Runewars released - how is your community reacting

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**DrNo172000**

Azreal13 wrote:
Because carrion is meat?

To be clear, I was being a bit sarcastic. I mean it's literally a giant dangerous worm that likes to roam underground especially in tombs. It honestly makes perfect sense that Undead would put them to use and have access to lots of the things.

**Azreal13**

Ah, emphasizing the word carrion as you did seemed to suggest they'd get eaten, being dead and that, when they'd be the creatures with the least to fear from something that exclusively ate carrion.

Text not always the best conveyor of humor.

**DrNo172000**

Azreal13 wrote:
being dead and that, when they'd be the creatures with the least to fear from something that exclusively ate carrion.

Not to mention if you get some gunk on your skellie body during battle the crawler can clean you off leaving you feel like a new set bones.

**Shrapnelsmile**

We're enjoying it. On shelves at all three stores, but one prime FFG supporter is where we are playing it. Only 3 games under my belt, but about 7 starters sold.

**Marmatag**

DrNo172000 wrote:
Marmatag wrote:
The aesthetic of both armies didn't grab me, either. I do not like the look of the vomit slug, for instance, and that's one of the flagship units of the game. It doesn't make sense. Why would a skeleton ride a vomit slug? Put him on a dragon, come on!

Yes why on earth would a skeleton ride a CARRION crawler?

I don't know. What does the Runewars fluff say about this? What's the justification? I can see how a giant maggot would be loosely correlated with the undead. Seems weird to have a combination of living creatures and dead creatures traveling together, though. All this powerful magic to raise an undead army and you have them riding big maggots.

**pancakeonions**

My gaming buddies and I have gone in for six boxed sets (among five guys) and so far I've only painted... But two of 'em got to play last weekend and the report was good. They liked it.

**Hellfury**

Not much traction here in Minneapolis, so far. There are the FFG fanboys at the FFG event center which are seemingly all in, but half of those people are the same ones who gobbled up previous FFG war game entries such as Dust tactics, Warzone CMG, etc.

Most people I've talked to here had cursory interest, but are ambivalent. They want to see how it plays, yet have no interest in currently buying in. But then again, they are already heavily invested in other games.

It may be awhile before we know any definitive status on interest, as the current local sentiment in the air is "Wait and see".

Without tastemakers proclaiming it the next gaming revolution, I'm pretty skeptical of its longevity, considering precedence of how FFG handles a lot of games that aren't making money hand over fist immediately.

**DrNo172000**

Marmatag wrote:
DrNo172000 wrote:
Marmatag wrote:
The aesthetic of both armies didn't grab me, either. I do not like the look of the vomit slug, for instance, and that's one of the flagship units of the game. It doesn't make sense. Why would a skeleton ride a vomit slug? Put him on a dragon, come on!

Yes why on earth would a skeleton ride a CARRION crawler?

I don't know. What does the Runewars fluff say about this? What's the justification? I can see how a giant maggot would be loosely correlated with the undead. Seems weird to have a combination of living creatures and dead creatures traveling together, though. All this powerful magic to raise an undead army and you have them riding big maggots.

Actually interesting enough Waiqar the Undying was never a wizard nor do I think he is now. Instead he was a great warrior and general and for all intents and purposes a good guy. He made some vow that turned him and his legion into undead. His forces do include necromancers now and according to the lore book they take the bones of fallen undead turn them into dust and use that to raise more. What corpses aren't reanimated are fed to carrion worms that live at the edges of thier camps. They do it to grow them fat and large so they can train them for riding. Their saliva is acid so I suppose that's why they are used.

It also does mention that some necromancers are powerful enough to raise dragons so I suppose that's coming eventually.

**dosiere**

My FLGS sold a bunch of copies but I'm still busy painting my own and such. Got a few games in on release day and a few more at home, but no way to really gauge how it's doing. It's so new I'm not sure anyone could though.

I'll say that it's better than I thought it would be, especially the miniatures themselves. It plays really fast, and is more importantly simply fun.

Two things though that is going to make this an uphill struggle: had it released a year ago before AoS finally started picking up steam it would have had more immediate success, and with only the core set released there's not much here to really get into yet.

