PBF Mage Knight

[Benkyo]

Goldyx rescues the altem mages, and gains another command token and +1 armour.

Goldyx now has 0 cards in deck, 4 cards in hand.

Over to @yashima

[yashima]

I want to draw the cards from Sparing Power now please.

[yashima]

I still don’t grok how to go up against this city. And I am not sure if I just didn’t build my hand / deck well enough to do it or something else.

So I am unsure and cannot find it anymore what the city bonus is but something something elemental.

All units in a city are generally fortified?

I need 2 move to enter the city?

Three opponents. I am having trouble still reading the icons.

• (A) Heroes (?) that have 3 + 5 Attack and 4 Armor
• (B) ??? with a 6 Fire Attack and 5 Armor (and probably fire resistance)
• (C) ??? with 5 Attack and 7 Armor (and all the resistances?)

So do I attack all the units anyway or can I pick and choose?

[Lordof1]

I find the iconography rather opaque in mage knight too, it could really use a reference sheet - the rulebooks are really not great (I’ve been flipping through them cos I have the physical copy of the game). But I can answer a few questions…

Yes, all units are fortified in cities.

Yes, you need to move 2 to enter the city (this will also drop your reputation by 1).

You will get attacked by all the units, and in response you can choose which ones to attack. Bear in mind you don’t need to destroy all the units first time, you can return on another turn to finish the job (although you will get hit by all of them that you don’t block regardless).

If I recall correctly there is a method of grouping multiple enemies that’s a little confusing. If you attack enemies as a group, it means you can use all your attack on them. Normally you can’t use any attack that overspills… i.e. if you attack a single enemy with armour 5 using an attack of 7, the extra 2 is lost, but if you decide to attack enemies in a group you can use other 2 on the next enemy (although it still wont do anything to them unless you overcome their armour, it’s still all or nothing per enemy). You can group them however you wish, although there is a disadvantage to grouping, which is (I think, I’m not near my rulebook) that they all share any traits they have (i.e. if one enemy has poison, then all the grouped enemies have poison etc).

I may not have explained that well as my understanding is a little incomplete, but I’m sure @Benkyo can point out where I’ve got it wrong.

[Benkyo]

OK, from the top:

Yes, I think you neglected to add any attacks your deck, iirc you are still relying mostly on your basic cards for attack.

The city bonus is +attack for enemies with elemental attack. So in this case it’s just the fire mages who have 8 fire attack instead of 6.

All enemies in a city are fortified. An enemy with fortify is double-fortified and therefore also protected from siege attacks in the ranged/siege attack phase.

Yes, 2 move to assault the city.

I think you identified everything you needed to with the enemy icons.

The heroes are double-fortified, have 2 attacks, and cause extra reputation reduction when defeated.
The fire mages have 8 fire attack and fire resistance.
The altem guardians are double-fortified and have all the resistances.

You must engage all the enemies if you assault.

Grouping enemies for your attacks is very simple, but @Lordof1 makes a surprisingly common error: enemies are only grouped for your attack, only for the duration of the attack phase, and they do not share anything. But if any enemy in group has a resistance/fortification, your attack is affected accordingly.

So, for example, after ranged/siege, blocking, assigning damage, in the melee attack phase you have 6 fire and 3 physical attack and want to group the heroes with the fire mages. The fire mages have fire resistance, so your fire attack is halved. 3+3 attack is insufficient to defeat both. If you had 9 physical attack it would work.

You can never group enemies for blocking, you must block each attack separately.

[yashima]

Thanks for the info. Yeah, attacks. As stated: I have never played before, I think with some more experience I will not forget that again

I’ll have to puzzle that out, I can get rid of the fire attack with the banner I think.
I see a black mana so I can recruit a unit with my white Crystal.
I can power my Ice Block but I think that only works if I fully block that unit which may be a bit difficult. Because the heroes have 2 attacks and the fire attack is just too high for me to block. Also the rightmost enemy Ice Block wouldn’t work right?

I have a red crystal to power Rage for an attack of 4. I’ll definitely be using that.

