Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) announces BATTLEMIST reprint, RUNEWARS

Written by Michael Barnes October 14, 2009 Hits: 2141 Favorites

Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) announces BATTLEMIST reprint, RUNEWARS

News Details

Source	Press Release
Source URL	http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=853

Fantasy Flight Games Announces Runewars

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fantasy Flight Games announced today that they will release Runewars, a new game of quests, battles, and empire-building by Corey Konieczka.

"Corey has come up with the massive fantasy empire-building game that fans have been demanding," said Jeremy Stomberg of FFG. "With rich game mechanics as well as innovative 3D mountain terrain, Runewars represents a big leap forward in tabletop games!"

Taking place in the world of Terrinoth (the same setting as FFG's Descent: Journeys in the Dark and Runebound), Runewars will be released in FFG's Epic-sized box format, containing nearly 200 plastic miniatures, a large amount of terrain including 3D mountains, plus hundreds of cards and tokens.

Runewars is designed for 2-4 players, with an MSRP of $99.95, and is scheduled for release this winter.

About Fantasy Flight Games:

Roseville, Minnesota’s Fantasy Flight Games is a publisher of board, card, and role-playing games. Founded in 1995 by Christian T. Petersen, Fantasy Flight has published hundreds of successful titles, including Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game, the Lord of the Rings series of board games; board and card games based on H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos and George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, and many original board games such as Twilight Imp erium, Runebound, and Descent: Journeys in the Dark.

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JonJacob said:

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Sounds sensationalistic. Not in a bad way... except for my wallet if the reviews are good. 3D terrain... fuckin' eh!

October 14, 2009

metalface13 said:

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Well, I don't think any of us saw that coming. I've never heard of Battlemist. Anyone played it?

3D terrain? Is that going to be necessary? And you guys were right, Space Hulk has pushed prices up.

But Barnes should be happy, his buddy Corey has a new game.

October 14, 2009

Gary Sax said:

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I have no idea what this is going to be like...?

October 14, 2009

Mr Skeletor said:

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HOLY SHIT!!!!
THE RUNEBOUND TRILOGY IS COMPLETE!

October 14, 2009

metalface13 said:

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I hope they keep the hex tiles, I like rearranging maps.

October 14, 2009

Mr Skeletor said:

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WHERE IS THE BACK OF THE BOX????

October 14, 2009

Mr Skeletor said:

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It's hexed!
http://www.fantasyflightgames....=Runewars

What scale are the minis?

October 14, 2009

Death and Taxis said:

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Hellllooooooo bankruptcy. smilies/shocked.gif

October 15, 2009

Hatchling said:

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Wow, that's a lot of stuff in the box.

October 15, 2009

moofrank said:

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Wow. Essen is a bust, it looks as if I won't be spending any money on games for the rest of the...

aww fuck.

Well the last game they sprung on us at the last minute was Android.....

October 15, 2009

Michael Barnes said:

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Yep, we knew it was coming...the $100 price point has been breached.

In all, this sounds pretty good. Smart marketing, tying into their proprietary Terrinoth world- I like that they're enriching an existing IP no matter how much I hate RUNEBOUND or generic fantasy settings. It sounds like they're pushing it on components with 3D terrain elements (which you can't really see in the pictures), I'm interested to see how that looks and if it actually makes a difference in gameplay.

I am concerned about the 2-4 player thing, I can't shake the feeling that we'll see a 5-6 player expansion down the road when it probably should be in there already at the price.

Corey K's name on the box makes a big difference to me, and I've never played the original BATTLEMIST so I have no preconcieved notions about it. Reading Mr. Petersen's letter on the site about it, I didn't realize Corey worked on SHATTERED EMPIRES. Wow. No wonder it's good.

I've suspected for a while that BATTLEMIST might be revisted at some point...if this turns out to be a fantasy counterpart to TI3, that's likely the best possible outcome.

October 15, 2009

MattLoter said:

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Like they don't have enough of my money already...

also, does this leave hope that the regular sized mystery box is the A Song of Ice and Fire Adventure Game?

