The forums here don't get nearly as much love as they deserve. Having just played a couple more games of Rune Age last night, I just wanted to repeat what I've often said: I love this game! It's not too complex. It's not too easy. Most importantly, I always have fun when I play it. It is by far the most-played game in my home.

I bought the core game and expansion a year ago, fearing they might be out of print soon… but I'm ashamed to say that I still haven't played it (or even taken the shrink-wrap off the boxes!). I blame Runebound and The Lord of the Rings LCG, because I got into those games just before buying Rune Age (in fact, it's my appreciation for Runebound that led me to buy Rune Age)… and Lord of the Rings in particular has become an obsession for me.

Nice to see that there are still people out there that are playing and enjoying Rune Age.

I hope you enjoy it when you do open it! It's a great little gem.

Actually, I had LotR LCG first. I was up to the Khazad-Dum deluxe expansion, but the game got too hard for me and the deck-building became a pain. Then I stumbled onto Rune Age and it pretty much replaced LotR for me. Sure, there aren't as many scenarios, but I can play this game to DEATH!

One of the major selling points for me is that it has a fixed setup for each scenario. This makes it very easy to set up, grab a faction, and go. And each faction plays so differently that it gives you different challenges.

Don't get me wrong, LotR was a fun game, and it's definitely higher-up in strategy and complexity, but the simplicity of Rune Age is what keeps me coming back to it.

Good to see you're still flying the flag, Budgernaut! It's one of my all-time favourites, as well, though unfortunately hasn't seen enough table time of late. I actually thought about a game this afternoon, though ended up playing Elder Sign. Might make Rune Age a game for tomorrow, though...

Funny you should mention LotR LCG - I felt the same around Khazad-dum also, but the subsequent Gondor cycle really helped me to get back into it. I still think of it as my all-time favourite card game, but while I've been snapping up the expansions, it hasn't seen the table for months now. I don't think anything will approach the good feelings I have towards the Mirkwood cycle, sadly!

Anyhow. Here's hoping Rune Age will see some love soon with a new expansion bringing lots of new options to an already awesome game!

I realize we're off topic here talking about LotR LCG, but… I just finished playing Kazad-Dum and the Dwarrowdelf cycle (and Battle of Lake-Town POD), and I must say… I think I much prefer those scenarios/expansions (and Massing at Osgiliath) to Mirkwood… but to each his own! At this point, I would say that the LotR LCG is my all-time favourite game, bar none. We'll see if those feelings hold after I play The Hobbit and HoN/Against the Shadow, which seem to have divided the community much more.

I do look forward to eventually giving Rune Age a shot.

I will jump on the train too This game is awesome, worked wonders for my fellow players. I wouldn't dare to say it is the best experience ever or that it is played that much lately, however when there are 3 or more people it is the blast! I am also a fan of Citadels, yet I think it works best with 2 or 3 people, but it falls in the category '15 minutes game' and is far from the punch that this one packs. I also bought LotR LCG a while ago and it is the thing for my girlfriend, as the world, lore and co-op aspect of the game are spot-on perfect. I am also fan of Netrunner, another 2-player game that is absolutely astonishing. Yet when we gather with friends to play, there is no better choice than Rune Age for me - simple, yet tricky, quite quick and reminiscent of fantasy classics like Warcraft and the like... The list of good games I have played can go on - Runewars, the new Alchemists, Twilight Empirium, Mice & Mystics... but all of them are quite demanding of time, and it is not easy to squeeze into everybody's schedule a 4-hour board campaign and this is where Rune Age shines like a diamond. Gather, setup, and mash - all in under hour. If there is a bit more time, a second game can be thrown, even a third if everything is right

With all of the above said it is good to mention that I still tend to believe that the balance of the game is off, and that sometimes luck cripples you too much that it feels unfair. I have been working on some small tweaks over some of the units and rules of the game so as to give it a more controlled and tactical feeling on top of the deck building. Nevertheless, amazing game!

