I have been thinking about Gloomhaven and Mage Knight for a long while (been playing Lords of the Ring The Living Card game regularly solo and wanted another good solo game). I stumbled on to your previous video (comparing Mage Knight, Gloomhave and Dungeon Alliance) and between that video and this video, I was leaning towards Dungeon Alliance (which I have never heard of before). After watching other "how to play" videos in addition to your videos, I think I will be much happier with Dungeon Alliance in the end, so thank you very much for this video and your other video comparing all 3 games! They both helped me make the best decision for my play style.
3:10 Try searching fan-made "Mage Knight: Underground" on BGG, a dungeon expansion for the game. 11:49 The deed deck of each Mage Knight is indeed pretty generic, but don't forget about their skill tokens! Each hero has 10 unique skill tokens which you get from levelling up. 15:30 You don't just "get fame" in Mage Knight, but also gain new advanced action cards, flip the level tokens (increased armor and hand limit), and also the aforementioned skill tokens. Which will definitely make your hero powerful enough to conquer the cities (a distinctive goal).
Thanks for the note on the fan-made expansions. Your right about the skills, but the point I was trying to express, was in reference to comments Tom Vasel made about Dungeon Alliance characters being generic. He wasn't being very clear, but it seemed to be in reference to Gloomhaven's unique races. I was simply trying to say that that's not the focus of either Mage Knight or Dungeon Alliance. But of the two, Dungeon Alliance has more of the out of the box character differences than Mage Knight. Regarding fame, I wasn't trying to say that, "All you get is fame". What I was meaning is that Mage Knight has a concept of experience, "they just call it" fame. Mage Knight is definitely a hugely deep game. Thanks for the comments.
Great video! Dungeon Alliance is my top1 heavy solo game. Each Adventure Pack provide 4-session campaign with nice story and "choose your own adventure" style choices - I highly recommend it.
@@huruey A campaign is 4 scenarios (the details are in the rules supplement of the base game). In-between scenarios, you can use campaign points to keep some of the upgraded cards you bought in your deck for future scenarios. With just the base game, I don't see too much of a point because the game doesn't give you any specific incentives to play campaign mode. However, the Adventure Packs (available on their online store, AFAIK) add non-linear story events (that you mix into the upgrade deck, so what you uncover will be randomized) that really enhance campaign mode.
Such excelent analysis! Thanks a lot for the details you shared, not seen anywhere! Btw if you like tweaking and variants, I always use my imagination to come up with a scenario like rescueue this dude or cleanse the dungeon before X turns... Also, consider taking trophies like how many goblins heads did My hero collect. Makes any game more fun ;)
Thanks. I also like using my imagination for coming up with scenarios! If you haven't seen the web comic, you should check it out www.quixoticgames.com/dungeon_alliance/webcomic/basilisk10.html.
Thanks! I've been having fun playing Dungeon Alliance. I've already played 2, 3 hour sessions and am ready for some more. I like Mage Knight, but I definitely haven't played multiple 3 hour games back to back with that one.
I still play it. I have created shorter games, but typically play it when I have several hours or a weekend to play. It's lot's of fun, but it's not a quick game.
I am a big fan of Mage Knight believe it is one of best games ever made. It’s very clear on the win/loss conditions depending on the scenario. Although DA utilizes some of the same mechanisms and has a similar feel in choices, the concept of how high can you get on your score is a big turnoff and kills the game for me entirely. Mage Knight win conditions are so tight that depending on your opening chosen difficulty, your win or loss requires little luck and is simply a reflection of the choices you have made. Building a game where the win conditions are just as tight as the core game mechanics takes a game from good to fantastic!
Actually there can be. There are quests that come with the game. You typically try to complete three, one being a big boss. There are 4 levels of play, beat 1, 2, 2 including the boss or 3 of the quests. So you pick your level and you have your binary win condition. On beat your own score games, I used to be less of a fan, until I thought of it a little differently than a score. I started thinking of score as just a way of calibrating win condition for players of all different kinds of levels. So, no matter how a game keeps score, I now play a few games, in the style I like, and track the score. I use that to set my own win loss condition. Not telling you how to play games, just sharing something that helped me enjoy more games. But ... the quest do add the binary win loss condition.
![เปิดบ้าน โคตรสวย ป๋องกพล รู้จักตั้งนาน เพิ่งรู้ว่ารวย!!! l [Nickynachat]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tmgCF_2HfYI/mqdefault.jpg)
I have been thinking about Gloomhaven and Mage Knight for a long while (been playing Lords of the Ring The Living Card game regularly solo and wanted another good solo game). I stumbled on to your previous video (comparing Mage Knight, Gloomhave and Dungeon Alliance) and between that video and this video, I was leaning towards Dungeon Alliance (which I have never heard of before). After watching other "how to play" videos in addition to your videos, I think I will be much happier with Dungeon Alliance in the end, so thank you very much for this video and your other video comparing all 3 games! They both helped me make the best decision for my play style.
