Mage Knight Ultimate Edition

I would like to preface my review with the following statement: I wouldn't call myself a true hobbyist or collector of sorts, but I have played a decent amount of your non "classic" board games (classics being like Monopoly, Sorry, and others you'd find in non-hobby stores). I have only played the game 3 times, but it is already on the list of top 3 favorites to play. The biggest takeaway from the few games I've played is I love the options at your disposal, and the mechanics that go with them. I have not played a single board anywhere near similar to this one (though I think there are a few out there on the market with some decent similarities). It has enchanted me. And I have no clue where to begin, so I'll start with my favorite simple one. I love the wounds mechanic. To boil down what you need to know, this game plays out similar to video games, and you have a leveling system, with armor, damage, resistances, etc. BUT, unlike in most video games, you don't really die. Wouldn't be fun to have to sit out and just watch everyone around you play, would it? even if it was a few turns it would suck. No, they found a much more beautiful solution, and part of its beauty is how simple it is. its so simple yet ingenious. When you take damage (and you almost certainly will from my experience) you get what is called wound cards, to a location (often your playing hand). Now what does this do? Well obviously your hand is important, and these wounds count as part of your card limit, but don't really do anything else for the most part. There are ways to heal it, but they are mostly slow, and so you have to deal with a lesser hand, beautifully linking the immersion of how you are injured, making you slower on your actions. And sure, you can rest and not truly heal your wounds, putting them all in the discard (if you have non-wound cards in your hand still) BUT!! It's in your discard, which will eventually be your deck again, and true to real life, your wounds are going to act up again later on if you keep doing things, or if you are unlucky, start causing you some immediate problems again. You have to take the time to properly treat yourself to truly get rid of your wounds. Find some magical glades, get the monks to heal you, cast some healing magic you've learned, etc. And I love that since your deck/hand represents your abilities, and what you can do in life. There are so many options to increase them, and slowly your deck will get larger, and you will learn, and grow! Now I know what you are thinking, "Yes, but each of those cards is just a random chance of being drawn. If we are to keep this charade you are playing that it feels beautifully realistic for just a board game, how does that come into play? When you learn new things, you always know them, having a 1/16 chance or less doesn't seem to fit what you are touting" That brings me to another simple mechanic that just works pretty well. Of course, there is still plenty of randomness, and that's the beauty. It still needs all the elements of board games and how cards work. It's the beauty of how you decide to play your hand in the face of the randomness that makes it shine. But, if luck simple doesn't favor you, ANY of your cards (not counting wound cards) can act for a +1 of the basic actions you can perform. did you use your super awesome fireball spell, but you are JUUUUST short of killing that monster, but darn no more attack cards in your hand? play that move card you have sideways, and BAM, +1 more attack. (now there are lots of rules here that prevent certain things, like it has to be basic +1 physical attack, not special ranged attack etc). Did life just deal you the wrong hand, literally, and you visited this village, just to not have a single card to influence the villagers to help you in your time to struggle? It's a tough decision, but if you really need it, just play your whole hand sideways for that +5(assuming thats how many cards you are holding) you needed for the unit you want to follow you into battle! really there is just so much going on, I can't really explain how the game works. HOWEVER, that being said, I looked at a lot of reviews of this game before purchasing, given the price. I noticed many commented on how much there is to this game, and given that raises the bar before you truly know how to play the game. But as a few pointed out, and I want to reiterate, its just A LOT of rules. The rules are not hard at all. If you take them all, and look at them individually, there will almost never be any confusion. they fit together easily. There aren't too many things that criss-cross to get confused with. There's not a ton of "do this then, but of if you had that, it changes that rule, but well then if there is this you can ignore part of it". (There is a little bit in the form of "if a card breaks the general rule, follow the more specific rule", but that's a pretty standard and understood ruling on games). So again, there are A LOT, but none are difficult. And if you have a good memory, it will take no time at all to get a good grasp on the game. Not to mention there is a booklet specifically designed for first play, that helps you out pretty well along your way and introduces a little a time. This teaches you the game in a pretty nice and organic way. It obviously leaves out some more complicated stuff, but by the time you get to it, you'll have a firm grasp on everything else and it'll be nothing to you. Well, now that I've put this game on the pedestal, let me try to flip and be as cruel as I can. This game, man is it expensive. I mean if you play non-classic board games, its nothing new, they usually are, but it still hurts the wallet. So when I saw it came with the expansions, my first thought was "wow, THREE WHOLE EXPANSION, i'm probably getting my moneys worth then." so after I opened it up, and actually figured out what parts were part of them, I was greatly underwhelmed. That isn't to say there isnt a nice bit of stuff, just in my mind, not the amount one would think after hearing 3 expansions (and i think there technically four, but one is just the addition of a handful of cards if i recall). I WANT TO MAKE THIS PERFECTLY CLEAR. I am only underwhelmed with the physical aspect of the size and amount represented in front of me, I have yet to PLAY with the expansions, and I have no clue how much mechanics wise, difficulty wise, or enjoyment wise they add to the game! I simply had different expectations of when I slid this HUGE box open, of what to see. Which brings me to my next gripe. There is so, so, so very much wasted space in this box. And they don't really store all that well. In my opinion, you'll either have to go with some options you can find online of ways to store it, or you can go cheap route, and have some spare baggies on hand to organize things that make since to you, and find a way to fit them back in the box. But, if you keep the box, make no mistake it takes up way more room than it should. just, why? The size of the box is part of the reason i was expecting more I suppose, but there is just too much unused, and just too poorly designed for re-storage. That being said, it is possible to store it back in the box, you just probably aren't to be happy with it if you don't find your own way to do things. Another gripe I have - which may just be a defect - are the figures. half of them look real well, obviously could be better but you aren't paying for beautifully crafted figures. However one of mine, specifically the red female as part of the base game (I cant remember their name) just seemed to have come from a completely different place, its paint job was noticeably more poor. Biggest of all was the giant, off-alignment mouth painted on her face. That's about it. The only other things I can think to say, is if you aren't used to playing games with lots of things to it, it will take you a long time to grasp. If this is one of your first "unique" board game ventures, give it time. Speaking of time, this game, even if everyone knows what they are doing, can take quite a long time. (it can also be played solo, i don't know how long that would take, but assuming a lot shorter).There is both cooperative and competitive modes, for whatever style suites your fancy. Hope this little review helps you out some!

