Chess is better than Mage Knight
Reasons why Chess is a better game than Mage Knight
  1. An established game, possibly 2000 years old.
  2. No one who played the pre-expansion game is still around to complain how the new sets didn't improve the game.
  3. If anyone offers a game, you can actually BORROW THEIR SET!
  4. You could probably write ALL the rules.
  5. No matter what your budget, you can find an army that is just as good as anyone else's.
  6. If someone cheats, you'll likely catch it THEN, not two days later as you scan the rules.
  7. If you kill all the other guy's pieces, you WIN! (Dead armies don't win from point scores.)
  8. If you're more than two squares away from a knight, you're safe from the knight. He can't shoot you with a ranged attack.
  9. If you're on a black square, it's a black square. There is no argument over how damn deep the water is on the black square, or if the color black impedes your movement.
  10. Necromancy has a very limited impact on the game (only when pawn reaches the last row, and you get your queen back).
  11. No one sets up their side of the board with pieces you haven't seen before.
  12. Starting point well established.
  13. The last expansion (adding the Queen and three rules) was about 600 years ago.
  14. The temptation to paint your own set is easily suppressed.
  15. No assembly required.
  16. No quibbling over rules minutiae, WizKid's updates, tournament rules vs. original issue, or if the 'color' descriptions on the website are actually intended as playable rules.
  17. Chess doesn't take three card tables to play.
  18. Chess doesn't take three hours to play.
  19. The terrain is already agreed upon.
  20. There are no brain-dead, self-centered, foul-mouthed, attention-grabbing, no-good, bragging pre-teens on the Official Chess Forum on the internet.
  21. When you make plans, you never have to show your next moves by stretching the tape measure along the attack route.
  22. You never lose a piece because you exhausted it.
  23. It's not a three hour drive to find a store that carries chess games.
  24. Almost every book store on the planet has a chess book.
  25. If you show up for a chess tournament, you don't have to worry about whether or not you can play old, out of production pieces. When you call Acme Chess customer service to let them know they sent you a red queen when you ordered a black bishop, the customer rep. doesn't say, 'Why don't you shop at your local hobby shop?'
  26. Announcing that you bought 64 chess figures doesn't get you 'The Look' from your wife.
  27. Buying 64 chess figures doesn't (usually) get you a letter of appreciation from your credit card company.
  28. You can drop $25 on a chess set, and you get ALL THE FIGURES!
  29. You never search Ebay for the rare black king's rook's pawn.


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