Category Archives: star realms

star realms

Battles in the Stars

star realms

I don't know how many times I will keep repeating myself, or if/when this will change. But I frickin love Star Realms. Which kind of explains why I post about the game, but not nearly as regularly as I could. I think I'd be a fraud if I started giving advice about playing the game.

It's not as if I'm shooting up the rankings. I'm firmly stuck at level five or six trading blows with those I regularly play against. And the less we say about my performance in the Sunday Casual Tournaments the better.

But it doesn't matter I'm having a blast playing the game. Plus even Nath is having a blast too playing it now.

I'm not sure if these types of posts give people a feel for the game, or even capture the game. I'm hoping they do.

I had to laugh it was nearly the great escape or more accurately the great train robbery. I'd been hanging on for about three or four turns with less than twenty authority (that's health basically for none Star Realms players) while my opponent was unable to finish me off.

While I was waiting for the killing blow I wasn't wasting my time I had managed to inflict some damage so when I died it didn't look so embarrassing. I had whittled my opponents score down from in the forties to twenty two as shown above.

This brings us to the screen shot above. My opponent had failed once more to deliver the final blow. But they had come pretty close. Now it was my turn to reply.

Somehow as my cards played out the amount of damage I could inflict crept up. Then it stalled, I had eked out every last point of damage I could. I was one point away from pulling off an audacious robbery, I laughed out loud.

There wasn't anyway I could get that one final point of damage to steal the win. But I was still smiling. This was sooo close. I had come so close to winning, but for one card, one point. That's all I had needed to be able to get.

Naturally I didn't survive the next turn.

Sunday Casual Tournament #11

Yesterday saw the start of the tenth eleventh Sunday Casual Tournament on the unofficial Facebook page. My first round match is still going on. That's the drawback of players in different time zones.

As the below screen shot shows I've started off this first round match up pretty well with a “comfortable” win.

But let's face it my record in these competitions is pretty abysmal. I've started off with a win then ended up getting my backside handed to me to lose 2-1.

So I'm not taking anything for granted. The cards have a habit of screwing me over. Giving me that little bit of hope before smacking me over the head and leaving my corpse on the floor.

As you can see above our second game is only two turns in. It's the initial swapping of blows and buying scouts or the odd federation ship to kick start the economy needed to buy higher value cards.

Come back later and I'll update the post below with how the game is going (that's if you are interested that is).

Game two update

Game two between myself and Skantman was much much closer. In the last two or three turns it was very nerve wracking. The game could have gone either way. A draw of a couple of big hitters would of finished either of us off for a win.

We were both sitting under twenty authority, on my turn I knocked Skantman down to four authority. I was only slightly in a better place at twelve. But as every Star Realms player knows this is can be easily reached with a couple of cards and easily with a hand of five.

Frankly I wasn't expecting to get another turn. I knew if I did I had enough to in hand to win, hoping that Skantman didn't play the six authority outpost (sorry can't remember which card it was) they had sitting in their deck.

So when I saw the message to say it was my turn I was rather surprised. I wasn't expecting that. I went back into the game and watched my opponents turn play out. Oh crap! They played their outpost, I don't have enough to win, at best I can get them down to two authority. No way will I get another turn.

Then I couldn't believe what I saw, Skantman had scraped his outpost! I'd won!!!

The eight points of damage I could do would be going straight through.

Wow a close fought second game. Those last few turns were real edge of the seat turns. This game could easily have gone the other way and gone to a third deciding game. So I'm through to the second round for the third time only. I need to go see who I'm playing, but before I do I need to get over my shock!

 

Star Realms 2.3 Out

star realms

Today saw the release of the latest version of the Star Realms app. For those who read this blog and don't know what Star Realms is (is there anyone?), it's a two player (although can be more) deck building game where each player is trying to remove the opposing players authority (life) down to zero. Now Star Realms is not just a physical card game but also an awesome app available on iOS, (dirty) Android, OS X and Windoze. The app allows you to play online against other players, there is also solo play modes like against an ai or a campaign mode.

