Wars of mages board game star. Board game Mage Wars. What's in the box
Every hereditary magician dreams of becoming the most powerful wizard in the world, being the master of all conceivable natural elements, various creatures and possessing spells of incredible power. Since warlocks and sorcerers in recent times there is a great multitude, then the competition for the right to be called the “most-most” is quite high. The best way to prove your superiority is to meet your opponent face to face and destroy him, turning him into a toad, for example. Today on the Pink Sofa - magic-destroying board game "Wars of Mages".
Since battles between sorcerers always bring global cataclysms, hurricanes, tornadoes and other destruction to the surrounding world, competitions between contenders for the title of "Powerful Magician of All Dimensions" are held in the most remote corner of the Earth. The place for fights is surrounded by a high wall made of special sorcery stones that can withstand the onslaught of any magic spells. On both sides of the makeshift arena are gates through which the magicians enter the courtyard. The doors are closed and... What am I telling you, now you will see everything for yourself and even participate!
Inside a huge non-standard box with the game there is a convenient organizer, in the cells of which there are two magic books, a lot of tokens, wooden chips, plastic dice, a solid stack of cards, individual tablets and an arena for duels. The booklet of the warlock will help you navigate the intricacies of magic spells. The remaining space will be useful for additional sets, which, I think, will be released to the game quite regularly, emptying the wallets of magic duel fans...
Magic is unpredictable, so no less unpredictable dice are used to activate spells. Five red hexagons are useful for attacking an opponent, and a yellow dodecahedron affects magical abilities and spells.
Wooden cylinders of two colors and black tokens of quick spells are located on the character cards and reflect their state (done by the hero possible actions or not). The red and black dice mark the mage's performance on the individual board. Please note that there are no blue cubes (many people look for them by opening the box). Both blue and red players each get one red marker.
Three basic values are indicated on the individual sheet: the inflow and amount of mana, as well as the character's vitality. If this is your first time in the “ring”, then pay attention to the hint in the lower left corner of the cardboard.
The arena is huge and takes up significant space on the table. This is due to the fact that each of the twelve cells can contain several cards of each of the opponents. At the corners of the arena - the exit points of the magicians, marked with shutters.
Magic books are the main distinguishing feature of the game. This beautiful accessory creates an appropriate atmosphere and allows you to conveniently use card sets, keeping your army a secret from your opponent. Stylish books for true connoisseurs of card games...
Mages (as well as their wards) during the game are injured, use special properties and are exposed to the actions of the opponent's spells. All this is marked with special cardboard tokens, which are located on the character cards. What is there just not: rotting, burning, weakness and other ailments.
In the box you will find portraits of powerful magicians from four schools and sheets with the characteristics of the characters. It is noteworthy that each sorcerer has his own individual properties, as well as reserves of vital and magical forces.
In addition to personal skills, a hereditary magician can call on ferocious creatures to help, cast a spell, cast spells, enchant an opponent, use items from personal equipment, and also attack an opponent with various fireballs and fiery tornadoes. There are six types of cards in total, which are recommended to be combined with each other when attacking or defending.
Some spells allow you to create four types of obstacles on the field, from impenetrable fog to a wall of scorching fire.
On this, the study of the components of the magic box can be considered complete, it's time to get down to business ...
Enchanted sorcerer.
Required retreat.
This game allows opponents to make individual sets with which they go to battle with the enemy. Each card has a special property with its own activation conditions. Since the game is based on the properties of cards, the "War of Mages" has only basic rules that determine the order of the turn, as well as the basic principles of defense and defense. Everything else is in the hands of the players and depends entirely on the selected armies. During a duel, priority is given to the text on the map, which can drastically change even the basic rules of the game.
During the first acquaintance with the "War of Mages", assemble an army according to the table from the rules. The developers have tried to balance the opposing sides, so choose any magician - each of the characters will be strong in their own way. I recommend playing a trial round, and only then proceed to real combat operations.
Since the player has a lot of cards at his disposal, the developers put two albums with transparent cells into the box. This handy accessory will allow you to hide the army from the eyes of the enemy, quickly view the available reserves. This method of storage allows you to make the necessary set at home, and, putting the booklet in your pocket, go to the tournament.
When compiling the first set, you may find that the text in the rules table and the text on the map are very different. For example: "Thunderhawk" is "Thunderfalcon". Alas, the costs of localizing a huge amount of text.
