I have now played three games and I think this game feels fun and fresh. I played one core vs core game and two 120p games as waiqar.
Firstly some positive thoughts:
-Scale seems just fine to me. The models look great and every unit feels like they have an important impact in very match.
-The waiqar sculps looks really good when you compare them to the artwork they were based on. On that note the artwork for the waiqar unit cards are great. The models also have very tiny limbs and not oversized heads which sometimes happens with skeleton minis.
-Initiative passed each round and 8 rounds instead of Star Wars armada's 6 is a great improvement. it's more balanced IMO and you have time for a flanking manouver or fixing a small deployment mistake. My games have gone quite fast as well and I think 200p games will take about the same as an Armada game when we have learned the rules by heart.
-The system with ranks for re-rolls and threat is a great system. You roll few dice and it's very clear to see how much dmg and symbols you got. Same with the runes, it works very fine and removes unnecessary dice rolling. (It's fun to roll 60 d6 sometimes ofc).
- Having heroes join smaller units is nothing new but support lancers and front line golems are very cool and I think we will see alot more mixed units. (reminds me of old school lizardmen with skink screens for kroxigors). This is both fun and gives more possible unit configurations.
Some negative:
(It's hard to be negative at this point)
The system with trays and squaring up units and collision is a bit clumsy and the rules aren't super clear on everything. The examples usually refer to one units and possible one obstacle. In my second game we had a unit charging one already enganged unit that both stands between 2 obstacles and it was hard to get and answer in the rulebook. I foresee some very weird and hard judge rulings in the game's first year until we get an FAQ.
I like that lore comes after gameplay but some things feel a little scaled back. The waiqar units have steadfast doubt but that's it. Balanced yes but I think undead and deamons should have big resistance to morale checks. On the other hand they could be incapable to receive inspiration tokens. That way they can't get morale boost but are also less affected by morale. I do love lore rules but I understand if balance needs to come first. I also feel like the terrain is a bit wierd. We have rules like cover X and taxing X but the only thing that have an X values over 1 is the spikes. This might be fixed with future terrain pecies ofc. Also you are allowed to make custom terrain rules for homemade terrain in causal game so not a big problem.
I'm not sold on the morale deck. It's better than just a morale check with dice but it's a bit random. Several times have I given or recieved morale checks of 2 and gotten cards that can't be played or have no effect on the targeted unit. Doing a morale of 3 and only drawing 1 cost cards is also very annoying. It feels a little like the first crit deck in X-wing. Some cards do nothing but some can be crazy, like in my second game where my Ardus got discarded before he haven't gotten to swing once. This also makes panic tokens a very random bane. Sometimes they allow a powerful betrayal card to be player and sometimes it does nothing. It's not bad, it's good but not great and all future morale attacks and rules must be balanced to this deck designed for the core set which CAN become a problem.
Final thoughts:
I have played alot of minature games now and runewars feel very fresh and have potentional. More important the models looks great and it's fun straight out of the box. With more factions on the way and possibly bigger units, campaigns and terrain rules this game have alot of place to expand. Some rules are a bit clumsy and I don't get why they don't have some more complicated examples in the rule book though. Looking forward for an FAQ or article clearing up the rules when multiple units/terrain are involved.
Lastly I have some questions about the march/collision rules if anyone have some time.
When my unit reveals a march 3, Do I push the unit forward with the template and stop if it comes in contact with terrain or units on the way or is it just the final position?
The rules sais that if an unit touches an obstacle that it wasn't touching at the start of the movement it has collided. So is this example correct:
-Unit A peforms a 2 straight march into a terrain piece it can't occupy and collides. Then the next turn it peforms a 2 march again, does it then walk trough the terrain piece with no problems even if the back rank would still touch it?
An as extra to the example above what if the units collide with and enemy at the end of their movement and collide but the back rank is touching the terrain piece. Does it square up or does it collide with the terrain again or something else?
-When a unit charge a unit inside a terrain piece it collides with the terrain piece, but does it square up in any way and can it peform a shift move later to slide left or right if it still touches the terrain?
Thanks for you time
