by dedindahed
After my second game with the new rules, as suspected it take a lot longer. (also using Banners of war except commanders, and powerful cities)Both games did feature new players but I had a 3 player game go over 5 hours and a 4 player go over 7, both games have gone to the end of the 7th year.
While a huge epic game of runewars is still good, I did used to like that runewars was a game that could be played in under 4 hours.
Hence I've been thinking about variants for the occasions you do want to squeeze in a game in less time.
Obvious option is to reduce runes required to win, 4 is probably too few (though you did only need 4 additional runes over your starting total to win in 1st edition), but I feel like 5 would be a pretty good number, and less games would need to play the full 7 years, I feel like more games should end with someone meeting the victory conditions than by timing out.
Other options may be to use the powerful cities from banners of war, possibly in conjunction with the exploration tokens to introduce further sources of dragon runes into the game.
I don't like the idea of going back to declare and win immediately, as it seems anti climatic, and luck in the reward draws can really swing the game, maybe a separate declare to win condition but at a higher rune count, say 8.
Giving each player one real and one false rune at the start is another option, largely similar to reducing the runes needed to win, but with a few different possibilities, would probably spark an early rush to find a real rune on the map and fortify it back home to the false spot.
Any further ideas or comments appreciated.