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.

This expansion is essential if you already have Mage Knight's base set. It makes a great game even better. You can skip any of the other expansions: The Lost Legion plus the Base set makes Mage Knight the greatest solo board game you can buy.