So, if you're into fantasy adventures and heavy, skill based board games, then you already have this. Or at least, you know you want it. If you're on the fence, maybe take these things into consideration. Yessir, it is very heavy. There are a number of dense rulebooks. People who say such things would describe it as "very fiddly indeed." But don't let that scare you off. The rules are very well presented, with one of the books being a basic tutorial mission that learns you as you go. It's not that big a deal. And once you learn it, you know it and it's easy to learn and intuitive. Watch a YouTube tutorial even. It is very challenging. Very little luck is involved, and there are many ways to mitigate it when there is. Each turn is a puzzle you are presented, and the more you play the more ways you will figure out how to overcome the challenge. Untill then, the difficulty is extremely flexible. Seem like you never get any strong action cards? Draft some before the game starts and bleed them in at the end of each day. Is the dummy player causing the end of the round, often when you still have a bunch of cards in your deck? Add a few wound cards to his deck before the game starts, slow him down a little. Reduce the levels of the faction leaders, start yourself at a higher level... it's all in the rules and you can pick and choose how you want to customize each scenario. I won't tell anybody if you break the rules. Before you know it, it'll be too easy with all that stuff. That's when this game achieves its final form. Gloomhaven is great too. But you have to get married to that game and quit your job to play through it all. Though MK lacks that campaign play that I usually enjoy most, it does what it does so well that I think it's pretty much an essential board game for anyone even moderately interested in the theme and strategic, one and done, deck-building adventures that provide a perfect blend of challenge, reward, and complexity.