October 15, 2009

lfisher said:

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From the pictures it looks like some edges of hexes are 3D. It looks kinda cool but seems a bit gimmicky. Definitely one to watch though.

October 15, 2009

lfisher said:

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Also do the orders sound like Warrior Knights?

October 15, 2009

moofrank said:

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Battlemist is/was damned interesting. It definitely carried over a lot of ideas from TI. It is a decent fantasy wargame with an overlaid quest component.

Sadly, the quest component was a little too primitive, and the quests were a little too generic.

A reworking should at the least be good. It could be amazing.

October 15, 2009

Squigherder said:

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This is great news. Battlemist was a fun game but always seemed a little less evolved than TI.
There goes 100 bucks.

October 15, 2009

metalface13 said:

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I agree, 5-6 players should be included in the base game, especially if it's $100! Still … randomized map, different factions, neutral units to conquer or form alliances with, heroes to go on quests … this is sounding like a board game version of Heroes of Might and Magic. I like that sound of that very much.

October 15, 2009

Gary Sax said:

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If this is good, I will almost certainly buy it, looking at the tiles. I'm really feeling this might and magic comparison metalface13 made. The one thing I want to know is how different the factions will be and this stuff about neutral factions. Both those things, if properly implemented and the races are really different, make this a complete must/will buy.

October 15, 2009

maka said:

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Hopefully the 2-player game is good, so I guess I'm in

I'd like to see how the quest component works...

October 15, 2009

kookoobah said:

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If you look closely, there's a giant holding a tree on the box cover.

October 15, 2009

Southernman said:

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Hey - 40 page rules book ! they just jumped over my 32 page comfort zone smilies/tongue.gif

October 15, 2009

Jur said:

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Bugger,

just got CitOW and MEQ in, and now this!

October 15, 2009

Jason Lutes said:

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Oh man. I don't even have the room to store that thing. I really don't like the Runebound world, but with Corey K. on board this game is a must-try. Yay for modular boards!

FFG is such a juggernaut now that it's a little discouraging for a wannabe designer...

Also, you can kind of see the mountains if the upper left of this shot:

October 15, 2009

Jason Lutes said:

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One thing I noticed looking at the hex tiles is that they figured out a way to make mult-hex rivers work on a modular board. I've tinkered with that problem off and on for years and the solution that they found -- using tiles that are 2 or 3 hexes combined -- is brilliant. Too bad I was working on the same problem for a fantasy empire-building game that this announcement has rendered obsolete!

October 15, 2009

Columbob said:

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Battlemist had lots of interesting ideas. I bought it cheap with the expansion on eBay a few years ago, only played it once though. Like Frank says, the quest component was a good idea, but poorly executed (too primitive is right on the money). Never tried the expansion, which seemed to favour trade/exploration over warfare and added a bit to the quests.

Battlemist featured 6 factions (humans-orcs-barbarians-undead--elves-dwarfs) and you know this game will beg for expansions, probably more than just the one TI3 had if it's successful enough.

No street date yet.

October 15, 2009

Mr MOTO said:

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Sonuvabeotch... This looks like a game I can really sink my wallet into.

October 15, 2009

waddball said:

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I dunno guys. When I see this new game leveraging the Power Grid universe IP, I think I may have to pass on Runebound....

October 15, 2009

Malloc said:

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Fuck me... where do i pay?

-M

October 15, 2009

Gary Sax said:

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Looking at the FFG site...

13 map tiles, including stunning three-dimensional mountain terrain tiles

Do you think that means 13 types of terrain tiles? Looking at the picture above, it looks like there are way more than that. 13 would be pretty weak...

October 15, 2009

Almalik said:

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I remember Battlemist being pretty shitty actually. It was bad enough that I almost didn't pick up Twilight Imperium. The quest component didn't strike me as that big a new idea, and everything seeming pretty half baked and given the most generic fantasy setting possible. I'm shocked people were actually requesting this game, unless they hadn't played it before.

