I’m pretty close to picking it up, but just saw that there’s a digital version of it in the works. I’m not big on digital adaptations of board games, but given the physical size of Mage Knight and the complexity, an app version seems worth at least considering.
Seems like that was just announced earlier this year, meaning I wouldn’t count on it being released anytime soon. Maybe by the end of 2020, if all goes well.
Yes, I know? I’m saying it’s not worth my buying the collected edition because I’m only missing one $30 expansion from it.
Not sure why you asked then, really.
I didn’t.
Ok dude…not sure what your issue is here but I withdraw my advice.
“Looks like Hostage Negotiator is getting a campaign addon, via KS. How are previous entries in the franchise?”
And this is where adding quotes into replies goes a long way to preventing miscommunication. Unfortunately, rowe’s comments were misplaced amongst the current discussion of Mage Knight even though the reply tag on the post was for Hostage Negotiator. Crazy, I know, right? Wars have been started over less. At least in my boardgaming world they have.
With Mage Knight, it’ll absolutely murder your table space. I do think the ultimate edition does include a better organiser so you won’t need to shell out dollars for a third party organiser straight away, and you don’t need to commit a chunk of time setting it up. That’s a good thing!
It is I think the best of a bad bunch when it comes to tabletop adventurish roleplaying games. My sample size isn’t particularly big (Runebound 3rd Ed, Sword and Sorcery, Mage Knight) but I’d probably say Mage Knight ticks the boxes in the right way for me personally. Of course, the popularity of Mage Knight on BGG has me scratching my head.
Mage Knight was one of the first games I played solo. It is heavily flawed, and yet I still do find myself having a good time despite those flaws when I play it. And it is satisfying to look back over the map once the game ends and seeing the power creep that your Mage Knight earned, and the various tracts of land he conquered.
Ack, you’re right. I only saw the avatar picture and assumed rowe responded to the comment directly above his and left the quote out because why quote something directly above your post. Apologies to rowe.
Or she. Arythea and Wolfhawk are female mage knights.
Oh, see, I thought you were replying to the post you replied to, and not my question from two weeks ago. I do appreciate the feedback, though. :)
Played the tutorial for Hellboy, the boardgame.
Pleasantly surprised with this. The tutorial is short with only 3 rooms to explore and after watching this On YouTube a few times I was going to skip it and play a normal case. But decided to try it.
Breezed through the rooms, although while in one room with a clue, a doom card sent an inferno in there so I lost a possible clue. And in the last room a clue was in the far area and I killed all the minions before I could get the clue so I never got any bonuses for the boss battle as a case card brought in the boss right after I killed the last minions.
In this game you travel through rooms, clearing minions, getting clues, trying to keep the doom track from moving too fast before you are geared up for the final boss battle.
There are a surprising number of things to think about each turn. They heroes get 3 action cubes. Some actions cost 1 cube, some 2. Some ranged weapons lose ammo after use so there is a decision on using them or going to melee range. There is furniture and some attacks hurl enemies into the furniture for bonus damage. Each character has special attacks, some which cost more but also do extra damage or have other consequences. Infernos can spread each turn on a certain die roll. One character can do one action, then the other do two actions then the first does another one. No set turn structure…and each can help the die rolls of the other so there is cooperation.
I barely lost the tutorial but really enjoyed it and will play it again with different characters and really look forward to one of the medium or longer games.
This could be a really good solo game…just need more cases. Pledged for 2 expansions.
Restarted and am 6 1/2 hours deep into 7th Continent proper, with all the expansions introduced.
I love how elegantly everything fits together in this system, and I obviously adore the theme. Also, the new satchel/notebook thingy leatherbound book that comes with the What Goes Up Must Come Down expansion is immensely satisfying. Get a quest item/experience points/etc that would normally un-satisfyingly go under a satchel card now goes into that book. And the book is awesome. I love taking the elastic off it to pop a new card in, as if I’m a history grad student in my own Lovecraftian movie…
Played the tutorial for Hellboy a 2nd time. There are a few different ways to trigger the end boss and I tried a different approach and got overwhelmed.
