Mage Knight Board Game: The Lost Legion (Expansion Set)

Reviewed by JD Woody, host of "Live and Let Dice" on adrenalineradio.com. For the purposes of this review, I am assuming that you are already familiar with Mage Knight Board Game from Wizkids and NECA. Most likely you know enough about this game to ask why on Earth there would be a need to expand it? And for whom was this expansion designed? Let me explain what scenarios and rules are added to the game, the new character, and the new components. First, you get General Volkare. He is the new enemy of the Mage Knights in this game, and he includes his own miniature (very beautifully constructed and designed and it has a clix base), as well as his token (similar to a city card: it indicates what type of attack he has given a mana die roll), and his round order token. You get a 20 page rulebook including a scenario list for how to play either cooperatively or solo (you don't need a dummy player now!) against Volkare. It also includes new enemy abilities (unfortified, cumbersome, elusive, assassination, multiple attack, arcane immunity) explains thugs and heroes, and new map features (walls, mazes/labyrinths, deep mines, and refugee camps). A few pages are also devoted to detailed game concepts, which is handy especially if you are teaching the game! You get a new Mage Knight! Wolfhawk comes with her own miniature, a deck of 16 basic action cards, command tokens, skill tokens, round order token, and shield tokens. Note that because this adds a fifth player, more components are needed therefore she has 20 shield tokens (instead of 15) and an 11th skill token (interactive, but cooperative). For the other Mage Knights, this means: All four of the original Mage Knights get 5 more shield tokens, and a cooperative interactive skill (which can replace the interactive skill you would remove in solo or cooperative games). In addition, each MK gets a new basic action card to make his/her deck even better! There are three more countryside tiles, two more core tiles, and a General Volkare camp tile to accommodate more players. Each of these tiles has the new features that are covered in the new rules. There are also 14 new mana tokens (3 of each: white, blue, green, and red, as well as another black and another gold token), another mana die, and 12 more wound cards. More cards! You get new regular unit cards (2x Utem Guardsmen have been replaced, and you get 2x Scouts, 2x Thugs, 2x Shocktroops, and 2x Magic Familiars), new elite unit cards (3x Altem Guardians have been replaced, and you get 4x Heroes, 2x Sorcerers, and 2x Delphana Masters), new advanced action cards (Agility, Refreshing Walk, Blood Ritual, In Need, and Magic Talent have been replaced, you also get 12 new advanced actions), new artifact cards (Banner of Fear and Horn of Wrath have been replaced, you also get 8 new artifacts), new spell cards (Whirlwind/Tornado, Wings of Wind/Wings of Night, Demolish/Disintegrate, Space Bending/Time Bending, and Energy Flow/Energy Steal have been replaced, and you get 4 more spells). You also get 8 new cards for day tactic, cooperative skills, and site descriptions. These are either for the new features or they are replacement cards from the original. More tokens! You get new city garrison, new draconum, new orc marauders, new ruin garrison, new monsters, and new mage tower garrison. You also get 3 new ancient ruins tokens! Nothing has been left out of this expansion. A new enemy gives an expansion to cooperative city conquests, as well as new cooperative scenarios to fight him, the entire game has been expanded to allow more players, there are more tactics and mechanics, a new mage knight for players to choose from, and a lot more variability with the deed cards. If the price seems steep, it is the best expansion you can buy and it is what it says it is and does what it says it is. Highest recommendation. Best expansion ever for the best board game ever.

To me, Mage Knight is one of the most incredible games to come down the pipe in a long time. It perfectly melds some of my favorite board game genres: deck-building, miniatures combat, world-building, hex-based strategy, resource management...Lesser games would buckle under that weight, but MK delivers a fun package on all fronts. My expectations were, therefore, very high for the first expansion (the one the creator claimed will finally "complete" the main game). So, how does it stack up? I've tried out almost every new aspect, and here are my thoughts, bad news first: THE BAD: - The price. The absolute cheapest I've been able to find this is $35 at C--- S----. Others - including Amazon - have it at between $45-$50. To me, that is unacceptable for an expansion that cannot be played by itself. I only payed about 25% more for the base game! Yes, there are a lot of components, but nothing major enough to justify them charging this much. Even the box is really small. - Speaking of the box, get ready to finally throw out the horrible inner-box trays from the main game, because there's no way all of the new stuff will fit in there with it. This is more of a complaint about the main game, actually: the trays were AWFUL, despite looking good at first glance. Throw it out, get plastic baggies, deck sleeves, and rubber bands, and get to work. - Poor solo support. There's really only two new main scenarios in the expansion rules, and while they can be played solo, they really are meant for multi-player. Given how popular the solo format is for MK, I would have appreciated more focused scenarios for that purpose. THE GOOD: - General Volkare. Awesome mini, awesome rules, just AWESOME. A new roving threat, complete with his own army, ready to smack down any sassy mage knight who gets in his grill. - Wolfhawk. Stupid name, yes. But just having the capability of adding a fifth player is fantastic, as is her cool mini. And hey, it's a girl. Kudos. - New monsters, map tiles, spells, advanced action cards, deed cards and locations. No critical thinking necessary, just pop them right into the existing stack, and voila: more variety, more options, more everything. - New unique basic cards. Each knight gets a new unique basic action card, that replaces one of the generic ones in each starter deck (including Wolfhawk). - Rules errata, clarifications, and fixes: Replacement cards and tokens for those from the main game that were deemed either too powerful, not powerful enough, or needed clarification. - First printing fixes: For those with the first printing of the main game, replacement cards and tokens for misprinted ones are provided. - Extra components: More dice, crystals, and wounds, to make sure you never run out in a five player game. PHEW! Yes, that is a lot of stuff. Once you add it all together and start playing, nothing feels dramatically different except Volkare, which is major (and quite honestly, if you're new, you may want to avoid his scenarios until you have a decent amount of experience under your belt). Instead, the whole game now runs like it had a major tune-up under the hood. Cards work better; the mage knights are more unique; you have many more options to diversify your experience. In short: yes, this does complete the main game, and it's a great thing. If you are willing to shell out the money, and you know that you LOVE Mage Knight, then the Lost Legion is absolutely worth it. It expands and fixes the main game in wonderful ways. Other expansions? Take note. This is how it's done.

