Are you ready to feel like a real magician and enter the Arena to test the capabilities of other wizards?

Mage Wars is a tactical board game that combines the best mechanics of card battles and miniature games. Battles take place in the arena and each of the magicians represents his school of magic. The player has at his disposal a spell book with magic cards that he can put into play. Each mage belongs to a particular school of magic, each with its own unique set of spells and strategies.

On your turn, you can cast any spell, which opens up rich possibilities of strategy and tactics. Ferocious creatures, formidable weapons and destructive spells are at your service. The summoned 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.

As the creators of the game say, this is not a collectible game, but a game with a huge variety of cards, their combinations and the ability to create your own style. Mage Wars has already gained recognition and popularity among the global community of players - new characters and cards appear regularly, big additions are in the queue and tournaments are held.

Equipment:

• playing field;
• 2 spell books;
• 322 spell cards;
• 4 mage cards;
• 4 mage ability cards;
• 2 mage status cards;
• 8 status dice;
• 20 action tokens;
• 2 quick spell tokens;
• 9 attack dice;
• twelve-sided effects die;
• initiative token;
• 3 ability tokens;
• 7 defense tokens;
• 6 ready tokens;
• 20 status tokens;
• 24 damage tokens;
• 8 mana tokens;
• rules of the game.

Video for the board game Mage Wars

Today we'll talk about Mage Wars or Mage Wars. This board game fully justifies its name, as it focuses on the confrontation between two sorcerers and their minions. It also has one interesting feature in the form of spellbooks for each player - and not some conventional ones, but real ones that you can flip through, freely choosing the desired witchcraft card.

Many people say that the Mage Wars (hereinafter simply WM) is a cross between Magic: The Gathering and Summoner Wars. I've played both and tend to agree. True, as for me, VM is closer to Summoner Wars, because there is also a playing field, lined into squares, and players control armies, represented not by separate factions, but by magicians and creatures called by them.

Like Summoner Wars, the VM resembles a tactical miniatures game, where ordinary cards act as miniatures. Plus two: 1) with the same content, the box comes out many times cheaper; 2) greatly simplifies the tracking of various effects and parameters. The downside is obvious - the cards on the field are much less pleasing to the eye than the figures.

The basis of the WM is all kinds of spells, there are more than three hundred of them in the database. The coffin in which the contents are delivered is determined by a hefty field on which creature cards will move, a compartment for storing books and, of course, attracting the attention of potential buyers. On the other hand, at the moment there are already a lot of additions to the VM, and they will fit in the base box without any problems.

By the way, the publisher intends to get rid of such an awkward coffin. In the near future, an updated edition of the fourth edition in a standard square container will appear on sale, which will be proudly called Mage Wars Arena: Core Set. And what, the game has already received a portion of popularity, and it's time to return to practicality.

In addition to themed spellbooks, VM boasts great art and custom hexagons for acting out attacks. Large wooden activation chips do not shine with design, but they turned out to be quite convenient and visual.

The faceless tablets and the field, which is a boring gray area with masonry, let us down a bit. By the way, in the new edition, the arena was redrawn in a more cheerful manner. The tablets were left unchanged. It's a pity, counters-twirls a la FFG would not interfere here.

WM is a tactical duel in which the prelude, which consists in compiling spellbooks, plays a large role. Before the game, players languish over their magical tomes, filling their pockets with spell cards. Already at the preparation stage, they can outline some tricky combinations and combinations, absolutely not worrying that the cards may come in the wrong order or not appear at all.

What are the principles of writing books? They are pretty flexible. You can shove whatever your heart desires into the book, the main thing is that later you have enough mana to pay for it. Of course, I'm exaggerating, and there are still some limits. Each card has a level, which indicates its value. In the database, players are given 120 points. If the card does not match the school of the chosen mage, then its price is doubled. The limit of cards of a particular level is also stipulated.

