Mage Knight

Mage Knight is a miniatures wargame using collectible figures, created by WizKids, Inc, and is the earliest example of what is now known as a Collectible Miniatures Game. The game was designed by founder Jordan Weisman along with Kevin Barrett. The game is the first to use WizKids' Clix system, combining roleplaying and wargaming elements with aspects of collectible card games. "Mage Knight" achieved success after it was introduced in 2000. WizKids announced in October 2010 that "Mage Knight" was being relaunched with a board game, card game, and role-playing game.
In February 2013, WizKids announced that it would release Mage Knight: Resurrection, which utilizes its SwitchClix bases to be compatible with both Mage Knight 2.0 and HeroClix rules. The release date was Fall 2013
Design.
Unlike many other miniatures war-games, "Mage Knight" eliminates the need for reference to rule books and tables by integrating a dial into each figure that contains its current combat statistics - movement rate, attack and defense values, combat damage, and special abilities. While this system lacks the versatility of other miniatures games, mainly because players cannot customize their figures, it makes up for this by facilitating rapid gameplay and by having a large number of distinctive figures. The system, called the "combat dial", has proved to be highly popular and is used in WizKids's other games, including HeroClix and . The dial allows a figure's displayed statistics to change as it takes damage.
All miniatures, called "warriors", come pre-painted and are pre-assigned point costs based on their abilities. These costs range from 3 points (only the limited edition goblin volunteer Podo has achieved a point value this low) to over 500 points (for the tanks and the Apocalypse Dragon). To play a game, players will generally agree upon a point cost total, and then design their armies to maximize their strategic capabilities within the specified point cost total. Each player is allowed to take a number of actions per turn equal to the point cost total divided by 100. These actions include movement, combat, or the use of special abilities such as Regeneration and Necromancy. Game play is typically rapid, but often highly strategic, both in terms of traditional maneuvering and combat common to miniatures games and because of the unusual combinations of unit special abilities that make every army unique.
Each "Mage Knight" figure belongs to a specific faction. The factions in the initial release included the Atlantis Guild, the Elemental League, the Black Powder Rebels, the Draconum, The Knights Immortal, the Orc Raiders, and the Necropolis Sect. Other factions were added later. Each faction had its own strengths and weaknesses; for example the Atlantis Guild had many figures with powerful ranged attacks, but it lacked healers. A player could combine figures of different factions in their army at will, but only figures of the same faction could move in a formation together. Using formation rules, a player could move three to five adjacent figures while using only one action. A formation combat action could also be taken, in which multiple adjacent figures of the same faction attack and increase the chances of successfully hitting the target. Since the limited number of actions per turn is one of the most important strategic considerations in the game, a player making his army would have to balance the advantages of formation movement and formation combat against the desire to have the versatility of figures from different factions.
Distribution.
"Mage Knight" figures were sold in Starter Packs (which historically contained eight or nine figures along with rules and dice) and Booster Packs (four or five figures). Figures were sold in base sets, as well as expansion sets, and distributed with seven rarity levels. Levels 1 through 5 were assigned to the standard "infantry" figures, each of which was available in 3 power levels: Weak, Standard and Tough. Low power and cost figure were of 1-2-3 rarity, middle range figures were 2-3-4, and stronger army figures were 3-4-5. Level 6 figures were Uniques, which carried the stipulation that only one of any individual Unique could appear in a player's army. In addition, WizKids gave away limited edition, Unique versions of the non-Unique figures in the sets as prizes for tournaments in comic and game shops. These figures are not generally available for retail sale, and have different statistics and point costs than the regular figures. This novel prize policy was in part responsible for "Mage Knight"'s success. Some expansions had ultra-rare "chase" figures, listed as rarity level 7, which were produced in limited quantities and found randomly in boosters, such as the Apocalypse Horsemen in "Sinister" or the glow-in-the-dark variants from "Minions". Finally, Wiz Kids also sold larger figures individually. The figures, which included dragons, chariots, war machines and giants, had multiple combat dials that applied to each side of the figure to make them harder to kill and allow them multiple attacks. Some of these larger, individual figures cost so many points that they could be utilized only in large armies.
