Category Archives: star realms

star realms

Stealing the win

star realms

My slump has hit rock bottom, it's time to turn this around with a winning streak. I thought earlier in the week it was ending when at the start of the week I did what I wasn't able to do on Sunday in the tournament, and that was win two games back to back against TheCutter.

During the week I have won the odd game, however they were little thermals doing little to stop the free fall that I was in.

Of course as I've written already about my better performance in the meat world in yesterday's post I won't rehash yesterday's news.

My regular Star Realms playing partner Fredo aka Freddy has had a better week than me. He made it through the second round of the tournament for starters.

However in one of my games today with him I stole the win from him. I'd decided to try a bases strategy with my early purchases being bases, with federation ships to keep topping up my authority, I had hardly anything to combo up to do lots of damage. It wasn't long before Freddy had me down to 30 authority then my bases started kicking in slowing him down. Then I was down to 20 and not long 11. But my federation purchases kept me fluctuating between 10 and 20 authority, the bases protecting me taking the stings out of Freddy's swings at my dwindling authority.

All the time I was chipping away at Freddy's authority and buying the odd big hitter to give me a bit more fire power to chip away faster.

At any moment while I was hanging in there I feared Freddy was going to get a massive combo and just wipe me out like one of those massive tidal waves you see in disaster movies. Just had a feeling in my bones it was going to happen.

After each of my turns finished I was expecting to see the message that Fredo had defeated me. Going back into the game and watching the last turn replay showing Freddy's tidal wave attack demolishing my last authority points. But all that happened was Freddy chipping away the odd authority point. Freddy was obviously having a hard time getting the cards to finish me off. Oh how I know that feeling being in Freddy's position. You've done all the hard work. But the cards just won't fall right to do that finishing blow. It is so frustrating, because it gives the other player that window to get back in the game.

The screenshot below shows the situation at what turned out to be my final turn.

I played the cards, this was going to be close. Freddy had an outpost I needed to go through first before I could do any damage. That meant I had to have an attack that added up to 16 points or more. I hadn't done my sums, but I knew it would be close, would I be leaving Freddy with one or two authority so he could take the win he had been working so hard to get? It was all or nothing I played the cards, scraped everything I could to increase my attack. It didn't matter now, this was the time to throw caution to the wind. If I didn't there wouldn't be another chance.
I feel like the great escape theme music should of been playing as I played out my cards. I blew away the outpost, 4 points down. I then played my remaining cards the attack points built up. I hit 14 points. Wow I was going to win! I delivered the finishing blow. Somehow I had won. I felt guilty as this was definitely a stolen victory.
I'm optimistic now that the only way is up. Here's to a weekend of victories (touch wood).
 

 

Thursday Night Star Realms

game night, new arrivals, star realms, tabletop

I think it's time to talk about Star Realms in the meat world, and not the digital.

Lunchtime yesterday I managed to get a couple of games with Jamie at work. These were the first games I'd played since getting the Crisis expansions. The trade deck was made up from the base set, the Crisis: Bases and Battleships expansion, the Crisis: Fleets and Fortresses expansion, from the May-June 2014 Game Day kit the Megahauler and Battle Screecher cards, from the second tournament kit Fortress Oblivion and Starbase Omega.

To cut a long story short I won both of our games. The first game was a comfortable win, however the second game was close. If it hadn't been for a couple of outposts taking the sting out of a 20 point combo attack, reducing the damage to 10 points, Jamie very well would of gone on to win the game I think. In the end I finished the game on 14 authority, to his -1 after taking a 10 point hit from me to end the second game.

Naturally we played using the new playmat. Playing the game on the official playmat the game looks amazing.

When I got home the official Star Realms storage box was waiting for me. Inside was a nice little letter from the shop I bought it's from in Germany plus a little packet of sweets. Sweets are always welcome no matter how small the packet is.

