Welcome to the Star Realms page! This guide covers how to play the fast-paced, deck-building space battle game using the 4-player format in Tabletop Simulator (TTS).
Star Realms is a deck-building card game where players build powerful fleets and bases to attack opponents and reduce their Authority (HP) to 0. In the 4-player format, you can play Free-for-All, 2v2 Teams, or Hunter-style games.
🎯 Objective: Defeat opponents by reducing their Authority to 0.
🔢 Players: 2-4
⏳ Playtime: ~20-40 minutes
🎭 Genres: Deck-Building, Sci-Fi Combat, Strategy
There are 4 main factions in Star Realms:
- Trade Federation (Blue) – Authority gain and economy
- Blob (Green) – Aggressive damage and card draw
- Star Empire (Yellow) – Disruption and draw power
- Machine Cult (Red) – Card scrapping and base building
Combo Tip: Cards of the same faction work better together. Try to specialize!
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Each player starts with:
- A 10-card starting deck (8 Scouts, 2 Vipers)
- 50 Authority
- A draw pile and a discard pile zone
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Shuffle the trade deck and place:
- 5 cards face up as the Trade Row
- 1 Explorer pile (costs 2, always available)
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Choose your format:
- Free-for-All: Everyone fights everyone.
- Team Game (2v2): Partners sit across from each other. Target the player to your left.
- Hunter Mode: You can only attack the player to your left until they’re eliminated.
Each player’s turn consists of:
- Play all cards from your hand.
- Cards may produce:
- Trade (🪙): Spend to buy cards from the Trade Row.
- Combat (⚔️): Use to attack opponents or bases.
- Authority (❤️): Heal yourself.
- Use your Trade to buy cards from the Trade Row.
- Purchased cards go to your discard pile.
- Use Combat to:
- Attack opponent’s Authority
- Destroy their Bases (must destroy Outposts before others)
- Discard all played cards (unless they’re Bases).
- Draw 5 new cards.
- If your draw pile runs out, reshuffle your discard pile.
- Ships: One-time use effects when played.
- Bases: Stay in play and provide ongoing effects.
- Outposts (black shield): Must be attacked first.
- Regular Bases (white shield): Can be skipped.
Ally Abilities: Trigger when you play another card of the same faction in a turn.
- Last player with Authority remaining wins.
- A team wins when both opposing players are reduced to 0 Authority.
- Players can only target the opponent to their left, unless their direct target is eliminated.
- Each player targets left, forming a circle.
- Once a player is eliminated, the attacker targets their new left-hand neighbor.
- Last player standing wins!
Q: Can I mix in expansions (Colony Wars, United, etc.)?
➡ Yes! Many TTS mods include optional expansions—check the game table or bags.
Q: Someone bought a card and lost it on the table.
➡ Use the TTS search function (hover + right-click → Search) or re-spawn from the mod deck.
Q: Can I play 3v3 or larger?
➡ Not officially supported, but custom rulesets can be created in TTS.
- Looking for players? Join our Discord in the #board-games channel!
- Want to host? Check out the TTS Setup Guide.
🔹 Crush your enemies and build your intergalactic empire! 👾🚀