Ok a quick history lesson about myself. I started playing WFB when I was a geeky and awkward teenager. I used to work weekends and school holidays. Every Friday my friend and I would take our hard earned pay packet to GW in Glasgow and spend it on WFB/ GW/ Bloodbowl stuff.

Eventually I discovered girls and alcohol and sex. Suddenly WFB didn't seem so crucial ?

Now 25-30 years down the line I happen to have an equally geeky girlfriend (who knew all the sexy, hot, motorbike girls secretly liked their brothers 40k Orks?! - ok maybe she is unique?)

Anyway we play loads of board games (currently Descent RTL is the fave but we do everything from Pandemic to Dead of Winter to Shadespire to 7th Continent etc etc).

Part of me would really like to try Runewars. So far I've resisted but it's under half price in Amazon....

So the question is...

one core set or two? ?

Two.

That was easy, was it not?

Seriously, the value for money is unbeatable and you will use the minis so don't hesitate

Welcome to this great game. Are you still around Glasgow?

One core is about half an army. But if you buy 1 core and 1 of each expansion then you have enough for a full army with reasonable configuration options. Welcome to the frontlines!

2 cores, but which army?

Go for it! Two cores is definitely the most effective way to dive in and have a full size force. If you can split the boxes with a friend, then perfect!

I've not managed to find many players down my way (Oxfordshire), so at the moment I'm essentially collecting both Waiqar and Daqan and playing random games with whoever fancies trying it out!

Btw - if you're a fan of Descent also, I've found that some of the RW minis make for great Descent stand-ins (although they're a bit larger).

56 minutes ago, Corto said:

Welcome to this great game. Are you still around Glasgow?

Just to the west of Edinburgh now.

My brother-in-law put Runewars Miniatures Game on his wedding registry, so when you mentioned the sale, I checked it out, too. Turns out it's not quite as discounted on Amazon in the US, but still a good deal.

What I did notice is that the recommended age is "13-15." What's up with that? Runewars board game is "13 and up."

Two cores. That way you and your girlfriend can each have your own armies, dice, tokens etc.

23 minutes ago, Parakitor said:

My brother-in-law put Runewars Miniatures Game on his wedding registry, so when you mentioned the sale, I checked it out, too. Turns out it's not quite as discounted on Amazon in the US, but still a good deal.

What I did notice is that the recommended age is "13-15." What's up with that? Runewars board game is "13 and up."

Max age 15? ****. I guess I'd better stop playing.

At 2 cores, you'll both be well on your way to having one army each - the human Daqan Lords and the skeletal hordes of Waiqar the Betrayer. However, there are two things to note.

1) Even with 2 core sets, the undead player will not be able to build a 200-point army. You will have to buy expansions for that. However, you will have quite a bit of diversity for 100-point skirmishes and should be able to have comfortable 150-point matches (which would be played on the standard 6'x3' table).

2) I know the core may be on sale, but consider the demon and elf factions as well. If you love humans and skeletons, then you're set with the core, but if the other armies catch your fancy more, it may be worth getting a single core and then building up the other armies.

Let me reiterate, though, that 2 cores is a great place to start because you can make full use of the deployment cards which you don't use during skirmish matches.

11 minutes ago, Budgernaut said:

...Waiqar the Betrayer.

How dare you. He is known as "Waiqar the Undying," or "Waiqar, the greatest general," or simply, "Lord Waiqar." We will have none of this "betrayer" slander spread upon the most powerful warrior wizard to ever grace the land of Terrinoth. What was once his will one day be his again.

9 hours ago, Budgernaut said:

2) I know the core may be on sale, but consider the demon and elf factions as well. If you love humans and skeletons, then you're set with the core, but if the other armies catch your fancy more, it may be worth getting a single core and then building up the other armies.

Let me reiterate, though, that 2 cores is a great place to start because you can make full use of the deployment cards which you don't use during skirmish matches.

To elaborate a little more: Even if, between the two of you, you only want one of the Human/Undead armies, I'd buy the core instead of only human or undead individual unit expansions + the "Essentials" box (which is the other option for getting the various counter tokens, range ruler, dice, terrain, morale deck, and movement templates that come in the core and you'll need to play). The value of the core box is THAT GOOD from a dollars to models standpoint.

If the two of you want to play demon-possessed berzerkers and elves, skip the core and buy the Essentials box along with the Army Expansion box for your army. The army expansion boxes aren't quite as outrageously good a deal, typically, as the Core box is for humans and undead, so it's probably less universally recommended to just buy two and then build out from there. (Though, at this instant, we're anticipating the unit expansions for Uthuk Y'llan to drop -- probably quite soon -- so two Army Expansions is the only way to approach 200 points with them right now...)

So to summarize:

Humans + Undead? -> 2 Core Set boxes and go from there (as Budgernaut says, probably play a 150 point game or two and then add expansions that look to align with what you're enjoying)

A Core Set faction + either Elves or Demony Berzerkers? -> 1 Core Set, 1 Army Expansion, and expand from there. Save the unused army for luring in a friend

Elves + Demony Berzerkers? -> 1 Army Expansion each + Essentials box, expand from there.

With the stipulation that for some builds, "expand from there" makes sense as another Army Expansion box, but not always.