Fantasy Flight Games

Unleash the Creatures

Published 12 September 2014 | Wiz-War

Unleash the Creatures

Bestial Forces Is Now Available for Wiz-War

Prepare to release a host of magical creatures into your wizard duels! Bestial Forces is now available for Wiz-War, both at your local retailer and online through our webstore.

In this new expansion for Wiz-War, you’ll uncover three new schools of magic, each offering an array of new spells and arcane devices for you to control and master. You’ll find much more than new spells and cantrips in this expansion, though. Six new creatures enter the magical labyrinth, ranging from a mischievous boggart to a rampaging minotaur. Each of these creatures are yours to command when you tap into these Bestial Forces.

New Schools, New Magic

Our first preview of Bestial Forces examined the Mythology school of magic. This school offers you four of the six creatures introduced in this expansion, along with plenty of powerful new spells to cast. You may summon a genie to enhance your spell-casting prowess, allowing you to make more magical attacks, or you may lure a wizard or creature into your trap with Embrace of Jorogumo. This school of magic also introduces a new type of item: Relics. These are special items with highly effective powers, but while carrying a Relic you cannot pick up a treasure or another Relic, forcing you to choose between treasure and your Relic in the midst of your magical duels.

The second preview turned to the Draconic school of magic – the school devoted entirely to the many aspects that make up the mighty dragon. You may cast spells to defend your treasure against intruders, or summon a drake to safeguard your possessions. This school of magic even allows you to take on the persona of a dragon. You may breathe fire at your opponents, take flight on scaly wings, or even cast Raking Talons, which gives you the ability to deal damage or seize treasure or an item from another wizard!

Most recently, we explored the Totem school of magic in Bestial Forces. This school of magic introduces the Totems, a new form of creation spell that grants powerful effects to an entire sector. You might use Totems to defend your home sector, or to speed you on your way to stealing your opponent’s treasure. The best part about your Totems, however, is that they power other spells in the Totem school of magic. Cards like Spiritual Infusion and Primal Scream ensure that your opponents learn to respect the power of the Totems.

Call Upon the Creatures

With new creatures and new schools of magic, the Bestial Forces expansion provides all the wild magic you need for your wizard duels in the magical labyrinth. Download the rules from the Wiz-War support section and pick up your copy of Bestial Forces at your local retailer today!

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Craft Your Totems

Published 3 September 2014 | Wiz-War

Craft Your Totems

Preview the Totem School of Magic in Bestial Forces

Callista had fought unearthly creatures before she took her place in the magical labyrinth. Who vanquished the minotaur of Alexandria, if not her? Who defied the wraiths beneath Olympus, if not her? But this creature was something different. She could feel the totems’ power throbbing through the labyrinth, prodding at her with inhuman malevolence. And the guardian of the totems was closing in. She turned her head, only to see the ghostly snake, the guardian, emerging from the stone wall, its fangs dripping spectral venom.

Unleash the creatures into your wizard duels with Bestial Forces expansion! Soon, you’ll be able to summon minotaurs, genies, boggarts, and more, bringing new levels of wild magic to your games of Wiz-War.

There’s plenty of new magic to tantalize new wizards in Bestial Forces. Our first preview illustrated the Mythology school of magic, including plenty of creatures and relics from ancient myths. The second preview focused on the school of magic devoted to just one creature: the mighty dragon! Today, however, we’ll explore the sector-spanning prowess of totems with the Totem school of magic.

In addition, the rules (pdf, 2.1 MB) for Bestial Forces are now online. Download the rules and prepare to learn the secrets of the creatures!

Wood, Stone, Spirit

You’ll find six unique Totem creations within this school of magic, and although their exact effects can vary, all Totems share a few things in common. These creations can only be placed in an empty square adjacent to the casting wizard, and they last as long as you choose to maintain the spell. Although the range for creating one of these Totems is limited, its effects extend to everything in its sector. This potency comes at the cost of fragility: these Totems requires only one damage or one crack to destroy.

One of the Totems you’ll find in this school of magic is the far-sighted Spirit of the Owl. While you cast a spell in the same sector as your Spirit of the Owl totem, you have line of sight to all objects, wizards, and creatures in your current sector, allowing you to target anything that dares enter your domain. Another potent protection for your own sector could be the Sprit of the Serpent Totem. Whenever another wizard enters or starts his turn in the same sector as your Spirit of the Serpent, his speed is reduced by one and he takes one point of magical damage. Yet another Totem grants your temporary spells infinite energy! While you stay in the same sector as your Spirit of the Raven, you may choose not to remove energy from any number of your temporary spells during your Time Passes phase, allowing you to maintain them as long as you wish.

Strength in Numbers

As more totems are created, the power of other cards in this school of magic increases. This school of magic introduces a new energy card with Spiritual Infusion. The energy value of Spiritual Infusion is equal to one plus the number of Totem cards in play. As more Totems enter play, the energy level of Spiritual Infusion can quickly skyrocket, even reaching as high as fourteen energy – enough power to kill a wizard in one hit with some spells.

You’ll gain another powerful ally with the addition of the Totem Spirit. This creature is also a Totem, and its ethereal nature allows it to move through both walls and doors. In addition, the Totem Spirit may attack any adjacent wizard or creature, inflicting magical damage equal to the total number of Totems in play, including the Totem Spirit itself. In a labyrinth packed with Totems, the Totem Spirit’s attacks could prove deadly.

Finally, you’ll sometimes need more than the inherent abilities of your Totems to defend your treasures. By casting Wrath of the Ancestors when a wizard picks up a treasure in your home sector, you force that wizard to take magical damage equal to two plus the number of your maintained Totem spells, punishing anyone foolish enough to trifle with your treasures.

Call Upon the Spirits

Tap the power of the totems and the other schools of magic included in Bestial Forces. Bestial Forces will soon be available at your local retailer! Prepare to unleash a host of creatures into your wizard duels by downloading the rules from the Wiz-War support section.

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The Power of Dragons

Published 22 August 2014 | Wiz-War

The Power of Dragons

Preview the Draconic School of Magic in Bestial Forces

Dauziel chanted slowly, musically, moving his fingers and hands to a relentless, internal rhythm. In a moment the spell was complete, and the stone wall before him crumbled into sand at his feet. Behind the wall lay a treasure chest. Around the chest lay a coiled beast. It awoke, arching its back and rustling its wings before turning a lazy eye towards the intruding wizard. Dauziel started running; the first flames already licking at his cloak.

The powers of all creatures are yours to command in Bestial Forces, the second expansion for Wiz-War. Whether you bring creatures into the labyrinth to use as your minions, or channel wild magic through your wizard, you’ll find cards to support both styles of spellcraft in this expansion.

In our last preview, we took a closer look at the Mythology school of magic, which features a host of creatures and ancient relics drawn from the wellsprings of antiquity. Today, however, we’ll turn to a school of magic devoted to one creature: the dragon!

