Having spent most of the last two days with nothing better to do than recover from an injury and mess around with my board games, I have been getting pretty familiar with Runeboud 3rd edition, a game that I have waited years to get. It seemed odd to me that the only game that wasn't available for the Runebound setting was....Runebound. So lets dig in and take a look, shall we?
Presentation/component quality/the overall look
: Well, it's Fantasy Flight so no one should be surprised that the game is pretty. Over the years they've mastered the art of...art. The box cover itself is a nice sweeping landscape shot, similar to Rune Age. The artwork as a whole feels consistent and looks to me like it was all one artist (I know it wasnt a single artist, but they all worked hard to make it feel that way) The pieces all look great, with layouts that, to me, work well with the system. There is not a lot to memorize or cross reference or track separately. Keeping the stats this way gives more room for the wonderful artwork and enhances the overall quality. I think it's worth mentioning that there isn't a whole lot of cheesecake on display, which I think is a plus. Closest I guess would be the Fey Sorceress, but she's still seconds away from killing me...No big issues with the plastic figures. Mold lines are minimal with good details. Some minor bending that would be easily fixed. Anyone planning on painting them up shouldnt face too much prep time. Seriously though, why does Laurel have a bow in one hand and a dagger in the other? I never understood when people do that on a model, it looks silly to me. The game map itself is gorgeous, I love the little towns and strongholds and whatnot being named and unique. Nothing is just copy/paste to save time. The built in turn tracker blends in well with the art.
Any complaints? Oh yes. The dice. I'm sorry but having to put stickers on the dice is just silly to me. It's nice that they use artwork lifted right from the board for consistency, I get it...but having stickers that feel more like post-it notes makes me lack confidence in their long term durability. I'd much rather have gotten dice with an embedded symbol if it would feel more durable in the long run. While I have no proof that they will degrade, it was an instant concern I had while assembling them. I'm expecting dice packs to be released in the near future because playing Pass The Dice will get annoying.
Rules Clarity
: So how are the rules, learning wise? Well, FFG has recently moved into a two book format for a lot of games. a "Learn to Play" guide and a "Rules Reference guide". It's a format I didn't really like so much at first but an growing to accept the more I see it. By now it's the norm I guess. Reading the rules is, for the record, a breeze for 95% of the game. The Learn to Play guide might be the best one I've seen so far, especially after the (imo) terrible job that was Armada's LtP. The Setup section covers what to do very well, and after a single read I didn't feel any lingering questions up until the Questing portion. I feel like Questing could have been written more clearly, as it's possible to read Exploring as needing to chose the desired outcome before rolling or after, and doesn't do a good job clarifying if you *have* to complete the quest. The Example area does help, but I'm not a fan of needing the example to answer something that should be spelled out in a rules set. The Rules Reference guide is a nice tool for backing up the LtP. There are no real "surprises" with it. One thing I often watch out for here is the "Teaching it wrong" issue, where to get a simple concept across the instructions will leave out important bits. That doesnt happen so much here. I like that.
Game Mechanics
: OK, here's one of the big ones to talk about. A lot has already be said on the changes by other folks but here's my take. Player turns are a fairly open, driven by their choice of how to spend their actions. True, they will often be limited in choice by where they are, but they still have options available to them. This contrasts with 2nd edition which has a stricter pattern players had to follow. Ultimately, there isn't a whole lot different in what you actually do, just what the game actually calls it. In the end, you're still a few spaces away from your starting point and picked a fight with a Beastman. The action point system does allow you the opportunity to move farther this edtion if you really need to book it across the map, which is nice.
Encounters has changed quite a bit. Old style had different challenge levels, while 3rd ed has challenge types instead. This lets you play towards your strengths. If you just aren't all that good with the combat system you can still compete in the game and get improvements via social and exploration encounters. But you can still run into combat with those options occasionally. Defeating the encounter means taking the card as a trophy. The gem on the game board is flipped face down and cannot be used until refreshed by the turn tracker. A nice change in the system from older editions, where the gem itself was collected and used for XP. Only some gems were ever refiled, and it was not generally all that helpful, especially if you had locked yourself out of challenge levels with health upgrades.
Events have been altered, and Quests are a new concept. Events are a "Choose A or B" set up, mostly found in the social events. Generally they sum up as gain money or trophies. Quests (from the Exporation encounters) have a lot of variety and may be my favorite new feature. You go to a specified spot on the map, then follow the instructions for how to complete the quest, with multiple options for completion. Rewards vary greatly. Some quests have pretty pointless options that I don't see people ever choosing....like Storm of Magic where I have a reward option of taking 2 damage.....yay?
