https://holiday-sale.asmodeena.com/catalogue/category/fantasy-flight-games_1/
Looks like the base set and the early expansions only, not including the command packs, at 50-70% off. It's a rather limited selection, so it doesn't look like they're quietly shutting the game down, just balancing out early inventory that was probably overproduced.
AKA, the game isn't nearly as popular as first thought, so its quietly dying!
How has the health of the game been?
I've not picked it up because of limited funds keeping me down to one mini game at a time (atm X-Wing 2E), but the sale has piqued my interest in Runewars again, however, the last I knew they put discontinued merch on deep discounts like that. I remember getting a ton of 40k RPG books on the sale when the lost the license.
Community health took a serious hit because of Legion. It’s been on what feels like a decent recovery since then.
Game health - balance wise - has really hit its stride. It looks to have been balanced initially around the 1st 5 units and 3 heroes of each faction. So the lopsided balance has gone away and variety in builds is spiking.
I don't know that I'd trigger the alarm bells just yet.
When Battlelore went on sale, it was much steeper a sale. Also, Destiny is on there and is much of the AGOT card game. I think they probably just made too much of "wave 1" for Runewars and need to sell a bunch of that off. For Destiny, it's only the older stuff that's rotating out sooner that's on sale. AGOT I suppose could be dying, but that would still surprise me a bit.
If Runewars does die, then at least we got faction parity on 4 factions, so that's not bad.
Also for runewars, the shift to larger cards and newer boxes likely occasions some of this.
53 minutes ago, kris40k said:How has the health of the game been?
I've not picked it up because of limited funds keeping me down to one mini game at a time (atm X-Wing 2E), but the sale has piqued my interest in Runewars again, however, the last I knew they put discontinued merch on deep discounts like that. I remember getting a ton of 40k RPG books on the sale when the lost the license.
If you're thinking on getting in because it's cheap now, it may be a partial illusion. The base set and the infantry, siege unit, and first wave heroes are the only things on sale—it doesn't include the archers or cavalry, nor the command packs that give a lot of variety to the units.
On the other hand, if the base stuff only is good for you, you're unlikely to get better prices for a decent amount of time.
Quick link for just runewars:
https://holiday-sale.asmodeena.com/search/?q=Runewars
Nice deal if you need any of those units.
18 minutes ago, Xelto said:If you're thinking on getting in because it's cheap now, it may be a partial illusion. The base set and the infantry, siege unit, and first wave heroes are the only things on sale—it doesn't include the archers or cavalry, nor the command packs that give a lot of variety to the units.
On the other hand, if the base stuff only is good for you, you're unlikely to get better prices for a decent amount of time.
I mean, if you split three core sets with another player you're off to a great start. If a person enjoys the game at that level they will surely want to get new stuff, but you can make a fair variety of solid armies with three core sets.
At $150 for two robust-ish forces, pretty hard to argue.
On 10/25/2018 at 5:35 PM, kris40k said:How has the health of the game been?
I've not picked it up because of limited funds keeping me down to one mini game at a time (atm X-Wing 2E), but the sale has piqued my interest in Runewars again, however, the last I knew they put discontinued merch on deep discounts like that. I remember getting a ton of 40k RPG books on the sale when the lost the license.
If you are already invested in X wing then maybe Rune Wars isn't the game for you. Whilst I would love to have more players in this community, X wing has quite a high competitive upkeep and so does Rune Wars really.
New units don't drop frequently but when they do, you find yourself buying two to three boxes of each (unless they are heroes) and when they cost between GBP£20 to GBP£30 each, the cost quickly racks up. Then you have to build and paint the things. If you are doing that along side X wing, God help your wallet . . .
On the plus side, I find the Rune Wars community quite an enjoyable bunch. Whereas X-wing is so large you typically find yourself only speaking to/hanging around with certain groups/squadrons during events, the Rune Wars community is so small that you will actually spend time with everyone at an event, which is nice. The judges sit with you and casually chat away about anything and everything as the game is no where near as serious or thought intensive as X wing but because it's such a small game, don't be surprised if you find yourself playing on a bare table with the 3 x 6 field simply being duct tape. But that also means you don't mind having your beer on the table.
