I don’t do to many first impression articles, but on occassion I like to write one just to see what I think after the first play of a game and have it as a comparison to it when I do the final review.  This works best with miniature games as it takes me a really long time to properly review them.

Today on First Night With, I’m going to be talking about Fantasy Flight Games newborn sensation, Runewars the miniature game.  Its officially launched, I have played it twice, here is what I thought.

First let me just say that as expected, Runewars miniatures are extrodinarly well done.  The molds are clean, in epic (active) poses, there is great variety and they are just flat out beautiful.  FFG has hit the nail on the head, I find very little to complain about.  Personally I was amazed and delighted,  even inspired to paint, which for me, is nothing short of a fucking miracle because I despise painting mini’s with a deep passion.

I can see that some hard core miniature fans might have issues with the fact that the molds are designed in “fixed” poses.  This was clearly a design decesion made to make this miniature game a little bit more approachable for people new to the hobby as it makes assembly considerably easier with few parts to put together.  Most of the pieces snap together requiring glue only for select mini’s.  I know from experiance that veteran miniature gamers really want to customize and create something unique, with Runewars that will be a bit more difficult requiring some cutting and plenty of greenstuff, but I suspect most of these hobbyiest won’t find that to difficult.  Its a compromise, but it certainly favors guys like me who just want to get to the game.

I really disliked the tray system.  I understand what they where going for here, but the interlocking trays and unit connectors are fiddly, too tight and really just get in the way.  I can see myself cutting all of these things off, a solution easy enough to implement.  I really don’t see the point of the interlocking system, its something that sounds good on paper, but didn’t really work that great in practice.

As for the rest of the components, in standard FFG fashion they have blown the doors off with the absolutly highest level of component and card quality, extremely clear and functional text, great artwork and aesthetics and streamlined to perfection.  After a single play I was already familiar with all of the games components and by the second play the symbology was already becoming second nature.  A++ here, they just nailed it.

Finally the books.  I spent an hour reading the Lore book cover to cover and while I think the Runewars universe is extremely bland and generic, and still very vague, its definitly the most we have ever gotten for it.  The writting was well done, clever even in some places, but the game world is still very much at arms length.  I find it hard to describe but its just not dark enough for my tastes and it has this fluffy, cartoony feel to it, much like its art that really just kind of makes it difficult to connect to.  It manages to fit in all of your standard over used fantasy tropes, there are magic runes, undead, forest elves and dragons.  All your usual stuff done a million times before with just the tinyiest amount of variation.  It was quite pedestrian with no suprises and not a single line of original thought adding a grand total of zero to the genre of fantasy work.  I was really hoping with Runewars the miniatures game they were going to dive in and create something to give the game some thematic muscle and perhaps they still might with some sort of story book (aka like they did for Android) but for now the game world is still very much common and largely irrelevant.

The other two books, the learn to play and Rules Reference on the other hand tackled the job of teaching you how to play and giving you a proper rule book reference, both of which are fantastic, easy to consume and extremely streamlined.  Its exactly what this game needed and I love the format.  It left very few questions unanswered and while I expect we will see quite a bit of errata in the future, for the purposes of learning the game and having a good reference guide these two books have it covered.

Ok so lets talk about the actual gaming experiance here because there is quite a bit to cover and it really is the heart and soul of this game.

To me the game really kind of breaks down into three core zones of mechanics.  First you have your list/army building.  Second you have your gameplay and mechanics.  Finally you have your strategic and tactical variation.

As far as list building goes I reserve judgement because frankly I did very little.  That said I was happy to see that despite there being a fairly limited selection of units there was quite a bit of variety in how you set each one up.  We had two core sets to work with and even there I felt like we could have easily gotten a 3rd.  How many ranks you put in a unit has a lot of impact on how that unit will be used, but the upgrades in particular really stood out.  Each one creating unique tactical oppertunities that really differeniate two units of the same type.

More than that though I can see how you can create a pretty wide range of lists with just the core sets with different levels of focus, tactical infusion and general strategy.  I think with more units coming into the fold in expansions, list building will be debated and fun with plenty of room for experimentation.  I was very pleased with the core set as a whole as far as list building went, it was definitly a big improvement over the core sets of X-Wing and Armada.

One core set however is clearly not enough and I would argue even two will have you feeling a bit light.  Really I think most people are going to want to have 3 core sets in the end to make the 1st wave really robust and varied.

