Short version: My group out here in AZ started playing again after an almost year long hiatus. In doing so, I decided to design my own expansion for Runewars that converts the champion units from the infantry command packs into cheaper, minor champion units with their own unique upgrades. The goal is to create more build variety and tech options at a lower, less restrictive cost than including champions in a large infantry unit. We have completed the first half of this expansion (the magic users). The second half will include the fighter champions and upgrades. I hope to have those done in the next month. Currently we are restricting our lists to 2 minor champions per list. Feel free to bend/break that rule and let us know how it goes!
The below linked PDFs contain the components of this expansion so far. They can be printed and assembled by either gluing them to existing cards/dials, or by printing them on thick card stock and gluing them to some chip board. Then simply place the appropriate champion unit in your extra Ardus/Kari infantry champion base and start playing.
Please download and enjoy! Any feedback you have is also welcome! Merry X-Mas!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VQiTJ9yKMfeY39WqBFaIXsDWru4oCMh_?usp=sharing
Long version: After coming back to the game, and open lamenting its early demise, my group decided we wanted more options. I decided to design this expansion to shore up some perceived weaknesses in the game that we all shared. My goals were as follows.
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Put the rune wars back in Runewars:
When we first started playing the game we tried out various rune manipulation builds. While we love the thematic nature of magic users manipulating the energy of the battlefield to tilt the balance toward their army, this was usually disappointing in execution. You often had to invest a large amount of points into rune manipulation only to lose numerous coin flips in a row. I decided to design reliable rune manipulation at a reasonable cost for each faction. I designed it such that it will typically go off during the round. Anyone who has had a great game with the confluence of magic objective knows how fun this can be. We have found mid-round rune manipulation to be a lot of fun and adds an extra layer of strategy in how you set your dials.
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Give cheaper tech options:
Similar to the above note about rune manipulation, sometimes you want to be able to include a niche piece of tech, but you can't justify the cost. Getting support for something like overgrow or countering cat-bounce often feels too expensive. This expansion gives some options for tech in the 12-25 point range.
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Rounding out lists:
Sometimes you are building a thematic list that comes in at 180-190 points and your only real option is including another single tray siege unit or reworking your upgrades. This can be frustrating and push you away from the direction you were originally going. This expansion gives the option of throwing in a single cheap support unit that includes various builds instead, often supporting the direction your army was going anyway.
- Support for larger units: In our local meta we have gotten away from large units for a couple of reasons. The biggest two are getting out-flanked and not having enough units to compensate for various objectives that basically require 4+ dials to be successful. The ability to include a few very cheap support units makes large units more viable by covering up those weaknesses.
Keep in mind that we haven't done much play testing of this expansion to this point. There are likely more than a few things here that are over/under costed. Consider this a beta version. We have already made a few tweaks to abilities and costs and intend to make more. I am hoping for feedback from anyone in the community interested in trying it. Once I finish with the warrior champion units I will get them posted as well. Then my group will be playing with them all frequently with the goal of doing an update in the next 3-6 months based on our experiences and feedback from the community.
Ultimately I made this expansion because we wanted it locally. We won't be offended anyone here doesn't like it or want to play it. However, I thought there would be at least a few players here that might be interested in trying it out.