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Star Saga: The Eiras Contract Core Set from Mantic Games company |
The Star Saga Rulebook provides the basic rules for a miniatures skirmish wargame system, including the rules for solo play. The scenarios, the characters, the loot cards and the event cards to play the game are included in the Star Saga: The Eiras Contract Core Set.
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Details - Star Saga Rulebook from Mantic Games
Boardgame book: Star Saga Rulebook
Product name: Star Saga Rulebook, Product code: ?, Series: Star Saga system, Setting: Warpath universe, Rules: Star Saga system, Company: Mantic Games company, Production: 2017.11.30-
Designer: Stewart Gibbs
Features: A4 stapled booklet, softcover
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Review - Star Saga Rulebook from Mantic Games
Opening the book
The book is very nice, has a good cover, and good illustrations. The book itself is A4 size, the usual size for rulebooks. The booklet is stapled. Although it's softcover, it's enough to protects the book from damage during gaming. The paper is good quality. The book is full colour, the art is nice.
Contents (32 pages)
- Basic rules (p4-15, p19-27, 21 page, 65%): Rules. You'll need to read them if you'd like to play Star Saga system.
- Solo rules (p16-18, 3 pages, 9%): Rules for solo play, against an AI system.
- Campaign rules (p28-31, 4 pages, 12%): Rules for continuous games.
- Rules overview (p32, 1 page, 3%)
Reading the book
The book is good, easy to follow.
The text: The text is easy to read, easy to comprehend. I think the language is easy to understand even for those who've learnt English as a second language.
Setting: There is no setting information in the rulebook. The setting info you'll need to play the game is in the Mission Book.
Rules: The rules were not entirely clear for me through the first read, but probably will be easier to understand after the first few tries. The rules are organised in a way that I'll know where to look them up. From what I've seen yet, there are no rules that would contradict each other, or rules that would work against the concept of each other.
Information: While I can't be sure, I suppose the rules give you everything you need to know about playing Star Saga, without the need to know further games.
Differences between prints
I know of no differences between prints. My copy is probably a first printing one - I got it after the Kickstarter went out, but before the game went into retail.
Playing the game
Even after a few games we found out some rules should be played differently. There was also difference in the interpretation of some rules by different players. So if you are about to run this game, I recommend you to run through the scenarios in solo mode, so you try the different situations that may arise, and you'll be more prepared for running the game for others.
Setting up the Nexus Cards is not easy, but it depends on the scenarios. I'm still unsure how to use the Loot deck, and why were the loot cards separated into several small bundles. Does it indicate different kinds of loot?
The definition of successes is missing from the rulebook, although it was included in the playtest edition. The symbol outlines are minor successes. The full symbols are major successes. The symbols with exclamation marks are critical successes.
Who will need this?
If you'd like to play a skirmish game set in the Warpath universe, Star Saga is a good choice.
If you are looking for a generic sci-fi game, this game is generic enough, and it's easy to add setting related rules.
Take care however, that the book is not enough to play the game, you'll need additional cards that are included the the Star Saga: The Eiras Contract Core Set. The tiles can be substituted and the characters can be created from scratch, the dice can be converted, but the cards are essential.
If you'd like to buy this because of your interest in the Warpath setting, you'd get more out of the Star Saga Mission Book, as it has the setting info.
Recommendation
Possible uses
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Questions - Star Saga Rulebook from Mantic Games
Q1: How do you put enough miniatures on the map when there is only a limited amount in the box?
A1: P24 says you only have to put those minis in the current zone the players enter.
Q2: Can minions be damaged to become injured?
A2: No, they get damaged, but they don't have the damage track, so they don't reach the injured state.
Q3: After the sentry guns and force field generators get destroyed, can Ogan deploy new ones?
A3: No, in that mission he can't deploy more. He gets new ones in the next scenario.
Q4: When Accessing a terminal, while Injured, do you you get negative modifiers? On p11, it is indicated you get -1 dice for attacks.
A4: No, you only get -1 dice to physical attacks. On p13 it says you don't get any modifiers to Accessing terminals.
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Resources - Star Saga Rulebook from Mantic Games
Official
Mantic Games: Star Saga: The Eiras Contract Core Set: Official webpage for the product.
Kickstarter: Star Saga - The Sci-fi Dungeon Crawler by Mantic Games: The crowdfunding page for the game.
Mantic Forum: Star Saga: Official forum. (2021: The forum is offline.)
Mantic Games: Star Saga Ed1 v0 (2017) - Playtest rules (PDF)
Information
Star Saga Fanatics Facebook group
Beasts of War: Star Saga articles
Rules overview - Star Saga: The Eiras Contract Core Set
Mantic Games: How to Play Star Saga - Close Combat: Rules overview video.
Mantic Games: How to Play Star Saga - Character Cards: Rules overview video.
Mantic Games: How to Play Star Saga - Movement: Rules overview video.
Mantic Games: How to Play Star Saga - Shooting: Rules overview video.¤
Mantic Games: How to Play Star Saga - Hacking Terminals: Rules overview video.¤
Mantic Games: How to Play Star Saga - Searching for Loot: Rules overview video.
Mantic Games: How to Play Star Saga - The Nexus Player's Turn: Rules overview video.¤
Rob Burman (for Mantic Blog): Star Saga Week – Solo and Co-op Play: Rules overview article, with video.
Rob Burman (for Mantic Blog): Star Saga Week – Nexus Player Tips: Rules overview article.
Rob Burman (for Mantic Blog): Star Saga Week – Gaining Experience: Rules overview article.
Gameplay - Star Saga: The Eiras Contract Core Set
Beasts of War: Let’s Play: Star Saga – Mission One: Gameplay video of Mission A.
Mantic Games: Star Saga - gameplay of the alpha rules: Gameplay video.¤
T&G Productions: Star Saga Demo Game: Gameplay video of Mission B.
Gameplay (in French) - Star Saga: The Eiras Contract Core Set
Des Figurines & Des Jeux: GAMEPLAY Star Saga - Partie d'initiation à Hobby Shop: Gameplay video in French.¤
Gameplay (in German) - Star Saga: The Eiras Contract Core Set
Battleshark - Brettspiele auf YouTube: Star Saga - Spielvorstellung [Brettspiel] [Rezension] [Deutsch] (in German): Gameplay video with review in German.¤ (2021.02.14: The video is private.)
Gameplay (in Italian) - Star Saga: The Eiras Contract Core Set
Roberto Mantovani (for Just Nerd): Star Saga: un dungeon crawler spaziale! – Recensione (in Italian): Gameplay video in Italian.
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Buying the product - Star Saga Rulebook from Mantic Games
Price
Base price (Star Saga Rulebook): ? GBP / ? EUR/ ? USD
Base price (Star Saga: The Eiras Contract Core Set)(2021): 70 EUR / 50 GBP / 80 USD. Price/figure: 2 EUR / 1.4 GBP / 2.3 USD. Price/model: 1 EUR / 0.7 GBP / 1.1 USD
Where can you buy it?
Mantic Games: Star Saga: The Eiras Contract Core Set: Official webpage for the product.
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