Wiz War for Dummies

I found four people who will play Wiz War tomorrow. I have the Fantasy Flight Games 8th edition (thanks Dan Thurot!).

Any tips for playing the first time? Are there house rules I should employ, or cards that need to not be in the deck?

From Charlest:

One piece of advice though, the game plays much better using several of the optional rules in the back from earlier editions of Wiz-War (you should also use the old-school tile sides). We use Deadly Treasures, Uncluttered Minds, and mix every spell school in.

Also, we took some advice found here on the forums that suggested removing most of the boring counterspells - this is a great suggestion that vastly improves the experience. You get more deadly combat, wizards actually die, and the game doesn't devolve into a foot race to the opponents treasure (although that is still there in smaller doses). I wouldn't rate this game quite as high without these changes.

I'll second the removal of Counter Spells for beginners. Go ahead and introduce them after three or four games. Until then, they're likely going to bog down game flow. Similarly, if you have both expansions - I'd hold off on Flash Energy Spells. Creatures are a lot of fun, but they also require a lot of steps to summon.

With those exceptions, play with the 'Big Book of Spells' variant.

Have fun! I"m playing more Wiz-War next Thursday!

I always use Big Book of Spells. I wish I got to play this game more often.

This is one of my favorite games.

I can't remember all of the names of the variants in the back of the FFG book, but we use:

-Maintained spells that affect the map don't take up your hand once they're cast. You also can't dispell them ones you create for free, you could though if you had a dispell card or whatever.

So if you create a rosebush or wall, it's now no longer yours and just stays there forever until someone plays a dispell or destroys it. This is huge because if you play with the FFG rules where they take up hand size, you will see far less stuff on the map and it's much less crazy. Also, with this variant you get amazing stuff like someone getting trapped by their own wall or having their own traps turned against them. It's hilarious and amazing.

-We mix all of the spells together because I don't want to be bothered to separate each game. I use both expansions also. You really want to remove the boring counterspells that do nothing but cancel stuff if you're going to mix everything.

-We use the variant where you can't pass through your own colored doors. All doors on the map are the same and you can only pass through them with spells that let you. They're also easier to destroy than walls of course, per the normal rules.

-You can only boost your movement with one power card per turn (this may be a normal rule and not a variant, can't remember).

-If both of your treasures are captured (meaning placed on someone's glyph) then you instantly die and no one gets a point for killing you. Your treasures are still in play and can be captured. This is used because it causes you to have to play defense and weigh options.

-We always use the "B" sides of the map boards, which I think are the old ones.

This, along with Cthulhu Wars, is the only game universally loved by every single person in my group.

"So if you create a rosebush or wall, it's now no longer yours and just stays there forever until someone plays a dispell or destroys it. This is huge because if you play with the FFG rules where they take up hand size, you will see far less stuff on the map and it's much less crazy. Also, with this variant you get amazing stuff like someone getting trapped by their own wall or having their own traps turned against them. It's hilarious and amazing."

This is also good. Hip hip for Charles!

Charlie left out a very important tip.

You need to get a easel and put it next to the table. In big, stern letters write “NO WHINING”.

*Use Giant Book of Spells (combine all spell decks) (but, we've also had fun experimenting with different wizard school decks)
*Use Deadly Treasures (if a player captures and brings home another wizard's two treasure tokens, then that wizard dies).
*Use Permanent Creations (if a wizard casts an object, then it stays on the board)--this creates a great narrative.
*Add the other expansions soon!
*Have fun and don't take this game seriously!
*If you have any players that can't take dying in a game or even too much "take-that," then allow respawning and have no permanent wizard deaths; however, frankly, they're in the wrong game if they don't like aggressive and brutal conflict.

Third or fourth on these points:
* Deadly Treasure is a must. Without it, nobody will play any defense. Your treasures don't really matter if they aren't part of keeping you alive.
* Permanent Creations/Uncluttered Minds is also pretty important for game flow, because then people aren't carrying crap around in their hands. Just put the card on the table near the object to refer to it. Not being allowed to dispel your own stuff makes for the best games.
* Thinning Counterspells in the base deck is a very good idea, especially if you're using Big Book of Spells. Way too many in the base decks, because they made sure to put a mix in each school.

Remember you can always cast a spell as a "1" if you don't want to power it with a number! (not that numbers are scarce in this edition).

One other thing I'd say is to use the 'B' side boards for at least one game. They tend to be windier and have more corners, which slows down treasure runs and improves the value of wall-movement spells. I'd advise against mixing them, though. Charles is correct, the B sides are the original boards.

Just saying....one day, I would love to play a game with all of you guys!

stoic wrote: Just saying....one day, I would love to play a game with all of you guys!

Me, too!

Everyone on this thread is welcome to a glorious Wizard death in Washington DC!

As the reigning Dr. Orpheus of our group, I agree with pretty much everything said above. We've actually never played with Deadly Treasures because our games are so homicidal that people hunt each other down for stealing other people's treasures, because that means they're one step closer to stealing a win.

Also, if you're using both expansions and Big Book of Spells, you'll want to remove the cards that tell you to search the deck for a monster. The deck is quite large at that point and it will bring the game to a screeching halt while someone digs through it.

Just adding to the chorus that all the suggested alterations above are vital. The first time I played the FFG version as written it was an utterly joyless slog. The aforementioned BGG post about counterspell removal was just the ticket to make the game fast and fun like it was intended.

Recently I have been playing this with my daughter, who just turned 6. Obviously she can't read the cards yet, but I tell her what they do as she draws them, we play open hands, and she makes her own plan. Last week she had to stay home from kindergarten due to a fever the night before, and we played a game after lunch. She had me down to 4 health and cast a disease on herself that deals 3 damage to other wizards when you enter their square. Then she boosted her movement with another card so she could reach me, enter my square, leave it, and enter it again to do 6 damage. Now strictly speaking the card does say you can't do this, but it was such a great moment to see her piece it all together that there was no way I was going to say anything...she deserved it on ingenuity alone.

It's just a great game.