Epic battles of battle mages how to play. Epic battles of combat mages: Battle on Skullflame Mountain - “Have you already figured out how you will have fun during the New Year holidays? Here is one of the options for you, the board game "Epic fights of battle mages"". The game is crazy

While you are reading this description, battle mages are already crushing each other into cabbages in an uncompromising battle for the title of the most epicly powerful sorcerer in the entire kingdom of Bloodbath. Do not pull the cat by the tail and join the tournament as soon as possible, because the fun is about to begin!
Collect spells from three components and cast them on opponents. Whether the enemy slaps the kumpole lightly or turns into a cozy campfire depends on your spellcasting abilities and your ability to put together ultra-crazy combos. And in the end, when the dust settles, there will be only one sorcerer left. Perhaps it will be you - that's just too early to celebrate the victory!
Soon dead sorcerers will crawl out of the graves, and the mess will go to a new circle!

Main jokes

Super killer fun for 2-6 sorcerers!
Hundreds of unique ways to turn an enemy to ashes/slurry/chicken/whatever you want. The chaos you create is limited only by your thirst for destruction!
Dozens magical artifacts to power up your spells: bludgeon your enemies with the mallet cannon and dress up in magical slippers!
Dead sorcerer cards allow even those weaklings who lose the battle and fall short of victory to stay in the game!
Elementary rules and endless replay value - you'll be handing out magic pendels until your beard grows to your waist!
Over 100 unique pictures by Nick Edwards to set the mood for your epic battles!

There is an established image of wizards in the world. If you are asked to imagine a wizard, then you will most likely remember Gandalf. A typical image of a magician is a gray-haired bearded man in a robe, who holds a long wooden staff in his hand. Instead of a staff, there can also be a spell book. On the fingers of the magician may be magic rings. The mage can harness the elements. Cause rain, hail, drought. The magician can tame a dragon, a golem, and most likely he knows the language of animals. Of course, there are both good and bad wizards, not only in terms of skill, but also in terms of their sociotype. Good wizards love to create and help. They build cities, build bridges, pour rain on dry fields, give bread to the hungry, heal the wounded, save the army from a million arrows, stones and various misfortunes. Bad wizards are more commonly referred to as sorcerers. They destroy and spoil everything. They destroy cities, dry the earth, turn people into frogs and stones, steal princesses and much more.

Most often, the wizard specializes in global spells. Those. he is not very interested in fixing a broken clock or driving a nail into a wall without a hammer to hang a bookshelf. Magicians often like to say - " You don’t speak to me here, because I know one very harmful and dangerous spell that I can use on you ...". But what can a magician do to a person? Can turn into a stone, into a tree, into an animal. Can make invisible. May freeze. But it's a magician! He can do everything. What does it cost him to mentally tear off a limb to a person? Blow it up from the inside into billions of particles? Cut in half with an invisible sword? After all, sorcerers can do everything, just writers, directors and other creative people do not want to scare people with dismemberment. It is easier to turn a man into a moth than to decapitate him with the power of thought. So much more romantic...

Today we will talk about very tough battles of combat magicians. In this game, all magicians fight very brutally, using the most evil and cynical spells. This game is a real mental test. You are ready? Then I open the box.

Opening the skull

Although let's wait a while with removing the lid from the box and just look at the picture on the lid. The logo of the game is very similar to the logos of American cool programs about racing / fights / competitions. When you read the name of the game, the powerful voice of the commentator announcing some important NHL match immediately flashes through your head. " And now… EPIC SPELL WARS!!!“, and a peppy heavy-metal gash sounds.

On the box are drawings of magicians gathered around some kind of artifact. The picture is pretty kind, because all the art that you find on the cards will be much tougher.

We open the box. The filling is typical for a middleweight game. When there is one deck of cards in the box, it is a light game. When there are several decks, a bunch of sheets with tokens, a large playing field, then this is a heavy game. Epic fights is something in between - two decks of cards, a set of D6 dice, one sheet of tokens, hero boards and two small coasters.

There are quite a lot of cards in the game (190 pieces). If you put them together, you get a decent stack. Card quality is typical for hobby world (And today I'm analyzing the localized version from HW).

Hero tablets are a normal life counter. All heroes are the same, none have special properties. They differ only in name and picture.

