Solo/Co-operative rules for Mage Wars
Plays 1-4 mages.
The Dude.
Objective: To create a difficult, fun, and replayable variation on the base Mage Wars game by constructing a tough A.I opponent. I want to keep the game as close to playing an opponent as possible, while giving the player as little upkeep as possible.
Gameplay Objective: To defeat the enemy by taking him to zero life. Players lose if they all take damage equal to their life, or if they cannot place an action marker on the AI’s creature, then they also lose. If the AI deck ever runs out, they also lose.
Set up:
Your player book will be the same, with the exact same rules for deckbuilding as normal. The opponent you will be playing is the Warlock. Instead of placing and building a spellbook for him, you are going to build a deck. Here is the contents of the AI deck:
2 Goblin Bomber
3 Skeletal Sentry
6 Firebrand Imp
4 Goblin Grunt
2 Stonegaze Basilisk
2 Darkpact Slayer
1 Necropian Vampiress
1 Whirling Spirit
2 Lash of Hellfire
1 Demonhide Armor
1 Leather Boots
1 Gauntlets of Strength
1 Elemental Cloak
1 Falcon Precision
1 Regrowth
2 Bear Strength
2 Rhino Hide
2 Cobra Reflexes
1 Enfeeble
1 Ghoul Rot
2 Explode
2 Dispel
You will shuffle these cards facedown, until they are thoroughly mixed. Place this facedown deck face down on the table. This will begin to form the AI player area. Above this, remove the following cards from the game box:
1 Fireblast
2 Fireball
1 Firestorm
You will place these face up in a row above the AI deck in the following order:
Fireblast Fireball Fireball Firestorm
Place a quickcast marker on the “fireblast” card. This will represent what spell the Warlock will cast at the beginning of each round.
Below the AI deck, place the red action markers in a pile. These will represent “mana” that the AI player will use to cast cards from the AI deck.
Next to the mana markers, place a number of Mage Wars red 6ds (mana dice) equal to the number of players in the game plus one. So, if there is one player in the game, you will place 2 dice out. With 2-3 players, you will add 3 and 4 dice, respectively. On a sheet of paper, write down a life total that the Warlock will start with
For one player:
Easy: 20 life
Medium: 30 life
Hard: 40 Life
For two players:
Easy: 40 Life
Medium: 50 life
Hard: 60 life
For Three Players:
Easy: 60 Life
Medium: 70 Life
Hard: 80 life
For four players:
Easy: 70 Life
Medium: 80 Life
Hard: 90 life.
Record damage by crossing out the starting number, subtracting the amount of damage taken, and recording the difference.
Set out the game board. Place the “Warlock” mage card in one corner that has the gate. In the opposing corner (the other gate corner), place the player mage cards. Set up the player mage cards as normal, but on the Warlock AI card, place a single action marker of a different color than the mana markers face up. Place the remaining action markers off to one side. If there is ever a point in which you need to place an action marker on an AI’s creature and can’t, you lose the game.
Gameplay:
At the beginning of the game, to complete set up, place a number of mana tokens equal to the number of players plus one on the left side of the AI deck. Reveal from the top of the player deck cards equal to the number of players plus 3. Place these cards face up in a row on the right side of the AI deck.
The AI will take his planning phase right before players their planning phase. His planning phase consists of the following:
Quickcast attack spell – Move the quickcast marker to the right one card (except the first round of the game). The Warlock then casts this spell, ignoring range and mana costs, on the player with initiative. If the cast spell is Firestorm, it instead is cast on every creature in that player’s zone (including the AIs). If the quickcast marker cannot be moved to the right anymore at the beginning of the round, do the following:
Roll the mana dice. Each player takes the amount shown on those dice. This is direct, unavoidable damage.
Add one red Mage Wars die to the mana dice. So, if a player rolled 2 mana dice during the first four rounds, he would then roll 3 for the next four rounds.
Move the quickcast marker from the “Firestorm” card back to the Flameblast card. This attack is then performed on the first player.
AI casting- Roll the mana dice. You will then add this many mana markers to the left of the AI deck. This is called the “mana pool”. You will then do the following:
1. Look to see if there are revealed cards equal to the number of players plus 3. If not, reveal and add these cards to the row to the right of the player AI deck. This is known as the “AI hand”.
