How to play Mage Knight: rules, knights and strategies explained

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By: Mark Davis

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Mage Knight is a complex and immersive board game that combines elements of deck-building, role-playing, and strategy.

In this game, players take on the roles of powerful Mage Knights, exploring a fantasy world, battling enemies, and conquering cities. The game features an intricate day-and-night system that affects gameplay, as well as a modular board that creates a dynamic and ever-changing landscape.

Players must manage their hand of cards, which represent their abilities and actions, strategically moving across the board, recruiting followers, and engaging in epic battles against various foes, including dragons and monsters.

As Mage Knights, players have the freedom to choose their paths, whether becoming a benevolent hero, a ruthless conqueror, or something in between. The game rewards careful planning and efficient use of resources, and it can be played cooperatively or competitively.

Mage Knight is known for its steep learning curve, but for those who invest the time to master its intricacies, it offers a deeply satisfying and immersive gaming experience, where every decision matters and every conquest feels like a heroic achievement in a vast and magical world.

What’s included in Mage Knight

  1. Game Board: The board represents the fantasy realm in which the game takes place. It consists of various terrain tiles and locations.
  2. Miniature Figures: Mage Knight features high-quality miniatures representing different characters and creatures in the game.
  3. Tokens: Various tokens for tracking information, such as reputation, wound, and control tokens.
  4. Cards: There are several decks of cards, including character cards, skill cards, artifact cards, and more.
  5. Dice: Custom dice for combat and other game mechanics.
  6. Rulebook: A comprehensive rulebook explaining how to play the game.
  7. Scenarios and Objectives: Depending on the edition or expansion, there might be additional scenarios, objectives, or cards to enhance gameplay.
  8. Character Dashboards: Player boards or dashboards to organize and manage character stats, abilities, and items.
  9. Various Tokens: Tokens for various in-game purposes, such as mana, action points, and damage.
  10. Reference Sheets: Quick reference sheets for players to easily access important game information.

How to play Mage Knight?

The objective of Mage Knight is to earn the most fame points by conquering cities, completing quests, and defeating enemies.

Setup

  1. Lay out the modular game board, which consists of terrain tiles. Each tile represents a different type of landscape.
  2. Place cities, rampaging enemies, and quests on the board as indicated by the scenario.
  3. Shuffle the skill tokens and place them face-down.
  4. Each player chooses a Mage Knight character and takes the corresponding miniature, tokens, and action cards.
  5. Players receive a starting hand of basic action cards.
  6. The day and night marker is set to day.

Rules for Mage Knight

Mage Knight is played over a series of rounds, divided into day and night phases. Each round consists of the following steps:

  1. Determine Player Order: Players shuffle their action cards and draw a hand of five cards. The player with the most wounds from previous rounds goes first.
  2. Day Phase (in order indicated below):
    • Planning: Players simultaneously choose and place one action card face-down for each of the three rounds in the day phase.
    • Action: Players take turns resolving their chosen actions. Actions can include moving, attacking enemies, blocking terrain, recruiting units, and more.
    • Conquer: If a player is on a space containing a city or an enemy token, they can attempt to conquer it by spending movement points and using their hand of action cards to defeat defenders or complete quests.
    • End of Day: Once all players have taken their actions, the day phase ends. Players can choose to level up, learning new skills or abilities.
  3. Night Phase (in order indicated below):
    • Heal: Players heal a number of wounds equal to their healing value.
    • Mage Tower: If a player is adjacent to a Mage Tower, they can learn spells by spending mana crystals.
    • Distribute Skill Tokens: Skill tokens are revealed, and players take turns choosing and keeping one token each.
    • End of Night: The night phase ends, and the day and night marker is advanced by one space.
  4. End of Round (in order indicated below):
    • Rampaging enemies advance.
    • New enemies and quests may be placed on the board.
    • Players discard any remaining action cards and draw a new hand of five cards.
    • The player order marker is passed to the next player.

Winning: The game ends when a predetermined number of rounds have been completed or when a player successfully conquers a city with a keep. Players tally their fame points from conquered cities, quests, and defeated enemies. The player with the most fame points wins.

