Played a couple games as a Druid last night (representing my 5th and 6th games total).  First game I turtled, planning to set up a Thornlasher/Bloodspine congo line that never got started.  My opponent played a Beastmaster who put Bear Strength and Eagle Wings on Makunda.  Then he teleported me away from the Thornlashers.  The second match he played a Forcemaster who destroyed me in 4 rounds with Galvatar and a couple of hurled boulders.

What I learned so far:

-- I can't afford to split spells up between keeping books for beginngers and try to make a coherent book for more competive play at the same time (only have one core set at present)
-- I need a plan for causing damage that happens FAST.  This game is over way too quickly to build up slowly.
-- I'm not very good at this game (yet).

I'm not discouraged, though.  It's still a fun game even when I'm getting mulched.  I got to dissolve my opponents elemental wand and dancing scimitar and hit him once with Togorah against the Forcemaster.

Appreciate the write up of the game.  I love session recaps.  Was this in person or through OCTGN?

Ok we need to just go ahead and preview this dragon now.....my head hurts from all the squinting I'm doing trying to see it!

Or, they could just, you know, let us buy the set early. 

They had me at the Harshforge Plate, anyway.   They didn't have to throw in a dracolich. 

Aw who am I kidding, they had me upon announcing they had another product soon to be for sale.

Been thinking of a possible card that affects non living, sort of a 'turn undead' spell (only it might possibly affect golems and jellies as well?).  It does no damage but forces the creature to take a move action away from the caster on its next action.  Could be a holy/nature spell.  This would differ from a force push in that it forces the creature to use an action to move.  Could be an minor alternative to Teleport for Nature/Holy mages.  Might be balancing issues, but I like the general concept.

So my wife and I have a game night every other Friday, generally.  Normally the crowd is small, but for whatever reason a bunch of people who are invited but never show up have confirmed that they're coming tonight.  My dilemna is this:  do I hijack one of the players to introduce them to Mage Wars and be antisocial to the rest of the group or do I play a group game with everybody and leave MW for another day?  Oh, and I would love to play a four player game of MW but haven't talked the wife into buying a second set (yet).

Quote from: ringkichard on May 08, 2014, 10:10:28 AM

Hmm. The expected value of Aegis 1 is 1 damage.

Before armor is applied.



After armor it can be down to 0.5 damage vs resilient targets or an iron golem with 9 armor facing a 4 dice attack.

And to be honost the value of aegis can be very close to 0 as well.

When would Aegis be targetting a resilient creature?  Aren't they all non-living?  Granted I can only think of zombies and jellies off the top of my head.  Golem is also non-living, so not a target for Sacred Ground anyway.  Probably not a target for fortified either, since it already has spectacular armor.

Ever played the game BANG?  Everyone's identity is hidden except the sheriff.  You find out who everyone is when the bullets start flying.  The outlaws shoot the sherriff, the sheriff shoots the outlaws, and a third party called the renegade shoots at everybody.  The outlaws win if the sheriff dies, but the renegade and sheriff can only win if they're the last man standing.  This means the renegade must prevent the outlaws from killing the sheriff but must hope the sheriff is weak enough for him to kill once the outlaws were dead.

Maybe you could do a BANG! variant on Mage Wars, where you don't know what the teams are but the two outlaws know their target right off the bat.  I'm not sure how well this would work in the arena (since it would be difficult for the renegade to try to protect the sheriff, depending on where they were placed) but it does work in the 'mystery' mechanic of not knowing who's on your side.

Welcome!  Fellow new player here.  Got the game last month and already have started getting the expansions.  I still want to get Forcemaster vs Warlord, Forged in Fire and a second core set so I can try four player matches with my gaming group.  I, too, think this is a great game, with layers of complexity and great attention to balance between the mages and their respective schools.  The game keeps evolving with each expansion and I like the speculation and theory crafting that goes on in these boards about how new cards will affect the game as a whole.