1172: Mage Knight

It was a board games evening tonight, and since we were down one member from our usual troupe to play Descent: Second Edition we decided to crack open a new acquisition and give it a shot: Mage Knight.

None of us really knew anything about Mage Knight prior to going in save for the fact it was supposed to be good, so it was always going to be something of a learning experience. Due to the relative complexity of the rules — or at least, the relative complexity of introducing the rules to everyone — we didn't manage to finish a complete game, but at least now we have a good understanding of the basic mechanics and will probably be able to romp through the introductory scenario without too much difficulty.

Mage Knight, if you're unfamiliar, is a rather interesting game with elements of role-playing, strategy and deck-building card games. You play a single character who begins with a deck of basic abilities — one of which is unique to each character, the rest of which are the same for everyone — and then work your way towards the objective of the scenario you're playing. Scenarios vary from cooperative ones where you work together as a group to competitive ones, where whoever gets the most points after the end condition is fulfilled wins, to "very competitive" ones, where whoever fulfils the victory condition first wins.

Play is split into rounds, which represent either day or night-time, and each round can and will go on for several circuits of the table. On each turn within a round, you can play some cards from your hand, some of which award you with movement, combat or influence points, and can then use those points to do various things. For example, moving requires a particular number of points according to the type of terrain you're moving over, and influence is used in settlements and other friendly locations to do things like make use of services or acquire troops. Some cards have special abilities, too, and most have two possible functions — one simple one that can be used for "free", and a more powerful one that generally requires a specific colour of mana to activate. Mana can be acquired through cards, through crystals you've stocked up on through various means, or most frequently through the dice that represent the "Source" — the mana naturally flowing through the world.

Through moving and attacking, you'll reveal more and more areas of the map, each of which include various things to do. In villages, you can recruit new troops, get healing or pillage them. Come across a fortress and you can assault it in an attempt to take it over for yourself. Discover a wizard's tower and you'll have the opportunity to get some powerful spells. Most actions affect your "fame" level — which acts as a combined score and "experience" system, allowing the player to grow stronger in various ways every so often — and your reputation in the area, which provides bonuses or penalties to the amount of influence points required to do "friendly" actions. Defeating marauding monsters improves your reputation; attacking fortresses unprovoked has a negative impact. There's a nice feeling of "consequence" to your actions.

We didn't play far enough to finish the first scenario, but we learned enough to be able to make it through the next time we try it. We learned about the simple but elegant combat system, which requires you to make careful use of your cards to defeat your enemies, and about the various ways you can acquire the more powerful abilities and items. There's clearly a lot to this game, and the really nice thing about it is that it's one of those games that, like Descent, scratches both the strategic Eurogame and theme-heavy Ameritrash itches simultaneously. Consequently, I can see it hitting the table reasonably often — though the only downside for our group is that it only supports up to four players, whereas our full complement is typically five people.

I'm looking forward to trying it again, anyway. It looks like a great game and the components are gorgeous — lovely linen-backed cards, pre-painted miniatures and high-quality tokens and other bits and pieces. It takes a while to set up but once you're up and running it's a game that continues to look good in the middle of a session rather than devolving into a chaotic mess. Combine that with the host of scenarios and variants provided in the rulebook and here's a game with the potential to be pretty different each time you play it. I can see why it's so well-regarded.