Guard Your Hoard

The Draconic school of magic offers a host of spells based on the unique powers of a dragon. If there’s one thing dragons excel at, it’s guarding their treasure, and you’ll find new spells to help you do just that in this school of magic. The first spell to help you safeguard your treasure is Treasure Lust. You can maintain this spell over several turns, and as long as it persists, every time you attack a wizard carrying a Relic or a treasure, that wizard must immediately drop it or take three additional damage from the attack! Whether you force your opponent to drop your treasure or deal extra damage, you’ll come closer to winning the game with every attack.

Another way to keep your opponent from making off with your treasure is by using a Tail Slap. This attack allows you to attack a wizard and deal damage equal to a die roll. The best part, however, is that if your target takes any damage, he must drop a treasure or an item of your choice in his square, allowing you to indulge your draconic urges and steal treasure for yourself. As you jealously hoard your own treasure, you may decide to summon a deadly drake. This creature can be summoned like the creatures in the Mythology school of magic, but you may also summon the drake as a counter spell when another wizard picks up a treasure in your home sector. Summoning the drake as a counter spell places the drake in the other wizard’s square and forces him to drop the treasure immediately. What’s more, treasure in the same square as the drake can never be picked up by another wizard, allowing you to keep your treasures safe as long as the drake lives.

Skin to Scales

Dragons aren’t just experts at gathering and keeping treasure – they’re also very hard to kill. The Draconic school of magic offers you some of this same protection. You might choose to cast the Dragon Scales spell and harden your skin to impenetrable scales. You can cast this spell on yourself, and while this spell lasts, you are immune to fire damage and reduce all damage that you would take by one, massively increasing your chances of long-term survival in the labyrinthine hallways of Wiz-War.

You might also take advantage of a dragon’s natural immunities by playing Magic Resistance. You may play this counter spell after you or one of your creatures is attacked. The attacking wizard must give you an energy card from his hand, or the attack is cancelled, granting you some added protection against whatever spells may target you. Of course, even a dragon is wounded sometimes. Thankfully, that’s when you can call upon the regenerative prowess of a dragon’s blood. By playing Regeneration, you or a creature immediately heal one life, and as long the spell has energy, the spell’s target heals one life at the beginning of each of your turns.

A Flood of Fire

The power of dragons is nearly unmatched, even in the magical world. You can take advantage of that power by harnessing the spells of the Draconic school of magic. There are plenty of other spells in Bestial Forces as well: join us next time to preview the far-reaching power of the Totem school of magic!

Preorder Bestial Forces at your local retailer today!

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Feral Creatures and Ancient Relics

Published 7 August 2014 | Wiz-War

Feral Creatures and Ancient Relics

Preview the Mythology School of Magic in Bestial Forces

Aviliana’s slippers made no sound as she stalked her quarry down the stone corridor. At the intersection ahead of her, the boggart chittered to itself and shifted the treasure on its shoulders. With a shout of command, Aviliana sprang forward, beating her leathery wings to cover the distance in an instant. The boggart vanished before her clutching fingers. Again. As Aviliana picked herself up, a furious snorting behind her suggested she had bigger problems than catching boggarts.

Just when it seemed like your magical duels couldn’t become more chaotic, rampaging minotaurs, trickster genies, and fiery drakes arrive to prove you wrong. The advent of six strange and exotic creatures in the Bestial Forces expansion for Wiz-War makes your battles in the labyrinth more intense than ever. Whether you grant yourself the powers of the beasts, or summon these creatures to do your will, you’ll find new magic in Bestial Forces.

You’ll find more than just creatures in this expansion, however: three new schools of magic await wizards of every kind. In today’s preview, we’ll explore the Mythology school of magic, and the monstrous beasts and relics you command when you master this school’s spells.

Creatures Born of Magic

The creatures from folklore and ancient myths that fill the Mythology school of magic open plenty of new opportunities for claiming victory, whether you steal treasure or fight to vanquish your opponents. You can summon a creature by playing the corresponding Magic card, but a price must be paid. To give life to your creature, you must roll the four-sided die and take damage equal to the result minus one. Any damage you take is added to the creature’s base life, which is found on the right border of its Magic card. Once you’ve taken the damage, the creature is placed adjacent to you on the game board, ready to do your bidding.

To send your wild minion into the maze to do your bidding, you must activate the creature by spending two movement points during your turn. Activating your creature allows it to move throughout the labyrinth, attack other wizards, and defend your treasures. When activated, a creature may move spaces equal to its base move, which is shown on the left border of the corresponding Magic card. A creature can also attack during its activation, either by using an ability shown on its card, or when you cast a creature attack spell.

Of course, the creatures you summon possess drastically different abilities. Some creatures are extremely magical in nature, using spells easily. Calling the genie to your side, for example, increases your hand size and allows you to cast spells as if your wizard were in the genie’s space. Alternatively, a boggart cannot attack, but it can carry treasure on your behalf, and its small size and agility make it adept at evading enemy spells. Others are weapons of brute force, unleashed on the other hapless inhabitants of the labyrinth. When you summon a minotaur, it runs wild through the labyrinth, charging any wizard that enters its line of sight. No matter what creature you summon into the midst of your magical duels, it’s certain to make an impact.

Relics of the Past

You’ll find plenty of new power in this school of magic, in addition to mythological creatures. Bestial Forces introduces a new item type to your arsenal of magical weapons and trinkets: the relic. Relics are items of extraordinary power, granting awe-inspiring abilities to their wielder. Thor’s Hammer gives you a weapon to throw at any obstacle in your way. You can throw Thor’s Hammer at another wizard to deal three damage, or you can use it to destroy a cracked wall or door, allowing you to blast your way through anything that stands in your way. What’s more, Thor’s Hammer always returns to you after being thrown, meaning you can use it again and again.

Ilmarinen’s Astrolabe, on the other hand, allows you to reroll a die once anytime you roll a die. In addition, this item keeps your maintained spells from counting against your hand size, greatly expanding the amount of spells you can have at your disposal. Another relic, the Eye of Horus, can even keep you from suffering any magical damage, safeguarding you from the vast majority of your opponent’s tricks and spells. While you carry a relic, however, you cannot pick up treasure or another relic. Whether you use your relic to get you safely to your opponent’s treasure, or use it to hunt down your opponents, every relic is sure to have a dramatic impact on your magical battles.

Unleash Your Wild Magic

No matter which schools of magic you draw upon, Bestial Forces will change your wizard duels forever. Summon your creatures and gather your relics, and join us next week as we explore the fearsome spells within the Draconic school of magic.

Preorder Bestial Forces at your local retailer today!

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Bestial Forces

Published 21 May 2014 | Wiz-War

Bestial Forces

Announcing an Upcoming Expansion for Wiz-War

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce Bestial Forces, the second expansion for Wiz-War, a chaotic game of wizard duels and frantic spell-casting! Now, a horde of new creatures bursts into the labyrinth, bringing new levels of wild magic to Wiz-War.

You’ll find six unique creatures in this expansion, emerging from three brand-new schools of magic: Mythology, Totem, and Draconic. With new totem creations, powerful relics, and strange energies, Bestial Forces introduces new savagery as your wizards struggle for dominance. Today, Tom Jolly, the original designer of Wiz-War, introduces some of the cards and features you can look forward to in Bestial Forces.

