Mage Wars Arena - Shut Up & Sit Down

SU&SD Take on The Board Game Geek Top 100: 101-81

Paul: BoardGameGeek is a titan of the board game scene, one of the most comprehensive and consulted sites the hobby has, as well as a place to which we owe a huge debt of inspiration. It’s also home to the absolute Board Game Geekiest among us, namely those with a monthly allowance for small zip-lock baggies. While we undoubtedly fall into that category too, we appreciate that not everyone does and it’s inevitable that our opinions will diverge, right?

Just what do we make of those most esteemed of titles that are forever locked in an eternal battle for a place in BGG’s Top 100 rankings? This week, we’ll be giving an extensive, nay, exhaustive breakdown of that list, telling you what we’ve covered, what we thought and even admitting what we’ve missed out on. So come with us as we count down the games in a whole week’s worth of analysis and adventure!

Paul: So I’ve been looking at the Games News Style Guide don’t like the idea of Games News “coming at you” because that gives me the impression of some sort of oncoming, impending, unstoppable, inevitable, colossus of a thing that rolls through your front door. You know, sort of like…

Quinns: A monster? A disaster?

Paul: Right. And I don’t want people to associate us with disasters.

Quinns: No, I want Games News to be the opposite of a disaster. What’s the opposite of a disaster? A… a balm. I want Games News to be a sort of gentle, soothing, relaxing experience. I want Games News to be something you can rub all over your body to make your day infinitely better. Yeah, that’s right. So, with that in mind, let’s give our readers things they would just love to smear all over themselves. Like these Mage Wars tiles.

Quinns: Here we go.

Warning: Contains opinions.

Quinns: I used Uber for the first time last night, which is a great service if you want your life to stop making sense. Summoning a car out of the ether like a fat metal pokémon? Chatting to the driver and getting a five star rating as a passenger? Madness. Naturally, my thoughts this morning are all polite chauffeurs and luxurious leather interiors, so I’d like to invite you all into the Games News Taxi.

‘Ello there! Where you off to? Kickstarter Plaza, is it? Lot of dodgy blokes down there, mate. Lot of chancers. You look like a classy sort, not that it ain’t not none of my business, mate.

Oh, look up there! That’s La Nuit du Grand Poulpe, that is. It’s comes out in English later this year. Normally I feel funny about all these foreign games coming along, taking our shelf space, but I wouldn’t mind if they all looked this good, eh! Wouldn’t mind having a rummage around her inlay.

Mage Wars, the entirely straight-faced “Customisable Game of Dueling Mages”, was one of the most exciting releases of last year. We were never going to be finished with it following our quick impressions article. Quinns has done the right thing and published a full, red-blooded review over on Eurogamer, and it goes like this:

“Make no mistake. This isn’t just a great card game. It’s one of the best two-player games I’ve ever played. It’s at once a puzzle strong enough to leave you thinking about it when you go to sleep, and also profoundly human. Mage Wars gets the most out of the human opponent, because of its emphasis on surprise, countering and predicting.”

It also features a very good joke about a staff meeting. Go read! WIZARD! Ahem.

Quinns: Dearest disciples. Today, the doors of the great house of Fantasy Flight hath opened, bringing news of a GREAT MANY games (three).

Above you’ll see the forthcoming Wave Three ships for the X-Wing Miniatures game. According to my tome of Star Wars apocrapha, they’re… hang on, the pages are stuck together. Paul must be on the milkshakes again. OK we’ve got the deadly B-Wing and Kyle Katarn’s own HWK-290 for the Rebels, and a TIE Bomber and Lamba-class shuttle for the Imperials. Oh, I guess I could have just read the press release. Hmm.

I’ll be honest, I just check the Fantasy Flight homepage on a daily basis for Netrunner news. Like this! And this! Because it’s exciting to know which cards I’ll be failing to use properly next.

Mage Wars is the customizable strategy game of dueling mages. Players take on the role of powerful mages, stepping into the arena to battle for supremacy. Mage Wars is a unique genre-breaking concept, combining the best elements of customizable card games and tactical miniature games.

Players can play as a Wizard, Warlock, Beastmaster or Priestess; each with their own unique strategies and style of play. The game is fast-paced and exciting, with tough tactical decisions every turn.

Players build their own custom spellbook, with over 300 spells to choose from! The game is not collectible – players have equal access to the same spells. There is no random card drawing – players choose exactly which spells to cast, when they want to cast them! This allows for an unprecedented level of rich strategy and tactics.

Summon powerful creatures into the battle, hurl lightning bolts and fireballs, adorn yourself with mighty weapons and armor, or lay a network of hidden enchantments to take your foe by surprise. All of this and more awaits you in the arena of Mage Wars! With subtle strategies and diabolical surprises, the balance of power can shift each round, keeping the game exciting and victory unpredictable.

Future expansions will offer new mages, spells, and strategies! Very important: Mage Wars is customizable, but not collectible. Everything you need to play is in the box, and players can carefully choose just the expansions they want.

Quinns: Readers, viewers, assorted junkies of SU&SD, I’m SORRY.

Mage Wars came out last year. I heard it was stunning, but seeing its box in my local game shop, with its non-standard dimensions and underwhelming logo, I was warded away like a vampire. Hsss!

If you’re going to ask me to be a wizard, at least give me the style of Summoner Wars. The global scale of Mage Knight. The sense of humour of Wiz-War. Don’t ask me to summon unicorns unironically.

But the praise didn’t stop. This year I heard it was the Dice Tower’s 4th favourite game of all time. Rab, of RPS’s wonderful Cardboard Children column, assured me it was “the real deal.” And oh, yes. Oh, baby. This game’s just wonderful.

SU&SD Take on The Board Game Geek Top 100: 101-81

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