No, that ain't what I'm talking about!

A long time ago... back in the ancient days before MK I was an avid MTG player and subscribed to INQUEST magazine mainly for it's complete card listings and toilet humor.

It was in this magazine that I first saw an article featuring Mage Knight. It was in the upcoming games section and was only a small paragraph, but I remember thinking SWEET! A miniature game like Warhammer 40K that doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to play, is brand new so I won't miss all the alpha figures, and all the figures come prepainted! I couldn't wait!

Months role by and for Christmas I get my first 2 starters and use some holiday loot to buy bosters. The first Starter I ever opened contained a Troll Artie and a Storm Golem! I was hooked. However, I mainly started collecting versus playing (most of my friends were still MTG geeks).

I continued to play MTG over MK and eventually stopped buying figs (my worst gaming mistake ever)! I was really trying to compete on the ProTour for the big bucks but couldn't quite make the cut... or even come close for that matter... I was spending all my money on sets that were worthless after 2 years and I witnessed the coming of Extended rotation... I had had enough.

That was around November fo last year! I had only purchased a few boosters in addition to my original Rebellion pieces... I was way behind. SO... I started trading off all my MTG cards for MK. My collection grew from 150 to 550 in only a few months. I started attending campaigns on Tuesday night at my local venue, became active on this site, and even qualified for Nationals.

My point... Everyone can rememer their first hook into the game and while it is only playing with little plastic toys, it is important to anyone who takes the time to post on this board (maybe too important to some of us :D )! We all recall what made us play in the first place and what keeps us playing. HECK many of you don't even play anymore but still post regularly to the site!

Even though there are many complaints about MK out there, there is still a magic about the game that holds us all in orbit...

WHAT IS THAT MAGIC TO YOU?

Do you love the story, the sculpts, the game mechanics, the feeling of leading armies to war, the thrill of victory, the challenge of trying to eat an ADrac with a Dwarven Ram (maybe just me... he also likes Shield Golem... YUM! :D)?

In other words, through all the complaining and the whining, and the crying, and the banning arguements, and the SA change suggestions, WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE? I forget as well sometimes... I think we all just need to get back to basics and re-examine what we think is special about THIS game.

Adam [ag]

You mean there's a game you can play with these figures?!?! WOW!

In all seriousness, I remember an ad in scrye I think it was. Something along the lines of a game where you can actually play the hundreds of common pieces you get. I was curious, but I still wanted to get into the M:TG scene a little more. But when the first rebellion boosters came out, I decided to get a couple to play with.

We also had a trash talking gamer at the Venue I used to play at. Seriously, he would lose his temper during M:TG games if he didn't get his way... guy was like 25 or something, and he would flip over gaming tables, throw chairs around, put little kids in headlocks... real bad guy. Well... he got in this game also, bought a whole cart load of figs and put everyone to shame.

I thought I would try my luck against him. I had just put together my first 200 point army out of the first 6 or 7 boosters that I bought, and he ended up fielding two or three artillerists backed up by five shamans. Now mind you, at that point, I've hardly seen 5 pieces, let alone 5 shamans, which were all the rage back in the day.

We get to playing and rolling some dice... and I realize that for some reason, I was half-way decent at this game... mopping up shamans and trolls like they were yesterdays trash.

Well, this guys antics are soon to come, but in the end, I beat an army of premier figures with my rag-tag group of underdogs. I guess that's why I hardly ever play any premier figures at all, because I'm reminded of that moment in the sun, and I think that when it comes down to it, I enjoy playing the underdogs, and showing everyone that it's not all about the stats.

It was close, believe it or not. All jokes aside, the venue had to call the local police on him one time, he was in such a rage. Got a restraining order and everything.

Nice thread...

I love gaming...and I love the fantasy realm the best. Science fiction is cool, but dwarves and magic and orcs..oh my!

I have met some really great people playing MK, and am very glad for that. I got into it at the very beginning, and have been hooked ever since. I went nuts when Dungeons was delayed, and it has become my favorite format to date (no useless figs!)