Tom Jolly on Bestial Forces

Bestial Forces turbocharges Wiz-War, adding new dynamic elements to an already intense game. This expansion offers three new schools of magic and a batch of incredible new game mechanics.

If you’ve been anxiously waiting for creatures to appear, wait no longer! They have now been summoned for your amusement. So don’t do the heavy lifting yourself; send the Genie or the Minotaur after your enemies. If that’s not enough for you, you can even grant special attacks to your creatures by casting Flame Breath or another card on one of your creatures.

All three new schools of magic have their pick of creatures. And since the spells from the Mutation school of magic can affect your creatures, you can use those transforming spells on the creatures you summon, turning them into different monsters!

The Schools of Magic

If you wanted to create mind-bogglingly powerful relics in addition to summoning a range of creatures, you’ll find them in the Mythology school of magic. But beware: hanging onto a relic means you can’t pick up treasure, and grabbing a treasure means leaving the relic on the floor for your enemies to grab! Hermes’ Sandals add one die roll of movement every time you move, and Thor’s Hammer invites you to pound any obstacle to dust, but as soon as you drop one of these relics to pick up a treasure, the relic is fair game for any wizard. Your opponents may even cast a spell to tear the relic out of your grasp!

In the Draconic school of magic, you’ll find most of the spells that alter creature or wizard attacks. Give yourself or a creature Dragon Scales to reduce damage dealt to you, use the school’s Flame Breath to incinerate your opponents, or summon the Drake to pester your enemies and safeguard your treasures. You can even use the ancient blood of dragons to regenerate yourself or one of your creatures, repairing your wounds and healing damage.

Finally, you certainly won’t want to miss the Totem school of magic. Each totem placed on the board has its own unique ability: increasing the energy of spells, slowing your opponents, blocking damage, or increasing your line of sight. Each of these effects is only limited by the borders of the totem’s sector. For example, the Spirit of the Wolf significantly boosts your attacks while you’re in the same sector as it. The mysterious abilities of totems actually enhance other totem spells as they are cast. If you’re maintaining the most Totem spells, your enemies cannot block your Feral Strike, while the Wrath of the Ancestors spell grows larger and stronger based on the number of Totem spells you possess!

Bestial Forces interlocks with existing Wiz-War spells and schools of magic in ways limited only by your imagination. You can even surprise your opponents with a specialized spell knowledge: Bestial Forces offers an optional rule for each player to select their own personal school of magic. Cards from your specialized deck are drawn in addition to cards from the shared magic deck, giving your bloodthirsty attacks a personal touch.

Every labyrinth needs a few monsters in it to entertain and threaten the embattled wizards. Bestial Forces lets them in.

Unleash the Creatures

Thanks, Tom!

Creatures are coming to the magical labyrinth. Will you flatten your opponents with Grendel or the Minotaur, or will you use a Genie to maximize your magical prowess? A host of spells wait inside Bestial Forces alongside six magical creatures. Look for this expansion in the third quarter of 2014!

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Utter the Curse

Published 16 January 2014 | Wiz-War

Utter the Curse

Malefic Curses Is Now Available

Your duels in the magical labyrinth of Wiz-War are more chaotic and crazy now than ever before! Malefic Curses, the newest expansion for Wiz-War is now available, both at your local retailer and online through our webstore.

The Ways of Magic

Malefic Curses raises the stakes in every confrontation between you and your fellow wizards, as three new schools of magic clash. Two new kinds of energy add new power to your spells, and a potential fifth player makes your wizard duels more unpredictable than ever!

Our first preview of Malefic Curses examined the Necromancy school of magic. While other schools of magic may focus on the elements, creations, or mutations, the Necromancy school of magic centers around one thing: manipulating life. The spell card Drain Life helps you in more ways than one by allowing you to gain life that your opponent loses, and Delay Death allows you to cheat the inevitable, possibly buying you the time you need to seize victory.

When randomness and chance rule your spells, you can be sure you’re drawing upon the uncertain power of the Chaos school of magic. We examined the twists and turns of this school of magic in our second preview, as well as exploring the power of random energy. Random energy offers you a new way to fuel your spells and movement, but since you must roll a four-sided die to generate random energy, you can never be quite sure how much energy you’re getting. Random energy isn’t the only source of unpredictability in the Chaos school of magic. A spell like Prismatic Mist fills a space with a luminous mist. Entering the mist may grant you knowledge of new spells, cause damage, or force you to lose movement points. Your fate with the Chaos school of magic depends on the roll of the die.

In our third preview, we delved into the Hexcraft school of magic and the power of hexes. Hexes are a new form of creation in Malefic Curses, unique to the Hexcraft school of magic. The exact effects of entering a hex vary from random teleportation to losing spell cards to taking damage. The effects may vary, but any hex means bad news for a wizard that dares to enter, making hexes an effective way of declaring a passage off-limits to trespassing wizards.

Reenter the Labyrinth

Are you prepared to tap the powers of Necromancy, Chaos, and Hexcraft? Download the rules from the Wiz-War support section, and pick up your copy of Malefic Curses at your local retailer today!

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Unlock the Spellbook

Published 10 January 2014 | Wiz-War

Unlock the Spellbook

The Rules for Malefic Curses Are Now Online

The chaotic wizard duels of Wiz-War are becoming more dangerous than ever before with the upcoming release of Malefic Curses! This expansion adds a fifth wizard to the underground labyrinth, plus two new kinds of energy, new hex tokens, and three new schools of magic. Now, your knowledge of magical tricks, traps, and attacks can grow stronger than ever by downloading the rulebook for Malefic Curses (2.6 MB, pdf) from the support page!

Whimsical and Sinister

In our first preview, we took a closer look at the Necromancy school of magic. This school of magic features powerful attacks and creations, offering ways to drain your opponent’s life and gain life yourself. By devoting your study to this school of magic, you may even uncover a way to deny the power of death itself.

Our second preview focused on Chaos and the power of random energy. Random energy is generated by rolling a die, so you never know exactly what you’re getting. Most Chaos spells are equally dependent on chance. You might be able to teleport to escape, but no one can tell which way you’ll go until you roll the die!

In our latest preview, we examined Hexcraft and the power of hexes – powerful creations that trigger when a wizard walks across them. Although the effects of these hexes range from losing life to teleporting in a random direction, every hex has one thing in common: bad news for the wizard that crosses them.

Arcane Writings

We’ve looked at each of the schools of magic included in Malefic Curses, and investigated different strategies for using each. Now, it’s time to learn the ancient secrets of Malefic Curses. Download the rules from the Wiz-War support page and pre-order Malefic Curses at your local retailer today!

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Leave a Mark

Published 21 November 2013 | Wiz-War

Leave a Mark

A Preview of Hexcraft in the Malefic Curses Expansion for Wiz-War

The wizard walked softly over the broken ground, picking through the rubble and burnt plants. No one had noticed his presence yet; he still had a chance to grab the treasure and run. Unlocking a huge energy door with a Master Key, he slipped into the corridor and saw the treasure, glimmering on a stone pedestal. Halfway down the little tunnel, ancient signs swirled dizzyingly. He really should have chosen a different point of entry…

Malefic Curses, the new expansion for Wiz-War, does far more than introduce a fifth player, new energy, and new schools of magic. In the School of Hexcraft, you'll discover an entirely new form of creation spell – hexes!