As the photo below shows you get an awful lot for your money with the storage box. The box itself is a strong cardboard with amazing artwork. White Wizard Games really do know what they are doing visually. The art work on the cards and official products like the playmat and this box is just out of this world. You also get four packets of card sleeves, four cardboard dividers, and three copies of the Mercenery Garrison outpost card.
The box will hold three base sets sleeved. Which is lots of space for a base set and the expansions that are out at the moment.
Before Luke arrived to play Star Realms I spent a bit of time sleeving all the cards I have. The official sleeves are pretty cool, the art work is the same as it is on the back of the cards. I like the fact there are plenty of sleeves included. There is more than enough to sleeve a base set, the Gambit expansion, the four expansions that make up the Crisis Expansion, and any promo cards you may have. And I still have spares left over for new additions. The sleeving of cards was followed by adding in the Mercenery Garrison to the trade deck from earlier. I somehow need to get my hands on three copies (I think that's the number allowed of this card) of the Starmarket promo card to add in, and I have all the promos, and expansions for Star Realms at this point I think.

Luke arrived and after the wolf pack had calmed down a little, I started to explain the game of Star Realms to him.

Just a quick aside, but now with all the cards sleeved the trade deck goes from a compact pile to a reproduction of the Empire State Building in cards. The sleeves really do increase the height of the trade deck considerably.

We played three games of Star Realms, with some coaching along the way. I hope I got the balance right between letting Luke make his own decisions and learning, and helping. Although I do based on my current slump playing against opponents in the app feel a bit of a fraud pretending to be an “expert” who knows what he's talking about. Between games and at the end I pointed out one or two of my favourite cards and explained why.

Near the end of the third game, Luke got a great combo working that ended up in hitting me for 23 points of damage.
Luke enjoyed playing the game and is planning to get the app so that he can get more practice playing the game before the next time we play.
Through out the evening what I thought was Strider knorring a bone was in fact him knorring the table leg. When caught he tried licking it as if that would fix what he had done! Below is a photo of the naughty Strider having been caught in the act.
So a great day with Star Realms playing with the cards. Great games (and I'm not saying that because I won, I love playing this game win or lose) and great opponents. I love the app and playing against opponents from who knows where. And this is great especially if you have no-one local to play with. But and this applies to all boardgames really, playing across the table from some-one, interacting, having that physical product interaction just can't be replicated. It's a different experience. I love both experiences, but it's really cool to be playing with the cards and seeing the reactions when you pull off those combos and hit them with a large damage score, and the banter that goes with it.

 

Tomorrows Plans

star realms

Tomorrow night my friend Luke is coming round to learn Star Realms and to play a game or two. I've said previously that I find the physical card game has a different feel to it.

After I got the four packs that made up the Crisis expansion I instantly shuffled all four packs into the base set. But since then I haven't had chance to play the physical game with the expansion. I've also added to the play deck the cards that made up the two organised play kits that came out last year.

But as the photo above shows I now have the elusive Gambit expansion also. Since the Gambit expansion hit the app version of the game the Merc Cruiser has become one of my favourite cards. So I'm chuffed to be adding it to the play deck.

For the games with Luke tomorrow I've removed the Heroes and Events Crisis expansions from the deck, and will not bother using the Gambit cards. I think it makes little difference having extra ships and bases in the deck, they don't change the game play, and add more variety. But throwing in the extra game play elements of Gambit cards, Heroes and Events I think would be too overwhelming.

I've also now got an official playmat which looks dam awesome. It's just a dam shame getting them and the Gambit expansion is nigh on impossible in the UK at the moment. Distribution and getting product out to stores is something White Wizard Games needs to work on big time. I know they are a small company it really hurts them customers not being able to buy their stuff.

I just need the storage box to arrive now, oh from Germany. Another product hard to get. People try the game and love it, but they need product available for people to buy. White Wizard seem to have solved the availability of the base game and Crisis. But come on get this stuff out to the rest of us. Wizkids are just as bad. The delays between the U.S. being able to buy official dice bags and playmats and the UK getting them was ridiculous.

I'm really looking forward to playing tomorrow night. I enjoy playing this game, and chances to play with the cards are rare. So being able to share the game, shuffle cards is exciting. I'm hoping Luke will enjoy playing.

 

Star Realms My Slump

star realms

At the start of last weekend I was knocking on the door of breaking into level 8 in Star Realms And hoping to make some progress towards reaching level 9. I'd been hovering around the top end of level 7, sometimes breaking into level 8. Only to slide back into level 7 after a couple of losses. My win percentage of games was 60%, it had been as high as 63% at one point.

