I love the look of the minis in this game (Im a bitz ***** LOL) but I was curious how does it play with only 2 people and then only 3 people? TIA!

With fewer people, you are forced to consider your moves a lot more carefully. You can influence the entire board, but everyone else at the table can influence you.

It is somewhat more competative, in my experience.

In a three player game, beware two people going head to head and destroying each other, leaving the third to get an easy win.

Thank you Joram, your help is appreciated!

I've played nothing but 2 player games so far and am really enjoying the game and constantly rethinking my tactics and purchases. There is one risk with 2 players being that one small slip up can be pretty fatal especially early on when you're still learning the game. That being said, it's one of the few games where when I lose, I feel it's from my own mistakes rather than luck, and that makes this game pretty special to me.

Thank you Overture!

I also have played mostly 2-player games of Starcraft. I've played some 3- and 4-player games though, but unfortunately it's difficult for me to get a larger group together on a regular basis.

As the other posters have said, 2-player games are much more unforgiving on mistakes; many games I've played have seen either me or my opponent without a home planet at the end of the first turn. It's pretty difficult (if not impossible) to recover from that. You have to plan your stratagy right from the beginning. You can't really dabble and go for a little of this and a little of that. My opponent (who was less experienced than I) would do that for the first few games we played, and I always crushed him. While he was building all the different buildings and modules to try out the different units and purchasing random tech, I made a bee-line for exactly what I needed, and spent the rest of my time cranking out units. He wised up pretty quickly though. Failure is the best teacher it seems.

Another thing to be aware of is the Order placement. Since you can place an order token practically anywhere you want (since most of the planets will be adjacent to each other) you can really screw over your opponent. Or be screwed over yourself. If you go first and stack your orders all on one planet, be aware that your opponent can just place their last token on top, locking you out. I've done that quite often.

Also as mentioned, with only 4 planets on the board, you can threaten practically everywhere at once. But at the same time, your opponent can hit you from almost anywhere. With no other players, there is no one to take the pressure off you if things go badly. As Joram said, it's a lot more competitive. I'd say a lot more agressive too.

The game can also end pretty quickly too, if you're not careful. With only 5 each of the Stage 1 and Stage 2 cards, you get to Stage 3 of the game pretty quickly. If you don't pay attention to what your opponent's Special Objective is, you can be in for a rude awakening.

All in all, the fact that the game is still very challening and enjoyable with only 2 players is what makes this one of my favorite FFG games. Once you get used to the set-up phase (it really helps if you keep the different faction pieces and cards in tupperware containers for easy hand-out) you can be ready to play in about 5 minutes. Depending on how skillful (or lucky) you and your opponent are, the game can last from about 15 minutes to over an hour.

I haven't played a lot of 5-6 player games, but i think it is one of my favorite games when it comes to being able to scale up and down to the players I have available, due to the modular board setup. Obviously as the other posters have said, the strategies can shift some with different players, but unlike LOTS of other games I can mention, it is still quite enjoyable with anywhere from 2-6, whereas I have a lot of games that I simply wont play if I cant get a full group.

When I play 2 player games, we add 1 extra planet to stir up thigs a bit.

I played 2 players, 3 players, 4 and even 5 and i can say that it's the same fun each time. The game might get a bit different but it's not slower and acts quite the same. Which is really good.

This game is very good with two players. Even better then with three (because, as someone mentioned, with three players, the player who manages to stay out of confotation with other players longest, ususally wins because the other two players kill each other). This game has (in my opinion) optimal playing experience with four players. With 5+ it can drag a little bit (people tend to overthink).

Actually, with more players, some can actually be out of your reach. Which may be both good and bad. You don't need to over-think, as the actions of a player or two will not influence you directly, but if your main competitor is on the other side of the universe, it may be too hard to interfere with his designs.

I played with 2 to 6 players, the game is excellent with any number, it's just that with more guys, you have a higher chance that one of them will be a dunce who stalls.

Xandria is right. Yesterday we played 4-palyers game. It lasts 6 hours and we even not finished this. One of us was new to Broodwar. That was my first time with 4 players and i realized how important is a galaxy placement. First player was Arthur Mengsk and he chose his leadership card, which allows to choose two starting planets ( He chosed Dylar and Hydrax ), placed Dylar first and a base in it. We all know what downside is of a big planets - they have 4 connections, and attack can come almost from everywhere...and the galaxy setup ended 3 other player connected to Dylar , besides two players placed their second planets next to them and "sealed" them with Z-axis connections ( the two planets had normal navigation routes, and were connected by Z-axis ), so this strategy let them turtle and tech-up, because real threat can only came via one and only connection. This slows a game greatly...and sadly no one drew an event card "Navigation error".

One of the best feature I found in Starcraft board game was how flexible the game was. For those who played Twilight Imperium, you know how the map gets odd and unfair with like 5 players! Because each player takes part in placing the game board, not only does it keeps the game flexible but also there's no "down time". The Event Deck / Game Clock concept is a marvel!

My first few 2-players game I found was too quick. Solution : leave more cards in the event deck ! Et Voilà ! 3-player becomes difficult because you can't attack both players and defend yourself in the same time : everyone tends to bunker themselves up on one or two planets. Makes the game a little boring. From 4-players on, it's perfect !

I've found the game is best at two, four, and six players. When you have an odd number the balance can be a little wonky

Two player games are a whole lot of fun and with brood war the extra event cards make it feel more like a battle instead of the quick skirmish feel they had before BW.

I do agree that the two player game is much less forgiving of mistakes. One mistake and can't keep up with your opponents pace. I do think two players feels much more like the really competative side starcraft the video game. It is cutthroat.

One thing about the two player game and broodwar is that it is very unwise to pick a leadership card that starts with very few plastics, especially if you are the first player. The high plastic leadership cards are the way to go for a two player game.

blarknob said:

That's the main problem of Protoss cards, you don't have to pay so much attention to it when you have chosen other race.

If you fell your games are too short / too aggresive, just use more planets (3 per player). It should help. Adding some Event cards to 1st and 2nd Stage is also an option, but I don't reccomend it due to Special Victory conditions. Use "Galactic Conquest" variant (original SC rules) or "Survival Mode" (BW rules).

With 2 players game is also more predictable (you may easier quess what will happen on board). It's really important to win.

On the other hand, with more players, even if situation seems to be clear (some players just can't win often), the game stays interesting for each side. Just because those people can break the entire carefull planning of others...

IMO, this game is best in:

- 4 players FFA game

- team games

But other options are also qreat if you use some game modes, optional rules etc.

After some 2-players games I can say, that for me the best is to play the scenario from Brood War - very intensive and great game Just loved it.

Actually, the game differs most between a two-player-game and one with a different number. A two-player-game is normally very, very aggressive and not very tech-heavy. This changes with increasing numbers of players, since the frontlines will move more and you may well have a round for yourself to research and build up stuff. With three players, you end up with the usual problem that if they are roughly equal in skill, the weaker two will always go at the strongest, so that winning is a bit about luck being the strongest just in the moment when the game ends. Up to four players, this problem is eliminated. I personally like the game most with five, since with uneven numbers alliances are harder to make and tend to last not so long. With six players, the game enters a phase where it takes much time and tends to have less interaction between players due to the sheer size of the board.