In our earlier previews, we’ve been able to excavate the ghostly powers of Necromancy and get a handle on the haphazard randomness of Chaos, but in this preview, we’ll focus on the new powers you can tap through the study of Hexcraft and hexes.

Inscribe Hexes

As other wizards duel with lightning bolts and crackling spells, you may choose to take a more defensive role. By playing the appropriate magic card, you may create a hex anywhere in the sector. Once you inscribe its arcane symbols, a hex becomes permanent, making it an admirable method of defending a corridor and declaring it off-limits to the opposition.

The hexes in Malefic Curses vary in their effects, but all of them have one thing in common: They’re bad news for the wizard that dares to cross them. A wizard crossing the Hex of Amnesia suffers a sudden loss of memory and must discard a random number of cards from his hand, incurring the same penalty every time he crosses the hex. The Hex of Lethargy creates a similarly unfortunate penalty for unwary wizards by stunning anyone entering the space and ending their Move and Cast phase. As an added bonus, the Hex of Lethargy makes an excellent treasure defense, dealing two stun tokens to any player carrying a treasure when he passes through the space. These hexes and others like them open entirely new avenues of strategy and defense in the back-and-forth action of Wiz-War.

Expand Your Bag of Tricks

The study of Hexcraft has more to offer its students than the creation of hexes. This school of magic is a grab bag of sneaky tricks and conniving ways for you to gain the upper hand in a wizard duel. Some of the tricks included in the Hexcraft school of magic are new and powerful curses. A spell like the Curse of Ice not only damages your enemy, it impairs his movement as long as you maintain the spell. This can provide a powerful advantage in battles fought on the run between one location and another. A similar spell for the more vindictive wizard is the Curse of Fire. In addition to the initial random damage it causes, this curse continues dealing damage to a target wizard as long as it is maintained, and with new flash energy, spells can be maintained for quite a long time. Flash energy comes in large amounts, but it cannot be used to boost your speed. Rather, this kind of energy can only be used to boost the power of your spells.

Hexcraft is all about tricks, and when other options fail, a prepared wizard can always pull the Counter Curse out of his hat. One of the best answers to any attack, this counter not only cancels the effects of the attack spell played against you, but also inhibits your attacker’s ability to play counter spells, potentially leaving him unguarded for your own attacks. By keeping a spell like this in reserve, you can arm yourself for nearly any peril, unless you cross a Hex of Amnesia or are targeted by another wizard wielding one of the other innumerable tricks of Hexcraft!

Malefic Curses offers a host of new opportunities for mixing and matching different schools of magic. New energy and a fifth player add even more fun and mayhem to your magical duels, but by mastering the intricate tricks of Hexcraft, you can get a leg up on strategy over your opponents. Preorder Malefic Curses at your local retailer today!

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That Wasn't Supposed to Happen…

Published 5 November 2013 | Wiz-War

That Wasn't Supposed to Happen…

A Preview of Chaos in Malefic Curses

Talthas ducked under an amber lightning bolt and teleported through the wall into a new corridor. He moved gingerly, favoring his left leg as he wondered where he was now. In the distance, he saw Callista waving her hands and shouting incantations. He dove into an alcove and had the pleasure of seeing a light in the hallway flare brightly, as Callista’s shouts changed to yelps. Obviously something hadn’t gone quite as planned. . .

With the onset of Malefic Curses, the Wiz-War is about to become more wild than ever before. New schools of magic enter the playing field, new energies crackle through the air to fuel spells, and a fifth wizard becomes entangled in your magical battle for dominance. Last time, we looked at the darkness within the Necromancy school of magic, with its deadly attack spells and the ability to restore life to the recently dead. This time, though, things will get a little crazier as we examine random energy and the School of Chaos!

Potential at Best

In Wiz-War, energy powers both spells and movement, allowing you to gain unexpected advantages over your opponents. A major new component of Malefic Curses is random energy, an integral part of the Chaos school of magic. Random energy can potentially create enormous power, but you’ll never know how much until the die is rolled! The true amount of random energy you have is decided by rolling the four-sided die and possibly adding a static modifier to the result.

When random energy is thrown into the mix, you never know quite what you’re going to get. Maybe your wizard tapping random energy will only shoot three fire darts, but maybe she’ll cast seven! Nobody knows until the card is played and the die is thrown. Every card in the Chaos school of magic contains the potential to create random energy, meaning that every spell will soon be unpredictable like never before.

School of Unpredictability

Adherents to the Chaos school of magic must be willing to embrace their own lack of control over their spells. Chaos spells require you to roll with the punches as the effects of the spells may fluctuate greatly when used. Although these spells are often unreliable in their power and effects, they often have the potential to be more powerful than other spells. Because of their unpredictable power level, Chaos spells can be cast as a last-ditch effort, or used to introduce even more randomness to a game of Wiz-War.

For example, although you may cast Flux Shield at will, the protective power of this spell varies based on the roll of a die. As a canny student of Chaos magic, you may Dematerialize to dodge the brunt of an attack, but the direction that your wizard will teleport to escape is completely random, and may even carry your wizard into greater danger!

Chaos attacks are fluid and variable as well, perhaps easily brushed aside, or perhaps causing deadly amounts of damage to your target. An attack like Chaos Claws can only be made against an adjacent opponent, and can cause a variety of powerful effects, ranging from stealing spell cards from your opponent to dealing them magical damage. Not every attack by Chaos is as direct as Chaos Claws though. A spell like Prismatic Storm lets you deal random damage to every other wizard in your sector, but you must take half of the damage yourself. With a powerful attack like Prismatic Storm, you could easily defeat your opponent’s wizards – as long as you were not incapacitated by your own attack!

Some Chaos spells allow you a measure of command over the fate of the die roll, but with other spells, random is the best you can hope for. A Prismatic Mist fills a hallway space with a luminous, glittering fog, with effects that can only be guessed at. Many wizards might enter and take damage or lose movement, but another wizard could be granted the opportunity to expand his magical knowledge by drawing magic cards. Randomness permeates the Chaos school of magic, and though it can yield great rewards, it might offer nothing but disappointment if you depend on it too heavily.

Tap the forces of Chaos to achieve your goals in the labyrinth with Malefic Curses. With canny movement and significant luck, the Chaos school of magic may serve you, but it might also betray you when you need it most. Study the inscrutable twists and turns of Chaos and join us next time, as we examine the ancient art of Hexcraft, with its intricate and powerful hexes. Preorder Malefic Curses at your local retailer today!

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Necromantic Whispers

Published 21 October 2013 | Wiz-War

Necromantic Whispers

A Preview of Necromancy in Malefic Curses

Dauziel stalked down the hallway, treading on old stone blocks cracked by pulsing magic. The other wizards had attacked him often, even formed temporary alliances to destroy him, but he was not finished yet. The sighs and mutters of the spirits sustained him. He could feel the ghosts, pressing at the edges of his consciousness like the weight of deep water. They wanted to devour him, but he was in control for now, and the ghosts would protect him. He heard a noise ahead, and slid forward in the darkness, murmuring.

