Hey there. I play the elves in Runewars. And I have some questions about influence tokens.

1) Is it true that influence tokens have no effect in battles?

2) I wonder if influence tokens are equal to tactic cards. Because i look to have a lot of influence tokens but i dont have that many cards. I feel like the cards are stronger in many ways.

3) What should i do to turn my influence tokens into a advantage?

Generally speaking i think the figueres of the elves are not that bad in battle but still not up to the top. So i need some though how to deal the best way with my influence tokens.

Thank you guys.

Hello MarcelloKing,

Actually Influence token are one of the most powerful assets in this game!!!!

You need them for many different things. They are also one of the reasons the elves have a huge headstart into the game because of their superiority in Influence. (for example ties of influence bidding goes to the player with the highest base Influence.... hence the elves player).... I suggest you read more into the rules a bit and discover all the wonderful possibility Influence Tokens give you

Tactics cards can be pretty powerful, true, but a lot of them can be hit and miss, and many are pretty situational.

Influence is definitely an important aspect for a few reasons. Here's how to best utilize it:

- Buying new heroes. I often only spend 1 at a time to do this, but if I really want to try for a hero with stats I'm lacking, I may spend more.

- Diplomacy. Early on, using Diplomacy at the right time can give you some pretty nice neutral units. The Neutrals are often easy to defeat when they are alone, but as part of your army, protected by your other units, they can be very nasty.

- Title Cards. Using the Acquire Power card, you can buy (and steal) the Title Cards. These can often give the player owning them a very significant advantage in various aspects of the game.

- Bids. Summer and Winter have a lot of bids, and often winning the bid can either give the player a big advantage, or give the losers a disadvantage. Keeping up with other players on influence is important to winning those. Most important is Winter, as many of the season cards in Winter put new Dragon Runes on the board, and whoever wins will typically be the one to choose where they go - often deep in their own territory!

There are other occasional uses for them as well (like Portal tokens). Don't discount the importance of influence. Tactic Cards are good, but if you are at 0 influence and others are not, you are basically completely out of contention for all bids, and that will often work to your detriment in the long run!

Ok sounds good. Thank you