I'm really interested in this game, have not yet had a chance to play it as of yet. I was curious how often you guys get to actually playing the game. To me it seems like a longer game, with a lot of components, which may scare some people away. I heard the review on D6 Generation, and was thinking about purchasing this.

A few things I am curious about:

1) How easy is it to introduce to new players?

2) Is this game still enjoyable for those that haven't previously played the computer game (I have but I'm sure a few of my friends have not)?

3) I heard the expansion really stream lines the game. For those of you with the expansion, would you recommend just picking up Starcraft itself, or would Brood wars be a welcome addition without previously playing the base game solo?

Thanks for the help guys!

1) You need at least 1 hour to prepare components and to explain the new players most important rules. However, there's lot to remember, and you'll probably use your rules book often during game. But even then, this is a kind of the game which really does not forgive you any mistakes, so you cannot avoid them without undestanding the entire machanism well. Thus experienced players have significant advantage.

2) Yes, it is. However, they may be suprised that some abilities and units are stronger / weaker than in video game. That may be confusing for players. They should not expect that playing boardgame will look very similiar to playing video game.

3) If you have enough money, I do reccomend buing the expansion, because:

- the game becomes more interesting, giving you lot of aggresive options

- all factions are better customizable (e.g. you can choose your starting units and other special abilities / units / buildings d in further stages of the game)

- you can use all units known from Brood War

- overally, the game is better balanced (some things are fixed)

However, you will have problems with using new abilities / cards etc. (expecialy Leadership Cards), because the rules are really imprecise, even more than those for standard, non-expansion boardgame.

Watch also this:

Thanks for the information, it's nice to get a good feel for it based on someone that has paid it. I think I'll put it on the buy list, so whenever I come across it and have a few spare bucks I'll be sure to pick it up.

If you wanted to have more than 2 of each race, say your friends only like playing zerg and protoss and nobody likes terran, would there be any forseeable problems with purchasing a second base game and painting the figs of the one color? or would that mess up the card balance in the game?

Thanks again for the information it is appreciated.

Scott

Hi,
First =>> happy new year
I play at starcraft more or less twice a month and I’m currently try to teach my wife how to play with ( yes she is cool ^^ and smart and dam hot haha).
I played many board game (not much as most of people here but still ^^) and never get bored with starcraft.
The extension is a must, more unit, more option and not only aggressive ^^

when i initiate a friend (or currently my wife) both play terran because it's easier for new player who doesn't know the computer game to understand the mechanism.
personally i prefer play Protoss though terran can be a good option against any race. zerg vs protoss can be tough at the beginning of the game.

Have a nice day.

I would say it is worth to play a lot of basic starcraft first and after this you should try brood war to see the changes. The gameplay is a completely different and after many brood war games we decided to remove the leadership cards and ignored aironly and groundonly area abilities because it killed the original starcraft feeling. I still can`t realise that there are so many players which easily can accept that only the air only areas got new CP points. The standard cp game without individual victory conditions let the game always be the same air combat in every game. And the leadership cards kill with their high effect of suprise the strategic depth of the game. -2 conquest points with raynor. destroy a base immediatly on the planet where gantrithor died. who could create crap like this? the smaller advantages are great even to individualize the fractions. but most of the cards are overpowered and directing the game always in a non-player made direction. they was a good idea, nothing more.

I love the expansion and play with all of its additions. I would recomend teaching the base game first however because there is a lot to remember with the expansion.

as far as introducing to new players... you better know WHO you are introducing it to. i have a good friend that regularly plays board games with me and the guys but i would never show him this game. too busy.

another friend who will play the game finds it challenging to play by the rules because he has to read everything for himself, and therefore gets frustrated at the amount of time it takes to play when referencing rules.

after 4 times playing this awesome game, a core group of people really get it and that makes for a one of a kind game night!

we played 3 times in 2009. this marks my new years resolution. play 6 times in 2010!

Once you get over the learning curve this game is amazing. Every time I play it's different. The depth of strategy available is amazing.

Scott4263 said:

Quite expensive solution (especially with Brood War), but should work very well.

It would also have another big advantage - you could build 100% fair, mirror galaxies (starting planets are really important in this game). Of course, you could make own copies by yourself as well, but they would not look as cool as the original ones.

We play only twice a year, but I'm still glad to have it. Definitely stick with the base game for a while. Broodwar adds some great stuff - especially units - but complicates things even more. Then again, if you are learning the game, there are a couple of things the expansion changes that you will have to un-learn from the base game, so it might be worth it after all. One caution on the leadership cards from Broodwar - the leaders can swing the game dramatically and lengthen the play time.

How long does an average full game take ? Can it be played in a night or will it take longer and require a safe place to wait ?

The mechanism to win seems pretty straighforward. Conquest points. Which, are cumulative. in addition there are event cards that force the game to end, and each race has unique victory conditions to boot.

The first times I have played this game, it was slow going. Mainly understanding the rules and intricacies of the game. Plus there is a lot visually to take in.

Like any game, playing with people who know the game, and are a bit more focused on the rules/victory conditions does a lot to speed up games.

Toqtamish said:

The first 2-3 times you play, and especially if introducing new players, i'd say a full day (so a saturday or something is good to aim for). Since it'll be 1 hour setup, atleast 1 hour rules explaining and if you're not 100% yourself another hour looking through the rules for all questions.

Then it's time for food.

Then 1 hour/turn (well we played 3, probably 30 min turns with 2), expect 4-10 turns, so 1 food break in there. (how can it be 1 hour? Well 12 actions to be performed (3 players) including the planning/placing face so 5 mins/action = 1 hour)

I played yesterday, my 10th game and my opponents 2nd, so setup and rules was like 30 mins, the turns are still sluggish so i think we landed on 5-6 hours.

So it can definately be played in a night if you play 2 or are experienced, but probably not the first time.

/Y

I agree with Yamaeda, if players are familiar with the game then you can finish a game of four players in five hours. It will take longer with more players and it is a pain if you have someone in your playing group that takes a long time to finish a move. My suggestion for players like that is to kick them from this game, because it is no fun for the rest of the players.

The game is the most popular game in our group. I would recommend it to anyone that is not afraid of games that take a long time and are very complex.

Also, you don't have to know the computer game to love Starcraft, most players (including myself) have not really played or loved the computer game.