New things are stirring in the magical, underground labyrinth of Wiz-War—and in some cases, old and dead things are stirring as well. Malefic Curses invites players to gain access to a host of new spells and abilities and expand the game’s already chaotic wizard duels. The potential for magical bedlam and havoc is higher than ever with the addition of new spells and energies. In this preview, we’ll explore the Necromancy school of magic, as well as the opportunity to add a fifth player to Wiz-War.

School of the Dead

In Wiz-War, each school of magic possesses a specific focus. Mutation allows its adepts to take on monstrous new forms, Conjuring creates new obstacles and inanimate objects, and Elemental contains deadly attacks using the powers of wind, water, earth, and fire. Malefic Curses introduces three new schools of magic, each of which contains its own strategies and spells. Chaos spells can be potent, but wildly random, whereas Hexcraft enables you to booby-trap portions of the labyrinth with hexes. Necromancy, on the other hand, introduces a host of new death-dealing tactics, and those deathly spells are the focus of today’s preview.

Necromancy is a powerful school of magic for a wizard to tap, but it’s also one of the darkest. This school of magic brings a wizard closer to ultimate victory along the darker path, by granting you creative ways to gain points by destroying your opponents. Necromancy excels at spells like Enervate, which grants extra damage to all of your attacks while the spell lasts, as well as granting you life whenever you successfully deal damage. Enervate is useful in the long run, but if you’re more interested in immediate life gains, you can cast Drain Life, siphoning life off of your opponent and gaining it yourself.

The dark powers of Necromancy are not limited to stealing your opponents’ life, however. By studying Necromancy, you can spawn new and horrible creations on the field of battle to lend aid to your conquests. You might summon a Skull Servant in a strategic corridor of the maze, allowing you to watch your back by casting line-of-sight spells from the Skull Servant. Alternatively, by constructing a Boneyard, you can obstruct another wizard’s path to victory. When you cast this spell and block a pathway with moldering bones, any opponent bold enough to pass through must take damage. If the Boneyard is destroyed by a spell, shards of broken bone fly everywhere, causing even more damage to nearby wizards.

Perhaps the most powerful ability of Necromancy, however, is the power that it holds over death itself. By casting Delay Death, you can exercise your wizard’s magical prowess to forestall your own demise. This spell be played to counter any attack, but it’s also an excellent ace in the hole, allowing you to survive for a few moments to deliver a treasure to your home base and win the game, or giving you the time you need to regain more life with other Necromancy spells. When not even death is final, you must be ready for any eventuality in the race to steal treasures and destroy the competition.

A New Wizard Enters the Fray

The opportunity for even more mayhem and spellcraft arises in Malefic Curses with the option to introduce a fifth wizard to the duel. In the five-player game, the players’ sector boards are arranged in an all-new setup, with the addition of new portals, so that all players fall equally under threat of thievery and attack. With a fifth player, there’s more treasure to steal and more competition to dodge, but only one wizard is going to fight his way to the top.

You can bring new fire to the battle with Malefic Curses and the new schools of magic. Join us next time for a preview of the Chaos school of magic, which features risky, unpredictable spells, and random energy.

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Malefic Curses

Published 5 September 2013 | Wiz-War

Malefic Curses

Announcing an Upcoming Expansion for Wiz-War

The dueling had dragged on for days with no conclusion. Only Callista had stolen treasure; no wizards had been dispatched. But on the third day, the combatants felt the labyrinth shift beneath their feet. Someone had entered from the outside world—someone new. “You fight weakly,” a ghoulish voice intoned, echoing through the maze. “You duel like you are afraid to die. I will show you what death means…” The first scream of fear and pain hung in the air like a fully charged spell.

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce Malefic Curses, a new expansion to the wizard duels and magical havoc of Wiz-War! Malefic Curses adds a fifth player to the battle, along with a new sector board and new portals. New schools of magic enter the playing field as well, allowing you to tap the fearful powers of Hexcraft, Necromancy, and Chaos. Hexcraft invites you to etch powerful runes in the paths of the maze, trapping those who dare to cross them. Necromancy offers a host of death-dealing tactics, and the powers of Chaos grow increasingly powerful, although they remain highly unpredictable.

Re-Energize in Unknowable Ways

Malefic Curses adds all new energy to the mixture, increasing the potential for danger and mayhem in the maze. Flash energy can be more powerful than normal energy, but cannot be used to boost speed. Instead, flash energy is only used to advance spell-casting power, increasing the damage capability and longevity of spells old and new.

The other new type of energy introduced in this expansion is random energy, which is even less dependable than flash energy. Granted by the unpredictable powers of the new schools of magic, random energy must be generated by rolling the die, meaning that no one can be certain how much power they have in hand at any given time.

New Schools, New Spells

In Malefic Curses, three new schools of magic are unleashed to run rampant through your hands. The Chaos school of magic brings a flavor of randomness and uncontrollable power to the wizard duels and intense competition already found in Wiz-War. Through channeling the powers of Chaos, you gain access to significant amounts of random energy, in addition to a series of spells that can yield powerful results… if they work as intended. Whether dealing with random teleportation, random shielding, or random damage, the only certainty in Chaos is uncertainty. A wizard may be able to dematerialize and cancel an attack, but no one can tell if they will teleport away from their enemy, or towards him.

The study of Hexcraft allows a wizard to learn and engrave various hexes in the paths of the maze. Whether the hex causes amnesia, pain, or involuntary teleportation, other players are sure to think twice about sending their wizards down a hallway guarded by hexes. Hexcraft also features a wide variety of attacks and counters, including powerful Curses, which continue to afflict a wizard long after they are first cast. Some cards, like Counter Curse, even let you cancel an incoming attack and immediately reply with an attack of your own!

Necromancy, on the other hand, gives untold shadowy powers, allowing your wizard the ability to rule over another wizard’s life and death. Some spells allow you to leech the life from another wizard, whereas others can encase a wizard in a suit of bone armor, keeping you temporarily safe from harm. Other incantations even allow you to keep the death of your wizard at bay!

Whatever method of victory you support, Malefic Curses is sure to enhance Wiz-War’s experience and battle strategies. Even beyond the new energy and new schools of magic, the addition of a fifth possible player and a fifth sector board creates a potential for magical pandemonium unmatched by anything yet seen in Wiz-War. You will need to act quickly to master new tactics and skills, or face being abandoned to the whims of fellow wizards. Check back often for updates on Malefic Curses, and look for it in stores in the fourth quarter of 2013!

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Notes from the Great Conclave

Published 13 March 2012 | Wiz-War

Notes from the Great Conclave

The updated FAQ clarifies questions posed by warring wizards

Rival mages harness magic to master an underground maze in Wiz-War, the classic board game of magical mayhem for 2-4 players. While sorcerers sling their spells, fling fire, eat walls, and assume slimy shapes, they need to stay focused on their wily rivals. It’s a wild magical melee, with every mage for himself (or herself), and you’ll want to absorb the rules as cleanly as possible to train all your brilliant brainpower toward tricks and battle!

