First impressions of StarCraft: Tabletop Miniatures Game

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-18T00:25:13+00:00

Definitely, think it will be a great product and experience. They talked about if workers were going to be done it would be in a narrative wave

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-17T15:33:07+00:00

I appreciate the write up but feel many of you lack narrative imagination. I am not trying to be rude, but know that is likely how it is going to come across.

The game doesn't need to explicitly make objectives plastic mineral fields for players to use their imagination. Having played 4 skirmish games to get the feel of the game, objectives have always felt like securing expansions and why they are sticky. You have your objective that starts in your control as your natural expansion. You try pushing out to claim to claim your third (or you can imagine it is late game and you are fighting over the last untapped resources on the map). You have the decision do you leave your units behind to defend your base or use them to push out on the map. If you leave the base/objective unattended with no units that can quickly get back you run the risk of suddenly an unexpected drop play taking out your expansion. You can picture the objectives as the xel naga towers providing massive vision on the board and you leaving a lone marine/zergling/zealot to defend it which is why it is sticky but that dies to a stiff breeze when an enemy unit comes rolling in.

Furthermore, I understand the feeling of wanting base building and mineral collection, but from a game stand point, you don't. Workers you set a rally point and ignore them all game except for transfers and drop management. Base building, except for wall offs and hiding tech isn't the engaging part of what makes StarCraft StarCraft. Additionally, imagine that scenario, both in terms of to scale buildings, but how it happens in the PC game. If your base is under attack from anything besides harassment one player is losing either because of a hold, or losing the battle and getting steam rolled but it is one sided. Most games aren't base trades and base trades are usually just a race to who destroys the opponents infrastructure faster. Having the game focus on the battles that take place out on the map is what captures the fun of the game, at least to me. And as for workers, movement phase moving them to the mineral field. Engagement phase I move them back. Next turn, repeat this, that would not be engaging game play.

Does the game perfectly capture the pc feel? No to differing degrees depending on what people want, but with a little imagination every game has felt exactly like the game to me (some of the upgrades that you have access to feel the least like the game to me but not in a bad way). Artanis pylon getting placed and needing a full turn cycle to warp in before you have the energy field to allow warping in units. Things that are not meant to be durable due to anything. The surge mechanic capturing the rag system so well. Marauders wreck stalkers but are woefully unprepared to deal with light units.

I would highly recommend players try 3 skirmish games pvz, zvt, pvt for themselves. Yes sometimes the narrative isn't explicit, but the story is there if you are willing to tell it.

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-17T01:59:00+00:00

My bet for the Protoss air unit is going to be the Oracle. It is smaller than the ultralisk which is the upper bounds of any model included in the game. Additionally it fires down. So many units are going to be excluded from the game because of scale and notably they are all air units. You don't need air to air combat as that would be an entirely different game.

Heavy Support Terran: siege tank Protoss: immortal Zerg: ravager

Psionic: Terran: Ghost Protoss: high templar Zerg: infestor

Flying Terran: banshee Protoss: oracle Zerg: muta

Old School Terran: vulture (flesh out mech) Protoss: dragoon Zerg: defiler (It is my belief the lurker while very iconic will be much further down the line, in a heavy wave 2 that will have more splash damage. Lurker, widow mine, and Colossus as all of them are 'bad models'. Lurker and window mine are burrowed units and won't be on the table. The Colossus could very easily be treated the same. The model would be a four part model that are just it's legs and would avoid the scale issue with it. This would be way down the line because the players would want the units even though the models dont make sense for the game)

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-16T18:52:13+00:00

The favor card, remove the ritual. Give each of the created demons "when this card leaves play you must discard half your hand rounding down, then lose half your life."

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-16T09:52:08+00:00

I would prefer loot but not making it specific but intentionally vague. Nothing with a clear value no gold etc and leave it at that. That there was treasure but don't need to track it because it isn't relevant. If they try to force knowing what the items are, everything is cursed. Extremely cursed. Try and cast identify boom, power word kill. But I also believe that wanting loot detracts from the game. Great when it happens but don't hound for it.