To be honest, one of the things that I like about MK is that i am pretty darned good at it! I played Magic every week, and always got trounced. Here, at least, you can come with a small force of figures, and really have a chance at winning. Sure, I could do that, but then it is a collecting thing, right?

I love the miniatures, and the collecting as much as I love playing. Weighing packs in my hands hoping to get more trolls but actually getting a Storm Golem was great!!

My first armies were lots of fun, a motley crew of Crypt Wurms (so deadly, and uncapturable! With a ranged attack! I must go back and dig them out!) the NEophant and other wacky fellas. Soon I was able to "tune" and army of Dwarves, AG and the Neophant.

Community: we had a kicking scenario club here at the Lucky Frog (shameless plug) and some of the best folks playing that you would ever want to know. We traded (remember trading, on not just buying cases, or buying from ebay?) and really championed our factions. From one fella that played with only female figures, to others that HAD to have dwarves!!!

The Forums: I do not get too much time to play anymore, as the fractioning of the games and the proliferation of Warlords has scattered most of my regulars about, so it is nice to log on the boards and keep in touch with this swell community. If I ever get back into competitive play (oxymoron, anyone?) then I will certainly check this place out to bounce my ideas around.

The magic now is to get a sneak peek, and play a casual game now and again. I am really looking forward to DragonCOn this year, and hope to get many pickup games.

Robert

one reason... way accessible miniatures than WH fantasy... and no paperwork needed!

nuff said!

Man,well after quitting pokemon (my deck got stolen) I was looking for something else to play and then got back into mtg but then type's hit me in the face AGAIN
So then i started looking for a game with out type's and then my friend bought his 1st WH 40k army and i helped him paint it so I thought seriously of starting WH but i neva had enough $$$ to buy it
Then just as i was gonna forget about hobby'ing my local shop told me about this new game (MK)
as soon as a starter hit the shelf i bought it and later booster
still remember in my little 100 ptn games between my friends with one starter who eva had the gunner** won
then my 1st unique was the chaos mage

all i know is my best games were played in the early days when lancers just hit the shelves
as soon as sinster came i dunno something just lacked

nowa days i don't play very often but I still post on the realms and keep up to date with new figs and such

hmmm...I must really try organize some rebels+lancer tournies

as i remember in the early days of mk strategy was more important but now the game sadly seams to be more luck and money than anything else

A bunch of mirror armies battleing it out it makes me weep

Evil, the Rebellion Lancer and Whirlwinds "block" was a glorious time....I miss that grouping of metagame quite a bit.

aaaaah i can remember when I started to play mk like it was last week....oh wait I did start playing mk last week.lol. no I was playing yugioh at a tourny and I had gotten 3rd place again and I was waiting for another tourny to start when a warlord was teaching another dude how to play, so I was like ok maybe i'll learn while i'm waiting, and before I knew it I was giving him 5.00 and I was signing up, then he gave me loads of figs and 2 le's, then that next week I played in the yugioh tourniment, and said to myself you know what I bet I could get 120 dollars for my deck, and I did, and then I spent all that on a larger collection of mk, now I have 15 le's and uniques, plus about 1,000 other standard fig, plus yesturday I spent 42 more dollars on a starter set and 4 or 5 more boosters. so I guess you say I am hooked fish.

MK just brings me back to the good old days hangin' in the Shire with Gandolf and young Frodo, playing strategy games and laughing. Aint nuthin like fielding a group of dwarves against a Great Fire Dragon!lol
I just really enjoy the fantasy realm. From Boris Vallejo & Julie Bell
to Magic the Gathering and Lord of The Rings. Gaming and reading this genre allows you to go where seriously "No man has gone before," and escape the rigours of "reality."