In order to clarify some of the game’s finer points and to address our fantastic fans’ most frequently asked questions, we are pleased to offer the latest Wiz-War FAQ.

You can download the Wiz-War FAQ version 1.1 here (pdf, 567 KB) or from the game’s support page.

Producer Mark O’Connor introduces the new FAQ

Greetings fellow wizards! After a great conclave with designers Tom Jolly and Kevin Wilson, I am delighted to bring you this updated Wiz-War FAQ (version 1.1). Players have been eager for some of its clarifications and answers to gameplay questions.

This document includes limited errata, clarifies a few points in the core game, and presents answers to players’ most frequently asked questions, including questions about the workings of a few particular cards.

We hope these clarifications allow you to resume your spellcasting in full force.

May you be the last wizard standing and your hands full of treasure!

–Mark O’Connor, Wiz-War Producer

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Energize!

Published 3 February 2012 | Wiz-War

Energize!

A closer look at energy cards in Wiz-War, plus the video!

On Wednesday, we heralded the triumphant return of Wiz-War! Now available at your local retailer and on our webstore, this classic board game of magical mayhem for 2-4 players pits wily wizards against each other in an underground maze and a magical melee. Players race to score two points by stealing rivals’ treasures or casting the knock-out spells to fell their foes.

Fuel your fantasy

At the root of all this wild and zany wizardry is energy. Not just the energy the players bring to their imaginative combinations of spells, but the energy cards that make up a good portion of each spell deck.

The rules of Wiz-War (available on the game’s support page) indicate two uses for energy cards: An energy card may be used to boost a wizard’s movement during his turn, or it may be used along with a spell to boost that spell’s effects.

Zoom!

While wizards weave magic that accelerates their progress toward your treasures, it may behoove you to move more swiftly through the sorcerous labyrinth.

Normally, the active player may move his wizard up to three squares. However, you can discard an energy card from your hand to move an additional number of squares up to the energy card’s value.

The yellow wizard races past the red wizard’s line of sight and expends five energy to rush all the way to his rival’s unguarded treasure!

Whether you seek to round a corner and gain Line of Sight to target your most terrific spells at nearby rivals or simply to hasten your heroic capture of an opponent’s treasure, the timely expenditure of magical energy may give you just the boost you need to succeed!

Supercharge your spells

Energy cards may also be played in conjunction with spells. Played this way, your energy cards can provide any number of effects.

A spell’s energy defaults to one, but you can choose, when you play a spell, to discard an energy card to fuel the spell. If so, you replace the spell’s energy value with that of the energy card discarded.

Some spells, like Add, indicate an energy value at the center of their bottom row. These spells may be cast for their normal effects, or they may be discarded for their energy value. Notice the Temporary duration symbol circled on Featherweight. Without an energy card to boost this spell, its energy is only one. Its player will place one energy token on the card when it’s played, and its duration will soon expire. A player may discard an energy card when playing a Temporary spell to increase its duration.

Flame on!

Sometimes, you may wish to use energy for your instant spells, like fueling the flaming fury of your Fire Darts to blast multiple combatants or fell a single foe.

The blue mage needs to stop the green wizard from stealing his treasure and wishes, also, to force his way past the red wizard. Meanwhile, he’s concerned about the yellow wizard’s ominous approach… He opens his door, casts Fire Darts, and expends an energy card with a value of three to fire three darts, targeting one at each of his foes!

More or less temporary

Other times, you may wish to extend the duration of one of your temporary spells, such as Golem Form, one of the game’s magnificent new mutations.

After the blue mage concludes his attack and movement, he finds himself surrounded by three stung mages! He transforms into a golem, expending an energy card with a value of five to ensure the mighty mutation spell lasts long enough to keep him safe.

While a wizard assuming golem form may stride more slowly through the subterranean labyrinth, he becomes almost impervious to harm, doubles the damage he deals with his powerful punches, and can lift treasures so easily, he needn’t end his turn to do so.

Want to see more? Watch the video teaser trailer (QuickTime, 12.4 MB) for a high-octane peek at the game’s fantastic themes and components!

Know when to hold them

In short, energy cards aren’t dead cards when you draw them. Rather, they’re the basic building blocks that fuel your most confounding combinations of sorcerous potential! To win the Wiz-War, you’ve got to know when to keep them in your hand, know when to fold them into your spells, and know when to use them to run!

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Clarifications for Wiz-War

Published 3 February 2012 | Wiz-War

Clarifications for Wiz-War

The Wiz-War FAQ is now available for download

With brilliant flashes of light and sulfurous bursts of smoke, four mighty mages enter a subterranean labyrinth. Armed with an arsenal of spells, each seeks to steal treasures or rout his rivals en route to winning their contest of wizardly wits. But in a shifting maze made of mortar and magic, one needs to find clarity amid the chaos…

Wiz-War, the classic board game of magical mayhem for 2-4 players, is now available at your local retailer and online on our webstore. In conjunction with the game’s release, we’re making available the first FAQ to address your questions and clarify the game.

The Wiz-War FAQ (pdf, 554 KB) is now available on the game’s support page. Offering clarifications to better help players understand the rulebook, version 1.0 of the Wiz-War FAQ clarifies concerns about Line of Sight rules, item tokens, game board design, and movement rules.

Head to the Wiz-War support page to downloaded the FAQ and dispel your confusion. Then brush up on your cantrips, young mage. The Wiz-War has begun!

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Wiz-War is Now on Sale

Published 1 February 2012 | Wiz-War

Wiz-War is Now on Sale

Preview the magic with our video teaser trailer, then summon your copy today!

Deep underground in a magical maze, mages race through shifting corridors, casting spells and testing their wiles as they seek to steal their rivals’ treasures. Why? Wiz-War has begun!

You can now find Fantasy Flight Games’ inspired new version of this classic board game of magical mayhem on sale at your favorite local retailer and online on our webstore.

Mages in a maze

In Wiz-War two to four players assume the roles of rival mages seeking to win an esteemed magical competition. You score points by snagging rivals’ treasures and hauling them back to your base, or by blasting your foes with the final, telling blows that fell them. The first to score two points wins. Of course, if you’re the last wizard standing, victory is yours.

Interactions as involved as your imagination

While all wizards who enter the labyrinth can recite their cantrips backward and forward, it takes a malleable imagination to master the myriad combinations of incantations the game can yield. Spells each belong to one of four types–attacks, counters, items, and neutrals. Each spell also belongs to one of seven schools of magic which the players combine to form a spell deck. From this assortment of arcane invocations, you can weave sorcerous strategies to assail your foes.

Mixing the schools of magic in your spell deck allows you constant discovery of new interactions between different spells and schools of magic. Fire magic can destroy magic stones, but a well-timed flood can put out the sparks of flame before they consume precious items.

Will you focus on the mastery of form and eat through walls to create shortcuts to your opponents’ treasures, or will you pour your energy into pure boom and blast your opponents to bits? You’ll need to keep an open mind to respond to your rivals machinations. Flexibility and adaptability are also hallmarks of true magical prowess.

Gaze into my crystal ball

Get ready to Zot! Sneak a glimpse at the themes and components of Wiz-War in the new video trailer.