What makes the app stand out is its cost. The app costs £3.99 which gets you the app across all the platforms the game is available. So many months have to buy it again to,play it on my Mac or for for some reason I want to play on a PC. The same also goes for the Gambit expansion you can buy for the app which costs £2.99. Once again that means you have the expansion on all the other platforms also. So amazing value.

So what have they introduced in this latest update? Well instead of me telling you here is the summary from the iOS App Store.

The biggest improvement for me is the being able to have the greater granularity when playing with the Gambit expansion. Personally I can take or leave the Gambit cards, but some of my favourite ships were introduced in the Gambit expansion. So being able to select just the ships and bases now and leave out the Gambits is a big big thing.
Campaign sync is nice but I play mainly online against others these days. Campaign was great at helping me learn before stepping out into the big wide world of online play.
The auto updated is also a very nice touch on OS X and Windoze.
So a nice little update strengthening a great app.

 

I’m Not A Champ

netrunner, star realms

My continuing hunt to complete the set of Star Realms promo cards has taken one more step towards completion. This morning two copies of the Starmarket a Trade Federation base and The Ark a Machine Cult card arrived.

The nice thing about the Star Realms app is that these two cards are in the Gambits expansion, so I'm used to playing with them.

The Ark is an amazingly powerful card and rightfully expensive. It definitely is one of my favourite cards in the game.

I also like the Starmarket probably in my top five bases in the game.

Below a photo of all the promo cards I have for Star Realms so far.

To complete the set I need to get/find two Battle Barges and a Breeding Site. But I'm a patient man, I know these will turn up and when they do I'll be there. I know there are some alt art cards that have been done for promos at various cons. However I try and avoid them because that way lies madness and stupid high prices.

8th Casual Sunday Star Realms Tournament

Oh for those interested I once more lost in the first round of the 8th Casual Sunday Star Realms tournament. I lost 2-1, all three game were close. I actually won the first game to my surprise! I had made the tactical decision to buy bases and follow a bases strategy, which is unusual for me as I normally buy maybe two or three bases at most. Towards the middle of the game I accidently scraped a Trade Federation Trading Post (I think it was), which is easy to do. As soon as I did it, it was “oh crap I didn't mean to do that”. I needed to keep that base as part of my big plan. “I've bloody lost this” kept running through my head afterwards. But I hung in, stuck to the plan, kept buying and fielding the bases, and slowly chipped away at my opponents authority to get the win.

Games two and three were much more aggressive hardly any bases! In the second I hadn't scraped enough so that when I got my opponent down to under ten authority I wasn't able to finish them off, because as so often happens in this game you then draw scouts or non offensive ships. Which then gives your opponent the window they need to get back in the game and steal the win.

I'm not a store champion

We all know I'm a noob at the game, struggling to find games locally. Heck none of my local stores even run Netrunner events (but I have a plan for solving that).

However FFG do produce some rather cool looking play mats as prizes for stores to use. The fact is I'm nowhere near good enough to enter let alone win a tournament (this will come). So how does a noob or pleb like me get their hands on such good looking mats?

Well you can sometimes find a complete store kit on Amazon for around £70 plus. While eBay you are more likely to find individual bits like the play mat on sale for silly money. The play mats alone on eBay can be £40 or more. Then sometimes on the Netrunner Facebook pages stuff will pop up for sale.

It was this last place that I got the above play mat from and deck boxes. Usually the Facebook side isn't too far from the eBay price. However recently there has been a spat of sales on one of the groups from people located in Poland. Not only that they have been selling at a really cheap price compared to the other places I've mentioned above. Naturally they tend to sell very quickly. That playmat cost $15! Yep amazingly low. The three deck boxes were $5 each. Plus the postage was rediculously low as well.

So now I have two great play mats for Netrunner. Back now to trying to play more games.

 

Sunday Gaming

ages, krosmaster arena, star realms, tabletop

What is it about Krosmaster Arena? Luke and I played our first full rules game today, and once more I lost. We used the Enchantment map, and the draft rules for selecting our characters.