Lets see...I remember when MK first came out...I seen it played thought it was cool...but with my memory, two days later I had forgot about it. Then what, Sinister was two years after Rebellion or just a little over one year, I don't know, but I started hanging out at my local venue more, I play L5R. One day no one comes to play L5R and my friends playing MK and I'm watching and some guy walks up and hes like 'Hey I'll teach you how to play' and I'm like sweet. Yeah this story is dumb, but keep reading, it wont get better, but it will up my morale. He makes me a small army with a storm golem, an imp and a few other elvish pieces that i cant remember. Anyways, I killed this guy, I mean I'm sure he played easier on me, but I won...and it was sweet. But I didnt have money because of L5R, so I didnt buy any until when they changed L5R and I got mad and stopped playing it for a year. Well, thats when I remembered Mk and so I started by buying a few boosters and a starter. Guess what was in my first booster...STORMY!!! Yeah...I my story was dumb...but I guess I still play today, because this game is so much better than any card game, and in a way it seems cheaper to me. Think how much money you spent on card boosters just to make one deck, now think about how with MK you can go buy like three boosters for like 20 dollars and be able to make a decent army. I know 20 was nowhere near enough to make a great deck for any card game.

Why is MK so much better than any card game? I feel the same way, but can't seem to put my finger on it... Is it because you're protected from the randomness of drawing? Is it because it's cheaper on average to build armies? Is it because the figs look so much cooler on your shelves at home? I'm not sure...

Also, RobRob, jag-freak, and xerent... I noticed that you all claim to be better at MK than the games you played before... Again why? I couldn't win at MTG to save my life though I tried and tried... but I won my NQ and am one of the better players at my venue... I don't think it's because it's easier. Maybe it's just because I can visualize the game better with all the pieces on the board.

Anyway, some great comments. I'm glad to see some people still have a love for the game!

Adam [ag]

I think that you hid it on the head, sentinel... visualization. In Magic, I bring a deck, and it can work a few ways... but in general, I have no control over what I draw, what is in my opponents deck, or how he plays.

In mage knight, everything is out on the table. I can see exactly what I have, exactly what my opponent has, and I know exactly what I have to do, and how I can do it. In mage knight, so many more things are certain, that it becomes more of a game of tact and timing, then pulling off fourth turn kills. Say what you want about the luck of the dice... sure they can turn a game or two every now and then, but over time, it's tact that will win the day.

Don't get me wrong... I love Magic for the game, and I think it's brilliant, but a couple things turned me off to that game.

1) Price. Good cards cost tons... especially in T1... which is why I only played T2, and then I needed to spend money to keep in the current format.

2) Players. Magic players have the largest ratio of bad players to good players, in my experience. Never have I met such a cranky, bad-sported bunch. (not to mention the smell) In contrast, Mage Knight has some of the best players and people that I've met.

To re-iterate, I love MK (and am better at MK) because I can control many more aspects of the game, and we all know how much of a control freak I can be. ^^

That, and after a while, Magic just wasn't any fun... which is quite the opposite of MK

First off, I think MTG was essential in the creation of MK! WK idea for a "collectable" game was undoubtably linked to Richard Garfield's MTG.

Secondly, I think the reason for MTG players being so cranky is that many of them don't love the game their playing! Think of the ultimate goal for MTG... the Pro Tour! $35,000 for Nationals and then again for Worlds bring a lot of people who are hoping to get good enough to be "professional" Magic players. Look at MK in return... It's prizes are figures or more tools for the game you're playing! I think it's a truly great thing that WK doesn't do cash prizes at their huge tourneys!

Adam [ag]

Mk is a great game indeed. I remember the first time i played, sure i lost but i had a pretty good run. My friend had told me about a game where u would use little plastic figurines to make an army and try to destroy ur opponent. one day i was taking a stroll and happenned to cross the local venue. so me and my friend decide to buy a booster each (woulda bought more but #### i was poor) seeing my blade golem beat my friends living elemental to the ground was so delightful, even tho he kept reviving it with his grave robber.

whats great is that overall its a very balanced game, sure there are figures that are just monsters but in the end it comes down to the player (and a bit of luck).