WizKids Mage Knight Board Game (Standard Edition)

Many of those who pick up the Mage Knight board game will fondly remember the collectible miniatures game, also from WizKids. I know I did (although those memories are tainted by the downward slide into overpowered madness that marked the middle years of the game's history). For what it's worth, the Mage Knight Board Game has nothing in common with the miniatures game, aside from the name and a few select references. For how different this game is from the roots that spawned it, I must start the review by saying this: the Mage Knight Board Game is excellent. Not mediocre, or just good, but excellent. And for a game that's part randomized-tile exploration, part deck-building, part-dice rolling, part fantasy combat sim, that's an amazing accomplishment. For starters, let's look at the quality of the components. Regular board game enthusiasts will understand when I say that they are at the level of Fantasy Flight Games, and even better in many respects. The tiles used to create the game board are on solid card stock, but thin enough that they don't require too much vertical space to store (a problem I had with the tiles included in the D&D adventure games, such as Castle Ravenloft). The four plastic miniatures representing the players are pre-painted, as well as four "city" miniatures that incorporate the click-wheel design that featured so prominently in the miniatures game long ago. A very interesting, but superior, choice was to use a noticeably different playing card stock from what has typically been used for deck-building games. The cards are very flexible, but don't show signs of wear-and-tear as easily as traditional card stock (at least in my experience, I have read contrary opinions from other reviewers), like cards from Magic the Gathering. Serious gamers will likely still default to card sleeves, but to be honest the card stock is flexible and sturdy enough that it doesn't require sleeves to the extent that most other games do (basically, unless you plan for very heavy use of the game, I don't think card sleeves are necessary). The multitude of cardboard tokens are also on good cardboard with attractive, distinctive images on both sides that help illuminate their use during the game. The plastic insert included with the game holds all the components snugly, perhaps a little too snugly in the case of the cards (not enough space is available to definitively separate the types of cards, which is my one complaint on the components). So the components hold up to the standard of quality (excellence) that I set at the beginning of the review, but what about the game itself? If anything, the game system is far superior to the plastic and cardboard products within the game itself, and would be worth purchasing even if the components were of lesser quality. What sets the game apart from many others is how seamlessly and beautifully the separate systems interact with one another. Approaching the game, you will see many different systems: a combat system, deck-building system, and exploration system. The common points of intersection are the board, which is developed by interchangeable tiles that are "explored" during the game and on which monsters are placed, and the player's "deed" deck, the cards from which are used to fight, recruit allies, move, cast spells, etc. The ultimate goal of the game depends on the scenario, but typically the goal is to acquire the most "fame" (victory points). You gain fame by defeating monsters and conquering cities. Additional fame is awarded at the end of the game for certain accomplishments. With that in mind, how do we go about getting as much fame as possible? Since defeating monsters and assaulting cities is the mechanism by which fame is acquired, players need to maximize their ability to complete these two tasks. The game divides the mechanisms by which to accomplish this into "move, influence and [combat actions]." Movement allows you to get where you need to go (with different terrain types dictating the number of movement points required to move to a desired area). Influence allows you to buy units/spells/abilities (all in the form of cards) that will give you increased move/influence/combat ability in subsequent turns. Combat actions are divided into attack/block types, with a multitude of variations that make combat into a mini-puzzle that rewards thought (and without which makes the determination of the combat's true victor highly improbable). The deed deck is the source of your ability to do all these things (plus your units, which are separate), from which you draw cards that give you movement/influence/combat points to spend each turn. To further complicate matters, the game is at an even higher level divided into day/night rounds. So within a round there are multiple turns, and each player takes turns playing their turn, etc. The great thing about all these seemingly mundane (at least from my description) actions is that they take place in an evolving fantasy world (evolving based on how you explore it). You will find monasteries, mage towers, mines, magical sites, ruins, keeps, cities, and more as you explore the world and seek to strengthen your character. The excitement of turning over a tile to see what options I've just uncovered is still a major part of the game, and a major reason why I continue to play this night after night, and will choose to play it over computer games (my typical after-work "decompressant"). From the previous description you can already tell that the sheer number of rules and exceptions to those rules becomes an issue when you start playing. This is compounded by the use of two rulebooks, one a walkthrough book designed to get you started, the other the official rulebook (but designed so differently that you will have difficulty clarifying rules when you have a question - this is my main issue with the game, actually). Luckily, the game is simple enough at its core that after just a couple of games you should have the hang of it. What's more, is that once you begin to play the game, you also understand the interactions between the systems and how beautifully cohesive it is. The game experience is truly wonderful, being described by some as solving a puzzle each turn. And, as the use of the word "maximize" in the preceding paragraph should have tipped you off that in many ways it is a puzzle. You are solving the problem of how to maximize the acquisition of fame with a randomized hand of cards. But that probably makes the game sound too much like work, which it most certainly is not. The game is awesome - the systems, once understood, make it well worth the effort to go through the steep learning curve for the first couple of games, and even more impressively, the game is a blast to play both solitaire as well as 2-player. My conclusion? If you like Fantasy-themed games, board games in general, computer RPGs, or are just a straight-up nerd like me, buy this game.