When it comes to gameplay I have to say that while I found a lot to love about it, the thing that really stood out the most for me was the core balance in the game.  FFG has done a fantastic job of creating a really solid asymetrical balance between the two armies and while both matches where won by humans, it was clear to me that this was just a fluke rather than a balance issue.  Certainly certain units stood out as clearly superior, but both armies had, asymetrical responses which even things out.  It was clear matches are won and lost with tactics and strategy, exactly as it should be.  There was one exception and that’s the Runes (more on that later)

Our first game the undead forces lost the game by a mere 5 points and the while the second match ended in largely a blow out I could see very specifically where tactical miscalculation and not balance issues where the direct cause.  You could very easily track back every mistake that lead to the loss and there was plenty of “I should have” moments that would have drastically changed the outcome of the battle. (Again with one exception, I promise, more on that later)

I was also very happy with the dice layout and system.  While the destiny of the dice certainly played its part, I never felt like the dice ruled the game.  The stat odds are very even keel, this is not a game you can win by rolling well or lose by rolling poorly.  Sure you might have a key roll that creates an epic moment of success or failure, but in Runewars battles are won and lost by decesions, not the dice, for which I can only say, thank you FFG.

The movement mechanic borrowed from X-Wing also worked really great.  In our first two games we made a lot of gaffs being unfamiliar with estimating ranges, but I can see how in the future we will get much better at this.  Still I think that uncertainty and “I hope I’m close enough for this charge” feeling will remain a part of this game and I think its really great.  Thankfully the penalty for missing a charge or unerestimating a move are not that harsh, which I think is a good thing, it would be a shame if battles were won and lost on one mistake, that is not the case here.  The movement system pushes players to take risks and hope for the best resulting in a lot more action on the table.

The table space is quite tight despite its size, usually by the second round units are clashing so you really get right to the action.  I think in time the game will feel more mobile than it did in our first game as we really didn’t leverage some of the more advanced moves that are possible.  While its not quite X-Wing in terms of movement, its clear that position, facing and timing are all part of the movement sequence putting players to tough decesions.  All good things.

The objective and deployment mechanic was also really good, I’m glad they pulled this away from being part of a list building mechanic and made it a random draw.  While I think this worked ok in Armada, the thing with. adding objectives to list building is that it creates too much dependency and drives list building.  With the Runewars way of drawing them, you really kind of need to prepare for all of them and this will result in list building being more diverse and less specialized, which ultimatly creates more balanced battles.  I really liked the system.

I didn’t love everything about the mechanics however.  For one, I really hated the “Rune” system, it really felt like a kind of pointless and underserved random modifier that rewarded players for doing absolutly nothing but getting lucky.

The mechanic is this “extra thing” on the side of a battle completly unreleated to any tactics, decsions or strategies of the players which really does nothing at all to make the game either more interesting, more balanced, fun or tactical.  Half the time we would forget about the mechanic entirely and when it did kick it, it did little else but give a player a random advantage that had zero to do with the fight. It was like flipping a coin to see if more units would die or not, simply put, it was a gift that rewarded a player for doing nothing.   I also didn’t think it was particularly balanced.  The undead army was allowed to regenerate units for their foot soldiers (1 or 2 of them) as long as the tray was still there based on the runes that appear.  This was offset by the human player getting 1 or 2 additional threat for their Gollums.  This was a poor trade of as regenerate would only kick in under very specific circumstances while the increasing threat of the Gollum pretty much kicked in every round.  In fact, in two games, the undead player never once was able to leverage this advantage while for the human player it was a key advantage that gave him a huge boost in the fight.

Balance was not really my beef with the mechanic however, I just didn’t like the idea of this completetly random element affecting the results of the battle.  We already have dice for that, it just seemed pointless to have yet another element of pure luck in the game.  Definitly my least favorite aspect of Runewars.

If you are a hardcore miniatures fan, you will quickly realize that there are quite a few sacred cows that have been abandoned in Runewars, this is not your grandaddy’s miniature game.  FFG gave few fucks about the miniature gaming community at large, they designed this game through and through in FFG fashion with little concern as to wether or not Warhammer Fantasy/40k people will approve, or will or won’t like it.  They made it the way they like it and its a take it or leave it deal.  In fact, one of the biggest impressions I walked away with was that Runewars is just a giant FUCK YOU to Gamesworkshop.  Its a game that has solved every problem that has plagued Warhammer Fantasy & 40k for 30+ years with ease and flare.  The movement templates might has well say “eat a dick GW” on the side because its kind of like, after 30+ Years you assholes couldn’t design up a cardbord stick for movement in your game!?

But I degress…

From a birds eye view as well as in the nitty gritty details, Runewars has made a very positive impression on me.  Definitly worth investing in and exploring.  I think as far as a straight to the point game of fantasy battles, this is the best I have seen in years and this is coming from a guy who when it was first announced instantly turned down the offer.  I think my main problems with the game like the fact that it is a assemble and paint game are more a minor nuisance compared to what you get out of it as a game.  I didn’t like the Rune mechanic, but this too requires more exploration.  While I felt it was rather broken as a first impression, I suspect with the core set we have not really seen its full intention and use.  Given that everything else in the game from the quality of the miniatures to the fantastic gameplay, it would be foolish to discount it based on these minor issues.

As a whole I would rate my impression as “really good” and I definitly look forward to future battles, so for now I stand excited about the game and look forward to exploring it further.

That’s my first impressions of Runewars, hope you enjoyed the article.  See you on the battlefield.