Mage Knight Board Game: One Year Later

I got together with Jeff the other night to play Mage Knight. This is a game that many heralded as a masterpiece upon its release last December, myself included, but you're always going to get those people who want to be a skeptic.  Pfft.

Guess what? One year later, I'm sticking to my guns.

Jeff and I played a Full Conquest game Saturday night. It was long, difficult, but immensely satisfying. I played the shorter Blitz Conquest with Matt just a couple weeks ago, so with that game still fresh in my memory, I can say that the extra time investment is well worth it. Much like Twilight Imperium, there's a rewarding feeling to the game just for how long it can be. The Blitz game is only two turns shorter, but you're missing out on  something, as well as some of the fun of building your deck up just a little bit more. I'd argue that the little bit of extra advancement makes taking cities easier, regardless of the levels being scaled back in Blitz.

Speaking of cities, I managed to take one all by my lonesome. I took quite a beating in the process, and Jeff pulled off the same feat, but it still managed to feel like a huge accomplishment. Really, I think that's where the draw of this game lies. There's so much that looks so daunting, even the simple turn to turn stuff, with your hand of cards be puzzle, but when you figure out how to what you want to that feeling of accomplishment is huge.

The big lesson I took from this game?  Tovak doesn't have Determination (the major block card the other Mage Knights have), but he does have Cold Toughness.  Use it.  It's good.

All too true, Boromir.

Vlaada Chvatil is a terrific designer with a number of brilliant designs to his name (Through the Ages, Space Alert, just to name a couple) but Mage Knight is still his finest hour. The game has a reputation for having a steep learning curve, and while it all makes sense after a play or two, you're still going to go to the rulebook here in there (which is a bit poorly done). The PvP rules never come easy, though, and I unfortunately just leave them out. I do wish they were more streamlined, since the one major dent in Mage Knight's armor is that the game does suffer from the multiplayer solitaire syndrome.

THE VERDICT AS OF NOW
Though I'm excited to see what the Lost Legion expansion has to offer, in no way do I feel the game needs it.  The base game on its own continues to be my favorite adventure game, and is among the small handfull of games that I could potentially call my absolute favorite game.