A lot of players have speculated on factions 5-8. If we get them, we must have a design space for them and not make them reskins of existing factions.

Waiqar-Debuff enemy, bring units back. Tends towards larger formations.

Daqan-Inspiration to resist rebuffs and ready cards, Punch and take punches well.

Latari - High lateral mobility, more access to ranged attacks, overgrow. A more technical play style

Uthuk - Cause panic and use morale deck, fast in a line.

What design space pace do you give the catmen, dragonkin, Dwarves, orcs, etc.?

I think you're off the math on Latari having more access to ranges attacks. They have one ranges infantry unit, and one hero with a weaker ranged than melee. This matches up with Waiqar right now and is arguably worse than Daqan's ranged since crossbows and Kari are so points efficient for damage.

They did get access to ranged sooner than Daqan and Uthuk, but I think pegging them as the mobile, small-unit faction is probably safer, long-term.

21 minutes ago, kaffis said:

I think you're off the math on Latari having more access to ranges attacks. They have one ranges infantry unit, and one hero with a weaker ranged than melee. This matches up with Waiqar right now and is arguably worse than Daqan's ranged since crossbows and Kari are so points efficient for damage.

They did get access to ranged sooner than Daqan and Uthuk, but I think pegging them as the mobile, small-unit faction is probably safer, long-term.

The Aymhelin Scions also have ranged attacks, so that's one extra over Waiqar and Daqan.

I want Orcs to be swarm fighters. If the infantry unit had something like, "While attacking, if a friendly unit is at range 1, gain ..." Maybe gain Lethal, Brutal, Precise, I don't know which. But something. It puts them in a situation where they don't mind having more units on the table. This kind of synergy could be enhanced through Spiritspeakers to increase the range of that synergy. The lizard riders could have some crazy ability like "If you collide with a friendly unit during a charge, that unit may perform a melee attack against a unit it is engaged with. Then both friendly units receive 1 stun token." Again, fighting in close together, shoulder to shoulder.

Dragonkin would focus on AOE effects (fire) and burn effect that spreads to units within range 1 dealing damage over time, possibly they can burn terrain and transform it/replace with burned terrain? Due to the lore in Runebound 2nd ed, the dragons carved the runes, maybe they have extra influence over outcome of runes/add more runes to the pool.

Dwarves would focus on high defense, ability to negate wounds and damage. Can negate stun tokens. If unengaged they can charge off an immobilize token.

Catmen focus on stealth, move through objects/other units (maybe they can reform BEFORE ending movement therefore being able to attack through friendly forces). Take advantage of terrain more than other units, maybe while in terrain they gain additional buffs, or they can lay out additional terrain that only their units can engage with, such as single trays for a scout type unit. Introduction of poison effect.

Orcs are strong, they can push enemy units back, they can throw smaller units to move them faster. Maybe have the ability for infantry units to join together, two smaller infantry form together putting he trays together. Resistant to blight. Throw lots of dice at a sacrifice to brutal and precise, so additional trays in an infantry unit doesn't add brutal it adds another die.

With as many monsters in Runebound and Descent I would love to have a wilds army, or summoners. The merriods, elementals, manticores, spiders, wendigos, Volucrix Reavers.

I want something that plays with the rune tokens consistently, not just dabbles in them like the current factions. They can flip them, get new ones, remove existing ones, and so forth.

I'm not fully conversant with the Terrinoth lore, so could someone who picked up the RPG book answer this: would the Makhim fit this? I like the thought of what FFG could do with the figures, but I'm not sure if they fits the already-established mythos.

2 minutes ago, backupsidekick said:

Dwarves would focus on high defense, ability to negate wounds and damage. Can negate stun tokens. If unengaged they can charge off an immobilize token.

I like this a lot!

5 minutes ago, backupsidekick said:

...

Dwarves would focus on high defense, ability to negate wounds and damage. Can negate stun tokens. If unengaged they can charge off an immobilize token.

...

I was thinking about this sort of thing myself and was trying to get my thoughts together before posting.

4 hours ago, Church14 said:

Waiqar-Debuff enemy, bring units back. Tends towards larger formations.