But things have a habit of not going to plan. Since Friday I've been losing more games than I have won. It's been like one step forward, two back. I'm in the middle of a slump. Last night I checked my level I had slipped down to the top end of level 6.

That was when it really hit home how badly I had been playing recently. This wasn't a slump it was a full on decline.

To be fair I have been playing lots more people, so maybe it was inevitable that I would start clocking up more losses.

When I joined the Facebook community at the start of last week, and asked people to challenge me, it was with the intent to see just how good I was and to play more games. I was getting an inflated opinion of my abilities. Having challenged and played more people now, who are obviously more skilled at the game than me. I do now have a more realistic view of where I am in the scheme of things with regard to Star Realms.

Realistically and not very comforting for my ego and pride I'm not nearly as good as I thought I was. With a severly bruised pride I know I have to improve.

The day dream of storming on the competitive scene has been crushed. See yesterday's post about my experience of my first tournie for more details. The New Years fireworks display ended up being less impressive than a damp squib.

Since the new release of the Star Realms app and the league tables it introduced I've not done enough to even break into the lower tiers of the league tables. Another indicator that I'm just not cutting it at the higher levels.

Maybe I'm setting myself too high a standard. I'd like to think I offer a reasonable challenge when played. But on current form the evidence suggests otherwise.

Now this post may sound like I'm really down on the game at the moment. But that can't be further than the truth. I love playing the game. I think it comes across in my recent posts how much I love playing the game, even when I lose.

I know just round the corner my next win could be the start of a run that ends this slump and takes me back to where I was before the weekend. It could take me to new heights and into level 9.

So if you want to play me on Star Realms my ID is whitespider hit me up for a game or two.

 

My First Star Realms Casual Tournament

star realms

Playing Star Realms is such an emotional roller coaster. The cards one day are with you and you get a winning streak, everything works, combo after combo falls into place, the ships and bases you want are available on your turn to buy. The next day the cards turn on you and all of sudden you are in a slump. Grasping, hoping for a win, nothing works for you. Instead of combos you get single ships surrounded by the starting cards. It gets nigh on impossible to accrue enough attack points to destroy the weakest of outposts.

After the high of Saturday and that 54 point cardtastic combo attack on Freddy. It was my turn to be on the receiving end of another first for me. I've been playing Crshaner for about a week now. I've won some games against him, but on the whole he has won the majority of our games together. In this particular game Crshaner's authority just kept going up and up. I couldn't get through his wall of bases and outposts that he threw up. My own wall of outposts was pathetic, a token resistance easily taken out by Crshaner.

Once again it was one of those games were I was just delaying the inevitable. Nothing was working for me. I wasn't exactly making a dent in Crshaner's authority. Everything I did seemed futile. With the finishing blow the final authority gap was 124 to 0! It was an awesome finishing blow too, 41 points. My biggest loss to date in a game. Previously I've been on the wrong end of a 76 – 0 score line, but nothing like this. This game will live on in my newly built hall of infamy that has been built next to my rather shabby looking hall of fame.

I've mentioned before I think, my inability to finish off an opponent. I've done all the hard work, and then the cards turn against me. All I need is a handful of points to get the win, and all the cards give me are coins to buy cards! This usually ends up being enough of a breather for my opponent to pull off a couple of turns worth of combos to get the win. In this game with gman yesterday it looked like I was falling into this familiar pattern again. I'd got him down to about 8 authority, and then the run of cards from my deck hit where all I was drawing was currency. At this point I was on a healthy 30 odd points. Within a couple of turns gman had me down to 3 authority I was once more looking at having victory taken away from me. If my next draw of cards didn't give me enough attack there was no way I'd survive the gmans next turn.

The cards are really a fickle master/mistress (depending on your point of view). Suddenly the cards took pity on me for once. From the depths of despair and an inevitable loss, I had enough to snatch the win. The releaf of getting the victory, the feeling of having stolen the win against the odds. Which is odd really because before I failed to draw the cards to finish off gman for the win I had the upper hand.

