I am shamelessly stealing Neil Thomson's exemplary review format as a template for organized ease of reading of this review. You should check out all of his extraordinary reviews HERE.
Summary
Game Type - Semi-light tactical confrontation game Play Time: 20-90 minutes Number of Players: 2-4 Mechanics - Minimal Dice Rolling, Card driven, Modular boards, Multiple paths to victory, Victory points, Difficulty - Medium/Low - Medium (Is best after a couple of games when the rules have been fully internalized, despite it's light nature) Components - one rulebook, four player boards, nine plastic miniatures, four plastic miniatures stands, four life dials, one hundred and thirty seven cardboard tokens, one hundred and sixty eight cards, one 4-sided die, four plastic stands for portals, one random direction windrose. Price Point - $50 MSRP
Image Courtesy of Binraix
Preface
I am reviewing a copy that I purchased myself and have played a little over a dozen games with. I like this game a lot, but am not a veteran of this game. While I have played the older chessex editions before, they were rare occurrences and do not consider myself an authority on gameplay for past editions. This review is geared more towards readers who may not have had much, if any, experience with past editions. Hopefully some old veteran players will put just as much effort and give this edition a review with exhaustive comparisons.
I am also including comments that Kevin Wilson shared with me while playing this game at the end of January at the FFG Event Center as an aside for those who may be interested.
Overview and Theme
Wiz-War has quite a long history, being originally published in 1982. They were once quite cheap when originally produced. Even the two official expansions came in plastic zip lock baggies. This is the 8th edition according to Tom Jolly, the game's designer. It has been over a decade since this game was last in print.
Wiz-War is an aptly named fantasy themed game of wizard war fare, where two to four players must use spells in order to defeat their opponents or simply to steal their treasure.
The current Archmage of the Arcane Order that each player belongs to has died. The new Archmage is not elected democratically, for the successor must prove their magical worth in a Darwinian fashion inside a labyrinth specifically designed to find the suitable replacement for such a powerful office.
The object of the game is to score two victory points. These may be gained by either killing your opponent's wizards, by stealing their treasures (you gain one point for each instance), or by being the sole surviving wizard.
The Components
Let's see what we get for that $50 price tag.
The Game Box Insert Or rather, the lack thereof. It is just a flimsy folded bit of card board with the cover art printed on it in monochrome. I am going to remark about this since FFG have a nasty habit of being absolutely negligent in this regard for their own games. To me, this shows a clear lack of regard and respect for the quality of their own product which brings all sorts of questions to mind about the rest of their production ethics. Instead of being examples of what games should look like and how the components are stored, they are examples in cost cutting while charging premium prices. Now while this may seem unfair, I fully recognize why many games do no benefit from nice intuitive plastic inserts. I also fully recognize why many people disdain them, even though I disagree.
However, this game doesn't need a nice plastic insert. I think the cardboard suffices in its job and includes numerous baggies to help keep pieces somewhat sorted. But it has many shortcomings like being able to store sleeved cards. Once sleeved they can only fit into the box rather sloppily. FFG have recognized the need that consumers express in protecting their game components, why could they not have made the center well 6 millimeters wider to accommodate the very same products that they sell to protect their other products?
It is examples like this that makes their products seem like mere products instead of being great products. There is an important distinction there. But enough about that as it has little bearing on the actual product as sold (though a lot of bearing on how the product is stored after being sold).
(Blatant and shameless self promotion: I made some spellbook themed tuckboxes to store the sleeved cards and separate them by their respective schools of magic for this game to help solve the shortcomings of the games farcical insert).
The Rulebook Unlike some other notable FFG titles, this rulebook is well written and is intuitive for the most part. Do not be alarmed by the 20 page count as the rules could fit on half or less of that with room to spare. But there are many descriptions of game components and some diagrams in this rulebook for purposes of disambiguation. The diagrams are handy and necessary.
FFG were thoughtful enough to include an index, a glossary and a key for the tokens. Small things like this are not so small when it comes to consumers understanding how to play a game when reading their rulebooks, so this is a most welcome addition and shows that FFG has the capacity to do decent if not downright excellent rulebooks.
