Starship Samurai — Plaid Hat Games — Review

Publisher: Plaid Hat Games

Designer: Isaac Vega

Game Type: Area Majority / Influence, Area Movement, Hand Management, Set Collection

Initial Year of Release: 2018

Age Range: 14+

Expected Playtime: 75 Mins

Number of Players: 2–4 Players

“Across the far reaches of the Lotus Galaxy, a civil war is waged by massive machines piloted by skilled warriors. Take your place as daimyo of one of the major clans and fight for your right to the title of Galactic Emperor in Starship Samurai, an epic new game of warring clans for two to four players.”

Ok, so let’s address this nice and early… Starship Samurai does bear some vague similarities to a few other Mecha-style themes. The main one rhyming with shmundam. However, as themes go this one differentiates itself just enough to feel unique.

Let’s see how it plays.

The aim of the game is to accumulate the most honor through conquering regions and gaining influence with each of the rival clans.

At the start of the game players will take the ships of their color and their starting cards. Players will then take it in turns to draft Samurai Mecha from the main deck. Depending on the player count this can be a very tactical stage of the game as each player will end the draft with two Mecha and the hope is that they will synergies in some way throughout the game.

Players then go in clockwise order taking one of several actions. Players can use their action markers to take actions on their player board, depending on the number token used is how many times you can perform each action. The same action can be used multiple times throughout a round using different action tokens if that’s what the player would prefer. Players can also play action cards out of their hand. These cards are normally phase specific e.g. combat cards for the combat phase etc.

The actions include picking up cards, moving units, gaining honor with clans and gaining wealth.

Players move units into region as they see fit and once all action tokens have been used combat commences. Players can use one action card out of their hands for each region and who ever wins the combat takes the region card, honor points and the bonus on the card. The winner also withdraws their units from that region.

The region cards are refreshed each round and the games ends once all regions have been used.

I am a huge anime Mecha fan! Huge!!! So, the theme alone was something I was interested in. Then, add in cool looking Mecha minis and very snazzy artwork and I was sold! This was an obvious purchase for me.

The card stock is good quality for the type of game this is. The detailing on the Mecha’s could have been better but they each feel unique and substantial so I’m not complaining about that. They give an excellent board presence which is what they were really designed for I’m sure. The ship minis are a fairly standard design, but they were always going to be outshined by the Mecha so I’m not surprised they kept them simple.

The art style is right up my street. The regions are all super unique and give a fantastic feeling of scale. The action cards all feel like they are part of the world and they belong there and of course the Mecha cards are all action packed and epic.

There was a very mixed response to Starship Samurai in my gaming group. I personally love it. I liked the card drafting at the beginning and the action options in each turn. It felt like everyone could push for their own objectives in their own way. However, some of my group felt the swingyness (is that even a word?) of the game made it very obvious early on the game that there would be a clear winner before the game was even close to ending. I agree with this to a certain extent but I honestly feel like that would balance out the more the game is played by the same group… however, it could also mean that some one new to the game would be at a very clear disadvantage. It’s a tough one to call.

I agree with the 14+ rating. I have now come to understand that games with very text heavy cards and action planning are not suitable for younger children. The complexity often detracts from the fun.

Starship Samurai is a fun filled combat heavy, area control game with hand management and action planning elements… yep, it sounds like a lot. This game does it all very well. The rules are simple and easy to understand/explain. The components are great quality. The theme works well with the style of game and the many mechanics involved.

Overall, I think this is a great game if you want a quick and easy area control combat game with cool theming.

Choose you Mecha’s well and take no prisoners! (prisoners aren’t an option in the game)