I lasted longer than last time but his ranged attack just kept picking me off at distance, I wasn't able to get close enough to do much damage. Or when I did hit Luke healed that character. Something will click and my tactics will prevail.

But even so having such a poor track record with this game I still really enjoy playing it. That for me is the important part of playing. Winning is nice, but having a fun time is more important. Or to put it another way I enjoy the journey more than destination.

AGES aka Arts Good Evil Science

I really do feel honoured that I have an opportunity to play a preview of a game that is I believe going to be hitting kickstarter soon. Now for the record I have paid for the game, so now that I have made that clear you should be able to judge whether you think my opinions are valid or not.

One of my favourite genre of games are the deck building ones, such as Marvel Legendary, Android:Netrunner and Star Realms. So I was excited to get a chance to play AGES. I'm going to start covering the game in more depth in other posts. However I do like the game a lot and I like how it has combined elements from other games into a very enjoyable experience. And I'm not just saying that because I won against Luke either.

Sunday Casual Tournament 8

Yep the 8th Star Realms Sunday Casual Tournament started and for the second time only I have made it to round two! Sadly this second time hasn't been through defeating an opponent on the battle field. Nope no fallen opponent to lord it over with my superior playing skills or as usual in my case dumb luck. This time I've been denied the taste of glory, or as is more the case spared the bitter taste of defeat and been given a buy to the next round.

Which is rather lucky for you dear reader because it spares you yet another blog post of an epic crash and burn. Well until it happens in my round two match up.

In the meantime thanks to the Origins coverage by The Dice Tower I now know I have to buy the new Gambit expansion for Star Realms when it comes out in September/October time. This expansion has all new gambit cards to play with. So an even bigger pool of cards to draw from when playing with gambits.

So assuming it does get released round then knowing how long it takes to get over to the UK we will be lucky to see it before Christmas.

Which would mean it arrives around the same time as the Colony Wars “expansion” for Star Realms is released. This is 120 new cards that plays separately from the original game, or can be combined with original game to play four players.

 

Intensity Factor 11

star realms

I played my first “three minute” game of Star Realms today. Why did I leave it so long before doing this? it was intense!

So let me step back and explain what I'm talking about for those not familiar with Star Realms and specifically the Star Realms app.

With Star Realms the app there is an online play option that allows you to play against a specific player (if you know their ID) or you can rely on pot luck and let the Star Realms servers pick a suitable opponent for you.

Naturally when setting up a game you can choose to play with the Gambit expansion or not, plus choose between being given upto forty eight hours for a turn. Which is brilliant for allowing life to happen during a game. And this is how I've been playing the online side of things since that fateful day earlier in the year to test my mettle against other Star Realms players.

However the second turn time I hadn't tried, which was the three minute turn.

I'd seen comments on the Facebook page about people losing games because their app hadn't refreshed in time. Which hadn't really endeared me to trying this faster version of the online game. Yes you can play the other turn time just as fast but there isn't that pressure to do so.

So today I decided to throw caution to the wind and give the three minute turn a go.

Wow! What an intense experience. That time pressure makes such a big difference. No switching between multiple games. You need to remain focused on that single game. As I pointed out above people have lost games because the timer ran out due to lack of refreshing in time.

I was determined not to have that as an issue, and with the iPad version of the app it wasn't.

Three minutes may seem like a long time to take a turn. But let me tell you it isn't. During that brief down time when you are waiting for your opponent to take their turn, you are working through scenarios of what to buy in the trade row, working out how to best play your cards. Then throwing it all to the wind because they have just bought the cards you wanted and they have been replaced with cards you don't want. Yes this all happens in the normal game but it's more compressed.

How best to describe this for none players? Well you have seen the chess players with their little chess clocks and their timed games? Three minute turns in Star Realms is like that but fun!

Oh and for the record I won the game!