After the armies are ready for battle, the rivals place their magicians in the corners of the arena and mark on the tablets the starting values of the increase in mana, its initial amount and the character's vitality. Then, the player's color "action" disc and a black "quick spell" marker are placed on the mage cards. Both chips are placed with a white symbol up.
Please note: mages are initially endowed with special abilities, so read the text on the card carefully - you may need to take the appropriate token from the reserve. Before the start of the game, an “initiative” token is played, which determines the first player. In subsequent rounds, this marker alternately changes hands.
The turn begins with the fact that the magician adds to himself the amount of mana indicated in the first column (move the black die along the track). Then, all wooden tokens on the character and creature cards are turned over with the symbol side up, in a similar way, other special markers (previously introduced into the game) must be put into standby mode.
It's time to plan actions for the current move. The opponents draw two cards from their books and place them face down on the table. These are the abilities of magicians, but some wizards have assistants. Each such assistant can use an additional one spell card in the current round.
An important note: as soon as the opponents designate the desired cards, it is no longer possible to change anything. In the current round, only spell cards laid out on the table are allowed to be used!
The goal of the magician is to destroy the opponent with the help of magic and attacking creatures. Therefore, at first it is desirable to put additional fighters on the field who can go on the attack or surround the magician with an impregnable wall of defense.
New creatures are placed in the same space as their master. In this case, the mage must spend an action, and the creature that appears enters ready mode (the wooden marker of the player's color is turned symbol down). Each mage has one additional action that can be used once per turn (black marker). Once the primary and secondary actions have been used, the markers are flipped to their non-symbol side - the creature becomes inactive.
Active creatures can move across the field in straight lines at right angles and engage in combat. It is impossible to run through a cell with an opponent's warrior - you must stop moving. The attack range is indicated on the card and is basically "zero" cells. This means that the object of the attack must be located in the same location as the attacker and look his fate in the eye. Some characters have the ability to teleport, which allows them to be released from spells cast on the creature.
As I noted earlier, many creatures have special properties. This ability can only be activated if the result of the twelve-sided die meets the requirements stated on the card. Otherwise, nothing happens, and the attack is carried out according to the standard rules.
Red dice have three meanings - miss (empty), hit (numerical value) and damage (number in an asterisk). The attacking character throws the number of hexagons indicated on his card, and the object of the attack takes into account his defense indicators and adjusts the results.
A miss is also a miss in the magical world, so the “empty” dice are set aside. Numbers with an asterisk break through any defense and deal damage (place the required number of tokens on the map). Normal numbers are added together, the result is subtracted from the attacked creature's defense indicator. Anything not absorbed by the defense deals damage (add tokens). As soon as the creature gets a critical number of markers, it dies and is removed from the field.
You can strengthen the attack with sorcery, which deals additional damage to the object of attack. These are quick action cards - their effect immediately spreads to the victim, and the spell is discarded.
You can also use witchcraft spells on your own warriors, giving them the opportunity to evade attacks or adding strength to the character in battle.
The magician can take certain equipment with him to the arena, giving him additional features. Each item is located on the body of the magician and takes up space. Only one object can correspond to one part of the body. During combat, you can also use traps, bind spells, cast spells, and much more - it all depends on the cards that are in your booklet.
The ultimate goal of the opponents is to destroy the opponent's mage card. Because the creature's mages are strong and have high hit points, damage is taken into account on the board by moving the red die. After the death of the magician, the remaining creatures on the field can only survive until the end of the current round, which gives them a small chance to avenge the owner. The victor celebrates his triumph with thunder and lightning...
Rotting an opponent on fire.
A beautiful and addictive card game for two players that allows you to hold large-scale tournaments and local competitions between Mage Wars fans. To basic set, most likely, many add-ons and hundreds of boosters will be released - there are all prerequisites for this, given the increasing popularity of the game.
The quality of the design deserves special praise - spectacular pictures and literary inserts of text on the cards create an atmosphere of a battle between real magicians. You don't just lay out a booklet card on the table, you cast spells, create creatures, and send them into battle. And for a successful attack, it is necessary to think over combinations, take into account reserves and correctly place forces on the field. There is a place for tactics and strategy, and preparing kits before the next game is a separate gameplay. After all, the success of the battle directly depends on how competently you calculate the forces and plan your actions on the field.
