Hi.

just wanted to ask those of you who are deep into this game. I have seen some crazy 50-70% price off offers. Not a lot but more than a few. That just made me think that I hope this game isn’t on its way out? I wanna get a lot of stuff recommended in another thread I have started and wanna be sure I have time to get it all. Has there been any news or rumours about the state of the game?

A lot of the on sale stuff is from early Waiqar/Daqan release, which a lot of stores overstocked on. When the game got held up with the Uthuk release and 4th units I think a lot of suppliers got cold feet and put everything on sale.

Considering we got a mass drop if articles bringing all factions to 5 units, 3 heroes, I foresee the game growing a lot over the next year. Most people who see it played at local stores are interested but have never heard of it. With more army flexibility, I think more new players will buy in.

4 hours ago, mr.thomasschmidt said:

Hi.

just wanted to ask those of you who are deep into this game. I have seen some crazy 50-70% price off offers. Not a lot but more than a few. That just made me think that I hope this game isn’t on its way out? I wanna get a lot of stuff recommended in another thread I have started and wanna be sure I have time to get it all. Has there been any news or rumours about the state of the game?

OK, if you missed the history of the game, it went like this:

First six months: initial releases. New product every month.
-- Initial box set with starting units and command packs for humans and undead
-- Followup expansion boxes for humans and undead
-- Initial box for elves with command packs
-- Followup expansion boxes for elves, plus a new unit each for humans and undead
-- Initial box for Uthuk with command pack

Then there was a very long delay. New units had been announced for each of the other factions, and the Uthuk expansion boxes were listed as "in development".

It was a long delay, about 4 months with no status changes.

Then about 2-4 months back, they started running various gameplay articles. And then the announced units finally changed to 'at the printer', then 'on the boat', and a month ago or so, the Uthuk expansion boxes hit the stores. While these expansions were en route, they announced a LOT of new units. One for humans and undead, an two for the elves, and three for the Uthuk. And one unit per faction already shows 'at the printer' as their status.

So there's a general sense here that something was holding up production, and they're back to business now. What was holding up production, we don't know (the usual speculation is Star Wars: Legion, followed by changes to the production process). However, nobody is denying that the long holdup with no updates or status changes hurt sales and retailer confidence.

* Will you be able to get it all? Probably, especially with new stuff for your army of choice either just released or arriving (we expect) soon. But take advantage of those sales now if you want into the game; they may or may not stick around.
* How often should we expect new units to show up? I would guess there will be 4-6 months between waves (probably closer to six months, but we can hope they'll be more frequent. And this is, of course, speculation. I have no actual knowledge on the subject.)
* How long will FFG support the game? Well, they're showing signs of keeping it up now, and we hope they continue to do so, but in reality, nobody here really knows what's going on with it.

Fantasy Flight doesn't have a perfect track record, but we should be safe for a good while. They really bungled the game's first year with some consistently late releases, then Star Wars Legion seemed like it took all of their attention to get up and rolling for a while, but as @Jukey says, we just had big batch of announcements, some stuff is releasing to stores later this month, and a batch of stuff just went to the printers, so we're back up and rolling.

Fortunately the game has managed to present a pretty diverse set of armies even with limited stuff released, so once all of this stuff is up and running it will be quite robust, eliminating one of the notable barriers for new player entry.

53 minutes ago, mr.thomasschmidt said:

I have seen some crazy 50-70% price off offers.

This isnt uncommon when FFG changes a major attribute of the game and does a reprint cycle. In the past I've gotten two LOTR LCG core boxes for $7 becasue they updated the cards with FAQ info and were (allegedly) directing the stores to get rid of them so they would sell the new printing. Sure enough the new printing came in and core boxes were the full MSRP again.

With the change in box size and card size I would suspect something similar is happening.

In a sentence: The game started strong, stumbled at the 6 month mark, spent 7 months with nothing new, and now shows all the signs of reestablishing a normal release schedule with parity between armies.

It is in a good enough place balance wise with new units looking to help correct minor issues. It is in a rough place with growing a player base due to those release delays. Getting the game back on track should help. I would buy the on sale expansions if interested even if just for the painting hobby.

Adding to the choir, I get the sense that with the repacking activity going on (different product footprint on the shelves), different upgrade cards and change in production tech for making the miniatures, there is an effort to clear out older product for new.

Besides the base boxes there are a slew of new heros and new units now announced so as a result, those of us that have been playing it for over a year now can't wait.

Runewars is entirely a creation of Fantasy Flight Games so this isn't a game that will disappear due to license issues. It's really on FFG to market the game so I think as long as it's selling, we'll see new development.

Also -- anyone who plays the game really enjoys the game play design. It has pretty strong word of mouth.