And finally Combat. Man this sure is different. Players familiar with 2nd ed knew the old system. Everyone had a Ranged, Melee and Magic stat, and combat went through each round defending against the values. Heroes could choose to attack in one of those phases to inflict damage instead. This made specializing in one type reasonable, since you could only attack once. You could also hire allies to take hits for you or attack in other stages of combat. With two allies it would be possible to be attacking in all three phases. It was a nice system that worked well in 2nd ed....and it's gone. The combat mechanics in 3rd ed are brand spanking new. Each character starts with three discs unique to then. Each disc is double sided, with different symbol options on each side. There is a generic set of tokens that all monsters use. These tokens all get flipped, then spent in a back and forth manor between the hero and another player controlling the monster. Let me be clear about this.........I friggin love this. 2nd ed had a great combat system, but it lacked player interaction unless it was PvP combat. You resolved the fight entirely in a bubble, with only dice rolling mattering. There was minimal choices to be made. Now in 3rd, every single combat is a PvP experience filled with choices. Your own play style can show through in how you control a monster. There isn't a "wrong" way to do it, just what you feel is most effective. Now a player can actively hinder another hero by doing their best in combat without it costing them any of their own turn. It really addresses my personal hangup with 2nd ed, a lack of player interaction. In the second half of the game, the monsters gain an additional token to expand on their damage potential and surge options...but nothing else. I feel like they missed an opportunity to add in a line on monsters that gave them a new ability, more health or some other change between acts. Because of the change i systems, a character doesnt focus as narrowly as they would have in 2nd ed. There are no "Ranged" characters per say, and while you might naturally have good physical damage options, you might find yourself with magic damage equipment and be a mix of the two as a result. This works well, but you're not bound to it. You can always ditch the gear for new stuff.
Lastly, lets talk about the Skill deck. So, Stamina is completely gone. no exhaustion markers in the game. Very strange thing for a Runebound game to not have my little cardboard swishes. Instead we now have a deck of skill cards, which act as out Stat test system, character advancement system and resource management system all in one. Each character has a hand size, and those cards can be discarded to use any Exert ability you have. You can spend trophies to learn a skill in your hand and turn it into a permanent ability. Or if you need to test against one of the three stats in the game, you draw cards from the skill deck equal to your skill value and look for the success icon on some of the cards. Gone are the days of skill types, such as Swimming or Nature. Now it's Body, Mind, and Spirit. While some might feel this is an omission I don't see it as a big deal.
Challenge and Penalty
: So is the game difficult? How hard does it come down on players for failing? Once again let's take a look at previous editions to make some comparisons. 2nd ed. Runebound was pretty brutal. Getting knocked out even once was a major setback for a player, especially from the midgame point on. The loss of all your gold and a pricey item, along with a trip back to town was a bad setback. Since everyone was in a race to the finishline you'd be hard pressed to catch back up, gain good equipment again, and get back out there.Whats the penalty in 3rd ed? You fall down. You need to spend actions to heal, but as long as you have a point of health you can get back up and be on your way. No loss of gear or gold. To be honest it's a little on the light side, but it lets players push their luck if they want to. I could go for them being a little tougher, maybe discarding your hand or a trophy. So what does it all lead up to? Fighting the Big Bad of the scenario of course. One way or another you'll be fighting the Boss and trying to take him out. Here is where the real difficulty comes in. Lose a fight to the game boss and you're out. Perma-death. Done, Son! If you get cocky or desperate and make a go at it too soon, without the resources needed you can get eliminated entirely in one fell swoop. It's very "All or Nothing".
So....Is it Good?
: Heck yes. I've waited years to be able to get my hands on a copy of Runebound (it went OoP before I got my own copy, so I only played my friends) and this edition addresses the major issue I had with the game, lack of player interaction. I enjoy the new combat system because it goes a long way towards fixing my issue of player combat. Everything else I consider minor tweeks. Nothing major enough to create a lasting impact in me. I liked the old combat system, I liked having Exhaustion, I liked having Ally cards....but they're icing on a cake and I don't mind switching flavors. It's still cake!
Solo play is an issue I feel I should bring up. 2nd ed was easy to play as a solo game if you can't get a group together but still wanted to experience Runebound. Just set up and go really. I've seen the point made that you can do it with 3rd edition but to me, that's a lie...at least for now. The only way I see solo play for 3rd ed as possible is with a third party app to decide for the monsters. I'm sure one will pop up, hopefully it will be bug free and work well....but something will still be lost without face to face interaction and the ability to learn your opponent and play the bluff game with the tokens. Given that the solo market for board games, especially ones with price tags over $50, is an important aspect to consider I think it was a sacrifice they made willingly here. As for why it's constrained down to 4 players instead of 6, my guess is only because the encounter decks would run out entirely and people would just be twiddling their thumbs.
I can see how long term players might not like this edition. If they didn't feel the same about player interaction that I did then they likely won't enjoy the change to combat as much as I do. Its a fair response for an overhauled mechanic. I take no issues with those who prefer to stick to the older edition, and of course they can still play the copy they have with no regards to this edition at all. For me though, this is the game that shows FFG has learned how to improve games as they grow. This is a game that I'm happy to add to my collection, and look forward to expansions to see what else they add. If you've never played 2nd ed Runebound, or agreed with my issues about 2nd ed I feel you'll like 3rd edition as much as I do.
Sorry about any spelling/grammar issues here, i'm on some painkillers ATM.
Good luck, good gaming and good day.
-Jared.