Forbidden Stars

Somebody in my group calls this one Forgotten Stars, half affectionate half accurate since it’s been out of print a while and FFG doesn’t seem inclined to fix that. Which is a shame because the order stacking system, where you place your orders face down at the start of a round and only reveal them as they resolve, is one of the smarter things I’ve played in the space marine genre. You commit early and then spend the rest of the round finding out how wrong you were.

The combat is not fast. I won’t pretend otherwise. It’s got real heft to it, dice and cards and modifiers, and if you’re the player not currently fighting you can feel the downtime stretch out. But the payoff is that fights actually matter, losses hurt in a way a lot of area control games don’t commit to, and the four factions play different enough that I don’t feel like I’m just reskinning the same strategy each game.

Rulebook is a real complaint, not a nitpick. They split it into a “play sample” walkthrough and a glossary and there are rulings that only live in one or the other, so teaching this to new players means you’re cross referencing two books mid game more than once. I had to look up a warp field interaction myself last session and it took ten minutes to find where it was actually written down.

The minis are the reason this is a heavier box than it needs to be, and I don’t paint them, I’m just not that guy, but the sculpting on the vehicles specifically holds up under a close look, mold lines aside. Doesn’t travel well though, this one lives on my shelf and comes out for a dedicated night, not something I’m packing for a weekend trip.

Four stars for a game that’s better than its reputation, worse than its box art promises, and worth tracking down secondhand if the order stacking idea sounds good to you.