Mage of the Mirror (Elf Quest Pack) Errata & Fixes if Remake

[j_dean80]

They did release the rule for jumping the long pit trap length-wise. I would take that as being the same rule as jumping blind.

[wallydubbs]

So originally the Bracers equipment card was only accessible with European Game System and meant ONLY to be used by the Wizard. They are now included in the remade Game System, and no restrictions are made on the other heroes. This could up the heroes' defense dice to a potential of 6! I personally find this overpowering.

Regardless the Elven Bracers should still be present in this expansion: I wonder if the makers will be thoughtful to restrict the Elf from wearing both...
I suppose the same question could be asked about the Armband of Healing and the Armband of Ice...

[SirRick]

The Bracers are not supposed to stack with body armor. The card states it can be combined with a helmet and/or shield, meaning it can’t be combined with Chain Mail or Plate Mail.

The Bracers are meant to be a replacement for Chain Mail for people who can’t wear heavy or metal armor.

[wallydubbs]

After getting my copy of the New Frozen Horror and seeing the lack of effort Hasbro threw into it, I'm losing all hope for them to make any fixes to the Mage of the Mirror quest pack.
That erroneous mix-up between Magical Elven Bracers and Elven Chainmail will probably remain. Although the MIGHT make an Elven Chainmail card that you have to download, and they MIGHT make a new on line quest where the Magical Elven Bracers could be found.
I don't expect any clarification to be made on the Ancient Staff nor any of the artifacts on who can use them; The falling block traps will still be behind the doors; and Tormuk, Sinestra, and the Alchemist will all have the Reanimation Dread spell with no undead around.

Of course I'm still going to buy it for the miniatures alone, but I have no hope for the quest maps/notes to be changed. Hasbro dashed my hopes with Frozen Horror.

[Kurgan]

I don't see it as a mix up (giving Elven Bracers), that was simply an editorial change by Phoenix. Not everything has an official card, but is nevertheless "real" in the pack.

Lots of things are given to the Heroes in the quest notes that don't have a physical card. Having read the design notes we see that each pack had a limited resource budget and so they had to pick and choose which things to exclude from the cards deck (just as they had to decide which miniature designs to use since they had limited space on the plastic sprues or runners).

I'd love it if they made an official card for the Elven Chainmail and one for Sinestra, but if we did get those I would expect them to be digital only. Until we see the contents of the box of course we don't know what OTHER changes might be in there. The game worked fine without them, the only trouble was the Elven Bracers were never given, it was up to you to include them in the game yourself or your custom quests. Since the quests are so danged HARD you really NEED it, I agree.

Since there is no reward for completing Solo quest 3, so I'd imagine that would be a perfect place to give the E. Bracers. It could also be inserted into any unmarked or empty quest in the expansion (of which there are unfortunately many). Then again, if there's a digital quest prelude similar to "Into the Northlands" that's maybe where we'd get it, IF they followed the template of not updating the book.

Prior to GenCon, most of us assumed that the EQP would include a bunch of dice and character sheets, but instead we got a surprise... new furniture, and extra elf warrior/archers and the male elf (that many of us were hoping for; but based on the design of the old box art). So it's anyone's guess at this point what else might be lurking in there that hasn't been confirmed...

[wallydubbs]

Prior to GenCon, most of us assumed that the EQP would include a bunch of dice and character sheets, but instead we got a surprise... new furniture, and extra elf warrior/archers and the male elf (that many of us were hoping for; but based on the design of the old box art). So it's anyone's guess at this point what else might be lurking in there that hasn't been confirmed...

Really? They're including all the furniture again? Everything EXCEPT the Sorcerer's Table and opened doors.. Which are the ONLY pieces of furniture required to complete the Frozen Horror quest pack!? (Some FH quests have more doors on the quest map then which accompany the game system.)

