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Topics - Death-from-above

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1
Alternative Play / MW Chess
« on: June 20, 2014, 08:16:09 AM »
Hey guys. I wanted to run by an idea for a different game scenario. I was thinking the other day of how to counter a specific opening and I made the comment to myself that Mage Wars is a lot like chess. Trying to think 3 moves ahead of your opponent. Then I thought, why not try an actual Mage Wars chess scenario.

Here is what I have so far for rules and setup:

This would be played on a chessboard set up and not with the original Mage Wars zones. Each mage starts with creatures on the board that pertain to a different chess piece.

Pawns = Only Level 1 creatures
Rooks = Level 1 - 3 creatures
Knights =  Level 1 - 4 creatures
Bishops = Level 1 - 3 creatures
Queen = Any Level
King = Your Mage

-You can have the same creature for multiple chess pieces, but you can't have the same creature for different types of chess pieces i.e. You could have 2 Knights be Iron Golems but you couldnt have 1 knight and a queen be an Iron Golem. You can also have different type of creatures as the same chess piece like you could have 3 bitterwood foxes and some bobcats for pawns.
-Mage health would not be changed
-The starting channeling would be 3 for all mages
-Both mages start with 10 mana
-In terms of movements and turns, the game would play exactly like chess. Pawns can only move 1 up (or 2 if they are moving up for the first time), Rooks can only move up, down, left and right etc. The turns would also be like chess. One mage moves a piece; then the other moves

Here is where it gets interesting. Instead of just simply taking your opponents piece; they would still fight in the zone. In terms of movement traits and attacking, I've broken it up like this:
-Fast: Can move and quick attack; if they finish their move in a zone unoccupied by an enemy creature, they can move one more zone in the legal direction from where they land. (Can't attack after the extra move)
-No movement traits: Can move and quick attack
-Slow: Can move OR attack
-Elusive: Normally, if a creature lands is in a zone with the enemy, they cannot move foward. The only moving the can do, if its a legal move, is go backwards i.e. a pawn couldnt go anywhere since they can never legaly move backwards but a rook can still move back. For elusive creatures, they still have to stop when they reach an y enemy occupied zone, but their next turn, they can still move foward. If this is confusing, let me know and I can clear it up.
Flying: Same as elusive unless they are in a zone with another flying creature. When they attack, they lose their flying ability for the next turn. This allows ground units to attack it the next turn. This may need to be tweaked a bit. Not sure if that will work or if flying will still break it.

-Moving a pawn or your mage doesn't cost any mana
-Everything else to move cost 3 mana
-Attacking does not cost any mana
-Guarding is considered a full action (might change)
-When defenses are used, unless they have the infinity symbol, that creature has to be activated again at least once before they can use the defense again.
-Only 2 friendly creatures can be in the same zone at a time
-Mage quickcast marker still works
-Things that would normally be activated in upkeep would be counted upon activation of targeted creature i.e. if there is a burn on your pawn, you would roll for damage/removal when you choose to use that pawn again.
-Mage can also bring:
>5 enchantments
>5 Incantations
>5 Equipment
>3 Conjurations
>5 Attack spells
>No creature spells

Decided that there can be two ways to win. Either kill the opposing mage outright, or manage to get 2 of your creatures in the same zone as only the mage. That would be considered checkmate I suppose.

Things Im still trying to figure out:
-Whether or not to give bonuses for mages using their own school creatures and whether or not to gives some sort of penalty for have a creature in the opposing school. I feel it would give incentive for mages to use their own class of creatures. The Forcemaster is wrench in this plan
-Status effects like burn, rot etc. I was thinking maybe after 3 activations with the creature would remove whatever status was on them.
-There are certain spells that might be detrimental to the game like Forcefield. With that one, I figured instead of the tokens coming back, you only get 3 tokens and once those are gone, forcefield is destroyed. There are a few others I know that need special ruling. I just need to root them out.
-Can't decide one whether a mage should be allowed to heal themselves or not. I don't think they should but I will leave that up to public opinion.