2. Count up the mana markers in the mana pool.
3. Examine the AI hand. You will cast as many cards as you can from the AI hand, following these guidelines:
a. Start by casting the card with the highest level that can be cast. If there is a tie, choose the card with the higher mana cost. If there is still a tie, the player(s) may decide which card to cast. In order to cast a card, the player will first remove the number of mana markers in the mana pool equal to the card’s level. For example, if you were going to cast a level 4 creature, you would remove 4 mana markers from the mana pool, returning them to the pile below the AI deck. You would then take an action marker, place it face down on that creature, placing that creature in the same zone as the AI’s mage card.
b. If a card cannot be cast due to not having a target, leave that card in the AI’s hand, and move on to the next castable card. If the AI’s hand is ever full of uncastable cards, pick up the AI’s hand and place it off to one side in the discard pile. If the AI’s deck ever runs out, the players lose the game.
c. If the card is an incantation, it is cast, ignoring range, on the player with initiative by removing a number of mana markers equal to that spell’s level. If that player has no targets for the incantation, move to the next player in a clockwise formation until a player with a legal target is found. If there are no legal targets, that card is left in the AI’s hand.
d. If the card is an enchantment that has a positive effect (all nature enchantments), they are cast on the AI’s mage card by removing a number of mana markers equal to the level of the enchantment. Enchantments are always cast face up, ignoring any remaining costs on the enchantment (AI does not pay Reveal enchantment costs). If the AI already has that enchantment on him, leave the second copy in the AI hand. If the enchantment is negative (all dark enchantments), it is cast on the player with initiative. If that player already has an enchantment with the same name on him, the enchantment in question is then cast on the next player in clockwise rotation to the player initiative.
e. If the card is a creature, pay for it by removing a number of mana markers equal to that creatures level. Then place the creature in the same zone as the AI’s mage card and place an action marker of the AI’s color on that creature, face down.
f. If there are cards with a level higher than the remaining mana markers or if the remaining cards cannot be cast with a legal target, leave these cards in the AI’s hand and continue with player planning.
Action stage:
The action stage goes as follows:
1. The player with initiative with act first with an action of his choice.
2. The AI will take one action, first with creatures, and if no creatures that the AI controls have actions remaining, then the AI himself moves.
3. The player to the right, in clockwise order, takes an action.
4. AI action
5. Continue until all actions are complete.
The AI mage card will move towards the mage with the highest amount of Life remaining. If there is a tie, he will move to which mage is closer. If there is still a tie, players may decide to which mage he moves to. The AI will attack whenever possible, so that if he is in the same zone as a mage, and that mage has a lower life total than the remaining mages, he will continue to attack that mage, as it is closest target. The AI mage will only attack mages in this fashion, though, so he does ignore all creatures, unless a creature has taken the guard action. The AI also follows all rules as far as hindering, fast, and slow go.
The AI creatures, on the other hand, will always move toward the target with the lowest life remaining. If there is a tie, they move towards the closest target. If there is still a tie, players may decide which they move towards and attack. AI creatures also want to attack as often as possible, but they will attack any target. For example, if a Mage with 20 life is in the same zone as them, and a mana crystal with 3 life is in the zone next to them, they will attack the mage instead of moving and attacking the crystal. The AI creatures also follow all rules as far as hindering, fast, and slow go.
If there is a creature with a ranged attack activating, that creature will take move actions until an enemy target is reached (no matter the life remaining). They will then stay there until they cannot may a ranged attack any longer from that position.
The vampires is always assumed to have flying during its activation.
The half time show:
When the AI has taken damage equal to half of its life total, Pick up the AI mage card and place it back in its starting zone (the zone the AI was placed in during setup). Then, take all the enemy creatures on the board, and place them in the zone that the AI was in before he was moved to the starting zone. This happens AS SOON as the AI has taken half damage, and the turn is continued as normal.
If the players manage to destroy the AI’s Life total, they have won! If they all die, or if the action markers of the AI run out, or if the AI deck runs out, then the players lose the game.