In 2002, the "Dungeons" expansion was released in starters and boosters, which featured a new type of gameplay more akin to traditional RPG "dungeon-crawl" adventures. Instead of players each amassing armies to go head-to-head, "Dungeons" had players select a team of Hero characters, and enter a dungeon map filled with wandering monsters and treasure chests. During each player's turn, the opponent controlled any monsters encountered, and the goal was to defeat the monsters and escape with the most gold from the treasure chests. Adventures could be played individually or as a collective campaign, with the Hero figures having 5 "levels" that were attained with experience from adventuring. All figures (Heroes and Mage Spawn monsters) were still fully compatible with regular Mage Knight rules. The "Dungeons" format featured two expansions of its own, "Pyramid" and "Dragon's Gate", and two fixed 5-figure sets with special characters, maps and scenarios titled "Heroic Quests". In addition, WizKids released 3-dimensional plastic floor tiles, walls, doors, and objects which could purchased to build a full scale dungeon.
In November 2003, WizKids released a new "base" set (their third, after "Rebellion" and "Unlimited"), colloquially referred to as ""Mage Knight 2.0"," with many rules overhauled or expanded, which introduced new strategic possibilities to the game, including capabilities to customize Unique warriors and battles via styrene cards called Items, Domains, and Constructed Terrain. Later expansions introduced more options via Spellbooks, Spells, and Adventuring Companies. The two "versions" can be distinguished by their logos; the original Mage Knight sets feature a straight short sword through the logo while "2.0" and its subsequent expansions have a curved scimitar.
"Mage Knight" saw a total of 14 expansions in booster packs, as well as prepackaged sets of figures in the "Heroic Quests", "Conquest", and "Titans" supplements, and special holiday-themed figures ("Santa Claus" and "Frosty the Snow-Minion") released in 2001 and 2003. The "Conquest" version had a number of large castle wall and fortification pieces, including 2 unique figures. Several Army Packs were released, with one random figure and 8 fixed figures from a specific faction. In addition, the "Unlimited" set released a special "Painter's Edition" which featured miniatures which were unpainted and removed from the bases for customizing purposes.
Expansions.
The expansions are (in order of release):
Other Products.
Video Games.
A full PC game title (') was published in September 2006 by Namco Bandai Games America and developed by Interserv International. A handful of new figurines, now amongst the rarest, were released as tie-ins to help promote the PC game. Another title for the Nintendo DS (') was released in the same month.
Novels.
There are five novels published by Del Rey/Ballantine books. The first novel is "Mage Knight 1: Rebel Thunder" written by Bill McCay. The second novel is "Mage Knight 2: Dark Debt" written by Doranna Durgin. The third novel is Mage Knight 3: Stolen Prophecy, written by Christopher Stasheff. The fourth novel is Mage Knight 4: The Black Thorn Gambit, written by Josepha Sherman. The fifth novel is Mage Knight 5: Khamsin's Heir, written by Doranna Durgin.
Comic Book Series.
Published by IDW beginning in 2002, the Mage Knight comic book series was written by Todd Dezago based on a story by Jordan Weisman. The covers were illustrated by J. Scott Campbell and Alex Garner (Danger Girl) and the interiors were illustrated by Dave Cabrera. Issue #1, released in October 2002, came with a certificate that could be redeemed for an exclusive figure of Maren'Kar, one of the characters in the comic book.
Board Game.
The Mage Knight Board Game was designed by Vlaada Chvátil and released in December 2011. It sold out in 20 days and a reprint was released in April 2012. The board game has received multiple awards and honors, some of the most notable are:
The overall reception of the board game was positive. It received a 10 out of 10 in Playing Appeal from Spielbox Magazine. TechRaptor described it as "one of the best, if not the best, solo game on the market" Board Games Land similarly mentioned that it "holds the crown as the best solo board game" and The Thoughtful Gamer said "there’s a bit of zen here"
There were also three distinct expansions released for Mage Knight:
On March 8, 2018 WizKids Announces the Mage Knight Board Game: Ultimate Edition release for September 2018 which included all of the above expansions.
Factions.
The land of "Mage Knight" is split among several factions. Several of these factions split from Tezla's original empire, and others have organized and grown since Tezla's death. Based on the outcomes of various official storyline tournaments held at comics and gaming shops and major gaming conventions, when 2.0 was released most of the major factions were renamed, and also further divided into one or more subfactions, each of which possesses its own unique ability.