In your opinion, what is the hands-down BEST big board expansion for Runebound?

I got Runebound recently and I'm a bit of a sucker for expansions. (I've got two of the big expansions for Arkham Horror.) Which one provides the best additional gameplay experience?

I'm also looking into cooperative play variants (everyone in my gaming circle loves co-op games) and was wondering which of the big expansions was the most conducive towards co-op play.

gatharion said:

Sands is the most frequently quoted as "best big box expansion." It's certainly my choice, although it should be noted that I haven't played Zanaga yet. They're all good in different ways, but Sands is the one I'd promote if you can only get one.

Like the base game, it isn't technically a co-op game, but you have to go out of your way to bug each other so it might as well be.

If you're really into co-op and want more of it in Runebound I'd recommend Mist of Zanaga. I will state that it is the only big box expansion for Runebound I've played, but with the way the Primal Gods work, it can create a lot of tension and it's possible for the "game" to win, thus creating a more cooperative atmosphere. Although as Steve-O says, the games are pretty non-confrontational to begin with, and in Mists there is still technically only one "winner". I've really enjoyed my handful of plays with it though.

There's actually 5 board expansions (Isles of Dread, Midnight, Sands of Al-Kalim, "the snow one", and "the jungle one").

Iirc Midnight is actually co-op, well, one badguy vs everybody else. I really liked the Midnight theme, but gameplay-wise it wasn't as fun as the other expansions (which is apparently why they stopped producing it).

I personally love the Runebound Midnight Big Box Expansion. The covenant weapsons and items alone make it worth playing. The rules variant from Cities of Adventure make the game so much fun and automate the Night King perfectly. I love the fact that you can upgrade your weapons, armor and items so they help you so much. Of course the last game I played I had a sword that was upgraded to verily godlike status, then I ran into a red enemy, that said "Consider all covenant weapons and items as activated and unable to use during this battle". It was like a 5th grader going up against a street brawler with a pea shooter. I got clobbered but good. I love this game!

wow all different answers

I'm also a relative newbie to RB. I own the core, Isle of Dread (only dipped on toe into it), and Sands of Al-Kalim. The Quest motif in SoAK is a great break from the traditional "get the bad guy" ending. It took a little while to get the rules down (and some regular help from regulars around this forum and elsewhere). But once that was done, SoAK became THE game around my place. We'll still get back to IoD, and maybe some core variants, but it'll be a while before we wear out SoAK.

My wife, Barb, can't get enough of it. She wants to introduce RB to some guests coming in for the weekend. I had to talk her down from dumping them straight into SoAK and instead introducing them to just the core game. I should say that I am interested in the "search" motif of Frozen Wastes, but I get the eye from Barb when I hint at playing anything in RB besides SoAK.

I introed RB with SoAK to my friend right away, no big issues really. I've been looking at Frozen Waste myself, seems very fitting from a real-life POV (-28C outside atm ), but the whole space-faring immortals, machines and mechanical servants just gives me the creeps themewise. Thus, IoD is current expansion on the lookout, even though it has some issues as well (Trenloe in particular).

Yeah, Dam, I have to agree about the SF theme in FW... but that search mechanic still intrigues me. If nothing else, Judd put together a little variant that takes place long after the timeline of FW's main scenario that might be fun once the mechanics are learned.

Glad to hear that SoAK can be picked up by some on the run when playing with experience players. Not sure Barb and I yet count for that. Were they experience fantasy boardgamers or not? The ones here this weekend hardly play boardgames at all but are fantasy film/fiction enthusiasts.

JCHendee said:

The guy is the default playing partner for me, I tend to buy and learn a game on my own, then teach him after getting a hang of it. Though I hadn't actually played SoAK before that initial game (had a few RB games played though), had read and re-read the rules. Compared to base RB, it's really just Day/Night that you need to clear, Story die comes into it rarely at the start, you're still looking for experience initially, only after you get a LQ that refers to the Story die does it really need to be brought into the discussion. Of course, if a non-gem, non-town movement end happens, it's at least something you get to do in SoAK (which might of course increase play time if you fail to reach your goal at night and get Ambushed).