It ends up being kind of a puzzle after losing a few times, you can see the balancing act of exploring vs being speedy.
But there are enough variables so that each of the 6 cases play quite differently each time…just hope that the way to beat the bosses in each case has some variability…not the same exact exploring/speeding balance for each case. Seems there are enough toys to try different strategies…I hope.
Awesome, still waiting for my expansion to arrive but I love the base game. The journal thing sounds great! Looking forward to taking it for a spin.
Just got my shipping notice this morning!
I’m having so much fun with it so far. I went from a base game and 960 cards or whatever, to adding the additional thousand or so cards from the expansions, mini-expansions, and the new big box.
And the satchel binder thingy that comes with What Goes Up is indeed incredibly satisfying. It does indeed feel much more like a notebook of stuff your expedition has going on. It also seems like a very neat thing to have when playing with multiple players, as it can be handed around quite simply for people to examine the clue, or examine other quest items.
I should also mention that I’m fascinated by interlocking/interwoven systems, and I constantly marvel at the way things just fit together in a game of 7th Continent, and I’m kind of in awe as a baseline setting for the work and planning that must have gone in to making this all fit together the way it does.
Just got Tiny Battle Games’s Rifles in the Pacific in the mail yesterday. I haven’t played the prior game, Rifles in the Ardennes, but I figured that it was worth a try.
I played a few turns to figure out the rules and then launched into a full game on my lunch break. It plays pretty fast, although there is a fair bit of downtime as I try to get through the rules. For the second game in a series, they are a little lacking. Some of the actions that you can do are poorly described, and some of the scenarios are pretty ambiguous.
If I decided to play through the campaign (the eight scenarios in the book in order), I’ll probably have to start making notes of the issues and send them back to the designer.
I’m not sure if it is going to hold up, but it is a pleasant diversion.
I agree. I’ve waiting for almost the past year and half to merge this system all together and play it as the full system.
Got in my first play of Unbroken!
Unbroken is a resource management survival game where you, as the last survivor of a doomed expedition into the ruinous dark beneath the earth, desperately struggle to escape your fate and wreck a certain measure of revenge on your would-be killers.
I’ll say it right here- your enjoyment of Unbroken is gonna hinge on how much you are able to buy into the theme. If you do, you really feel like you’re clawing for every resource, every scrap of metal or food or anything at all you can find to kill your way through the monsters that tried to kill you- and are now barring your way home. If you don’t, you’ll look at the whole endeavor and shrug. Ho hum, I trade some cunning for some wood. I swap food for some “effort”. If it doesn’t catch your imagination, it’ll suck, no two ways about it.
So what about me? Does it capture MY imagination? It does. I find that, most of the time, the shnozzberries taste like shnozzberries. Most of the encounter cards describe resource gathering activities and exchanges that thematically work in my mind. I especially like the progression of upgrading your weapon, starting with bare hands and slowly assembling something that, if you squint at it hard enough, looks like a spear…
There are other little thematic rules that really help here. If you have time, and perhaps a bit of cunning, you can scout out what foe awaits you, and that can heavily affect your choices of which encounters to take. Some enemies, in a great twist to the genre, can actually be reasoned with or tricked, allowing you to slip by them unmolested- albeit at a cost, and without the gains you would see from their murder! I find it hangs together. It works. As the game progresses, I am simultaneously getting stronger in some ways- my weapon, perhaps some new skills- and weakening, as I tire and grow hungrier. And time! Time is ever both your ally and your enemy, inexorably drawing you closer to the violence that awaits you at the end of each of the four levels you traverse. I should mention that there are four characters you can choose from, each with alt male and female art, and they have meaningfully different powers that will definitely affect the choices you make as you play. My Brawler really came through in the final battle, with additional thanks to the defensive skill he picked up along the way.
Setup is a breeze, and the whole game runs about 30-45 minutes.
Look at the art, look at the mechanics, and decide if you can buy in to the world they’re making here. If you can, I totally recommend it.
My copy of Unbroken arrived the other day and I am hoping to unbox and play tomorrow. Thanks for the write up. And glad that the playtime is relatively brief.