Sure it's pricier than the Krang or Tezla expansions... But The Lost Legion brings so much more to the table(top): -A new playable character, complete with unique abilities and all the corresponding bits. -Revised rules and cards, designed to rebalance some of the biggest complaints players have had since the core game -even playing the original core campaign content feels so much better with the fine tuned gameplay. -A new villain that functions differently than anything before, this thing marches across the board, forcing you to strategies and adjust your strategy like never before. If you're only going to get one expansion for the Mage Knight board game, this Is THE way to go. Krang and Tezla are fun, and they combine well with this too... but when you look at what you're getting, Lost Legion adds so much more depth and variety, it really breathes new life into the game.

Mage Knight, one of the best solo games ever, especially if you have a little bit of secret masochist in you. Because that game will slap you around like nobodies business The Lost Legions expansion is a natural buy for anyone who enjoyed the base game. It adds additional depth, options, and another character to play, plus it slightly modifies the cards in each mage knight's deck to give them more variety and uniqueness. This is the expansion that the creator of the game said was a must by, and I think he was right!

Probably my favourite board game of all time. Big call I know, but it has so many elements to it, it is a rich, engrossing monster of a game. It is similar to the likes of Warhammer Quest, with the major differences being that the board represents the world outside, you're wandering the landscape and not dungeon-crawling and it utilizes a deck-building mechanic that work so well. Instead of choosing your strength (magic, brute force, archery), you have opportunities to use all these skills, with a focus on using mana to power them. Leveling up doesn't require thousands of gold pieces and a treacherous trip into town. How fast you level up is dependent on what adventures you undertake and how famous you become along the way. You can do good deeds for the people or be a tyrant, burning monasteries, etc. your fame will still increase but your reputation will suffer, and people will not want to follow you. Taking wounds is problematic, as wounds are then shuffled into your draw deck and you can do less on your turn with wounds in-hand. There are a bunch of challenging scenarios, seemingly impossible to complete in the beginning but dont give up! You will improve your skills at playing Mage Knight and soon you'll be throwing down multiple attack combos with all sorts of interesting and devastating effects. You can also recruit more units to fight alongside you as you level up (provided your reputation isn't too low). If you are an experienced gamer, like reading lots of rules, don't cry if you can't resolve everything in one turn, love RPGs, dungeon crawlers, and more complex deck building games, this game is for you. The Lost Legion expansion - Adds an incredibly powerful new Mage Knight who is now my favorite character, and provides the option of playing with 5 players! Which is perfect for my board game group. There are more challenging scenarios and a new dangerous NPC character with a legion of his own armies! Rule-tweaks, new monster and unit tokens, make the seemingly hefty price of this expansion worth paying for. It certainly has a lot more included than a typical game expansion.

I would give Lost Legion 5 stars based on what it adds to the game but unfortunately Wizkids doesn't care about producing consistent quality components. Most board gamers buy games to have fun playing with physical pieces in person. While the game is by no means unplayable because of manufacturing defects, I can't honestly give it 5 stars when (as another review shows relevant pictures) the quality varies so much box to box. So, the pros: * Adds a variety of enemy tokens, cards, and scenarios that enhance the game with more variety * Adds a new female mage knight to play with a cool miniature design and uniquely enhanced cards * Replaces the dummy deck with an interesting enemy to race against (General Volkare) who has a backstory * Replaces 1 additional unique powered up card in each mage knight deck (now totalling 2) making them more flavorful and unique * Adds a bit of lore to the mage knight world in the new rulebook The cons: * It comes with another 20 page rulebook so hopefully you like never fully closing the lid if you put them all together * They packed the original box awkwardly and this box has not improved on their model. I'm lucky to have purchased an insert to cut down on set up and clean up time that fits all expansions or it would be even worse. It seriously improves the game so much. * Wizkids were very inconsistent with manufacturing this expansion and even worse with shades of tezla. Ordering on Amazon it's hard to know which edition you'll get so it's possible to have a perfectly fine box or one where practically everything is the wrong size or color. Again, I feel lucky the main issue has just been tile backs for me as it could've been worse. Overall I love this game and this is an excellent expansion. Volkare is a great addition, although I wish he had his own deck with cards explaining his moves instead of building his deck with what would've been the dummy deck. Still, it's more interesting to keep up with Volkare than it ever was playing with a dummy so I welcome the change. This is probably the longest review I've ever left on Amazon but if you're wondering, should I buy this? Ask yourself... Do you love the base mage knight board game? If the answer is yes, buy this. Its worth it.