Just a little over a year since I last posted in this thread... but after nearly two years of having Rune Age in my collection but not having opened it, I finally started playing it solo this past week. Having fun so far, and yes, I see how this game is a viable alternative to my longtime favourite Lord of the Rings LCG when you have more limited time, don't feel like spending time constructing a deck for a specific scenario, and just want to get a few quick games in (the art and theme are also nice).

I decided that I should try to beat Resurgence of the Dragonlords with each faction before moving on to other scenarios (incl. Oath and Anvil, which I also bought way back when). Took me 4 tries to beat it with the Latari elves, only two tries with Uthuk Y'llan... next up, the Daqan Lords.

This game is still one of the best games I own.

The game still rocks, even if it hits the table too rarely lately

After some plays with friends I do wish however that the combat system had something more to it. More than an year and half went since I said I was working on improvements and yet I have nothing final, even though I managed to make an alpha design of so much content it will make a standalone unofficial expansion! In the mix there are heroes, fate (i.e. combat) cards, new player phase rules and simple gameplay modifications aimed at increasing the tactical part of the game while preserving the strategic aspect of deckbuilding.

The above is just to say that a great game deserves great effort.

Just a little over a year since I last posted in this thread... but after nearly two years of having Rune Age in my collection but not having opened it, I finally started playing it solo this past week. Having fun so far, and yes, I see how this game is a viable alternative to my longtime favourite Lord of the Rings LCG when you have more limited time, don't feel like spending time constructing a deck for a specific scenario, and just want to get a few quick games in (the art and theme are also nice).

I decided that I should try to beat Resurgence of the Dragonlords with each faction before moving on to other scenarios (incl. Oath and Anvil, which I also bought way back when). Took me 4 tries to beat it with the Latari elves, only two tries with Uthuk Y'llan... next up, the Daqan Lords.

Aweseome! I'm glad you're enjoying it! I mostly play the two cooperative modes because my wife doesn't like us to fight against each other.

Last Saturday some neighbor kids came over, so my wife and I played a game of Rune Age while the kids played. We were so close to winning! But Mind Riders + Natural Disasters finished us off. I'm glad the game is still a challenge after all these years.

Beat Rise of the Dragonlords solo on first attempt with the Daqan Lords and then the Undying.

On to The Cataclysm, but especially looking forward to eventually playing with the Oath and Anvil expansion. While I am enjoying the game, I'm also already getting the sense that things could get stale/redundant pretty quickly playing solo with the core set only... or maybe that's just the Dragonlords scenario?

Yes, I think it gets stale for a lot of people. But Oath and Anvil does add some tougher cards that keep the challenge going. Still, the Cataclysm is always harder than Dragonlords. But if you get a chance to play the cooperative variant of Dragonlords, you'll see that it can be a challenge too. But I still feel that Cataclysm is harder than that one. The expansion added Natural Disasters which can be a brutal card for the Cataclysm. Basically, people found that they could use enemies to thin their decks in The Cataclysm by having the attrition die wipe out unwanted units, so the designers added a card that deals damage every time one of your units dies. I'm primarily an Uthuk player, so that card always ruins my day. I practically dance if my wife can take it out with her Digging Machines early on.

Solo Cataclysm as the elves is just brutal - no classic approach worked no matter how I tried.

However, I managed to beat it twice after accepting that the game must be broken. I will let you try it for yourselves without spoiling it, I will just give a hint - get those Pillages asap and then start using them until... well, you have pillaged your deck to almost nothingness.

Has any of you managed to beat it by using a more traditional approach?

Solo Cataclysm as the elves is just brutal - no classic approach worked no matter how I tried.

However, I managed to beat it twice after accepting that the game must be broken. I will let you try it for yourselves without spoiling it, I will just give a hint - get those Pillages asap and then start using them until... well, you have pillaged your deck to almost nothingness.

Has any of you managed to beat it by using a more traditional approach?

What do you mean by "a more traditional approach?" To me, winning the Cataclysm is always about getting an early Pillage or two and using them to thin the deck.