The Sector Boards Each player chooses one board which measures roughly 10 & 1/2" square. They are offered in four different colors. Red, yellow, green, and blue. They are printed on linen finish paper and each board is completely wrapped to give a very nice finished quality to the boards instead of being printed on board punched out where the edges of the cardboard are exposed.
Each board has two sides. Side "A" is the new version and sibe "B" the classic version. Both sides have very attractive artwork and in the center of each space has a point printed for ease of determining line of sight (LOS). The home base space is also rather well detailed using mystical circles to reinforce the theme.
Side "A" was redesigned by Kevin Wilson as he felt there was a need to balance out how the spacing works to making movement more fair for each player noting how sometimes depending on board orientation that a player would need to travel up to 15 spaces before encountering an opponents treasure. I beleive he said it was the green board more than others which brought about this redesign.
There was some complaints about how dark the sector boards were when FFG made some early previews. These were corrected with lightening of the overall board art and including white line borders to the walls, though side "B" is noticeably, though not significantly, darker than side "A".
I did notice some slight warping of the boards when taken out of the baggie that they came in, but once stored again the bowing goes back down. This is likely due to environmental changes and the card stock trying to find equilibrium with the new environment it is introduced to once unwrapped. I have encountered similar issues with Claustrophobia and Mansions of Madness but they all settled after time to where it is no longer a concern.
Image Courtesy of D6Frog
The Magic Cards The magic cards included in the game are comprised of seven schools of magic. Each school of magic being comprised of twenty four cards. The school of Cantrips is a compulsory addition to the deck each game while you may choose three more schools to add to the deck. The rulebook lists an introductory deck make-up, but after playing with Mr. Wilson, BGG users Pekin2121 and Katjaheetland, I found the game wasn't nearly as fun s when you decide which schools go into the deck yourselves. I am not able to point point why this is, but I think the learning curve is just as difficult when adding whatever decks you choose as it is with the introductory decks.
The cards have great, whimsical and cartoony artwork that is reminiscent of many art styles found in the better made children cartoons of the past decade printed on the linen finish american board game sized cards. This is a fairly major departure from the usual art style FFG is known for, but is a breath of fresh air in my opinion. The consistent quality of the art style lends itself to not taking the game very seriously while being child like fun, and is a subconscious reminder of that. Kevin was against including art on the cards, though reasons for that opinion was not given. I am glad they did though since they do allow more immersion in the theme of the game. And when it comes to thematic/ameritrash games, more theme is never a bad thing. Add to this a fairly broad quantity of art for the cards, and you have a lot of visual references to help suspend disbelief. There is something to be said though about your own creativity filling in the blanks. But if that is what you really want from it, then I do suggest finding an older copy because the bare bones production values definitely encourage, nay require, you to fill in those empty blanks.
Richard Garfield is quoted as saying that Magic: the Gathering was very heavily influenced by the earlier designs of Wiz-War and Cosmic Encounter (both are games that Kevin has been blessed with being involved in redesigning, he likes to note). Many of you reading this article will have had some contact with M:tG over the course of your life and are at least casually familiar with its concept. M:tG is a lot like Wiz-War without the board and chits.
M:tG has refined a lot of the ideas that first influenced its success, becoming a very successful and tight game, despite the expense of its collectability. Kevin has managed to show that art can imitate life while imitating art again by taking the refined ideas of M:tG and incorporating some of them back into Wiz-War, full circle. The game play of "Specific rules overriding the general rules" is not quite as tight as it is in M:tG, but then again the rules are no where near as bloated as those of M:tG either.
The separation of cards into schools of magic, the addition of energy on some cards for an "either or" use, and the clarification of card rules previously unknown to this game makes this a worthy addition to the Wiz-War lineage.
Image Courtesy of D6Frog
The Miniatures There are four player figures, one of which is chosen to represent the players wizard at the beginning of the game. The card and rulebook are suggesting that the tall stoic mage is green and the mage floating akimbo is yellow, etc. but the choice of exactly which mage goes to which color has zero bearing on the game and is merely an aesthetic choice.
There are five "transformed" wizards included to represent, well... transformed wizards. An Elemental form, Big Man form (giant/ogre type), Werewolf form, Slime form, and gnome form. Each different transformation has bonus and detriments for the wizard. Quicker movement or stronger combat, etc.
