Three of my friends and I decided to enter the arena in a 2 vs. 2 team game. Knowing that the more people you add can lengthen the game, we agreed on using 60 point spellbooks to help speed things along.
I enjoy a 60 point spell book because it forces you to pick every spell carefully. It is hard to fill it with enough spells to be prepared for every situation. So in a team you have to hope your partner’s choice of spells compliment yours.
This was also the debut of the Forcemaster vs. Warlord expansion, so there were a lot of new spells to test out.
We also agreed that we can use full communication between partners during the planning phase to help with teamwork. We shared all knowledge of cards played and showed each other our spellbooks and had a lot of dialogue.
We all picked our mages and then randomly determined teams. I was the Beastmaster and created a spellbook focusing on controlling the skies. I used several falcons and the Sky Hunter with a few smaller animals to harass my opponents. My ace in the hole was the Grizzly that I planned on saving until the end. I also packed my book with many enchantments to boost my minion’s abilities. I had no attack spells and relied on Bears Strength to allow my fast minions to swoop in and dispatch my opponent’s creatures before they could muster an army.
I also had an Ivarian Longbow equipped to cover my creatures from a safe distance.
My partner was the Forcemaster who was playing Mage Wars for the second time, so he was very unfamiliar with the spells and had to take a while to read through the spells available when constructing his book. He did not have any real strategy outside of taking a variety of force spells and a few creatures. He commented that due to his lack of experience he was not really sure what spells were good to take. We gave him some general hints and guidance, but when looking through the spells for your first time it is going to be a bit overwhelming. But I feel he did a good job.
Our opponents were the Warlock and the Warlord. I find that just by going up against a specific mage, you automatically start anticipating what they will do just by the spells available to them. At first glance I was expecting a flurry of fire spells from the Warlock along with Adramalech to fly in for the kill. And I was expecting the Warlord to be using earth spells and ranged attacking dwarves along with Akiros Hammer. So I was hesitant to play any constructs. And the amusing part was that I was wrong on almost every assumption I made. This was a relief to me because I am glad there is enough variety in spells available to allow diverse strategy. Also having a 60 point spell book helps. Had we gone the full 120 it is very possible that all the cards I feared they would take would have made it into their books.
The game began as most matches do. Mages lay out spawn points and mana gaining items. I laid out my Lair, and the Warlock his pentagram. We both planted a Mana Flower.
The Warlord put out an archer tower which confirmed one of my fears; he was going the ranged attack rout. However he made a critical mistake by never using it. He played it on turn one and then moved out of that zone and rushed into the center. He never sent an archer back to it the whole game.
The Forcemaster began accessorizing with a Dancing Scimitar and the typical Forcemaster equipment. Force Ring, Galvitar the force blade etc.
This was my first time playing the Beastmaster and I did not at all capitalize on his special abilities. All but one of the creatures I summoned the entire game deployed from my Lair. I summoned a Falcon on turn 2 and made it my pet and that was it. I never had the opportunity to make more pets and never used my quick actions for summoning.
All four mages met in the middle of the arena and the battle raged around a center zone where the Warlord cast Fortified position and Sacred Ground giving all their minions armor +2 and Aegis 1. This made attacking them in that area very difficult. We had to spend the entire game luring their forces out and dispatching them in their unprotected states.
The Warlock player was also contesting me for the skies as he matched me Bat for Falcon. But due to my speed and Bears Strength, I was able to drop them without any fighting back. I have to add that Bears Strength is one of my favorite enchantments. It can turn the weakest most insignificant looking creature into a fighting force. Very few minions survived an onslaught from my bird friends.
The Warlocks pentagram was outside of the protected zone, so every deployed creature was dispatched by us almost instantly. I used Hawkeye and was using 5 damage attacks with my bow to cripple them and then the Forcemaster would use their Invisible Stalker to deal another hard hit. And if the minion was still standing, my Falcons finished the job. My partner and I were very efficient at singling out and dispatching creatures. For most of the game we always had the stronger army and that was pivotal.
The Warlord player’s strategy was in trying to summon Dwarf ranged heroes and then using all his commands to give them bonus attacks and to attack numerous times in a turn, but when he summoned a dwarf archer, we all swooped in and destroyed it with it only getting one chance to attack. Keeping his army small was a huge strategy point. And we also stopped him from getting any kills to keep his veteran tokens off the board.
The Warlock was making great use of his lash of hellfire against us and managed to drop my pet falcon in a single devastating fiery blow.
He also laid down several curses on my team causing me to use all my enchantment removal to counter him.
A lone ignored Goblin did a large amount of damage directly to my mage as I was focusing on the bigger threats. It is surprising how much damage a 3 attack die creature can do when left unchecked. Eventually we had to swat it before turning our focus back to their growing army as a whole.
The Warlord was finally establishing a foothold in their fortified area with a couple orcs. He had all his Warlord equipment and just needed a creature to get a chance to attack. He managed to charge us and deal a couple crippling blows to both our mages before we killed his attacking orcs.
At the mid game point both my partner and I were nearly at half life and the Warlord untouched. The Warlock was hanging back and was picking off my creatures after they neared his zone to finish off larger threats. I learned later that I was unknowingly foiling his plans to steal enchantments from me by removing all his creatures he would have transferred them to.