 

The Dream Ends

star realms
The Seventh Sunday Casual event that kicked off yesterday is the last casual event to try and qualify for the upcoming invitational. For me it was pressure on, I needed to do well to even stand a chance of receiving one of the invites.
In the opening round I had drawn Geki. I had been winning more games than I'd lost over the weekend, so you could argue I was on a streak. After that epic comeback against LukeD I was feeling good. Bring it on I can do this.
Round one and Geki and I are trading jabs.

Blam!

Right hook to the head, I'm spinning around from the impact of the blow. I fall to my knees but I'm not down.
I get back up on my feet.
Ok I'm a game down. It's best of three though. I can come back from this. It was a lucky punch that's all. I'll show them I'm tougher than that.
Round two

Kerpow!

Geki's upper cut connects with my glass chin. I'm flying! I land with a bone crunching jolt on the canvas floor.
My chance of getting an invite to the invitational was flowing away across the canvas. I was out for the count. No coming back from this. Game over. Yet another two nil. That score line echoes around my head like the away fans goading the home supporters at a footy match.
Reality always finds a hard way to let you down. My inability to be consistent in my game play, sees me fluctuate between Level 5 and just making Level 7. It shows in these casual competitions that I have only once made it to the second round. I think it's accurate to say I have not got a single ranking point yet. It's not a good record.
To top it off in that ebb and flow of games I'm playing. It's been more like the tides going out. I do hope this is not another slump, it took a long time to recover from the last one.
Luckily like Rocky I don't know when to stay down. I'm bruised and losing games fast at the moment, but I'll claw my way back.

 

An Epic Comeback

online play, star realms

Luke and I play Star Realms online regularly. I think it's fair to say that we are evenly matched with wins going back and forth. But I have to say that this bank holiday weekend I have had a winning streak against Luke, with back to back wins.

But earlier today it was looking like this mini streak was coming to an end. Luke was sitting comfortably on 60 authority, mine was dropping steadily. Luke hit me and took me down to one authority. When it came to my turn I knew this could be my final go, that next round Luke would deal that finishing blow and get the deserved win.

Then I received the following via Twitter “WTAF!?!” from Luke.

This puzzled me because I was confused what was up? Had he been dealt a hand of Scouts? How many times has that happened, falling short by a single point of getting the win, and getting all scouts next hand? It's happened a few times to me, and usually ends up with me managing to steal defeat from a winning situation.

So I replied in the only way I could I tweeted back “o_O”

Luke quickly replied back “I think you're about to pull off the most ridiculous comeback ever… :/”

I was unconvinced. I thought at best I might have a couple of turns left. Luke would surely hit me hard again to finish me off. But my bases and federation ships started adding authority to my very depleted tally. The killing blow from Luke failed to appear.

After a couple of turns I was starting to believe and tweeted “if by a miracle I do, and it's a loong shot it'll be one for the hall of fame”

Suddenly Luke and I were both in the thirties for our authority.

Could this be happening? Did I really stand a chance of pulling this off?

My bases absorbed Luke's attempt to get back on top, the federation ships once more bout me more time. I don't think I used any thing from my bases except their authority boosting powers.

Finally the situations were reversed I was on seventeen authority and Luke was now sitting on one authority. He also had a base protecting him, meaning I had to scrape together at least five attack to finish the game off and pull off the biggest robbery in the annuals of Star Realms history. Well in the games I've played.

This was the finishing blow.

This was definitely a first for me. Such a come back, against such odds. This feels like it was my Instanbul. At half time in the 2005 final Liverpool were 3-0 down at half time after being totally dominated by A.C. Milan. No one Even contemplated a Liverpool win. How could they? A.C. Milan had won the game, there was no way you come back from 3-0 down.
But they dug deep, Gerrard inspired the team to claw their way back to 3-3 after extra time. It was such an emotional time, edge of the seat stuff. The the penalties, oh that was sooo nerve racking. But Liverpool won 3-2.
This game was definitely my Star Realms version of that match. If you had screen grabbed that sixty to one authority point in the game and asked Star Realms players what happened next I don't think one of them would of guessed this result. I hadn't my expectations as I said were I'd be finished within a couple of turns. I admire Luke's prediction, it was definitely not my view of the end result. But as the game progressed my self believe grew stronger that I would pull it off.
Although at the seventeen to one authority at the end I would of laughed a lot if the situation and then reversed again.
A totally emotionally draining game with Luke, a really incredible game.
wow!