Click to view the video teaser trailer (QuickTime, 12.4 MB). Also available on the FFG Media Player and YouTube.

Ka-Bong!

Launch into a world of wild wizardry with the magical mayhem of Wiz-War. This classic board game is now on sale at your local retailer and on our webstore. Summon your copy today!

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Wiz-War Rules!

Published 10 January 2012 | Wiz-War

Wiz-War Rules!

Not only is the gameplay magical, you can now download the rules online

With a simple boomstone, Talthus shattered the door standing between him and victory. Already, he’d stolen one of Callista’s treasure chests. Now, to win the competition as well as its accompanying prestige and glory, all he had to do was haul her last remaining treasure back to his base. He smiled, already able to envision himself in a comfortable faculty position, perhaps in the Tower of Alchemy… He grabbed the treasure, then immediately dropped it and recoiled in pain when Callista’s ward burned his hands. Worse yet, he heard her soft footsteps scuffling around the corner. Injured as he was, he wondered if he could survive another duel.

Wiz-War is coming! This board game of magical mayhem for 2-4 players pits you against rival mages in a subterranean maze. The premise is simple, but the execution more difficult. All you have to do to win is score two points by stealing treasures or felling foes, but you’ll need quick wits and a vivid imagination to see your way to victory. Your rivals each also wield an arsenal of sensational spells, and they’ll attempt to match your mystical tricks with their own.

Study up

Wily wizards may push the rules, but still the rules bind them… a little. You can find the rules for Wiz-War online here (low-res pdf, 8.2 MB) and on the game’s support page.

As you read the rules, remember that magic makes everything possible, and your mage can cast spells to see through walls, reach around corners, avoid attacks by turning to mist, and hasten through the maze by bending the corridors to his will.

Be the first to get your hands on this treasure

Spells and strategy collide in this fast-paced, comedic board game. Whether you sneak past your opponents’ defenses to deprive them of their treasures or fling yourself into battle with fireballs and boomstones, Wiz-War entertains with rules that are easy to understand and gameplay that's as sophisticated as your imagination.

Best of all, the Wiz-War is nearly ready to begin, so head to your local retailer and pre-order your copy today!

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My, What Large Fangs You Have!

Published 27 December 2011 | Wiz-War

My, What Large Fangs You Have!

A preview of the new transformation spells and alternate miniatures in Wiz-War

Pop quiz, aspiring wizard! What do you do when all the ferocious balls of fire you fling fail to rout your rival mages?

Do you:

Stubbornly cling to your favored attack and fling more balls of fiery doom?
Counter the counter that countered the counter that countered your fireball?
Turn invisible?
Grow some fangs, a thick hide of fur, and launch yourself at your rival in feral fury?

If you answered 4, then you may be ready to tackle the new transformation spells developed by the master mages responsible for the magical mayhem of Wiz-War, the classic board game for 2-4 players.

Fantastic transformations

Fantasy Flight Games’ Wiz-War is nearly here, and one of the game’s new enhancements of which we’re particularly proud is the addition of schools of magic, including the Mutation school, wherein you’ll find a number of spells to manipulate, mutate, and otherwise master your physical form. While all the game’s new mutations offer tremendous power, they also all have weaknesses, and no wizard can wear more than one mutation at a time.

Along with these new shape-shifting spells, Wiz-War offers players five plastic transformed wizard figures, one for each transfigured state. Any wizard who transforms himself into the form of a Big Man, Golem, Gnome, Slime, or Werewolf replaces his wizard figure on the map with the figure for the assumed alternate form.

New shapes for every situation

But why would you want to change your shape? After all, you’re a powerful wizard with both hygiene and magic to maintain your dapper good looks!

Mutations can provide significant sustained advantages, increasing your movement rate, decreasing the damage you take, allowing you to evade damage altogether, and more. Most mutations are temporary, meaning you can maintain them (at the cost of a card slot from your hand) as long as they have energy remaining. In turn, this means the advantages your altered forms grant you last longer than the instant zap of a lightning blast or brilliant burst of a fireball.

Meanwhile, a true shape-shifting mutations master learns to measure and balance his spells’ needs for energy against the benefits of maintaining any mutation. How long do you really need extra arms? Or the tough hide of a giant golem? Or the bestial brawn of a big man? How much will you need your energy for an elemental blast a few moments later? A master of mutation must consider these questions.

Classic roots, exciting enhancements

While Wiz-War remains true to its roots as a light-hearted and imaginative game in which wizards can cast fireballs, create rose bushes from thin air, and manipulate gravity, these new mutation spells are one of the ways by which Fantasy Flight Games has enhanced the play experience.

Wiz-War is nearly here! For now, study your spellbooks, young mages, and keep an eye toward our crystal ball (website) for future updates.

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A Wizard Finds a Way

Published 20 December 2011 | Wiz-War

A Wizard Finds a Way

Learn how wizards navigate their magical maze in this preview of Wiz-War

Talthas raced down the hallway, his cloak singed from Callista’s lightning bolts. He knew her treasure had to be close. He turned the corner and found a rosebush, thick enough to choke off all sight of the corridor beyond. “Cute,” he said, smirking. Enlarged thorns jutted out from the stems in every direction, long and sharp enough to draw blood should he try to force his way through the tangle. It seemed a waste to use a spell to make his way through such a mundane obstacle, but Talthas knew time was short. With a wave of his hand, he flung a fireball into the bush, instantly incinerating it.

Mighty mages navigate an underground maze in Wiz-War, the board game of magical mayhem for 2-4 players.

Wiz-War lets you pit your wits against other wily wizards as you seek to steal their treasures before they steal yours. In our last preview, we explored the secrets of the various spells you can cast and the seven schools of magic to which they belong. Today, we muse upon the maze itself and the myriad manners by which you may either race its halls or manipulate its walls.

Wizards and walls

Wiz-War comes with four double-sided sector boards with which players create the game’s subterranean labyrinth. The standard game uses the A side of these sectors, which have been revised from the 1980s classic to better balance the game, but fans of the original can flip the sectors to their B sides to enjoy the classic layout.

At the center of each sector lies a home base square, in which a wizard begins play. From these runic circles, your wizard must stalk the subterranean halls for signs of enemy treasure. During your race to steal your opponents’ treasures, you can cast spells and expend energy to both advance your efforts and hinder your foes.

Each round features a Move and Cast phase wherein your splendiferous spellcasters speed through the hallways and wield mighty magics. During this phase, you may move up to your speed and cast as many neutral spells as you have available to you, but only one attack spell (against an opponent or an object). It’s possible to move both before and after casting spells, so long as you have movement points remaining.

In most cases, a wizard may move up to three spaces, but wizards are clever and have ways to cheat the standard rules. You may expend energy to move extra spaces up to the value of the energy card discarded, or you may transform into some creature with a greater rate of movement. Furthermore, wizards are often impatient, and many view walls as impediments only to those without enough magical might to blast them to bits. Apart from the outer walls of the map, each wall and door can be forced. It’s even possible to sling spells that rotate entire sectors of the labyrinth!

Skulking about

With a maze this dynamic, it doesn’t hurt to reinforce the obstacles obstructing your opponent’s avenues of approach to your most tempting treasures. A number of spells allow you to invent impediments–walls, rosebushes, and more–that can slow or stall your rivals.

