Rune Stones is a deck-building, hand management game by acclaimed designer Rüdiger Dorn. In Rune Stones, every card has a unique number on it. Two cards are always played together, and the higher numbered card is removed from the player's deck. You have to be careful which cards you buy and how you play them to not lose your best cards. Players will use their cards to gather gems, forge them into Artifacts, then combine those into Rune Stones, which grants a special ability for the rest of the game. The more artifacts used in making a Rune Stone, the more points it scores, so players must decide whether it is best to gain abilities early or save to score more points.
On your turn, you may choose from one of three options:
1. Summon Creatures: Take new creature cards from the display by playing the appropriate amount of spell power from cards in your hand.
2. Play Cards: Play two cards from your hand, which will give you resources, new cards, or points. However, every card has a unique number, and the higher numbered card of the two is removed from the game (the other is placed in the player's discard pile).
3. Forge Artifacts: Players spend gems at the 6 different Dwarf forges to make an artifacts. Once they have at least two artifacts of different colors, these may be made into a Rune Stone, which grants a special ability and a significant number of points.
The first player to 65 points triggers the end of the game, and then the player with the most points at the end of the round is the winner.
—description from the publisher
The time has come to find the most powerful druid, that they may claim the throne!
Players will take on the role of druids who must prove their skills handling the powerful rune stones. Summon creatures by magic and benefit from their abilities, all in a search to gain precious gems. These gems must go to the talented dwarfs, who know how to use them to make a rune stone.
As their collection of artifacts grows, the druid's rune stones become more powerful. Each stone gives the druid a permanent ability (as well as power points). The abilities will aid in acquiring gems and artifacts, and the power points increase the player's chance to claim the coveted throne.
The druid with the most power points at the end of the game ascends the throne and is the winner of the game.
—description from the back of the box
Images
- Unique blend of deck-building, artifacts, and rune powers
- Multiple rune stone powers create varied strategies
- Engaging late-game decision-making and tension
- Can be lengthy; deck management can become slow
- May require careful pacing to avoid dragging in multi-player games
- deck-building with gems, artifacts, and rune stones
- The Magnificent
- Marco Polo - Maracaibo
- Oh My Goods
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Artifact acquisition and rune stones — Acquire artifacts, then cash in artifacts to obtain rune stones with ongoing powers; higher wait yields more points.
- Deck building — Start with a base deck and gradually lose lower-numbered cards as higher-powered cards are acquired.
- Deck-building and card shedding — Start with a base deck and gradually lose lower-numbered cards as higher-powered cards are acquired.
- end game bonuses — Game ends when a player reaches 65 victory points; artifacts and powers contribute to scoring.
- end-game trigger and scoring — Game ends when a player reaches 65 victory points; artifacts and powers contribute to scoring.
- Power rows and ongoing powers — Artifacts grant ongoing abilities; examples include wild buying power, larger hand size, or convert actions into more draws.
- Three action options per turn — Buy new cards from a row by discarding cards of the same color/gems, or activate two cards, or take artifacts to cash in for a rune stone.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's the slowest azul' game by far
- I liked New Dale quite a bit
- I think there were some cool streamlining things that happened overall by having the amount of stuff that you have to make stuff be less streaky
- this is a deck-building style game
- I might have a chance to try it again at some point in the future
- I don't think I'm super excited to keep playing
References (from this video)
- clever engine-building
- tight race to a target score
- early-stage deck-building may feel clunky
- engine-building through combination of cards
- gem collection and deck-building
- engine-building abstraction
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck-building — build a deck to generate better engine effects
- resource-gem collection — collect gems and use them to fuel engine improvements
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is the best area control game out there
- a perfect 10
- I adore El Grande
- really nice game I taught this to a complete non-gamer
- I love Feld games this one is just an absolutely brilliant one
- it's one of the best two-player games ever made
- overproduced to say the least
- one of my favorite dice games and it's actually just broken into my top 100 for the first time
- the sudden death mechanism where if you are the first player to collect three buildings then you'll instantly win
- really cool decisions