From what I've seen/read about Runewars, the hero game and the army game happen on the board at the same time but they don't really interact with each other much. It sounds to me like you are playing two seperate games simulataneously.

I really like Runebound and the setting. I also enjoy other conqueor the world type games, but I'm on the fence about buying this game because of the strange sounding double game happening.

In the opinion of players who have played the game, does the system mesh together well or is it a gimmick?

Some of the heroes can kill army units.

And the main benefit from any hero is to gain Dragon runes, which armies must subsequently defend from conquest.

Armies work much better if the "fate deck" is currently biased in their favour. One tactic with heroes is to check the fate-deck discards, and use your heroes to force a reshuffle if most of the cards your army wants to play are currently discarded.

Also, some tactics cards can by played in areas where you have a hero.

So the two games are about as connected as air & land forces during WW-II. With heroes as the airforce.

The heroes can't actually stop an army, but they can certainly make it's advance easier or harder.

The goal of the game is to collect Dragon Runes, not conquer territory or defeat armies. Heroes collect Dragon Runes at least as well as armies. You need both heroes and armies to collect 6 runes before the 6th Winter is over. I like the army/air force analogy.

TK

I can understand where the "2 games 1 board" mentality comes from, but I don't think it really applies. The "hero game" is only one phase (out of about 12) in the larger game year. When the Quest Phase comes up, you choose one of three potential actions for each of your heroes and then you resolve it. Then you return to the army game you've been spending 90% of your time on. If that qualifies as two separate games on the same board, then at least it should be recognized that one of the two games is significantly smaller than the other.

The other point, which has already been made, is that the victory condition for the game is collecting dragon runes. The heroes collect dragon runes by questing, the armies collect them by conquering territory where runes are known (or suspected) to exist. Both are tools being used by the player to accomplish the same goal. If anything I think the presence of heroes makes the game better, because it gives you more than one path to success. If you want to send out your armies to beat up everything and take runes, you can. If you want to send heroes to go find them and bring them home (possibly while your army waves around big guns and keeps the opponent distracted) then you can do that too.

Throwing a lot of plastic around the board can certainly be fun, but the thing that really draws me to games like this (and Twilight Imperium) is the variety of options a player has to choose how he wants to play.

Personally Im not sure why people keep saying that the hero mechanic feels tacked on, and separate from the rest. I completely disagree.

I think people had the mistaken expectation that the heroes would be leading armies, which they dont. There is no reason to think that they should (the same heros in decent dont lead armies, they just explore dungeons, quest, and get treasure).

They are somewhat separate in that you could do very badly with the heroes and still do well with your armies (and vice versa). But you will have a hard time winning with just your heroes or just your armies, though it is possible.

I think you should think of it more as Sam and Frodo trying to get to mount doom type of heroes, and less Aragorn leading armies type of heroes.

If you send your heroes deep into enemy territory, they are in greater danger, but they can survive.

Once a Hero uses a Flute of Possession to take control of a good Neutral army, or a Rune of Summoning to teleport an army behind enemy lines, you may find that Heroes interact more with the game than you think. Sure, these two relics won't come up every game, but there are several that interact with the game, and even those that don't, bringing the shards into the equation makes them worth it.

I think a lot of people were expecting "Twilight Imperium-Fantasy" + "Runebound" all rolled into one - a full, fleshed-out quest game, meshed with an army game. This isn't that type of game - it's an army game with a minor questing element. I think it was done well. Certainly heads and tails better than Battlemist did it.

Every time I play the game I'm glad that heroes don't participate in combat.