I guess I am surprised that they are promoting Runewars so heavily as a remake since it is going to have entirely new mechanics and is being retconned into the Runebound universe. I'm interested, but I'd be much more stoked if they hadn't mentioned Battlemist at all.

October 15, 2009

Columbob said:

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13 map tiles, including stunning three-dimensional mountain terrain tiles

Do you think that means 13 types of terrain tiles? Looking at the picture above, it looks like there are way more than that. 13 would be pretty weak...

They're multiple-hex tiles.

October 15, 2009

Michael Barnes said:

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I guess I am surprised that they are promoting Runewars so heavily as a remake since it is going to have entirely new mechanics and is being retconned into the Runebound universe. I'm interested, but I'd be much more stoked if they hadn't mentioned Battlemist at all.

It's smart though, because you're getting the RUNEBOUND folks on board as well as the people that liked or wanted to play BATTLEMIST but missed it.

That being said, I don't know if making such a big to-do about it was a good idea since it makes it seem like less of a new title, which it really is. This is why folks will say something is the "spiritual successor" to something else, and they may have done well to play it off that angle. Like, "We did BATTLEMIST a long time ago, now, this new game brings forward some of those ideas in to an exciting new setting" or seomthing to that effect.

October 15, 2009

moofrank said:

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Power Grid Factory Manager is...mostly a new game which is unrelated to Power Grid.

It is really good. Kind of an old school number crunching hardcore business game. Brutal and unforgiving. The kind of Euro I like.

October 15, 2009

Kingdaddy said:

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Speaking as one consumer, I could care less if it has 3-D terrain or not. If that's the difference between an $80 price and a $100 price, I'd be glad to do without the 3-D mountains.

October 15, 2009

waddball said:

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I'm sure it's fine, but the cover cracks me up. A lot of euros have ordinary settings, but add a little whimsy. This one will have none of that: maximize your efficiency, Hans, or you're fired!

Anyway, I just found out about this game for the first time yesterday and observed that it's set "in the world of Power Grid," so in light of this Runewars announcement, I thought it made for a funny juxtaposition.

Sorry, carry on.

October 15, 2009

Gary Sax said:

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Agreed Kingdaddy, I think this 3d terrain is a total gimmick.

October 15, 2009

Michael Barnes said:

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Speaking as one consumer, I could care less if it has 3-D terrain or not. If that's the difference between an $80 price and a $100 price, I'd be glad to do without the 3-D mountains.

I thought the same thing as well but I didn't want to say anything for fear of looking uncool or too negative.

Yeah, they're totally a gimmick. I don't see where they'll add any gameplay value. They may look cool though, don't know if it's worth a $10 price hike.

October 15, 2009

jeb said:

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Pish posh. 10% for stunning 3-d terrain? No problem. There's guys out there selling kidneys for HEROSCAPE tiles of the proper size and shape. This'll be fine and won't cost 'em any business. If you guys want, just d/l the rules for free and repurpose your scads of dudes from other games. ArtsCow will print the cards cheap--you can do this $100 game practically free! I think this game will be good. MAN these guys make some awesome games.

What's the "world of POWER GRID"? Isn't that, basically, 1990's Germany? I'm not getting this. I've never played POWER GRID, perhaps there are trolls. Enlighten me. OH IT IS TO LARF.

October 15, 2009

Jason Lutes said:

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I dunno, it strikes me as being as much of a gimmick as sculpted figures vs. meeples, or war suns vs. glass beads -- i.e., an atmospheric aesthetic embellishment. They obviously could have turned out the exact same game without the 3D mountains, or figs, or fully-painted hexes; instead, they went whole-hog and decided to push the manufacturing envelope in an interesting direction. Part of the AT aesthetic, after all, is to look at the game all laid out on the table and go, "Aw, cool!"

For me, if the gameplay is there, those mountains will be the sweet, sweet cherry on top. If the gameplay isn't there, they'll be a marketing gimmick.

October 15, 2009

Space Ghost said:

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$10 extra on a $90 game isn't a big deal. Are there really games that you say "Well, I would pay $90 but $100 is just too much" -- if your budget is that tight, then you probably shouldn't be buying a $90 game in the first place.

