Last night, I returned to Hobbytown to attend their game night. I brought along a copy of Mage Knight. I wasn’t sure that anyone would be interested in playing it, but I thought, “Either I’ll have fun playing this game, or I’ll have fun playing some other game. Either way I come out ahead.”
To my surprise, I got three other gamers interested and played my first four-player game of Mage Knight. (The other gamers had fun with Innovation.) I had a blast teaching and playing the game, even though I ended up dead last in victory points at the end. The store’s owner, Alex, won the game, and said he would look into stocking the game in the store.
Even though we played the “short” introductory scenario, the length of time it took to become familiar with the rules meant that the game took about three hours. I’m not sure we could play one of the full scenarios (for example, one that involved conquering cities) in the amount of time we have to play games in the store. We’ll see. It will be a while until we’ll play Mage Knight again, since the gamers like variety from week to week.
For my part, my “Mage Knight itch” is scratched for a while. I definitely want to play again, but I don’t feel a need to do it right away.
There’s a Hermes Council meeting next week, and I’ve got another appointment the following week, so I probably won’t be at another game night for three weeks. One of the other gamers also brought in a game, though we didn’t have a chance to play it: Wallenstein. It looked interesting, and I hope to have a chance to try it in the future.
Also on the horizon: Eclipse, a board game with so many pieces that in some place it’s sold for over $100! I know it’s a space exploration and conquest game. I’d certainly like to try it before I’d consider buying it!
I’m really enjoying the game nights at Hobbytown. I hope to see you there someday.