Mage Knight Board Game

I had heard of Mage Knight in some circles before I actually played the game, so I wasn’t totally clueless about the game, but I was the first one to purchase it at my local game store. I was also the first one to see the components of the game, and the first one to read the instruction booklet. And what an instruction booklet it is.

The game with all of its ins and outs can be a little daunting, but the makers of the game realized this, and they also realized that one of the best ways to learn is to do. So they included a rules booklet and a walkthrough booklet. The rules book explains the game in detail, and the walkthrough guides you through a demo scenario designed to show you how the game works. WizKids actually recommends that you play the walkthrough first BEFORE reading the rulebook, and after playing the game, I have to say that it was a wise decision. There are a lot of gameplay elements to this game, and playing the walkthrough shows you where and when those elements are applicable.

To start off, Mage Knight uses a lot of different game mechanics that have been introduced in other games, and ties them together in a format that works surprisingly well. It uses an initiative mechanic similar to Citadels, includes an exploration mechanic similar to Civilization, has deck-building and card-playing elements that can be found in a number of games, and even uses dice to manage mana to use for additional effects. The game even includes a level and experience system, as well as a means for interacting with villages and the like. It’s a vast game, and it may take a few playthroughs before you feel comfortable with the steps.

There’s way too much for me to explain about the game, so let me cover the basics. Everything your character can do in the game is influenced by your characters deck. Each character (4 in all) has the same cards in his or her deck, with the exception of one specialty card that is unique to each character. That card helps define the character’s main strength; one character is good at influencing units, another is good at being versatile in battle, one comes with a specialty attack, and the last is good at harnessing magic. The players select a character to begin the game, and depending upon the scenario you play, the win condition can change with each playthrough.

Players start out with a hand size of five cards, and use those cards to do everything in the game. Each of the base cards in the deck grants a use such as movement, influence, attack, block, or a specialty use of some sort such as healing wounds or using more than one mana per turn. Aside from the use printed on the card, players can play cards sideways (instead of placing them down on the table as you normally would, place them 90 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise) to use the card as a wildcard which can be move, influence, attack, or block. Playing a card sideways only gives a point of one to any of those statistics, where as a card that is normally used for a specific attribute yields 2 or more. In that regard, a player can always use their hand of cards to achieve something during a turn, no matter what cards they have been dealt for that turn.

In addition, each card has a normal effect and an enhanced effect. Players get the normal effect when they play a card down (but not sideways). But if players want the enhanced effect of a card, they need to spend mana according to the color of the card. That’s what the mana dice are used for. At the start of a round (one full day or one full night), the mana dice are rolled to determine what mana is available for use by anyone. There are four basic colors: white, green. blue, and red. There are also two variant colors: gold and black. During the day, gold mana is wild and can be used for any basic color, but during the night it is powerless. During the night, the black mana is wild, and during the day, the black mana is powerless. If a player uses a mana die to power a card, they place the die on the card to show it’s being used, then after the turn, it is rolled and shows what new mana the die now represents. Only one mana die can be used per turn, however. Players can also collect mana crystals to power their cards when no appropriate die is available, or if more than one card needs to be enhanced. Any number of crystals can be used, but they go away after they are used.

Combat is done via four phases: The ranged attack step, the enemy unit attack step, damage assignment, then the player’s attack step. Explanation is as follows:

Ranged attack step: A character can attempt to kill a monster before it can attack. If the player has enough ranged or siege attack to defeat an opposing unit’s total health, the unit is defeated and the rest of the steps can be skipped. Cards played sideways do not count for this step; sideways cards count for one point of basic damage only. If an enemy unit is fortified, only siege attacks count for this step; ranged attacks will not count.

Enemy unit attack step: The player has failed to kill the monster before now, so the monster attacks. To block the attack, the player must play block cards equal or greater to the enemy unit’s attack (if an enemy unit has the swiftness ability, double the normal amount of block must be played). If the player plays enough block, the attack will inflict no damage (it is stopped) and combat skips to the player attack step. If not, then proceed to the damage assignment step; any played block cards don’t count beyond this point.

