Stargrave battle report!!?? oh I am psyched!!! Edit: okay, that was the first time I was so excited that I had to comment before I even watched the video. Now that I have watched the whole thing (and subbed) I am very happy that I have this and the expansion on pre order. The whole thing looks like an absolute blast! With how utterly lethal combat can be, I can definitely see the value of having some of the freebie recruits as cannon fodder. My new copy of Siege of the Citadel will likely get used more for this than its actual game, lol.
I've got a load of warhammer minis because I like the books, the lore, video games and the painting and collecting side. I've never been interested in the tabletop but this looks like alot of fun and pretty easy to pick up. The minis are also a fraction of the price of warhammer. Making your own crew like D&D makes it so much more interesting too.
There are many, many fun tabletop miniatures games out there, and I highly recommend exploring them and venturing beyond the Warhammer ecosystem sometimes. I cover a few on this channel - check them out!
Awesome! Love it when my favourite channels batrep my favourite games - the stars align (or the stargrave in this case). I’ve been a fan of frostgrave for some time and wondering about delving into this new setting. Would love to see more bat reps but understand they’re probably not the easiest to pull together :)
Thanks for the BR. Nice to see SG in action! One rules error that unfortunately may have had a pretty large impact on the outcome...when group activating, your characters don't HAVE to all move first and then all take actions. You can CHOOSE to do this, for the purposes of getting extra support in close combat situations. So his first mate would have been able to move after claiming the loot, thus getting away from that lethal flamethrower attack. It's a common rules error from FG that I think should have been re-worded for SG. Otherwise, very entertaining!
Group activation, p40: " An player may declare a group activation during either the Captain or First Mate Phase. In this case, a player must move all of the figures activating in that phase before any of the figures complete a second action." Seems pretty clear?
@@EsotericOrderGamers Yes, that is the confusing part. I thought that as well. But Joseph McCullough himself explained that Group Activation is a separate rule from the normal activation rule. Under normal activation, a captain or first mate can activate with up to 3 soldiers around them, with each activating and taking both their actions before the next. That is not "group activation". Group activation is specifically an optional activation method whereby each soldier in a group must move before any can perform another action. So you can still activate other models with your captain without necessarily "group activating", if that makes sense. I think "group activation" should have been called something else, as it is clearly very easy to confuse that with the regular activation of a captain/first mate with his nearby crew members.
But it specifically mentions the Captain and First Mate Phases! If you're right, that's some of the worst rules writing I've seen in quite some time. I'll have to look into this.
The new version of Necromunda could have done with a streamlining, certainly. And with all the subsequent drip-feeding of expansion books, hundreds of weapon types, special abilities and skills, it's become a game I really don't turn to when I want something straightforward and fun, unfortunately.
Love the idea of using Imperial Assault figures. After taking the time to paint the game and all of the expansions it would be nice for them to see some more play. Will need to give it a go.
At 28:00 you could have not taken the group action though? Would have pushed Greedo to the soldiersphase but since the opposition already had their turn it would have been fine and given you that extra move?
@@EsotericOrderGamers still a great watch... up until you've made the cuts towards the end (last 1 or 2 rounds) ... was somehow confusing to watch as I often thought that you messed up turnorder by activating the crew before the captain etc.
@@aerouge4492 Sorry about that but it was getting a bit repetitive so I sped the ending up a bit. It's a balance between informative and entertaining! :)
@@EsotericOrderGamers I agree ... made it a tad difficult to follow though as it seemed as if the flamer robot took multiple turns in a row. Still a great demo round!
Hi love your channel it's great to see fun based battle reports of so many different games. I was just curious what software you use to make your rules summaries and character sheets?
I'm a professional graphic designer so I have to use the Adobe suite for my work. Though I highly recommend Affinity if you want quality graphic design programs and and don't want to pay a subscription fee.