If it's prizes you are after, then you are in luck. Rune Wars follows the normal prize structure as all the other FFG games so when you sign up to a Regional/National, you will likely get your door, top 64, top 32, top 16 and in some cases, top 8 prizes right at the start of the event. Heck, for Euroes, we got all the prizes and didn't even play any games.
The additional point for Rune Wars however is that they double up nicely for D&D and Pathfinder. You can never have enough skeleton warriors and archers. Maro makes for a great BBG, Ardus is a fantastic champion and you can use Hawthorne and Kari as NPC heroes. If you cut their bases off and put them on thinner bases, they are practically to scale with the official minis and certainly match up well with Zombicide models.
On 10/25/2018 at 9:35 AM, kris40k said:How has the health of the game been?
I've not picked it up because of limited funds keeping me down to one mini game at a time (atm X-Wing 2E), but the sale has piqued my interest in Runewars again, however, the last I knew they put discontinued merch on deep discounts like that. I remember getting a ton of 40k RPG books on the sale when the lost the license.
There were massive Christmas sales at multiple FLGS in my area (Phoenix) around this time last year. I picked up a ton of stuff during those sales. It was well worth it. There was a lot of doom and gloom at that time because there hadn't been any new announcements in multiple months and a lot of the already announced stuff was being heavily delayed (likely due to the pressure of getting Legion released). Many thought the game was dead. Fast forward about 6 months and there is a ton of new announcements, and new product coming out.
I don't think this game is going anywhere any time soon. It is growing slowly, but steadily. My group started with 3 regular players and has grown to 6 in the past 6 months. It is based on an FFG IP that they have been developing for years through multiple games (Descent, Runewars (not the miniatures game), Runebound, Battlelorer, Legacy of Dragonholt, and the newly announced Heroes of Terrinoth). The game has amazing and unique gameplay and measures very favorably in cost when compared to other tabletop war games.
I recommend picking up a starter set for 50 bucks. For that price you get something that's playable out of the box and will give you a great taste of what the game is all about. Even if you don't love the game, you will have 26 quality undead minis, including an awesome looking death knight dude and skeleton riding a carrion worm, 20 quality town guard/knight minis, a badass looking ranger/rogue mini, and an awesome golem with 4 arms. You also get some solid 2d terrain pieces and a lot of useful tokens. If you do any kind of tabletop RPG playing, you know this is an amazing deal. I get a LOT of use out of my Runewars stuff OUTSIDE of playing Runewars (and I play Runewars every Thursday night).
4 hours ago, Viktus106 said:the game is no where near as serious or thought intensive as X wing
I agree with everything @Viktus106 said... except this. This game can be every bit as mind melting as X wing.
Things you have to consider when playing Runewars:
List building (How do I most effectively build synergies in my allotted amount of points)
Dice Probability (what is my expected damage output, how likely am I to roll a surge/panic/accuracy, should I risk re-rolling a die for a better result or sit where I'm at)
Card Probability (how many fear/doubt/confusion cards are there in the morale deck, which ones have already been utilized, how likely am I to get a favorable outcome)
Spacial visualization (what combination of maneuvers will position my units favorably, how do I accomplish this in an order that will prevent my units from colliding with one another)
Planning (What is my win condition, which of my units match up well with my opponents', who will have initiative in the round that I expect to be engaged, how many points am I currently behind and how can I score enough points to catch up, what terrain/deployment/objectives are good/bad for my army)
Reading your opponent (Do I understand how this person plays, are they aggressive, do they take big gambles, do I understand their game plan/win condition)
I'm sure there is more that I'm missing. Ultimately you could just play this game by looking at the board every round and trying to figure out how to best set your dials... but if you play it enough you will start finding all the different ways you can out-think and out-play your opponent.
