We probably don't need another thread like this, but I'm making one anyway!

I got to play my first game of Runewars today with a demo copy from a local store. It was a blast. As is typical of a first game, rules were missed, triggers were forgotten, but fun was had, nonetheless. We decided to play a full skirmish game instead of the starter scenario. I got to take 1 point of upgrades (woohoo!), and my opponent, fielding the undead, got 4 points of upgrades. We had the flanking objective out and two Rocky Outcrops as terrain (which, in hindsight, really should have been one Rocky Outcrop and one Spikes).

The whole game was quite the charade, with each of us making horrible action choices turn after turn. Kari never even got into Melee combat. She was behind some Oathsworn Cavalry who were engaged with some Reanimates, and no turn or wheel could clear the Reanimates as she moved. (I found this out the hard way by wasting two turns of movement.)

It feels like the Daqan Lords are really strong, straight out of the box. I forgot to set a charge when my cavalry ran into the Reanimates, my Spearmen got their march canceled by getting charged first, Kari never got into melee, my Rune Golem only got one attack in, and I forgot the flanking bonus on my cavalry, but despite all of that, I still won. My opponent lamented that with my high defense values, there was no way for his archers to deal damage to my units. After the Spearmen went down, the Oathsworn Cavalry kept doing the initiative-3 melee attack and taking the +1 defense modifier, so by time the Reanimate Archers activated at 5, my units all had 3 or 4 defense.

I was really pleased with how the game played, though. Playing a skirmish game at 100 points wasn't nearly as boring as I was led to think it was, which makes me that much more excited to try the game at 200 points.

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Shifting gears a bit, I want to talk about the hidden action choice in this game. When I got to the store, my opponent was in the middle of a Shadow War Armageddon game with another player. I watched the game and thought it was alright, but not terribly exciting. I thought the idea of pinning units down with fire was a neat one, and it was fun to watch the units crawl, but it just didn't feel tactical enough. At the end of the game, my opponent said something along the lines of being excited to try Runewars after that game since it has a lighter, more streamlined rule set. But as soon as he started activating units, he said he could feel the tension of trying to predict what I would do and not knowing how the round would go. It seems that while the rules are not as "crunchy," Runewars is certainly not an "easy" game to play. I mean, it can take a lot of energy out of you to predict your opponent and try to choose the best moves. It's mentally taxing because of the tactics and strategy, not because you are referencing a codex of unit-specific rules.

[Now I go on a tangent about my game preferences without any particular reference to Runewars.]

Today's game made me think about my gaming preferences and I learned that hidden-choice mechanics lead to some of my favorite games. As an example, I love BattleLore: Second Edition, but I get very frustrated playing BattleLore: Command. Part of that is because in BattleLore: Command, you can track your opponent's moves and figure out which movements they have left. Also, there are enough choices in movement that the game almost boils down to the old I-go-you-go games.

Star Wars: The Card Game, is slightly different, but I loved the edge battles in that game for similar reasons. Sure, all card games have hidden tricks as opponents play instants and events, but there was something special about the bluffing aspect of the edge battles that really engaged me more than other card games.

While the Flight System of X-Wing was largely hailed for its use of templates, in my humble opinion (and I agree with you) it was hidden movement that really made the game fun to play and created most of the longevity of the game. It wasn't as true in Armada, things are quite a bit more predictable there, yet I still found that I liked it better then X-Wing largely because it had its own form of tension with turn orders and of course movement wasn't revealed or even chosen until a ship acted.

With Runewars however I agree that the hidden actions is really the key to both the strategy/tactics but also the fun of the game. Its fairly common I think for the Undead to lose "first try" type games, they are pretty specialized functioning largely on their synergies. In a straight up "brawl" they really have almost zero chance against the human army.

I think after a couple of games however you get the jist of the movement and flow of the army and quickly discover how absolutely devastating archers actually are in combination with other units like Lancers and Ardus, but also while supporting units like Reanimates. The human force can in a lot of ways just be thrown at the enemy and unless the defending player knows what he is doing, they will usually come out on top.

I think the skirmish game feels boring not because it is only 100 points, but because unless you are working with multiple core sets, your list is essentially chosen for you every game.

My first real game (against someone not me) we had a moment where I flew my Cavalry down the table to her archers and expecting next turn the arrows I rallied to defend and my opponent instead of shooting Reformed to prevent the flank! Then I charged but was out by a bit and she used a melee attack!

It was hilarious and fun!

@Budgernaut : we always need another first battle thread! I remember this guy posting his first battle reports and first impressions about Warhammer somewhere in the middle of 7th edition and it was a fun and great perspective.

Your point about tension is right in the money. The best part of any game is that crux where you have to do one thing or the other, but you just don't know, and if that one other thing happens then it will all fall apart, but you do it and it works and it's incredibly satisfying. Hidden actions can create that same tension multiple times per turn. It's very engaging! I totally agree with you.

Oh on points... In my first game we did 100 points and my opponent dropped a rune golem to get upgrades and that was a little disappointing. In game 2, we played 110 points which allowed us to use all the models and still have some great upgrades while still having to make tough list building choices. I totally recommend 110 points for core box games.