Last night also saw me take part in my first Star Realms Casual Tournament that is organised by Matt “TheCutter” Newburg on the Star Realms Fan Created Community Page. Before the tournament I had played Matt for a couple of days. How to sum up those games? Well it would be fair to say that Matt has won all of them except one! So not a great record against Matt. But I do enjoy my games, I may not be a challenge to Matt but I will defeat him on a more regular basis as my game improves or the cards get kinder to me.

The prizes for this tournament were some signed Star Realms cards which would go to the top 8 players. A pretty cool prize. Because of the number of players the draft for the first round went up in three parts. The first part of the draft went up, Freddy had been given an opponent. However my name was missing, my name was also not on the second part of the draft. So I still had no idea who my opponent would be.

Then the third part of the first round draft list went up. I had been drawn against Matt. I had just been given this tournaments version of being drawn against Ronny O'Sullivan one of the best snooker players in the world.

Did I have an impending sense of doom? Hell no! I'm a Liverpool supporter. I had hope in my heart. Ok my track record wasn't brilliant against Matt but I had beaten him once. So it was possible. Not likely but possible. A slither of light at the end of the tunnel. I'll take those odds!

Matt and I finished our current game we were playing. Oddly enough I lost that game.

I then issued the challenge for our first game for this round. I chose to play with the gambit expansion that had just came out. I've been enjoying that expansion since it was available (a look at the app and expansion will appear later in the week). Matt then messaged my saying he had been one of the testers for the gambit expansion and had a lot of experience with it. I replied I knew because Matt had already talked about this on the Megahaulin Podcast (I do hope that if you are a Star Realms fan you are listening to that podcast). Plus I didn't really care I'm having a blast playing this game win or lose. And as I have already said I like playing this expansion.

I won't bore you with a long winded blow by blow account of the games. It is suffice to say that the games went true to form and I lost 2-0. There wasn't much point playing the third game of the round.

My first Star Realms Casual Tournament ended at the first hurdle. A little disappointing, I'd of liked to have won one game. Buts that cards for you. Sometimes they are cruel the next moment they are your best friend. Today they decided to kick me when I was down also.

I'll be back in for the next tournament, it was a fun but brief experience for my first one. But it's this roller coaster of a game that I love so much. It's such and addictive and fun game. And now I'm playing a variety of different players my game will improve. Watch out for me world!

Freddy won his first round match 2-1, so is through to the next round. I wish Freddy and Matt all the best in the rest of the tournament, and hope they both make the final 8 for a prize.

 

Yesterday in Star Realms

star realms
Yesterday I woke up and as usual the first thing I did was check my emails. There was a facebook one telling me I had been tagged in a post by Freddy. I went to look what Freddy wanted me to see. Two players SongbirdT and TeaPotKitty had played a game where SongbirdT scored an amazing 54 attack to wipe out a 50 point authority score of TeaPotKitty to win the game.
Then later in the day worthless posted a similar screen shot this time knocking out ayoj with a 65 point attack.
It seemed the day for big knock out attacks on the fan page. Seeing those posts did kind of hit the confidence, making me feel abit out of my league.
Even later in the day in one of our games together it was Freddy's turn to play knocked about boxer on the ropes. However I was struggling to get the cards drawn to give the knock out blow. I kept drawing the initial starting cards. I hate being in this situation when it's me on the other end. You just want to be put out of your misery, but there is that little bit of hope, that light at the end of the tunnel. If I just hang in there I can get back in the game. But like a false summit while walking up a mountain the hope is also false. In reality it seems more like a cat playing with a captured mouse, while the other player is waiting for the cards to fall into place to dispatch you with the finishing blow.
Then the cards fell into place for me. And they kept falling into place, and the attack points kept racking up. And they kept racking up. Suddenly I couldn't believe it I had built up an attack score of 54 points. This was the highest attack I'd ever done in a game since I started playing. Previously my highest score had been in the thirties.

What a way to finish off a game. After seeing those earlier scores and having that crisis of confidence. I never thought I'd achieve a score like this. And on the same day as the other ones too.

Having seen those earlier games I challenged those involved to a game. I think I'm doing ok, and being a challenge for them. I'm hopefully taking part in the fan pages casual tournament this week. It will be interesting to see how I do.

