I have so far avoided TI, because I thought it was purely a strategic wargame, and I hate that. But today I read the description on FFG's homepage, and it seems I was mistaken. Among other things, it seems to have elements from RuneWars, which I like very much. Can anyone confirm this? Do the two games compare?

I can't confirm that, as I don't have Runewars, what I can say is the rules are pdf, d/l them, read them, it's what got me interested. And if I may say all I wanted originally was the board and miniature ships to track a homebrew 40k campaign, I ended up playing the game almost non-stop. I have to say it's a really absorbing game, it is strategy to a large degree, but there are so many different elements, ranging from politics to trading and mercenaries.

Like I say, read the actual rules, and try to find someone to play it with who has it already. I don't think you'll look back once you play it a couple of times.

JJFlash said:

Runewars and TI3 are very similar, though not entirely identical. If anything, Runewars is a simplified version of TI3's game engine, with a focus on territory control. TI3 has a strategic war game as a part of its gameplay, but it also has diplomatic, technological research, and economic/trade aspects. Victory can be attained through any of these means depending on which objective cards turn up during a game. It's quite common for our group to go the whole game without any major wars breaking out, and the victor is determined by other criteria. Of course, some other groups I hear about seem to live for the glory of battle, so it really depends on what your group wants to do in the game.

Fair warning, however, TI3 is a much, much, MUCH longer game than Runewars. It is deeper and more complex, but that comes at the price of increased play time. (Really, it would be more accurate to say Runewars was greatly simplified with the goal of reducing play time, since this is easily the biggest complaint against TI3.)

I would second the idea of reading through the rules online - it's free and it should help to give you an idea if this is a game you'd really be interested in. Just remember to set aside a whole day to play it, particularly the first time. =P

The great thing about runewars as compared to TI3 is that Runwars is more directly a war game or more specifically a game that is more specific about how to win, so there really isn't any confusion about what your playing and what the route to victory is. I spend a great deal of time trying to explain and re-explain the fact that that TI3 is not really a war game and that playing it as if it is a war game (aka RISK) will almost always result in you loosing it horribly. It is very much a game about earning victory points and whenever I teach the game I start with that and repeat it a dozen times as I educate players how to play. This is probobly one of the hardest things (god knows why) for new players to accept about the game and get their head around.

It is a strategic game that requires a commitment from everyone to play to win and that means a vigilant persuit by everyone to earn victory points which are rarely aquired through warefare even with the new expansions. When you can get a group to understand that and approach the games with that mentality, TI3 shines and becomes one of the best board gaming experiance you can have.