[From Wizkids website]
“You'll explore new tiles with new locations and challenges. This all comes together in a story-driven campaign mode featuring new scenarios and more!”

We’re all excited about the campaign mode, the Dragon, new playable character, etc., but “locations and challenges” caught my attention.

Here’s to wishful thinking…


**NEW MAP MECHANICS**

◈ COUNTRIES
Determined by: each set of X amount of successive tiles discovered encompasses a new country (mark with flag and border tokens).

Each region contains a faction with its unique 4–5 level skill tree you unlock by completing side-quests obtained from specific locations (it could simply be the villages in each country).

Side-quest ideas:

- Get a combined X amount of fame in your next Y amount of fights.

- Discover or travel across X amount of terrain hexes before the end of the day/night.

- Recruit X amount of Elite Units before attacking your first Y type of enemy or location (or defeat Y type of enemy without any help from Units).

Skill tree reward ideas:

- Factions can be used as a complementary combat action (separate from your own combat; can be used before or after your turn) to mow down surrounding Rampaging enemies. Each successive unlock on the skill tree gives +1 to a hex attack radius in relation to your character.

- Faction can be used to dig surrounding Crystal mines (same hex radius rule as above).

◈ SEASON CYCLE
All Ice enemies get -1 Atk/Def in summer, same for Fire enemies in winter (otherwise +1 if matching season)… Get +1 rep for defeating a buff enemy “in season”.

It could be favourable to travel in winter with the freezing of the muddy swamps and snow covering the land with a consistent X Move cost (except for desert?).

◈ As the seasons/years progress, rampaging Orcs could be replaced will all rampaging Dragonums (or implement a new and stronger rampaging X enemy).

◈ “Hunting” mechanic. (I’ll expand below)


**NEW LOCATIONS**

◈ INN
Find out what enemy is hiding in a certain location; or you can chance it and draw a new enemy token instead. You can also roll the dice and gamble a mana crystal in hopes to double it. Maybe even influence enemies to leave a City before a siege. (These could simply be new Village interactions).

◈ HERMIT’S HIDEOUT
Progressively learn a FUS-RO DAH type attack (usable once per day/night). Maybe you can only learn a new part of the attack when your defence/shield value increases to an odd number.

◈ DOJO
Influence a master to train you and obtain a card(s) to add to your deed deck; “1.5x”, “2x” multiplier for all regular attack or block played during a hand.

◈ ALCHEMIST
(Same idea as Dojo) Heal/Influence multiplier card(s). Maybe the alchemist can also breakdown your mana crystals of choice into double mana tokens (usable on the following turn only).

◈ STABLE
Rent a horse with Influence points, or steal it at a cost (similar consequence as burning a Monastery). Ride your steed around the map with a big move discount. Engaging in battle this way while could yield a bonus “all regular attack becomes Ranged attack”. 

Each horse would belong to the country in which it was acquired (I’ll expand below).

◈ BLACKSMITH WIZARD
Maybe the horse can only be used X amount of turns until it starts acting negatively on your Move points, unless you go refresh it by simply walking over the blacksmith wizard hex (no need to stop and make it your action for the turn).

(Aforementioned “hunting” mechanic). For the cost of mana and a \*live sacrifice\*, you can Frankenstein your horse with terrain abilities. Example:

- White Mana + a goat you caught at the base of a mountain hex = horse can travel over mountains and stop on them as safe space

- Blue Mana + a fish caught by a river hex = horse can do the same on water… 

- Green Mana + an eagle you caught on grassy plains = horse can teleport to its home country as its Move action (reason for the aforementioned “horse belongs to the country in which it was acquired” rule).

I’m geeking out while trying to not remove from the exclusivity of each existing location and mechanic, or just being redundant or overcrowding the board (hence the many “co. I feel that adding a few well-thought-out features in combination with the lengthy campaign could have a tremendous impact on how players could be encouraged to backtrack and sidetrack to unlock stuff, with lots more time to fine tune their play style, earnings and general feeling of exploration.

The lack of all this is why I love base Mage Knight in the first place though. As much as it feels amazing when it happens, recruiting a full army of Elites or being loaded with Spells and black mana isn’t something you choose. Every scenario is a masterful puzzle of efficiency.

In conclusion, I’m hoping for a campaign that can turn an otherwise timeless “against-the-clock, no-looking-back mild zig-zag toward an end goal” into lengthy epic week-long adventures, where far corners of the map are often revisited, alliances are formed, and an even greater sense of that OG “increasing mass destruction and ease of travel as you level up” is felt throughout.

What’s everyone hoping to see in the upcoming Apocalypse Dragon expansion?

Apocalypse Dragon: Wishful Thinking…