My friend, you have just hit a point I ave been thinking about for a long time- MW is a Euro Game in disguise. But, before I go into that, I must first say that your observation of Go is not wrong, rather it's short sighted. Especially on games played on a 9x9 (blasphemy!), control of areas on a Go board constantly switches with opponents of equal skill.
But, why do I say it's a euro game? Because, you have all the classic "hits" of a Euro/abstract. Let's look at what BGG says about Euros http://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Eurogame:
Most Eurogames share the following elements:
Player conflict is indirect and usually involves competition over resources or points. Combat is extremely rare.
Players are never eliminated from the game (All players are still playing when the game ends.)
There is very little randomness or luck. Randomness that is there is mitigated by having the player decide what to do after a random event happens rather than before. Dice are rare, but not unheard of, in a Euro.
The Designer of the game is listed on the game's box cover. Though this is not particular to Euros, the Eurogame movement seems to have started this trend. This is why some gamers and designers call this genre of games Designer Games.
Much attention is paid to the artwork and components. Plastic and metal are rare, more often pieces are made of wood.
Eurogames have a definite theme, however, the theme most often has very little to do with the gameplay. The focus instead is on the mechanics; for example, a game about space may be the same as a game about ancient Rome.
MW has almost all of these qualities, including resource management! Yes, there is direct conflict, but it is a means to an end. I often think of an opponent's life total as a point scoring mechanism. You don't score any points for killing creatures, only for killing the mage. There is VERY little luck in MW. OH BUT THE DICE, SIR! This is where statistics come. The law of averages state that the more times you test something, the closer of an average result you will get. This is never perfect, per say, but theoretically it can be. If you roll one damage die once, chances are 1 in 6 that you will roll a 2 critical. If you roll 2 dice, those stats have increased to 1 in 6 for both dice. But, as Mage Wars players, we strive to break the components (ie roll more than the number of dice that come with the game). Side note: at least I do, the feeling of rolling more dice than you are allowed to has a certain... rebellious feeling. but the point is, luck is still a factor, but it is greatly mitigated both mechanically and dynamically.
The other factor that makes it not so much a Euro is the fact that this game drips with theme. But, to talk about your specific post, which is Area control. What makes this a different sort of area control game than Go is that the areas are not apparent, at least at first glance, whereas in Go, you can normally get a good view of what areas will be fought over by midgame. different mages want different approaches. I know for the Wizard, I want to control the two middle squares, as I can cast all of my attack spells from that point. For the priestess, she wants to control about a third of the board (the first 4 zones lengthways). This is not static, rather it's to point out that Area control does have an interesting dynamic in game play.
the last sentence is very interesting, as it talks about baiting, which I have also talked about. It seems to not be favored, but it has worked for me!
Mage wars is really not a euro game at all.
Although it is a very strategic game, not based on luck. Luck can be VERY important. I have played games were I rolled the worst hits and no matter what you do, after a few horrible rolls its just game over. Ive had games that my dice were crazy hard and I even felt sorry for my opponent. Sometimed good or bad roll can make a game changing difference.
Examples I had:
- my perfectly healthy blood demon killed with 1 hurl boulder. 1 health would be enough to at least use his vampiric or react.
- in a game were I was dominating in every way the opponent trew 2 boulders, did 23 damage and killed me. Granted I did not have armor but at that point I really didnt need it yet since I was winning so hard.
- after my opponent trew a ton of fireballs at my tree, it had 1 life left and only 1 burn. It did zero damage. After that it healed 4 life during upkeep and I could react. The tree did not die.
Again, mage wars is not a game based on luck. But saying it is not important is simply wrong.
In most eurogames, the players are not completely different. Maybe some small starting stat differences... A fm and a warlord completely different.
No plastic pieces, but also no wooden pieces. Some small tokens and a board...
Direct combat rare? Yes, there is a ton next to the combat. But unless 1 is turtling and the other one is using dot, I see direct combat almost every round.
Saying the damage is somewhat like scoring points, I can see what you mean and its not completely wrong but you can heal easy. (Lowering the points of the opponent) you need a different amount of points. You can change the amount the opponent needs. Most eurogames count the number of points after x rounds. The 1 with the most wins. Not saying these things never happen in eurogames, but the combination of them all makes it kinda a weak analogy.
