Warhammer Magic

Galadrin

Vassal
Can anyone describe to me how the Arcane and Battle Magic Rules worked in 4th Edition, as well as the later Warhammer Magic for 5th edition? Back when we were playing, none of us ever had the spare money to pick up the magic expansions so we never got to use these rules. Battle Magic (which I understand was either an update or an expansion to the earlier Arcane box) seems very similar to Pyskers from Dark Millenium in 40k 2nd Edition, although it seems as if the 5th edition Warhammer Magic box stopped these similarities between the games. Is that accurate? How did these expansions play?
 
We just played a game of 5th on the weekend with the magic expansion. The card system is basically the same as 2nd ed 40k with spell decks and power cards. The player whose turn it is rolls 2D6 power cards and divides them between themselves and the opponent, then attempts to cast spells and the other player gets a chance to dispel. A typical magic phase might see two spells attempted with one going through, depending on how many and which power/dispel cards you've been dealt. The deck contains one Total Power card that when used, can't be dispelled.
 
The Cap is correct but here's a few more notes. Spells are drawn at random depending on the wizard level, one spell per level (ircc undead was an exception and could pick their spells). the magic deck contained power and dispel cards as well as a total power and drain magic card, each spell had power cost, which had to be spent to cast it, the opponent could then use any dispels to try and dispel the spell, total power could not be dispelled though, and using drain magic would automatically end the magic phase. wizards could also buy dispel scrolls that could automatically dispel spells, and certain wizards (skaven and goblins) had items to help with casting spells
If I recall correctly in 4th both sides got to cast spells, while in 5th only the side whose turn it is can cast spells, also the dispel rules were adjusted, and the colleges of magic spelldecks were replaced with a single battle magic deck, although the college spells were still available in the book
 
Hrm, interesting. Were the cards compatible? That is, could you use all three boxes mixed together with the 5th edition magic rules?
 
Hrm, I'm still curious about this. Does anyone have experience with both 4th and 5th edition magic? Are the two sets compatible (at least in terms of the cards included in the sets)? Could you just mix them together into one mega set?
 
You can mix 4th ed magic and arcane magic together without issue, arcane was just an expansion to battle magic and I have all my cards mixed to play. 5th ed you could mix in but you would just end up with lots of duplicate magic items, and dupiclate spells for race magics dark and high. You would then have 8 colour decks and a rather bland 'battle magic' deck that duplicated the colour spells effects without the interesting names and fluff. I use the 4th ed sets but the 5th ed rulebook with zero problems in my regular wfb gaming.
 
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