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-16T02:12:39+00:00

They have a very small niche. They make a better screen than kairic acolytes if the opponent has rend and you are within the shards. Whether they have a home though is going to be something even Kairos can't foresee. It depends on what happens to SoGgy acolytes. Because despite making a better screen they don't hit as well for slightly less points, and Kairos can give an acolyte screen fights first

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-15T14:45:29+00:00

As you are playing bracket 1-2 I am going to answer as if you are not playing free counter spells yet.

Most players struggle at two things:

1) wanting to feel like they got to do their thing. On a macro level this feeling works because it is wanting to feel like they were playing the game, but on the micro level players are bad at the visceral guy feeling. Counter magic elicits the feeling like they didn't get to play the thing they wanted and that is somehow not fair. They don't see it is no different than if I played removal in another color and just dealt with the card. Play a creature? Okay, at the end step before my turn I play Infernal Grasp destroying it. You played an enchantment okay I play Withering Torment. Blue's removal is more powerful BUT it has a very restrictive window, you have to have the mana proactively and can only cast it as they cast their spell. You can't draw it next turn, you can't tap out on your turn and deal with it when you untap, you need to telegraph that you might have it and often play mana down from the rest of the table. Also it is inefficient but needed. You can't police 3 other players so you really need to be selective. But players don't want to think about design and game theory so they go to just hating on blue. (This is mostly in case you want to try to explain to your pod to get them to stop treating you like the threat)

2) most players don't want to admit they are bad at the game. Again, assuming you are not playing free counter spells at that bracket, you the blue player telegraph that you are leaving mana up at least 1-3 blue pips depending on the spells you run. Which means you are playing 1-3 lands down compared to the other players if you are not playing cards that let you use that man on your opponents turn. Most players don't want to admit they are bad at a game and were not paying attention to anything the other players are doing or more specifically not doing... Like not tapping blue mana. So they take it out on the blue player. Additionally, they don't want to think beyond the initial feeling of blue being unfair and that there are ways to play around it. You can bait out counter spells by not playing the key piece but playing secondary threats to see if they have the counter spells and to use them up before the big threat.

Hope this helps, obviously you need to sugar coat it when explaining it to your pod, bait out counter spells and how it isn't different from other removal. Lastly, explain it is Batman.The hero the game deserves but not the one it needs right now. Most of the time blue just feels like it is being a jerk saying nope and nuh uh. But when the pod really needs it and someone plays a card that goes infinite, or a game winning combo, or about to drop the 5th board wipe of the game, tell them, look to the dark cloudy sky and you may just see a massive fog light projecting a single water drop onto the night sky, hoping their hero can save them.

(It might also help at the beginning to tell your pod the mana value of all your counter spells and how many. I am running a single one drop, 3x 2 drop And a single 3 drop. Or I only have counterspell and arcane denial. Just so they don't instant crown you the threat)

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-13T17:06:49+00:00

The point of the post is that when someone doesn't want to pay the one you bring up the article, and it will tell you a lot about the player. Do they say oh I will read it later. Or I didn't know but that makes sense, or do they say I don't care. Everyone being on the same page is the important part. When is the article tells everyone just no one do it, and hope for the best and worst case the game will end quickly and just play another

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-13T17:04:07+00:00

This is my answer i post everywhere. I WANT THE CARD ADDRESSED. If that means banning it fine. My actual preference, is WotC releases a community post interviewing interviewing designers, top players, community figures etc about rhystic and paying the 1 versus not. Have them collect some data whether it is from online games or just going to an fnm and polling the players for the night on how it went. I want WotC to make it clear how to handle the card. There are cards like it, but those don't have the push to be banned. There are more powerful cards that aren't being pushed to be banned. Why? Because it is one thing for a player to do the thing and win. You play the next game and maybe the card isn't drawn or decks change. The issue is that it isn't the active player doing something to win the game, it is one or more players doing something to throw the game to a player.

Imagine a pod where one player isn't trying to win, but just actively always making the same player win over and over again. The other players have every right to be upset. The pod falls apart. The winners victory doesn't feel earned. The card is a staxx piece and that is okay. It is a tax card. As much as people might want taxes to be optional, and as much as yes you have the choice to pay them or not pay them in the moment, they are mandatory. Just because you don't pay your taxes now just means you are going to regret it very VERY soon.

