A Mage Wars Mission

[The Dude]

Told you man, top 15 by Gencon. Bet money.

[Fwing]

I'll bet you money it won't get that high. The BGG audience isn't a great fit for it.

It should go higher than LoW though. That is clearly not a top 50 game.

[Koz]

I agree that I would be shocked if it hit top 15, BGG is way too Euro-game centric for games like Mage Wars to get that high, but it's possible I suppose.  I'd be thrilled if this game made top 25 honestly.

Personally, I just want it to top Summoner Wars.  Although I LIKE Summoner Wars, Mage Wars is FAR superior and should be above that game in ratings IMO and we don't have far to go to top that. 

[Diji]

I hear you Koz, and as impractical as it is Ima ride with my brother Padawan - swing for the fences! Realistically though, when the dust settles some time after GenCon I believe we'll get inside the top thirty and then continue the climb from there.

[Diji]

Mage Wars from 36 to 35! Awesome!

[reddawn]

BGG is way too Euro-game centric for games like Mage Wars

Yeah, seriously.  Euro games can be ok, Dominion and Carccasone were ok when I tried them, but the flavor is just so flat and dull it makes me yawn just thinking about it.

[haslo]

There has already been a considerable shift away from "purely Euro" at BGG - there's quite a few AT-ish titles in the top 50, that wouldn't have been possible 5-6 years ago already. Android: Netrunner is at the fifth place, there's X-Wing at spot 29, and Mage Wars at 35 is great as well considering there's several ten thousand titles in the database

Personally, I'm not much too fond of Euros either. I just mostly ignore the top-rated games when it comes to looking at whether I'd like a game or not; there's plenty of top 50 games I find to be rather boring indeed.

[Wiz-Pig]

Eurogames are usually very well designed when it comes to the mechanical elements of the games, but largely because of the multi-lingual audience that they market too there is little focus on concept and story in the games, with those elements really just tacked on top of the mechanics sometimes in a way that doesn't even make a ton of sense. I really appreciate a well crafted American game because while the mechanics may be a little less elegant at times, but the concept is what draws me in and when the concept and rules are well integrated I feel like it creates a superior game play experience

[Diji]

Yea, I must admit that I appreciate a solid euro. Specifically, Castles of Burgundy and Stone Age are fantastic! However, I agree with Wiz in that the vacancy of story is a major detractor despite stellar mechanics and gameplay. Red and Haslo also make great points, I for one will never jump at the chance to play Carccasone any time in the near future and the fact that A:Netrunner (great game as well) has advanced ( ) so high in rank is encouraging, it absolutely validates that the shift Haslo mentioned is legit.

I'm of the opinion that in time the best games will receive their time center stage, and the longer Mage Wars continues to grow the stronger the overall game becomes - you can't ask for more than that. We're already in a GREAT position, but their is certainly more greatness to be realized and in time I believe we'll get there. Yezuh!

[Diji]

It's crazy to believe that in a month we've covered so much ground on BGG. Not for nothing, but I want to shout out and recognize any and everyone who has been an active part of making that happen. This community is awesome! Lets keep this thing going! Gen-Con 2013 on deck. Hope to see you guys out there.

And with that said... From 35 to 34! (Right on top of Summoner Wars!) We're kind of a big deal - jussayn!

[Moonglow]

As a mage wars fan I thought that this geeklist was a little sad.  http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/160432/the-top-50-most-purchased-games-july-2013-edition/page/1?

I think it presents a different picture to the view in this thread that BGG is all about euro games.  A lot of the top 50 in this list are strongly thematic games.  There are a fair few cube pushers too, but I was disappointed over all to see that despite Mage Wars advancing in the rankings, its not even close to BGG recorded sales.

[reddawn]

I was kind of surprised AW credited some random reviewer that put MW into the "Ameri-Trash" category, even if he did make it the #1 Two players game pick.  I mean, I guess the theme of MW has been repeated multiple times over many games, but there's a lot you can do with a "Mages" theme, and MW clearly takes it into a different direction and plays far differently than some MTG knock-off.

I guess Europe and Germany specifically are places in which board games are more popular, but I don't really know where Euro-gamers get off calling American-made games "trash," like they're somehow inherently inferior.  I guess it's some Old World egoism I don't understand.

[Wiz-Pig]

I was kind of surprised AW credited some random reviewer that put MW into the "Ameri-Trash" category, even if he did make it the #1 Two players game pick.  I mean, I guess the theme of MW has been repeated multiple times over many games, but there's a lot you can do with a "Mages" theme, and MW clearly takes it into a different direction and plays far differently than some MTG knock-off.

I guess Europe and Germany specifically are places in which board games are more popular, but I don't really know where Euro-gamers get off calling American-made games "trash," like they're somehow inherently inferior.  I guess it's some Old World egoism I don't understand.

As offensive and unnecessary as it is I can see how some games might be categorized that way, but I see no basis for applying a label like that to Mage Wars. If anything it speaks to me of how threatened the Eurogame people are by the increasing quality and popularity of American made games.

[Tacullu64]

When I first heard the ameri-trash/euro game labels l was a bit offended. Now they seem to represent different styles of game design. While I'm not an expert wouldn't MW fit better in the ameri-trash category?

Edit: I just commented on another thread that I hope tournament MW doesn't become like a euro game. I hope I'm not failing to understand the two categories.

[reddawn]

That's what the newly cited review on the homepage says, yes.  The review basically categorizes MW as "Ameritrash," though the reviewer doesn't seem to imply the term offensively for the most part.  Idk, because I've seen/heard the terms used in a teasing, yet benign sense sometimes and genuinely mean-spirited sense other times.

Considering that most Eurogames I'm aware of seem to be just a lot of resource management, I don't get the attraction.  I guess if you're not managing lots of different resources at once, each of which is represented by poor production quality art and components, you clearly aren't making use of your brain.