Magic The Gathering: Arena of the Planeswalkers Game

I love this game. Sadly I can't find people to play it often. However I do enjoy each game session and highly recommend this game. Three quick points I want to make.1. It's essentially Heroscape. Which is an amazing compliment because that game is still a blast. Quick, easy, army building, and strategic.2. It's MTG TCG in tabletop miniature form. Basically the planeswalkers of MTG are physically wallking around the battlefield casting spells and summoning creatures. Awesome! Perfect blend of Heroscape and Magic TCG.3. The game is straight forward, easy to set up, and the parts are well produced for being such an inexpensive game.One flaw I feel is the lack of terrain pieces and options for spell/creature customization. Expansions should fix that though.I recommend this game to people who want to get into quick battles without buying into the trading card game format and if you want an quick easy to learn tabletop miniature game.Also for other MTG alternatives check out Epic from White Wizard Games, my new Mtg replacement!

Whether you are a Heroscape fan or not this game is a blast to play. Pick a Planeswalker, take their card, spell deck, creature cards and miniatures, set up the board and play. Simple enough to pick up quick but the strategies can evolve over time as you learn how the Planeswalkers work. I have run Gideon up on Chandra and got into a hand to hand battle which ended for her and I have had played Gideon against Liliana and while I was using my abilities which required me to keep my troops together I had a zombie get blown up and cleared out three of my six creatures on the board in one hit. Great fun, a lot of dice and some strategy make for a really good time. My downside (which is less of a downside now as an expansion and a new base set has come out) is that the deckbuilding and creature choice is limited in the box. Pick Chandra and you have a prebuilt spell deck and two red creatures, with no other options. Still a lot of fun and that downside can actually be a good thing when playing with new players because they don't have to take their generic deck and play against your tuned deck. The miniatures are fine, not amazing but with the games price they do the job. I am always happy to play this and have yet to have a bad time whether I win or lose. If you like it pick up he expansions.

Quick Notes: I play this with some of my students after school (ages 14-18) and they love it. For $20 this is a steal with so much replay value and intricacies. If you have Heroscape, see compatibility notes below. Takes about 10 minutes to explain, because it is complicated.Longer Review: The game is played by 2-5 players in which you each control a Planeswalker and two squads of creatures. Scenarios are included, but the easiest way to play this is "death match," in which you play until you are the last player standing. The game has elements of luck (dice control attack and defense, cards are drawn) but mostly strategy. With Glyphs and a few pieces of topography, as well as a somewhat customizable playing board, you can get a lot of mileage out of this game. A 1v1 game will last 30-45 minutes; 3 players may reach 70 min, 4 players 110 mins, 5 players can reach almost 150 mins.If you have Heroscape, this game is quite compatible. The hill tiles in AoP are simply Heroscape tiles, so feel free to throw in some land hexes from Heroscape to add to the customization. I would ditch the cardboard walls for Heroscape's Ruin Walls and throw some 7-hex tiles in. Similarly, the dice are Heroscape, the mechanics are Heroscape, etc. I haven't tried adding Heroscape armies into this game, however, so there may be some balancing issues you may encounter, especially since the AoP armies are balanced with the summoning and enchantments in mind. If you're a huge Heroscaper looking for a fix, this will do it, but be warned that this game does not use Order Markers. Personally I never used Order Markers; in AoP (and in my Heroscape games) you pick your Army Card each round at the start of your turn. Additionally, you have to summon your creatures (2 figures per turn) in a manner similar to Iskra and the Rechets, and if your Planeswalker is still alive you can use a deck of spell cards to swing the game in your favor. The final difference between Heroscape and AoP is that some of the USquads have health, and the damage counters are placed on the base of the figure. Otherwise, everything is the same. Line of Sight, Height Advantage, Climbing, Water, Engagement, everything.If you've never played Heroscape, it's still fun, but Heroscapers will get the most out of this.