August 9, 2016 by stvitusdancern
While Dawn & Gianna were at Gen Con they learned How To Play RuneWars: The Miniatures Game, the upcoming title by Fantasy Flight Games.
The game looks slick and interesting with some great miniatures to boot.
Could you be tempted by this as your next rank and file tabletop battle game?
Let us know in the comments below!
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Very cool looking game and nice vid ladies 🙂
Also, I think I’ve now seen this guy give about three or four different run throughs of this game and he still sounds very chipper! All power to him haha
BoW Ben
He was a MACHINE! 🙂
Now that game comes as a suprise (?)
After all there is a hole in Rank and File fantasy systems Warhammer has left. I wonder what ow happy GW is since there was some mumbling ( before FFGs Asmodee aquisition ) of GW not wanting FFG to compete with them directly on the field of tabletop games.
There have been rumours circulating for several weeks that FFG no longer have a license agreement with GW. GenCon did nothing to dispel that, not least because of the announcement of this game (though also because of the lack of any new GW-licensed product, the lack of any promotion of existing GW-licensed product, and the diplomatic ‘no comment’ response to the future of 40K Conquest).
According to Team Cov they did mention there is a new pack coming for Conquest but I assume they will probably just finish the wave and that will be it.
Yeah, there’s three packs still to be released so it didn’t exactly put any Conquest players’ minds at rest. Shame as it it’s a pretty good game.
The rank & file fantasy gaming that GW left… was picked up by Mantic, it’s the latter that’s really should be worried now. Runewars might be a Kow slayer.
While I agree, I think it could draw off some from AoS who like the rank and file gaming.
That could happen, but I think that depends on the quality of the miniatures. The GW crowd are used to top quality miniatures.
Depending on the size of bases/trays or if FFG sell bases, I could see proxies being used
yeah kinda, but I feeld KoW misses the quality mark by quite a bit. It just feels and looks cheap.
Looks really fun… initiative and knowing your opponent’s dial is going to be really important so you don’t lose attacks
Aye for sure, it has a nice element of X-Wing too it which is good. Similar to Warmahordes too where learning about what your enemy can do gives you an upper hand.
I like how the damage is dealt with too where it can have moments of utter brutality mixed into the tactical side of the game.
Looks good but possibly long-winded having to choose orders every round. And why can’t Americans say CaValry? 🙂
After watching the video:
I would lie, if I said that I’m not interested and intrigued by this game!
Some innovative mechanics and its seems like the Runewars have good bit of tactical options built into it.
It might suffer from the herohammer syndrome (that Carrion Lancer & Rune Golem seems very powerful)?
The quality of the miniatures and what kinda plastic are they made of?
There’s too much clutter on the table; all the cards, markers and dials dosen’t look good on a wargaming table!
I believe that’s why it’s intended to play on a 6×3 table- knowing full well that it’ll be a 6×4 table and players will use that extra foot on their sides for their cards, dials and tokens. This was cluttered because it was a demo table at Gen Con where space was a premium. 🙂
Smart move by FFG.
It’s also more likely to fit on a normal dining room table.
I like some of the aspects of the Panic token, especially the one where you can’t reach with a Charge. Gone is that rather lame option of using a purposefully short, failed “charge” to move your units closer with no penalty. And I also like the fact that, since bases seem to be integral to the play, they are included with each unit and they’re all the same size.
Definitely worth looking at. Now if I get any of my friends interested.
The biggest problem of getting Fantasy battle players moving over to it, is that you have to start from scratch, can’t use your old armies. And, currently, only having the one starter box models and only having two sides to choose from. Does look good though.
Agree I think it needs to launch with at least 4-6 factions
So….wheeling is now called “curving”? lol
Seriously, I wish them the best of luck. Some interesting design concepts, but there are several things about it that actively repel me from the game. Then again, I doubt I am their target market anyway. 🙂
Great report, really interested in this now. As I hoped it has add a fresh perspective to the massed battle game – Also looks to still play at a relatively small size.
So what are Orc and goblins like in this setting?
Will be interesting to see if rules etc are available separately so you are not locked to the starter armies, could be a factor for wargamers.
Also I wonder how long til plastic runes for casting are available.
This is looking VERY promising
I have to say, I walked up for this demo with no string feelings one way or the other. I have never played X-Wing (yes, I know, a million gamers just cried out when I said that), and I’ve never really felt drawn to large scale gaming. That said, after the first turn was complete, I was hooked. I loved having the cards with their stats handy, I LOVED the dials and the way your actions influenced turn order, and I really liked the panic influence and the way the runes impacted options. I’m definitely looking forward to playing this… Read more »
looks an interesting game.