In the box you will find a fairly large cardboard Skullflame Mount. It is for her that two stands are needed. I could not reveal the essence of this component. Apparently, this is just a decorative element that makes the game more epic and spectacular.

crazy magic

Epic fights can't be called a new game. It came out in 2012, and I kind of even followed this game for a while. Getting to know the board (reading the rules) was like a clear briefing on how to survive in harsh world mages. On the second page of the rules, you will find a detailed description of what "epic battles of magicians" are and what they can lead to. This story is written as if the rules are talking to us. Moreover, this conversation does not take place in a high-flown tone, but with the use of simple slang words. As if a friend with whom you grew up in the same sleeping area is talking to you. He tells you - Friend, you simply must become a sorcerer. You can experience this adrenaline madness for yourself.«.

If you agreed to play the game, then you have nowhere to go - you will have to become a combat sorcerer. Note - a sorcerer! And they, as I wrote above, are sometimes very evil and dirty.

The goal of this game is to win 2 unfinished sorcerer tokens. To win a token, you need to be the only surviving sorcerer in one of the battles.

This game can be played by 2 to 6 players.

There are several games/bouts in one game. In each game, one surviving sorcerer remains, who receives a victory token, after which a new game begins with the restoration of the conditions of all sorcerers and a new distribution of cards.

Each individual game is divided into rounds. At the beginning of each round, sorcerers draw cards from a deck of up to 8 pieces. Regardless of how much health you lost in the last round and how much damage you did to other sorcerers, all players at the beginning of the round will have the same 8 cards.

Maps are the main engine of the game. All of them are powerful spells with different effects. Spells are divided into 3 types: ringleaders, bells and whistles and parishes(cards are distinguished by a frame and a letter in the lower right corner). Separation of spells is important game element. After the cards are dealt at the beginning of the round, the players begin to collect spells. The number of cards used in a spell varies from 1 to 3. Than more maps you collect in a spell, the stronger it will turn out. One important rule to remember is that there should not be two or more of the same types of cards in a spell. Ideally, you should have a spell that is a set of ringleader + bells and whistles + parish.

Of course, when dealing cards, you may not be lucky, and you will not have some type of card in your hand. Or it will not be profitable for you to make a spell from three types of cards. In such cases, the spell may consist of two or even one card.

All collected spell cards are placed face down in front of the players, so none of the players know what their sorcerer rivals have collected. Who will go first in this case? The one with fewer cards in the spell. In case of equality, the numbers on the parish cards are compared (whoever has a higher number goes first).

When opening spells, you can arrange a real verbal performance - just read aloud the name of your spell. It should be something along the lines of " Appetizing self-drank from Drunk Walker". If your game company reacts cheerfully to such things, then you can happily read all the resulting spells. But then you will most likely get tired of doing it.

All spells work from left to right. Those. first, the quality of the ringleader is played out, then the twists and turns, then the parish. Sometimes certain cards in a spell (most often parishes) require the player to perform a mighty roll. For this you need cubes. For a mighty roll, it is very important that your cards in the spell are of the same type. Types are corruption, darkness, waste, kumar and grass. If the card with the mighty throw is of the corruption type, you take one die for each corruption card in the spell. The higher the number rolled on the dice, the stronger the effect of the card will be. For example, with a roll of 1, you will deal 1 damage to the sorcerer, and with 10+ - 7 damage. Agree, the difference is significant. Especially when you consider that the starting value of the life of the sorcerer is only 20.

Most often, the effect of cards in a spell allows you to deal damage to all sorcerers, left or right, the weakest or the strongest. Sometimes the effects allow you to restore a few hit points.

If you're unlucky and don't get a certain type of card in your hand, then you can replace it with a Crazy Magic card if you come across one. This is a joker card that allows you to replace the Wild Magic card with the first card from the deck of this type during the reveal of the spell. This is a very cool help if you are unlucky with the distribution.

Sooner or later, the health of one of the sorcerers will drop to zero. In this case, he receives the status of a dead sorcerer. What does it mean? This means that he discards all of his cards, gets one dead sorcerer card, and will get one such card every time other surviving players start a new round. Let the name "dead sorcerer" sound somehow not very pleasant, but in fact, each such card in the next game will bring the player one good bun. For example, you can start the game with more cards in your hand, get guaranteed Crazy Magic, start the game with more health, etc. Those. it is like supporting the loser so that he can win in the next battle.

