Mage Knight

A now-defunct tabletop miniatures game from WizKids, later acquired by trading card company Topps. Innovations included pre-painted models, and a model base that contained all of a model's statistics, making 'bookkeeping' or 'tracking' unneccessary.

In addition to the rules, the company's Web site also featured a library of 'fluff': a detailed backstory for the game's setting, descriptions of each model's role in the Mage Knight world and an evolving current storyline that could be influenced by the players themselves. When cards were added to the second edition of the game, they usually also had some sort of flavor text.

After about a dozen sets, the company changed the rules drastically and came out with Mage Knight 2.0, which was generally not well received (As it turns out, when your rules and statistics are built right into the model bases, drastic changes to said rules tend to make entire armies literally unplayable). After five sets under the new rules, with increasingly complex game mechanics and an ever-dwindling player base, the game was finally cancelled in 2005.

There was a spin-off game called Dungeons, which more closely resembled a D&D-style dungeon crawl, and a mass-battle ruleset called Conquest. There was also a five-issue comic book series (Stolen Destiny), a two-book novel series (Rebel Thunder and Dark Destiny), and a PC game (Mage Knight: Apocalypse).

For magic users also skilled in armed combat, see the similarly named Magic Knight.

This game provides examples of:


 * All Trolls Are Different: Forest Trolls and Half-Trolls.
 * The Empire: Atlantis is ruled by generally evil overlords and engages in slavery.
 * The Necrocracy: The Necropolis Sect.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: Our Dragons are bipedal dragon-men, although there are true dragons as well.
 * Our Dwarves Are All the Same: And almost all in the same faction, too.
 * Our Elves Are Better: High, Wood and Dark Elves are featured in different factions.
 * Our Orcs Are Different: They're green-skinned, war-like, prefer close combat, and when given guns by the Black Powder Rebellion, have terrible aim. Okay, maybe not that different.
 * Steampunk: The Black Powder Rebellion and their enemies, the Technomancers of Atlantis.
 * Whatevermancy: Technomancy.