Trashdome - Twilight Imperium 3rd VS Runewars

mads b. wrote:

But there's just stuff about Runewars I don't like. For instance: When you only move the heroes once per year, that part of the game seems awfully detached. Don't get me wrong, I think the heroes fit nicely with the rest of the game both thematically and game wise, but since lots of time can pass without them doing anything, I tend to forget about them. And that's a shame.

Isn't there an orders card that lets you move your heroes as well?

Nope. Only summer.

Heroes hibernate in the winter. Also in the spring and fall. Just like in all the great fantasy stories. Nothing gamey at all about it.

Haha. My sarcasm detector isn't working right, so I'm not sure if Shellhead is being sarcastic. Probably is.

I hate the quests in Runewars. They feel so flat and flavorless. I'm sure they were inspired by the Quests in MEQ and the personal stories in Innsmouth Horror, but put in the context of this game they are just so very unthematic. Everybody just skips to the how to draw the reward part and skims over everything else.

I've never felt that the Quests were in any way related to the heroes, and only partly related to the armies. They should've had Hero specific quests and army specific quests. I don't care if it's harder to implement. Figure it out.

Gary Sax wrote:

Nope. Only summer.

You can move them with the strategize card --- you just can't carry out adventures, duel, or other actions.

Can you? I totally missEd that.

Yeah, you can defintely move heroes with the Strategize card, it mentions it right on the card.

That card is one of the reasons I love RW. THREE movement cards really gets the ball rolling. You can expand really quickly, as opposed to the plodding that goes on in TI3 with the initial push out from you home world.

But the biggest one is the sheer amount of combat. Anyone judging it harshly without playing the "epic" variant really needs to give it another chance or two just to see the monumental difference.

It's the combat that really strikes a notch against RW for me. Flipping a card does not feel like an epic battle. Lots of dice and/or multiple rounds draws out the tension. Quickies have their place, but it goes against the goals of epic sessions.

That and I have always preferred sci-fi over fantasy.

TI3

We're preparing to play a TI3/Runewars marathon this weekend, just for kicks. I'm brushing up on rules and dear lord is TI3 really convoluted. I like complexity and all, but sometimes TI3 takes it to the extreme, to a point where it's unnecessarily hard to remember.

Take for example the rules on how leaders DIE. It's different when it's space battle, and when it's in a planetary invasion, and even then it's different when the leader is in an army that's defending or attacking.

What's more is that in Space Battle it's 1-5 killed, 6-8 escaped and 9-10 captured. In Planetary Defense, it's 1-5 captured, 6-9 escapes, 10 killed.

What. The. Fuck.

Why'd they have to flip around the results? Does it REALLY REALLY REALLY affect the game balance that much? It freaking mucks around with the fun that's for sure.

kookoobah wrote:

We're preparing to play a TI3/Runewars marathon this weekend, just for kicks. I'm brushing up on rules and dear lord is TI3 really convoluted. I like complexity and all, but sometimes TI3 takes it to the extreme, to a point where it's unnecessarily hard to remember.

Take for example the rules on how leaders DIE. It's different when it's space battle, and when it's in a planetary invasion, and even then it's different when the leader is in an army that's defending or attacking.

What's more is that in Space Battle it's 1-5 killed, 6-8 escaped and 9-10 captured. In Planetary Defense, it's 1-5 captured, 6-9 escapes, 10 killed.

What. The. Fuck.

Why'd they have to flip around the results? Does it REALLY REALLY REALLY affect the game balance that much? It freaking mucks around with the fun that's for sure.

In space, nobody can hear you whine.

Vote: Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition

vote: TI3

Vote: TI3


Good fantasy Dudes on a Map are a dime a dozen. Despite criticisms of TI's "complexity", it truly is approachable comparative to other stabs at the genre at space dudes/ships on a map.

It's epic, It runs "long", in this era where six hour games are called "long", I guess. Variable maps, alliances, trade agreements, screwage, great combat, public and secret objectives. Awesome, awesome stuff.

Only knock really is that it DOES need the expansion. I originally was in the "ISC ain't so bad" camp but a few games with it showed that yeah, it's a pretty flawed card.

Play publicly revealed objectives from the start, replacement ISC, 10 turns, 8 points for the victor. Add in extras like leaders for flavor and taste. A guaranteed good time and a great way to spend a full day gaming with your pals.

Runewars = 6
Jason Lutes
kookoobah
Gary Sax
clockwirk
Msample
JonJacob

Twilight Imperium 3rd = 13
Jarvis
mads b.
Death and Taxis
Malloc
maka
Ska_baron
Shellhead
Aarontu
Jack Hooligan
Turek
MrZir
Mr Skeletor
Ken B.