Not to be needlessly contrary, but with Wraiths and Vorun'Thul I'd argue that Waiqar has a theme of highly flexible, almost unstoppable movement. It's largely just Reanimates and Ardus that have the feel of shambling undead - Death Knights have a white reform, competitive charge ranges, and the latest default advance in the game, and Carrion Lancers have a very solid dial with a couple really nice options (such as a 3-speed advance at initiative 3). With the new stuff, I think we'll see plenty of Waiqar armies that are VERY mobile.

1 hour ago, Bhelliom said:

Not to be needlessly contrary, but with Wraiths and Vorun'Thul I'd argue that Waiqar has a theme of highly flexible, almost unstoppable movement. It's largely just Reanimates and Ardus that have the feel of shambling undead - Death Knights have a white reform, competitive charge ranges, and the latest default advance in the game, and Carrion Lancers have a very solid dial with a couple really nice options (such as a 3-speed advance at initiative 3). With the new stuff, I think we'll see plenty of Waiqar armies that are VERY mobile.

In my defense. I wrote that about 2 hours before Vorun’Thul was revealed. I had a similar though to yours. A sort of “relentlessness” as a faction theme

4 hours ago, Parakitor said:

The Aymhelin Scions also have ranged attacks, so that's one extra over Waiqar and Daqan.

Ah, yeah, I suppose you're technically right. They do so little damage at range (and I certainly never see them in units that can sling high threat around) that I consider it more like Carrion Lancers' blighting.

10 hours ago, Xelto said:

I want something that plays with the rune tokens consistently, not just dabbles in them like the current factions. They can flip them, get new ones , remove existing ones, and so forth.

I'm not fully conversant with the Terrinoth lore, so could someone who picked up the RPG book answer this: would the Makhim fit this? I like the thought of what FFG could do with the figures, but I'm not sure if they fits the already-established mythos.

::Mind Blown:: The idea of casting temporary runes in addition to those on the table is super interesting! I suppose that could bust the game if done incorrectly, but the idea intrigues me, greatly.

46 minutes ago, Budgernaut said:

::Mind Blown:: The idea of casting temporary runes in addition to those on the table is super interesting! I suppose that could bust the game if done incorrectly, but the idea intrigues me, greatly.

That's one way to do it. You can also do it a few other ways.

[Insert Makhim-like name here] Unique
4 wounds/1+stable toughness
Infantry
Melee attack: roll 1 white die per stable runes

While this hero is in play, cast the [makhim-name] energy token at the start of each round.

(Makhim-name energy token is packaged with this unit, and has stable on one side, blank on the other.)

-----------------

Grounding Priestess
Infantry Upgrade, 2 wounds/stable toughness
Treat all unit abilities and game effects at range 1-5 of this unit as if there was 1 less [unstable] rune in play.

------------------

You might need some meta rule, such as limits on how many rune manipulations an army can field, to prevent excessive chaos or total stranglehold on energy, but that's the general idea.

1 hour ago, Xelto said:

That's one way to do it. You can also do it a few other ways.

[Insert Makhim-like name here] Unique
4 wounds/1+stable toughness
Infantry
Melee attack: roll 1 white die per stable runes

While this hero is in play, cast the [makhim-name] energy token at the start of each round.

(Makhim-name energy token is packaged with this unit, and has stable on one side, blank on the other.)

-----------------

Grounding Priestess
Infantry Upgrade, 2 wounds/stable toughness 
Treat all unit abilities and game effects at range 1-5 of this unit as if there was 1 less [unstable] rune in play.

------------------

You might need some meta rule, such as limits on how many rune manipulations an army can field, to prevent excessive chaos or total stranglehold on energy, but that's the general idea.

So two things, first off what exactly do you mean by toughness? Are you meaning defense?

Also with grounding priestess that could become a nightmare, because if you take her without that Hero suddenly she could become "Toughness" zero. Thus you damage her and....what happens? She dies? She.... There aren't mechanics for this.

Also, as soon as you mess with something that everyone uses...the sheer amount of changes to the game this could ripple out insanely. Also why would I ever want to play against them? Or why wouldn't I just play with them? They essentially change core rules for everything.

