Ive been playing all the "mechanics" games for years now. Games like Carcassone, Settler of Catan, Tikal, Agricola, Balloon Cup, Incan Gold, Ticket to Ride - and although those games have provided me & my friends with endless hours of fun, I always felt like they were lacking in theme and depth, and they were more about new and innovative mechanics. But I wanted something heavier, something that took more time and had more depth and theme to it than just 1-2 hours of mechanics.
I spent a few hours poking around, trying to find one that would fit the bill, and I found Twilight Imperium and Runewars. For me, although both games look and feel epic in nature, Runewars had the advantage of being playable with 2 players, and my wife is all about the fantasy setting and not so into Sci-Fi, so Runewars won out (although I will be buying Twilight Imperium at some point anyway).
I brought it home, and it looked amazing. Nice big box, 192 miniatures, 4 races, big heavy map hexes, it was gorgeous. We immediately punched everything out and I spent the next hour reading through the rulebook.
In this game there are 4 different races, all with their own personality and skillset. This makes for a very intense game. It takes a few games, but you soon begin to realize that each race has their own strategies for winning the game. Its not neccesarily about brute force and simply overrunning the map with your army. In fact, doing so will most likely cost you the game. There is a level of depth to this game that I have not yet seen. There is questing, and conquest, and tactics, and politics - all happening at the same time, and all viable ways to win the game. The polotical side of the game causes all sorts of bluffing and deceiving between players. Because of this, I have seen players pull the win right out from others many times, and its always the most amazing feeling. The depth of strategy to this game is simply amazing, and pulling off the win against all odds is REALLY why this game is so enjoyable. No one is overpowered, and no one can safely say "they have the cat in the bag".
I highly recommend this game, even at the outrageous price. I will get more playtime from this game than all my others.
I also want to stress, this isnt some light game. This is your gateway game to the heavier war games. Plan on 3-5 hours per game (although they can be played in 2 if everyone is familiar with all the rules). The first game will be slow, but every player is basically engaged the entire game, there is very little downtime.
Writing this review just makes me excited to play again.