Glad it was helpful :)
3:10 Try searching fan-made "Mage Knight: Underground" on BGG, a dungeon expansion for the game.
11:49 The deed deck of each Mage Knight is indeed pretty generic, but don't forget about their skill tokens! Each hero has 10 unique skill tokens which you get from levelling up.
15:30 You don't just "get fame" in Mage Knight, but also gain new advanced action cards, flip the level tokens (increased armor and hand limit), and also the aforementioned skill tokens. Which will definitely make your hero powerful enough to conquer the cities (a distinctive goal).
Thanks for the note on the fan-made expansions. Your right about the skills, but the point I was trying to express, was in reference to comments Tom Vasel made about Dungeon Alliance characters being generic. He wasn't being very clear, but it seemed to be in reference to Gloomhaven's unique races. I was simply trying to say that that's not the focus of either Mage Knight or Dungeon Alliance. But of the two, Dungeon Alliance has more of the out of the box character differences than Mage Knight. Regarding fame, I wasn't trying to say that, "All you get is fame". What I was meaning is that Mage Knight has a concept of experience, "they just call it" fame. Mage Knight is definitely a hugely deep game. Thanks for the comments.
Great video! Dungeon Alliance is my top1 heavy solo game. Each Adventure Pack provide 4-session campaign with nice story and "choose your own adventure" style choices - I highly recommend it.
Thanks so much for creating this video! It's awesome!
Hi Mitchel, nice video and it is very nice to "meet" you ! DA is my top 1 solo game as well, really love it. Cheers (Paul from BGG)
Cool. Good to touch base with you here. I reference the line of sight stuff every game :)
Campaign mode with the adventure packs is definitely my favorite way to play this game.
Thanks I haven't had a chance to try that yet.
How does a campaign work? The lack of a clear goal for solo is one of the main things putting me off this. Is that added by the expansion?
@@huruey A campaign is 4 scenarios (the details are in the rules supplement of the base game). In-between scenarios, you can use campaign points to keep some of the upgraded cards you bought in your deck for future scenarios.
With just the base game, I don't see too much of a point because the game doesn't give you any specific incentives to play campaign mode. However, the Adventure Packs (available on their online store, AFAIK) add non-linear story events (that you mix into the upgrade deck, so what you uncover will be randomized) that really enhance campaign mode.
@@llyranor This does sound like what I'd want from the game so it's going on my list. Thanks! :)
Such excelent analysis! Thanks a lot for the details you shared, not seen anywhere!
Btw if you like tweaking and variants, I always use my imagination to come up with a scenario like rescueue this dude or cleanse the dungeon before X turns... Also, consider taking trophies like how many goblins heads did My hero collect. Makes any game more fun ;)
Thanks. I also like using my imagination for coming up with scenarios! If you haven't seen the web comic, you should check it out www.quixoticgames.com/dungeon_alliance/webcomic/basilisk10.html.
I am curious to know if you tried the new ones and if the game is still in your top 😁.
Happy Birthday!
Thanks! I've been having fun playing Dungeon Alliance. I've already played 2, 3 hour sessions and am ready for some more. I like Mage Knight, but I definitely haven't played multiple 3 hour games back to back with that one.
Great video! How is this game still for you? How often do you play it? Thanks!
I still play it. I have created shorter games, but typically play it when I have several hours or a weekend to play. It's lot's of fun, but it's not a quick game.
I am a big fan of Mage Knight believe it is one of best games ever made. It’s very clear on the win/loss conditions depending on the scenario. Although DA utilizes some of the same mechanisms and has a similar feel in choices, the concept of how high can you get on your score is a big turnoff and kills the game for me entirely. Mage Knight win conditions are so tight that depending on your opening chosen difficulty, your win or loss requires little luck and is simply a reflection of the choices you have made. Building a game where the win conditions are just as tight as the core game mechanics takes a game from good to fantastic!
Dungeon Alliance is a masterpiece for solo gamers!
Agreed.
subscribed :)
Oh. There's no binary win condition? That's pretty much a deal breaker for me. Bummer.
Actually there can be. There are quests that come with the game. You typically try to complete three, one being a big boss. There are 4 levels of play, beat 1, 2, 2 including the boss or 3 of the quests. So you pick your level and you have your binary win condition. On beat your own score games, I used to be less of a fan, until I thought of it a little differently than a score. I started thinking of score as just a way of calibrating win condition for players of all different kinds of levels. So, no matter how a game keeps score, I now play a few games, in the style I like, and track the score. I use that to set my own win loss condition. Not telling you how to play games, just sharing something that helped me enjoy more games. But ... the quest do add the binary win loss condition.