Now don't get me wrong, I like the idea. I like it a lot. But the sheer amount of ripples this could cause is absolutely insane. Maybe they could do something with runes that are already existing? I'd also be down for a skill to recast runes. Could even do a one turn temporary rune that goes away at the end of the round. There's good ideas for them, but flat out adding runes would be super big.

I really like the idea of a Hero that swaps allied units runic abilities. For instance, Unit A has Protected (Stable) this hero swap it to Protected (Unstable) while within Range X, and so on and so forth.

Anything like this would have to be done so carefully because we're messing with such a core mechanic of the game. Not only is it core, there are so many units that are designed around the runes that suddenly changes so much.

8 minutes ago, phoenixrising09 said:

So two things, first off what exactly do you mean by toughness? Are you meaning defense?

Also with grounding priestess that could become a nightmare, because if you take her without that Hero suddenly she could become "Toughness" zero. Thus you damage her and....what happens? She dies? She.... There aren't mechanics for this.

Also, as soon as you mess with something that everyone uses...the sheer amount of changes to the game this could ripple out insanely. Also why would I ever want to play against them? Or why wouldn't I just play with them? They essentially change core rules for everything.

Now don't get me wrong, I like the idea. I like it a lot. But the sheer amount of ripples this could cause is absolutely insane. Maybe they could do something with runes that are already existing? I'd also be down for a skill to recast runes. Could even do a one turn temporary rune that goes away at the end of the round. There's good ideas for them, but flat out adding runes would be super big.

I really like the idea of a Hero that swaps allied units runic abilities. For instance, Unit A has Protected (Stable) this hero swap it to Protected (Unstable) while within Range X, and so on and so forth.

Anything like this would have to be done so carefully because we're messing with such a core mechanic of the game. Not only is it core, there are so many units that are designed around the runes that suddenly changes so much.

There's nothing that says the new rune needs to interact with the existing runes though. You could have a divine/cult faction that has a unique rune that increases range for example.

Theres lots of interesting avenues for new runes, since you can link any stat to it. Defense, wounds, speed, initiative, color... I think an aggressive rune that turns red icons white could be awesome.

6 hours ago, phoenixrising09 said:

So two things, first off what exactly do you mean by toughness? Are you meaning defense?

Yeah, sorry.

Quote

Also with grounding priestess that could become a nightmare, because if you take her without that Hero suddenly she could become "Toughness" zero. Thus you damage her and....what happens? She dies? She.... There aren't mechanics for this.

At the moment, there's always at least 1 natural rune in play. But since I can see that changing in the future, I would simply add a rule that a unit's defense can never be reduced below 1.

Quote

Also, as soon as you mess with something that everyone uses...the sheer amount of changes to the game this could ripple out insanely. Also why would I ever want to play against them? Or why wouldn't I just play with them? They essentially change core rules for everything.

Well, starting with the amount of changes you could make to the game... that's why I stated that you might need some global rules limiting the total amount of energy manipulation a faction can do.

In the 'why would I want to play against them' department: aside from the fact that you may end up accidentally helping your opponent, I expect that they would come with corresponding weaknesses. I mean, suppose they made a faction that was incredibly maneuverable. Wouldn't you want to play that one? Flank your opponents easily? Well, as a balancing factor, the Latari tend to be a bit flimsy and don't hit quite as hard as the other factions. Same concept here. They would probably have a weakness, such as low maneuverability or firepower, to balance the way they can play with the runes.

5 hours ago, Xelto said:

At the moment, there's always at least 1 natural rune in play. But since I can see that changing in the future, I would simply add a rule that a unit's defense can never be reduced below 1.

Do you mean Stable Runes? Also, I think there already is a rule that says defense is always a minimum of 1. I'll have to look up where that is mentioned later.

I had a similar idea when making weird custom terrain:

2 hours ago, Zetan said:

I had a similar idea when making weird custom terrain:

Love this terrain! I've always wondered why the graveyard terrain doesn't augment regenerate in any way. Always felt it should read:

Undead only: Infantry units at range 1 of this terrain gain regenerate stable runes.

This would give RAs access to regenerate (something I still can't believe they don't already have) and neatly synergize with lingering dead.