[SirRick]

I believe the new furniture is supposed elven-themed, but perhaps the contents will change at some point. It’s clear they are not done with everything yet, since the display seemed to have stand ins from the original quest pack (the mirror with the Elven Bow of Vindication, and the mirror with the Elf Princess in it using old style door bases). It’s possible this is what is supposed to be finished product, but I doubt it from what we have seen so far.

I was hoping for more dice, such as clear red combat dice, so maybe something like that will end up in the final release version. Elf-themed character sheets with vines and stuff on it would be cool but unnecessary. No one really needs hundreds of character sheets. I played this game a lot in the past and still have half a pad of original sheets.

Ideally AH should just release free downloadable sheets, four per page, then they can release as many themed designs as they want.

[Kurgan]

Now that we have a release date, I've started a new thread here:
https://forum.yeoldeinn.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=6270

[Kurgan]

It always bothered me that the Swordsman mercenaries and the Elf Warriors have swords and can attack with 4 dice, and the Elf Archer gets to attack at range with 4 dice, but the heroes can’t.

The Battle Axe at least is equivalent, and superior to a sword version simply because the rust spell exists, but an Elven Longbow equipment card would be pretty awesome, it could even have a handicap, such as not being able to carry melee weapons larger than a Hand Axe or Shortsword (like how the monster only attacks with 1 die in melee).

Mercenaries, like Monsters, have innate stats that aren't necessarily based upon weapons. So whatever Two handed sword the Swordsman has is stronger than the longsword and broadsword the heroes have access to. But I was inspired to create the "Greatsword" (nevertheless I made it different, making it a weapon that hits with four including diagonals and can only be wielded two handed by the Barbarian) as well as a longbow (4 dice, two handed of course, and the dwarf can't wield it). That was my take on it. You could say that they just have special weapons, or special skill with certain weapons (the Japanese Heroquest limited certain weapons, like only the Barbarian could wield the Broadsword which was more powerful, or the crossbow could only be used by the Elf). Rarely the rules will clarify what happens if a character loses a weapon, so in the BQP if a Crossbowman got his bow stolen by an Ice Gremlin, well boom, he still has a Broadsword (which he could always use to attack adjacent enemies as well). So the Elven archer loses his longbow, he still retains his close range dagger attack of 1. What would you do for a Swordsman if his main weapon was stolen? Zargon makes the call. If you were treating him like a hero with attack based on a weapon, then he should have 1. You could make a compromise and say he's just a big tough guy with his mailed fists so maybe it's 2. Or maybe he has a backup weapon (broadsword) too? Or you could just be cheap (for the hero's side) and say he still strikes with 4.

To me if you used the Elf "monsters" as mercenaries they would retain all their stats directly from the card, the only difference is they would defend with white shields instead of black (as monsters). What would be the cost for hiring them? I would think it would generally be more expensive because they have 3 BP (noticing how the WOM mercs were cheaper than the BQP ones, and the EU ones had only 1 BP each). Of course there is at least (SPOILERS) one instance in the '92 questbook where some of the Elves switch sides. Similar to how "ally" monsters were handled in Spirit Queen's torment, they would retain all the same stats just function like regular mercs (so you could give them a potion, cast spells upon them, etc). At least they have more than 1 BP so there's more versatility there (healing to keep them around a bit longer).

Related to waiting for the MOTM release...

It was also mentioned to me that at least one member of our discord is getting a notice of an early delivery (early January) from KapowToys (a UK site) though it also warns of delays due to a local postal strike (expected March).

[HispaZargon]

I have summarized on this post the very few changes I have finally detected in the remake's cards of Mage of the Mirror, based in the unboxing pictures posted on Reddit.

They have only changed the Ogres BPs from 10 to 5, and name of Potion of Restoration to Potion of Supreme Restoration. I think that's all.

Let's wait to see if the remake's quest book includes changes or not compared with the classic one... If they finally introduce changes, I honestly would be really surprised after checking the cards.