October 15, 2009

Michael Barnes said:

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You know what they could do to make this worth $100 and no one would bat an eye about the price? Throw in a sprue of Terminators.

October 15, 2009

JonJacob said:

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J Lutes may have voted for Dune over TI3 but he is still totally right with his commment about the "gimmicky" 3D terrain.

ALL plastic figs are a gimmick, all painted tiles, or pretty boards, or any aesthetic addition, is nothing more then a gimmick. So fucking what? That is why I pay for boardgames. I could make everything with my shitty handdrawn maps, stupid pieces of wood, and a couple of decks of cards, if I was willing to take the time. I'm not, and I have the money, so fuck it. Bring on the gimmicks I say, bring on the visual appeal. Art is not idea alone, aesthetics do matter... same goes for boardgames.

October 15, 2009

Brewmiester said:

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Our group played a couple of times back in the day, minus the expansion if I remember correctly. Not bad, not great. Seemes like we thought there were some balance problems between races, but I might be confusing Battlemist and Mighty Empires.

October 16, 2009

Mr Skeletor said:

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Thank God for you Jeb. Otherwise I'd have to got hommicidal on some whining asses.
I'm convinced some of you guys who go to a toothless prostitute if it would save you $10 ("Teeth? What a gimic!")

October 16, 2009

Old Dwarf said:

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Damn I could easily get sucked into this one...what the Hell is going to
happen to all this shit when I die smilies/tongue.gif

October 16, 2009

Pat II said:

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Stating that the 3d terrain is a gimmick is just dumb and flies in the face of what AT is all about. It's been said before - would you rather replace the figs with multicolored meeples and save another $10-$20? Plastic = awesome ffs.

Don't slag on toothless hookers, it is usually a sign of experience.

October 16, 2009

Kingdaddy said:

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Well, gee, why not add running water for the rivers? Or mud for the swamps? Or astroturf for the plains?

Plastic is not always a good thing. The game experience of Magic Realm wouldn't be significantly better with plastic figures, no matter how good the "sculpts" were. The play's the thing.

In fact, in many cases, plastic figures are a detriment to the game. Sorry to offend any Tide of Iron fans out there, but I'm convinced that the designers spent way too much time trying to figure out how to make plastic army men work as the basis of a light WWII wargame, instead of designing a good light WWII wargame. And there are plenty of examples of games (Galactic Emperor, for example) where the plastic wasn't strictly necessary, added to the cost, and wasn't even very well executed.

Stating that the 3d terrain is a gimmick is just dumb and flies in the face of what AT is all about.

Maybe the game elements that manufacture theme appeal are different for you than for other people on this thread. For me, a game like Battlestar Galactica works because it re-creates the dramatic elements of the show, constant paranoia and relentless threat. A "sculpt" of Colonel Tigh would add cost, not make the game any better.

In fact, there are plenty of RPGs that have great theme, and require no figures at all. Back in the day when I was part of a good RPG group, our regular Call of Cthulhu were outstanding experiences, with no miniatures required.

Plus, I'm sick to death of the gushing over a new game with shiny components, because (1) it's new, and (2) the components are shiny. Game publishers who play to that market are losing my business, not gaining it.

October 16, 2009

Southernman said:

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Fuck me - how did an RPGer get onto this site smilies/shocked.gif

! Round up all those weirdos who sit around with one book between them all and a pencil & paper and show them the door to the bare room - and the rest of us will continue with our beautiful boards (2D & 3D), dozens of minis, colourful cards and tokens in their hundreds ..... BUUUURN the witches !

October 16, 2009

Shellhead said:

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Alderac has delayed publication of The Art of War (their long-awaited DoaM game for the Legend of the Five Rings setting) because of cost issues. They are probably trying to do plastic figures comparable to War of the Ring, which is a shame, because plastic figures are actually problematic for a strategic game, due to stacking problems. Also, L5R has had the best overall CCG artwork in recent years, so they could do some awesome-looking cardboard chits along the lines of Arkham Horror.