I love FFG games like X-wing and Armada (I think I have everything they have realeased) but this movement mechanic in rank and file fantasy game just seems really static. Maybe it’s because I’m use to the freedom in Age of Sigmar now and I like my army running all over the table. I also want to have a gaming table with lots of terrain that my models can move around and over. Runewars doesn’t seem to like any terrain on the table apart from a slight hill. This game does look really pretty though and I like some of… Read more »
FFG bringing movement back to rank and file with x wing style movement . the movement system translates beautifully to rune war, along with the stress tokens from x wing . it really looks like you get a feel for the varied panic that would happen in this type of combat . they are giving you so many tactical option in everything you do from removing troops to the use of the rune stones. looks to be well balanced between all these elements with no one aspect dominating the game which would lead to only certain armies being viable.with more… Read more »
Thanks for posting the demo, really good to learn a little more about how this plays. My first thought is that having said how keen I was on the new mechanics, just how cluttered the table appeared with all those intrusive dials. I suppose as long as you can keep them back and out of the way, it should be okay. It sounds like there will be thematic differences between these two factions and so hopefully there will be with others as well. I wonder how difficult it will be to proxy armies or create your own stuff? Will the… Read more »
From what I’ve been discussing with my FLGS they will probably make it so you could proxy in models but if you wanted the dials and stuff then you’d have to buy the big game or an ‘accessory pack’ later on down the line.
After all you need all the movement rulers, discs etc. BUT the models look like they are on 25mm rounds which means most models ‘should’ just slip into those trays.
That’s what I was thinking. You can probably put your own models in the bases, but if you can’t buy the cards and dials separately then you’re a bit stuffed!
I feel embarrassed, but after watching that video I was lost at what everything was for and what they do. I must be getting old LOL. If I played x wing I’m sure it would have made more sense as some of you and that man in the video mentioned they do share some of the same mechanics.
I think it’s a game where the bundle of information delivered at a convention might overwhelm but in reality it’s quite simple.
I got my head round it now but I have watched about five videos on it now heh
It wouldn’t be too misleading to say it’s X-Wing meets rank & file fantasy mass battle, though RuneWars does put its own twist on things. As Ben says, it’s quite a simple system. The main thing to grasp is the dial. Each unit has one, they give a range of options for what you can do with the unit. At the start of each turn you select an option for each of your units, reveal the dials, and then begin activating the in initiative order (as determined by the option you chose). Every else flows from that.
I think the challenge in understanding how it works is purely down to watching on a video where you can’t see the critical information on those dials – which would be very clear if you were at the table.
So you can listen to an explanation as to how the game works, but withouth being able to see it being put into practice, it’s a lot to take in. Even though I was impressed at how much the guy was able to communicate and so clearly.
Looked great until a thunderstorm rebooted everything here in the middle of the video
I have to agree with almost everyone here and say that this looks really fun. The only thing I’m concerned about are the movement trays, which look really fiddly to pull apart in the middle of a game. However I’m pretty sure if this takes off it won’t be long before someone is offering MDF movement trays with flat sides.
I would imagine that the final trays in the box will be a lot easier to remove/place – I’d hope so anyway as that was one of the things I was thinking.
With prototype stuff there will always be some strange bits and pieces.
It’s funny. I wasn’t thinking that until watching the video. On the other hand, one of the advantages of the system is… That the bases stick together and so are easy to move as a block.
Not quite sure what the answer is!
That was basically what I was expecting/hoping for… Think I’ll be picking this up when it comes out… Also, will there be a part 2 to the demo game? Would like to see how it progressed
Sadly, no part 2. We were so pressed for time, that’s all we could squeeze in. Would you believe that’s the only game I played in those 4 days?! Lol
No need to apologise! You had a LOT of running around to do! Great work by the way!
I think I just realised why I seem to have a soft spot for this game, in some strange way it kinda reminds me of the good olde Warcraft: Orcs & Humans.
Fantasy Flight entering the scene of miniature wargaming is really positive, I think, for mainly two reasons: 1) It will bring in new people to the hobby. 2) It will put more focus on games with good game mechanics – because that is what Fantasy Flight is known for. Often the focus is on the miniatures as in, ‘lets create some nice looking miniaures and THEN figure out a rule system we can use for them’. Fantasy Flight has approached this the other way around; ‘Create some great and simple to learn game mechanics and then we will think about… Read more »
Interesting. Depending on upfront, and ongoing, prices I may get in on this. This can get real expensive, real fast.
And if the minis are made out of the plastics they use for their existing products I’ll probably end up passing all together.