This game is dangerous (in a mostly good way) if you like deck building and strategic problem-solving. It's fun but time-consuming, you can very easily get sucked into playing 'just one more turn' and suddenly you haven't done anything else for hours, or gotten any sleep that night! You play a 'Mage Knight' and have to traverse an unexplored landcape over several day and night 'rounds' where each round consists of several turns of playing cards from your hand to move, interact with NPCs, or fight. You can add cards to your deck over time by beating monsters to get fame to level up, getting loot from various adventure sites, or buying them with influence. There are a number of scenarios you can play, most involve some kind of big picture goal like capturing cities, or being the last player character surviving, if you are playing with other people. You can play with up to 4 people, or solo. I have only played the solo game so far, and had a lot of fun with it. The rules are complicated, so be warned there is a learning curve. I spent several hours during my first game just setting up the board and reading the 2 rulebooks. Then you have to play a time or two to really master the rules and understand the game play. Patience and learning investment are needed to fully appreciate this game. But once you get through that, the strategy and problem-solving challenges are delightful. There are many, many ways to use different combinations of cards effectively to accomplish goals in this game, and the characters are designed to have differing strengths and weaknesses, such that different styles of play / strategies work better or worse depending which character you are playing. The eureka moments (and there are many) when you discover a new way of using cards you've seen before is a reward of this game. It's a lot of fun, but can be very time-consuming. My tendency is to think through options during my turns (even if that takes some time), but many people in gaming groups are impatient with that.....in some cases because they're faster at arriving at a similar conclusion to mine, but sometimes because they play more carelessly and not as well (though faster). To have a good experience playing this with other people, I recommend finding a group with compatible ideas to yours about what is a 'reasonable' pace to play your turn. If you like to spend time considering different possibilities, do it as much as possible during other player's turns to save time during your own. But if you fundamentally want to play much faster or slower than others in your group, that may be a bad fit. I solve this problem by just playing by myself......I don't think the strategies and problem-solving are any less interesting that way, and it frees me to play when I have free time and use whatever pace I want that day without putting up with nonsense from close-minded twits who can't deal with any play style but their own. It takes several hours to complete a game, and something like 20 minutes of setup.....often I don't try to finish a game in a single setting, I play a round or two at a time and leave it set up on a table in my office over a period of several days or a week. I've had a lot of fun with it though it's a lot of time spent doing something by myself. That's no problem if you are introverted and comfortable doing things alone, but perhaps not the best idea if that makes you lonely. If you want a more social experience, see if you can find others to play this with, or maybe choose a different game that's easier to learn + play with others over a shorter time. But if you like replayable deck-builders with RPG elements and lots of delightful subtleties and variations, check this out.

