I've been a big fan of FFG's Runebound titles (most notably Battlelore) but was hesitant about Runewars the Miniatures Game since X-Wing and Armada fell flat with the person I usually game with. But I couldn't resist the hype and had the chance to grab an Adepticon copy. We played our first game this weekend and liked it better than the Star Wars miniature games. We just did the learning game and it wound up being a tie although I might have lost if I didn't make good use of Kari's +1 Defense modifier the last two turns.
What we liked:
- It played pretty quickly. The first few turns went slowly as we were trying to predict where the other player was going to move but once contact was made things went fast even though there was more things to do (dice rolling, removing trays, etc.)
- It definitely made us want more. We were pleased to see that besides the learning scenario (no terrain, objectives or upgrades) there were rules for the smaller 100 point skirmish toward the back of the rules reference that does allow for those things... but the contents of one core set gives you very little to work with. Two core sets might still come up a little short for a standard 200 point game but they'd definitely open up a lot of options for a 100 point skirmish.
- We're not "miniatures game" devotees at all but we liked the quality of the miniatures and this morning I already started priming them for paint.
What we didn't like:
- The miniatures don't sit very well in the trays. There's a small hole in the bottom of each miniature that slides over a plastic post in each tray slot. Well... they don't really "slide" onto the posts. The hole is barely larger than the post and the miniatures, being a somewhat soft plastic, really grab/adhere to the post and you have to push down to make them fit. Very rarely does a miniature rest flush with the base and it can look a little sloppy. It's certainly not as easy as this picture seems to make it:
The bases for the two heroes are a small rise for them to stand on and are made of the same plastic (not the rigid plastic of the trays) so you have both surfaces which tend to "grip" and make even inserting the heroes difficult. I cut away some of their base and they insert better now but it's a very tight fit. Furthermore, the large bases for the heroes and the Rune Golem/Carrion Lancer need to fit to a post in the center of their trays but the bottom of their bases tend to bend/flex a little and it's been difficult to get the post to line up with the hole in the base.
We generally just sort of rested the miniatures in each slot, slightly letting the hole grab the post. We didn't have any problems with them coming out or being too loose, but it wasn't "snap in!" easy. Cutting out a portion of the posts, or possibly cutting them out completely and letting the edges of the base grip the tray might be an easy fix.
I truly appreciate what others have done by magnetizing their bases to the trays and I'm sure that's a very elegant solution... but that's a further investment and time that not everyone will want or be able to do.
- There's a good hour+ of assembly to be done with the core set. Some of it is easy and you could probably do without any glue (Oathsworn Cavalry, Carrion Lancer) but there are a lot of spindly arms that have to be glued and aren't always easy to line up. Some of the Reanimate shield arms, and the Reanimate Archers whose arms and bow are all one piece you have to "wrap" around the body and fit into two small slots in particular were kind of difficult.
To miniatures game veterans I'm sure this isn't a big deal at all, but I imagine those new to the hobby might be put off when they open their box and see what's involved before you're able to get even unpainted pieces to the table to try it out.
But overall we're very happy and don't want to sound too negative... but most of the posts so far have, understandably, been from experienced miniature gamers who take this stuff in stride.
Edited by Daverman