**privateer4hire**

With Imperial Assault and X-Wing both on clearance racks at the two FGSs within an hour of me, I'd say it's got minimal chance. They're not even carrying the game at either store. Having Battlelore 2nd edition stuff untouched on their shelves probably isn't much inspiration to back another one of their games.

**-Loki-**

I don't think the FFG players in my store even know.

**Eilif**

My buddy and I got the boxed sets at adepticon. We traded armies so I've got 2 core's of the human "Daqan" almost finished painting. Only played one game, but it was enough to make me decide to paint the army and then play some more games.

I don't spend much time at the FLGS, but I was at "Greenfire Games" with some friends the other day and the shop is pushing it. They live streamed the games from the introductory campaign which is basically a 3 scenario game tree that was given on the release day. The manager said they play Armada and/or Runewars on Wed and Thursday of each week. This is a store that plays alot of X-Wing and Armada.

The store is a bit far away from me, but I may head down there to get some games in. The biggest store in the area "Games Plus" has an "after hours" event scheduled for May.

I'm cataloging my Runewars Odyssey here:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/722712.page

**Tvayumat**

Quite well, really.

My FLGS ordered 18 copies, sold all 18 within the first three days.

We have 22 players, with about 10 active all week, filling out two organized game days.

This weekend marks our first narrative event, and on the 7th we have a tournament scheduled.

Pretty much everyone who gets their hands on it agrees that it's an incredibly fun game, and those of us who've been playing it thoroughly are astonished at how much depth the game has.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Marmatag wrote:
DrNo172000 wrote:
Marmatag wrote:
The aesthetic of both armies didn't grab me, either. I do not like the look of the vomit slug, for instance, and that's one of the flagship units of the game. It doesn't make sense. Why would a skeleton ride a vomit slug? Put him on a dragon, come on!

Yes why on earth would a skeleton ride a CARRION crawler?

I don't know. What does the Runewars fluff say about this? What's the justification? I can see how a giant maggot would be loosely correlated with the undead. Seems weird to have a combination of living creatures and dead creatures traveling together, though. All this powerful magic to raise an undead army and you have them riding big maggots.

Waiqar's legions don't consist only of skeletons, or even just undead.

He has living necromancers who experiment with fleshcrafting.

The lore book talks about how their tendency to discard bits of failed experiments to the edges of an encampment results in carrion worms thriving around Waiqar camps, which are then tamed and used for their corrosive fluids that can eat away both metal and flesh.

**Elbows**

What size are the bases? I only ask because I wonder if you could simply use your own miniatures (of your preferred aesthetic) in place of the somewhat...less than attractive models in the starter box?

Are the bases pretty standard sizes? It'd be easy enough to create rules for Warhammer armies, etc.

**Eilif**

Elbows wrote:
What size are the bases? I only ask because I wonder if you could simply use your own miniatures (of your preferred aesthetic) in place of the somewhat...less than attractive models in the starter box?

Are the bases pretty standard sizes? It'd be easy enough to create rules for Warhammer armies, etc.

Unfortunately the bases are a bit different than standard sizes. I measured them earlier and didn't record but I think it's 23mm for the rounds The trays are 2.5 inches (62mm) across not counting the puzzle pieces part sticking out.

The models are actually pretty good. Proxying would be expensive as the only way to get new dials and cards is to buy unit boxes. Unless of course you make your own, but that wouldn't be valid for event play.

**WUWU**

Marmatag wrote:
To me it just looks pretty bland.

Without Maelstrom or objective based missions I would have little to no interest in 40k.

To me there needs to be more depth and tactical decision making than running at your opponent, locking into melee, and resolving the game.

It could be that Rune Wars is far more tactical than what i've seen. I honestly don't know. But i'm not going out of my way to learn if it is or not, because my first impression was unfavorable.

Additionally, launching with 2 factions didn't seem wise. The aesthetic of both armies didn't grab me, either. I do not like the look of the vomit slug, for instance, and that's one of the flagship units of the game. It doesn't make sense. Why would a skeleton ride a vomit slug? Put him on a dragon, come on!

Finally, they don't offer any other gameplay modes besides 1v1. If they had a game mode that supported something NEW, like a true free-for-all style gameplay where you could have 1v1v1v1, or something, i'd be more inclined to look at it. Just seems like more of the same in a diminished capacity.