 

Epic Space Battle

star realms, tabletop

Biggest Defeat Ever!

Early this morning I suffered my biggest defeat ever in the Star Realms app. It was an epic struggle from my side to hang in there and try and claw my way back into the game. But the cards just didn't favour me. Going back to yesterday's slugfest analogy, Freddy kept pounding me, knocking me to to the floor. And like Rocky I kept trying to get back up on wobbly legs to fight on. As I'm struggling to get back up using the Star Realms equivalent of the ropes the Federation ships that give an authority boost, I knew like Apollo Creed, Freddy was shouting at his screen “stay down”. Unlike the fictional epic boxing match there was no referee to protect me as I fumbled around trying to stay up. Freddy kept on coming with the punches. I held on as best I could hoping the cards would come right and get me back in to the game. But as my authority drained away like a leaking water pipe, Freddy just got stronger and stronger, as if he was some demon feeding off my energy. The Federation ships were just delaying the inevitable, with the way the cards were falling for me, I'd of had a hard time punching my way out of a wet paper bag. Finally Freddy was able to deliver the knock out blow. As the screen shot shows he finished with 85 authority points. That's pretty amazing and a very very comprehensive victory.

But what an amazing game. It was such an emotional roller coaster. And I think one of those gaming experiences you retell for years, “Let me tell you about that one time…” It's just occurred to me this was like my Star Realms version of the Alamo. Against great odds I held out for as long as I could against the superior space forces of Freddy. Clinging on for as long as possible to buy time for others to rally and avenge us.

Remember the space Alamo.

 

Toe to Toe

lego minifigs, netrunner, star realms, tabletop

New Stuff

Another day another data pack filling in the holes in the ice security to protect my servers from those cursed runners! Oh wait the Android:Netrunner world isn't real. What I meant to say is another one of the suggested data packs for those starting out in the game.

You will also notice that the photo has a picture of a minifig in it. The Where's My Pants guy from the Lego Movie arrived. Normally I wouldn't of bothered with this figure but my next project which I will start documenting this week with the initial post requires the lower half of this figure!

I joined the A Star Realms Fan Created Community page on Facebook today. This group has weekly online competitions/league play, and is covered regularly on the Megahaulin podcast. So I introduced myself and said I was up for playing online with folks.

Since that introduction and invite to play games four people have challenged me to games.

I get so much enjoyment playing this game. I don't care about winning or losing, I'm having a blast playing. Mind you winning is nice. I get this sort of enjoyment while playing DiceMasters, well any game really. As long as I'm having an enjoyable experience playing, that is the important thing for me.

I've introduced Freddy to the game and he has become as addicted to it as myself. I lost count how many games we played over the weekend. Being in America Freddy has an advantage over me. He is able to get the Gambit expansion, playmats, and storage box, which aren't available over here in the UK yet. So I'm very jealous of that. Having said that tomorrow the Gambit expansion becomes available within the app. So at least I will be able to play with that expansion, and get used to playing with it. The Gambit expansion in physical form comes with some cards that allow you to play solo games of Star Realms. I'm very interested in seeing how that works. I may do a video of for that once I get the expansion.

Freddy and I have had some very intense games. It is just that sort of game. Sometimes the cards fall for you. The trade row has cards you want to buy. Your hand draws cards that combo up, draw extra cards and force your opponent to discard cards. Your opponent is unable to do any real damage. Everything just goes smoothly. Then there are the games that are like two boxers standing toe to toe just trading blows. They are the really intense games. You take your best shot, they go down. You think they are down for the count. But they get back up and take their shot. They hit you with a belter. Your chin feels like glass, you fall to your knees. That was a hard knock you've just taken. Your head is swimming, but you dig deep, and somehow find the strength to struggle back on to two feet. How much more can this wary body take? Neither of you have much energy left for this fight. You've got to muster one more punch. Hoping you can summon enough from your flagging reserves to finish them off this time. You know you can't survive another punch like you somehow just got back up from.

Those are such great games. The game can go either way depending on how kind the cards are too you. Will you get lucky and draw the cards you need?

I love it. Who cares if you win? With that sort of excitement its kind of irrelevant, you are having a blast, you are on tender hooks with every card drawn.