Damage assignment step: The player could not stop the attack, and so damage is now dealt. If the player has a unit that he or she recruited in down, they can assign the damage to that unit, or else the character will take the damage instead. Damage is assigned in the form of Wound cards, which go straight to the character’s hand (if the unit is wounded, it gets one Wound card and cannot be used again until it is healed). A Wound card is assigned for the initial hit, and one additional Wound card is assigned for every point of damage greater than the character’s armor value. For instance, if a monster had a total of 5 attack and a character had a value of 2 armor, the player gets 1 Wound for the initial hit, another Wound for going over the armor value (5 – 2 = 3), ANOTHER Wound card for going over the value again (3 – 2 = 1), but the last point of damage is soaked up by the armor, leaving the player with three Wound cards in their hand. After damage has been assigned, the character gets to counterattack. (Beware of enemy units with the Brutal quality: they deal twice their normal attack value if they hit!)

Player attack step: The player can now play any cards they have remaining to try and defeat the enemy unit. Unlike the Ranged attack step, normal attack cards can be used here. Just like with the Ranged attack step, if a player meets or beats the unit’s health, the unit is defeated. If the player fails to beat the unit, the unit will remain on the board, and the unit will be at full health at the start of the next combat.

Just knowing the above details can get you through the basics of the game, but there is so much more. Through defeating Mage Towers, your character can gain spells to use with great effect. By defeating Keeps, you can recruit Keep units and get one additional card added to your hand size for that turn in which you start near a keep you’ve conquered. Exploring altars can yield a chance for extra experience or powerful artifacts. And leveling up can give you an advanced action card to add to your deck, plus a special skill unique to your character, or allow you to command more units in battle.

Despite how complicated the game SEEMS, once you actually understand the mechanics, Mage Knight plays very fluidly and contains enough challenge to make every playthrough interesting. However, let me share something of my personal experience with the game: Explaining the rules to someone who has never played before takes a LOT of time. It was my misfortune to have to explain this game in detail almost every single time I played, because I wasn’t smart enough to get a group together to play at once. Once you see the game in action, you’ll pick it up fairly quickly, but trust me, get something to drink while you explain the game, or else your mouth will get very dry, very fast.

Do you enjoy games that generally take a minimum of 2 hours to play? Do you mind needing to use a rulebook that is 8 1/2 x 11 and 20 pages long? Are you willing to pay $70 to $90 for a board game? Do you mind clearing off the entire table to play? Do you mind spending 10 minutes setting up the cards and tokens necessary to play a game?

If the above sentences make you shudder with revilement, I would say it is safe for you to walk away right now from Mage Knight and never look back. This is about as hardcore as board games get, and there is no shame in not being interested in something if you aren’t interested in it. Mage Knight is not for everyone.

If, on the other hand, the above has not scared you off, feel free to read on.

I would classify Mage Knight as something of an adventure game. You take the role of the titular Mage Knight, and individual who has made themselves beholden to something called the Council of the Void in exchange for great power. They send you out on various missions represented by just under a dozen scenarios in the rulebook. The story isn’t important.

While there is a goal for all the players to achieve in a given scenario, for the most part the players in the game are focused on themselves and their own conquests. There is a leveling system that doubles as a scoring system to determine an overall winner of the scenario. As you level up, your characters will become noticeably stronger. The game play requires a combination of skill and luck. There is some dice-rolling that comes into play as well as deck-building as you go through the game, and a good bit of resource management There is also a PVP aspect to the game as well.

There are 4 Mage Knights to choose from. Each one varies a bit in terms of abilities available to them, but not enough to go into here. The map is represented by cardboard hexes that get added randomly as the players explore the map. Each larger cardboard hex contains 7 spaces with different terrain types and locations to explore and interact with. Each game will be different regardless of the scenario played by virtue of the fact you will have a different map to play on each game.

Every action you take, from movement along the map to fighting bad guys to interacting with the locals in a village will be done with the cards in your hand. Every character starts with 15 cards that are pretty much the same and one card unique to that Knight. They provide values for movement, attack, defense and influence. Some also facilitate the acquisition of mana which will be used to power your abilities. Each card has a no-cost value or ability and another stronger version that costs mana to cast. There is a shared mana pool you can draw from that depletes over time as well as mana crystals you have earned doing various things in the game that you can save and spend as needed. You also can use influence to hire units to command in villages, monasteries, cities and mage towers. You will have opportunities to purchase spells and abilities during the game as well.