It turns out that the player can easily include any card in his arsenal. Coping with the restrictions will probably be more difficult with the purchase of add-ons, as more tasty and expensive cards will appear. But I do not want to say that the choice in the database is meager, there are enough cards here even to collect more or less decent “decks” for all four magicians included in the set at the same time.

So, having dealt with the books, the players take a tablet each, necessary to control the number of lives and the level of magical power of magicians, a property card and a couple of activation tokens. After that, they put their wards in opposite corners of the field, just like in a boxing ring. And rushed! I will briefly describe how the game round goes.

The round is divided into two main stages: preparation and action. Preparation is such a technical phase during which magicians accrue mana points to themselves (its influx is constant, but can be modified by various properties); pay for the extension of the spell so that they do not dispel (special spells that are on the playing field); apply the effects of any status (decay, for example) and refresh activation tokens on creatures, flipping them to the active side. Players then choose up to two spell cards and place them face down in front of them.

And then the fun begins. Mages take turns casting their chosen spells, dressing themselves in magic clothes and summoning creatures to their side for mana points. Creatures scurry around the field back and forth, hit each other with melee/ranged/magic attacks and protect their masters by becoming defensive. The purpose of this whole action is to strengthen your position and reduce the health of the opponent's magician to zero.

Probably, after such a superficial description, the game is unlikely to arouse any interest in you or, in general, at least some emotions. But what is there to dissemble, from the outside, the process looks exactly like this: I got mana, chose cards, moved creatures, threw cubes. But it's worth digging deeper...

As the foreword in the rules says, the gameplay in the VM is staging a battle of mages as it would look in reality. This is achieved not only due to the grandiose variety of spells, but also thanks to the cool idea with the book. The book is not only a pretentious accessory, it is really convenient to operate cards with it, in addition, it brings some zest to the mechanics. Players can calmly plan their actions without relying on chance, and it is this moment that gives what is happening "realism". You are a magician and completely control your strength and mind, and not some kind of sclerotic who casts chaotic spells dictated by a random draw of cards from the deck.

I am one of those who do not like to mess with cards, changing and correcting decks every time. Therefore, I was sincerely pleased with the rules for compiling books and the ability to quickly equip four magicians with cards at once. Reassuring and freedom in the compilation, it unties the hands of the experiments and eliminates difficult dilemmas that make one sacrifice for the benefit of the other (as is usually the case in such games). On the other hand, at first such freedom is discouraging. Therefore, at first it’s better to run the recommended sets a couple of times in order to understand the essence of the game, and then ideas will begin to be generated on their own.

As expected, the main characters have their own distinct specialization and promote different styles of combat. Four magicians belong to different schools and have a set of unique properties. The Beastmaster summons hordes of, ahem, beasts, the Priestess specializes in healing, the Sorcerer specializes in weakening an opponent with curses, and the Wizard indulges in mana drain and spell redirection.

VM is a storehouse of tactical solutions. Full hands of all sorts of charms, spells; a gradually growing network of summoned beings; an arena in which you can move around, choosing the most advantageous positions for attack or defense - all this contributes to the birth of many interesting decisions and tricks.

Probably only the first couple of moves will seem simple, when the mages are alone and bored in their own corner. But then you don't get bored. Constant skirmishes, firefights at a distance, traps, obstacles, destructive effects make the battle colorful and memorable. Dice also add fun, diluting a partly chess-like process with not always predictable results.

In addition to cubes, ignorance of what the opponent has in store is also intriguing. Realizing that he could put any spell in the book, you prepare in advance for a bunch of surprises and try to protect yourself with antidotes for all occasions. But still, surprises can not be avoided here. And that's great, as they provide food for thought for future games. And it's doubly great that the treachery of the opponent, and not the flaws of the mechanics, is responsible for the surprises here.

As for the simplest balance of cost/strength, it is observed. If you want to call a fat creature for two dozen mana, save and endure how many moves, defending. Everything is logical. In general, the logic of the game does not hold, this also applies to the main goal, the structure of the round, and the effects of cards. And don't let the 50-page rulebook intimidate you, the core of the rules is insanely simple, provided you already have deckbuilding experience. You will only have to tinker with the analysis of spell types, icons and terms.