Some cards allow the player to draw a treasure card. These types of cards give the player different game bonuses. For example, it gives +1 die to a mighty roll, one additional symbol of corruption, kumara or other types, +10 to the number on the parish card to go first, and much more. Treasures are a very cool thing, with the help of them you can do super cool magic tricks.

The last mage surviving in the battle receives a token of an unfinished sorcerer and becomes one step away from victory. Then a new game begins, which is completely identical to the first. The only difference is that dead sorcerers will give advantages to some players.

Collected 2 tokens of the unfinished sorcerer? Congratulations - you won!

I give him a puff, he gives me a thousand!

At first glance Epic fights - this is very, very correct munchkin . By no means do I want to say that ESBM (I will shorten the name of the game to four letters for convenience) is a copy of Steve Jackson's boring game. The games are still different, but they have a common spirit. AT Machkin you had rather funny, sometimes mean cards in your hands, which were most often spent on some neutral monster, but you really want to load a sledgehammer on another player, and not on a plutonium dragon. There are no neutral monsters in ESBM, there are only you and other sorcerer players who can be fireballed at. And it's a lot more fun to do than to poke a monster in Munchkin .

In general, to be honest, I would like to start talking about the impressions of the game from its most controversial side. I would call this side the cornerstone - this is its theme and design. You can discuss the mechanics of the game for a long time, share your impressions of different tactics and strategies, but the very first thing you have to step over is the theme. The game is replete with real black humor. Sorcerers do not just throw fireballs with each other, but ... Let's just look at the pictures - dismemberment, trepanation, blood from the ears and eyes, intestines, total rupture of human body parts, etc. Luckily, these are all pictures, not photos (as a grindcore lover and doctor's brother, I've seen quite a few "cute" photos). Drawn flying intestines - this, of course, slightly softens the perception, but still only a little. Before buying a game, I strongly recommend that you study the pictures in my article or on other specialized sites, and if you don’t experience any negative emotions from what you see, then you can safely read the review further and find out what is good in the game. If the theme of the game shocks you, then I'm afraid that this is not your game.

As for me, I want to say that I'm not exactly a puritan, but still I find some of the art for the game disgusting. Before writing the article, I ran around different sites, looked at who wrote what about the game, and accidentally stumbled upon my comment left back in 2012. I wrote in it that I was following the game, but when it came out, I saw the pictures and decided that this kind of art was not for me, so I stopped following the game and deleted it from the wish list. It's very funny to read 4 years later, when the box is right in front of me and I'm playing this game with might and main =) Despite the fact that the theme is still on the verge of good and evil (well, or still goes with one foot into evil) , the type of game does not cause rejection in me. Some pictures I find amusing and funny. The card names are pretty cool too. Of course, if you look at all the nuances that the artist drew, maybe I will find something completely unpleasant, but I looked at the cards only in the first game, in the second I already paid attention only to the text, which in the game quietly fits into the framework of decency.

Do you digest pictures of furious magicians? Yes? Then we move on!

ESBM I can attribute to a group of fairly simple card games, in which you do not need to collect individual decks and suffer with the collection of combinations. This is, let's say, a "situational" game - you get cards in your hand and try to collect something sensible from them here and now. Those. everything is like in card games not for geeks, but for ordinary people.

Jokingly, I call the reviewed board game not one game, but two at the same time. Like it's a game within a game. The first game is to collect a spell from what comes into your hand. You will almost always have something to think about when putting together powerful magic tricks. I really like that there are quite a lot of card options in the game. Each of the three types of cards has 20 unique ones that are repeated exactly once. Those. 20 pieces of 2. When I unpacked the decks and saw duplicate cards, I thought that they would often come across, but nothing like this actually happened. At our table, some new types of spells with different actions were constantly gathering. Yes, after 3-4 games you will already know the cards almost by heart, but there is still enough variety, as it seems to me.