49 minutes ago, QuickWhit said:There were massive Christmas sales at multiple FLGS in my area (Phoenix) around this time last year. I picked up a ton of stuff during those sales. It was well worth it. There was a lot of doom and gloom at that time because there hadn't been any new announcements in multiple months and a lot of the already announced stuff was being heavily delayed (likely due to the pressure of getting Legion released). Many thought the game was dead. Fast forward about 6 months and there is a ton of new announcements, and new product coming out.
I don't think this game is going anywhere any time soon. It is growing slowly, but steadily. My group started with 3 regular players and has grown to 6 in the past 6 months. It is based on an FFG IP that they have been developing for years through multiple games (Descent, Runewars (not the miniatures game), Runebound, Battlelorer, Legacy of Dragonholt, and the newly announced Heroes of Terrinoth). The game has amazing and unique gameplay and measures very favorably in cost when compared to other tabletop war games.
I recommend picking up a starter set for 50 bucks. For that price you get something that's playable out of the box and will give you a great taste of what the game is all about. Even if you don't love the game, you will have 26 quality undead minis, including an awesome looking death knight dude and skeleton riding a carrion worm, 20 quality town guard/knight minis, a badass looking ranger/rogue mini, and an awesome golem with 4 arms. You also get some solid 2d terrain pieces and a lot of useful tokens. If you do any kind of tabletop RPG playing, you know this is an amazing deal. I get a LOT of use out of my Runewars stuff OUTSIDE of playing Runewars (and I play Runewars every Thursday night).
I agree with everything @Viktus106 said... except this. This game can be every bit as mind melting as X wing.
Things you have to consider when playing Runewars:
List building (How do I most effectively build synergies in my allotted amount of points)
Dice Probability (what is my expected damage output, how likely am I to roll a surge/panic/accuracy, should I risk re-rolling a die for a better result or sit where I'm at)
Card Probability (how many fear/doubt/confusion cards are there in the morale deck, which ones have already been utilized, how likely am I to get a favorable outcome)
Spacial visualization (what combination of maneuvers will position my units favorably, how do I accomplish this in an order that will prevent my units from colliding with one another)
Planning (What is my win condition, which of my units match up well with my opponents', who will have initiative in the round that I expect to be engaged, how many points am I currently behind and how can I score enough points to catch up, what terrain/deployment/objectives are good/bad for my army)
Reading your opponent (Do I understand how this person plays, are they aggressive, do they take big gambles, do I understand their game plan/win condition)I'm sure there is more that I'm missing. Ultimately you could just play this game by looking at the board every round and trying to figure out how to best set your dials... but if you play it enough you will start finding all the different ways you can out-think and out-play your opponent.
Sorry, that was more me commenting on the fact that during some X wing events, no one talks to anyone because they are so deep in thought trying to discern the strings of fate that the slightest Pew Pew noise throws them off and a judge is called for intentionally disrupting the other player.
In Rune Wars, I don't think anyone is ever going to call a judge on something because even they don't know the official stance on pre-FAQ Scuttling Horror or even the ever present Danarti Re-RollGate. You just kind of shrug it off and go back to making clashing sword sounds and trying to suppress screaming BLOOD FOR TEH BLOOD GAWD mid game or trying to see how many wings you can eat before your Latari opponent finishes setting his eleventh dial.
Ultimately, you are just happy you have someone to play against.
55 minutes ago, Viktus106 said:Sorry, that was more me commenting on the fact that during some X wing events, no one talks to anyone because they are so deep in thought trying to discern the strings of fate that the slightest Pew Pew noise throws them off and a judge is called for intentionally disrupting the other player.
In Rune Wars, I don't think anyone is ever going to call a judge on something because even they don't know the official stance on pre-FAQ Scuttling Horror or even the ever present Danarti Re-RollGate. You just kind of shrug it off and go back to making clashing sword sounds and trying to suppress screaming BLOOD FOR TEH BLOOD GAWD mid game or trying to see how many wings you can eat before your Latari opponent finishes setting his eleventh dial.
Ultimately, you are just happy you have someone to play against.