These figures have a short post underneath their base that is inserted into the hole in the center of the colored base chosen at the start of the game. The snug fitting post allows the player to remove the wizard figure and replace it with a transformed figure if that wizard ever does become transformed. There is a slot on the rear of the base to accommodate treasure that has been captured by each mage and is a clear improvement on questions such as "Are you just standing on top of that treasure, or are you actually carrying it?" as an example of how such little things clarify and refine the gameplay.
Each figure is constructed of durable polystyrene plastic, which have a slightly malleable quality. Sturdy and durable, yet yielding. Much better quality than Wizkids Clix figures.
A nice addition to the game. Miniatures and the overall visual design of this game lend a lot to the suspension of disbelief in order to immerse the players in the theme. Many are resistant to the figures, but judging by how many people upgraded their old sets with pewter or plastic magic using humanoids, I discount such complaints.
Image Courtesy of ZeroCool_ITA
The Tokens the one hundred and thrity six different tokens runs a large gamut of uses. From object markers to show where an object has been dropped, crack tokens added to walls and doors to show their state of decay, hat tokens to show which spells are affecting which wizard, energy tokens to indicate how long the duration of certain spells are, treasure tokens, stun tokens, and portal markers.
All printed in linen finish paper affixed to fairly thick board with is easy to manipulate while playing. The art on most markers reflects the art of the corresponding spell card.
Image Courtesy of Solosolo
The Life Dials A simple yet nice touch to the game. The colorful, two piece life dials joined by a plastic clasp indicate how much the owning wizard has left in hit points. Each player starts at 15 and can possibly elevated to 20, but no more than that . This I do know is a departure from previous editions as I recall having nearly 60 life while playing an older edition once. But this added ceiling should help keep play time down before this game over stays it welcome.
They have a nice tactile feel and should prove double duty for those gamers who play M:tG as well.
Image Courtesy of Solosolo
The Rest You have a single black 4-sided die included. The use during the game is not enough to complain about each player getting their own die in their respective color.... but it would have been a nice touch. Neither a negative nor a positive.
You also get four plastic stand for the portal markers. But I find that while the portals look neat and should be standing up, I like them laying down next to their respective entrances for games play sake since they are quite a bit easier to see what color leads where when the portals are laying down.
The random direction windrose is a very nice touch. It looks great and removes any doubt where a random direction is generated.
Set-up
Set up is fairly short and takes just a couple of minutes. Nothing out of the ordinary when dealing with games with this amount of components.
Each player chooses a color and the wizard used to represent them. They collect all the components of their color that each player will use over the course of the game such as life dials, hat tokens, sector board, and treasure tokens.
Each player chooses a face of their sector board and then turns it face down and is shuffled, randomly determining which edge is face in any specific direction, then the board is built by turning them over and placing them connecting to the other boards as described in the rules depending on the amount of players participating.
You set the treasures you own on their predetermined spaces and then build the magic deck by first taking the either the white or black cantrip deck (they are identical) and then choosing three other schools of magic to randomly shuffle together to form the Magic deck.
A hand of 5 cards is dealt to each player (Mr. Wilson suggested making sure that a fairly diverse opening hand was had for each player so no body was stuck with all energy boost cards, etc.), they set their life dials to 15 and everyone can help sort the tokens while looking at their cards in preparation of their first turn. Randomly choose a first player and you can now begin.
The Game Play
Your wizard can move 3 spaces and it's movement can be augmented by a single energy boost card. You can cast spells at any point in your movement and resume your movement if you have any movement points left. You may only attack once during the turn, whether is is an attack spell or a direct physical attack.
The rules for casting spells can take a bit to internalize even though one might have familiarity with M:tG. This is actually the lengthiest and most relevant part of the rules. There are several types of cards in the magic deck. Attack spells, counter spells, energy boost cards, item cards and neutral spells. Each card type has a color coded sphere in the upper left corner for quick reference as to what types of card or cards that it is.
They are also coded to indicate whether you need or do not need LOS to the target, whether the target is yourself, or if the target needs to be adjacent to you.
Those bits are fairly easy to internalize. it is the cards themselves that one needs to familiarize themselves with in order to play the game with any sort of competence. The text on some cards can be rather lengthy for what they are, so the simple task of reading what you have in your hand of 7 cards can be misinterpreted as simple Analysis Paralysis.