As you defeat monsters and do other various things, you will gain fame. Fame ultimately determines the overall winner of the game. This also doubles as experience points. As you level up you will have ability cards randomly drawn to choose from to add to your deck. You also will get to choose from character-specific skills drawn randomly as well. This means that even though you may be using the same character as last play it can be played very differently this time. You will on alternate levels get tougher to hurt and be able to command more units.

Each scenario has X rounds, and each round consists of several turns. The round ends when one of the characters runs out of cards to draw and chooses to declare the end of round, which adds another layer of strategy. Do I end the round and wait until the next to start fresh, or do I use the cards in my hand and hope they are enough?

Complex enough? There is more! Each round is the equivalent of a half day. First round is day, second is night. Movement is easier in the forest and harder in desert during the day and vice-versa at night. The stronger version of magical spells requires black mana, which is only available at night, but during the day you have access to gold mana which can act as any color mana but black making standard actions easier to power up. Everyone picks a tactic card at the beginning of a round which grants a boon of some kind and determines turn order. The later your turn, the better the boon. There are different tactics at night and at day.

Want to storm that keep? If it is day, you can walk up to it and see what is inside. If it is night, you either take your chances and attack blindly or wait until the next round to see what is inside.

Want a couple more cards in your hand for the next turn? Ransack a village! Want a powerful artifact? You can burn down the monastary. Just keep an eye on your reputation meter which determines how easy or hard it is to hire units and buy spells.

There is definitely more to this game than I want to try and cram into this review. If I haven’t scared you off, I recommend you click on the “see official rulebook” link on the site here and read the Game Walkthrough. Not the Rulebook! The Game Walkthrough! There are two rulebooks with this game. One kind of holds your hand through a game and the other just has information that expects you to know the basics. As I said, very complex.

As far as what is in the box, I saw another review here stating that the cards were very flimsy. I assume that the game has gone through a higher quality reprint, because I found the card quality to be superior. Nothing in the box feels cheap to me. My only complaint is one of the characters has no eyes for some reason and just looks weird, but that complaint aside, I am very happy with the game’s quality.

The game has a perfectly good solo variant as well. If I need something to occupy a couple of hours, I am more than happy to break out the game and just play. It doesn’t get old for me.

In closing, as I said before, this game isn’t for everyone. It is expensive. It is complex. It has a ton of pieces to keep track of. It takes up the whole table. It takes hours to play. However, if what you read here seems interesting, I will say I am not doing the game justice. This is one of my favorite games of all time. If you are willing to put in the time this game deserves to be played properly, it may become one of your favorite games as well.

This is a tough game for me to rate, especially since so far I have only played the “tutorial” scenario (First Recon) four times so far. I’m still waiting to get this one to the group, but I want to be sure I have all of the rules down before I introduce it to others.

Gameplay is STELLAR. I am already head-over-heels in love with this game. Reading the “Walkthrough” book first, and then playing along to the walkthrough, is for sure the way to go for your first try. I had no issues playing along this way, and it was very fluid and solid. Dare I say, even quite exciting the first play through – although it took 3 hours (with setup and rule checking).

Getting 5 cards to your hand, and then trying to decide how to best move about the board, which direction to head off in, what you expect to do on your next few turns, is what makes this game shine. I have been lucky enough to start 3 of my 4 games with a good movement card in hand, and with a green mana die from the source, able to at least get moving across the map. This allows saving influence and attack cards, for the eventual clash with the Orc (especially, with my luck, hitting Summoners a few times in the first battle, which can be a bit tough depending on the summon).

When the tiles start coming out randomly (only played with the set order of tiles my first 2 playthroughs), things REALLY get interesting. The decisions seem endless. Do I head to the village first, and save a few influence cards to recruit a peasant for which to use as a meat shield, or possibly to gain a few more movement points from his ability? Or do I head for this mana mine, and gain a crystal first before I head on out. Is there a safe path out of this tile, by which to explore another? Or am I going to have to head into battle?

