Description
The Atlantean Empire has not yet recovered from the great catastrophe, and orcs and the dragon-like Draconum are pressing on its borders. That is when you step through the magic portal. In Mage Knight: Ultimate Edition you are one of seven heroes who are equally skilled with sword and spell. You explore an unknown land, recruit units, learn spells and finally lay siege to fortified cities. The game combines deck building, role-playing and a classic board game, as designed by Vlaada Chvátil.
How to play Mage Knight
Every game is played according to one of the scenarios. It sets the size of the map, the goal and the number of rounds. A round is one day or one night. On your turn you use the five cards in your hand to put together a move across the map, followed by combat or an interaction with the locals. You can power up your cards with mana: take one die per turn from the shared Source, or spend your own crystals.
You gain Fame for the enemies you defeat. Fame makes your hero level up: they gain new skills and stronger cards and can command more units. A round ends when someone runs out of cards in their deck and announces it. In competitive scenarios the player with the most Fame wins, while in cooperative and solo scenarios you have to conquer all the cities together before time runs out.
Why you will love it
- Every turn is a puzzle: with five cards you have to reach your destination and still win the fight there. Any card except a Wound can also be played sideways for one point of Move, Influence, Attack or Block.
- Day and night change the rules. Gold mana works only during the day and black mana only at night, when it gives spells their most powerful form.
- Wounds are not a number on a board but cards that stay in your hand and in your deck. Taking too many risks is felt for several rounds.
- Reputation decides how the locals receive you. If you plunder and burn, recruiting units will cost you more.
- The map is built from tiles as you go and enemies wait face down, so every game is different.
Who is Mage Knight for
The game is for 1 to 5 players aged 14 and up, and a game takes 1 to 4 hours, depending on the scenario and the number of players. Full scenarios last six rounds and can be long, especially with four players. It is a demanding game: players on BoardGameGeek rate its weight at 4.66 out of 5 and like it best solo or with two. The cards carry a lot of text, and the rules fill three booklets. The included walkthrough guides you through the first scenario step by step. You will enjoy it if you like to think long and hard about a single turn and build your hero from the first card to the siege of a city. It is not for you if you are looking for a quick game for a larger group or dislike waiting for your turn.
What's in the box
The Ultimate Edition contains the Mage Knight base game and the expansions The Lost Legion, Krang and Shades of Tezla, with integrated rules and five new cards.
- 3 booklets: base game rulebook, walkthrough guide and expansions rulebook
- Fame and Reputation board and Day/Night board
- 26 hex map tiles
- 199 Deed cards and 5 brand-new Deed cards
- 56 Unit cards
- 77 Hero cards
- 14 Skill Description cards
- 12 Tactic cards
- 54 Wound cards
- 23 Site Description cards
- 4 City cards, 1 Factions card and 1 Scoring card
- 12 miniatures: 7 heroes, General Volkare and 4 castles
- 8 mana dice and 68 plastic gemstones
- 77 Skill tokens, 42 Level tokens and 140 Shield tokens
- 8 turn order tokens
- 130 enemy tokens and 15 ruins tokens
- Volkare clix dial, 1 Volkare token and 2 avatar tokens
- 1 necropolis token, 1 hidden garden token and 5 graveyard tokens