You also have three types of duration of any given spell which can be instant, temporary or permanent.
How to maintain and boost spells, how to interact with objects around you. Timing counters to attacks made against you... it can be overwhelming for a beginner to take all in and do more than be a walking target clumsily casting spells.
The game play is certainly light, but the initial hurdle has to be overcome. I found once I became fluent after my 3rd game, the gameplay really started to shine for me. I had a firmer grasp on how cards interact and could make better plans instead of being a punch dummy for someone who did understand them.
Luckily there are not too many cards in the game, and even if the deck got up to the infamous 500 cards, a few plays will definitely alleviate any initial issues.
Image Courtesy of Abyad
The Strengths of Wiz-War
Simple mechanics. Once finally internalized and familiar with card interactions, the game plays quickly and simply. It is a cake walk in comparison to internalizing the rules to M:tG at a competent level.
Very thematic. Spells, spells and more spells! Throwing magic throw walls as if they were not even there. Summoning dark energies to crispy fry your friends. Wizard duels should always take place in labyrinthine pits.
Schadenfreude. The ability to laugh at yours or others misfortunes is a definite must to play this. There are times when some nasty card combos see the light of day and you must embrace it or leave it. For those of you who have the sense of humor to stomach such, you will definitely like the confrontational "Take that!" aspect of this game.
Fairly quick game play. This game can end really quickly sometimes. And just when you plan on playing it because it is quick is the day you are going to be sitting there for an hour and a half. Thankfully those games are fairly few and far between for me so far.
Fantasy theme. I know that the generic magical fantasy theme was done to death over 20 years ago. But there is something refreshing about the pure magical battle between mages in a labyrinth fighting to be the big cheese of some corporation for magic users.
Production values. it is light on the amount of minis that come in the game, but it makes up for it in value for how well produced the overall package is..
Reasons Why it May Not be for You I honestly find it hard to come up with reasons why people may not like this game, but I will do my best by putting on my often overly critical hat and see what I can come up with. But most of these are going to be obvious if you read the review up until this point.
Unintuitive at first. It takes a while to internalize the spell cards themselves so that you are not sitting there all day reading card effects. This is a light game, but the slight learning curve has to be dealt with. If you stick with it though past the first game, it can be rewarding to pull off a 16 point lightning bolt.
Grumpy gamers who have sticks up their ass need not apply. If you lack the initiative to play a game simply for the fun of experiencing it, then this game may not be for you. Eurosnobs stay well away.
Wiz-War veteran This is an assumption, but even though enough of the classic rules are in the book to play it old school(ish), the changes made in the game you have been playing for the last 30 years might turn you into one of those seen in number 2 right above this entry if you are a change resistant luddite. Keep in mind that this is an assumption as I am not a wiz-war vet and this entry is mainly for the off chance I am correct or for humor value. Take your pick.
Not as cheap as it was back in 1982. Nope, it sure isn't as cheap. Gas costs more than $0.60 a gallon too. I bet you still tip waitresses a whole whopping quarter, you cheap skate. If you are that price sensitive, then $30 online should be reasonable.
You have no hands. Being an analog game, the pesky appendages known as hands are a pretty critical part of playing this game. It's not like any other game needs these extraneous, prehensile body parts...
The Final Word(s)
Wiz-War is a fairly light, yet can be a really fun game. The amount of fun derived depends on what qualities you seek from a game. Be it schadenfreude, some gritty smack talk, working out some neat combo only to see it crumble by a well timed counter, it offers a nice light play time of about an hour give or take and is as thematic as just about any game is about to achieve.
It is probably best played in smaller doses depending on how fanatical you are about it. I can see some folks playing this a few times in an evening or just used to fill a long lunch break. Even though 3-4 players is ideal, 2 players can still be a fun magical test of their wizardly abilities.
It has staying power as a game. Obviously, or it would not be so fondly remembered and command such high prices for older editions on the second hand market. It has been lovingly reprinted by FFG with considerable amounts of visual appeal due to production quality which is commensurate to the amount of fun to be had.
I give this game a rating of:
If you are a fan of Wiz-War or have been wanting to acquire a copy for sometime but without paying an inordinate amount for a basic set, then this should be a must buy.