Mage Knight is a fantastic solo board game with a ton of replay value. Haven't played it multiplayer yet, but imagine it would require at least 3 hours of game time. EDIT: My only complaint is in the storage box. It's big enough to hold all of the game components, but the storage of most components is too tight in the original plastic inserts, and it makes set-up & tear-down harder than it needs to be (time consuming to fit everything into original inserts, and then having to organize everything after removing). I ended up storing figures, dice, crystals in a parts box (I put a small plastic bag in the parts box first before the figures helps keep them from moving around). https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FMLTP2T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 worked, but it's too big to fit in the box. A smaller organizer might work better. I put each playable character's tokens in a separate zip-lock bag to keep them together. I put enemy tokens in different colored opaque bags and just pull out of the bag when needed (the token surface edges feel different enough to know which is face up or face down). https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G3XXKN7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 worked well, a tad too big, but I couldn't find anything cheaper to do the trick. Double sleeved the playing cards as well for protection. The card storage was a tad too tight with double sleeved cards, so I had to store those in a separate box. KMC card barrier box worked great and has slight excess room if double sleeving. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007N7P8K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Couldn't find anything great to store the map tiles in. Ended up using a small cardboard box. Tip: Highly recommend watching all Ricky Royal Mage Knight series on youtube. He does a great job running through the game. It makes the Rulebook easier to digest to watch the game play-out first.

Please note this is as a Solo and two Player Coop Experience only Reveiw. It is complicated, and it has a unique spin. You the Mage Knight are in a "timed" race to get to and conquer cities, that which are slowly revealed on the map, and as tiles are laid out through exploration. What makes this fun, is that you have a deck of card to manage your actions per turn and round, and determining which cards to add to buff your deck out. As you slay enemies or raze towns/monasteries, you acquire loot and experience and get more powerful. The game is complex, so I'd like to use this review to point to excellent sources for both learning the game, and then improving on the game Ricky Royal - YouTube Basics Solo Playthroughs - Youtube Advance Combos, Tricks, Power Plays Game is worth the $100, even with the limited games I have played, they are fun, and each hero offers a unique play style to the game.

Hi, The box came on time and without problems I bought this game to play Solo games This is an excellent box, it came with all the expansions for Mage Knight, I expend a week just sorting all the items that came inside the box, ordering everything inside small bags, but now the setup of the game is faster and easy. I never played this game before, it has a steep learning curve, it took me another week to learn how to play the basic game but the process was really fun, the box came with a "tutorial" book that help a lot in the process to learn how to play, I enjoyed every minute because the tutorial is easy to follow, after a week I was playing the game with confidence, the good thing about play solo is You can play at your own pace, finish one game take me two or three days (I play slow and I'm not in a hurry) In conclusion, this game worth every dollar that I pay for it, I will be playing this game for years. Note: be sure to get a big table to play it

tl;dr - the mage knight box is 4x too large for the components included and takes up way too much space in my game shelf. I fit all components into a Dominion: Adventures expansion game box with plenty of extra space inside. Now it fits much better in my game shelf Now into the meat of the review: I think the rest of the comments can sum up how good this game is, and if that were it, I'd probably give the game a 5-star rating. The quality also seems sufficient. However, my comment will be about the box the Ultimate edition comes in, and is the reason for the lower star The box is...SO big. It is the biggest game box I have ever received. After unboxing and trying to stuff all the pieces into the appropriate (and ironically undersized) insert tray slots, I realized this box was gonna have a ton of empty space in it. There is a full inch of empty space above the insert tray. Being the kind of guy who like to fit my games into as small a space as possible, I decided to ditch the insert and put all the pieces into little plastic baggies instead. It was at this point where I found that the box was more than 4x too large to fit everything snugly *see picture*. Now, I understand that not everyone will want things as cramped in their box as I will, so take that as you may. Since the box takes up WAY toouch space on my game shelf, I now had to figure out a way to lessen the space this game would take up, so I got one of my many old Dominion expansion boxes (Adventures), and decided to try putting all the pieces for Mage Knight Ultimate into it. Everything fit LOOSELY into the Dominion: Adventures box. *See picture*. I really hate having to use a different game's box to house a game which came with an absurdly oversized box (Kingdom builder is another offender), but I value saving space in my game shelf much more.