This was a ton of fun! Loved the energy, it got me really excited to try the game for myself. Where'd you get the crystals, by the way? I might need some
Thanks for the battle report fellas. I don't own Frostgrave and have never played it, but I do have Rangers of Shadow Deep, which I'm given to understand is very similar to the Frostgrave rules. While a cool system, it just doesn't scratch the itch for me when it comes to Sci-fi. I can definitely understand it being great for someone looking for a quick and simple rules system though. Take care.
I'm curious, why? I have several different sci-fi tabletop games, they all have their own enjoyable feel. Do you prefer more complexity? It's up to you of course, but since you're basing that decision on a fantasy game which is similar to a fantasy game which is similar to the scifi game in question ... well... :)
@@EsotericOrderGamers Yes, I tend to like a little more crunch in my games. For ex., when you said you preferred to play this over Necromunda, I thought just the opposite. I do like the system for easy solo play in Rangers of Shadow Deep though.
@@shaneflickinger These days I prefer elegance/simplicity over crunch, mainly because time and brain space are both at a premium! But it's purely a matter of personal preference. And mood - often I feel like a simpler game, but sometimes I'm happy to get into the nitty gritty.
@@shaneflickinger Rangers is probably the best game in this series, in large part because it was tested for solo play from day one and in part because it lets you level up more than just two characters in your crew. Stargrave looks to be an improvement over Frostgrave and Ghost Archipelago (which gets very little attention these days) but it still has the root problem of an insanely swingy combat system coupled with only two characters whose survival you really care about in campaign play. That might even be worse here, since ranged combat is the norm and focusing fire on the captain and mate is going to be somewhat easier. We can hope the solo Stargrave rules (which are supposed to be free downloads on day one last I heard) live up to Rangers, at least. He's certainly had enough practice with the basic game engine at this point.
One of my current crews is using figs from 10 different companies, and expect to get it higher after seeing the full power listings - you can probably add temporary crew like robots and mercs in the same way Frostgrave let you summon temps. There's a lot of scifi ranges out there even if you stick to just 25/28mm scale instead of retasking 15mm and even 6mm stuff for robots and weird aliens.
I thought so a bit at first, but in the end I liked it. If you get shot with a lasergun you might get grazed or you might get a hole in your head. The uncertainty is fun and the randomness evens out, and might always make that crucial shot if you're lucky.
Way too swingy for my tastes, something I've been saying since Frostgrave dropped. It wouldn't be as much of an issue of the modified rolls were compared to each other, but that would require modifying the way armor prevents damage considerably, something the designer is unwilling to do.
You get 400 credits to buy up to 8 soldiers (in addition to your captain and first mate). It depends on home much you spend; I have some more expensive specialists in each team.
@@EsotericOrderGamers It looks cool in fairness. I think broken PS5's in a few years will also make great terrain pieces. They remind me of the city towers in Killzone:Shadow Fall.
Stargrave battle report!!?? oh I am psyched!!!
Edit: okay, that was the first time I was so excited that I had to comment before I even watched the video. Now that I have watched the whole thing (and subbed) I am very happy that I have this and the expansion on pre order. The whole thing looks like an absolute blast! With how utterly lethal combat can be, I can definitely see the value of having some of the freebie recruits as cannon fodder. My new copy of Siege of the Citadel will likely get used more for this than its actual game, lol.
Excellent, loved your enthusiasm! Really glad you enjoyed the game. And welcome to the Esoteric Order of Gamers! :)
Thanks for the play through. This is the second one on UA-cam at the time and it’s awesome!
Cheers Maurice!
Really great to see the Imperial Assault figs getting some new life!
They're just perfect for this game I reckon.
This was really fun to watch xD It got me hyped again to work on my own crew
I've got a load of warhammer minis because I like the books, the lore, video games and the painting and collecting side.
I've never been interested in the tabletop but this looks like alot of fun and pretty easy to pick up. The minis are also a fraction of the price of warhammer.
Making your own crew like D&D makes it so much more interesting too.