Excellent review. I'm still trying to internalize why you used the word "internalize" so much, however.
Ugh... Yeah, you are right. That is a lot...
In my defense though, I just learned that word while watching The Electric Company a few hours before I wrote the article (Morgan Freeman was a helluva actor in the 70's), so I'll chalk it off to an overly excited state regarding new werds while wearing my spiderman underoos.
I was curious to see what others thought about the game and stopped reading after the ridiculous title because I thought this was a trolling thread.
Judging by your sense of humor, Automobile looks as though it is probably more your speed judging by considering the amount of fun those zany guys are having.
[edit after being sent to the redundant office of redundancy]
I was going to write a review, but after reading this, that pretty much sums up my sentiments exactly.
Just wanted to add my two cents, and that I love this game.
Played for the first time yesterday.
I played Magic the Gathering basically throughout the 90's, so this game definitely has a light MTG feel to it. But there's something so darn interesting about moving your wizard around, throwing ridiculous spells, counters, walls. The fun factor is extremely high, and my 2 player opponent and I were literally laughing out loud as we played. Can't remember having that much fun in a board game in quite a while.
Excellent review. I'm still trying to internalize why you used the word "internalize" so much, however.
Ugh... Yeah, you are right. That is a lot...
In my defense though, I just learned that word while watching The Electric Company a few hours before I wrote the article (Morgan Freeman was a helluva actor in the 70's), so I'll chalk it off to an overly excited state regarding new werds while wearing my spiderman underoos.
-"intern"......
................"alize"-
-"internalize!"-
If I remember correctly (but probably not since youtube and googling is not turning it up), The Electric Company had a spoof on Kipling's "Gunga Din" with the waterboy saying "Danger to the left! Danger to the right!". Would go perfect with this game.
If you lack the initiative to play a game simply for the fun of experiencing it, then this game may not be for you. Eurosnobs stay well away.
An interesting suggestion - I'd be interested to hear the reasons you think 'eurosnobs' would play a game if not to experience it...
Eurosnob = A gamer whose hands turn to ash when they touch a plastic miniature and whose brain oozes out of their ears when they play a game that has any more theme than a Reiner Knizia game. They are also the type of gamer that questions the validity of laugh out loud fun while playing games since they usually gather in a congerie and huddle together in a circle, crouching over their latest dry themed euro in utmost silence. (See Automibile photo above)
Most eurosnobs I have ever had inflicted upon me push cubes around in order to solve the puzzle of the strategies involved in their brand of games. Not that there is absolutely anything wrong with that. Each game has it place for the mood of the gamer in question.
You do not really experience Renaissance europe marine mercantilism, you just push cubes around and pat yourself on the back for clever plays. This is "Un-experience".
Thematic games are less tight mechanically and rely mostly on the theme or the experience of the theme to carry it through. This is such for Wiz-War. Not so much for Caylus for example.
Now that sweeping and broadly incorrect generalization of gamers and games is intentional.
If you cannot read that and chuckle a bit even for the irony of one nerd calling another nerd a nerd, then the game play of this game is likely not for that reader.
There are however plenty of other places on this site and abroad to discuss ad infinitum ad nausaeum the intricacies of how well theme is portrayed in boardgames regardless of genre. This however is not one of them.
But of course you know all of that already and are just being provocative by questioning the broad stroke stereotyping made in the review because you apparently feel slighted by such judging by your collection here on BGG. If you feel slighted, then this review, as well as this game, and likely the entire subgenre of thematic games simply are not for you.
If you lack the initiative to play a game simply for the fun of experiencing it, then this game may not be for you. Eurosnobs stay well away.
An interesting suggestion - I'd be interested to hear the reasons you think 'eurosnobs' would play a game if not to experience it...
Eurosnob = A gamer whose hands turn to ash when they touch a plastic miniature and whose brain oozes out of their ears when they play a game that has any more theme than a Reiner Knizia game. They are also the type of gamer that questions the validity of laugh out loud fun while playing games since they usually gather in a congerie and huddle together in a circle, crouching over their latest dry themed euro in utmost silence. (See Automibile photo above)
Most eurosnobs I have ever had inflicted upon me push cubes around in order to solve the puzzle of the strategies involved in their brand of games. Not that there is absolutely anything wrong with that. Each game has it place for the mood of the gamer in question.
