r/StarCraftTMG

StarCraft: The Miniatures Game Terrain Talk

To start off, PLEASE do not take this as me just mindlessly bashing the game, saying I am quitting the game, or anything like that. I am very excited for this game and look forward to playing it long into the future. But that doesn't mean it's perfect.

The terrain is not good right now

To me, there are two main reasons for this: one, there are really no rules. The entire system is either seen or unseen, and two, the current terrain offered in the box may as well be cardstock for how two-dimensional it is.

So starting with reason number one, a lack of rules. In my opinion, wargames thrive on granularity. A missile launcher is different from a rifle, is different from a sword, is different from an axe. A marine is different from a zealot, which is different from a Zergling, etc. All these things have their own set of qualities that show their uniqueness. Currently, that does not exist for terrain.

With a simple seen/unseen system, there is no strategy other than, stand behind the thing or not to stand behind the thing. A woods behaves the same as a ruin, which behaves the same as a fuel depot, which behaves the same as a hill. When in reality, all those things would behave completely differently. However, I do not intend to approach this from a "make sure the game is like reality" angle, but from a "the game could be so much more fun" angle.

I don't believe I need to spell out what all these things could do. I'm sure wargamers could come up with 100 different things that a forest could do, that a fuel depot could do, bonuses you could get from being on a hill, and so on. But granular terrain rules would not only help the game out strategically, but they would also make building tables more exciting. A mission could fundamentally change based simply on which type of terrain was placed on the central objective, for example.

Which brings me to my 2nd point. The tables right now look awful.

Now, to lead off, it is not my intention to put down the players who have just gotten into this game, maybe as their first wargame ever, and simply do not have the ability to do anything for terrain other than what comes in the starter boxes. Additionally, there may be players who are new to wargaming who may want to take exactly what the rule book gives them and nothing else. So to use anything other than what the rulebook tells them to is a completely alien concept. However, for those of us who have played countless wargames over the years, I think we need to be really ramping it up in terms of cool terrain for this game. Doing this, I feel, would help the game in several ways. One, it will be more fun, playing on a cool-looking battlefield will always enhance your experience playing a game. Your last marine poking out from behind a 2-dimensional wall and getting blasted will always feel worse than your last marine charging across a bridge spanning a river to try and heroically take the central objective. And two, it will help grow the game, both locally and on social media.

The game is only going to get so far on the StarCraft IP. At the end of the day, it still has to A) be a good game, and B) look cool. Personally, I think they have nailed the first part; the game has a solid mechanical base, is fun, and has a high skill ceiling. But right now, the looking cool part is being SEVERELY let down by the terrain.

Now, could all this change in a year from now when they've got four more release waves under their belt? Absolutely, but with a new game like this, I'm not sure it has a year to present a less-than-stellar outward appearance if it is going to stay relevant in the market. So I encourage all of you, if you are able, make your tables more interesting, but crazy rocky outcroppings, buildings, hills, trees, spires, giant construction equipment, anything and everything you can to make this game's in person, and social media presence draw people in, so a year from now when the game is thriving and has incredible looking boards being played on all across the world, I'll look like a fool for even making this video.

Hi everyone! Just wondering if anyone else here ran into issues logging into the command center. When I go to log in, it gets stuck on "authenticating." I've tried different browsers and disabled my ad-blocker, but still can't seem to log in.

I'm trying to access the game's rules, but from what I can tell, I need to log into the command center to access them.

I emailed their support, but received an auto response that it may take them extra time to reply. Hoping I can find a solution in the meantime.

Only have the contents of the starter box so far. The local Protoss player has their starter plus the Stalker. So far my games have been solid victories against Terran every game, but just running face first into a brick wall with the Protoss. Is it a match up that requires the Hydrolisk or unit swaps or 2000pts? What stuff would you run to fight Protoss or what strategies would you employ?

I grabbed my bundle as soon as I got a confirmation that they are available.

https://www.etsy.com/de/listing/4436459087/starcraft-tmg-wurfelset-individuell?ref=share_ios_native_control

Can Overcharged Nexus' Photon Overcharge ability affect units spawning from a Pylon or Omega Worm? If not, I don't see the application for this ability.

Join Jack and Tucker as they deep dive the Zerg rules and design some lists around their favorite combos!

https://preview.redd.it/83k7t8r28e1h1.png?width=1225&format=png&auto=webp&s=ccc3122297bb99d279ebc32b77facce03dde0c5f

https://preview.redd.it/vtuk8k548e1h1.png?width=1225&format=png&auto=webp&s=5bdb9630bd3067dda735197294d3a4f9ebd0abf7

https://preview.redd.it/jwthfae78e1h1.png?width=1225&format=png&auto=webp&s=a559d54c5b4ae2422f489f781741ec8c5a861000

https://preview.redd.it/l697ltu98e1h1.png?width=1225&format=png&auto=webp&s=10843fb716a602bd90f299f4ee6575769081c439

I did these and some others a few weeks ago and I'm pretty happy with how they came out. The process is kinda time-consuming and I still don't know how well they paint up since I don't have a good setup for painting yet. If anyone's interested, I could go over the process I used.

I'm looking at making lists and it seems like with having to spend upgrades you kind of want bigger squads of models, but with MSU you can have different targets and maybe more basic damage? Anyone played enough games to know which is better?

Basic Marines are the most cost-efficient at ~23.3/model in 9-man squads, rising to ~26.6/model in 6-man squads.

Fully upgraded Marines cost ~37.7/model in 9-man squads and ~43.3/model in 6-man squads.

Raynor’s Raiders sit at ~38.3/model while already including the upgrades you’d typically want (except situational combat sheild), deployment buff and free stim. Comparable to upgraded 9-man Marines but more efficient than upgraded 6-man squads.

The real difference is whether you can cut upgrades for more units, or whether 9 man Marines are (generally) better than Raynor's Raiders. Situationally, not having Combat Shields might cause issues but I'm thinking in a general sense first.

Same things with the other races, if you have an example. Anyone do any numbers?