Hello fellow Mages! It has been a long time since my last post and I wanted to apologize for that! I was finishing up college and was super busy with everything! But I graduated two weeks ago and am ready to get back in the Arena! Here we go!
One of the big things that has happened lately is the newest printing of the Mage Wars Core set! This is the new 4th edition and it has made some pretty big changes! This article is meant to go over the differences between the new 4th edition and earlier renditions of the game! This will not be a review of Mage Wars itself and will not explain how to play (to view those, visit http://magewars.weebly.com/general-discussion/what-is-mage-wars or go watch one of the numerous videos on youtube. They all do an excellent job!) but will rather dissect the components of the game and the changes made. I managed to finally get a hand on a copy of the new edition last night and jumped right into it.
Let's begin!
The first and most obvious change is the box itself! The size of the box is different and it has different art! Plus it has been renamed "Mage Wars Arena" in anticipation of the upcoming Mage Wars Academy expansion! Images of the box and comparisons between the box of the new and old versions can be seen in the slideshow below!
One of the big things that has happened lately is the newest printing of the Mage Wars Core set! This is the new 4th edition and it has made some pretty big changes! This article is meant to go over the differences between the new 4th edition and earlier renditions of the game! This will not be a review of Mage Wars itself and will not explain how to play (to view those, visit http://magewars.weebly.com/general-discussion/what-is-mage-wars or go watch one of the numerous videos on youtube. They all do an excellent job!) but will rather dissect the components of the game and the changes made. I managed to finally get a hand on a copy of the new edition last night and jumped right into it.
Let's begin!
The first and most obvious change is the box itself! The size of the box is different and it has different art! Plus it has been renamed "Mage Wars Arena" in anticipation of the upcoming Mage Wars Academy expansion! Images of the box and comparisons between the box of the new and old versions can be seen in the slideshow below!
When you open the box, the first thing you will see is the updated rulebook! There have been some slight changes to rules and more stuff has been added but I won't go over those in detail!
Below that are the various counters! If you looks closely at the slideshow below, you'll notice a few changes! First, the damage counters are now in denominations of 1, 3, and 5 instead of 1, 3 and 6! There are also new counters included for Wrath, Rage, Banish, and Gate Closed/Open for use with Gate to Hell!
Below that are the various counters! If you looks closely at the slideshow below, you'll notice a few changes! First, the damage counters are now in denominations of 1, 3, and 5 instead of 1, 3 and 6! There are also new counters included for Wrath, Rage, Banish, and Gate Closed/Open for use with Gate to Hell!
Next we have another big change, the arena board itself! The previous board was the Westlock Arena! The new board is the Straywood Arena! The new board is gorgeous, as usual, and folds differently so it fits in the smaller box! I just want to make this clear, the board itself is the exact same size when unfolded! It just folds differently so it is smaller when stored!
We also get two new spellbooks with different art! Check them out!
Finally we have the cards themselves!
First and foremost, we get MORE cards than we did in previous editions! There are more of the staple cards (Teleport, Nullify, etc)!
Second, some of the cards have alternate artwork! Check them out below!
First and foremost, we get MORE cards than we did in previous editions! There are more of the staple cards (Teleport, Nullify, etc)!
Second, some of the cards have alternate artwork! Check them out below!
Final thoughts
So, what do I think of the changes they have made?
I think they're all great! More cards! Smaller box! That means the game is more portable! Yay! The new artwork on everything is gorgeous! The board, card artwork, and spellbook artwork is all amazing!
Some people are getting confused about the "Arena" term added to the name of the game. Like I mentioned already, this is because a new thing is coming out called "Mage Wars Academy"! It is basically a faster version of the game that is more easily explained to new players/non board gamers! But don't worry about losing the "feel" of Mage Wars, Academy is awesome! It's a different game but it is very short and easy! Length and complexity were two of the things many people complained about when trying Mage Wars! Academy is the answer to that! People can play Academy and never play Mage Wars Arena, or they can use it as a "stepping stone" before they just into Arena!
All in all, the future is looking bright for Mage Wars! Up next we have Battlegrounds: Domination, which is having a pre-release at Origins next week and then has a full release in July!
I think they're all great! More cards! Smaller box! That means the game is more portable! Yay! The new artwork on everything is gorgeous! The board, card artwork, and spellbook artwork is all amazing!
Some people are getting confused about the "Arena" term added to the name of the game. Like I mentioned already, this is because a new thing is coming out called "Mage Wars Academy"! It is basically a faster version of the game that is more easily explained to new players/non board gamers! But don't worry about losing the "feel" of Mage Wars, Academy is awesome! It's a different game but it is very short and easy! Length and complexity were two of the things many people complained about when trying Mage Wars! Academy is the answer to that! People can play Academy and never play Mage Wars Arena, or they can use it as a "stepping stone" before they just into Arena!
All in all, the future is looking bright for Mage Wars! Up next we have Battlegrounds: Domination, which is having a pre-release at Origins next week and then has a full release in July!