I am brand-new to this type of gaming and after 6 Solo plays (play #7 is halfway complete on a table in the basement as I type this) I have to say that I am hooked. The game mechanics can seem complex, but they are very smooth. Everything fits together. You can always see "why" you are doing certain things and this helps you remember how to apply the various rules. Yes, you'll forget rules as you play, but the more you play, the closer to "by the book" you'll be. (Check out the boardgamegeek web site for answers to rules questions.) The learning curve here is fairly steep. If you are the type that is easily frustrated, then you may want to pass on this one. It takes several times through just to become familiar with your "base" deck of cards - let alone which of the Units, Advanced Actions, Spells, or Artifacts you should try to collect. I'm finally reaching the point where I'm choosing items that seem "more useful" to me. In early games I was choosing items that seemed "less useless." I still can't "beat" the game with the cities set to their recommended levels. This brings up the fact that the game can be scaled to your ability - to a degree. Most of the scenarios require you to conquer cities to attain victory. The cities are on "click bases" which can be adjusted to the desired level. Once adjusted, the window shows you which type (and how many) of enemies you must fight to capture the city. If, like me, you struggle at the harder levels, simply back them down until you can beat it. Then start slowly cranking them up again. Other than the cities themselves though, the rest of the "world" does not scale. (I suppose you COULD pull the particularly nasty enemy tokens out of the pile if you really wanted to.) The replay value is phenomenal. By randomly shuffling cards, enemies, and even the map itself, you never play the same game twice. In the Solo Conquest, you only use two of the four cities so you even randomize that. You won't know which cities you need to take down until you reveal them! You only use 7 of the 11 "countryside" map tiles (randomly chosen), so just moving around the map will always be an adventure because you won't know which map tiles are in play (or what order they will show up) until you've revealed them all. The publisher recommends this for ages 14+ and I concur. All 4 of my kids (ages 5-12) wanted to try it but they all got bored due to the long lag time between turns (especially with new players, ESPECIALLY with new, young players). The 10 and 12 year-olds (girls) both reported that they enjoyed it, it was just too slow. The 9 year old boy enjoyed "helping" me play a two-player game semi-solo, but he was more fascinated with the fantasy-adventure monsters than actually trying to really play the game. The 5-year-old, of course, was way to young but insisted on trying it with the others. The moment the rain stopped and the sun broke through the clouds I lost him to the swing-set. (The others weren't far behind.) The game does take up a good deal of table space. The scoreboard, day/night board, and "offers" alone can take up an entire card table if you lay them out as suggested in the rules. You'll also need room for each player's deed and discard deck, skill tokens, units, and play area. Once you've found room for all of that, you still need a decent chunk of real-estate for the mapboard itself! (Get a room with two queen beds if you take this to a hotel with you - one for you and one for the game!) So if, like me, you're after a complex but mechanically solid game to get addicted to, I would strongly suggest purchasing this game. You won't be sorry.

I got this game since it can be single player; there's only so much solitaire one can play during COVID... In all, I highly recommend this game! Each play is unique and challenging, the concept is unique, and it's highly strategic even for single players. Cons (minor): -The rule book & game walkthrough booklets were misassembled. This caused a lot of confusion initially. -You need a LARGE table for this. A simple card table will not be big enough as you build your board throughout the game. This isn't a classic one-board game. There's a board for player progress, several card decks that expand, a player area (for each player), and then the gameplay board which expands as you play. For 1-2 players, I think 2 card tables or a large dining table is adequate. You could potentially do 1 card table and a side/coffee table as well. -Pet owners! There are a lot of small pieces, so if you're leaving the board overnight and have animals, I recommend bagging up loose pieces. My cat got several of them and it took me quite a while to find where she hid them all! -This game isn't for people who want something quick and easy. There are A LOT of rules, and unless you're dedicating a full day to play, it could potentially take several days to complete a game if you're new to it. For some this is a pro, for others a con. Pros: -Each game is unique. You can play with multiple strategies (offensive/attack-mode, exploring, etc). Single-player option is still challenging and strategic. The game board & pieces themselves are incredibly detailed and the concept of the game is very unique. In terms of setup, think Betrayal at House on the Hill, Catan (Cities & Knights and Seafarers), and Risk. -Quality pieces. The progress board was slightly warped but it's not too bad. Otherwise the rest of the game pieces are high-quality and seem durable and unlikely to damage with long-term play. The organization in the box is very nice too and everything easily fits back in after you open up the packaging. -What is really nice is that there is a walkthrough booklet that is meant to teach you the game & outline your first play. You'd also use this walkthrough when teaching others for the first time. It goes through game setup and rules as you'd encounter them naturally during game play. -Multiple scenarios (scenario booklet included), so you have a new objective with every game you play. The foes you encounter, strategies, and player interactions will constantly change so I honestly can't see how you can get bored with this game. For the price, this is absolutely worth the investment.

