“Altem Guardians, Gosh they’re good!” - in my parallel play through while watching these videos I’m starting Night 2 next to a mage tower with Call to Glory and Altem Guardians in the offers, and a Black mana in the source. Now I know what I’m going to say when I get to recruit them 😀. Another very instructive video, thank you!
Thanks for the videos. I recommend your videos in BGG often because (in spite of the fact that they are long), I think for a beginner it's by far the best resource to learn the game. I used your videos to learn the game a few years back and watched back your videos again (to refresh my memory of the rules - been playing a lot of Aeon's end and Spirit island instead of MK). So thanks a lot for making these videos!
It's not one of my first picks, usually, but the fact that it lets you draw more next turn pretty much turns it into 2 free cards for the round with little to no detriment. It still takes a mana, and you can't control the cards you get, but in the right situation it can be a big boon.
ב"ה There are 2 rules issues that I didn't see a note for, one thing about your comments and one thing about your strategy. Rules issues I didn't see a note for- 1) In the last round, you should have chosen your artifact before you knew which skills you could have gotten. the rewards for the dungeon take place immediately after conquering it while leveling up happens at the end of the round. 2) In that turn when you just recruited the altem swordsmen and the utem guardians you should have gotten 3 reputation (which was the entire point of making that turn). A thing about the commentary- 3) I didn't understand why you were worried about fighting a shadow. You would have done it exactly the same, except for using the red token from the ruby ring to power up the rage for 2 more attack, instead of just wasting it because you don't need it (or using concentration to generate a red mana token to power that rage). And one question about strategy- 4) In that turn when you had 11 cards, Why didn't you go strait for the dragon? I mean, usually I would rather take a dungeon in the turn before the last turn rather than wait for the last turn, especially if I am also going to level up. You could have killed the dragom in the same turn you used call to glory, playing heroic tale sideways for 3 movement, 1 from your skill and 1 from march, them play ruby ring for a 3rd red crystal and a red token to power up rage for 4 attack, use the other rage for 2 attack, cold swordsmanship for 2 attack and stamina sideways for 1 more attack (keeping chivalry for the concentration for a possible 1 more fame), leaving the heroes ready just in case you will need the healing after the dungeon fight (they can't help in combat in dungeon but they can heal afterwards). That way you would have another turn, when you could explore and possibly even get to the desert near the city at night, and use the ice bolt for a blue crystal and what you get from the dungeon in case it is a banner or an artifact that generate crystals.
Hi again, and thanks again for the comments! :D 1) You're right. I have a bad habit of doing a lot of that stuff at the end. I did it again at the end of N3, but at least there I mentioned it and why it wasn't affecting anything. 2) I did realize when rewatching that I missed a rep point. As it hurt me, and as compiling these videos takes hours due to their length, I let it lie. Good catch. 3) If I understand your confusion, and I may not, I was concerned primarily about having enough attach to be able to kill what I face after spending some cards for movement to flop the a tile. I may not have made it clear, but I wanted to do that without taking wounds or spending too many resources. At the time, I was thinking I might play whirlwind to block, so that I would have plenty to kill the foe, but the shadows were a problem because they're arcane immune, meaning I could not play whirlwind against them, and they'd be left with 8 armor, which I could handle, but only after allowing the attack to damage me or my units, which I didn't like to contemplate. I didn't delve too much into what I would do if they showed because the odds were low. The point was more about the other enemies, the vast majority, would all be no problem. That was my thought there, anyway, if that makes sense. I may not be grasping what I said that confused you. 4) I think my reasoning was as follows (but bear in mind this is just what I was thinking, not a claim that it's better than your suggestion). Unit-wise, I essentially downgraded for this turn from heroes to swordsmen, and you're right that healing with the heroes would be a good option, as would their attack or block 5. They actually can be used in a dungeon, I believe. The card says they can't be used in an assault or an attack on a player without paying influence, but I do not think a dungeon or dragon engagement is an assault. Am I wrong there? Either way, as far as what I was thinking, the two chief virtues of what I did were A) in recruiting I would help my reputation, gearing up for my foray into the red city later, and B) I would have another shot at a white die in the source from mana search before hitting the dragon. It turned out I didn't get white, but I was looking to maybe catch a break. I anticipated not doing much more after I killed the dragon and hit the dungeon. You're right that I might have had some stuff left to do more afterward, but this was a known gain of 2 rep, a shot at a white to make the dragon and dungeon easier, vs. a possibility of moving a little faster, when, frankly, I was so close to the red city anyway that I wasn't worried about getting there in time.
Nevermind about the heroes thing. I forgot for a second there that NOBODY comes into the dungeon. So yeah, that does make your play a lot more appealing. I think I was fixated on recruiting to get +2 rep and then have a shot at a white die, though. *shrug* Probably not the best way to play it, you're right.
