Smashbomb

I managed to pick up a copy of Star Saga by Mantic, initially because I wanted the accessories more than the game.

I opened the box and was blown away by the quality and quantity of the miniatures as well as the accessories. We are talking dozens of characters with great sculpts, as well as the doors and consoles etc which look fantastic (and to get these alone is a significant cost). Additionally, you get a couple of dozen deck tiles, which are perfect for many sci fi miniatures games, and can be used separately to the in-box missions, if you wanted to go it alone/freestyle for other players.

I watched one of the Play Through videos on YouTube, and decided to try it myself. The rules are pretty clear and easy to follow, and it does help that the first 2-3 suggested moves are spelled out in the rulebook.

The first mission is a 1-2 player mission; you can literally play the game on your own, and there is enough flex in the Nexus (read- GM) cards to give an unknown quality to the game. Controlling one Character only, it is fully meant to get you used to the game.

First time I played, I rolled poorly (with 4 dice, usually failing to hit, or having my hits blocked by armour/scenery) and eventually got swamped by lesser minions. The second time I tried it, I managed to get through to the objective and complete it; having said that, the first loss was still useful as it meant I could see what impact damage and wounds had on the character.

The second mission is a larger mission, controlling several characters with different rules, with locked doors and more enemies - the rulebook also suggest if you have 2 copies of the game, to play the 1st and 2nd missions at the same time - although I actually think there is enough pieces to play the 2 together from the one box with minimal adjustment (maybe a slightly shorter corridor, for example).

In short, although it doesn't have the same "freeflow" as something like the old gem Warhammer Quest, it is close, and is a great sci fi dungeon crawler. There are also lots of expansions, but I need to defeat these bad guys first...