I got this to play solo but I believe that it would still be a lot of fun playing two player either co-op or competitive. Maybe 3 players could be fun too but I think that might be pushing it unless you want to play a really long game. The game does have a lot of rules and you will be referencing the rules a lot at first, but that is ok because the added complexity is worth it for what it adds to the game. A common turn involves playing some cards or skills for movement, followed by an action which is typically either combat with an enemy, or recruiting units, spells, or advanced action cards. The map is random every game because you draw random tiles each time you explore a new area. The game comes with several scenarios but there are also a bunch of fan made scenarios available online at sites like board game geek (though you will need to look for regular Mage Knight in addition to Ultimate Edition Mage Knight.) Before I bought this game I watched some videos done by Ricky Royal on youtube (easy to find using internet search) and that convinced me that I would probably like this game, and I do! Its a good idea to watch those videos if you either aren't sure if you want to buy this game, or if you just want to learn the basics of how to play. In fact I played three games before actually reading through all of the rules. There were a couple of things I missed but they were small and didn't come up often or have much affect on the outcome of any game. The game does take some time, even solo, so make sure you are willing to invest 2-3 hours at a time, or more, depending on the scenario, into playing this game. Or if you are able to let the game sit on a table, you could play one long game over multiple shorter sessions. There is a lot to this game and I didnt cover everything but I think its enough to help make a decision. I recommend it though.

This is my #1 game of all time, really a beast to learn and a lot to grasp while playing, so don't expect anything easy or a quick play session, but it is extremely rewarding to play Mage Knight and see the improvement your character gets while exploring and battling monsters! The number of options you have when you are playing your cards is also a highlight, truly amazing. If you are on the fence between this edition and the base game, I would certainly recommend buying this one. It comes with all expansions as well as 4 extra double mana cards that cannot be found anywhere else. If you do get to play it, you will be hooked forever, guaranteed.

Gostei

Complex, but one of the very best solo games ever made. Watch some how to play videos (Paul Grogan is a good starting point) and you will have a game that both challenges and entertains you for many years to come. Not for the faint-hearted but worth the effort to learn.

