9 minutes ago, Big Easy said:

That's a fair point. However based largely on the nature of a TT wargame, I can't see FFG requiring a playing surface unless they provide it themselves (which may be the case at larger events). And at the marquee events I envision them providing custom built terrain similar to what you saw on the demo run by Alex Davy last year.

From Runewars Miniature's OP rules:

Quote

Playmats In events where players provide their own playmats, only official FFG Runewars Miniatures Playmats are allowed. This is to guarantee a consistent experience for all players and prevent any advantage players may gain from familiarity with a particular playmat that is not widely available. FFG playmats are widely available for examination and play. If a venue provides playmats for their event, they may use third-party playmats. Players may replace third-party playmats if they provide their own FFG playmat to use.

Edit: To be clear, I do not play Runewars so I don't know what they mean by "familiarity with a particular playmat" providing an advantage.... Is there terrain on the Runewars playmats? Or do they just mean knowing "This printed thing on the playmat is X inches away from that other printed thing on the playmat" sort of thing?

3 minutes ago, Caimheul1313 said:

Edit: To be clear, I do not play Runewars so I don't know what they mean by "familiarity with a particular playmat" providing an advantage.... Is there terrain on the Runewars playmats? Or do they just mean knowing "This printed thing on the playmat is X inches away from that other printed thing on the playmat" sort of thing?

Yeah, exactly that.

1 minute ago, svelok said:

Yeah, exactly that.

But you can premeasure at any time... (admittedly not with movement templates, but still). Eh, whatever, not the most asinine rule I've ever seen for organized events. Hopefully they release some "blank" mats soon if they do follow Runewars in this regard, or my FLGS just provides mats each time.

Yeah all this is new to me...I have played OP X-wing but the mat was such an afterthought (didn't affect play) that I paid it no mind. If 2D stuff printed on any mat starts having an effect on OP, it's straight casual for me.

Sorry for being so dismissive of people's concerns! Sounds like it's at least somewhat legitimate.

1 hour ago, Caimheul1313 said:

But you can premeasure at any time... (admittedly not with movement templates, but still). Eh, whatever, not the most asinine rule I've ever seen for organized events. Hopefully they release some "blank" mats soon if they do follow Runewars in this regard, or my FLGS just provides mats each time.

Perhaps it more along the lines of: without even measuring, Alice knows the broken tower is exactly 2.5 moves at speed 2 from the Dried Well. This gives Alice a planning advantage in that she can know several turns in advance which units on both sides could possibly reach an objective if they are placed within a particular part of the map relative to the starting locations.

I think the maps are beautiful, although I am a teeny bit concerned that there’s no option (yet?) for maps that are more 3D terrain friendly (ie I don’t want to put my desert buttes on the junkyard or ruins, they’d look out of place)

2 hours ago, Caimheul1313 said:

From Runewars Miniature's OP rules:

Edit: To be clear, I do not play Runewars so I don't know what they mean by "familiarity with a particular playmat" providing an advantage.... Is there terrain on the Runewars playmats? Or do they just mean knowing "This printed thing on the playmat is X inches away from that other printed thing on the playmat" sort of thing?

This all stems from an old Gale Force 9 play mat from X-Wing. It was the surface of the Death Star. The problem, was that since there were so many squares, players who had it could easily look at the squares, and count exact distances from their ships to yours, which would give them a tremendous advantage in planning movements if they had studied the mat. Alot of people grew to see that playing surface as unfair.

It was also speculated, that certain custom starfield playmats could have stars set up at very specific intervals, to give sneaky players a measuring advantage.

If you measure by land marks, your opponent doesn't see you doing it so nothing is given away.

BTW the runewars play mat that FFG provides is an official FFG product.

Seriously need to see these mats in person to know how bad the image interferes with game play, I never felt my X-wing was going to crash into the deathstar on that play mat. Our brains are trained to see things as 3D on the computer screen. Those mats may not have anywhere near the amount of pop in person they appear to have on the computer.

Still, not something you want to preorder until you see it in person for yourself.

@Mep it's less a case of "interfering" with gameplay and more a case of not making as much sense. Ships flying in space over a planet or the Death Star is one thing, infantry standing on the crashed wing of a TIE or a low wall is another.

4 hours ago, Caimheul1313 said:

@Mep it's less a case of "interfering" with gameplay and more a case of not making as much sense. Ships flying in space over a planet or the Death Star is one thing, infantry standing on the crashed wing of a TIE or a low wall is another.

I don't see the mat image with a vertical standing tie wing. It is clearly buried and rather flat. The rocks are subjective. I will say on the computer it looks bad. It may not look that bad in person. No one here has seen them in person with actual terrain on them therefore no one here knows for certain.

16 minutes ago, Mep said:

I don't see the mat image with a vertical standing tie wing. It is clearly buried and rather flat. The rocks are subjective. I will say on the computer it looks bad. It may not look that bad in person. No one here has seen them in person with actual terrain on them therefore no one here knows for certain.

The AT-ST is clearly sticking out enough that the chin guns are both above the ground, and it is casting a shadow. The "Desert Ruins" are clearly showing steps indicating the central dias is supposed to be at least slightly above level with the sand. There are also "banister" sections that are supposed to be taller than the steps judging from the shadows.