Playing 'Mice and Mystics'

You remember the minis I painted for 'Mice and Mystics'? I finally got the chance to play this game, but I hadn't been able to write anything about it! RealLifetm, I blame you!

 

 

The game is relatively easy and, most important, super-narrative, so it makes a great choice for geek parenting. At least that was the excuse we used! (My pal's first born is two years old, and my own is still to be born in some weeks! But who cares, we of course try things first, that's quality control, we will only be giving our children our most trusted games! :D)

Ahem, I disgress, as always...

The game! That's it! Our heroes are turned into mice by magic and now they have to face numerous perils... just other scale! That's the only way they can reach the evil witch queen and make her pay for her ruthless ambition, and maybe their only hope to ever recover their original form...

The character sheet is quite simple:

 

Collin. Leader and warrior. 2 attack, 1 defend, 2 lore points, 2 tiles when moving. 3 wounds. Additional stuff. That easy

 

This is the layout for the introductory game. Our heroes are imprisoned and just turned themselves into mice. They have to escape!

 

The enemies will try to avoid that.

 

Initiative order is determined every round of game. Characters and minions cards are randomly taken and that's how they'll act! Every turn you can spend your actions on moving and fighting/searching. You will use dice:

Attack, defend, range attack... Cheese!

When moving, you roll a die and add the value you got (the tiny number on the corner) to your character's movement value. That will be the final result for that turn. When fighting, you'll count the swords/bows/shields you get. The strike stars on the down right corner will determine some effects on certain rolls. Cheese is a special feature. If the player gets one, you literally get a piece of cheese! (though the game provides boring card tokens for that purpose, I encourage you to use actual cheese, hehe). That will be used for the special features of the characters, which require that kind of 'energy' to be activated. If the enemy gets the cheese on the dice, you will place the piece on a special gauge set for that purpose. When you get six pieces, a minion surge will happen! Glups!

Combat!

Try not to get the six pieces, for this is not Trivial Pursuit!

Our tiny heroes seem to prevail...

...and once the room is free of enemies, they can go to the mesh strainer...

...leading to the sewage system!

 

You just have to flip the board. Now you can see down in the pic that both boards have the same silver edge piece, so now your characters will be able to move forward. This part is particularly cinematic, as our mice heroes will have to cross through the water, facing multiple risks!

 

There are some thugs awaiting as soon as they appear!

And some more on the other side if they manage to cross!

The water sweeps along any mini, so the characters have to move quickly or they will be drained!
 

The cockroaches attack old Maginos the Wizard and overwhelm him!

 

So Prince Colin has to take care of the situation...

...and help Tilda the Healer, who is being swept by the current

 

For me all this turn was like watching again 'The Secret of NIHM'! (If you have no clue of what I'm talking about, that means that you are insultingly young!).

When a character is taken down in combat it is not killed (Disappointed? Woah, this is a game for children with cute mice, you insensitive bastard! :D). The characcter loses any piece of cheese and starts on the next board with the rest of characters when they get to it.

 

New board, new enemies!

Go hit them!

Once our heroes cleansed the board, they took the ladder that would lead them to...

 

... quite a filthy kitchen full of cockroaches!

Ouch!

 

The objective on this board is to call the attention of the old cook Miz Maggie. We'll see how this is done. At least one of our heroes must go climb up the mop and defeat the roaches...

 

Hurry up, Collin, hurry up!!

... But beware! Brodie the cat is dangerously near!! He will pounce on wherever more minis may be!

 

Soft, kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur...

 

Once you have defeated a roach, roll a die. If you get a strike (that tiny star I talked about at the beginning), you will call Miz Maggie's attention and get an item which might be helpful on further games during the campaign.

 

Ok, guys, got this! Get back into that hole again! Now!

 

Phew, that was close!

 

So our company of merry mice can move forwards to the next board...

...Where more dangers await!

Don't worry, no match for our brave heroes

So they can move on to the next board...

The courtyard, the final tile of this game

Looks easy, doesn't it? They will need to dispatch the enemies and get into the tree. But beware again!! The dastardly old crow stalks! Anytime a mini (hero or minion) moves, you have to make your usual die roll. If you get a 1, the crow will hit the mini causing one wound. Oooops.
 

So fly you fools!

 

They finally succeed! Hooray!

So our mice finally escaped through the hole in the tree. Victory!

As you can see, the game is really into narrative play. I believe it is certainly kid oriented, but I'm afraid it's not that kid friendly. I mean, there are simply too many variables to handle. The initiative order each round, the whole story control board (which I haven't talked about, but it basically is an hourglass marker shifting into 'pages' of the story being told, which can eventually lead to a counterclock kind of game) and some other stuff make this game to be strongly advised to be played with an adult who can handle all the tiny details (as well as the narrations that are inserted from time to time). The cooperative nature of the game makes it fun and it doesn't take that long, maybe something above an hour, maybe a little bit more.It is designed to be played under the campaign mode, and it certainly looks cool, we may gather again to see how the rest o the story unfolds and how our tiny cute heroes perform against the evil witch!