The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Heroquest, Advanced Heroquest, DungeonQuest, Warhammer Quest, and even the original Dungeon... MageKnight: Dungeons is a worthy successor to a long line of dungeon crawl "beer and pretzels" boardgames.

But it isn't MageKnight.

A few MageKnight-related notes first:
* Movement is in movement points to enter boardgame squares. Not inches.
* No formations.
* No action tokens.
* No pushing.
* No capturing.
* No mounted figures.

Miniatures players will also note that in the typical "army vs. army" miniature battle, players have pretty complete information of the opposing forces. MK:D uses Wandering Monster tokens which randomly generate monsters, and treasure chests with random traps and treasures. This makes MK:D a much more, well, random game. MK:D hasn't done well at my local retailers, whose customers prefer miniatures games over boardgames.

Still, I enjoy it because it captures the classic dungeon crawl days of long ago. Each player starts with one or more Heroes, who enters the dungeon, hacks up monsters, survives trapped chests, and runs towards the exit with his treasure. (The Heroes, monsters or Mage Spawn, and treasure chests are prepainted plastic miniatures. The dungeon is a paper boardgame-like map.) Unlike other dungeon crawl games, players play competing Heroes, and alternate in their roles as Hero and monsters. This is accomplished through a mechanic called Activations. On a player's turn, he receives two Activations (or one for each Hero if he has a party of Heroes). An activation may be used to move a Hero **or** a Mage Spawn. This doesn't provide as much in the way of tactics as the regular MageKnight rules, but I must say it's fun using up all one's activations to fill up a room with Mage Spawn so you can barely see your opponent's Hero...

Which reminds me. In the basic game, or "Lone Wolf", each player starts with one first-level hero. These heroes died. Really fast. If the hero was a fighter-type, he'd survive the monsters, but would be wounded by the chest trap, **then** be defeated by the monsters. If the hero was a thief-type, he'd survive the trap, but be defeated by the monsters. You can easily compensate for this by starting characters at a higher level.

If you're a MK player, you're probably wondering how levels work. Heroes start out a few clicks below what would be the starting position for a regular MK figure. A little "Level Notation" number is in the dial window to show what click to start at. Once a Hero gains fifty experience points (one experience point per point value of Mage Spawn, and 25 points for surviving a trapped chest), he heals up to the next higher level.

I haven't played games with a party of heroes, but I suspect that they'd do the usual D&D "fighters in the front, thieves in the back" strategy. Speaking of D&D, MK:D spellcasters still only have their one or two Special Abilities to rely upon (no stacks of spells), but thieves can hide behind hindering terrain, and even steal from, and backstab, other figures. And, of course, you can use your own MK figures in place of Heroes and Mage Spawn. Anyone for an Orc raid on the Necropolis Sect?

Each Starter ($20) contains enough for two players: one of three double-sided paper maps, two Heroes, two Treasure chests, and six Mage Spawn. I would recommend a second starter for the additional map, and to better accomodate four players. The figures are painted better than previous MK sets, with some of the Mage Spawn quite well done, although human faces are still flesh-colored blobs. The boosters ($7.50) come with one Hero, one Treasure Chest, and three Mage Spawn. MK players will note that this selection of miniatures is not too well-suited for a typical MK army.

WizKids has put out several accessories for MK:D, each of them quite expensive ($15), but non-collectable. The three Builder Kits contain doors and sturdier card tiles to create more customized maps (you'll need at least two kits to create a two-player dungeon). The Artifact Sets contain prepainted 25mm furniture and dungeon dressings usable in **any** fantasy miniature RPG. These sets function like "tricks and traps" in MK:D. The first set contains furniture, pillars, rune stone, and a curious-looking clock trap. The second set contains **very** well-painted water fountains and altars, rivalling hand-painted figures. Their see-through packages will let you decide for yourself if the miniatures are worth buying.

I don't know if this set, like previous MK sets, will eventually go out-of-print. And the "dungeon crawl" boardgame market isn't exactly a large one. Best to catch this game before it goes the way of its predecessors.