Are you only using the base game? With the expansion, I feel that Leonx Riders are pretty important. Otherwise, you're stuck using Darnati Warriors that do you nothing, other than provide 3 strength. I've tried several times to build up a force of Storm Sorceresses and use their influence to get some early 3-gold or Demon, but that strategy usually doesn't work out for me. I find it's better to go with more strength and try to get those cities.

On 4.05.2016 г. at 7:49 PM, Budgernaut said:

What do you mean by "a more traditional approach?" To me, winning the Cataclysm is always about getting an early Pillage or two and using them to thin the deck.

Are you only using the base game? With the expansion, I feel that Leonx Riders are pretty important. Otherwise, you're stuck using Darnati Warriors that do you nothing, other than provide 3 strength. I've tried several times to build up a force of Storm Sorceresses and use their influence to get some early 3-gold or Demon, but that strategy usually doesn't work out for me. I find it's better to go with more strength and try to get those cities.

Strangely enough, the forum never notified me that there was a message here, so I am answering an year late. Sorry for that.

The traditional approach for me is to get a few cities, get a bit of gold, get some stronger units and destroy all of the 1-gold cards in my deck. This has never worked for me in the Cataclysm as a solo elf. They just start really slow and don't have anything to help them early on to accelerate. Never won a single solo Cataclysm like that. Not once. That is why I asked if someone managed to pull it off this way.

It has been an year now so I don't remember it perfectly, but what worked for me and led me to the first solo elf victory was a second turn double pillage and nothing else. I manage to kill off one of the archers to attrition die, leaving me with 5 cards in hand and 4 cards in deck. The second turn I destroy two cards, and the next turn I keep on playing Pillage until my deck is destroyed and I have only 1 or 2 cards in hand. Don't remember exactly what those cards were, but I think the second turn I buy 1 Sorceresses, then I buy a second on the next turn, destroy everything and use them to get a 3 gold card. Then I play the Pillage again, destroy the other Pillage (as I have only 2 Pillages and a 3-gold in my deck at that point) and draw the 3-gold again, which I used to buy another Sorc and an Archer. Next turn I play that 3-gold again for another sorc, draw it with the Pillage, destroying the archer, and use the double sorc and the Stronghold to buy another 3-gold. From there I get the second Pillage again and use the 6-gold I draw every turn to buy a Pegasus and an Archer every turn, so I can constantly play the Pegasus and destroy the archer. The trick is to never be afraid to destroy even a Pegasus with the Pillage as long as you keep drawing your gold. You should be able to bring your deck to 3 Pegasus, two 3-gold cards and one or two Pillages by turn 4, also using those Pegasi to get all the Strongholds and at least one city.

All this time I just ignore the event deck, as even the Holy War doesn't really stop this 2-3 card deck strategy. Once you have the 3 Pegasus on turn 4, with double 3-gold, you are pretty much set to get your Mythic and some canon fodder against the attrition. I have had turns where I have played 4 or 5 Pillages, constantly cycling them until everything else is gone. From turn 5 onward, it is a bit of a catch-up race to remove what you have ignored the previous rounds, but with the constant draw from the Pegasi you should have no problems beating up to 2 event cards per turn. When the Plague of Vermin comes out, do not hesitate to destroy your expensive cards and repeat the above cycle to get everything back. Same with the Rages and Riots, just blow those cities and get them back next turn. Tried that 4 times, failed only once due to really bad luck with the draw.

It was a weird idea and feeling to destroy all of your cards and have no units and only 3 cards in the deck total, but it proved exactly what the elves needed for the early game and a proof that their cheap units are absolutely situational and mediocre at best. Which is a shame as they are so cool

EDIT: Yes, I have the expansion and those Leonx are good, but they never managed to win me a game the traditional way. However, they went into my deck once I was set with the Pegasi so I had a constant stream of card draw.

@Valdemart Interesting. That sounds similar to how I win with Orcs, but I've never done that with elves.

Great post! You reminded me that I have this awesome game in my collection. Planning to play one solo scenario today!