There are many, many fun tabletop miniatures games out there, and I highly recommend exploring them and venturing beyond the Warhammer ecosystem sometimes. I cover a few on this channel - check them out!
Excellent report. Always fun to watch, cheers.
Thanks for the kind words Richard.
Hell yeah, I used to have a TRS-80! Great report guys, I'm playing my first Stargrave game tomorrow so I'm using this to bone up on the rules!
First computer I ever saw, I think. :)
Awesome! Love it when my favourite channels batrep my favourite games - the stars align (or the stargrave in this case). I’ve been a fan of frostgrave for some time and wondering about delving into this new setting.
Would love to see more bat reps but understand they’re probably not the easiest to pull together :)
I'm one of your favourite channels. Yay! :)
Thanks for the BR. Nice to see SG in action! One rules error that unfortunately may have had a pretty large impact on the outcome...when group activating, your characters don't HAVE to all move first and then all take actions. You can CHOOSE to do this, for the purposes of getting extra support in close combat situations. So his first mate would have been able to move after claiming the loot, thus getting away from that lethal flamethrower attack. It's a common rules error from FG that I think should have been re-worded for SG. Otherwise, very entertaining!
Group activation, p40: " An player may declare a group activation during either the Captain or First Mate Phase. In this case, a player must move all of the figures activating in that phase before any of the figures complete a second action." Seems pretty clear?
@@EsotericOrderGamers Yes, that is the confusing part. I thought that as well. But Joseph McCullough himself explained that Group Activation is a separate rule from the normal activation rule. Under normal activation, a captain or first mate can activate with up to 3 soldiers around them, with each activating and taking both their actions before the next.
That is not "group activation". Group activation is specifically an optional activation method whereby each soldier in a group must move before any can perform another action.
So you can still activate other models with your captain without necessarily "group activating", if that makes sense.
I think "group activation" should have been called something else, as it is clearly very easy to confuse that with the regular activation of a captain/first mate with his nearby crew members.
But it specifically mentions the Captain and First Mate Phases! If you're right, that's some of the worst rules writing I've seen in quite some time. I'll have to look into this.
@@EsotericOrderGamers I agree. I was you before being corrected. I really hoped it would have been rewritten for SG.
That really sounds like the rules that Necromunda should have had all those years ago.
The new version of Necromunda could have done with a streamlining, certainly. And with all the subsequent drip-feeding of expansion books, hundreds of weapon types, special abilities and skills, it's become a game I really don't turn to when I want something straightforward and fun, unfortunately.
Love the idea of using Imperial Assault figures. After taking the time to paint the game and all of the expansions it would be nice for them to see some more play. Will need to give it a go.
Yeah, it's really satisfying to get double use out of a set of figures like that!
Are there rules for smoke grenades? Something to give some temporary cover?
great gameplay and video! I've learned a lot. I'm intrigued at the system.
Yep, there are smoke grenades.
At 28:00 you could have not taken the group action though? Would have pushed Greedo to the soldiersphase but since the opposition already had their turn it would have been fine and given you that extra move?
First time we played, I'm sure we made lots of mistakes! :)
@@EsotericOrderGamers still a great watch... up until you've made the cuts towards the end (last 1 or 2 rounds) ... was somehow confusing to watch as I often thought that you messed up turnorder by activating the crew before the captain etc.
@@aerouge4492 Sorry about that but it was getting a bit repetitive so I sped the ending up a bit. It's a balance between informative and entertaining! :)
@@EsotericOrderGamers I agree ... made it a tad difficult to follow though as it seemed as if the flamer robot took multiple turns in a row. Still a great demo round!
Hi love your channel it's great to see fun based battle reports of so many different games. I was just curious what software you use to make your rules summaries and character sheets?
I'm a professional graphic designer so I have to use the Adobe suite for my work. Though I highly recommend Affinity if you want quality graphic design programs and and don't want to pay a subscription fee.