Now about some warnings and ambiguous moments. Firstly, VM is one of those games that require like-minded people with their boxes, cash injections into add-ons, time to compose and test decks. Secondly, when sitting down for a game, it is difficult to predict how long it will last. It can be a dynamic 40 minutes or a grueling 2+ hours, especially if both play defensively. Thirdly, not everyone will like direct aggression, a lot of text on the cards, the notorious random on cubes and a field littered with cards. And the last thing, for absolutely beginners, I'm afraid, the entry threshold will be unbearable, a special approach is needed here.

Well, if you like this genre, you have already played enough of Summoner Wars or the same Berserk, and you want something new, then the Wars of Mages is a hit in the bullseye. Just before buying, it is advisable to conduct a small analysis in order to identify friends who are ready to join this game. Another purchase will be justified if your district has already formed, albeit small, but a community where gatherings or tournaments on VM are constantly held.

Unfortunately, in my collection of Mages, the same fate awaits as Netrunner - dust will be shaken off the game during rare forays into game libraries or even rarer games with Katya. True, I still have a glimmer of hope to recruit a Berserker fan friend I know. The game is really fun 8 /10.

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 is a tactical board game - a combination of a 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.

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 personal rating. In other words, a must have for those who love high-quality fighting games. Welcome, my friend, to the harsh everyday life of magicians

The second participant appeared in the review contest. Meet the reader by name Victor talking about Mage Wars and mostly good. In his opinion, this is a rather complicated board game, but very interesting.

In a nutshell: Mage Wars - New in 2012; Duel game about the battle of magicians in the arena; Card game without a deck; Tactical game with miniatures but no miniatures; Cool art, complicated rules.

Now more on points.

The box of the game says "Customizable strategy game", which can be translated as "customizable strategy". The BGG website has a separate rating of customizable games, this rating includes games such as Netruner, Warhammer 40,000, Dungeon Command, Magic The Gathering - games in which players prepare a deck and / or army of miniatures in advance according to their preferences in strategy. Some of these games are collectible (Warhammer 40,000, Magic The Gathering), in order to play them, each player must find and buy those cards and miniatures that he wants to see in his army / deck. Other games are less demanding on the player (Netruner, Dungeon Command), in order to fully play them, you just need to buy a box for each player, and then buy additional add-ons. Mage Wars belongs to the second type. In all Mage Wars expansions, there are enough copies of each card for any possible strategy, which is not true for all games of this type. The base box allows you to play with the recommended sets of cards, but you won’t be able to fully customize the spellbooks for both players - you will have to buy a second base.

According to the developers, Mage Wars is designed to be played as if magic really existed. Those. the magic here is quite "realistic" compared to many other games about the battle of magicians. The main realistic feature of Mage Wars is the books. The player does not draw random spell cards from the deck, but chooses the ones they need from their spellbook.

Spells come in six basic types similar to card types in MtG: equipment, creatures, enchantments, constructs, attacks, and just spells. Enchantments deserve special attention. Enchantments here, as in MtG, are cards that are attached to something after being played (to other cards in the game or game zones), but they are played face down, that is, they are put into play face down. Then, at any time, the controller of that enchantment can break it and use the effect written on the card. Effects on enchantments can be permanent, which last as long as the enchantment remains in play, and one-time - enchantments with such effects go to the discard immediately after opening. The face-to-face enchantment mechanic introduces an additional psychological component and room for bluffing into the game. With such mechanics, you always have a chance to surprise your opponent. I think this is a really interesting find.

As I mentioned above, spellbooks are pre-formed by players. The total value of all spells in the book must not exceed 120 training points. Different spells have different values ​​depending on the level of the spell and the mage's adherence to the respective school of magic. There are only 10 schools (6 main and 4 elements). The magician's card lists which schools of magic he has been trained in, usually one or two. If the spell does not belong to a school on this list, it will cost twice as much training points for it. In addition, each class of magicians has exclusive spells.