Collecting spells is quite fun because your decision depends on various factors. For example, you are trying to put together a three-card spell to get the maximum possible effect. But not always all three types are at hand, and the cards do not always interact well with each other. For example, you have a great parish with the "gloom" type, and there is also a ringleader-gloom and bells and whistles-gloom. Everything seems to fit perfectly, but then you read that the ringleader's effect can damage you, and you have only 1 health point left and you risk dying from your own effect right away. So you need to come up with something else. Or you desperately need to go first, so you choose the parish with the highest possible number. Over the collection of spells, you can really get stuck. Sometimes the optimal spell is easy to figure out and you immediately cast it, and sometimes it takes 1-2 minutes to collect it.

The second game is the casting of the finished spell. This is really a game because you will often have to roll a die, the result of which can lead to unexpected consequences. It happens that you go first and manage to take out one or two opponents during your turn, who instantly lose their turn and leave before the end of this battle. Sometimes for your own or someone else's move you gain interesting cards treasures that endow you with special properties. In general, any play of spells, yours or someone else's, is always unexpected and fun.

The game struck me with its recklessness. It is somewhat reminiscent of crazy obstacle races without rules. In one round, your health can be reduced from 20 to 0. Or maybe in four rounds no one can do anything to you. Actually, another “Munchkin” legs grow from here. This is not a game about strategy and tactics, this is a game about chance and luck. Yes, bad cards can simply come to you, with which it will be difficult to collect something sensible. Yes, cubes can show strictly units. But... But it's fun! I experienced tremendous pleasure while playing. It's really funny when your opponent has twice as much health, and he teases that he has a victory in his pocket, and then you - one - and knock him out of the game with literally one or two cards. In this game, more than ever, when rolling dice, they lament " please roll 10!". Only in this game you are constantly viciously promised revenge next time.

The theme of the game is so cool attached to the mechanics that the author of the game wants to shout “Bravo!”. I already thought about what would happen if the game had a different theme. For example, the battle of robots with dinosaurs or Pokemon with Teletubbies, but without blood. And I came to the conclusion that all this would not be right. Of course, the vanilla-cute theme would expand the circle of fans of the game, but I'm not sure that it would have delayed them for a long time. Epic battles of mages with a gore component distinguish the game from hundreds of others similar games. It's good that this is not another fantasy.

What I also like is that there are many different moments in the game that give the game freshness. Starting from determining the sequence of moves, ending with dead sorcerers and treasures. At the same time, it seemed to me that all these elements do not overload the game. For example, in a card batch , especially in batch. munchkin , you can miss something and regret it. In ESBM, you can only forget about the treasure property, and I also often forgot that one bells and whistle card is guaranteed to give the right to the first move. When playing ESBM, it is difficult to forget to damage someone, because this action is always obvious. There are no tricky reactions and unexpected turns played out of hand in this game. And for me this is a plus.

In my first games, for some reason, I decided that the best spells are collected from the same types. For example, if you collect 3 herbs, you get super-fuck-bang. And this idea is always not very to my liking in any tabletop, as it makes the player very dependent on what comes into his hand. But when I replayed almost all the cards in this board, I realized that 3 identical types in a spell are good only for a powerful throw, and even then with bonuses you can get all 4 dice without matching card types. Cool spells can turn out in "discord". This discovery calmed my soul and added another plus to the game =)

But enough of the pros and let's talk about the cons. They, of course, are also in this desktop.

And I will again mention the bloody, albeit cartoonish, theme of the game. Still, hand on heart, for me it's still more minus than plus. Such a small minus, but still a minus. I am sure that there are people who absolutely will not play ESBM. For example, on BGG I didn't find reviews of this game from very famous reviewers who always reviewed any game, and then suddenly silence. Although, of course, the “Christian” badge on these comrades hints that Skirmish has little chance of these reviewers turning their attention to this game. Actually, on Teser, I also don’t see a bunch of reviews on Struggles, although I found it to be a very tasty toy for myself. Well, it's a matter of taste, of course...

The catastrophic non-arrival of cards in the hand is a more obvious minus, which is infrequent, but does occur. As I already wrote, if you have cards of different types, this is quite a good situation. But if you do not have a ringleader, parish or bells and whistles, and even worse, if all 8 cards in your hand are of the same type, then this is much, much worse. The advantage of a spell consisting of two cards is that you will most likely go first. During this turn, you can try to knock one or more players out of the game in order to take less damage later. If you survive and start a new round, you draw 2 cards to 8 cards in your hand. And you won't get the third type of cards again. You will again have a spell consisting of only two cards. In my experience, I played one whole battle like this, until I finally flew out of it. The Crazy Magic card helps a lot when not coming, but you also have to be lucky to have it in your hand. Such sad situations are rare, and they are the result of a badly shuffled deck. The deck, by the way, is large, you will have to mix it more than once during the game, so it is best to do this carefully and with the help of other players. On the other hand, the randomness of the arrival of cards in the hand is the scourge of all card games.