Thats what I have so far. Its a work in progress and I know I dont have all the pieces together yet but I think it could be something fun. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

2
Spellbook Design and Construction / TMNT
« on: June 06, 2014, 06:55:21 AM »
So I was reading this forum post, http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=14078.0, by sdougla2 about armored trolls and it made me want to create a variation of that spellbook. I ended up calling it Teenage Mutant Ninja Trolls (TMNT) ;D. Here is the spellbook breakdown:

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname][/spellbookname]
[mage]Beastmaster[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1a09]2 x  Jet Stream[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA02]2 x  Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j22]3 x  Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j13]2 x  Mana Flower[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1w04]2 x  Wall of Thorns[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j04]1 x  Battle Forge[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC01]4 x  Bridge Troll[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c34]1 x  Steelclaw Grizzly[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e13]1 x  Eagle Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e09]1 x  Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e20]1 x  Harmonize[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e23]1 x  Jinx[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e27]1 x  Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]2 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e19]1 x  Ghoul Rot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]3 x  Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]2 x  Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e24]1 x  Magebane[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE04]1 x  Enchantment Transfusion[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q16]1 x  Leather Gloves[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q08]1 x  Elemental Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q22]1 x  Moonglow Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q23]1 x  Regrowth Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q30]1 x  Staff of Beasts[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q06]1 x  Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q11]1 x  Gauntlets of Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x  Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q07]1 x  Elemental Cloak[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i23]2 x  Rouse the Beast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i01]1 x  Banish[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]2 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i17]1 x  Minor Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]2 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]


The whole of this spellbook is based around seperate buffs for the trolls. One troll was going to be flying, another was going to be fast, another was going to be tough and the last would have been a toss up depending on how the game was going.

For the attacks, I have Force hammers for conjurations that cause me trouble and Jetstreams for flying defense. Both of them would have been alternated through my elemental wand depending on which one I needed the most. The Battle forge was in there to beef me up while my trolls were out causing trouble. The only reason the Grizzly was in there was so I could potentially utilize my pet token ability if I needed to. This can be interchangeable depending on what pet you prefer. The enchantments and curses are the second half of this spellbook. I have the enchantments for my trolls to keep them going and if my troll plan is backfiring, my plan was to curse stack on myself while my trolls were out and about and then transfuse it to the opposing mage to cripple him. As for the incantations, I had rouse the beast in there to give some of my trolls an early start. The banish is in there simply to remove any super tough creatures my opponent happens to throw out.

The first couple of turns would look like this:

Turn 1: (19) FC: Troll (13) QC:Rouse the Beast(3) = 16
Turn 2: (13) QC: Cheetah Speed (5) FC: Magebane(FD on myself)(2) = 7
Turn 3: (16) FC: Troll (13) QC: Eagle Wings(FD on Troll)(2) = 15

After that point it all depends on how my opponent reacts. If they are aggressive, I keep working on getting my trolls out. If they are somewhat defensive, Ill sit back and start to get my equipment on me.

What do you guys think? I played this deck once and I won against a priestess. It was a relatively tough game but my trolls managed to pull it out in the end. My only concern against this spellbook is a Warlock or a Fire Wizard due to the flame +2 on my trolls, they would be much easier to kill. Also any mage running a Deathlock would mess with the trolls healing.

3
Mages / Paladin and Siren speculation
« on: June 03, 2014, 06:57:56 AM »
Hey guys. So I know that this particular expansion won't be out for a long while, but I can't help but contain my excitement for these two particular mages, mainly the Paladin. I was wondering what people were thinking that these two spellbooks could contain in terms of types of creatures, enchantments etc.?

For the Paladin, I can't wait to see what kind of big creature that Arcane Wonders decides to use for him. Ever since Talos and Sardonix has been spoiled, Ive been wondering what sort of creature it could be. I was thinking of an Archangel type of creature that was in charge of all the angels for Asyra that came with a pretty awesome power.

Something that would be cool, and this is just my opinion, is if the special ability of the Archangel could be something like, when he is summoned, the Paladin can choose a certain amount of holy creatures that had been killed (by an opponents creature) and whatever the number he chooses, thats how many Wrath tokens the Archangel comes into play with, but at a cost. For every creature chosen, the Paladin must pay an increased amount of mana for each killed creature chosen. That way, if you want a really strong Archangel, you have to save up a pretty hefty amount of mana for him. Not to mention you have to lose a certain amount of creatures to attain that strength and herein lies that choice that the opponent needs to make. Do I try to control how many creatures I kill so he can't get too many Wrath tokens? Do I just ignore his creatures and just go straight for him? In doing so, they may reduce the power of the Archangel, but they will end up having to contend with a larger army of creatures that they have to avoid.

