The Inside Scoop on Gaming

At first i shied away from Mage Knight. As a player, i likened it to a Pokemon version of Wargaming, and as a Shop Owner, i was loathe to jump on another "fad" game.

However, after watching the game online (by hitting the Mage Knight Sites) and having New customers come in asking for it, i decided to dip in a bit and order a case while i could.

The very next day came the now-famous FASA Announcement, which i had to break to my Battletech players, at the same time presenting this new game.

After opening a box (and getting a level 6 rare Hierophant) and hitting the rules, i was both pleasantly surprised and a bit engrossed. Playwise, it is as simple as you can get, i think, and ad that to the breakdown of actions per player per turn, and you are forced to deal with a level of strategy that surpasses the competitors. It is basically 'one-at-a-time', much like (...dare i say it...) Chess, and a player very much has to consider multiple moves and decisions ahead or be buried. Other games take turns, but often on a team (or in the case of Diskwars, 3 at a time) basis, then combat is broken into phases. With MK, you have to decide, one mini at a time, move or shoot or whatever, then your opponent gets the same chioce for _one_ mini, and like that through the game. Bigger games enable more chioces, but at a 100 pt level, it's very dramatic.

Visually the game stands out as well, though all the demo minis i've seen are of a better quality than the 'real' ones, they still pass. The only parts of the lot that seem to suffer the most from the pre-painted job are the faces of the humans & humanoids. The paint on the pieces prohibits much facial detail, leaving most to look like they've got pantyhose over their face.

As for trepainting the figs? Well, they are made of some kinda PVC-like plastic, which is good in terms of tossing yer army in a box and not worrying about it, but bad when you have to re-shape swords and such when they get bent. You could try to repaint 'em if you want, especially if you've been spoiled by the new fantastic levels that minis seem to be at these days ( thanks to the likes of Reaper & ral Partha), but it'd be like painting those relly old minis from the days of the beginning of the hobby. There's just not an abundance of detail.

Overall i think that Mage Knight falls perfectly in that space ( again, like Diskwars) before the onslaught of GW games ( Warhammer, 40k,Mordheim...), and regular RPG miniature use. A number of my Diskwars Players have picked it up, and we've added it to our calendar for in-store play in Feb, as well.

The collectibility facet is one that i'mnot comfortable with. As an ex-semi-pro Magic player, i know how making key components of a game collectible can lead to constant shifts in game-play balance, and buyers into speculation instead of playing, so we'll have to wait and see what's next.

Overall? Well worth the cost. We'll continue to stock and support it here. notwolf

Mage Knight Rebellion
Item type: RPG Product Name: Mage Knight Rebellion Author: notwolf Company/Publisher: WizKids Line: Mage Knight SKU: Cost: 17.95 Page count: ISBN: Genres: Ratings: Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty) Review type: Capsule Review Genre tags:	At first i shied away from Mage Knight. As a player, i likened it to a Pokemon version of Wargaming, and as a Shop Owner, i was loathe to jump on another "fad" game. However, after watching the game online (by hitting the Mage Knight Sites) and having New customers come in asking for it, i decided to dip in a bit and order a case while i could. The very next day came the now-famous FASA Announcement, which i had to break to my Battletech players, at the same time presenting this new game. After opening a box (and getting a level 6 rare Hierophant) and hitting the rules, i was both pleasantly surprised and a bit engrossed. Playwise, it is as simple as you can get, i think, and ad that to the breakdown of actions per player per turn, and you are forced to deal with a level of strategy that surpasses the competitors. It is basically 'one-at-a-time', much like (...dare i say it...) Chess, and a player very much has to consider multiple moves and decisions ahead or be buried. Other games take turns, but often on a team (or in the case of Diskwars, 3 at a time) basis, then combat is broken into phases. With MK, you have to decide, one mini at a time, move or shoot or whatever, then your opponent gets the same chioce for _one_ mini, and like that through the game. Bigger games enable more chioces, but at a 100 pt level, it's very dramatic. Visually the game stands out as well, though all the demo minis i've seen are of a better quality than the 'real' ones, they still pass. The only parts of the lot that seem to suffer the most from the pre-painted job are the faces of the humans & humanoids. The paint on the pieces prohibits much facial detail, leaving most to look like they've got pantyhose over their face. As for trepainting the figs? Well, they are made of some kinda PVC-like plastic, which is good in terms of tossing yer army in a box and not worrying about it, but bad when you have to re-shape swords and such when they get bent. You could try to repaint 'em if you want, especially if you've been spoiled by the new fantastic levels that minis seem to be at these days ( thanks to the likes of Reaper & ral Partha), but it'd be like painting those relly old minis from the days of the beginning of the hobby. There's just not an abundance of detail. Overall i think that Mage Knight falls perfectly in that space ( again, like Diskwars) before the onslaught of GW games ( Warhammer, 40k,Mordheim...), and regular RPG miniature use. A number of my Diskwars Players have picked it up, and we've added it to our calendar for in-store play in Feb, as well. The collectibility facet is one that i'mnot comfortable with. As an ex-semi-pro Magic player, i know how making key components of a game collectible can lead to constant shifts in game-play balance, and buyers into speculation instead of playing, so we'll have to wait and see what's next. Overall? Well worth the cost. We'll continue to stock and support it here. notwolf

Mage Knight Rebellion