You do not really experience Renaissance europe marine mercantilism, you just push cubes around and pat yourself on the back for clever plays. This is "Un-experience".
Thematic games are less tight mechanically and rely mostly on the theme or the experience of the theme to carry it through. This is such for Wiz-War. Not so much for Caylus for example.
Now that sweeping and broadly incorrect generalization of gamers and games is intentional.
If you cannot read that and chuckle a bit even for the irony of one nerd calling another nerd a nerd, then the game play of this game is likely not for that reader.
There are however plenty of other places on this site and abroad to discuss ad infinitum ad nausaeum the intricacies of how well theme is portrayed in boardgames regardless of genre. This however is not one of them.
But of course you know all of that already and are just being provocative by questioning the broad stroke stereotyping made in the review because you apparently feel slighted by such judging by your collection here on BGG. If you feel slighted, then this review, as well as this game, and likely the entire subgenre of thematic games simply are not for you.
EDIT: and after 2 2P plays, I am heartily glad I did so.
Pretty easy to pick up (even with FFGs as-usual less than sterling rulebook lol), fast to play, good mix of random and strategy, and it's hilarious. Looking back on some rurns, the stuff you can chain together is bonkers fun.
The Game Box Insert Or rather, the lack thereof. It is just a flimsy folded bit of card board with the cover art printed on it in monochrome. I am going to remark about this since FFG have a nasty habit of being absolutely negligent in this regard for their own games. To me, this shows a clear lack of regard and respect for the quality of their own product which brings all sorts of questions to mind about the rest of their production ethics. Instead of being examples of what games should look like and how the components are stored, they are examples in cost cutting while charging premium prices. Now while this may seem unfair, I fully recognize why many games do no benefit from nice intuitive plastic inserts. I also fully recognize why many people disdain them, even though I disagree.
The Rulebook Unlike some other notable FFG titles, this rulebook is well written and is intuitive for the most part. Do not be alarmed by the 20 page count as the rules could fit on half or less of that with room to spare. But there are many descriptions of game components and some diagrams in this rulebook for purposes of disambiguation. The diagrams are handy and necessary.
The Sector Boards Each player chooses one board which measures roughly 10 & 1/2" square. They are offered in four different colors. Red, yellow, green, and blue. They are printed on linen finish paper and each board is completely wrapped to give a very nice finished quality to the boards instead of being printed on board punched out where the edges of the cardboard are exposed. 
The Magic Cards The magic cards included in the game are comprised of seven schools of magic. Each school of magic being comprised of twenty four cards. The school of Cantrips is a compulsory addition to the deck each game while you may choose three more schools to add to the deck. The rulebook lists an introductory deck make-up, but after playing with Mr. Wilson, BGG users Pekin2121 and Katjaheetland, I found the game wasn't nearly as fun s when you decide which schools go into the deck yourselves. I am not able to point point why this is, but I think the learning curve is just as difficult when adding whatever decks you choose as it is with the introductory decks.
The Miniatures There are four player figures, one of which is chosen to represent the players wizard at the beginning of the game. The card and rulebook are suggesting that the tall stoic mage is green and the mage floating akimbo is yellow, etc. but the choice of exactly which mage goes to which color has zero bearing on the game and is merely an aesthetic choice. 
The Tokens the one hundred and thrity six different tokens runs a large gamut of uses. From object markers to show where an object has been dropped, crack tokens added to walls and doors to show their state of decay, hat tokens to show which spells are affecting which wizard, energy tokens to indicate how long the duration of certain spells are, treasure tokens, stun tokens, and portal markers.
The Life Dials A simple yet nice touch to the game. The colorful, two piece life dials joined by a plastic clasp indicate how much the owning wizard has left in hit points. Each player starts at 15 and can possibly elevated to 20, but no more than that . This I do know is a departure from previous editions as I recall having nearly 60 life while playing an older edition once. But this added ceiling should help keep play time down before this game over stays it welcome.
The Rest You have a single black 4-sided die included. The use during the game is not enough to complain about each player getting their own die in their respective color.... but it would have been a nice touch. Neither a negative nor a positive.
Posted Sat Feb 4, 2012 2:42 pm
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from me.
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