This is just one of the few ideas I had for that. I want to hear from everyone else. What do you think each mage will bring to the table?

4
League / Tournament Play / Possible new way for Tie Breakers
« on: May 25, 2014, 09:27:01 AM »
So I have been trying to come up with a new way to handle a tie breaker. I have never been a fan of the "Whoever has the most health after a certain amount of time wins" sort of thing because I felt that it didnt give the mages enough credit for how they played throughout the game. It sounds silly, but I didn't like the feeling of looking at the clock, realizing I only had 10 minutes left and have to abandon my strategy that I had been working the whole match for, just to try to dump as much damage as I can onto the other mage.

As I was playing Mario Party last night, I had a thought. What if a tie breaker could be done through a point system? If you don't know what Mario Party is, it is a video game that is centered around party games and the whole object of the game is to get at many stars as possible before the game ends. At the end of the game, stars are given to players who achieved certain goals in the game and that, usually, is what ends up tipping the scales for a person to win.

Essentially, what I was thinking was, what if there were certain categories prescribed at the beginning of a match that were given a point value? At the end of the game, the person who earns the most points wins. (This is strictly for handling tie breakers and not a way to replace how to actually win, which is to kill the opposing mage)A few example categories would be something like:

Most creatures still on the board = 1 point
Least amount of creatures in the dead pile = 1 point
Most health at the end of the game = 2 or 3 points
Most equipment still attached = 1 point
Most conjurations still on the board = 1 point

Those are just a few examples of categories that could be used for points, but you get the gist of what I am saying. Instead of a damage race at the last few minutes of the game, a mage could hold strong on their strategy and aim to try and win certain categories that could tip the scales in their favor. I figured still having the most health at the end of the game would give the most points, but it wouldn't be the only way to win. I'm sure there have been some games out there where a mage executes a decent strategy all game, and yet still loses in the end because the other mage just beat them out by one point of health or at the end of the game, a mage who had been getting beat on the whole game is starting to make an amazing comeback only to have the momentum stopped due to the timer running out.

I don't know; this is just something I thought of last night and I haven't had the chance to see if this would even work as well as I think it would. If I am missing a critical piece or rule to the game, let me know.

5
Spellbook Design and Construction / Angelic Preistess Build
« on: May 17, 2014, 10:40:06 PM »
So last week, I finally received my CoK and FvW expansions in the mail and I decided to make a Priest spellbook. Orginaly, this was going to be a Priest spellbook, but I made a last minute change before a match to put in the Priestess because I felt she would do much better than the Priest would using the spells I had chosen. Here is the deck breakdown:

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Angelic Judgement[/spellbookname]
[mage]Priestess[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1a11]2 x  Pillar of Light[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a01]1 x  Blinding Flash[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKJ01]1 x  Enchanter's Wardstone[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j08]1 x  Hand of Bim-Shalla[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j12]1 x  Mana Crystal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j04]1 x  Battle Forge[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWJ08]1 x  Renewing Spring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j23]1 x  Temple of Asyra[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKW01]2 x  Wall of Steel[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1c02]1 x  Asyran Cleric[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c19]2 x  Gray Angel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC06]1 x  Guardian Angel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWC13]1 x  Selesius, the East Wind[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c39]1 x  Valshalla, Lightning Angel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c31]1 x  Samandriel, Angel of Light[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e12]2 x  Divine Protection[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e20]1 x  Harmonize[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]2 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE02]1 x  Divine Might[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]1 x  Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]1 x  Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE02]1 x  Circle of Fire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE01]1 x  Armor Ward[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e11]1 x  Divine Intervention[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q03]1 x  Crown of Protection[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q24]1 x  Ring of Asyra[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q27]1 x  Dawnbreaker Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q11]1 x  Gauntlets of Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWQ10]1 x  Storm Drake Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q07]1 x  Elemental Cloak[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ01]1 x  Sunfire Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q22]1 x  Moonglow Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q29]1 x  Staff of Asyra[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q23]1 x  Regrowth Belt[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i24]1 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i17]2 x  Minor Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i13]1 x  Group Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i14]1 x  Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]2 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i22]1 x  Resurrection[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i20]1 x  Purify[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

The plan with this deck was to stall until I had the bulk of my Angel army out and then Divine Intervention the opposing mage right into the middle and start poking him with holy sticks. I won the match I played this with, but it was a close game. The opposing mage was using the warlord and was effectively blocking most of my offensive attacks with well executed guards. I managed to win by snatching him out of his zone of angry dwarves with Divine intervention and stunning him while my Angels all started pounding on him.

