Runewars

Last review I mentioned the value of learning a new game in terms of one you already know, and this seems to be a recurring theme in my gaming lately. Up for consideration this time is game that yet again takes place in the Runebound / Descent universe: Runewars. Runewars is very much like some of the other wargaming offerings that have come out of Fantasy Flight games, such as the Twilight Imperium expansion (which carried TI to a whole new level) and StarCraft, thanks to designer Corey Konieczka.

This means that a game as epic as Runewars was taught to a group of new player in just under 20 minutes. Explaining things in terms of Twilight Imperium made learning the game a snap. The concept of different races having different strengths, activations of hexes for combat, and determining initiative by the actions you take that round, all are familiar concepts for Twilight Imperium players.
There are some notable differences, starting with the gameboard. Gone are the individual terrain hexes, and now hexes are group together in different arrays. Terrain arrays are also numbered and determine what quests are available to your heroes. Also gone are the dice that determine the results of combat. New to the game is the Fate deck, a stack of cards that determine how successful your units are in a fight. The interesting thing about this is that it allows players to choose their battles based on the cards drawn from the Fate deck. Let’s my squad of archers are ready to attack an opponent, and we’ve just had a battle involving an opponents skeleton’s archers. Since their both the same class of unit, they’ll use the same successes on Fate cards. Now if that battle went badly for them, and they drew almost no successes or special abilities, I might be more inclined to attack knowing that the successes are coming. It’s an interesting new twist in choosing your battles.

The last difference is a big one. You now have the possibility of controlling one or more heroes, who quest for you and allow you to obtain more victory points on their own. Heroes work differently than other units, as their not actually units for you. They are mercenaries, and rarely even affect the clashing of armies that happen around them. It’s integrated surprisingly well into the game, and doesn’t feel like a distraction.

Overall, the game feels like it takes an appropriate spot in the Runebound series. Runewars is the macrocosm, Runebound is focused on the quest, and Descent focuses on the battles in the quest. Runewars plays very smoothly, and the bits are really awesome. Especially nice are the mountain parts of the map that give the playing board a nice visceral texture. This is an awesome game, with my only complaint being the presence of only four playable races. It screams for an expansion, and once we get that it’s sure to be one of our favorites for a long time to come.

Also, it gives us yet another opportunity to ogle Red Scorpion:



Ahhh, Red Scorpion…

Homesteaders

Being a CEO strikes me as a pretty easy job. Sure there’s a lot of stress, but ultimately you’re just coming up with very general strategies to make your company more money. You come up with vague ideas based on the broadest of knowledge, and then hand it off to your lackeys to make it happen. Then you get paid tons of money if you’re successful, and if you fail you get a golden parachute and a good resume to take to Ladders for your next gig. It’s pretty simple.

Another easy job is teaching board gamers new games and using older more established games as examples. Take Homesteaders, a game about building civilization in the Old West. It’s a great game that transcended its theme, but more importantly it was described as “Vegas Showdown with a Western theme”. This made learning the game much more easily learned, and so we spent more time learning the finer points of the game, like its buying and selling system and other little bits.

Over all, the game is really cool. I’ll admit that the theme and art were a little off-putting, but as soon as we actually started playing everything came together and an awesome time was had. The game doesn’t take a terribly long time to play either, so that was very nice too. I can’t recommend this game enough, and I’m sorry that we didn’t try it sooner.

This weekend I hope to finish up Bioshock 2 and give RuneWars a try!

In the Shadow of the Emperor

Sometimes I’m reluctant to try new games. I find that I don’t learn a game by reading the manual, and I have a better grasp of what I’m supposed to do if I see it played and it’s described in gaming terms I’m already familiar with. Still, it’s the little twists on established mechanics and the subtle strategies that can make all the difference.

In the Shadow of the Emperor could be described as El Grande meets the more diplomatic aspects of Twilight Imperium. The game takes place right at the end of medieval Germany, and the players are various houses competing to control areas of the land. Every round, players place cities, dukes, or knights in the various territories. After players are done, electors are chosen and players gain control of an area’s special ability and that area’s vote for Emperor. Challenges by a Rival for the seat of Emperor can happen every round, but are not required. The Emperor has certain privileges and has an easier time controlling some territories. Play continues for five rounds and the winner is merely the player with the most victory points.



It’s an interesting exercise in late medieval politicking, with an emphasis on constant conflict, rather than taking and holding a given area. Stagnation only serves to deny your opponents points, rather than take them for yourself. Players are rewarded for taking territories and voting for the winner in an Imperial election. The player’s dukes and couples are subject to aging, making a player’s pieces not as permanent as in other games. Players are constantly replacing their dead dukes and couples and this serves to keep the game interesting throughout the five rounds of play. There are also very few random elements to the game, as players the only determination for the events surrounding play.

In the Shadow of the Emperor successfully combines several complimentary mechanics into a fun little package. I’d say the only knock against the game is that it’s not too replayable, so care must be taken not to get burned out on it too fast. I could possibly see future expansions in the same vein as Power Grid, with new maps and different areas. On its own, this is a solid game that’s worth your attention.