Magic: the Gathering Strategy Board Game

[SlipperySlope]

Originally Posted by Hendal

will Hasbro have tourneys at GC next year is my question? Are they set for any expansions yet?

A flier included in my package said "Look for expansion sets in 2016." I don't know if that's normal, but it seems like might be wanting to see how well the base set sells before rolling out the expansions.

FWIW, I liked playing the game. They clearly tried to remedy what some people took as faults in HeroScape, like the long time to set up a board. At the same time, the lack of varied terrain makes the game feel less creative, less strategic, and also just without the same "wow" factor.

Also, the quality of most components isn't as high as in HeroScape. Squad minis aren't painted. The cardboard terrain, and especially the battlefield ruins, aren't going to last very long in most households.

If I weren't into HeroScape, I'd give the game a B+ on its own merits. For games with a similar feel and mechanic, I like "Summoner Wars" better. But SW doesn't have terrain I can use for 'Scape.

[Ninja Status]

Originally Posted by chas

Ninja Status,

I see you're playing on Scape terrain--good for you. What is the red circular marker under the yellow squaddie in the second photo?

Oh, I believe someone used them to sub for wound markers. And since the squads have life value we needed to place them on the actual figures, to identify who was damaged. That's why some of the black ogre figures have wound markers on their bases.

[Colorcrayons]

Originally Posted by Ninja Status

Oh, I believe someone used them to sub for wound markers. And since the squads have life value we needed to place them on the actual figures, to identify who was damaged. That's why some of the black ogre figures have wound markers on their bases.

Poker chips are pretty commonly used in hero clix to indicate pushed and exhausted states.
Its not a bad idea at all to use them as wound markers.


I was thinking about drilling holes in the bases, and using battleship red pegs to indicate wounds

Maybe using the white pegs on newly summoned units to indicate summoning sickness. Though I'm not sure that's needed and likely just over kill.

[DarthJak]

that 'lil red circle is used to keep track of turns, as players take turns you move it to the next number.
damage indicators are 'lil red cubes, that are placed on the base of the figures, since they have more than 1 life.
the squad figs are inferior quality, compared to the Planewalkers, or regular Scape.
more like a toys, that a miniature.
as far as drilling holes, the bases are to thin for that.
the damage cubes are all you need.

[Colorcrayons]

Originally Posted by DarthJak

that 'lil red circle is used to keep track of turns, as players take turns you move it to the next number.
damage indicators are 'lil red cubes, that are placed on the base of the figures, since they have more than 1 life.
the squad figs are inferior quality, compared to the Planewalkers, or regular Scape.
more like a toys, that a miniature.
as far as drilling holes, the bases are to thin for that.
the damage cubes are all you need.

Thanks. I own three copies of the game. I already drilled the holes. Works great.

[caps]

I like the idea of using poker chips. It might feel easier to use those while moving the squad figures than to try to move them in such a way as to keep the wound markers on the base.

[Hendal]

So no where to order them yet? What Game store DarthJak - I live close to you, do they have it in the store and anyone can play it?

[obfuscatedhippo]

We ran through several games during our Portland gathering yesterday. Games were duels and most were fairly quick. In a few cases, matches were over quickly when Planeswalker's went down to lucky shots and/or bad dice rolling. Folks were playing without reading the spell cards in advance - so everything was a surprise : )

My feedback is that some Planeswalkers are more powerful than others but a lot depends on card draw and maps. We were playing on regular Heroscape maps instead of the cardboard maps - which meant that there were more locations for height advantage than the AotP map.

One Planeswalker went down to Elf Rangers from height with Snare the Skies for 3 attacks of 5 (one a 5/5 attack roll). Otherwise Nissa seemed under-powered.

Chandra was used the most and was fairly successful. The Firecats with Firebreathing were vicious (5 attack and if 2 skulls rolled an auto hit (skull).

Jace was only played once but he dominated. Projections gained height and 3 attacks of 4 scored some lucky hits on Lilianna to end a match quickly.

A Gideon vs Liliana match was a solid back and forth with white's enchantments giving them the edge.

We used regular 'Scape dice and I normally use poker chips for my wound markers so we just started sliding them under the squads. Worked pretty well.

I'd express caution in moving out your Planeswalker too fast. They are both the "King and Queen" and you can't afford to lose them too early.

Some more play-testing is certainly in order - especially with folks reading the spells before jumping in (but quolz has helped with that with the awesome scans).

[Johngee]

Originally Posted by Colorcrayons

...
I was thinking about drilling holes in the bases, and using battleship red pegs to indicate wounds.
...

