First off, it would be a real good way to alienate existing players

All twelve of them?

I don't think anybody has to worry about a reboot.  Academy/Arena was as close to a reboot as they were going to get, and it didn't 'save' the game. 

I think this game will go the way of Heroscape, with a loyal cult following that continues to play it, but no new product or support coming out in the future.  Which is a shame, because I think there's still room for expansion and growth, but if the game's not selling well....  I base the assumption that the game's not selling well on my own anecdotal evidence of seeing all gaming stores go from carrying the game to not even being able to order many of the expansions on request. 

I would've liked to see the Barbarian and the Illusionist.  I would have backed any Kickstarter they decided to come out with.  But it doesn't seem to be meant to be.

Hey all.  We're currently a group of 4 who meet every other Wednesday.  Just seeing if there are anymore Mage Wars players in the area.  It would be fun to get a mini-tournament together if we had a couple more people.

Did you lose the elemental wand in making room for other things?  I love the idea of wands but find them mostly on the wrong end of a dissolve in practice.  I suppose the armor ward and harshforge plate helps with that some.  It seems like no matter what counter measures I try, stuff gets dissolved sooner or later.

I toyed with the idea of including Brogan in my first warlord book, but I wanted more creatures to summon and take advantage of the barracks/construction yard engine.  I do like Brogan for a warlord, though.

I feel your pain, Ray.  I am currently trying to figure out how to tweak my Bloodwave Warlord deck against a Forcemaster.  It's tough to run a long game deck against super aggro. 

@Sdouglas, thanks for the reply.  I agree about the Golems.  I like the idea of them but I never even got a hit in with them in practice.  And I agree the armory is nice, but where to put it? 

I had thought about the Meditation amulet making the Mana Flowers unnecessary.  I have a lot to consider with revamping this book.

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname][/spellbookname]
[mage]Warlord[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=FWA04]2 x  Hurl Boulder[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFA02]2 x  Hurl Rock[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=FWJ02]1 x  Archer's Watchtower[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWJ03]1 x  Barracks[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j04]1 x  Battle Forge[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFJ05]1 x  Construction Yard[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWJ04]1 x  Garrison Post[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFW01]2 x  Wall of Earth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKW01]2 x  Wall of Steel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j12]2 x  Mana Crystal[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFC06]3 x  Goblin Alchemist[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWC07]1 x  Grimson Deadeye, Sniper[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWC09]2 x  Iron Golem[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWC11]3 x  Orc Butcher[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC07]2 x  Dwarf Panzergarde[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWC01]2 x  Dwarf Kriegsbiel[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE02]1 x  Akiro's Favor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE01]1 x  Armor Ward[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]2 x  Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE03]1 x  Falcon Precision[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE06]1 x  Fortified Position[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e02]1 x  Block[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE06]1 x  Lion Savagery[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]1 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]1 x  Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE09]1 x  Standard Bearer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e21]1 x  Hawkeye[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]1 x  Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFQ03]1 x  Eisenach's Forge Hammer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x  Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ10]1 x  Meditation Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q23]1 x  Regrowth Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFQ04]1 x  General's Signet Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ09]1 x  Wand of Healing[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFQ05]1 x  Harshforge Plate[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i04]2 x  Charge[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI06]1 x  Defend[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i02]1 x  Battle Fury[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]1 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i17]1 x  Minor Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI06]1 x  Power Strike[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i19]1 x  Piercing Strike[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI08]1 x  Sniper Shot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI10]1 x  Whirling Strike[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

So I used this book a couple of times, beat a Fire Wizard once (barely) and got my butt handed to me by an Earth Wizard using two Gorgons and an Earth Elemental.  The guy I played opened with two mana crystals, a Gate to Votarii, and a Moonglow amulet.  I added two mana crystals to this book after the game to try to keep up with the Wizard's economy next time.  I also added the steel walls, because the earth walls just didn't cut it (gorgons took them out in a round).  I know I should rush a Wizard playing economy, right?  Especially if they play economy for two rounds.  But with what?  Panzerguards only hit for three dice, Kriegsbiels for four, and weak tokens stack up fast.  And Golems can't get weak but are also slow.  I could revamp everything and go with skeletons, but then I'd have a lot fewer creatures to play with.

My original plan for the book was set up Grimson behind a wall with Archer's tower or use Panzerguards to intercept opposing archers or rushers that got too close.  Except then the Earth Elemental gets summoned and Grimson is next to useless.  I think my biggest mistake the last game was trying to focus down the Wizard instead of taking out the Gorgon archers with Grimson. 

I don't want to scrap the book entirely, but I'd like it to be versatile enough to survive at least my local meta.  I think part of my problem is that once I put a card in my book I'm loath to take it out again.

Advice is welcome, as long as I don't have to change anything.     Just kidding, please help.

I've heard it said by veterans of the board that it helps if you post your potential openings.  What do you plan to do in the first three rounds against other typical opening strategies?  What's your plan against flyers?  Early aggression?  (Mind you I'm paraphrasing Maverick's comments on another posted book.  I should probably let him speak for himself.) 

One thing I can tell you from experience is you get better feedback and more of it if you explain the general plan of the book.

That said, Wizards are very powerful because many of the auto includes (like dispel and teleport) are cheaper in a Wizard's book.  From the cards you've selected it looks like you've got a little bit of everything - mana denial with the siphon, the obelisk and the suppression orb, a nice toolbox of several different attack spells, and creatures that are good in a variety of different situations.  You might want to include a staff of the arcanum along with the rest of your mana denial tools.  I'm curious what your plan is against an in-your-face build like a beat-down warlock or a forcemaster that moves as quickly as possible towards your mage.

Take my comments for what they're worth.  I'm a beginner myself.  Well, had the game and watched the forums for a year, but still only had time to play 10 games.

Quote from: Wise fool on November 18, 2014, 08:02:48 AM

I think the spectacular healing roll really killed the Johktari's momentum.  Coshade didn't seem to focus on the enemy mage after that point.  I think a better backup strategy (take my opinion for whatever it's worth, I've played a total of 7 games so far) rather than trying to summon bigs on the run which got focused down by the Priestess' creature advantage at that point, would be to take advantage of the Johktari's +1 ranged and go for damage spells at that point.  You already had Elusive down and you could pretty much outmaneuver Brogan and the knight of Westlock with Fast.  I put Hawkeye and a lot of attack spells in my Johktari deck for that reason.  It's unfortunate that the Johktari's abilities don't always synergize well, but you used fast and elusive to really good advantage early on and througout the game.

If you can't tell, Johktari is one of my top 3 favortie mages!  I'm not quite sure how to make her work optimally in practice, but I have a lot of theories. 

And congrats to Pilgrim to not panicking when you were down to half your life points.  I like to see mid to late game strategies pay off over early aggression as I like games where both sides summon a lot of creatures and set them loose on each other.  I'm not sure any mage other than the Priestess or Priest could pull this off, because cheap to include heal spell were key in this game.

Unfortunately she does´nt get the +1 range bonus for casting spell. Still good, nothing wrong with your points and ideas even without the +1.

Ah, thanks for that.  So many little details in this game!