MageKnight: Dungeons
MageKnight: Dungeons Capsule Review by Cedric Chin on 24/02/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty) It's a boardgame, Jim. Product: MageKnight: Dungeons Author: Michael Mulvihill Category: Board/Tactical Game Company/Publisher: WizKids Line: MageKnight Cost: $20 Page count: Year published: 2002 ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Cedric Chin on 24/02/02 Genre tags: Fantasy	Heroquest, Advanced Heroquest, DungeonQuest, Warhammer Quest, and even the original Dungeon... MageKnight: Dungeons is a worthy successor to a long line of dungeon crawl "beer and pretzels" boardgames. But it isn't MageKnight. A few MageKnight-related notes first: * Movement is in movement points to enter boardgame squares. Not inches. * No formations. * No action tokens. * No pushing. * No capturing. * No mounted figures. Miniatures players will also note that in the typical "army vs. army" miniature battle, players have pretty complete information of the opposing forces. MK:D uses Wandering Monster tokens which randomly generate monsters, and treasure chests with random traps and treasures. This makes MK:D a much more, well, random game. MK:D hasn't done well at my local retailers, whose customers prefer miniatures games over boardgames. Still, I enjoy it because it captures the classic dungeon crawl days of long ago. Each player starts with one or more Heroes, who enters the dungeon, hacks up monsters, survives trapped chests, and runs towards the exit with his treasure. (The Heroes, monsters or Mage Spawn, and treasure chests are prepainted plastic miniatures. The dungeon is a paper boardgame-like map.) Unlike other dungeon crawl games, players play competing Heroes, and alternate in their roles as Hero and monsters. This is accomplished through a mechanic called Activations. On a player's turn, he receives two Activations (or one for each Hero if he has a party of Heroes). An activation may be used to move a Hero or a Mage Spawn. This doesn't provide as much in the way of tactics as the regular MageKnight rules, but I must say it's fun using up all one's activations to fill up a room with Mage Spawn so you can barely see your opponent's Hero... Which reminds me. In the basic game, or "Lone Wolf", each player starts with one first-level hero. These heroes died. Really fast. If the hero was a fighter-type, he'd survive the monsters, but would be wounded by the chest trap, then be defeated by the monsters. If the hero was a thief-type, he'd survive the trap, but be defeated by the monsters. You can easily compensate for this by starting characters at a higher level. If you're a MK player, you're probably wondering how levels work. Heroes start out a few clicks below what would be the starting position for a regular MK figure. A little "Level Notation" number is in the dial window to show what click to start at. Once a Hero gains fifty experience points (one experience point per point value of Mage Spawn, and 25 points for surviving a trapped chest), he heals up to the next higher level. I haven't played games with a party of heroes, but I suspect that they'd do the usual D&D "fighters in the front, thieves in the back" strategy. Speaking of D&D, MK:D spellcasters still only have their one or two Special Abilities to rely upon (no stacks of spells), but thieves can hide behind hindering terrain, and even steal from, and backstab, other figures. And, of course, you can use your own MK figures in place of Heroes and Mage Spawn. Anyone for an Orc raid on the Necropolis Sect? Each Starter ($20) contains enough for two players: one of three double-sided paper maps, two Heroes, two Treasure chests, and six Mage Spawn. I would recommend a second starter for the additional map, and to better accomodate four players. The figures are painted better than previous MK sets, with some of the Mage Spawn quite well done, although human faces are still flesh-colored blobs. The boosters ($7.50) come with one Hero, one Treasure Chest, and three Mage Spawn. MK players will note that this selection of miniatures is not too well-suited for a typical MK army. WizKids has put out several accessories for MK:D, each of them quite expensive ($15), but non-collectable. The three Builder Kits contain doors and sturdier card tiles to create more customized maps (you'll need at least two kits to create a two-player dungeon). The Artifact Sets contain prepainted 25mm furniture and dungeon dressings usable in any fantasy miniature RPG. These sets function like "tricks and traps" in MK:D. The first set contains furniture, pillars, rune stone, and a curious-looking clock trap. The second set contains very well-painted water fountains and altars, rivalling hand-painted figures. Their see-through packages will let you decide for yourself if the miniatures are worth buying. I don't know if this set, like previous MK sets, will eventually go out-of-print. And the "dungeon crawl" boardgame market isn't exactly a large one. Best to catch this game before it goes the way of its predecessors.