Ok, so I know ignoring the runes in runewars kind of goes completely against the main element and even the name of the game and the runebound world of the game, but has anyone ever tried doing this?

I'm thinking if you remove the runes from game play you could have a longer epic game of annihilation where the aim of the game is to wipe out the other players or hold onto a certain amount of areas, strongholds, etc instead of just collecting runes.

Why people may ask? Just to vary things up really and make a longer, more epic game.

Potentially, the main problems I can think of is the hero quests that result in a dragon rune (just give them an armour of weapon reward instead), but then heroes maybe become a bit obsolete unless you use all heroes as commanders.

Anyone else think of any problems with this?

I'm sure this would be very epic, but I fear it would take a VERY long time - wiping another player out is not common (it's never happened in any of my games over 2 years). Also, I think there would come a point where a player starts getting the upper hand, and then it's just a slow crawl to victory. In the Rules As Written, even a player who's down can launch a coup to take the runes and come back to win.

Plus, I think it could affect the game balance. Some races rely on the influence and bidding wars as a strong point to victory, and without runes, a lot of the bidding would be nullified.

In a 3- or 4-player game, this would be a VERY long affair. Once it's down to 2, it may take less time, but once one player starts winning, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to push back enough for the win, if you are playing for annihilation.

I think if this WERE to work, the best thing would be to have some condition that would eliminate a player. Perhaps each player can start with their Capital (if using the Expansion), but if a player loses their Capital, they are eliminated. Perhaps their units would stay on the board, but would act like "neutrals" for the rest of the game (perhaps even being willing to join up with players via diplomacy).

CrazyJaws said:

Instead of ignoring the runes completely, you could simply erase their value as a victory condition and use them instead as one-shot magic effects. Make up a list of magic spells, and let your heroes cast these spells by expending rune tokens in areas you control. More powerful spells might cost two runes, though I would hesitate to go as high as three.

Not only does this allow runes to still have value in your proposed variant (which sounds fine to me, btw, if you're willing to spend the time playing that long), but it also maintains the thematic element of runes being a primary source of magic in Terrinoth.

Heck, you could even use this house rule in a game where runes still equal victory, though the spells would need to be pretty impressive since even one rune lost is a significant price to pay.

It could looked like:

The only spell would be "Summon units (neutral or yours) equal to your rune number. One triangle unit is worth one rune, circle/rectangle two and hex three."

Casted once a year (winter would be my favourite) it would push the military aspect of the game without having to change anything else. It would also help gaining a snow-ball effect, so it could cut the time, which would be truly epic:).

Wisek said:

Too expensive, especially if you want EPIC.

I'd say one rune should buy two or even three triangle units. Cirlce/Rectangle 1 for 1, hex units 2 runes for 1.

Better still, discard a rune to recruit from one of your three dials for free. This would be in addition to whatever order card you played, of course.

1) More units for a rune - quick gaining of 2-3 runes (city rune + dragon throne + smth) could win you the game without much skill from you. Question of balance, testing needed.

2) Discard runes for dial recruitment - wat about city runes and dragon throne? Daquan have their hex units on two dials - they could never use a rune as good as the other sides.

CrazyJaws - you have some ideas to test:).

Thanks for the suggestions guys, will give them a go and report back.

Personally, I don't like how the runes work in Runewars either.

They feel anticlimactic and simply dull. There's nothing thrilling about gaining another rune,

therefore I've been playing my own variant for a while.

Without going into all the changes let me just say that in my version Runes can be discarded to play another Order Card during a season.

( in short : each player plays one order in any given season ( as per the official rules )

then they can discard 1 rune to play another Order Card in that season … and if they have more runes and are willing to spend them they can play another Order Card .. etc.

How do you gain so many runes ? Simple : Runes are generated in area's which had a battle in it and can be spent by the player controlling that rune at any point in the game AFTER the battle. Areas can have more than one rune in it this way if a player is saving them up for some reason.

Note : succesfully making an alliance with a band of neutrals also counts as a "battle" ( of sorts ) and generates a rune in that area.

There's more, but I can't go into all the details here…