Let's get this out of the way: I've only played Mage Knight solo, so the scope of this review is limited to solo play. That itself says something about the game, because the reason that I played it solo is because I don't know many hardcore gamers, and it was impossible to get any of my friends to invest the time just to learn this daunting game. On the other hand, the fact that Mage Knight can be played solo is a testament to the flexibility and sound design of the rules. Everyone talks about how complicated Mage Knight is. Well, when you open the box and get a load of all the cards and tokens, and you read the rulebook with its tiny typeface, you might be initially overwhelmed. Maybe it's because I'm a software engineer who has learned and played a large number of tabletop games, but I found that this impression dissipated once I learned the rules. They aren't simple, but they quickly cohere once you play it a bit. Even though I was impressed by the tactical complexity and balanced design of Mage Knight, I did feel that solo play became a bit dull into my second playthrough, to the extent that I didn't complete it. The problem here is that I'm not sure play with multiple players would improve much. In Mage Knight, each player is more or less questing on their own, and they compete by comparing their success at such. Though the players all share the same map board, and may end up racing each other for first chance to plunder a newly-revealed hex, they don't have much direct interaction. Besides design, I think where Mage Knight really shines is in its rendering of theme. If you're looking for a game to give you the sense of the breath of choices and tactics available to a questing wizard straight out of pulp fantasy, you'll love this game. If you enjoy that experience, there's enough variability to offer a great deal of replay value, whether adventuring solo or alongside others. For me, it's more of an impressive curiosity than anything I'm likely to break out on any given Saturday, but you're mileage may vary. In the age of video games, board games still offer a distinct experience due to two factors: the face-to-face socializing of players, and the tactility of the game components. As I've said, I can only guess at the multiplayer experience of Mage Knight, but I can testify to the high quality and engaging design of the physical game pieces. The cards are durable and textured, the art is in the style of fairly standard but well-rendered lurid fantasty, and the plastic figures are quite nice and appealing. The cardboard map tiles are thick and durable. Icons on the map and tiles are clear and distinct, which is what you'd hope from them. The plastic tray that comes with the box is pretty flimsy, though, and I can't quite figure out how to fit everything back in neatly.

There are SO many great things about this game, it's difficult to begin. First off, the theme of the game is a fantasy one that you'll find in many games but with the twist of your being a powerful character from the start, a god even, as opposed to starting off as a complete Level 1 weakling. Even so you'll still get stronger with the help of more powerful abilities and spells, and with another feature of the game, allies. The ability to influence and in effect, buy, minions to help you is a very cool thing indeed, since you can use them to fight, block, or even absorb damage that would have befallen you. Everything you do in Mage Knight will happen from your cards, your original 16 card hand and any other actions and spells you've accumulated, so there's a deckbuilding aspect similar to Dominion but instead of amassing assets you're collecting actions, spells, and artifacts that will let you do more, and like Dominion it's very addictive to see what your next hand will let you do. Your actions will often be powered by mana, either by your stash (and the very cool plastic mana "gems") or from the random mana pool of dice which will change and have different nuances depending on whether the round you're in is Day or Night. The game comes with two rulebooks, one with the straight rules and the other as a walk-through for your first adventure, which they recommend you use to learn the rules initially instead, then refer to the rulebook for reference later. Despite there being a lot of rules, and the font is TINY in these books, it's all very clearly stated with good instruction and pictures, and they take care of a lot of "what if" rules so when you actually get started you're pretty well equipped to get through your first adventure smoothly, and believe it or not you won't have to go searching the web for many rules questions because they do that good of a job presenting them, and that's rare for this kind of board game. Once I got up and running, I had a blast and my girfriend joined in and she enjoyed it too. Another huge plus in this game is that you can play solo, and actually have fun. I can't recommend Mage Knight enough; it's a LOT of fun to play, the deckbuilding aspect is awesome and so are the exploration and combat aspects which are done extremely well. This game is a MUST buy if you're a gamer and I think it's both influenced by a lot of other great games and it will influence future games for the things it does so well.