I believe it could use some tweaking so if anyone would like to give me their thoughts and comments on what should be changed or taken out, it would be most appreciated.

6
Player Feedback and Suggestions / Apprentice spellbook cheat sheets
« on: May 08, 2014, 07:33:23 AM »
So for the past couple of weeks, I have been teaching a few of my friend about this wonderful game and I found something that I was consistently doing that could possibly be remedied. When teaching a new person the game, I noticed, at least for me, it was difficult to make sure all the essential rules were explained at the beginning. During the game, I would forget to tell them about certain aspect about a spell until it was too late like the range at which they could summon a spell. For the most part, I let most rules slide as the apprentice mode suggest doing because there is no way a new mage could learn everything in the first go.

I was thinking of creating a cheat sheet for each apprentice deck that could contain certain things that a new mage would find very useful and it would, in turn, help cut down on rule explanation mid-battle. I was thinking it could include:
-All of the specific traits in the current apprentice spellbook that they are using and brief explanations about them (This was one of the top things I kept explaining to the new mage. Truthfully, it doesn't bother me at all to explain to them about a trait, but I find it hard not to correctly guess what they are going to summon next if they ask about a specific trait.)
-A breakdown of a spell card and an explanation for each piece of the spell card. ( Some of my friends caught on quickly, others it took them the whole game to try and figure out. Range and what type of actions (Quick or Full) is the top thing I found myself consistently explaining)
-Possibly some tips and tricks for using some of the spells in that spellbook. (Some general strategies to use certain cards in that spellbook)

This is what I have thought of so far. I was wondering if anyone else had any suggestions that might be good to go on something like this?

I will go ahead and say the original rulebook for Mage Wars is perfect. I myself think Arcane Wonders has done a fantastic job in explaining all the nuances that go on within the game! This cheat sheet would in no way replace the knowledge that is given from the rulebook. This is sort of a way for new mages to have something available in front of them that would answer almost all the questions they might have for their first game.

If you think this is a bad idea or if someone else has already suggested this, please let me know and I will abandon this pursuit.

7
Off topic / The new guy
« on: April 30, 2014, 08:17:57 AM »
Hello fellow Mages,

My name is Death-from-above, but you can just call me Death. Unless someone already claims that title in which case, call me from-above. Not as flashy, but shorter I suppose. I've been an avid fan of Mage Wars for a couple of years now and I am trying to get myself back in the game so to speak.

I graduated college recently and most of my time has been consumed by finding a full-time job and it didn't leave much time for me to play the game. I am a good friend of LordofWinter irl (at least I think I am). He is pretty much the main reason as to why I got into this fantastic game. Most of the time though he kicks my butt when we play.

In terms of favorite mages, it varies depending on what sort of mood I am in. If I want to flood the board with creatures, I use the Beastmaster of Straywood. If I want to hide behind my conjurations, I use the warlord (by the way, I am super excited about the Forged in Fire expansion coming out). Ultimately, I love the priest. I have always had a thing for Angels and holy power. The Priestess was great, but not set up to be a super-aggressive mage. With the priest, he can join his holy brethren in smiting anything in their path.

I hope to be contributing to some of the posts here on the forum. If there are any tips and tricks I need to know about the forum, please let me know so I don't do anything wrong or step on someones toes. I figured I would end this post with a question. I am sort of redoing my priest deck since I have been out of the game for a while and would love any sort of advice when it comes to building a solid deck. In terms of what my playstyle is, I like to play somewhat defensive until I have a very small but efficient army to strike at my foe with both the army and my mage. Is their any recommendations for this or is there another Mage I should be looking at that would be better suited at this task?

I am open to any suggestions and criticisms. I am not easily offended haha.

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