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I got my copy of Stargrave in the mailbox the other day. It took a bit longer as I insist on getting hard copy books rather than PDFs. Why? I do not know? It is a personal preference. However, sometimes that slows down my reviews as I wait for a dead plant version to show up at my location.

Anyway, this game is the highly anticipated Science Fiction skirmish game by the prolific wargame designer Joseph McCullough. Many people have been looking for the "Next big thing" in sci-fi skirmish gaming and the buzz was that this was it! Obviously, it is a variation of the popular Frostgrave line, only this time set... IN..... SPACE!

The game is set in the Ravaged Galaxy. The great galactic civilizations have been brought low after the carnage of the Last War. Where once civilization flourished, now it was nothing but decay and ruin. Planets were left to fend for themselves, as were the people on them. To make matters worse, after the Last War; pirate fleets sprung up to replace the nation-states. These pirate fleets roam the Ravaged Galaxy smashing anything that could be a threat to them and looting, pillaging, and destroying as they go. Now, the Galaxy is more like a huge version of Tortuga from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

You represent a small starship and their crew trying to make their way in this tough galaxy. You can put any backstory you want to it, but you are essentially Mal and the crew from Firefly/Serenity. The crew is trying to get by and keep on flying. This is accomplished by hiring yourself out for various small time jobs like smuggling, raiding, trading, etc. You know, the dirty work. By staying small time and in the shadows, they avoid the Pirate Fleets.

Honestly, I do not know how much I will really have to say in this review that you can not understand from my Frostgrave and Ghost Archipelago reviews. These are practically the same game systems with only a few minor variations. However, there is some genre gloss to bring it into the new setting. Therefore, I think this review will be a bit different than some of my others as I focus on what makes this game different from the others.

You can read the rest of the review at my blog: https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2021/07/review-stargrave-osprey-games.html

Nice review! While I feel more positively about the game than you, I actually broadly agree with everything you said here.

I like the series of games as a mid level between RPG and wargame, which suits me because I am primarily an RPG guy these days trying to get my RPG friends into Wargaming. I'm planning to introduce these games when I've got my terrain and gangs all ready, and I expect the D20 system along with the various familiar ideas to help to hook them into the idea of playing skirmishes with gangs of people instead of controlling a single hero.

I also feel some echo of what Rogue Trader might have been like as a skirmish game with wacky monsters and loot. That makes me excited, for the sort of grungy punk apocalyptic setting that that game evokes.

But I was a bit ... I dunno, surprised by the scenarios. I kind of expected a couple more "standard" ones that would not require special terrain? And I thought that the choices of beasties for the bestiary were a bit odd in places. I hope for some cool expansions to the bestiary and the missions in some supplements, I guess. But for the money the book was worth it to me and I do appreciate the production values.

I'm not super bothered by the setting being generic though. To me it's kind of a strength, because I'm always tinkering with settings for D&D or Stars Without Number anyway, so I can port that work over here with no effort.

Yeah this felt like a low effort project to me, mostly a pass with the Find/Replace tool to rename fantasy spells into powers.

I was fine with it being essentially the same mechanical system and the same premise of scrambling for loot, but it's a disappointment that nothing conveys any sort of sci-finess... it's the same game, renamed. The closeses it comes to acknowledging it being sci-fi is the one power that lets you beam data loot between models, but schitzophrenically the same data loot can still fall to the floor and be moved with Telekinesis effects like it was a box of gold coins.

Would have benefitted from a little more ambition for sure.

I do not mind the generic setting per se, but he did the generic setting so much better in Frostgrave.

We need little side blurbs that say stuff like....

"I walked into that space port expecting trouble, but I got something worse. She was there, and she was looking for my ship. I didn't expect to see her gain after our falling out. It was dramatic.... and literal.... in more ways than one."

"Laser bolts come in all sorts of colors. Some are red, some are blue, some are a pretty purplish. No matter how pretty, DO NOT TOUCH the laser bolts!"

"Aliens? Of course there will be aliens! All sorts of them. Three eyed aliens, aliens with four arms, aliens that stand a foot taller than you, and more brow crests than you can shake a make-up brush at!"

It was these types of asides that made Frostgrave seem like a city filled with weird wonder and magic. The Ravaged Galaxy just does not have this sense at all. I guess maybe Space Opera world building is harder than you would think?

There's the impending shipload of expansions, that'll probably provide that lore oopmph.