So I don't have any enthusiasm for $100 becoming the new price point for boardgames. I will become ridiculously picky about buying new board games and simply work on exploring the emergent gameplay of the 100+ games that I already own.

October 16, 2009

Shellhead said:

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Remember guys, AmeriTrash games are not defined by plastic. You could replace the brown wooden colonist disks of Puerto Rico with Little Black Sambo figurines, and yet Puerto Rico would still be a fucking EuroGame.

October 16, 2009

Michael Barnes said:

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what the Hell is going to happen to all this shit when I die

Hilarious! That cracked me up!

On the $100 price point- for SPACE HULK, it wasn't an issue in the end because it's a game that's worth $1000 to me. But I did balk at it when it was announced, and I do think that an untried design (assuming that it's very different than the 1st edition BATTLEMIST) with such a high price tag does merit some question.

On plastic, I'm sort of indifferent to be honest. I love good, quality plastic miniatures because they're _fun_. However, they never add a single thing to gameplay. Nothing. They do not enhance the actual play of a game one iota. But they can increase the visual appeal, atmosphere, and overall sense of excitement a game creates. Is that worth $20-$30 on top of the price of a game? Sometimes, yes. Other times, no. DESCENT wouldn't be the same without them, but you could take all the plastic out of WAR OF THE RING and it would be the exact same game, and it would actually be easier in practical terms to play because you'd have easily identifiable counters with easily tracked information and they'd all fit in the damn regions without tipping over.

Plastic is good, but I've never felt it was somehow critical to gameplay. But yeah, of course I'd rather have plastic over wooden cubes. At least plastic actually represents something, and I do think that matters.

October 16, 2009

shryke said:

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Plastic is fine till it gets in the way of the game.

It can add lots of visual aid to the theme and the overall status of the game your playing.

It's easy to figure out where your guys and their guys are when you can just look at the board and see a bunch of plastic figures in 2 different colours. This kind of thing is important too. Visual Presentation makes games more playable. (As long as it doesn't cause problems of it's own)

October 16, 2009

Pat II said:

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I don't have the luxury of hanging around with people who like games as much as I do. The visual appeal goes a long way to attract people to play something when they don't own any games, it's fun. Squad Leader is better than just about every tactical wargame out there but I can't seem to find anyone who is attracted to playing anything with chits.

The game has plastic mountains that won't add a damn thing to the gameplay - but neither do figs so why buy any game that has figs when you can just print up the rules and break out your crayons and scissors. The recession seems to really be hitting the gaming community hard, most people will spill $10 worth of beverage on the floor over the weekend.

October 16, 2009

Kingdaddy said:

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Squad Leader is better than just about every tactical wargame out there but I can't seem to find anyone who is attracted to playing anything with chits.

Then you might not be talking to people who are really interested in WWII. There is no graphic novel version of Ambrose's book on D-Day, but it sure has sold a lot of copies.

October 16, 2009

Jackwraith said:

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Barnes wrote:

DESCENT wouldn't be the same without them, but you could take all the plastic out of WAR OF THE RING and it would be the exact same game, and it would actually be easier in practical terms to play because you'd have easily identifiable counters with easily tracked information and they'd all fit in the damn regions without tipping over.

True enough. But one of the things that sold me on the then-expensive WotR was the cool minis; especially the Ringwraiths. I looked at that and thought: "This may be the first LotR game worth playing because they've clearly put in some serious time and money on the production." and I was right. I don't mind paying extra for chrome like that.

October 18, 2009

Morpheous said:

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YEAH!!! Battle Mist!!! I offered a guy on the other game site, a 100 for it and the expansion...he turned me down..lol Now I get a new copy!! This is a fun game. Its a spin off of Thunder's Edge, a very underrated game that had a lot of very cool mechanics (based in the TI universe) I get a lot of request to play TE from my game group!

December 03, 2009

Columbob said:

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I'll sell you my mint copy with expansion for 50 if you'd like.

December 04, 2009

Morpheous said:

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Oh NOW you want to sell it

I will think on it!

December 04, 2009

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