Call it what you will. This is how I reacted.

There are six different Objective based scenarios, and six different deployment types, all with their own handy reference card in the Core Set. More being released with the expansions.

You could easily play Runewars with more than two people. The initiative system lends itself well to it.

You're first impression is incredibly wrong and misguided. But you do you

**Kriswall**

WUWU wrote:
Marmatag wrote:
To me it just looks pretty bland.

Without Maelstrom or objective based missions I would have little to no interest in 40k.

To me there needs to be more depth and tactical decision making than running at your opponent, locking into melee, and resolving the game.

It could be that Rune Wars is far more tactical than what i've seen. I honestly don't know. But i'm not going out of my way to learn if it is or not, because my first impression was unfavorable.

Additionally, launching with 2 factions didn't seem wise. The aesthetic of both armies didn't grab me, either. I do not like the look of the vomit slug, for instance, and that's one of the flagship units of the game. It doesn't make sense. Why would a skeleton ride a vomit slug? Put him on a dragon, come on!

Finally, they don't offer any other gameplay modes besides 1v1. If they had a game mode that supported something NEW, like a true free-for-all style gameplay where you could have 1v1v1v1, or something, i'd be more inclined to look at it. Just seems like more of the same in a diminished capacity.

Call it what you will. This is how I reacted.

There are six different Objective based scenarios, and six different deployment types, all with their own handy reference card in the Core Set. More being released with the expansions.

You could easily play Runewars with more than two people. The initiative system lends itself well to it.

You're first impression is incredibly wrong and misguided. But you do you

I agree. The core box has 36 objective/deployment combinations. I've played numerous games at this point and none of them have involved running at each other to see who can kill the most. If you don't play to the mission, you'll likely lose. Also, the core rules come with rules for 3 and 4 player games. So... it's not just 1v1. Rules are included for 1v2 and 2v2. I do agree with the above comment that 1v1v1 could easily be supported. The game dictates who first player is. You'd just need to decide 2nd and 3rd players... I'd suggest going clockwise around the table.

Complaining about model aesthetics is one thing, but complaining that a magically animated skeleton is riding on the wrong sort of imaginary creature seems a little weird. I didn't realize that magic skellingtons had a preferred mount.

**auticus**

I think the mechanics of the game are solid and the game is a lot of fun. I don't necessarily dig how the terrain is dictated by the cards, but I'll build a bridge and get over it.

THe model aesthetics are less than GW but not ugly like mantic. The only complaint I had about the models are that whoever designed the skeleton archers needs slapped. Gluing their arms resulted in gluing my fingers together three times with super glue.

But I'm spoiled with plastic glue and prefer it.

**Kriswall**

auticus wrote:
I think the mechanics of the game are solid and the game is a lot of fun. I don't necessarily dig how the terrain is dictated by the cards, but I'll build a bridge and get over it.

THe model aesthetics are less than GW but not ugly like mantic. The only complaint I had about the models are that whoever designed the skeleton archers needs slapped. Gluing their arms resulted in gluing my fingers together three times with super glue.

But I'm spoiled with plastic glue and prefer it.

I hear you on the terrain cards, but I actually like the randomized nature of the terrain. Randomly pick X (usually 3) pieces and then take turns placing them with whoever picked the deployment card taking first pick. Having said that, I don't think there's anything preventing you from making your own terrain and either agreeing on table layout or making your own cards for randomized placement. A guy on the official forum has already put together a template and made cards using his own terrain.

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/247359-custom-terrain-cards/

I think you just need more practice with super glue.

**supreme overlord**

zilch, nada, nothing

the fantasy in my area is KoW or AoS. Nobody has even gleaned the slightest interest in this game.

**Stevefamine**

Saw a game played at my buddy's place using KOW models (their stuff is still in the box).

It was "okay". it may have helped if we drank a bit. Seems to be nicer than KOW 1.0 ruleset though

**Pacific**

Had a look at the minis for the first time today in the flesh. Nice level of detail and the aesthetic across both factions holds together well, it was interesting that they look a lot less 'cartoony' in person and when not close up on a monitor.

Cost seems pretty reasonable for that number of mins, and the card components seemed of a good quality.

