Beyond Solitaire
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Articles
  • Podcast
  • Solo Reviews
  • Solo Gaming Links
  • Work With Me

Solo Review: Mageling

10/27/2019

4 Comments

 
PictureImage from BGG page.
Full disclosure: Familiar Games sent me a review copy of Mageling. 

What is this game about? 

Mageling is a dice-rolling, tableau-building game about young mages who must travel through dangerous locations. The multiplayer game is essentially a race to be the first to traverse each of five different locations in Mageling's world. However, moving to new locations costs energy—more than your character will be able to generate at the start of the game. So you'll have to grow your powers and use them wisely. 

Each turn, you will roll five dice, and then be allowed to re-roll as many of those dice as you like. Then you'll need to decide what to do with the dice you've rolled. Each die face will display the symbol of either a school of magic in the game or a "finesse" symbol, which is a hand. If you have multiple dice of the same type, you can build up energy and us it to buy cards from a market row—as well as to potentially activate a card in that market row without actually buying it. You can also use pairs of dice to gain mana, which is energy you can keep from turn to turn, or use finesse to remove cards from the market (and, in solo mode, to activate a special ability). 

As you acquire cards, you'll be able to use your dice to trigger card abilities in addition to these basic actions, and the fun of the game is in acquiring effective combinations of cards. You'll also need to spend your energy to move from location to location, which can be expensive and which can trigger some surprising side effects. 

How does it play solo? 

Mageling has a solo/co-op mode that keeps the core of the game intact, while adding elements that keep things challenging. Rather than race other players to the end, in solo mode, players are racing to get through every location before the Evertree—the first location in the game and your home base within the world of Mageling—runs out of life. There are ways to give extra life to the Evertree, but you are working against the clock, and there are Ancient Ones who will awaken throughout the game and try to stop you. The solo game is also played as a short campaign, where your race to save the Evertree gets more difficult and desperate in every chapter. At the same time, you'll gain access to a personal market of spells that you've handpicked, in addition to the market row that all players can access in every game. 

PictureA solo game set up, with ancient ones on the top row.
Overall Thoughts

Overall, Mageling is a good game, especially as a first entry from a new designer and publisher. My favorite thing about it is that the game rewards repeated play, which means that as you continue to play Mageling, you'll have new insights into what cards and combinations are most effective. There are multiple paths to victory, so learning how to work the game and see its possibilities is very enjoyable. I also like that there are multiple uses for both cards and dice, so you can choose how to apportion your resources and whether to use a card immediately from the market row—meaning you use it only once—or whether to expend energy to buy it for your tableau. 

I also personally like the way the solo campaign is done. It's meaty enough to make the game challenging, but not long enough to feel like a slog. It's also possible to just start a game at any chapter of the solo campaign, or to stop playing whenever you want. I'd say the campaign creates a sense of growth and deeper gameplay, but without a matching sense of obligation. 


Mageling is not, however, without its flaws. Because it is a dice game, you will have inevitable dead turns due to bad luck, especially early on, before you've acquired cards that let you make more of bad rolls. This issue can be exacerbated in solo mode, where the market doesn't fluctuate enough, which can leave you with cards you don't want and not much that you can do about it. 

Most vexing for me, however, is that Mageling is a good game with a rulebook that doesn't give the best first impression. I had to go to Familiar Games's website to check the FAQ, or onto BGG, to check multiple rules ambiguities, and I found that very frustrating. In a hobby where many players are constantly in search of novelty in games, where they want to play more games than they have time for, and where they move on quickly from games that aren't working, it's a big ask to expect that level of patience. 

Do I recommend it? 

Potentially. If you liked One Deck Dungeon and want a different game with a similar vibe, if you like dice games, and if you like discovering interesting card combinations, then you will like Mageling. Just be patient as you work through the rules at first. 

Overall Rating: 3.5 stars

Rating Scale: 
5 stars — I love it!
4 stars — I really like it. 
3 stars — I like it. 
2 stars — It's okay. 
1 star — Meh. 
​

4 Comments
https://totodesk.com/ link
10/30/2019 06:55:07 am

great work man i would like to congratulate you on this effort

Reply
sims 4 cheats link
4/21/2020 08:44:21 pm

I really appreciate this wonderful post that you have provided for us. I feel strongly that love and read more on this topic. I have spent a lot of my spare time reading your content. Thank you. This is interesting game with a lots mermazing stories about the island life

Reply
Escorts Services in Bangalore link
8/24/2020 03:30:32 pm

Since the client desires an outing, it may be for a dinner or a long drive the idea behind the program is to taste the charm of living.

Reply
Gurgaon escorts link
12/29/2021 02:15:40 pm

I like these topics very much. I would like to see such topics daily, this post is very good indeed. There are people like you in the world who put forth their views. Thank you so much for posting such a great post.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    My name is Liz Davidson, and I play solo board games. A lot of solo board games...
    ​
    YouTube:
    Beyond Solitaire
    Twitter:
    @beyondsolitaire
    Instagram: 
    @beyondsolitaire
    Facebook: 
    @beyondsolitaire

    Archives

    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All
    Apps
    Books
    Commentary
    Conventions
    Education
    Fun
    Game Accessories
    Kickstarter
    Movies
    Podcasts
    Reviews
    Video Games
    YouTube

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Articles
  • Podcast
  • Solo Reviews
  • Solo Gaming Links
  • Work With Me