SPALDING WARGAMING CLUB
it really does capture the vibe of a wild space dogfight with fighters wheeling in from nowhere, feints and rallies and defences-in depth Sometimes, discount stationers The Works really delivers a bargain. Starfighter, by Ystari Games and designer Stéphane Boudin, was lying unnoticed on the shelves until I picked it up for a tenner. And it's a steal at that price.
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Starfighter is an entry into the cluttered field of "card games about space battles" (a poor cousin to the more-ubiquitous "card games about wizards blasting each other"). Now we already have the peerless Star Realms, so why do we need anything else?
Well, for one thing, because Starfighters is (as the name suggests) a space dogfight game, rather than a big fleet battle. It's a surprisingly brainy one-on-one game using a fixed deck of cards that plays out in half an hour. Each player has a board representing their big cruiser and the space around it: boards vary significantly with each cruiser, making the game asymmetric. Cards are played in 'ladders', with the lowly rank 0 and 1 cards providing the foundation for awesome rank 2 and 3 cards. Each card has a bottom half and a top half, which is obscured when a card of a higher tier is placed on top of it (but not for long - as we shall see).
The cards represent starfighters (of course) but other effects too, enabling you to draw a card, flip a card, destroy a card, etc. There are also effects that damage your opponent or yourself and forcefields that absorb all damage. Both players play until they've used up their cards or passed, then the battle between the two arrays of cards is resolved. Damage tokens are placed on cards, destroying them, and any damage that gets through goes straight onto your cruiser, which eventually explodes.
What makes all this so jolly is that, as cards are destroyed (or moved around), the effects on them recur every time they are revealed: destroy a card and your opponent gets to enact the power on the card underneath it; move a card and a revealed power kicks in; rotate a card and a previously-hidden power takes effect.
This introduces an element of tactical memory into the game but also a deep strategy, since as an opponent blasts through your cards more and more of your powers will get activated, letting you rearrange your (or his) array to your advantage. Despite the game's essentially abstract nature, it really does capture the vibe of a wild space dogfight with fighters wheeling in from nowhere, feints and rallies and defences-in depth. Yes, I know Board Game Brawl felt differently in their review, but I wonder sometimes if by 'thematic' some critics just mean "it's got cool miniatures!" Starfighter hasn't got amazing visuals, but the gameplay is gripping.