These are just some thoughts I’ve previously collected because despite it being Friday I have to work half a day and then run errands and then hope my 4th test remains negative (no symptoms but the whole rest of the group caught it at the festival–except me and my partner)

[Benkyo]

There is no black mana, I think you are looking at blue.

You do not need to fully block an enemy to get the armour reduction from ice block.

Ice block can be used to block the Altem Guardians, but their armour would not be affected.

[yashima]

@Benkyo

There is no black mana, I think you are looking at blue.

That is just as well. Then I won’t use Call to Arms to recruit And an additional blue mana could help me power another card. Thanks for clarifying… (still debugging with my colleague. Pair prorgramming is great until you get no real breaks for hours on end)

[yashima]

Okay, let’s give this a try…

Ice Block is not effective against cold resistance I seem to remember so I would really need 14 damage to eliminate the guardians which is probably impossible. So.

• Play Druidic Paths for 2 Move into the city.
• Use Concentration to generate a blue mana to power Determination to block the Heroes first attack
• Power Ice Block with Blue Mana from the Source to block the Heroes 2nd attack and reducing their armor by 3
• Use Threaten sideways as Attack 1 to finish them off.
• Use my Foresters with the Banner of Something to prevent Fire Mages from attacking completely.
• I hope this doesn’t mean I cannot stab them in the back…
• I want to power Rage with my Red Crystal for 4 Attack and Swiftness played sideways for a total of 5 to end the Fire Mages.
• I seem to have forgotten the guardians…

By my calculation I should get 1 wound from the guardians (resist 1, take 1 wound leaves 3 which is my armor? I think this game needs more than one play to solidify these rules for me), can I use Tranquility to immediately heal that?

[Benkyo]

5 damage, your skill reduces that to 4. Take a wound, armour reduces it to 1, take a wound, armour reduces it to -2, done.

So, 2 wounds.

As an alternative, 5 damage, you assign 4 to your foresters, they take a wound, 1 left, your skill reduces that to 0, done.

[yashima]

Can I do that after using them with the banner? If so, I would do that. Thanks. I haven’t quite worked out how units function with regard to wounds.

[Benkyo]

Yes, you can. The banner is used in blocking, and assigning unblocked damage comes after that.

I assume you use Tranquility to heal the Foresters then.

[yashima]

Yes, if I can use it to heal them I will.

[Benkyo]

11 fame, -2 reputation.

Skill choice:

• Dueling
• On Her Own
• Glittering Hoard
• Source Freeze
• Motivation
  (pick any of these, and you must take Frost Bridge)
• Nature’s Vengeance: once a round, an enemy gets -1 attack and cumbersome, which means Move can be played to reduce their attack further. Until the start of your next turn, attacks of other enemies (faced by other players) are increased by 1.
• Feral Allies: exploring costs 1 move less. Once a turn attack 1 or reduce an enemy attack by 1.
  (pick either of these, and any advanced action in the offer)

@yashima

[yashima]

I think Nature’s Vengeance must be better for me than Feral Allies since we’re not going to be exploring much anymore next round.

And I’d like Decompose.

[Benkyo]

Updated offer

Over to @Marx

[Marx]

Okay, let’s try it. I’m going to try to tackle the tomb.

Fingers crossed and into the deep. Thank you!

[Benkyo]

It’s a swamp dragon, perhaps the weakest of the draconum

Still poisonous (every wound matched by a wound in discard) and swift (block halved) though.

[Marx]

I think I can actually take that guy… let’s see what I screw up.

First things first: Crystal Mastery to get me a White Crystal.

I’ll use a White Crystal to use Swift Reflexes to reduce the Attack of the Dragon by 3.
Swift means I need to Block 4, so I’ll use a Blue Mana die to power Determination for Block 5.

Then I’ll use a Red Crystal to power Improvisation and discard Tranquility for Attack 5. Then I’ll play Rage for Attack 2, and use my skill for the last 2 Attack, totalling Attack 9 and victory…?

[Benkyo]

Powered Swift Reflexes reduces an attack by 2, not 3.