 

All Booked

dice masters, netrunner, star realms, tabletop
So that’s me all booked for the upcoming UK Games Expo. I’m going to be attending all three days, and have accommodation sorted also.
This will be my first time to the event and to a board gaming one. I’ve been to comic cons before (many decades ago), Raspberry Jams and video game related events.
But the firsts don’t stop there. Oh no. I signed up for the Dice Masters Nationals. I’ve never played in a Nationals before. Last year I did play in a Dice Masters OP event organised by my FLGS, and out of eight participants I didn’t come last, it was seventh. So not exactly a good showing, however that was early in my Dice Masters playing. After that I wasn’t able to get to the handful of other OP events they held.
The funny thing is I wasn’t sure I’d throw my hat in for the nationals because it falls on the last day of the expo. Well I’m used to making up the numbers and at least I should get a participation prize.
Now I am lending a couple of Yugioh cards and dice to a friend for his nationals team. So basically now I’ve armed a potential competitor (if we get drafted against each other that is). I should of put in a similar clause to that used in football when a player goes out on loan. Usually the loan agreement says that the player on loan can’t play against the loaning team if they meet up in any of the competitions. Or maybe I should of treated it like a game of Munchkin. Saying I’ll help you for a share of the treasure. And then haggle over how much of the treasure I’d get for my assistance.
In the meantime I have a lot of work to do. I’ve only played one game of Dice Masters since Christmas (although a lot of Star Realms). At that point in time the meta for the game only involved two sets, Avengers vs X-Men and the Uncanny X-Men. Since the start of the year Yugioh, Dungeons and Dragons and in the next couple of weeks DC (although just out in the US of A) have been released. Although I have Yugioh and D&D I’ve not played them (well one game of Yugioh) and I’m not really familiar with the current meta.
So I need to start looking at the cards of the new sets, looking at what has been played in recent national tournaments in the North Americas to see what I could potentially be facing. Let’s face it I expect some people to just be playing a team that others have created and done well with (ie won with). Armed with all this information build my team that I think will win me games and then play the heck out of it.
Which brings me on to Freddy. Freddy has kindly offered to be my Mickey Goldmill/Apollo Creed and help me get back into fighting shape again. Unfortunately I don’t have any chickens to chase and catch, but Loki is slipperier than a chicken especially when he has run off with a tissue or hankerchief.
With all this training going on I think we need…
 
I was hoping while at the expo to meet up with people to play some Star Realms. I do enjoy playing Star Realms using the actual physical cards. And it will be great to be able to do so. To meet this goal I’ve ask on a couple of appropriate FB fanpages if anyone is going and if they want to meet up to play some games of a Star Realms. It does seem odd, well not odd but sad that we aren’t getting like a nationals for Star Realms at the expo. Well you know we are getting nationals for Dice Masters, plus Android: Netrunner, X-Wing, HeroClix etc. There are tournaments for other games also which I’m not sure if they are official or not, but still they are going on. Just a shame nothing has been done for this awesome game. Let’s face it I’m not the only one that thinks it is awesome, it’s winning awards left, right and centre. It seems to be selling really well. So why no tournie?
While there I will hopefully (well very high chance) get to meet the fiancée of Martin and Julie’s daughter Zoe, Todd. Todd is a huge Android: Netrunner player and taking part in its nationals on the Saturday. So on the Saturday I’m hoping to watch a game or two of the nationals, but also pick the brains of Todd on playing and building decks. Zoe and her two kids (sorry guys names are missing from my old head) are also going to be there so hopefully will get to play some board games with them too on the Saturday.
So there you go I’m going to UK Games Expo, hope to see you there.

