2007.01.30
Through the shifting sands of Al-Kalim
Jason and I tried out the recently-released Runebound expansion The Sands of Al-Kalim on Sunday afternoon. This expansion uses the base rule system, but many of the other facets of the game are completely new and the theme is not at all the same.
This expansion makes no use of the Doom Track variant, but it seems to play quickly enough without it. The idea is to complete four legendary quests before anyone else does. In order to complete four quests, though, you’ll have to defeat at least one Red challenge, so you can’t just ignore the rest of the game and blindly go about your quests.
The introduction of the sandstorm and some other new elements like a distinction between day and night makes for an interesting switch from the normal Runebound method of play. The removal of the event cards is also a change, and the addition of the story step is also nice. Before we started, I was a little concerned that the story step might turn out to be Bad Things Happen, but it turns out that in many cases the story step is not something to dread.
In this particular game, I managed to win, but only by a hair. Jason would have won by a single turn, but luckily for me, he failed a skill test when trying to complete his final quest.
I really enjoyed playing the expansion once I got used to the differences from the base game, though this isn’t a game I would recommend that Runebound novices attempt – the rules assume you already know how to play the basic game, and I would suggest having a couple of games under your belt before giving this expansion a go. I’m looking forward to the next time I get to play it.
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