I just ordered a copy of Runebound, having never played the game, but after reading up on it, it seems to be one of the best out there.

At first I'm going to play through it with a friend and see how it goes without any expansions. But I noticed that the Essential Collection has been announced, which includes The Cataclysm, The Seven Scions, Beasts and Bandits, Traps and Terrors, Weapons of Legend, and Rituals and Runes -- all for $30.

Does this seem like its worth getting? Or are there any expansions that would be more vital to complete the game? There's a poll on gameboardgeek that suggests that Shadows of Margath is a must-buy:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/490989/which-expansion-is-best-polls

However, I'm not at all interested in PvP, I prefer more co-op play, which is why The Seven Scions seems the most interesting to me.

Any thoughts / suggestions?

The Runebound Essentials is a really good opportunity for people who didn't buy any of the card expansions. The add ons may not be 100% the best ones ever published, but are all excellent add ons.

The two Challenge card expansions are Beasts and Bandits & Traps and Terrors, two of the most interesting ones (would have preferred Drakes and Dragonspawn instead of B&B, but that's personal)

The Items expansions are quite nice ones: Weapons of Legend has interesting Market cards and Ritual & Runes are a nice add-on to gameplay.

The Cataclysm and the Seven Scions are good Adventure Variants. Perhaps Culf of the Rune and The Scepter of Kyros might be considered better, but in the end no Adventure Variant is really unworthy (Avatars of Kelnov is very similar to the Base game, only tougher).

The poll in BGG is interesting but I think the final outcome is not very reliable. The expansions with the best rating are the older ones = the expansion that most people have played and possibly got affectioned to. Artifacts and Allies figures out as the best Item expansion, which is not true for sure. It's the FIRST item expansion, currently out of print. I had a hard time finding a copy but when I saw the content I was disappointed.

Shadows of Margath is a middle-of-the-way Challenge Card Expansion, with some nasty add-ons but nothing "essential" (the Red Encounter is something legendary for its cruelty, but I don't care very much for the other cards). It's just the first one being released.

arcana10 said:

I wouldn't worry about any of the card expansions adding that much PvP (except the class decks, which are specifically made to add PvP.) I suppose Crown of the Elder Kings has a certain degree of unavoidable PvP toward the end, but the majority of the variant is still good and I find it enjoyable nonetheless.

I'd play the base game a few times before buying the Essentials set. If you enjoy basic Runebound after a few games then YES get the Essentials set. Well worth the price, especially if you want to keep the game fresh, and for your money your getting more playtime out of the Essentials box than buying one of the big box expansions.

If I was just getting into Runebound then the Essentials Collection would definitely be my first purchase after the base game. Then probably Island of Dread which is my favourite big box expansion. It doesn't change the game as much as much as the other boxed sets (in my opinion a good thing) and is a fun adventure.

Thanks for the advice. Just played through my first game, and I was very impressed with it. The rules aren't so complicated and we had a lot of fun with the base adventure.

Just a couple things:

1. I was fairly disappointed at the choices for Heroes. Do only the big box expansions come with new Hero cards? Are they any cooler than the original ones?

2. I found myself constantly looking through the market deck, hoping to find some allies with strong stats, particularly Range, but it seems most are pretty weak. Which expansions offer stronger Allies? Is Weapons of Legend a good choice?

arcana10 said:

Yes, only the big box expansions have new heroes in them. However, there are plenty of homebrewed heroes out there on the net that you could use with whatever of the base 12 figures seems most appropriate, to give you variety of heroes without costing you too much moolah. In particular, I would point you to the set of heroes based on the box art of the various expansions over on BGG (I think the user who created them was Warbringer25?)

arcana10 said:

Most of the allies are designed to be wanted for their special ability more than their combat abilities, in my experience. I'm not sure which card expansions are best for allies in particular, but I don't think Weapons of Legend is a good choice. It's a perfectly good expansion but I'm pretty sure it's mostly weapons. I think there's one called Artifacts and Allies (?) that's probably got more ally cards, although I know a lot of those are ones with funky special abilities and not necessarily kick-ass combat stats.

I have and use both the expansions Steve mentions, and you won't find any uber-allies in them. That's not really what most of the allies are about, though some have some odd little abilities that can be put to good use once you understand them. My wife, Barb, used a cheap one (don't remember its name) that allows an extra Magic attack/damage for the price of an exhaustion. She was getting real annoying with that one.

Using Allies effectively takes a little thought, I think. And they shouldn't really replace a Hero striving to be the main contender against challenges met and faced.

Weapons of Legend won't be a game changer either, but is still a sound addition. Artifacts and Allies is better for its diversity and what you're after. You should get that one first if you don't have it. It has "familiars" in it, which are essentially allies that don't count against your two ally limit. They aren't very potent but have some unique Little abilities that can be fun.