Category Archives: star realms

star realms

A long long Star Realms game play video

I’ve not uploaded any boring Star Realms games for a long time. Thank god! I hear you shout.

Well sadly for you I’ve uploaded another one. Well to be more accurate 2 and a bit. But they are in one video.

There first is a game where I hit my opponent for a massive fifty odd damage in a single turn. I hadn’t done that much in a single turn for a long long time.

That’s followed by an epic game with Scott. Where he just wouldn’t die, and I thought at one point he was going to come back for the win.

Finally there is an Arena game from this morning where they conceded after it was blindingly obvious they were finished. It demonstrates the power of outposts which belong to the same faction that trigger each other’s faction ability.

So for your torture here is my latest Star Realms game play video…

Star Realms – Frontiers Expansion Game Play

Last week saw WWG release the latest update to Star Realms. This update introduced the Frontiers expansion (“Adds 45 new ships & bases and double ally abilities!”) to the game. Something I’d been looking forward to. Mainly because despite having the actual physical cards I’d not managed to get them to the table. I can’t remember when I last played the game in the real world.

When you look at the update details on the iOS App Store there is no warning that the update will wipe any existing games. Apparently on Android there is, and a warning was also pushed out as a message. Some will argue that there was a warning on Facebook and the games official blog. I’m going to assume on other social media also. But like many we had missed those warnings. Which is easy to do. In fact a lot people didn’t know an update was dropping until it appeared. I normally look at the apps update details in the App Store to see what has been changed (see image above). So it’s inexcusable that there was no such warning on the iOS update. Naturally I lost the majority of my ongoing games.

I am liking the new cards. And a lot of my current games (initially anyway) have been with just this expansion (all others switched off). Which is natural because players of the game want to play with the new cards. It’s true here as it is in any other card game.

However there is one annoying thing about some of the new cards. The graphic design of the icons that tell you the cards abilities such as attack, authority, or gold is awful and sticks out like a sore thumb. The basic problem is it’s too large, and looks odd when viewed against other cards. It comes across as childlike to me, and that they would be more at home in a version of the game aimed at young children or those with poor eyesight.

And now for the viewing pleasure of the handful of folks that watch these videos, here is a recent game using the Frontiers expansion.

How many games did you get wiped? What do you think of the new cards?

Epic Come Back By Scott

Scott (of Scott Plays) and I just finished a game of Star Realms. It was a pretty good game, despite me (spoiler) losing.

Besides as our brief after game exchange shows, it didn’t take much to persuade me to put the video up. Laziness would have been the deciding factor otherwise.


I really did think I had the game in the bag. But just watch that come back.

So for your viewing delight (if you are remotely interested) here is the game we played.

UKGE 2019 Starts Tomorrow

Just a gentle reminder that from tomorrow the UK Games Expo (UKGE) is on.

Depending when you do the table, the UKGE is either the third or fourth largest table top convention in the world. It swaps between Origins and UKGE. They keep leapfrogging each other. Although this may not be entirely true since PAX Unplugged started. I’m not aware of the numbers that is attracting.

I think this is the biggest UKGE ever. They have 3 NEC halls this year, plus the Hilton Hotel. I’m expecting attendance numbers to beat last years record attendance also.

Despite its growth, the expo never feels crowded as you go round the stands. The walkways between stands are wide enough to make movement easy and not feel that you are fighting to get around.

The expo is starting to be taken seriously by publishers outside the UK. Particularly the US ones. It’s hard to justify not being here when it is so large. So we are starting to see more publishers have their own presence at the expo. There is still away to go, but it’s a start. That also holds true for game releases and previews etc.

If you are in to table top games and all that covers, this is really worth a visit. Even if it’s just for the day.

I’ll be there all 3 days of the expo.

But my experience of the show will be different to anything I’ve experienced before at the expo. Each year so far my expo experiences have added something new. But this will be a massive first.

This year I volunteered to help out on the White Wizard Games (WWG) Stand demoing their games. I’m excited and a tad apprehensive at the same time.

WWG also have 3 events running during the expo.

Win one of those tournaments and become immortal! Well semi famous, and associated with a game you enjoy forever!

I know folks look forward to my daily posts about nothing. But that schedule may be interrupted. I’ll try and do a post each evening. There will be photos from the expo during the day going up on Instagram.

Hope to see you at the expo, and maybe have the chance of teaching you how to play one of the games.

Just your good ol’ epic space battle

Unlucky for you all I enjoy putting these Star Realms videos up.

Sometimes the games seem just run of the mill, but still enjoyable. Then other times the game just stands out as one of those games that you will bore non-players with constant retellings of. They won’t have the foggiest what you are talking about, but will nod politely, make the odd comment such as “no way” or “then what did you do?” to feign interest. All the time thinking “god will you just shut up already, I need to go to the toilet” (it’s a similar reaction for when I bore folks talking about MtG).

This is one of those games. After the game, within seconds Scott was messaging me to say this game was definitely one for the blog. A day or two later than planned but who am I to disappoint?

You can visit Scott on his YouTube channel Scott Plays HERE.

Star Realms Frontiers KS arrives

At some point this weekend I have a job ahead of me that needs doing. Not house work, something more important.

Finally the mega slow UK fulfilment side of GamesQuest got their act together and sent me my Star Realms Frontiers Kickstarter stuff.


I doubled down on everything because Nathan has a copy too. He loves the game, so I always order double.

There is another Kickstarter somewhere between here and the US. But this one will keep me busy checking it’s all there while I wait.

Update Star Realms NOW! United Assault Now available


We have a new expansion available in Star Realms, once you update the app that is.

The following screen grab shows you what you get for your money.

According to the app notes on the App Store there are also UI updates, and support for new foil cards.

It’s not great value for me because I don’t play the campaign. But if I did. But we know i’m getting it just for the new cards to play with.

Read the full release HERE.