ב"ה 1) In this case with these 2 artifacts it is true if probably didn't matter much. But for example let say you rolled a spell instead of an artifact, the knowledge about your motivation skill that give you blue mana would probably make the blue spells more attractive. 3) But killing a Shadow without taking wounds is easy. With concentration getting blue mana to power cold toughness you block hum easily (5 basic +2 for cold fire attack +1 for arcane immunity +1 for elusive is a total of 9 ice block, which is enough to block a cold fire attack of 4), then rage combined with cold swordsmanship would kill him. In this case, you don't even need the special bonus of cold toughness, since even if you had just a simple determination you would have powered it the same way with a blue token from concentration for a block of 5, and play whirlwind sideways for +3 block to a total of 8 block, which is enough to block cold fire attack of 4 (but cold toughness could do the work by itself, since every energy and every special ability just add to the block). A shadow is your least problem when you have cold toughness in your hand, and you don't even need mana from the source against it. 4) About the reputation, you get 2 from the dragon and 1 from chivalry anyway, so even if you would have to attack the city twice you still don't get negative reputation. With +3 from your markers on your city, 8 cards and two advanced actions that could give you influence, you could probably recruit whatever is recruitable at a city next round even if you get double delphana masters in the offer. Getting more crystals and moving through the desert at night just seems to me more important. About the white mana, you already had green mana in the source for the healing (as you still have the heroes ready, and no brown enemy could deal more than 4 wounds to you), so you just wouldn't care about white mana as much (even if you don't remember you got concentration anyway so you could get white mana). The only brown enemy you must block is medusa, and you just block it with a spell side ways combined with cold toughness.
1) Yup. 2) I guess I was reading the toughness card differently. As I have been reading it, I was taking +1 per color of the attack or for each ability applicable to the attack, so I wasn't counting defensive qualities like elusive and arcane immune. I kinda thought part of the rewording of the card for LL had to do with that, but maybe it was only to add the immunity note. The text is a bit ambiguous, I feel, but in any event part of my thinking here was that cold toughness would have provided 7 block, not 9, and that at the cost of a crystal, but I didn't look too long and hard at the shadow anyway, remember. It was just an off hand comment about an unlikely scenario, and I did dive in, assuming I'd find a way to deal with the shadow anyway; just the whirlwind plan I had going wouldn't have worked. I'll have to poke around for cold toughness on a faq or something, but that wording is a little unfortunate... 4) As you say that now, I realize I forgot to add rep for the markers. I'll have to add a note to the episode 6 video before I release it. Thanks. And yeah, with the green in the source the healing play would have been a good one; I just missed it.
“Altem Guardians, Gosh they’re good!” - in my parallel play through while watching these videos I’m starting Night 2 next to a mage tower with Call to Glory and Altem Guardians in the offers, and a Black mana in the source. Now I know what I’m going to say when I get to recruit them 😀. Another very instructive video, thank you!
Thanks for the videos. I recommend your videos in BGG often because (in spite of the fact that they are long), I think for a beginner it's by far the best resource to learn the game. I used your videos to learn the game a few years back and watched back your videos again (to refresh my memory of the rules - been playing a lot of Aeon's end and Spirit island instead of MK). So thanks a lot for making these videos!
Thank you so much! I’m glad they help!
Huh. I had totally written off Meditation as unplayable!
It's not one of my first picks, usually, but the fact that it lets you draw more next turn pretty much turns it into 2 free cards for the round with little to no detriment. It still takes a mana, and you can't control the cards you get, but in the right situation it can be a big boon.
ב"ה
There are 2 rules issues that I didn't see a note for, one thing about your comments and one thing about your strategy.
Rules issues I didn't see a note for-
1) In the last round, you should have chosen your artifact before you knew which skills you could have gotten. the rewards for the dungeon take place immediately after conquering it while leveling up happens at the end of the round.
2) In that turn when you just recruited the altem swordsmen and the utem guardians you should have gotten 3 reputation (which was the entire point of making that turn).
A thing about the commentary-
3) I didn't understand why you were worried about fighting a shadow. You would have done it exactly the same, except for using the red token from the ruby ring to power up the rage for 2 more
attack, instead of just wasting it because you don't need it (or using concentration to generate a red mana token to power that rage).
And one question about strategy-
4) In that turn when you had 11 cards, Why didn't you go strait for the dragon?
I mean, usually I would rather take a dungeon in the turn before the last turn rather than wait for the last turn, especially if I am also going to level up. You could have killed the dragom in the same turn you used call to glory, playing heroic tale sideways for 3 movement, 1 from your skill and 1 from march, them play ruby ring for a 3rd red crystal and a red token to power up rage for 4 attack, use the other rage for 2 attack, cold swordsmanship for 2 attack and stamina sideways for 1 more attack (keeping chivalry for the concentration for a possible 1 more fame), leaving the heroes ready just in case you will need the healing after the dungeon fight (they can't help in combat in dungeon but they can heal afterwards). That way you would have another turn, when you could explore and possibly even get to the desert near the city at night, and use the ice bolt for a blue crystal and what you get from the dungeon in case it is a banner or an artifact that generate crystals.