What I mean by the title, is that this board game has a harder learning curve than any other game I've played - by a LONG shot. My 2 friends and I took about an hour and a half just getting to where we could start playing the "beginning" scenario. Even after that, we were constantly looking up rules, and when I read the rulebook a second time a few days later I noticed we still weren't 100% in compliance with the rules. That said, there IS meat at the end of this bone. None of the gameplay elements appear to exist without reason - and when you consider just how many different gameplay elements there are (2 rulebooks full of them), then you begin to realize just how much depth this game provides. Mage Knight also has a good amount of replayability with a dynamic game board used to fulfill a number of solo, coop and "regular" scenarios. You can even adapt the scenarios to be played solo or coop, even if the game doesn't give explicit rules for them. One thing I very much liked about this game is that many scenarios are both competitive and cooperative. For example, in the first scenario it is the player's goal to find a city. As long as you find the city in 3 rounds, you don't collectively lose. However, once you find the city, whoever has the most fame will win. Thus, you have a collective goal while still fighting for top position. It makes for very interesting gameplay. Overall I must say that I'm very pleased with this purchase, but be warned that my group of friends (who are, by and large, gamers) had to take a couple of hours to really wrap our heads around this game's massive ruleset. The number of rules will likely alienate non-gamers and will probably be difficult for preteens to understand. I'll also add that - after a quick look online - there don't appear to be any expansions, or plans for an expansion, despite how well this type of game lends itself to expansion packs. I really hope they do come out with one, as I would happily buy expansions that gave more players, map tiles, monsters, actions, units, artifacts, etc. I now understand why this game sold out in 20 days. It is a fantastic fantasy strategy game and I look forward to playing it with my circle of friends for a long time. I spent $80 and consider it money well-spent.

Mage Knight has been a lot of fun for my wife and I! We have played it multiple times since we bought it, and regularly want to play again. We have also played it for consecutive nights in a row, leaving the game assembled, and continuing reach night. We have not played it with more than two people yet, and I honestly feel it would be difficult to find others that would be willing to commit enough time to complete a game. I am not familiar with the clix group of games, or other boxed role playing games. However, I have played quite a bit of pen and paper role playing games. Mage Knight was a welcome change to pen and paper role playing games that required a game master, and the concept of playing cooperatively agains the board is a primary reason why I purchased the game. In fact, I have tired other cooperative games like Castle Panic, Pandemic, and Flash Point, and wanted to try a more complex and lengthy cooperative game. Mage Knight seemed like a good choice to fill this category, and it has not disappointed. It has piqued my interest for other immersive cooperative games that do not require a game master. To this end I have been considering living card games like the Pathfinder Card Game, and boxed dungeon crawls like The Legend of Drizzt Board Game. I am considered, however, that those games just will not be as fun as Mage Knight which offers quite a bit in terms of nonlinear play, achievement tracking, and even stronghold acquisition. Additionally, the range of fully cooperative play to fully competitive play outlined in the rule book for Mage Knight suggests lots of replayability. Primarily I think I will focus on expansions to Mage Knight before I try other complex fantasy-themed cooperative board games. Final thoughts and remarks: the game seems to take a long to play (more than a 150 min), although this may decrease with familiarity with the rules. Speaking of which, the rule book and walkthrough book take a few hours to get a handle on, and the game can certainly be said to have a steep learning curve. This game is perhaps best played in a location where the many cardboard pieces, player zones, and hexes with placed miniatures can be left out for a few days. The game is worth the price, and will offer many hours of fun.

While I love to game with my mates, I am always on the look out for a good, solid solitaire game. Most solitaire experiences end up falling a bit flat. Either the solitaire mode feels pasted on or. lacking the social element. the games don't give an enriching experience. Mage Knight succeeds where many other solitaire games fail. First off, this is a complex game. I mean really complex. The rulebooks are pretty good and contain a walk through but I wouldn't be anywhere near understanding this game had it not been for some very good videos at boardgamegeek and youtube. The game is a combination of deck building, card playing, exploration and stats with dice rolling. You play one of four characters (five with the Mage Knight Lost Legion Expansion expansion) and your goal is to defeat monsters in dungeons, keeps, mage towers, lairs and those that roam the land. By doing this you gain spells, skills, followers and stats. There is shockingly little luck in this game and success or failure isn't usually up to random elements. You'll need a fair bit of table space to play this and it's not a game you'll want to leave set up. You'll have a dozen stacks of counters, cards and the like as well as other bits to spread out. The map can get pretty large but is usually limited by the scenario. All in all, if you are looking for a very robust solitaire game with a fantasy theme that can also be played multiplayer and if you like fantasy then you can't go wrong with Mage Knight. Just beware that the learning curve is rather steep, even for a seasoned gamer. There are numerous resources out there to help you not only learn the game but become a better player as well. This is a highly recommended beefy game.