The next minus is the length of the parties. I will tell you about the very first experience with the game, which was decomposed into 4 players. The first three battles were won by three different players. And at this stage, it was fun and cool for everyone to play Battle Mages. In the fourth battle, everyone began to joke that now the player without the token of the unfinished sorcerer would definitely win, although three players were already one step away from victory. We have already played the same game three times, and in time it took us more than an hour. And yes, in the fourth battle, the fourth player did indeed win. The fifth battle was decisive, but still, almost all players had a feeling of being dragged out. If you think about it, it becomes obvious that a player without a victory token is more likely to win a battle. In any skirmish, first of all, they try to knock out the player who already has a victory token, because if he gets the second token, he will win the game. It is better to let the player who does not have it get the token, but then you will still have a chance to win. Players without tokens are less touched, more often "fat" players with tokens are targeted. For all 6 games that I played on this moment, almost always all players had one token. 1 or 2 games ended in such a way that one player was left without tokens, because he was simply unlucky and he picked up fatal damage in advance. For myself, I decided that 4 players is the best option. Not even optimal, but maximum. With five, and even more so with six, I would not play this game. 3-4 players is quite good. Four players are just enough to get enough of the game in one evening and leave it for tomorrow. The three of us is the minimum option to make it fun and enjoyable to play. Because together... You can play together, but it's not fun, as many cards stop playing as well as it was intended by the authors of the game. For example, there are spells that target the right and left players. When playing together, the role of the right and left players is played by one person. Exactly the same situation with the weakest or strongest enemy, because. it will also be the same person. And the trick of the game is just to vary the goals so that they accidentally switch without your knowledge. For example, you want to finish off one player, because he is the weakest, but by the time it gets to you, the other player becomes the weakest, and this is a fun feature of the game that I like. When playing with two, this feature simply stops working.

Some cards seem a little more cool than others, but that's the same with all card games. Therefore, one whole spell can break the entire table, and another spell will only slightly pat the players on the cheek.

Funny Easter eggs with nicknames

Well, let's recap. After the first game, I had fears that I had already received all the best from the game and that it would become sadder in the future, but after the next games I began to think about the game even better. This is a fairly simple card game with quite a lot of randomness, but this randomness is a huge pleasure (for me personally). I like to collect epic spells, I like to give blows to opponents, I like to take them out of the game, I like to accumulate dead sorcerer cards and come up with a plan for revenge. I don't really like the jargon of the game in the spirit of "kumar", "grass" and other things, but it does not affect the gameplay in any way, but creates an atmosphere.

If you are bored munchkin , but you want something as vigorous (set up and rob rivals), then be sure to try playing Epic Fights .

For me, this game is one of the best I've played this year. However, I cannot recommend it to you. It probably sounds weird, right? I usually recommend games that I really like (like Port Royal or Pandemic: Legacy ), and I am sure that this game will work in almost any company. Epic battles of battle mages is a specific game. And the most important specificity lies in its brutal theme. If you play with kids, moms/dads, grandparents, pregnant women, etc., then this game is probably not for you. If the sight of flying painted brains doesn't make you sick, then you're getting your ticket to a date with the game right now.

hobby world has already announced the release of the second part of the game this fall. And I am extremely happy about this news, because in the fall we will continue the hellish crazy bloody battle of extravagant battle mages.

I put the game "class", and you decide how strong your desktop spirit is.

Board game Epic battles of battle mages was provided for review by the company

Hello readers of Irecommenda!

New Year holidays are just around the corner. And now imagine that everyone has already eaten Olivier, herring under a fur coat, from the mere sight of the table it turns back, what to do? You can play snowballs on the street, or go sledding, but living in the Kuban, we can only sculpt mudmen. And with friends, you want to get together and you need to think about what to do to have fun and good old board games come to the rescue. About the game "Culinarium" and " Bang" I wrote already and it is the turn to tell you about new game"Epic battles of battle mages"

Price - 1290 rubles.