Hmmm, very cool idea. I see those old Milton Bradley "Battleship" games all the time at Second-Hand / Thrift Stores and flea markets for only a few bucks each. One personal project I worked on years ago utilized a bunch of those 'holely' ships in large fleets and I still have aleast a pound of those little red and white pegs. If anyone needs some - contact me via PM.

Originally Posted by capsocrates

I like the idea of using poker chips. It might feel easier to use those while moving the squad figures than to try to move them in such a way as to keep the wound markers on the base.

I like the idea of using the standard HeroScape Wound Markers, but I will try using Poker Chips someday just for the experience of it and to compare the look and feel of the two techniques. I've seen one company's advertisement for disks (very much like Poker Chips) that actually attach to the bases of gaming figures to indicate not only wounds, but also special powers and Leveling-Up status, by using different colors.


Drilling little holes in the bases, although a novel concept, it does seem like over-kill and a lot of work for minimal reward. I'm sure that I could screw it up somehow and would be really P.O.'ed at myself for needing to replace damaged figures. IF little red cubes (like the green ones that come with "King of Tokyo") do come with the M:tG-AotP game or I can get my hands on some via Hobby Shop, THEN I think this is probably the best solution [imo].

Originally Posted by obfuscatedhippo

...
My feedback is that some Planeswalkers are more powerful than others but a lot depends on card draw and maps. We were playing on regular Heroscape maps instead of the cardboard maps - which meant that there were more locations for height advantage than the AotP map.
...

This is the impression that I got from watching the Dice Tower video in which Tom Vassel exclaimed that he believes this new game, while good as a Two-Player contest, it will REALLY SHINE as a multiplayer free-for-all, or as a Four-Player team effort, because the special abilities of each of the Plainswalkers is balanced or negated by one of the other factions. It's going to be interesting to see how this all 'plays' out [pun intended].

[ssnover95]

Just finished up our first game of Arena of the Planeswalkers and we all had a lot of fun playing! It was a three player free-for-all between Blue, Green, and White with a single Toughness +1 glyph in the center of the board.

I was playing Blue and my goodness was that army a lot of fun, especially with the spell cards. Made me feel very much like I was playing Munchkin with all the hijinks that I was able to perform. Since I moved forward and grabbed the glyph as well as infuriating both of the other players, I played a two-front battle and ended up going down first. However, Jace did sustain a large number of attacks before going down. At one point I had just one wound to go but I managed to steal a sorcery from White's graveyard and heal a few wounds and shifted him around the board a lot via the Illusory Projections.

There is a strong personality to each color, similar to the way the Magic card game plays which is very enjoyable. I'm going to take some time to try out each other color before I finally decide, but I think Blue may become my color of choice. I've even added Dund to the army of Blue (everything exactly the same except Crippling Gaze causes a card from the opponent's hand to be destroyed instead of an OM, as per @Aldin posted).

I'm hesitant to go into full boar customs mode out of concern with messing with the character of each color. Dund fits right into Blue though and I can't wait to see customizations from the other talented individuals on this site!

[Colorcrayons]

Originally Posted by Johngee

Hmmm, very cool idea. I see those old Milton Bradley "Battleship" games all the time at Second-Hand / Thrift Stores and flea markets for only a few bucks each. One personal project I worked on years ago utilized a bunch of those 'holely' ships in large fleets and I still have aleast a pound of those little red and white pegs. If anyone needs some - contact me via PM.

I like the idea of using the standard HeroScape Wound Markers, but I will try using Poker Chips someday just for the experience of it and to compare the look and feel of the two techniques. I've seen one company's advertisement for disks (very much like Poker Chips) that actually attach to the bases of gaming figures to indicate not only wounds, but also special powers and Leveling-Up status, by using different colors.


Drilling little holes in the bases, although a novel concept, it does seem like over-kill and a lot of work for minimal reward. I'm sure that I could screw it up somehow and would be really P.O.'ed at myself for needing to replace damaged figures. IF little red cubes (like the green ones that come with "King of Tokyo") do come with the M:tG-AotP game or I can get my hands on some via Hobby Shop, THEN I think this is probably the best solution [imo].

The holes only took me 10 mins to drill out for the set. My reasoning for doing it was so that when figs were moved, the wound markers remain on the figs.

I wish the colored discs from the flopped mike McVey game sedition wars fit these bases. They would work better than poker chips.

[Aldin]

Originally Posted by ssnover95

I've even added Dund to the army of Blue (everything exactly the same except Crippling Gaze causes a card from the opponent's hand to be destroyed instead of an OM, as per @Aldin posted).

Hah! That's pretty neat. Thanks for mentioning it!

~Aldin, feeling blUe