by MScrivner
Here is what I will say about Runewars vs. Eclipse - and it's similar to the review I wrote constrasting Eclipse and Twilight Imperium 3:Eclipse is almost TOO elegant. Everything is so refined and boiled down to its core that the thing missing is a metagame. There is almost no (as in some but very very little) room for tabletalk, negotiation, deal making or backstabbing in Eclipse. I, personally, like those elements, though you may not. Runewars, like Twilight Imperium 3, has those metagame elements. There are lots of places in Runewars for dealmaking, threats & bribes, agreements, ganging up, and betraying. For example - I might hold the role of the Wizard's Council, which means I get to decide ties in auctions. A bid may come up for which I cannot win, but which two of my opponents might have tied. It would then be reasonable for me to extort some benefit or promise from one of those opponents in order to break the tie in his favor. Similarly, I might hold a card in my hand that could mutually benefit both myself and my opponent, and I might use it to broker a deal with that opponent.
There is almost NONE of that sort of thing in Eclipse. I like Eclipse well enough, but it is, at it's heart, still a resource management Euro-Civ with space ships and combat, and the player who wins often is the one that manages his resources most effectively and builds his Civ (through the development of techs) most efficiently. Runewars has resource management only insofar as it necessary to maintain and build your armies - there is (at least without the expansion) no tech to develop, and no civ to grow. It is almost entirely a game of conquest and the resource element only exists to help manage, balance, and maintain the rate of conquest.
Hope that helps!