Another huge advantage was the Forcemage’s Force Bash spell. My partner slammed both enemy mages together and would move them out of their defensive area into our creatures open claws.
My partner would have taken more of that spell if he realized how good it could be.
Another amusing point was that the Forcemaster ended up having the largest army late game. His invisible stalker, along with a thought spore and a cleric were enough so that he could always use his stalker without fear of it being attacked since he saved it for after his opponents acted almost every round.
He used his thought spore to cast an incantation to increase his melee damage every turn and used Galvitars versatile attacks to severely damage our opponents.
We never allowed our opponents to have more than one or 2 creatures out at a time.
Late game the tide took a turn for my opponents as the Warlords Iron Golem hit the field. My partner saw it and almost conceded right there. I had to convince him that it was OK and since it was slow we could just maneuver away from it and I still had my ace in the hole Grizzly. The Warlord made the comment that nothing we have will stand against it. He said I appeared to have made a weenie spellbook and was not prepared. That was when I brought out my Grizzly. I then used my enchantments and made a Grizzly, Bear, Cobra, Rhino, Boar hybrid machine that could go toe to toe with the iron golem and then some.
The final 2 turns were very bloody. Both teams decided to target a single mage and focus on them. That was me and the Warlord. The iron golem attacked me hard and often. But with some poor rolls and the constant use of a regrowth belt from early on, my life held.
Meanwhile my remaining falcon, my Grizzly of doom paired with the Forcemaster and his Stalker all dealt large hits to the Warlord and brought him down.
The Warlock conceded right there and we ended the game.
The match took 4 and a half hours. This was largely in part to the open communication between partners. Every turn had so much plotting and in some cases debating on what to do. There were times where I wanted to use a lone fox to harass my opponents outlaying conjurations, and my partner insisted he should be put to other use. We probably could have shaved off a good hour of game time if we weren’t allowed to talk to our partners during the planning phase. Sometimes it lead to great team combos, other times it lead to a lot of down time while people strategized and debated with their partner.
It was an exciting match. I always felt that the game could have gone either way at any time. There were several moments where an extreme roll helped or hindered us.
The general consensus of the other players was it went too long and that was with aggressive playing. We all charged headfirst into the fray to keep from turteling. We think next time there will be no partner chat and spell showing allowed during planning and we will drop the mages life totals by 10 or 15 points.
We all love the game, but to some people, four and a half hours is just too long for a single game of anything. And some players want it to remain as a one on one duel game.
But I am determined to find the perfect balance of house rules that can make a 4 player game go under 2 hours!
I enjoy a 60 point spell book because it forces you to pick every spell carefully. It is hard to fill it with enough spells to be prepared for every situation. So in a team you have to hope your partner’s choice of spells compliment yours.
This was also the debut of the Forcemaster vs. Warlord expansion, so there were a lot of new spells to test out.
We also agreed that we can use full communication between partners during the planning phase to help with teamwork. We shared all knowledge of cards played and showed each other our spellbooks and had a lot of dialogue.
We all picked our mages and then randomly determined teams. I was the Beastmaster and created a spellbook focusing on controlling the skies. I used several falcons and the Sky Hunter with a few smaller animals to harass my opponents. My ace in the hole was the Grizzly that I planned on saving until the end. I also packed my book with many enchantments to boost my minion’s abilities. I had no attack spells and relied on Bears Strength to allow my fast minions to swoop in and dispatch my opponent’s creatures before they could muster an army.
I also had an Ivarian Longbow equipped to cover my creatures from a safe distance.
My partner was the Forcemaster who was playing Mage Wars for the second time, so he was very unfamiliar with the spells and had to take a while to read through the spells available when constructing his book. He did not have any real strategy outside of taking a variety of force spells and a few creatures. He commented that due to his lack of experience he was not really sure what spells were good to take. We gave him some general hints and guidance, but when looking through the spells for your first time it is going to be a bit overwhelming. But I feel he did a good job.
Our opponents were the Warlock and the Warlord. I find that just by going up against a specific mage, you automatically start anticipating what they will do just by the spells available to them. At first glance I was expecting a flurry of fire spells from the Warlock along with Adramalech to fly in for the kill. And I was expecting the Warlord to be using earth spells and ranged attacking dwarves along with Akiros Hammer. So I was hesitant to play any constructs. And the amusing part was that I was wrong on almost every assumption I made. This was a relief to me because I am glad there is enough variety in spells available to allow diverse strategy. Also having a 60 point spell book helps. Had we gone the full 120 it is very possible that all the cards I feared they would take would have made it into their books.
The game began as most matches do. Mages lay out spawn points and mana gaining items. I laid out my Lair, and the Warlock his pentagram. We both planted a Mana Flower.
The Warlord put out an archer tower which confirmed one of my fears; he was going the ranged attack rout. However he made a critical mistake by never using it. He played it on turn one and then moved out of that zone and rushed into the center. He never sent an archer back to it the whole game.
The Forcemaster began accessorizing with a Dancing Scimitar and the typical Forcemaster equipment. Force Ring, Galvitar the force blade etc.