The number of players - from 2 people.

Already only one name and design of the game box makes you pay attention to it.

In general, in IM Hobby World you can find a bunch entertaining games

On the reverse side of the package is written the complete set of the game

Let's move on to the contents inside the box. The first thing we see is the rules of the game. Decorated in a solid and bright little book that will not get lost and you can peek into it during the game if you forgot something.

There is also a Mount of Skullflame, medals of unfinished sorcerers and skulls for counting life.

And also what is most important is the cards

And of course cubes.

Are you ready to fight sorcerers?

First of all, each hero chooses which sorcerer he will play and takes the appropriate game board.

You need to collect spells against your enemies and the game has begun. There are also many more interesting nuances that I will not write about, since then it will not be interesting to play it at all.

I will tell you one thing, the game completely captures and immerses you in your world.

Therefore, it will be interesting to play it both together and big company She will not leave anyone indifferent.

Thank you for reading this review to the end! Until new reviews! Alexandra!

Opinion on the board game "Epic Fights of Battle Mages: Outrage in the castle of Octopus".

Traveler! And nuka stop! What do you want to pass? I don’t care at all where and why you kept your way, but now you are near the Slaughterhouse Castle! And this means only one thing: you will participate in a tournament that is epic and has no equal anywhere! Welcome to "Epic Fights of the Battle Mages: Outrage in the castle of the Octopus" !!!

“Epic Fights of the Battle Mages: Outrage in the castle of the Octopus” is not some kind of Mortal Kombat or a war with another attacker from some space. Only here and only now will you receive the power of respect and the power MAGA. Therefore, you will immediately be thrown into battle with other similar Mages, whose strength can be equal to, or even exceed 9000 !!!

There are 8 of you in total, 8 cool fighters of coolness, but after at least half an hour bloody lumps or even more unpleasant lumps may remain from you, which we will not talk about here! To know how much you have left from the position of "I'm the coolest!" up to the "someone pick my guts" clause, each MAG gets their own coolness board, which indicates the number of hits they can get, as well as the amount of blood they can spend to make their cool spells even cooler!

Oh yes! Spells! When each of you chooses the identity of a MAGIC, then you sit down at a single battle table and prepare your spells! Each spell has three parts, each more epic than the other, just like Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings! Gadget - Start your spell, after which you empower it with Bliss, and then send the final blow with Coming, after which your enemy may die ... or maybe not. Spells can be combined to create epic C-C-C-C-C-COMBOs that can inflict maximum PAIN on your opponent or even several of them, and also heal or reward you with something.

Rolling the dice is the key to success. Just as tough barbarians pump their biceps to carry girls on their arms, every MAG needs to pump their palms in order to successfully roll the dice and get exactly the numbers that will give him the best effect. Depending on how good the MAG is at doing cool C-C-C-C-C-COMBOs, the number of dice that he will throw in the face of his enemies will also change, in order to then throw an equally epic spell at them!

And the most important! In order to become an epic sorcerer, and not a sorcerer sorcerer, you need to say aloud the names of your spells, which are made up of the names of the cards of the ringleader, bells and whistles and the Parish. Throw proudly your PAIN DEMON SELLING DUKE OF BELKINGHAM and watch your enemies burn with damage and laughter! And that sorcerer who does not read his spell will be punished! But as? Players will decide for themselves at the beginning of MAHACHA.

In addition to spells, there are also creatures that you can cast on your table and be glad that it will remain there even after the end of your spell! There are also treasures that will not only make you richer, but also add a couple of dice to your abs and table, or give you another cool effect with which you can dominate the battle arena. If you are lucky enough to grab too many sorcerer's cradles, then you become a Dead Sorcerer and receive a corresponding card that can help you in the future ... or do not give any effects at all, except for mocking your corpse.

The winner is the one who destroys everyone in several parties. He will become the king of the Epic Fight, get the Castle of the Octopus, learn 42, take all the resources, food, beautiful women (or men), and also your socks if he likes. Well, that's all!