I have looked at buying MK for years and finally did so, unfortunately I could not afford the Ultimate edition but the basic game is fantastic anyhow. I like to play solo and the fact you can play at your own pace is attractive to me. Unfortunately the game is also attractive to my two cats who try to steal my heroes. Once again Amazon delivery was prompt and the game arrived in perfect condition.

Me llegó en perfectas condiciones, en mi caso no faltaba nada. Es un juego muy entretenido, no es para nada difícil de jugar en cuanto a mecánicas como mencionan algunos, (Yo había evitado éste juego por eso durante mucho tiempo) sólo que sus manuales están algo desordenados, sin embargo todas las reglas vienen ahi de manera clara, sólo hay que leerlas y ordenar las ideas para poder entenderlas, después de eso todo fluye muy fácil. Con una persona que las entienda, puede enseñar muy fácilmente a los demás y si quienes juegan piensan en divertirse, más que en no perder el juego pasa muy rápido, así de fluidas y sencillas son las reglas, como dije, lo único es ponerlas en orden, creo que eso espanta a mucha gente. Lo más difícil de aprender es lo siguiente: Para defender de fuego lo haces con hielo. De hielo te defiendes con fuego. De fuego helado defiendes con fuego helado. Si defiendes con algo diferente a eso que es lo efectivo, los puntos que generes deben duplicar el valor de los puntos que debes bloquear Las fases del turno son: Movimiento. Acción/interacción. Fin del turno. En la pelea es: Jugador ataca a distancia(solo usas cartas de ataques a distancia) Jugador genera bloqueos para defenderse. Fase de asignación de daño. Fase de Ataque del jugador Y recordar que al asignar daño para tomar heridas, siempre tomas herida primero, sin importar el escudo del personaje, después restas el valor de tu escudo al valor de ataque recibido, si queda valor de ataque después de la resta, repites ese proceso hasta que el valor de ataque sea 0 ó negativo. Si estas dispuesto aprender eso, ya aprendiste lo difícil de las reglas y podras disfrutar de este juego de aventura, exploración y desafío. Me gusta que es un juego que te hace pensar dos o tres turnos a futuro y planear bien tus jugadas. Las miniaturas no son perfectas y mucho menos su pintado, pero se agradece el detalle, ya que de los juegos que poseo, no recuerdo tener alguno que venga así de fabrica. También me gusta que se puede jugar en solitario y como para Jugarlo de esa manera, ya debes de saber las reglas es muy rápido. Sacarlo a la mesa es muy sencillo y guardarlo también, ya que solo necesitas el deck de personaje, unos cuantos tokens, 3 decks mas y las fichas de enemigos, todo se debe revolver por separado, asi que casi lo vuelves a sacar como lo guardaste, una barajeada sencilla y ya está. Sin duda alguna verá mas juego en mi mesa, hasta estoy considerando comprar ya las expansiones.

One of the best RPG board game out there. Ordered it through Amazon Global Store and received it in 9 days.

Es un juego precioso, de los que se disfruta un montón nada más mirar la caja (me encantan las ilustraciones, pues no son las típicas de este tipo de juegos) y al abrirla hay magia. Sólo le pongo una pega: el reglamento tiene una tipo de letra con un tamaño demasiado pequeño para mis cansados ojos. Son unas reglas complejas pero fascinantes. Hay vídeos en YouTube muy buenos que ayudan mucho para iniciarte. La mecánica del juego personalmente me gusta mucho: es una mezcla curiosa y que funciona. El colocar todos los elementos del juego puede llevar un rato (sobre todo la primera vez), pero si te organizas las cartas, tokens, personajes y demás, se tarda menos tiempo. Se necesita una mesa hermosa y con mucho espacio libre para jugar. Por ahora sólo lo he jugado en modo solitario (que va de fábula), pero estoy deseando jugarlo pronto con otra persona (a ver si hay suerte y consigo engañar a alguien ;-) Magnífico juego.