I would appreciate any help to a Runebound initiate(me) who isn't sure where to start with expansions/card packs.

Is there a better expansion to start with?

Is there a better card pack to start with?

Are all of the expansions/cards not compatible with one another?

Sorry for the questions but any guidance would be appreciated.

I just introduced someone to the game and I shuffled in the following card expansions:

Champions of Kellos

Walkers of the Wild

Shadows of Margath

Terrors of the Tomb

Drakes and Dragonspawn

I feel these decks expand the basic game without changing or adding to the basic rules and flavour.

I've had the most fun with the Sand of Al-Kalim board expansion. The rules presented there really add a lot to the game. Specifically, I love how I have choices to make each turn beyond where I'll move on the board: instead of choosing to face an encounter, I can roll the story die or undertake a quest. The fact that each turn is guarnateed to be eventful seems to make the game go a whole lot smoother compared to the regular game.

The first ones that i got were

The Terrors of the Tomb

The Dark Forest

Artifacts & Allies

Relics of Legend

Mix of more danger and goodies.

Plus I'm fearing that they'll run out of these early expansion at my local stores so

I got them as fast as I could.

Here's the usual link to Mr. Skeletor's "shopping guide to Runebound," which describes the various expansions in some detal:

fortressat.com/index.php

My suggestion: I'd go with a couple of the small decks to start. An extra item deck will add a good amount of variety to the equipment, an extra challenge deck will give you extra monsters, encounters, and (if you get one of the later four decks) events, and an adventure deck will give you a chance to play something other than the "kill Margath" story. Go for whichever of those sounds like it needs the most variety to you. And if you'd like a new adventure and setting and have a bit more money on hand, the big box expansions are the way to go.

Gareson said:

Oops -- I forgot to answer that in my first post.

The item/ally expansions all work just fine with one another. The challenge card expansions sort of work well with one another. In terms of rules, they're just fine mixed with one another. In term of a sensible story, you're probably better off just adding one deck at a time to the main one.

The adventure variants and big box expansions don't work well with one another. You'll only be using one at a time. You can use the new item decks and/or challenge card decks with them, for the most part. (By "for the most part": Al Kalim replaces all ally cards. Midnight replaces the whole ally/item deck. Many of the variants remove the red challenge deck and/or replace the events in the various decks with their own ones.)

I know I'm jumping a little late into this; however, here is my 2 cents.

Of course where you start depends a little on how much money you have to spend! If you have the money i would get:

1 big box expansion: I like Sands, but you can't go wrong with any of them. These give you new characters and a whole new gaming experience.

2 adventure variants: Adventure variants are great. They offer a new end-game and a new playing experience would start with cult of the rune and The Cataclysm. Both provide very unique playing experiences.

2 challenge card variants: These add variety to the challenge decks, but won't change the endgame. You're still going to have to fight good old Margath in the end (but they do add an extra red challenge or two). Traps and Terrors is a really innovative deck and you can't go wrong with Shadows of Margath.

2 item/ally expansions: These add variety to the market deck and most add new classes of items or allies. Walkers in the Wild and Champions of Kellos are great decks. If you want some new types of items with interesting mechanics then Rituals and Runes and Weapons of Legend are great. Beware of Relics of Legend...that deck has the much dreaded "Banners".

If you want to step into it a little at a time, I would definitely start with at least one each of the adventure and challenge decks. If you want a very different playing experience then you can get some class decks...however, if you go that route, you really need to get all six of them. Class decks really improve player interaction, which is virtually absent otherwise. The trade-off is an increase in complexity and a longer game.

Lindsey said:

thanks for that link! ive been looking for something like that for awhile. i only have 3 card expansions and just kinda picked them cause i wanted new cards. now i can get decks more tailored to what i like for sure.