This was my first time playing the Beastmaster and I did not at all capitalize on his special abilities. All but one of the creatures I summoned the entire game deployed from my Lair. I summoned a Falcon on turn 2 and made it my pet and that was it. I never had the opportunity to make more pets and never used my quick actions for summoning.
All four mages met in the middle of the arena and the battle raged around a center zone where the Warlord cast Fortified position and Sacred Ground giving all their minions armor +2 and Aegis 1. This made attacking them in that area very difficult. We had to spend the entire game luring their forces out and dispatching them in their unprotected states.
The Warlock player was also contesting me for the skies as he matched me Bat for Falcon. But due to my speed and Bears Strength, I was able to drop them without any fighting back. I have to add that Bears Strength is one of my favorite enchantments. It can turn the weakest most insignificant looking creature into a fighting force. Very few minions survived an onslaught from my bird friends.
The Warlocks pentagram was outside of the protected zone, so every deployed creature was dispatched by us almost instantly. I used Hawkeye and was using 5 damage attacks with my bow to cripple them and then the Forcemaster would use their Invisible Stalker to deal another hard hit. And if the minion was still standing, my Falcons finished the job. My partner and I were very efficient at singling out and dispatching creatures. For most of the game we always had the stronger army and that was pivotal.
The Warlord player’s strategy was in trying to summon Dwarf ranged heroes and then using all his commands to give them bonus attacks and to attack numerous times in a turn, but when he summoned a dwarf archer, we all swooped in and destroyed it with it only getting one chance to attack. Keeping his army small was a huge strategy point. And we also stopped him from getting any kills to keep his veteran tokens off the board.
The Warlock was making great use of his lash of hellfire against us and managed to drop my pet falcon in a single devastating fiery blow.
He also laid down several curses on my team causing me to use all my enchantment removal to counter him.
A lone ignored Goblin did a large amount of damage directly to my mage as I was focusing on the bigger threats. It is surprising how much damage a 3 attack die creature can do when left unchecked. Eventually we had to swat it before turning our focus back to their growing army as a whole.
The Warlord was finally establishing a foothold in their fortified area with a couple orcs. He had all his Warlord equipment and just needed a creature to get a chance to attack. He managed to charge us and deal a couple crippling blows to both our mages before we killed his attacking orcs.
At the mid game point both my partner and I were nearly at half life and the Warlord untouched. The Warlock was hanging back and was picking off my creatures after they neared his zone to finish off larger threats. I learned later that I was unknowingly foiling his plans to steal enchantments from me by removing all his creatures he would have transferred them to.
Another huge advantage was the Forcemage’s Force Bash spell. My partner slammed both enemy mages together and would move them out of their defensive area into our creatures open claws.
My partner would have taken more of that spell if he realized how good it could be.
Another amusing point was that the Forcemaster ended up having the largest army late game. His invisible stalker, along with a thought spore and a cleric were enough so that he could always use his stalker without fear of it being attacked since he saved it for after his opponents acted almost every round.
He used his thought spore to cast an incantation to increase his melee damage every turn and used Galvitars versatile attacks to severely damage our opponents.
We never allowed our opponents to have more than one or 2 creatures out at a time.
Late game the tide took a turn for my opponents as the Warlords Iron Golem hit the field. My partner saw it and almost conceded right there. I had to convince him that it was OK and since it was slow we could just maneuver away from it and I still had my ace in the hole Grizzly. The Warlord made the comment that nothing we have will stand against it. He said I appeared to have made a weenie spellbook and was not prepared. That was when I brought out my Grizzly. I then used my enchantments and made a Grizzly, Bear, Cobra, Rhino, Boar hybrid machine that could go toe to toe with the iron golem and then some.
The final 2 turns were very bloody. Both teams decided to target a single mage and focus on them. That was me and the Warlord. The iron golem attacked me hard and often. But with some poor rolls and the constant use of a regrowth belt from early on, my life held.
Meanwhile my remaining falcon, my Grizzly of doom paired with the Forcemaster and his Stalker all dealt large hits to the Warlord and brought him down.
The Warlock conceded right there and we ended the game.
The match took 4 and a half hours. This was largely in part to the open communication between partners. Every turn had so much plotting and in some cases debating on what to do. There were times where I wanted to use a lone fox to harass my opponents outlaying conjurations, and my partner insisted he should be put to other use. We probably could have shaved off a good hour of game time if we weren’t allowed to talk to our partners during the planning phase. Sometimes it lead to great team combos, other times it lead to a lot of down time while people strategized and debated with their partner.
It was an exciting match. I always felt that the game could have gone either way at any time. There were several moments where an extreme roll helped or hindered us.
The general consensus of the other players was it went too long and that was with aggressive playing. We all charged headfirst into the fray to keep from turteling. We think next time there will be no partner chat and spell showing allowed during planning and we will drop the mages life totals by 10 or 15 points.
We all love the game, but to some people, four and a half hours is just too long for a single game of anything. And some players want it to remain as a one on one duel game.
But I am determined to find the perfect balance of house rules that can make a 4 player game go under 2 hours!