My first acquaintance with the game took place at Igrocon. Then a trial game was played, in which certain mistakes were made, as we incorrectly interpreted some points of the rules. Nevertheless, I immediately liked the gameplay for its idea and depth. Now that the box with the "Mages" was in my hands and I was able to slowly "feel" the mechanics, I can say with confidence that the "War of Mages" has a great future. If you are a fan of card games, then be sure to check out this duel fantasy game.
“War of Mages” can be recommended to children over the age of 12, it makes no sense to start the game earlier, since the abundance of combinations, most likely, will not “fit” in the head of a young magician. But young people, as well as experienced and novice players, should at least once (or better - twice) enter the arena and fight with rivals in a magical fight. It is noteworthy that it will take you about half an hour to learn the rules, and several days to understand the game. The developers have come up with so many things that it will not be easy to master all the card material...
By the way: this is a great tournament game. Opponents can create their booklets using cards from the add-ons, and then surprise the opponent with unimaginable combos that sweep away everything in their path. In a word - take risks and enjoy the game!
"Wars of Mages" is a cult board game for those who like tactical planning, subtle analysis and thoughtful actions with the expectation of the upcoming consequences. The project combines strategic game mechanics and atmospheric interface designed by professional artists.
The storyline of the board game "War of the Mages" takes place in an unusual arena, where magicians, sorcerers, priests and druids fight instead of the usual knights and gladiators.
A huge fairy-tale universe filled with many unknown mysteries and secrets!
Prestigious awards and nominations
- 2013 Golden Geek Award- category nominee Best game for two players and the best card game
- 2013International Gamers Award- category nominee Best Strategy for two players
- 2013 Origin Awards/U.S. Game of the Year - Nominee
Features of game mechanics
Despite the numerous choice of heroes, take part in gameplay can only be two players, which is somewhat non-standard for this kind of game. Each character has its own magic scale, individual characteristics and combat strategy, which are controlled using a spell book. In one game, each player can collect up to 40 spell cards, which provides overly broad tactical options.
In addition to attacking spells, some of the magicians have the ability to summon creatures that can take a direct part in battles. Also in the game there are various curses, blessings and random spells that can bring both harm and benefit at the same time.
Video review of the board game Wars of Mages
A couple more facts
To make it easier for players to keep track of available spells, the developers have provided special game albums with slots for cards. Non-standard addition in a pleasant way simplifies the game and gives it a certain atmosphere of the seriousness of what is happening.
The studio-publisher of the unusual magical universe has not stopped supporting the board game to this day. Until now, presentations of various add-ons and extensions for the Mage Wars game are taking place on the official website, making each battle many times more difficult and interesting.
Who will like
Due to the abundance of game content, role-playing game refers to the average level of difficulty, so in the process of passing even experienced player you will often need to peep into the brochure with the game rules.
For the most part, the game was created for an adult audience, but children over the age of 14 will like it just as much.
Place the playing field on the table. Each player chooses a mage. I draws the appropriate mage card and ability card (the ability card does not need to be used in tutorial mode). He also chooses either red or blue and takes 10 tokens of the corresponding color. In addition, each player banked 3 black status dice, 1 red status dice, and 1 black quickcast token. Place your mage card in the corner zone closest to you (marked on the game board with a door). In tutorial mode, use only half of the field (see page 4). Place one of your action tokens and a quickcast token on your mage card - the white symbols should be at the top, as shown in the picture on the left.
Place the status card in front of you. Place the black dice on the starting values for mana gain, mana pool (all mages start at 10 mana), and life (starting values are shown on the mage card). In tutorial mode, all mages have the same starting values (see page 4). Place the red die on the "O" value of the life bar. This die shows how much damage the mage has received.
Choose your spell book. If this is your first game, you will need to build yourself a book (see Spellbook on page 4). Place dice, condition tokens, and other game tokens within reach.
Both players roll the effects die. The one with the highest score gets the initiative token: he will act first during the first round of the game! Now your duel can begin!
Let's start with some dry data:
- The game is designed for 2 players. Of course, you can play in the 4th,
but without an additional set, this is not the best idea. - The duration of the game is on average 40-60 minutes (the first game is three times longer)
- The threshold for entry into the game is not the highest, but not for beginners either.
And now more! And so, "Wars of Mages" is mainly a duel game, which, if it can be played by more than two, then only in pairs.