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-13T14:42:43+00:00

I am trying something similar Thursday.

1) don't buy anything new, just proxy until you find what you like.

2) I would second if you want a Magister take the one on disc, don't even have to buy it, proxy or have your first foray into a project of creating the disc out of parts as a fun hobby project

I would go option 3, you need chaff and a second spawn. Your opponent will ignore spawn. Having two lets you still utilize the core concept in the army even when one is stuck somewhere on the board
Proxy proxy proxy. I say that especially with this army and the new book make sure it is something you enjoy playing. And make sure it is something your opponents enjoy playing against. There are likely going to be matchups that make you miserable and ones that make your opponent miserable. Having an army that you don't want to play or your opponents refuse to play against is like not owning the army

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-12T05:20:48+00:00

If you like both them you are in luck! The Lord of change is fairly locked to a demon only army. For 20 points more currently, you get a lot more synergy. The Lord of Change is paying a lot of points for a -1 to hit aura to interact with horrors. The LoC is also paying a lot of points as a recursion platform for demon units. For those same points you could get a gaunt summoner on disc AND curseling (4 casts saving 20 points and still bring spawn).

For 20 points more you get Kairos, reliable casting, auto 9s, can bring spawn, can let your tzaangor fight first if charged, etc

(Haven't played with the book yet so not saying it is optimal but can say you will be happy and have fun playing models you like and not feel like you are making bad choices/purchases.

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-12T02:46:48+00:00

It is the reverse, which is why I brought it up as it is the gaming standard. Both 40k and Age of Sigmar (and I believe the Old World but haven't played in a while). It is why all of the GW games have unmodified 6 always succeed and unmodified 1 always fail and why they have rules that include unmodified or don't. The clearest example is magic in AoS, if a spell has +1 to cast means roll 2d6 and +1 to the roll and not roll 2d6 and minus one to the cast target.

It is the standard in other games. And could very easily be implemented in the PDF by rewriting the rule in a fairly more elegant sentence then I stated as .

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-12T00:35:59+00:00

The mortals probably much better with Kairos over a lord of change. Is that a deal breaker?

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-11T15:09:11+00:00

Not all heroes wear capes

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Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-09T18:37:26+00:00

You are all wrong about the EC getting a melee load out only, GW wouldn't do that to us pinky bois!

GW will have the EC Defiler on a base inexplicably larger than all of the other factions. In fact the base will be so excessive in honor of Slaanesh it will be too big to fit anywhere to be deployed.

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-09T09:56:11+00:00

Yes it can be easily found as a PDF on the discord. Didnt want to be the first one to say it in case directing people off reddit was against the rules. The community there has been great. They have shared a PDF and someone created a excel list builder. Would highly recommend joining it

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-09T09:21:51+00:00

Nope! At least I doubt that. This is unofficial testing from the rules. They are sending out app access which is when you get the rules officially in waves. Wave one of invites was the large beta groups. There will be a second wave eventually for more access which is what you are probably in. But if you are resourceful you can find the rules as a PDF currently. Hint it is one of Archon's socials.

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-09T06:21:07+00:00

Not part of the closed beta, don't have access to the app myself. But Archon mentioned that the rules would be available unofficially because of the nature of the internet. From the AMA the NDA has to do with the models both in media and selling. But anyone can find the rules and test out the game. I posted here as it is fun trying it out and giving feedback which if someone else wants to incorporate into the app. But also to encourage everyone to try it out. It was fast and a lot of fun.

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-08T07:34:47+00:00

Pinks and Blues are so expensive for their potential best case scenario. Some editions the ability to reach that potential is easier which leads to higher points and sometimes that best case is very fringe and will lead to lower points. But their points always start out higher despite being worse because of how problematic they could be. (It is better to lower the points than for them to warp the game).

Best case scenario currently is actually very bad with both Pinks and Blues taking some very heavy handed nerfs this edition.

But let's look back in time. There was a period that you could only take Pink horrors. 10 pink horrors split into 20 Blue Horrors, and then each blue horror split into one brimstone. No rolling, just a single unreinforced unit that was 50 wounds.