What does your friends' local desktop exterminatus set called "Epic Battle Mage Fights: Mayhem in the Sprutoslaughter Castle" contain in itself? The creators-publishers from Hobby World put the following components of the future war of magical epicness into the Pandora's box:

178 cards of spells, treasures and dead sorcerers.
8 hero boards, one better than the other
7 medals of unfinished sorcerers
6 Skulls (not for Throne of Skulls)
6 blood meters
4 dice (you may need more)
1 Octopus Castle
Game rules (for dummies)

After evaluation Organization of Magic Battles named after Gandalf the Cool this set is rated "Concentrated Cool", because the publisher knows another word for the letter "K", except for "Cool". And that word is quality.

"Epic Fights of the Battle Mages: Outrage in the castle of the Octopus" is your starter pack for the most fun frenzy in the circle of friends (enemies!). Thrash and waste are the main two words that can describe this board game, which is easy to learn, fast and fun to play, and the design and content of some (all the same!) Attributes can in itself cause wild laughter from all those gathered. Destroying each other has never been so much fun.

This and many other games can be purchased in stores

Action heroes like to choose the most dangerous places for decisive fights: the edge of a waterfall, a working factory, a sinking ship. But for the coolest wizards in the universe, this is somehow small. Therefore, to find out who has the most bumpy fireballs, sorcerers and necromancers prefer on the slopes of the sinister volcano Skullflame. The most terrible spells recorded in ancient tomes are used. By the way, have you ever wondered why magic books are so big and heavy? Of course, to finish off the magicians-losers!

Genre: card, partygame
The authors Cast: Rob Henso, Corey Jones
Painter: Nick Edwards
Publisher: Cryptozoic Entertainment
Publisher in Russia: Hobby World
Number of players: 2–6
Age of players: 14 years
Party duration: 20-40 minutes
Similar to:
Munchkin series
Nickelodeon animated series

Clones of "Munchkin" do not happen enough, thought Cryptozoic Entertainment, hired two designers of card games for Dungeons & Dragons and issued "Epic battles of battle mages". It was not possible to move the king of the toy libraries from the throne, but the attempt was counted.

The catchy design of the box immediately attracts attention. The illustrations on the cards both attract and repel: this is what Hieronymus Bosch cartoons would look like on Nickelodeon. Worms, severed limbs and gore are on almost every map. It’s definitely not worth giving children such a birthday present, but adult lovers of black humor may like it. Unless, of course, they are afraid of games with a high chance impact. It's going to be hot on Skullflame Mountain: the core mechanics of Epic Brawl hit the heads of hapless wizards harder than the traps in Dungeon Raiders and the oars in Overboard.

Being a dark magician is fun. Spell Builder allows you to build combinations of three cards- Ringleaders (the great magician of the past who shares his power), Bellows (additional effect) and Parish (final chord). From these three components, you can make any spell - to heal yourself at the right time, collect more treasures or show your friends who is the best here. Some spells affect only neighbors, the second - the strongest or frailest character, the third choose the victim randomly. There are also treasure cards that add extra lethality to magic, allow you to manipulate initiative, and more. To get the Medal of the Unfinished Sorcerer, you will have to think through effective combinations one move ahead.

The power of Parish cards, among other things, depends on the roll of the dice. If all parts of the spell include the magic of the same school, there will be as many as three dice (or even four), the illustrations on the cards will merge together, and the enemies will definitely not be in trouble. There are only five schools, but it is far from always profitable to collect a “one-color” spell. For example, Drunk Walker's shots become even more dangerous in the company of Bluff of Grass magic and Incoming from Corruption spells.

From many of the shortcomings of the same "Munchkin" game is spared. While in Steve Jackson's game, the road to the tenth level dragged on for half a day, in Skullflame Mountain, it only takes two rounds to be the last living sorcerer to win. Players lagging behind the leader can close the gap in one draw of cards, those who drop out of the race replenish their life points in 5–10 minutes and fight for the next Medal of the Unfinished Sorcerer. In addition, defeated mages each turn receive powerful spells from a separate deck to help them in the next showdown.

"Epic battles of battle mages" each time make you choose between speed and lethality. The most powerful spells are characterized by low initiative, so think about what comes first: your move or acquaintance with the gravedigger. Last moves often very dramatic and similar to duels in westerns. Calculation, patience and luck allow you to live up to them. The first person to draw a revolver wins.

Outcome: this dynamic and very aggressive game for the company, unlike most other party games, allows you to plan your actions a move ahead. But the controversial design and the high role of chance can scare away some of the players.