The game meets us with an abundance of cards, chips, tokens, a couple of tablets for tracking the state of magicians, a huge (but only before the first game against the Master of the Beasts) field and two spell books.
Books! Excellent graphics performance of the game, good localization and Books of spells that make you feel like a real magician, with his magic tome!
At the beginning, you choose a magician for yourself, there are 4 of them in total, and here you have to think carefully. Each magician has his own tactics, in which he is especially good.
If you choose a Sorcerer for yourself, your opponent will have to oh how hard it is, because he will have to not only fight off various kinds of demons, but also constantly fight curses. Yes, and the Sorcerer himself is far from weak and may well rush into battle with a fiery whip at the ready.
The owner of the animals does not lag behind him. Our friend, a Greenpeace man, is a master at summoning a large number of different creatures, simply by flooding the opponent with them. With all this, he does not shun a good fight.
There is also a Wizard in the game, he is universal and, unlike the two previous comrades, he specializes in magic, trying to stay away from the fight.
Not without the fair sex - the Priestess. She, accompanied by very strong (and therefore not cheap) fighters, erecting temples and hanging reinforcements to the right and left, is in no way inferior to her "colleagues".
Here we have chosen a magician, got everything we need:
It's time to collect a book of spells, the game itself has already begun. You form a deck for yourself, and at the same time the tactics of the game. During the fight, you have access to any, even the most powerful spell from your book, but keep in mind that they are all one-time, so before you magic something, it’s better to think again, especially since you can only read two per turn spells.
And above, I voiced only the beginning of the game (on which, by the way, a lot depends). In general, we can talk about this game for quite a long time. This is a very high-quality dueling game, with a strong tactical component, excellent balance and beautiful design. Of the global shortcomings, perhaps only one can be distinguished here. Cubes.
Cubes got us here too. You can perfectly calculate everything, hang a number of strengthening spells on your basilisk, and then order it to attack the cursed enemy ferret and ... by the will of the dice, your basilisk will break all its teeth on it, because you did not roll a single damage. After that, a happy (why would it?) ferret will start to bite your mage painfully on the heels. But, despite this, the game does not lose interest. 4.5 out of 5 in my opinion personal rating. In other words, a must have, for those who love quality fighting games. Welcome, my friend, to the harsh everyday life of magicians
Imagine if mages belonging to different philosophies and schools of magical craft could come together in the arena in a deadly battle? How would an illusionist fight a druid? Would a sorcerer defeat an animal charmer? Who will win - the priestess or the wizard?
The game Mage Wars will help answer these questions. Each magician uses his own spell book (which can be changed if desired) to defeat the enemy. Summon powerful beings who will fight for you. Unleash devastating spells on the enemy's head. Take advantage of ancient mystical artifacts, magical weapons and armor. All this awaits you in the battles on the Mage Wars arena.
Mage Wars - Tactical Board Game - Combination card game and a miniature game that combines the best elements of both genres. The battle takes place on the playing field of the arena, divided into square areas - "zones". The magicians, in whose role the players act, start the game in opposite corners of the arena.
Each player has a Spellbook in his hands, from which he draws spell cards, putting them into play. This allows you to feel like a real magician, turning over the pages of his mysterious tome in search of the right magic. The selection of spells for your book is based on a point system. Powerful sorcery and magic belonging to other schools of magic are worth more points.
On his turn, the player has the right to cast any spell, which opens up rich possibilities of strategy and tactics. Many spells - creatures, weapons, enchantments - are placed on the board and become game objects. Creatures are able to move around the arena and attack each other or the enemy Mage. Attacks in addition to damage also impose various effects, such as Burn, Corrode, Stun, Paralysis, Injury, and so on. Creatures that take too much damage will be destroyed. In addition, they can be affected by curses or spells.
Each Mage belongs to a specific school of magic, each with its own unique set of spells and strategies.
For example, the beast charmer will try to set his pets on the enemy, strengthening them with the charms of the forces of nature. The wizard is a master of meta-magic: his element is to deflect, steal, redirect, or destroy an opponent's spells and mana. In addition, the sorcerer is a professional in the field of teleportation. The sorcerer is skilled at cursing and destroying enemy creatures with fire spells. The priestess is a skilled healer and an expert in protective charms.
The developers promise that new add-ons will go on sale every few months, adding new Mages, spells and abilities to the base game.
The Russian edition of the game is on sale from January or February 2014.
