Plaid Hat Games Mice and Mystics Board Game, Red

Product Information

It always struck me as strange that in the years since Heroquest set fire to the cup of joy in my heart, there was never really a natural successor that took on the mantle of dungeon crawling and got as close to the magic. Confound your foes as the wizened old mouse Maginos, or protect your companions as Tilda, the castle's former healer. There's no other game quite like it so I think it definitely earns a spot in any gamer's collection. Heroic Sacrifice (If fellow mouse receives wounds and would be captured, discard to ignore all those wounds and instead, capture this mouse.

Each chapter creates a unique scenario that introduces elements that the other chapters do not have. I won’t post any spoilers here, but if you want a game you can play over a multi-game campaign with a fantastic story, then you’ve found your game. Included are over 30 custom miniatures (mice, rats, roaches, centipedes and spiders), 8 beautifully illustrated room tiles (double sided), a number of decks of cards and a set of custom dice. Until the end of this turn, whenever this mouse makes a melee attack, add 1 to its battle during that attack.Unfortunately, most of time the hardest decision the player will make is whether to hit rat A two spaces away or rat B three spaces away. If Mice and Mystics sounds interesting, you might also check out Runebound, Talisman, and Flash Point: Fire Rescue. The cards do not carry over into the next chapter and so there is not much in terms of progress (players can carry over 1 new item into the next scenario, as well as any level up cards they have earned). However, in Mice and Mystics, you roll the dice so often that it feels like the entire game depends on how those rolls land. Gameplay is co-operative, with players controlling one or more mice to try and achieve the chapter goals before the timer, marked by an hourglass on the chapter track, runs out.

The face of the clock is used to show wedges of a round cheese that once the sections are completed, will trigger an additional spawn of unwanted creatures. This is because, for all of the storybook friendliness and the delightful design of the miniatures, Mice and Mystics can be punishing, tough and occasionally a slog to finish a level. Not something that anyone wants in their board games, especially a campaign game that is supposed to be played over many sessions. This is because my boyfriend has a lot of nostalgia for stories like Watership Down , and this is one of the few games that he gets excited to play with me. While the writing isn’t “novel worthy”, it’s really well done and helps pull you deeper into the game.However, the story was interesting enough for me to cheat and read it, without taking the time to play the chapters. One player got understandably frustrated as halfway through the game she had only drawn items she couldn’t use.