Archmage Collector's Edition

The box art is beautiful and all the components are good quality. I didn’t realize the collector’s edition box art is a box sleeve, so I included a picture of it. All the artwork is amazing!Another reviewer said the foil cards are difficult to read, so I included a picture. All the cards are perfectly readable.The gameplay is fun! The spells are really cool and innovative. There’s strategy involved. And there’s definitely a lot of replayability with this game. Also, although there are many interesting things you can do on your turn, this can easily lead to analysis paralysis.One thing that was annoying was the packaging of the components. There are many components, some are in those punch-outs, some are in bags. You’ll have to take some time to organize everything. Setup and breakdown can feel like a puzzle.

Enjoyed this game. Been on my list for a while. An interesting mix of resource management and hand (spells) management with worker placement. Where you finish your turn matters greatly. Need to delve more into strategy and get the expansion.

Great game - love the added game board

The foil cards are really bad, makes hard to read. The game overall was boring. I sold it.

Archmage is fascinating game that quickly took hold of my attention and kept me engaged and interested in repeated games as I began playing it. Brought into a world where a prophecy tells of the re-emergence and combining of the six spheres of ancient magic this unique game has come to our table numerous times as we continue to work on some of the advanced spell casting and scoring opportunities. From the absolutely amazing tower board that serves as your central area for manipulating and advancing your spells to thematic conjunction of the planets heralding the end of the game and the birth of a new Archmage, I’ve found very little not to love about this game.As a mage aiming to fulfill the prophecy you’ll travel around the board revealing flipped hexes to begin working on the area control part of the game, there is quite a bit of direct conflict in this sense as victory points will be awarded at end game for controlling the most of certain relic sites. You’ll leave your followers with warding spells safely behind and move on to find other magical races to help you gain more power and eventually build your own mage tower. I remember my first time playing I thought this game was almost entirely going to be won by area control so I focused most of my time on that part of the game, and well…..I lost. Area control is just one half of what you need to be working on as your score is calculated when your last turn is over, remaining players have a chance to regain some control and score more points themselves.The other half of the game is built on that wonderful player board that I love so much. On this tower board you will manage the relics that allow you to cast and build a powerful spellbook of spells and train your mage followers in the six spheres of magic. Also at your mage tower you will host duels among your followers to advance your control over the spheres of magic, in this tiered leveling system you will go from fundamental spells to advanced spells and lastly master class spells. The spells available in your personal spellbook at the end of the game are also scored and provide you with powerful ways to enhance your progress or hinder another rival mage.I think there is an almost equal priority you can place on both of the scoring mechanics in Archmage. You’ll need to control areas of the board so that another player doesn’t take a big impassable lead in points and you’ll also need to be able to move around freely to generate the relics and gain the followers you need to advance the spell building part of the game. They build upon each other and as I learned in my first game focusing on only one is not a valid strategy. It’s a delightful and challenging bit of decision making on which spheres of magic you should focus on in each game, you will never have access to all the spells in any one play, so how your opponents are playing may influence your own strategy to focus on spells and combinations they don’t have access to.This game was an instant hit in our home, it presented a challenge at first to understand all the options available and how to form strategies; soon though what once seemed like complicated rules melded smoothly into fast turns and targeted gameplay. There are some really nice cosmetic upgrades that we appreciate in this edition of the game; I much prefer the wooden ward tokens and the gold foil cards are a delight. Although under a direct light they do present the difficulties others mention we found just slightly tilting them away from the light and we were left with great cards and a splash of flare. We’re excited to continue playing more of this as its setup and your access to spells each game makes it nicely replayable. We enjoy it so much we’re looking at adding the expansion to it.