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Star Realms

Star Realms 2014

7.5 /10
BGG rating
#178
BGG rank
1.9
Weight
2
Players
2
Best at
20
Minutes
12
Age

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All 36 on LayerUp

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Expansions & Promos

74 on record
Звёздные империи: Боевая тревога (Star Realms: High Alert) 2026 Star Realms: Rise of Empire – Kickstarter Promo Pack 2024 promo Star Realms: Rise of Empire – Locked Promo Pack 2024 promo Star Realms: Star Captain Starla Promo 2023 promo Star Realms: Castle Promo Card 2022 promo Star Realms: Finder Promo Card 2022 promo Star Realms: Merc Captain Garcia Promo Card 2022 promo Star Realms: Stingray Promo Card 2022 promo Star Realms: Warlord Promo Card 2022 promo Звёздные империи: Командиры (Star Realms: Commanders) 2022 Star Realms: High Alert – First Strike 2021 Star Realms: High Alert – Heroes 2021 Star Realms: High Alert – Invasion 2021 Star Realms: High Alert – Requisition 2021 Star Realms: High Alert – Tech 2021 Звёздные империи: Альянс (Star Realms: United) 2021 Star Realms: Disposal Bot Promo Card 2020 promo Star Realms: Assault Shuttle 2019 promo Star Realms: Frontier Hawk Promo Card 2019 promo Star Realms: Interceptor Promo Card 2019 promo Star Realms: Tanker Promo Card 2019 Star Realms: Command Deck – Lost Fleet 2018 Star Realms: Command Deck – The Alignment 2018 Star Realms: Command Deck – The Alliance 2018 Star Realms: Command Deck – The Coalition 2018 Star Realms: Command Deck – The Pact 2018 Star Realms: Command Deck – The Union 2018 Star Realms: Command Deck – The Unity 2018 Star Realms: Frontiers – Kickstarter Promo Pack 2018 promo Star Realms: Merc Destroyer Promo Card 2018 Star Realms: Merc Tower Promo Card 2018 Star Realms: Pact Cutter Promo Card 2018 promo Star Realms: Scenarios 2018 Star Realms: Seeker Promo Card 2018 promo Star Realms: Stellar Allies Pack 2018 Star Realms: Universal Storage Box 2018 Star Realms: Ace of Aces 2017 promo Star Realms: Coalition Tower Promo Card 2017 Star Realms: Merc Battlecruiser Promo Card 2017 Star Realms: Rescue Run Promo Card 2017 promo Star Realms: Union Drone 2017 promo Star Realms: Year Two Promo Cards 2017 promo Star Realms: Admiral's Tabletop Promo Card 2016 promo Star Realms: Federal Transport 2016 Star Realms: Fortress Oblivion Promo Card 2016 Star Realms: Promo Pack I 2016 promo Star Realms: Security Craft Promo Card 2016 promo Star Realms: Starbase Omega Promo Card 2016 Star Realms: Stellar Ray 2016 Star Realms: Tournament Kit Season 5 2016 Star Realms: United – Assault 2016 Star Realms: United – Command 2016 Star Realms: United – Heroes 2016 Star Realms: United – Missions 2016 Star Realms: Battle Barge Promo Card 2015 Star Realms: Breeding Site Promo Card 2015 promo Star Realms: Cosmic Gambit Set 2015 Star Realms: Mercenary Garrison Promo Card 2015 promo Star Realms: The Ark Promo Card 2015 Звёздные империи: Гамбит (Star Realms: Gambit) 2015 Star Realms: Battle Screecher Promo Card 2014 Star Realms: BGG Store Promo Set One 2014 promo Star Realms: BGG Store Promo Set Two 2014 Star Realms: Crisis – Bases & Battleships 2014 Star Realms: Crisis – Events 2014 Star Realms: Crisis – Fleets & Fortresses 2014 Star Realms: Crisis – Heroes 2014 Star Realms: Gambit Set 2014 Star Realms: Game Day Pack (May – July) 2014 Star Realms: Game Day Pack (Season 2) 2014 Star Realms: Megahauler Promo Card 2014 Star Realms: Starmarket Promo Card 2014 promo Star Realms: Blob Turkey Promo Card promo Star Realms: Tournament Kit Season 3

About the Game

Star Realms is a spaceship combat deck-building game by Magic Hall of Famers Darwin Kastle (The Battle for Hill 218) and Rob Dougherty (Ascension Co-designer). It combines the fun of a deck-building game with the speed and interactivity of Trading Card Game style combat. In Star Realms, players make use of Ships and Bases to generate Trade to acquire new Ships and Bases or to generate Combat to attack their opponent to reduce their Authority or destroy their Bases. When you reduce your opponent’s Authority to zero, you win!

The Ships and Bases in Star Realms come in four factions. You may acquire and use cards of any faction, but many cards have powerful Ally abilities that reward you for using cards of the same faction together. As you acquire cards using Trade, you put them into your discard pile, to be later shuffled into your personal deck. When you play a Ship, you do what it says and then place it into your discard pile at the end of your turn. When you play a Base, you place it face up in front of you and may use its abilities once every turn. In addition to Combat being the way you reduce your opponent’s Authority to zero and win the game, it’s also useful for destroying your opponent’s Bases. Some Bases are designated as Outposts. Your opponent’s Outposts must be destroyed before you can use Combat to attack your opponent’s Authority directly.

Star Realms is easy to learn, especially if you’re familiar with deck-building games, but takes time to master. Each time you play, the game is filled with various strategic decision points. Should I take the best card for me or the best card for my opponent? Should I focus on taking cards of a particular faction or on taking the best card available? Should I be focusing on acquiring more Trade or more Combat? Should I attack my opponent’s Base or their Authority? These are just some of the many choices you’ll be faced with. New players needn’t agonize over these choices just to play, but as they become more advanced players, they will find this depth of strategy leads to great replayability.

The Star Realms set contains everything you need for two players. Including multiple copies (one copy for every two players) of the game and/or its standalone expansions, Star Realms: Colony Wars and Star Realms: Frontiers, allows up to six players to play a variety of multiplayer formats, including free-for-all and team play.

This is the first game of the Star Realms series.

Filed Under

Categories
Mechanics
Family
Also known as
Звёздные империи · Зоряні битви · 星域奇航
BGG ratings
48,416 · geek rating 7.40
BGG data
refreshed Sep 7, 2026

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