This expansion fits seamlessly with the game. It's the sort of thing you can add to the base game and teach new players the game without removing. It adds a bit more variety in the monsters you can fight, but mostly it adds a terrific new scenario for solo and coop play. If you're really into competitive play (not most players), then this offers a lot less, but you still have the new monsters to fight. There's also a few updates to old monsters to balance things out. You also get a new character to play as, who I think is really great. Overall, I'd say this is a must purchase if you already know you like Mage Knight. If you have yet to play Mage Knight and want to know if this expansion is necessary, it isn't. But it's also really great and I'd suggest buying it as soon as you know you like (or love!) the base game.

Mage Knight: The Board Game has become one of my favorite tabletop games. I love the combination of exploring, roleplaying, deck-building, strategy, and puzzle-solving. It has pretty much everything I could ever want in a game. With The Lost Legion Expansion, that experience is even better. The man behind this game said that this expansion is what makes the base game feel complete, and I tend to agree. In here you'll find harder enemies, better allies, more artifacts and spells, and an additional skill unique to each character. On top of that, you get a new hero and some tiles with new types of landmarks to explore. The new landmarks have some interesting ideas, but the new hero didn't quite wow me like the ones from the base set did. She's not bad, but she doesn't really excel in anything. The best part about this expansion is the new anti-hero or villain...whatever you want to call him. Rather than play with a dummy character in the base game, now you can implement him into the game if you want to play a co-op or solitaire game. There are also some scenarios based around him, where you basically have to go defeat him in his camp as the main objective. I haven't yet fought him, but he definitely seems like a challenge. He doesn't have the fortifications that castles and the like provide, but he attacks you each turn without you being able to do anything to get him out of the picture. He basically loses once his entire army loses, and you don't ever really fight him personally. So if you're a fan of the base set, this expansion has nothing but good things that come along with it. The cost is a little steep, but if you're a big fan of Mage Knight like I am, it's well worth the investment.

Mage Knight ist für mich das perfekte Spiel: Thematisch passt alles zusammen, Spielmechanik ist bis ins kleinste Detail perfekt und fehlerfrei erklärt, Herausforderung und Spielspaß sind immens. Die Erweiterung bietet neue spannende Gegner, einen neuen Mage Knight, viele neue Karten. Ein Muss für alle Fans.

Firstly, kudos to PureBuy who dispatched this swiftly and without any hitches. 5 Star service. This expansion contains a great deal of additional content for the Mage Knight base game. Then new cards are better illustrated than the slightly crude and muddy originals. The tiles match the excellent ones found in the base game and the new counters are a good colour match for the originals too. The new crystals are made from a slightly different plastic and have a flatter, duller appearance. The new models are a good match for the Mage Knight originals in that they are made from rubbery plastic and awkwardly modeled. The general counter has an ink wash added to his base colour so he's a little more defined, but he's still a good example of a pretty bad bit of model making. In fact all the character models in Mage Knights remind me of something you'd get in a rather disappointing Kinder Egg. The new scenarios involving the Lost Legion bring a good dose of clear purpose to the game, and with the additional cards and units, add further vibrancy to an already rich gaming ecosystem. Mage Knights is a complex game with a steep learning curve, so that has to be borne in mind before any purchase. This expansion doesn't add greatly to that complexity however, so those fearing to further overburden their central cortex can buy with confidence.

Añade cartas y personajes al "Mage Knight" base y lo enriquece, en cierta manera. Tenemos un nuevo personaje, nuevos monstruos, más cartas de hechizos, unidades, acciones, etc. Hay más losetas de terreno (con muros, laberintos, minas profundas y campamento de refugiados), nuevas habilidades cooperativas y el general Volkare que permite jugar escenarios en los que los héroes se enfrentan a él (Volkare se mueve por el mapa por lo que es bastante distinto a los escenarios que se ofrecen en el base). En definitiva, que si te gustó el "MK" base, creo que esta expansión es imprescindible. La recomiendo.

Extension obligatoire pour le meilleur jeu solo

The Lost Legion is a gigantic expansion that expands upon every single aspect of Mage Knight. If you loved the original game, but were getting a little bit tired of the same units and enemies over and over again, this expansion is great to add tons more variety. Plus new advanced actions, new artifacts, and awesome new spells. Wolfhawk is a cool new character, but of course Volkare is the main focus of The Lost Legion. His scenarios are tense, action packed, and above all, fun. All the components were present and in perfect condition, a great purchase