Mage Knight, 4-player

Soon on the heels of the 3-player game, we taught the game to 2 new players. They're competent gamers, and I had learned how to teach the game. 4 player game took about 3 hours, including explanation...not too bad.

I ended up playing the Elf lord, Norowas. I had last choice of day actions, which led me into going first with card #3. I managed to get to the nearby village and hire crossbowmen on my first turn. Second turn, I beat up the marauders, giving me the free ranged attack skill, and an Advanced Training that gave a white crystal or Ranged Attack 4.

For the rest of the game, I attempted to fight non-fortification monsters...meaning monster dens, dungeons, and rampaging monsters. The second monster den wounded me as I was eventually caught out, but I was able to end the third round very early, discovering the city on my first turn. After end-game scoring, I had 37.

Arythea the Blood Cultist got stumbled in the first turn - it was tough racing ahead, when you start behind. It persisted the rest of the game, trying to get to the monsters that could be defeated reasonably.

Tovak was played by one of the new players - he focused on keeps, no allies, and the backstabbing skills (can't draw on the source and the one that deals wounds for drawing on the non-selected mana). He finished second with 36.

Goldyx had the misfortune of battling a summoner-type in a fight for a mage-tower during the first Day round. Brutal 5, when you're not ready for it, is messy. (6 wounds. Fortunately he could heal two immediately after combat, but the others would be more painful to cure.)

The Tovak player embraced a healthy strategy - try a specific strategy, even if it fails, he's learned something.
The Goldyx player played an open game - go for whatever feels most easily scored. There's nothing wrong with this, it just means the player will miss out on deeper strategies until later.
My focus on ranged attack was pretty good, although I wish I had picked up my opponent's discarded range attack skill...that would have been +3 ranged attack, every turn, night and day turns. It was definitely painful, where I couldn't pick up keeps or mage towers. I had a lot of influence, but the monasteries were usually full, and the mage towers were scattered to the edge.

I'm looking forward to trying some of the new-to-us scenarios. I might like 2-player a little more in some ways - 3 and 4 ruins at least one player because they get shut out of explores in the normal wedge shape.