negotiating. The stats are also used to determine their combat abilities in Ranged, Melee, and Magic phases respectively. Many heroes also have special abilities which can be used to help them in their adventures. During the game, the heroes attempt to complete adventures of increasing difficulty, colored respectively green, yellow, blue and red. The adventures can take the form of challenges that require the hero's skill, events which affect play for all heroes, or combat with an enemy. Completing these adventures results in rewards and experience for the hero, making them more powerful based on the difficulty of the challenge. Most adventure cards feature a battle with an enemy. Each enemy also has a skill in each of three phases: ranged combat, melee combat, and magical combat. A hero can only attack in one of these phases and must defend in the other two. However, a hero can recruit one or two allies who can attack during the other two phases of the battle. The heroes are able to acquire gold in their adventures which can be used to purchase items that enhance their abilities such as magic swords, enchanted armor, and healing potions. As they defeat challenges, the heroes gain experience tokens which can be used to increase their starting abilities by exchanging the tokens for increased stats, stamina, or extra life. As heroes grow more powerful this allows them to tackle more difficult quests (yellow, blue, and finally red quests). Various expansion card decks change the basic game as you can gain familiars, banners, and new powers. In the scenario included in the base game, "The Rise of the Dragonlords," the first hero to defeat Margath or complete three of the red adventure cards wins the game. Many small box expansions listed below offer variants changing the victory conditions, themes, monsters, and items available. Finishing a game can take many hours but the rules book offers some variant rules to speed up play. Reception In a review of Runebound in Black Gate, Jeff Stehman said "There's a story running through the game that any turn of card can add to it. These can inspire." Expansions FFG has released many expansions for the game. The following is a complete list as of March 2010. This includes the following: Board expansions The Island of Dread - Released in 2005. Was the first expansion released for Runebound. It features a new