I have definitely experienced the "eat as many wings as you can before your opponent finishes setting his dials" thing... But that's partly because we don't set a time limit on setting dials over here and analysis paralysis is a real problem for some of us...
But yeah, I see your point. I am always happy to be playing Runewars. The system is such that you can win a single round or even one face off and still enjoy the game even when you are losing. Also, I'm usually drinking beer and hanging out with friends, so...
Oh man, that is never a good sign. I feel for the RuneWars community. Definitely tough to have Legion eclipse what I am sure is an ok game.
Especially when Legion is the inferior game that only has an IP going for it.
Has Legion actually eclipsed Runewars? I play Armada and Runewars, and I have some of the X-wing material. I see tons of X-wingers, a good Armada core, approximately an equal number locally on the Runewars scene, and I've maybe seen Legion played once in our local store. From what I hear through the rumor mill, it isn't all that great of a game, though that could be that each of the Star Wars games appeal to somewhat different types of gamers.
Locally, Legion has a small group sustaining itself through league play. It's had consistent support from a couple of the FLGS employees, though. Rune Wars has been building a few nibbles of interest recently, though, and I'm working with the store to set up a demo day soon that I'm hoping can capitalize on those curious players, and then hopefully pivot into an escalation league in the new year.
I didn't see a really big community at the Legion tables at GenCon, though, so I'd say that local metas aside, the aggregate player bases are probably similar?
Legion is a decent skirmish game. I bought it so I could paint something new when runewars went dark for 8 months. I've played a few games, and it is fun, but.... I'm always left feeling like I would rather play a better game, like runewars.
It has a presence in my area, but not as much as I would have thought.
Edited by Jukey15 hours ago, QuickWhit said:I have definitely experienced the "eat as many wings as you can before your opponent finishes setting his dials" thing... But that's partly because we don't set a time limit on setting dials over here and analysis paralysis is a real problem for some of us...
But yeah, I see your point. I am always happy to be playing Runewars. The system is such that you can win a single round or even one face off and still enjoy the game even when you are losing. Also, I'm usually drinking beer and hanging out with friends, so...
Get 8 bottles of beer, your choice but the rule is, you must finish your beer by the end of the turn.
By the end of the game, you should have consumed 8 beers. Each beer bottle NOT finished by the end of turn 8 awards 20 objective points to your opponent each.
Play a three round "tournament"
Enjoy.
3 hours ago, Jukey said:Legion is a decent skirmish game. I bought it so I could paint something new when runewars went dark for 8 months. I've played a few games, and it is fun, but.... I'm always left feeling like I would rather play a better game, like runewars.
It has a presence in my area, but not as much as I would have thought.
At Nationals, Rune Wars had more attendance than Legion but less than Armada. We also had more people come over and ask about it then Legion but that could have been more because we had table cloth and tape for "mats" at a Nationals event and we were overly loud.
Well . . I was . . it's normal for Uthuk to be loud . .
Having some of RWM in the sale could be a clever way to encourage new players to take it up- which is no bad thing. A discounted core set is after all a good potential starting point for those considering the game. I'm still expecting dragons at some point and I'm sure they're not done with other expansions yet so as strategies go it's probably a wise move! Once they're in....
39 minutes ago, Watercolour Dragon said:Having some of RWM in the sale could be a clever way to encourage new players to take it up- which is no bad thing. A discounted core set is after all a good potential starting point for those considering the game. I'm still expecting dragons at some point and I'm sure they're not done with other expansions yet so as strategies go it's probably a wise move! Once they're in....
There was some interest in the twitch chat in the world's final yesterday including a guy that commited to buying a core set
It's a great entry point and the right stuff for then to discount
Did anyone else have troubles actually buying anything from the sale? I tried, but couldn't get past the shipping—it gave me no shipping options.
9 hours ago, Xelto said:Did anyone else have troubles actually buying anything from the sale? I tried, but couldn't get past the shipping—it gave me no shipping options.
Worked for me- you have to click the use new option once you've filled out the shipping address- if you're still having problems it may be worth phoning on Monday