BGGのソロゲームランキングで、長い間圧倒的トップだった伝説級ゲーム。 元々は1～4人用だけど、1人がベスト、2人もOK、3人以上は微妙という感じで、 やはりソロプレイ向きのゲームという印象が強い作品です。 日本語版がないせいでプレイのハードルが上がってしまってますが、 相当面白いゲームなのは間違いありません。 内容は、異世界アトランティスに派遣された魔導騎士（メイジナイト）になって、 世界を探索、最終的に首都（シティ）を攻略するというものです。 1枚ずつマップタイルをめくって世界を探索していくワクワク感や、 新しい呪文やアーティファクトを手に入れて強くなっていくRPG的成長、 局面に合わせて手札をうまく組み合わせて乗り切っていくパズル的な要素、 最終的なシティ攻略を見据えてターンを組み立てていく戦略性など、 色々な要素が複雑に絡み合っていて、プレイヤーを飽きさせません。 ●戦略性の高さ 最終目標であるシティ攻略がかなり難易度が高く、計画的に行動しないと たどり着いても全く歯が立たないということになります。 そうそう簡単にはクリアできないので、何度も挑戦する楽しさが有り、 クリアできた時の達成感もとても大きいです。 シティのレベルを変えたり、難しい地形タイルを抜いたりして、難易度調整が出来ます。 「難しすぎてつまらない！」とはなりにくいのがいい点です。 ●コンポーネントのデザイン性 カードデザインが素晴らしい！ ファンタジー系のカードゲームはこうでなくちゃ！ プレイ感も印象に残るカードがいろいろあります。 特にアーティファクトは強烈なパワーを秘めたものが多くて、 プレイしていて感動するほどのインパクトがありました。 ヘックス型のマップタイルもすごく好きです。 ヒーローやシティのフィギュアも、雰囲気を盛り上げてくれます。 モンスタートークンのデザインだけがちょっと不満です。 （なんだかショボいです） ●リプレイ性が非常に高い マップタイルの組み合わせだけでもけっこうあるので、 やるたびにどんなマップになるのか予想できません。 使用するタイルの組み合わせを変えたり、タイルの向きをランダムにする ヴァリアントを取り入れたりすると、本当に多種多様なマップが出来上がります。 カード類も種類が多く、何回プレイしてもまだ知らないカードがあります。 毎回使うお馴染みのカードと、めったに手に入らないレアカードがある感じです。 特にアーティファクトカードはなかなか手に入らないので、 「何とか手に入れたい！」といつも思いながらプレイしています。 プレイ可能なヒーローは7人。 ユニークカードはそれぞれ2枚ずつと少ないですが、 スキル（1人につき11種）が全く違うので、プレイ感がかなり違います。 1人用基本シナリオ「ソロコンクエスト」だけでも相当遊べますが、 他にもいろいろなシナリオがあります。 ルールブックに載っている多人数用シナリオをソロ用に変更した ソロ向けのシナリオ集がネット上にあります。 「一生遊べるゲーム」と言っても過言ではありません。 ●言語依存はやっぱり高い まずルールの把握に英語力がある程度必要になります。 メインのルールはネット上に有志の翻訳がありますが、 プレイスルーやエキスパンションのルールブックは翻訳がありません。 有志の翻訳も分かりにくい部分があって、結局はある程度 英語の原文を読まないと理解できないということになると思います。 カード類も当然すべて英語です。 ただ、カードテキストの英語はパターンがあるので、 慣れればそれほど難しくはありません。 自動翻訳アプリなどもあるので、そこまで恐れなくて大丈夫です。 ただし、英語がまるっきり駄目という人は注意してください。 ある程度は英語が読めないと厳しいと思います。 ●ルールはやや複雑 基本的には分かりやすいルールなのですが、 細かい煩雑なルールが多くて、これがプレイするときの障害になります。 一通りルールを理解するのにまず苦労する、 理解した後でもプレイするたびに忘れる、間違える…という感じです。 やるべき処理を忘れた（間違った）ままゲームを進めてしまうと、 仮に勝ったとしてもあまり喜べなくなってしまうので… こればっかりは慣れるしかないのでしょう。 ●場所を取ります コンポーネントが多いので、やはりこの問題は大きいです。 プレイ時はもちろんですが、箱もやたらと大きい。 できたらもう少し小さい箱にコンパクトにまとめたいところです。 これだけの有名ゲームなのに、日本でいまいちもあり上がらないのは やはり言語の問題が一番大きいんでしょう。 個人的に、こういうファンタジー系のゲームには、 日本語テキストよりも英語テキストの方が好きなんですけどね。 MTGなんかもそうだったけど、 カード名は日本語よりも英語の方が断然カッコいいですし。 興味あるけど手が出せないでいる人がいたら、 ぜひお勧めしたいゲームです。 僕が日本のアマゾンで買ったときは約2万円でしたが、 今はさらに値上がっているようです。 米アマゾンから買った方が、安く買えると思います。

ich habe das Brettspiel in einer sehr schlechten Qualiltät erhalten. Die Originalverpackung ist an allen Ecken eingerissen und die Kunststoffmaterialaufnahme ist beschädigt. Das Material, das nicht eingeschweißt war, musste erst gereinigt werden. - Das war das teuerste Brettspiel, das ich mir bisher gekauft habe und dann in so einem Zustand - sehr enttätuschend. Ich habe es nur deshalb nicht zurückgeschickt, weil ich schon sehnsüchtig darauf gewartet habe und unbedingt mit meiner Familie gleich spielen wollte. Eine Entschädigung (zum Beispiel Kartensatz in Deutsch) wäre zumindest ein freundliches Entgegenkommen.

El juego llegó completo sin piezas faltantes, los componentes llegaron en buen estado. El único detalle fue un leve golpe en una de las esquinas de la caja, pero pues nada grave. El juego en si una chulada, llevaba años queriendo comprarmelo y al fin se dio la oportunidad. Un juego bastante denso que requiere mucho compromiso por parte del jugador para aprender a dominar el sistema.