zerg rush into your base. OH IT’S SO FUN. Honestly its one of those games like Puerto Rico where you are constantly gametheory-ing your opponents, and even your best laid plans can go ill quickly.

So the Orders are the strategic level, but then there are several other levels that your brain has to function on to be successful. You have a lot of units, and you can’t hope to get them all out in a game, so you have to find the right mix that will support what you want to do, counter what your opponents have, and can fit into your resource budget. Then there is positioning. Each Area of the game board has a finite number of spaces for units, so you have to make sure that the combo in these spaces can adequately withstand an attack. This is how most people I know lose that uber-unit, they leave them alone on a planet and are subjected to a super attack. Finally, when going on the attack you get to arrange which units fight which units, so at the tactical level you have to give yourself the best possible chance of eliminating the defenders by the way you arrange the units that you bring, while not leaving yourself open for counter attack once the battle is over.

Finally, the combat system uses cards, which you have in your hand and in decks, to give attack and defense values to your units, and to give them any special abilities. This is the last level your brain has to function on, because you need cards that support your units, and you need to be able to get them if you don’t have them by cycling through your deck. In all honesty I like this aspect of the game, but I feel like they could have easily gone another route with this, because it adds a lot of complexity. Regardless it is fun, but when I am teaching this to new people and we get to this point, there is often a look of despair in their faces, like “oh no not another crazy new and complicated thing I have to learn”. It IS very intuitive once you have played a few, but as I said it really requires your brain to work on yet another tactical level. I’ve lost combats because I did not place my cards right, or I bought into my opponent’s bluff. Still it’s all part of the game and adds to the overall tension.

Overall:

I rate this game a 9, and I do it because of how amazingly it captures the RTS feel. I also rate it a 9 because of its components, and because in order to play you have to think on so many different levels. This makes it complicated, but not overly complicated. It is complicated in the way that a game of Grand Theft Auto is; You have to keep in mind the mission goals, but also how you are going to do it, where you are, how to get there, who to talk to, and how to fire your weapons.

Finally, it gets a 9 because of replay ability. Since you will never have the same board, or same faction, or the same strategy with a given faction, you get a new game every time. Also, games of different numbers of players play differently, and games with different players play differently.


Who will like this game, and who won’t:

As I said in my introduction, I play games with a lot of diverse people and have taught StarCraft to all of them various times. These are some of the rules that I have found in regards to who likes the game. I consider this part of my review to hopefully help anyone who might want to try the game.

1) THE GOLDEN RULE: Anyone who likes StarCraft the video game will love this game:

I am 100% for getting people who love the video game to love the board game. I am calling this the golden rule. This holds true even for people who have only ever played monopoly and settlers. I think that really says something about how great a job Fantasy Flight did at the game design. As we have gotten better we have had to compensate for the “player on the left” problem (see my thread, shameless plug), but now that I think we have that down it has become really exciting to play these games. They keep getting better. This is THE gateway into board games for people who love RTS video games.

2) Anyone who likes or loves Eurogames will probably like this game:

This is slightly strange until you think about it. In StarCraft, everyone can see everyone else’s board, you can game theory with them, you compete with them and yourself over limited resources, and there are no dice. StarCraft the board game feels eerily familiar for Eurogamers. I consider it a wonderful chimera hybrid of a eurogame and an ameritrash slug fest. So far: for all my friends who did not fit into point 1, but was an avid eurogamer, only one person has not enjoyed a game of SCtbg. I was surprised about this, especially when you consider point 3 below.

3) People who enjoy light American style wargames (like Axis and Allies) will probably not like this game, but it may grow on them.

Much like number 2 above, among the people with whom I often play A&A type games but whom do not like the other staples on this website and have not played the video game, only 1 person has consistently come back for more SCTBG. This was surprising to me, because I felt like this game was a more in depth American style board game. I also don’t know what they don’t like about it. When asked they usually say something like “complexity”, but these are bright people, and A&A is no monopoly, so I am unsure if this is the real reason. The one guy who does like it says he finds the game design refreshing and fun, but he still doesn’t like Puerto Rico. Go figure.

4) It’s a middle of the road game between a light wargame like Axis and Allies and a complex strategy game like Twilight Imperium.

I put this in here because the most common thing I hear after playing a few games with a new player is “it’s more complicated than most of the wargames I have played” or “it’s like a light version of Twilight Imperium”. How this translates into like or dislike depends on the person. For people who like lighter games but are itching to try something harder, this is their game. For people who want something faster then Twilight Imperium with more fighting, this is their game. For people who prefer to slow things down and have other gaming elements, like trade, they might not like this as much.

I hope that the first section of this review has helped to explain the game and its feel, and I hope that the second part will help you decide if you and your friends will enjoy this game. Any comments are also appreciated. Thank you for reading!

-James