So I made a set of acrylic templates and a wooden tray to hold them in. It's similar to the trays I've made for X-wing. If you're not familiar, they both have rare earth magnets in the corners that are incredibly tough. They hold the whole thing together. The base has slots for all of the templates, and range ruler. The lid has special notches cut into the edges to lock in trays of units for transport. Both lid and base have a felt backing attached so you don't scratch your table, etc.

I've got a bunch of different kinds of acrylic, but I started with opaque gray and painted blue marks into it. I'm not sure yet what colors I'll choose to paint my army(ies?) with.

I wanted to throw some photos up and get some feedback from the community.

Here's a sample. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

I live the look and that tray holder is going to be really useful. Have you considered magnetized dowels for storage/display of multiple trays?

I would definitely buy them as is. I'm a big fan of your stuff. I would prefer them without the line, It comes off as messy. I like the range rulers a lot because its plain. I love love love the trays.

I really like these, I agree with @Drakoniss about the line seeming messy but it isn't a deal breaker for me in anyway. What is the dimensions of the tray they are in? I want to know if they will fit in my gem trays which are 7.75" wide

The font and line style make them look quite sloppy imo.

Thanks for all of the feedback. What are people's preferences? Do you like clean simple text, or do you prefer some arrows and art in addition (just maybe different art)?

I like the font for the numbers personally it is clear and a bit stylized. I think the arrows are unnecessary since the way the templates are designed they have a clear direction already. I just think add a bit of simple designs into the blank space so they don't just look mehtastic and they will be good! Don't change anything in the range ruler IMO

Pretty nice. While others have commented on the font, oddly I'd recommend maybe making use of a sort of old english / gothic / medieval / celtic / fantasy font. Give it more of a fantasy feel. I kinda want the tool feel like it came out of the Runewars realm.

Maybe something like: (in no way an endorsement, I don't work for nor am in any way connected to .... )

http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=401

I am terrible at artsy ideas. Maybe viking style glyphs, or just a number at one end and a Faction Symbol.

I did look at a couple of different fonts. I guess one question I have for people is whether they would prefer a faction-specific font or one that works fairly well for all factions.

This is what I was thinking in my mind while choosing that font:

I think it kind of splits the difference between the two existing factions.

I could make them with different options for Gothic, Elvish-y, and Undead-ish though.

How are they coming?

@BojambaMcMamba How are your templates coming along, I've seen a few sets start to pop up in Etsy, but I really would prefer getting one of those trays that holds the templates as I hate the idea of them breaking while in transport or storage...

Can you post a side by side of your range ruler with FFG's it looks a bit off to me.

Sorry for the radio silence, all. I was on vacation this past week. I have a little catch up to do on X-wing orders that came in while I was gone, but I should be back into Runewars template mode after this week. I'm happy with the magnetic tray/lid. I would like to tweak the art on the templates after the feedback I got on the first pass. It sounds like the consensus is that most people would prefer a more simple font and design. It shouldn't take me too long to make up another set with simple text. It's the additional art and font choices that take the most time.

Tonight I'll shoot some photos of my templates next to the FFG ones to show scale.

@BojambaMcMamba how are you coming on your tournament tray and ruler holder. I was hoping they would have been available before GenCon. However, since I was fortunate enough to win the acrylic maneuver templates during the GenCon, I would really like to get your tray system.

19 hours ago, Jahangeer358 said:

@BojambaMcMamba how are you coming on your tournament tray and ruler holder. I was hoping they would have been available before GenCon. However, since I was fortunate enough to win the acrylic maneuver templates during the GenCon, I would really like to get your tray system.

I bet those runes cast really nice... I'm super jealous...

2 hours ago, jek said:

I bet those runes cast really nice... I'm super jealous...

I really want nice acrylic runes, I want them to show what's on the other side as well though. While it is not completely pertinent to the game, it's nice to know for the few upgrades that can change runes.

Would love those trays, also have you ever heard of 2 up you should add a small handle to the rune tokens tray so you can flip it 2 up style.

I too would love the ruler tray, so clean, so much less OCD

32 minutes ago, Curlycross said:

I really want nice acrylic runes, I want them to show what's on the other side as well though. While it is not completely pertinent to the game, it's nice to know for the few upgrades that can change runes.

Cog o Two does an excellent set of plastic runes, that do have the opposite side denoted.

17 hours ago, Darthain said:

I too would love the ruler tray, so clean, so much less OCD

Cog o Two does an excellent set of plastic runes, that do have the opposite side denoted.

They US? I've only found Europe stuff and it costs more to ship than purchase.

Edit: I looked into it. Yeah, I saw this on another forum post before and looked into it, they look great, but they're expensive to ship. I want to purchase 5 sets, and the shipping cost was exorbent even from Europe. They're also more expensive than the other places I've seen with Acrylics, mind you those places aren't prepainted.

59 minutes ago, Curlycross said:

They US? I've only found Europe stuff and it costs more to ship than purchase.

Edit: I looked into it. Yeah, I saw this on another forum post before and looked into it, they look great, but they're expensive to ship. I want to purchase 5 sets, and the shipping cost was exorbent even from Europe. They're also more expensive than the other places I've seen with Acrylics, mind you those places aren't prepainted.

Cog is not pre painted. They are also very good quality. Shipping from the UK, oddly, is cheaper to Canada than most US to Canada shipping.

I have their Armada rulers (their concave squad move rulers are second to none the greatest third part innovation for that game), and have their RW set, rune tokens, turn counter and the +1 armor as I thought they were quaint.

Cost me what, 75 CAD to my door? Not much really.

5 minutes ago, Darthain said:

Cog is not pre painted. They are also very good quality. Shipping from the UK, oddly, is cheaper to Canada than most US to Canada shipping.

I have their Armada rulers (their concave squad move rulers are second to none the greatest third part innovation for that game), and have their RW set, rune tokens, turn counter and the +1 armor as I thought they were quaint.

Cost me what, 75 CAD to my door? Not much really.

I'm in the US though. It's like 9USD for the tokens, and another 8-10USD for shipping and I want to buy 5, and the shipping isn't 8-10 for all 5, it increases a few EU each additional token set.

1 minute ago, Curlycross said:

I'm in the US though. It's like 9USD for the tokens, and another 8-10USD for shipping and I want to buy 5, and the shipping isn't 8-10 for all 5, it increases a few EU each additional token set.

That's unfortunate. Shipping was apparently 5.6GBP for me, so 10$?

So, I've taken some feedback on my runes, and finally come up with a design I'm happy with. You can see the new runes and the old runes here.

I've been making them up over the past few days, and I have a few sets ready to go.

I've been using them for the last couple months, and they are really a lot nicer to use than the cardboard ones. Not only to they feel better to cast, they are way, way easier to identify. That's my biggest problem really with the stock runes. The iconography is way to confusing, especially between the natural and stable runes. See some photos in the above gallery showing runes across the table.

If you really want to stick with the standard FFG copyright art, I guess you've got to go win a tournament (or find a company that doesn't care about such things).

Anyway, I've got some sets on my Etsy page ( https://www.etsy.com/listing/539268188/acrylic-runes-for-use-with-runewars )

Sorry for the single bad photo. I'll get some more photos in action next time I have them out, but I didn't want to post confusing photos including the previous set of art.

As always, I appreciate your feedback.

Also, trays are coming soon. they are big enough that they don't fit in my press that I use for X-wing trays, but I'll have another press coming online, hopefully this week, and then it's "game on" for wood trays, templates, and army trays.