Subjectively I quite like the style of the minis (definitely have a look of World of Warcraft about them). I'm not going to invest in it yet as have too many other projects on the go (which may be where FFG run into difficulty, wargamers have limited time available for investment and there are just so many quality games around these days) but if they do a greenskin/orc or some other faction that appeals I might seriously consider it.

**Marmatag**

WUWU wrote:
Marmatag wrote:
To me it just looks pretty bland.

Without Maelstrom or objective based missions I would have little to no interest in 40k.

To me there needs to be more depth and tactical decision making than running at your opponent, locking into melee, and resolving the game.

It could be that Rune Wars is far more tactical than what i've seen. I honestly don't know. But i'm not going out of my way to learn if it is or not, because my first impression was unfavorable.

Additionally, launching with 2 factions didn't seem wise. The aesthetic of both armies didn't grab me, either. I do not like the look of the vomit slug, for instance, and that's one of the flagship units of the game. It doesn't make sense. Why would a skeleton ride a vomit slug? Put him on a dragon, come on!

Finally, they don't offer any other gameplay modes besides 1v1. If they had a game mode that supported something NEW, like a true free-for-all style gameplay where you could have 1v1v1v1, or something, i'd be more inclined to look at it. Just seems like more of the same in a diminished capacity.

Call it what you will. This is how I reacted.

There are six different Objective based scenarios, and six different deployment types, all with their own handy reference card in the Core Set. More being released with the expansions.

You could easily play Runewars with more than two people. The initiative system lends itself well to it.

You're first impression is incredibly wrong and misguided. But you do you

Well that's all fine and well. I am just sharing my reaction based on what I saw.

Some people are upset that I commented on the aesthetic, but I don't play warhammer with 3d printed poop emojis for a reason. Maybe if they release a faction that grabs me, i'll play it. But the collecting side of any game is important to me, too.

**Kenshinzo 7**

I'm in NC and so far not much excitement, except from me! I purchased 2 core sets and have them 75% assembled. I mostly play AOS and it won't replace that but I really like this game. I like that the miniature's are rather simple and I like the trays and if it tanks I can still use the figs for AOS or Dragon Rampant but I hope it's successful.

**Stormonu**

Two, possibly three boxes have been bought by our group. I'm still waiting to play a game at this point, and am in wait mode for the elf army.

The two who have played it so far have been really hyping it up, but they were also stoked to try WHFB & AoS, so i'm being very cautious about investing in the game.

Oddly enough, I just bought a Seraphon SC box tonight - with the intent to use it as replacement models for a human army. (I just loved the look of the models and couldn't resist the idea of having a bunch of lizardmen riding dinosaurs. Don't expect I'll ever actually use them AoS).

**odinsgrandson**

I have a friend who got the starter box- he has been super excited about the game for a while.

He told me that the game from the starter is really boring, but that's something that might be fixed as the game expands, so he'll wait and see.

Basically, he was a day one must buy it kind of a guy, and the starter box has turned him into a fence sitter.

By the way- Age of Sigmar hasn't gone super well locally (Warmachine, X-Wing, 40k, Malifaux and Infinity all remain strong).

**Kriswall**

We've had really high interest. I think the store has sold something like 20 core sets. I've played a half dozen full games at this point and they all felt very different. The variable deployment, terrain and mission cards really give a ton of variety to the game. In comparison, Age of Sigmar's Matched Play always felt like a game of 'run at each other and fight'. Runewars has a far more strategic feel where there isn't necessarily a correct choice and you really need to guess what your opponent is going to do.

**Davor**

No interest in my area that I know of. There is a copy of Star Wars Armada and X-wing and those haven't been touched either. I guess my FLGS is Magic and 40K/AoS only for now. I haven't seen nothing else played except that.

**totalfailure**

Local store did get them in, but does not seem to be a lot of interest as of yet. I looked the boxes over, and was not terribly impressed so far. Wait and see....the store used to be a heavy FFG stocker, but has cut back quite a bit since the ending of the licensing deal with GW.

**Stormonu**

Our local store did a mini-tournament it seems - there was at least three (rounds of?) games.

I just received a base copy of the game as a birthday present. I don't think anyone realizes yet that I'm going to replace my human models with sauruses though.