At the moment there are 8 different classes of magicians: Beastmaster, Warlock, Wizard, Priest from the base; Forcemaster and Warlord from the first expansion, which is called “Forcemaster vs. Warlord"; and an add-on that came out just the other day ”Druid vs. Necromacer". In addition, a small addition was released this summer, which includes alternative Mage cards for the Beastmaster and Priest classes, with unique abilities. I dare to suggest that Arcane Wonders (as the Mage Wars publishing house is called) will continue to release a box every 3 months and alternate 2 new classes and 2 alternative ones.

At the very beginning, I wrote that Mage Wars is a tactical game with miniatures, but no miniatures. What does it mean? The game uses the playing field (arena), on which the actual battle takes place. Mage cards and summoned creatures move around the field and fight with each other, while giving the impression of a game with miniatures. If you look at the Mage Wars page on BGG, you will see the word ”Miniatures” in the list of categories 🙂

Although there is no random card draw in Mage Wars, there are dice that determine the amount of damage an attack does. Damage on creatures is marked with tokens. In general, there are a lot of large and colorful tokens in the game to indicate different effects and states that creatures can be in. The most beautiful thing is that the text of the rules related to the effects of these tokens is printed on the tokens, which I have not seen anywhere before, and I was very impressed.

In Russia, many describe Mage Wars as a mixture of MtG and Berserk, while abroad it is compared to MtG and Summoner Wars. I can’t say anything about Summoner Wars, since I haven’t played it, but it doesn’t look much like Berserk. Personally, I see a lot of similarities between Mage Wars and Dungeons & Dragons.

First, the action system of Mage Wars is very similar to DnD. The game is divided into rounds in which players take turns activating their creatures (one creature at a time until all are active). When activated, the creature can perform a full action, or a move and a quick action, or two moves. In most games where players activate cards, players rotate those cards to indicate activated cards (MtG, Berserk, Dungeon Command ...), in Mage Wars there is no dedicated direction, and card rotation simply does not make sense, wooden markers are used instead, which must be turned over, and at the beginning of the round, turned back. These markers look great and are a pleasure to use - another good trick.

Secondly, the game has an effects die (d12) for rolls for various checks. When a creature attacks another creature, it can inflict some effects on it, such as poison or stun, and the probabilistic nature of these effects is tied exactly to the effect die. In addition, the player uses an effect die to make saving throws for creatures that are disoriented after being stunned, stuck in quicksand, etc.

Mage Wars rules are very complex and are 30 pages thick. Remembering all the keywords and exceptions is almost impossible, and you constantly have to refer to the code. In this case, individual cards can have up to eight keywords. On top of that, the number of options in the game just rolls over, because players have access to all the cards from the book at once. Because of this, the first game usually lasts about 3 hours, the players just look at the books and do not know what to choose. But it is the books that make this game different from others. Each round you need to play something that will bring you closer to victory and some kind of response to your opponent's strategy. For this reason, unlike other card games, a typical book in Mage Wars contains cards for several possible strategies at once and effective narrowly focused answers. Such a book allows you to play very flexible and change strategy on the fly, while in card games a successful deck must be completely versatile and consist entirely of synergistic cards. Mage Wars has a high entry threshold, but it all pays off after a couple of games, when you start to understand what to play and how to play.

What can you say about the popularity of the game? Additions are released quite often (every 3 months). In the overall rating on BGG, the game takes 28th place, and in the customizable rating, it ranks 2nd right behind Netrunner. Publishers support the community in every possible way, hold tournaments, give out promo cards for participating in tournaments or for pre-ordering add-ons. There is also an Ambassador program where anyone can become an agent promoting Mage Wars in their city. For activity, ambassadors receive T-shirts, promo cards and other goodies. Just recently, Mage Wars was localized in German and Chinese, and in January-February 2014 localization into Russian is expected, oddly enough. I hope it will take root with us and we will play our own tournaments!