This was a ton of fun! Loved the energy, it got me really excited to try the game for myself. Where'd you get the crystals, by the way? I might need some
Excellent! The crystals are from the one and only scenario pack ever released for AT-43, which was called Operation Frostbite.
Thanks for the battle report fellas. I don't own Frostgrave and have never played it, but I do have Rangers of Shadow Deep, which I'm given to understand is very similar to the Frostgrave rules. While a cool system, it just doesn't scratch the itch for me when it comes to Sci-fi. I can definitely understand it being great for someone looking for a quick and simple rules system though. Take care.
I'm curious, why? I have several different sci-fi tabletop games, they all have their own enjoyable feel. Do you prefer more complexity? It's up to you of course, but since you're basing that decision on a fantasy game which is similar to a fantasy game which is similar to the scifi game in question ... well... :)
@@EsotericOrderGamers Yes, I tend to like a little more crunch in my games. For ex., when you said you preferred to play this over Necromunda, I thought just the opposite. I do like the system for easy solo play in Rangers of Shadow Deep though.
@@shaneflickinger These days I prefer elegance/simplicity over crunch, mainly because time and brain space are both at a premium! But it's purely a matter of personal preference. And mood - often I feel like a simpler game, but sometimes I'm happy to get into the nitty gritty.
@@shaneflickinger Rangers is probably the best game in this series, in large part because it was tested for solo play from day one and in part because it lets you level up more than just two characters in your crew. Stargrave looks to be an improvement over Frostgrave and Ghost Archipelago (which gets very little attention these days) but it still has the root problem of an insanely swingy combat system coupled with only two characters whose survival you really care about in campaign play. That might even be worse here, since ranged combat is the norm and focusing fire on the captain and mate is going to be somewhat easier.
We can hope the solo Stargrave rules (which are supposed to be free downloads on day one last I heard) live up to Rangers, at least. He's certainly had enough practice with the basic game engine at this point.
Are you trying to set some sort of record for mixing as many manufacturers as possible on the table lol
Good isn't it? :)
One of my current crews is using figs from 10 different companies, and expect to get it higher after seeing the full power listings - you can probably add temporary crew like robots and mercs in the same way Frostgrave let you summon temps. There's a lot of scifi ranges out there even if you stick to just 25/28mm scale instead of retasking 15mm and even 6mm stuff for robots and weird aliens.
What did you use to print out the soldier sheets, please? I'm using a pencil and print out of the blank sheet.
I made them myself in inDesign and printed them out.
sounds and looks like frostgrave,= Stino!
And so, Greedo runs off to one day try and collect a bounty on a certain smuggler...
This is the REAL prequel! :)
Should the box not stay?
As you Unlocked it not just grabbed the box?
Sorry?
Not sure about the d20 system, isn't t that way to swingy ?
I thought so a bit at first, but in the end I liked it. If you get shot with a lasergun you might get grazed or you might get a hole in your head. The uncertainty is fun and the randomness evens out, and might always make that crucial shot if you're lucky.
Way too swingy for my tastes, something I've been saying since Frostgrave dropped. It wouldn't be as much of an issue of the modified rolls were compared to each other, but that would require modifying the way armor prevents damage considerably, something the designer is unwilling to do.
@@richmcgee434 Oh well, depends what kind of game you're in the mood for, as I said. :)
Did George Lucas rewrite this scenario?? Why does Greedo always shoot first now?
Don't worry, in a few years it'll change again. :)
Why six figures? Teams are supposed to be of ten.
You get 400 credits to buy up to 8 soldiers (in addition to your captain and first mate). It depends on home much you spend; I have some more expensive specialists in each team.
Is that the ugly PS5 being used as a terrain piece to your right during the intro? :P
Ha! It looks a bit like it doesn't it? No, it's a foam model of an alien building I bought at some stage.
@@EsotericOrderGamers It looks cool in fairness. I think broken PS5's in a few years will also make great terrain pieces. They remind me of the city towers in Killzone:Shadow Fall.