Alternative board shapes and sizes.

[Link]

Des Arcane Wonders plan on releasing other kinds of boards? 4x4 for more even 4 player matches, or 2x6 for faster games?
Even different board shapes might be interesting, like x shaped boards with an open space in the middle for 4 player games, or a generally octagon shaped board would work for large 8 player games, though 4 of the sides would be jagged on a board like that.
I realize a custom board is easy to make yourself, but would this kind of board be allowed for organized games?
A set of square tile board pieces that can be arranged in a variety of patterns would be a great option for custom board shapes.

[Adam Wells]

I'm a bit of a map nut, and have already experimented with this.  Truth be told, the current layout (4x3) fits comfortably on a standard folding table, with just enough room for all the on-board craziness that occurs.

While I like where you're going with this, i have a few observations.

The 4x4 grid may seem like a great option for multiplayer as it adds a little more breather room, but it goes against the whole reason the game is demonstrated on 3x2 and played on a 4x3 board: There's no running away in mage wars! Ranges cap out at 2 in most cases, meaning that a 4x4 board would only encourage turtle strategies.  While those can be interesting (The Warlord jumps immediately to mind!) the whole point of the small arena size is to force player interaction early and often.

Hexes + Mage Wars = Disaster! I've personally experimented with a 4x3 hex layout, and it doesn't seem the rules tolerate that much.  One of the big concepts of the game is quadratic (4-direction) movement and adjacancy, so adding more just makes some spells insane, like Fireball, and some abilities almost useless like Outposts.

What i'd like to suggest is changing the arena by adding forced walls.  Toss in a few static Stone Walls at the start of the game at random, and see what happens.

[alex02144]

Last I checked the 4-Player Free-for-All mode of Mage Wars used two boards side-by-side so one might consider that a Different board size.  Thanks for the helpful post hawked!  I haven't tried a hex board myself but I imagined that would be the problem.

[Link]

I have a relatively large dry erase grid mat for D&D that I might try to use for other kinds of boards, and even draw extra walls like you said. All you have to do is draw the board shape you want, and erase it later. This could also help to create a board with larger squares for more room on each space.

[Shad0w]

I have been testing a 5x4 I am liking it for multiplayer

[Adam Wells]

I just can't get behind the two boards or 5x4 thing...  They just make me want to go play Arkham Horror from a time perspective.

Granted, i love the fact that if you put four mages on one board, everything goes nuts from turn 1.

[Shad0w]

The problem with smaller arenas is they favor aggressive mages.


PS: I also have a 4x4 I tried a 6x4 but it is hard to fit on a standard table

[Labyrinthsecho]

For those who don't check BGG often, check out a 4x4 board I created.
http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1612313/mage-wars
in the file section there also

[Terrazas]

Just a idea, has anyone thought of tiles? Just cut out so then the game board it self could be customizable and rearranged. Also it would be easier to transport.

[Fentum]

Ref tiles, check out the game Tide of Iron for a good execution at roughly the correct size.

[Sailor Vulcan]

Just because all the zones have to be 4-sided doesn't mean they have to be shaped and sized exactly the same. I would love a zone with one or more curved borders. You could have a circular board if all zones had two parallel curved borders, except for the center zone which would be shaped like a circle, but since it would be adjacent to four curved zone borders, it would effectively still be a four-sided zone. So instead of rows and columns, we'd have rings and radii.

[aquestrion]

Blue painters tape can make any shaped arena

[DrunkenSaint]

we prefer 2v2 games when possible, so many interesting team plays and they go much faster than ffa as you can focus down one person at a time prty quick as soon as you see a window. they seem to be averaging at about 3 hours.
Anyways we play on a  4x5 and after a dozzen or so games the favorite seems to be to modify it a little we overlap two boards by one square and then put pillars (usually just place spare spellbooks) in the middle to create a little bit of a choke point, makes for interesting play and we tend to go back to this configuration more than anything.

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[Sailor Vulcan]

Pillars? I'm not quite sure I understand. You mean you block off some zones in the middle of the board? Or put arena walls there? How balanced is this? I suppose it gives more room for teammates to use zone exclusive conjurations, but without having too much space to the point of giving turtling strategies an unfair advantage. But I'm not sure.

[DrunkenSaint]

yes basically there are arena walls there. as to balance it seems to work pretty well. We have had turtles win and rushes win and most all combinations of mages win at one point or another now.  the restricted space does indeed cut down on the number of conjurations your team has available, but not too badly. The choke point also makes the use of walls a little more viable. On a completely open map there is just always too much space to effectively make use of them. especially since two mages can take them down in a hurry! This way they still wont last long but they can make a huge difference if used at the right moment.