 

 

 

 

Down in a blaze of glory

star realms
Last night saw the start of the sixth Casual Sunday Star Realms Tournament on the Facebook fanpage. So join me in this predictable tale of woe, as I retell the thrilling events of this first round showdown between me and PokemonMasta.
Sunday started so well I was on a streak, I had won a handful of games and was sitting at level 7 and 0, when the pairings went up for the first round on the event page. I had been drawn to fight PokemonMasta.
I sent my challenge for our first game. Sometimes I regret that when issuing challenges in games a virtual glove is not removed and slapped across the face as they did so many moons ago when duelling for honour or any excuse that could be found was used.
The first game with PokemonMasta continued the streak I had been on all day.
But that victory was short lived, I had not seen the dark storm clouds gathering in the distance. They had been blocked from my field of view by the bases PokemonMasta had deployed to hide them from my sight. It was one game apiece now, everything was once more hinging on the last game.

Our final game was going so well, we were trading shots at each other, chipping away at each other's authority. I had thirty odd authority enough time I thought to get a combo going for the win. Then the story of my Star Realms life – BAM gunned down in a combo blaze of glory. I was laying in a puddle of space debris left over from my defeated fleet of cards.

That was it I was just another beautiful corpse gunned down in his balding middle aged prime, and out of the tournament like 99% of my tournament games in the first round.

I had lost 2-1 after taking the an early lead. Somehow I had mirrored in Star Realms the score and flow of my beloved Liverpool in the days FA Cup Semi-Final match against Aston Villa. Liverpool too had taken an early lead only to have the match taken away from them. You'll Never Walk Alone even with my bad tournament record.

PS This Monty Python clip kind of sums up my games with CrShaner and frankly a lot of my games these days, I'm chipping away with the little hits (fish in the video) then my opponent just wacks me with a big combo hit (big fish). In fact isn't this most people's games. This should be the official gameplay video.

 

Casual Tournament Número Five

star realms

SPOILER ALERT: this story does not have a happy ending so if you want a happy ending this is not the post you are looking for and you need to move on and find a story with one. We don't do safe boring stories here. These stories are edgy and will give you nightmares. You have been warned.

Yep yesterday saw the start of the Fifth Star Realms Casual Sunday Tournament. So how I do?

Things were starting really well with me winning the first game. The cards had been kind to me. Somehow I had won against the script for these tournaments, I was adlibing. The second game saw the natural order of things re-establish itself with me clocking up a loss.

The final deciding game. Crunch time. Through out the game I was chasing the game having a slower start, and being on the receiving end of more damage whittling down my authority. But I was starting to pull myself back into the game. Through luck of the draw and the card gods our authority got to the state of 8 v 11 in favour of Jovel. Sitting in my hand for my next turn was a minimum of 14 points of damage plus a card draw. I needed Jovel to have a draw of cards that I normally get in this situation, one that is all credits and no damage, or very little damage. Sadly for me but great for Jovel the cards fell kindly for him. Once more a final knock out blow is delivered to me, giving Jovel the tie breaking win and a well deserved place in the second round of this tournament.

My biggest fear from my constant poor showing in these casual tournaments is that when the next invitational tournament is held I won't get an invite. But to be fair based on my performance in these casual events I don't deserve an invite. It's up to me to up my game and earn that potential invite. Or at least make the organisers seriously consider giving me an invite.

An OMG WTF Just Happened? Moment

How many times have I been on the receiving end of what I call “OMG WTF Just happened?” moment. I think I've mention at least one of them on this blog. Today the worm turned and I got to do my own “OMG WTF Just happened?” moment on some-one (name removed to protect the innocent).

I define the “OMG WTF just happened?” moment as that moment in the game when you are sitting on an authority score that you think you have at least another turn, maybe two or more with a bit of luck. When the cards align against you with your opponent who then gets a combo just working with cards and attack just racking up. Before you know it in a blink of an eye there is more damage than you have authority clocked up, and you have lost the game.