I have seen a few complaints on various forums regarding the game “forcing” you to do actions you don’t want to do. My response to that, is that I don’t want the game leading me around by my hand. I like the PUZZLE aspect, of having a hand of cards, and trying to figure out how to best use them with the END GOAL in sight. No, maybe this turn I CAN’T move up to that mage tower and assault it, BUT – if I spend these influence cards to move next to the desert tiles in my way, on the last turn of the day round, then I have a better chance of quickly moving through those tiles during night.

Decisions like that, are what make this game the best, imo. For me, it’s too simplistic to have a base movement, and just move and roll a die. Although I play Pathfinder and occasionally the D&D Adventure board games, I always find the die rolls a bit of a weak element. Especially in the beginning, I don’t feel like I can do much to mitigate the roll/randomness. Some find that realistic, but in my opinion, a HEROIC adventurer (or Mage Knight!) would have the intelligence to think of the best action before taking it, and wouldn’t just “trip” trying to swing at a lowly creature.

This game offers so many options above and beyond the other adventure games I have tried. There are a wealth of play options – co-operative, competitive, Player Vs Player, blitz, full length conquest, solo, you name it. I haven’t seen this kind of flexibility in a game yet.

THE NEGATIVE:
It has to be said though, I was a bit let down when I got the game home, and opened it up the first time. The first thing I noticed, was the tokens seemed “Damp”. I don’t quite know how to describe it, but they really felt like they would maybe dissolve in my hand, or pull apart. However, I haven’t had any issues with them yet.

Another issue upon opening the box, was the fame/reputation board and the night/day board. Both were warped pretty bad. They have mostly settled after these few weeks, but still not perfectly flat.

Miniatures also are hit and miss. Arythea has no eyes, only a large pink mouth. The other models appear fine (and are fairly nice), but the cities are VERY bland looking. Light grey (almost white), with just tips colored red, green, yellow, or blue. I would have liked a bit more detail on the cities, and a better paint job on Arythea.

The last issue, is the cards. They are THIN. The thinnest cards I have come across in any game, to date. This really bugged me, as after spending 80 bucks on the game, I had to also spend 16 bucks on sleeves. There was no way I was going to risk not sleeving these cards, and I have not sleeved a game YET. This one, there is no choice. The cards are really THAT thin.

This poses a slight problem with reviewing the game. Gameplay wise, I would easily rate this a 10. My first perfect rating for a game. But the components bring the score down, unfortunately, because for the price I honestly expected more.

Be sure, though, the tiles and artwork are of good quality otherwise (I love the artwork on the cards), and I’ll do everything I can to protect this game so that it brings years of enjoyment. But I can’t overlook the fact that I’ve bought 40-50 dollar games that have had far better card stock and many more miniatures in the box, or at the least a thicker/heavier stock to tiles and cards.

I will say, however, that so far nothing has appeared to wear or damage, and it’s been moved around from table to table, packed up, set back up, etc. This game takes approximately 15-20 minutes to set up, and about 10-15 minutes to pack back up (especially if you keep everything separated/organized in baggies). After that, it’s about an hour per player, give or take an hour…lol.

Be sure to explain the basic rules first, though, when introducing new players, show them the cards in their hand and how they work, and show a few monster/keep tiles first so they have an idea of what they are in for. OTherwise, it can be a slaughter for new players and a real struggle. Learn the rules first, be comfortable with the game, THEN introduce it for a few “Trial” runs with your friends.

Mage Knight is a fantastic single player game that’s also enjoyable with 2-3 players.

It’s an interesting blend of deck building, dungeon crawling and light RPG. While it seems intimidating, the rules are logical and well designed, and the rule book does a fantastic job walking you through a sample game.

The game allows for a lot of different experiences depending on your style, and has a lot of rules that work out great (being able to discard any card for a basic boost, for instance), and doesn’t ever feel like you’re playing a limited version of what it wants to be – if you’re playing solo, it’s a full fledged solo experience. If you’re playing coop, the rules require cooperation and make it fun. If you’re playing vs, it does a great job giving everyone a chance.

While the game is long, it’s always enjoyable. It’s best as a solo game, and a great way to spend an evening, but is good for 2-3 players as well, especially if everyone is sufficiently geeky.

I bought the game about a month ago, I just finished the first scenario and looking forward to play the full game. I feel I can get into the game, I just need to find the right players to play with. Found it Complex but fulfilling. Especially when your deck pumps up. TOP NOTCH!