Hi again, and thanks again for the comments! :D
1) You're right. I have a bad habit of doing a lot of that stuff at the end. I did it again at the end of N3, but at least there I mentioned it and why it wasn't affecting anything.
2) I did realize when rewatching that I missed a rep point. As it hurt me, and as compiling these videos takes hours due to their length, I let it lie. Good catch.
3) If I understand your confusion, and I may not, I was concerned primarily about having enough attach to be able to kill what I face after spending some cards for movement to flop the a tile. I may not have made it clear, but I wanted to do that without taking wounds or spending too many resources. At the time, I was thinking I might play whirlwind to block, so that I would have plenty to kill the foe, but the shadows were a problem because they're arcane immune, meaning I could not play whirlwind against them, and they'd be left with 8 armor, which I could handle, but only after allowing the attack to damage me or my units, which I didn't like to contemplate. I didn't delve too much into what I would do if they showed because the odds were low. The point was more about the other enemies, the vast majority, would all be no problem. That was my thought there, anyway, if that makes sense. I may not be grasping what I said that confused you.
4) I think my reasoning was as follows (but bear in mind this is just what I was thinking, not a claim that it's better than your suggestion). Unit-wise, I essentially downgraded for this turn from heroes to swordsmen, and you're right that healing with the heroes would be a good option, as would their attack or block 5. They actually can be used in a dungeon, I believe. The card says they can't be used in an assault or an attack on a player without paying influence, but I do not think a dungeon or dragon engagement is an assault. Am I wrong there? Either way, as far as what I was thinking, the two chief virtues of what I did were A) in recruiting I would help my reputation, gearing up for my foray into the red city later, and B) I would have another shot at a white die in the source from mana search before hitting the dragon. It turned out I didn't get white, but I was looking to maybe catch a break. I anticipated not doing much more after I killed the dragon and hit the dungeon. You're right that I might have had some stuff left to do more afterward, but this was a known gain of 2 rep, a shot at a white to make the dragon and dungeon easier, vs. a possibility of moving a little faster, when, frankly, I was so close to the red city anyway that I wasn't worried about getting there in time.
Nevermind about the heroes thing. I forgot for a second there that NOBODY comes into the dungeon. So yeah, that does make your play a lot more appealing. I think I was fixated on recruiting to get +2 rep and then have a shot at a white die, though. *shrug* Probably not the best way to play it, you're right.
ב"ה
1) In this case with these 2 artifacts it is true if probably didn't matter much. But for example let say you rolled a spell instead of an artifact, the knowledge about your motivation skill that give you blue mana would probably make the blue spells more attractive.
3) But killing a Shadow without taking wounds is easy. With concentration getting blue mana to power cold toughness you block hum easily (5 basic +2 for cold fire attack +1 for arcane immunity +1 for elusive is a total of 9 ice block, which is enough to block a cold fire attack of 4), then rage combined with cold swordsmanship would kill him. In this case, you don't even need the special bonus of cold toughness, since even if you had just a simple determination you would have powered it the same way with a blue token from concentration for a block of 5, and play whirlwind sideways for +3 block to a total of 8 block, which is enough to block cold fire attack of 4 (but cold toughness could do the work by itself, since every energy and every special ability just add to the block). A shadow is your least problem when you have cold toughness in your hand, and you don't even need mana from the source against it.
4) About the reputation, you get 2 from the dragon and 1 from chivalry anyway, so even if you would have to attack the city twice you still don't get negative reputation. With +3 from your markers on your city, 8 cards and two advanced actions that could give you influence, you could probably recruit whatever is recruitable at a city next round even if you get double delphana masters in the offer. Getting more crystals and moving through the desert at night just seems to me more important.
About the white mana, you already had green mana in the source for the healing (as you still have the heroes ready, and no brown enemy could deal more than 4 wounds to you), so you just wouldn't care about white mana as much (even if you don't remember you got concentration anyway so you could get white mana). The only brown enemy you must block is medusa, and you just block it with a spell side ways combined with cold toughness.
1) Yup.
2) I guess I was reading the toughness card differently. As I have been reading it, I was taking +1 per color of the attack or for each ability applicable to the attack, so I wasn't counting defensive qualities like elusive and arcane immune. I kinda thought part of the rewording of the card for LL had to do with that, but maybe it was only to add the immunity note. The text is a bit ambiguous, I feel, but in any event part of my thinking here was that cold toughness would have provided 7 block, not 9, and that at the cost of a crystal, but I didn't look too long and hard at the shadow anyway, remember. It was just an off hand comment about an unlikely scenario, and I did dive in, assuming I'd find a way to deal with the shadow anyway; just the whirlwind plan I had going wouldn't have worked. I'll have to poke around for cold toughness on a faq or something, but that wording is a little unfortunate...
4) As you say that now, I realize I forgot to add rep for the markers. I'll have to add a note to the episode 6 video before I release it. Thanks. And yeah, with the green in the source the healing play would have been a good one; I just missed it.
ב"ה
2) You are right, the lost legion version actually prevent that bonus from arcane immunity, but as mentioned you don't need the bonus.