Review: Stargrave by Osprey Games

[@FallenSailor]

Welcome back! Good to hear your voice, Dave!

[@MiniatureMashUp]

Thank you.

[@thecraftingbrothers9448]

I think the mini conversions came out great.

[@MiniatureMashUp]

Thank you.

[@manjr]

You make some interesting points about the impact of setting on the game. The Felstad setting is a big part of the appeal of Frostgrave. I like building terrain as much as playing. Generic "space" doesn't have quite the same sense of place.

[@MonsterPainter]

It is a thoughtful and sincere review. I am looking forward to playing Stargrave myself and prefer a lighter swingy game anyway. The video is great by the way.

[@MiniatureMashUp]

Thank you.

[@louislowery2877]

Glad to have you back doing videos!

[@MiniatureMashUp]

Thanks.

[@MrElliptific]

The humour is not for everyone but I love it 🙃

[@MiniatureMashUp]

Thanks.

[@blastobearfoot4005]

One thing I noticed and I haven’t quite dug into this, but as a Star Wars Fan and Firefly even DS9 etc I see the crews as a collection of heroes. And you can squish them together, Luke is a mystic and Han a Rogue and Leia a codebreaker and Chewie a Chiseler and Lando something else with a carbine or whatever. But it lacks the luster I have in my mind, I want to see them all with powers and grow, Lando has enough background they make him a General to start him as a peon when he is a rogue/vet. But rules as written it’s more like Endor, Han as Capt Chewie as 1st mate Tekker and the rest of your team is nameless Alliance Rangers. I know there is a lot of Stargrave love out there, just thematically having trouble.

[@jherazob]

Looks like you want a different sci-fi skirmisher, what you describe seems to be the basic "*grave" experience, a main powerful character and everything else in the band being extra to them

[@blastobearfoot4005]

@@jherazob I do lean towards a different one or this one broadened in its initial inception, I can hack it and do it, but most of our small team skirmish sci fi shows are more then the main dude and a collection of grunts. Fresh current example Bad Batch all those guys are more than recruits and as the series progresses they will grow emotionally and advance story and maybe get better gear, but they will grow in powers as per this game, a peon recruit won't at best only two will, if you hope to emulate the show in some manner it might not fully scratch that itch. I just think when most of our prevailing fiction leans towards these ensemble groups, games emulating this should as well, And like I said yo can squish it together and move on, it just seem like a fundamental trope that was missed.

[@mykediemart]

I was really chomping at the bit to pick this up. Thank you for the heads up. All I have seen are "its good" reviews. Maybe it will get fixed with a second edition.

[@MiniatureMashUp]

It is good. But there were some choices made that I don't agree with.

[@BJReolon]

pls dont die you are the best

[@MiniatureMashUp]

Thank you.

[@Xaltotun]

In frostgrave i like to play with 2d10 (and 2-3 is fail and 19-20 is a crit) makes the game much less swingy. Maybe that would "fix" stargrave a bit.

[@jherazob]

Sounds fun to me but i will adjust my expectations, as another commenter said this is not the game for the quirky band of unique heroes, this is the game for the hero, the sidekick and the extras. I don't mind swingy games as my main is *still* Infinity, also played with 20-sided dice and also swingy. And your plan to use converted cheap Heroclix figs is solid, if only they were as easily accessible here in EU...

[@manjr]

Some playability tips from Frostgrave: - Lose crits. As you say, the D20 is swingy enough. - Track your warband on a roster. I print mine out with a row of 'O's for each figure and mark them off as damage is taken. Any statuses get noted on the roster, not the figure on the board.

[@MiniatureMashUp]

I thought of that but the trade off is that your opponent doesn't have a quick visual reference for who has what, also that means naming each miniature or marking them in a way so you know which mini goes with which stats. This is something you'd have to do anyway in a campaign but is kind of a big extra step for a one off.

[@manjr]

@@MiniatureMashUp I like names like "Green Cape" and "Big Hat". :)

[@calvanoni5443]

Nice to hear this review. Too bad about the poorer design choices. I just got this.

[@Centinull]

Stargrave is really just a scifi reskin of Frostgrave

[@MiniatureMashUp]

That's a bit harsh. The differences are more than skin deep.

[@blastobearfoot4005]

I hate to say it, sure some things are different and a lot aren't, but it is a follow on, it needs to carry over things folks liked tailored to the setting. I don;t feel cheated, sure I wished a few things were different, but I wasn't cheated, If someone bought this and it's card driven, bag pulling token flipping game the original isn't, people would be hey this isn't Frostgrave in space. There could be Rustgrave the Post Apoc scavenger game, Frontiergrave battle in the wilderness gap, Blankgrave the utility system make what you want. Essentially it'll have basic core dice resolution mechanics, probably a Boss LT and minions. But powers and backgrounds are like the seasoning. Frostgrave did well, trying this made sense. A lot of other companies do it why not Osprey. What would be an acceptable level of crunch to carry over, how much do you change and it isn't a ?Grave game.

[@tempaccess7195]

thanks for the review and explaining the flaws... Have you played Reality's Edge? If so, how do you rate it with respect to Stargrave?

[@MiniatureMashUp]

I hope it helps. I'm not familiar with Reality's edge.

[@redgreen09]

yes i look at chanel wsh you kill the addds on yourd mack vi un seeabull cant stand it but you look at hydra minis thay have flash gorden buck rogers looking minis me i see more as post it or will EYE