For the official rules, see the link below:

Knights you can play as

  1. Goldyx:
    • Unique Ability: Goldyx has the ability “Flying,” allowing him to cross any terrain type without costing movement points.
    • Level-Up Ability: When leveling up, Goldyx can enhance his “Mana Draw” skill, which increases his mana generation.
  2. Tovak:
    • Unique Ability: Tovak has the ability “Fire Attack,” which grants him a bonus to attack rolls in combat.
    • Level-Up Ability: Tovak can improve his “Combat” skill, making him more formidable in battle.
  3. Arythea:
    • Unique Ability: Arythea is a “Cold Immune” character, making her immune to the effects of Cold terrain.
    • Level-Up Ability: She can enhance her “Influence” skill, which helps with recruiting units and conquering cities.
  4. Norowas:
    • Unique Ability: Norowas has the “Leadership” ability, which allows him to recruit more units during the recruitment phase.
    • Level-Up Ability: He can improve his “Leadership” skill, further enhancing his ability to recruit units.
  5. Wolfhawk:
    • Unique Ability: Wolfhawk has the “Forestwalk” ability, allowing him to move through Forest terrain without costing movement points.
    • Level-Up Ability: He can enhance his “Forestwalk” skill, making him even more agile in wooded areas.
  6. Krang:
    • Unique Ability: Krang possesses the “Bash” ability, which gives him a bonus when attacking walls and keeps during sieges.
    • Level-Up Ability: He can improve his “Siege” skill, making him a formidable force when assaulting fortifications.
  7. Nori:
    • Unique Ability: Nori is “Frost Immune,” making her immune to the effects of Cold terrain.
    • Level-Up Ability: She can enhance her “Healing” skill, allowing her to recover wounds more effectively.
  8. Arythea & Goldyx (Combined Character):
    • Unique Ability: When Arythea and Goldyx are combined, they gain both the “Flying” and “Cold Immune” abilities, making them versatile in various terrain types.
    • Level-Up Abilities: They can improve their skills in both “Mana Draw” and “Influence.”

Key strategies to use when playing Mage Knight

  1. Plan Your Day and Night Phases:
    • During the day phase, focus on exploration, conquering non-city regions, and building your deck with powerful cards.
    • In the night phase, prioritize healing wounds, visiting Mage Towers to acquire spells, and gathering skill tokens.
  2. Balanced Deck-Building:
    • Build a well-balanced deck that includes movement, attack, and block cards. Having a variety of cards ensures you can adapt to different situations.
    • Consider adding cards that provide mana crystals to fuel your spells and abilities.
  3. Efficient Movement:
    • Plan your movement carefully to maximize your actions. Use cards with “Move” abilities efficiently to cover more ground.
    • Utilize terrain bonuses, such as Forestwalk or Flying, to navigate difficult landscapes.
  4. Combat Strategies:
    • Engage in combat strategically. Use attack cards to defeat enemies efficiently and save movement points by conquering regions with fewer enemies.
    • Pay attention to the combat strength of enemies and ensure you have enough attack power to defeat them.
  5. Recruit and Upgrade Units:
    • Recruit units to bolster your forces. Units can be used for various purposes, including blocking enemy movements and assisting in combat.
    • Upgrade your units when possible to make them more powerful.
  6. Complete Quests:
    • Quests can provide valuable rewards, including reputation, spells, and artifacts. Prioritize completing quests that align with your current abilities.
  7. Manage Your Reputation:
    • Reputation is crucial for conquering cities. Ensure your reputation is high enough to avoid penalties when attacking cities and keeps.
  8. Timing Your Level-Ups:
    • Leveling up provides opportunities to enhance your skills. Consider when to level up based on your immediate needs and the available skill tokens.
  9. Consider Cooperation:
    • In cooperative scenarios, coordinate with other players to tackle challenging foes and achieve common objectives.
    • Communicate and share information to optimize your actions as a team.
  10. Adapt to the Scenario:
    • Each scenario in “Mage Knight” offers unique challenges and objectives. Adapt your strategy to the specific scenario’s requirements.
  11. Watch Your Hand Size:
    • Be mindful of your hand size limit. Discard cards strategically to make room for more powerful cards during the day phase.
  12. Use Spells Wisely:
    • Spells can provide significant advantages. Use them strategically, but also ensure you have the necessary mana to cast them.

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