I love playing Freddy, we have so much fun. But playing a wide variety of people helps to improve your own game. I'm looking forward to seeing what tactics Freddy picks up playing others. And I'm looking forward to seeing other styles of play, and seeing how I compare.

There are weaknesses to my game that I am trying to correct. But sometimes the cards just don't fall for you. When that happens just buckle up, and enjoy the ride.

 

Some of my favourite cards in Star Realms Part 1

star realms, tabletop

I play a lot of Star Realms especially using the amazing app of the core game (expansions coming later in the year) in both AI mode (the hard AI plays a reasonable game) and online with friends. I think I'm an average player, and need to start playing against a wider pool of players. I'd love to think I'm competitive enough to do a credible showing in any store/regional/national competition. But I don't think I'm expert enough yet to talk tactics. So what I'd like to do is look at some of my favourite cards in the game from the core game.

First up I'll look at three of the Star Faction cards I like (photo above). The Corvette, Survey Ship and Imperial Frigate are great early cards to get. I like them because they are cheap, allow me to draw extra cards, and in the case of the Imperial Frigate reduce the hand of the opposing player for their next turn. Plus when I decide to scrap either the Imperial Frigate and Survey Ship not only do I reduce my deck size (allowing quicker play through of my deck) but I get to once again either force my opponent to discard a card from their hand or draw a card.
In the photo above I have two Machine Cult cards Patrol Mech and Stealth Needle, plus a Blob ship Ram. I'll start with the Blobs Ram. This for me is another early purchase that gives me a bit of fire power to reduce the other players authority (life for non players). Plus if I'm short of credits to buy a ship I can always scrap this card to get three extra coins to buy the ship I want. But I only tend to do this if I'm replacing the Ram with something more powerful. I like the Patrol Mech because it can be either coins or damage I can choose depending which is my greater need at the time of playing the card. Plus it allows me to scrap a card from my hand or discard pile. Scraping cards is an important tactic within the game, because it allows you to get rid of unwanted cards (like the starting cards) and increase the odds of drawing the cards you want, and allow you to get through you deck quicker. I love the Stealth Needle, it's a great mid game card. So I hate it when it appears early. It's power is in the ability to copy another card in your hand. That means all the other cards abilities, faction. So it will kick off any faction abilities of the copied card. Which means it can start off a nice combo with the right cards. It's fairly pointless early on when all you can copy in your hand is the starter cards.
Finally I have three cards from the Trade Federation. Two cheap buys in the form of Cutter and Embassy Yacht and the expensive Command Ship. I like these because they increase your authority when played plus either give you more coins to spend or allow more damage. For its two cost the Cutter has to be my top buy. I hate buying a card and having a Cutter appear which I can't buy. The Command Ship may be expensive but Authority and damage PLUS draw two extra cards with the faction ability to destroy an opposing base. I think it's a bargain at that cost!
Well I hope you have enjoyed this post about my favourite Star Realms cards. I'll do the second part later in the week.

 

A Couple of Recorded Star Realms Games

star realms, tabletop

I don't have Lego minfig pic yet for when playing Star Realms YET! Anyway I think by now it's clear on this blog exactly how I feel about this game. However if there is any doubt I LOVE IT.

And confession time I'm not exactly subtle about pushing the game at friends. I'm a total fanboy for this game. I'll bore you another day with a post about what it is exactly about the game I like. I'd imagine the post will be along the lines of yesterday's that I wrote on Android:Netrunner.

So I managed to wear down a good friend of mine in the US of A, Freddy. Freddy since buying the app has been playing Star Realms with me, and doing rather well at it. Anyway Freddy recorded a couple of our games from today and put the video up on YouTube.

I've embedded the video below, give it a watch Freddy does a really great job on the commentary.

It's funny really because last night I was looking at using twitch on my Mac to record a game or two of Star Realms. The great thing is buy the game once (and it's not that expensive) and you get it across all platforms. So PC, Mac, iOS, and Android.

It's great to see a friend love a game so much, and I can't wait to see what Freddy thinks of the promo cards and the expansions. I think they will blow him away with how awesome one or two of them are.