“Mice and Mystics” review

Today we are going to speak about one of the strangest board games where you play not in role of knights or wizards but mice… This game is «Mice and Mystics» which was developed by «Plaid Hat Games». It was created by Jerry Hawthorne and painted by John Ariosa.

Jerry Hawthorne is award winning board game designer. You can call him a big child because he doesn’t believe he is an adult. He spends a lot of free time praying his family to play board games he designed. Jerry is also famous for such projects as Heroscape and Battleship Galaxies.

John Ariosa is a freelance and concept artist whose works are something like out of this world. Here you can see his full portfolio.

Inside the box

Here are listed the vital components for game play:

• 1 Rulebook (22 pages)
• 1 Story Book (58 pages)
• 6 Mouse Hero Figures
  • Collin (Leader/Warrior)
  • Filch (Scamp)
  • Lily (Archer)
  • Maginos (Mystic)
  • Nez (Tinkerer/Warrior)
  • Tilda (Healer)
• 16 Minion Figures
  • 6 rats
  • 8 roaches
  • 1 centipede
  • 1 spider
• 1 Story Control Board (two parts)
• 8 Dual-sided Room Tiles
• 28 Mouse Ability Cards
• 71 Search Cards
• 18 Encounter Cards
  • 9 Standard
  • 9 Difficult
• 6 Mouse Hero Cards
• 5 Action Dice
• 19 Initiative Cards
• 3 Sheets of die-cut counters

Gameplay

Players make an adventure as mice loyal to king. They must go through a castle which is many times larger than it was before. The castle is a dangerous place with evil creatures. Mice and Mystics is a cooperative adventure game in which the players work together to keep the kingdom in safety. They will face different foes like rats, cockroaches, and spiders, and etc.

Rules

«Mice and Mystics» uses a simple set of rules. It allows players to get all of the breathtaking adventures. If you read the rules during the process it can slow the game play. It is recommended to read the rules first so you can learn how to play.

In this game we can see a different set of cards such as Mouse Cards. They show the information about your mouse – special powers, abilities and etc.

There are also Initiative Cards, Action Dice, Search Cards and more over. In this article there is no need to tell about the rules because they are quite simple and you can understand them from the first look. For more information consult the «Rules Book».

Heroes

Here we are going to tell about the characters.

Prince Collin

First one is Collin the Prince. Prince Collin is the only son of King Andon. He is nineteen years old but he is strong and courageous. He is the leader of mice and he is the only heir of King.

Filch

Filch is a robber and he is always get himself into trouble. A lot of king’s bards dedicate songs to him and his failures. It’s quite funny. But he is one of the trickiest thieves you can imagine because he can choose reliable business partners and a good hideout.

Lily

Lily has become the archer when evil forces attacked the castle.

Many of Barksburg’s finest rangers have chosen to brave the wilds rather than venture into the stone walls of the humans, but Lily refuses to relinquish the treasures held within the castle, despite the fearful protestations of her mother.

Maginos

Maginos is a powerful wizard who helped the king to destroy dragons. He has a very powerful spells that can crush every foe.

Nez

Nez is a former soldier. His body is covered with a lot of scars of glorious battles. He was convicted in terrible crime but King Andon gave him a freedom. Now Nez is loyal to king ever since.

Tilda

Years ago, King Andon found a crying baby girl. The soldiers took care of the baby on their way back home. King Andon gave this girl to order of healers and named her Tilda. Now she serves as a personal healer of the whole Royal Family.

Game design

In this game we have a fairly simple but fantastic design. The designers did a remarkable job of making the chapters different from each other. Side quests can affect the plot and goals in game play. The language in the storybook is quite strange and difficult for kids but it’s not so difficult to explain the rules to them. It would be fun!

Four player game set

This game has a lot of positive feelings. It’s hard to imagine 4 grown adults get so happy about a piece of board. The game starts a bit slowly. It happens because you and your friends have to learn the rules. There are quite a bit of rules to get to know, especially for the first time. But after some errors and mistakes it’s a really breathtaking game play and playthrough will be so easy and interacting. Of course, it’s more fun to play with four players because you will have the opportunity to know about the full potential of the game. It’s strongly recommended to play with four participants!

Expansion Packs

There are two most famous expansion packs for «Mice and Mystics». Let’s take a look at them:

Heart of Glorm

The «Heart of Glorm» goes right after the events in «Sorrow and Remembrance». It allows you and your friends continue the story of Prince Collin, Maginos, Tilda, Nez, Filch and Lily. There are new interesting plastic figures, cards and counters!

Downwood Tales

«Downwood Tales» has three new characters: Jakobe, the gecko; Ditty, the shrew; and Ansel, the mouse warden. All three characters are individual and each of them develops the story line. Each of the characters has a unique biography and they are connected with the original plot. «Downwood Tales» continues the story of «Heart of Glorm» expansion.

F.A.Q

Here you can see the most frequent questions about «Mice and Mystics»

Q: When making a search to find an abducted mouse, do you still find an item when you succeed?

A: As long as a mouse hasn’t previously successfully searched already this tile, the mouse who successfully searches gets an item, but the successful search also brings back the abducted mouse.

Q: When a mouse is captured by Abduction, do you move the hourglass marker forward? And do you still have to kill all the baddies before you can rescue him, or does he just get rescued the first time a mouse successfully searches?

A: Hourglass moves, baddies must be cleared, a successful search must happen, and in which case, you get no search card, you get the captured mouse back as reward.

Q: Ranged weapons don’t get an attack bonus from your base attack correct? (EX. Maginos’s Staff gives him +1 ranged, so he would only roll 1 total die and not add his base attack when performing a ranged attack?). I wanted to clarify because the benefit of Maginos’s staff ability doesn’t make sense to me otherwise. (Giving him 2 total dice (1 Base Melee, 1 From Staff) when in the same tile instead of only 1 total die for a ranged attack).

A: Yes, Jerry has answered this. He rolls two dice for melee.

Q: Do the traps stay as long as the chosen Minion Initiative card is present?

A: “We made a mistake on the printing of that card. It’s supposed to trigger on any burst symbol not just the sword/burst symbol. We will be including this errata in our first FAQ.”

Q: Is it possible for 2 normal surges to occur on one tile? I ask because of the rules on resolving surges and discarding the encounter card.

A: Yes, but the 2nd surge only advances the hourglass marker. You do not get more minions.

Youtube

Conclusion

This game is really adventurous and remarkable! Rules are simple for everyone and there is no better reason to have fun with your family or your friends together playing «Mice and Mystics». You will be interacted into the fantasy world for sure with this game! Just follow the link and buy this masterpiece.