Bases and Battleships is HERE! This week Dustin and Matt discuss the brand new Crisis expansion to the digital Star Realms App. Also, in a podcast first, a contest! Yes, that’s right! A Megahaulin Contest! All this and more! Join in!!
This week Dustin and Matt discuss the newly announced mechanics for COLONY WARS. Special Guess Morgan talks about his ENDURANCE CHALLENGE! Strategy discussion reviews the recent scrap article from the Megahaulin Strategy Blob! Join in!!
At long last, the latest expansion from the award winning Star Realms line is here! At first glance, the Colony Wars expansion for Star Realms looks very similar to its parent edition. For the benefit of those not completely familiar with Star Realms it is a strategic deck builder styled game where players use a deck of “starter” cards to purchase new ships and bases that are then playable through subsequent deck reshuffles. Each new base and ship added has a unique set of interactions with other cards in your deck providing a wide range of paths to victory. Continue reading
Everyone has played Star Realms games where they are certain that they’ve lost due to a lack of scrap. The critical ability to thin the starter cards out of your deck is key to improving chances to faction as well as replaying your bases and other big bomb cards. Scrap can become so scarce that players will pass on top tier cards to keep their opponents scrap starved. One question that’s been on my mind is how much scrap does someone really need? How quickly can it turn your deck around?
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This week we discuss League and Tournament Play including a Season 11 Wrap up from AWEberman! We also continue our discussion on Calculated Risk with an emphasis on Gambit Play. All this plus the TERM OF THE WEEK, right here on MEGAHAULIN!
By Brendan Lapsley aka Carnie
A lot of people in the Star Realms community love playing in the online events happening both on Facebook and on BoardGameGeek. For most people, this is all they really need. But for some, running their own tournaments (either online or in person) is something they would at least like to try.
by Scott Heise aka HomerJr
Star Realms is a race. To win the race, you need to build a deck that can reduce your opponent’s authority down to 0 in fewer turns than your opponent can yours. It doesn’t mean building the biggest, baddest deck. Nor does mean collecting all of the cards of one faction. It means finding the quickest way to accumulate 50 damage to your opponent’s authority (the finish line), while also slowing down his rate of damage accumulation if necessary.
In Part 1, “A Game of Four and a Half Decks”, we explored how the average “race” lasts for 25-turns (13 player hands) and the concept of “decks”. Now we’ll dive deeper into the different ways you can run the race… specifically, is it better to be the Tortoise or the Hare or something in between? Which strategy accumulates combat in the fewest number of turns? I assert that both the Tortoise and the Hare are capable of winning races, so knowing how they run a race is important to knowing which will be the winning strategy in a given game.
First, let’s define what I mean by “Tortoise” and “Hare” strategies in Star Realms. Then, we’ll try running a couple races and see who wins. 🙂
This week Matt and Dustin discuss all things Tournaments and League. They also take some time to introduce a new segment: TERM OF THE WEEK. The discussion on Calculated Risk continues. All this and more on Megahaulin!
In Season 11 of the Board Game Geek Star Realms League (which just ended), I was fortunate enough to win the title of Platinum Champion. That seemed like enough of a good reason to post about how to compete in online Star Realms leagues.
For those who have not participated, the BGG League, it’s run by the excellent Commissioner Remy Gibson (IGN Aweberman) who has tirelessly contributed to the online Star Realms community. The league is composed of 5 Tiers (Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron) which are in constant states of flux. Why? Because in order to stay in the division, you’ve got to avoid relegation! At the end of each season the lower performers in each tier are dropped down a rank, unless at the bottom already. Likewise, the one or two top performers are promoted to the next tier until they get to the top.
The effect this has on the operation of the league is critical. It means that players who are able to stay competitive at ever increasing levels of play are rewarded. As a fan of the long tail when evaluating consistent good play, I’m a big fan of this. Everyone is aware that Star Realms has tremendous variance and that luck does play a big role in each and every game, yet many of these top players in the Platinum division are able to compete against the other best players in the league fairly consistently.
Everyone reading this post should go and become a member of the league if they are not already. Check this thread on Board Game Geek for more information.
Without further guilding of the lily, here are my Top Tips for success in Online Star Realms Leagues.
When playing a League match, I do not initiate any other challenges and I ignore any that aren’t about to time out on me. I want to put my full and total focus on my opponent. When you’re playing many matches, certain patterns will arise in your play and you have to avoid that. You need to be concentrating on this match as if it’s the only game you have to win for the next year. In the BGG League, each player gets one single game against their opponents, so concentrating is critical!
Often players will post thoughts or ideas about their play style. If you’re aware of this, you might get insight into how they think. The best tip I’ve used in the BGG League has been the specific Game Mode preference that a player has. Because of the variance, I always choose to play Vanilla Star Realms, while many of my opponents will play Type-S or S+G (Gambos). If they are playing Type-S, their meta mindset might betray them when they come back to the old game they haven’t spent time practicing on. When the GenCon tournament was announces as Vanilla, I switched and practiced only Vanilla. I started to notice I was winning quite often against folks. I believed then and now that part of the reason was my focus on a specific mode where my opponents were shifting concentration between many games. If it gives me a tiny fraction of a percent advantage, I’ll TAKE IT!
When I started playing Star Realms, I used to often toss around the “You got lucky!” or ” Just one more turn…” After playing in the Platinum Tier for a bit, I still recognize the luck, but also the significant skill with which my opponents defeat me. Yes, there are occasions where it’s just “one of those blowouts”, but in general, even with a huge starting advantage, the skilled player can bring it back to a game of just one turn. If you can do that, you give yourself a chance to get lucky and come away with the win.
When you do lose, try to seriously understand what happened. Did I not have enough scrap? Was my deck not fast enough? Due of the limitations of the game log and the weekly reset, those old games won’t be around to review in a month, so you need to take your learnings right after a game. Try to write down the key turns and consider how you might have played them differently. Also, observe how your opponent defeated you. Did he rush you? How could you have hate drafted to break up that momentum he was building?
The best league players in Star Realms know exactly how much damage your deck is capable of. They also know how all the cards/combos work together at an expert level. They are playing out your next likely turn before you take it. These are all good things to get used to learning about. How to do a couple of these things is enough for a second article.
Ok, so it’s cheesy to plug your own cast in this sort of setting, but I do believe that it’s true! Megahaulin interviews the top players in the game. Many of them share tips and tricks that are designed to help you be a better player regardless. Ignoring that resource is missing out on a constantly evolving understanding of the game. So listen in!!
Online Star Realms Leagues are a great way to meet new people, learn more about the game and just have a great time playing with other fans.
This week our Colony Wars Preview continues with two cards from the TRADE FEDERATION. We also discuss calculated risk when deciding whether or not to destroy non outpost bases during play. All this and more, NOW!
Megahaulin Blog for Star Realm Strategy 