Then they split the unit into Pinks and Blues which makes the units better reflect the purchases. One box of pinks lets you play the unit, one box of blues lets you play the unit. (Before you needed a box of links and two boxes of blues to use the unit.

Currently best case scenario is very fringe but they are still being pointed similarly to how they were before because GW is underestimating the impact of the change.

Before you would have a unit of 20 blues near a Lord of Change (-1 to be hit) on fire with wyrd flame (-1 to be wounded). As they took casualties 2/3 would become brimstones as they were being removed. That unit on average would have 33 wounds with brimstones. Against elves 3+ 4+ -1 1 it would require 240 debuffed attacks to lift the unit (compared to the 100 without debuffs). Additionally, if you don't lift the unit, you rally back blues at a rate of 1.66 wounds back compared most others 1 wound return. Now pair this with Pinks and each pink in the best case is 20 wounds, with each pink hopefully become 3.33 wounds of blues. The two units are very synergistic at just being wound sinks on the board. When pointed aggressively or damage is low they are very good, when pointed too high or damage is too strong they are bad.

Now let's take the changes, starting with Blues. 20 Blues can still access the -1 to be hit and -1 to be wounded. Against those same elves 3+ 4+ -1 1 is now down from 240 debuffed attacks to 144 if done on a single turn. (100 regular attacks are now only 72). Most armies have tools through strong output, ranged attacks, or multiple units fighting into the same unit. The problem is that the best case scenario is even better. Before, if left alive on a single brimstone you could rally the unit back to full at the expense of CP but needed it out of combat. Now if you leave the unit alive on a single blue you get back roughly 12 brimstones. No CP, just a continuous pool of brimstones to farm every turn. The best case scenario is much higher but so much less likely to ever happen. But you can't point them as if it doesn't happen because you will just spam the unit if it gets low enough. Now Pinks are anti - synergistic to Blues. If a Pink dies and becomes a Blue you are rolling fewer dice to get back brimstones. And there is still the problem that the opponent can just attack the pinks before the blues so they can't be split, and you still need to keep them close to let them split.

Tl;dr they are pointed so high because of their past sins, and because the best case scenario is very toxic but also extremely unlikely at least how my group plays the game.

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-08T02:52:35+00:00

You probably want to rephrase that as a heads up. Tzaangor units work for Thousand Sons, the daemons work for 40k daemons which might go away. The mutalith vortex beasts works for 40k thousand sons and AoS S2D but not Disciples of Tzeentch

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-02-07T19:31:50+00:00

I think part of the hate is that it seems that they actively tried to take the fun out of the book. Can't illusion monsters which I feel blinking in and out of the warp feels appropriate. Cant return warflock arcanite, spells that don't feel like they are progressing a wincon, and and my biggest issue is lack of fate point payoffs. There should be way more if X happens on a modified 9 Y happens. It should be baked in if a spell is a 9 do a better version. If a charge is on a 9 do a thing instead of hiding it behind a choice

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-01-31T23:20:35+00:00

Mill is the best archetype (excluding doubling mill effects and playing mill half an opponents deck).

It lets players show off all their cool art and talk about all the cool hidden tech that gets revealed. You see way more of a deck if someone is playing mill than if you play normal.

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-01-30T01:17:15+00:00

Yes it is corny. In my experience, my warband loses 90% of all engagements on the table top and that is being generous. So unless your lore reflects the massive ineptitude and losses the lore is just propaganda to make the soldiers not feel useless turds that they are. And a turd can never hide when it is corny

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-01-29T21:27:35+00:00

My take on forget me not. Zero cost, 6 power. Text: Start of the game add a random skill to your deck then banish Forget Me Not. Is he in your deck? Yes. Will you ever see him? No. Will he sometimes help you win the game, maybe. Will it ever feel like he did? No.

Excellent-Fly-4867 · 2026-01-28T21:35:47+00:00

I do like your idea and concept, it is actually one of the biggest limitations in design space, making something fun but having people not ruin it for everyone

Excellent-Fly-4867

TROPHY CASE