As you navigate the maze, you may catch sight of your foes, and they may catch sight of you. Not only can walls slow your opponent’s approach, they can block line of sight and protect you from devastating volleys of lightning bolts and fireballs.

So take heed, young mages! The time has come to start preparing yourselves for the challenges ahead. There are spells to learn and gestures to practice. You’ll need a quick and nimble mind to adapt to the dynamic maze and its many dangers. After all, you can’t get lost if you want to win the Wiz-War.

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Zot!

Published 29 November 2011 | Wiz-War

Zot!

A preview of the myriad spells and ferocious magical battles in Wiz-War

Wiz-War is coming. Created in 1983 by Tom Jolly, this classic board game of magical mayhem pits 2-4 players against each other in a no-spells-barred struggle for sorcerous supremacy. A bit zany, a lot spontaneous, Wiz-War has entertained players for decades... and Fantasy Flight Games is bringing it back!

For now, the warring wizards seclude themselves in their tall towers to train for the coming confrontation, poring through musty tomes while pouring careful drops of powerful alchemical reagents. Their magical defenses must be tested. Spell strategies must be flexible, to account for the unstable dynamics of an underground treasure hunt.

Spellcasting 101

Imagine you’re a mighty mage seeking to steal your opponents’ treasures before they steal yours. Battling in a magical, subterranean labyrinth, you must outwit or outmuscle your opponents. Some of them will seek to avoid you, trick you, and block you, winding through the corridors without meeting you. How will you protect your cache from these thieves while you cast magics to reveal the true locations of their hidden treasures? Other wizards will ready themselves like warriors, flinging themselves at you with volleys of fireballs, lightning bolts, and Zot! While you maintain magic to prevent stealthy thieves from unlocking your goods, how will you survive such onslaughts of elemental energies?

In each round of Wiz-War, you have the opportunity to move your wizard through the halls of the labyrinth (usually three spaces) and cast spells. You may cast any number of neutral spells, but only one attack spell per turn. You can cast many of your spells for greater effect if you can supply them with extra energy. Meanwhile, even the most amazing mages have limited mental capacity, and whatever spells you seek to memorize, you must maintain within your maximum hand size (normally seven cards). Thus, your spell-slinging needs to strike a fine balance between subtle tricks that you can cast at will, sustained spells that count against your hand size, powerful attack spells, energy to fuel them, and clever counterspells.

With all the options at hand, tucked up sleeves, writ in spellbooks, and penned on scrolled parchments, perhaps it may prove best to focus on a few essential spells and specialize in a select set of others that provide key strengths?

There’s only a little time to train for the coming confrontation, young wizard, so let us begin by exploring the schools of magic and identifying their key strengths.

Schools of magic

The schools of magic are groups of related spells, each of which has its own unique feel and specialization.

Cantrip: Cantrips are the foundational set of spells for all wizards entering the labyrinth. Typically, a game’s spell deck will consist of these basic cantrips, plus three other schools (selected randomly or by some other means) shuffled together.

Alchemy: The school of Alchemy specializes in creating items, particularly magic stones. These mystic gems bestow useful powers upon anyone carrying them, though dedicated alchemists should be wary of fire, since it can shatter all of their carefully-crafted gemstones.

Conjuring: Conjurers specialize at creating inanimate objects, such as walls and thornbushes designed to hinder opposing wizards. When Conjurers duel, the twists and turns of the labyrinth are often left littered with an assortment of dangerous debris.

Elemental: The Elemental school of magic is the deadliest in combat because it commands the powers of the four elements–wind, water, earth, and fire. With this powerful school at his disposal, a wizard can subject his rivals to powers like the mighty fireball and lightning blast.

Mentalism: Mentalism is the school of the mind. Mentalists use their magic to erase the other wizards' minds, steal spells from their memories, or compel them to act against their own interests. Energy to power spells is common in this school, but only in small bursts.

Mutation: A wizard who has mastered the school of Mutation can change his shape as easily as his clothes. Though the various transformations of this school offer tremendous power, they all have weaknesses, and only one transformation can be applied at a time.

Thaumaturgy: The final school of magic is the most ancient. It contains a well-balanced mix of traditional spells, as well as an above-average amount of magical energy. Thaumaturgists often find themselves drawn to the school’s versatility.

When you enter the magical maze of Wiz-War, you will prepare your Cantrips, along with the spells from three other schools of magic. This means you may face tremendous variety from contest to contest as you combine different schools of magic. A game containing Elemental magic is bloodier, Alchemy makes the number of items skyrocket, and Mentalism introduces more energy into the deck. With so many possible combinations of spells, Wiz-War delivers a new experience every time.

While you wait to establish your magical mastery in the underground labyrinth, keep checking back here for previews and updates. Next up: A look at navigating the labyrinth!

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The Triumphant Return of Wiz-War

Published 12 August 2011 | Wiz-War

The Triumphant Return of Wiz-War

Announcing Wiz-War, the classic board game of dueling wizards

Deep in a magical, underground labyrinth, wizards scheme to steal each other’s treasures while protecting their own. Armed with an arsenal of spells as limitless as their imaginations, they venture forth, ready to duel each other at the drop of a tall, pointy hat…

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to herald the triumphant return of Wiz-War, the classic board game of magical mayhem for 2-4 players!

Players each control a wizard and begin the game with two treasures near their home base, which they must shield from the greedy clutches of competing wizards. The first wizard to score two points wins, and wizards score points by hauling opposing wizards’ treasures back to their bases, or by eliminating their opposition via an onslaught of fireballs, psychic storms, blasts of zot!, and other magical might. Of course, if you’re the last wizard standing, victory is yours.

The best of tradition and innovation

Originally created by Tom Jolly in 1983, Wiz-War draws upon a rich tradition of entertainment and gameplay that has delighted players for decades and helped spark the introduction of an entire genre of hobby gaming. Now, veteran game designer Kevin Wilson has worked with Tom Jolly to add new spells and enhance the game through a series of subtle refinements that promote faster game play and clarify card effects.

Through these revisions, Wiz-War remains true to its roots as a light-hearted and imaginative game in which wizards can cast fireballs, create rose bushes from thin air, manipulate gravity, and turn themselves into slime.

Spontaneous and imaginative

Players create a labyrinth from maze boards, and their turns each follow a short sequence in which their wizards can move, cast spells, and make a single attack. Within this snappy turn sequence, though, lies a plethora of potential for poetic play.

Spells each belong to one of four types–attacks, counters, items, and neutrals. Each spell also belongs to one of seven schools of magic–cantrips, alchemy, conjuring, elemental, mentalism, mutation, and thaumaturgy. While all wizards who enter the labyrinth can recite their cantrips backward and forward, each game offers a different mix of the other schools of magic. This mixture means that players constantly discover new interactions between different spells and schools of magic. Fire magic can destroy magic stones, but a well-timed flood can put out the sparks of flame before they consume precious items.

Wiz-War rewards creative and spontaneous play, often with humorous results. When two or more wizards confront each other in this spell spectacular, anything can happen… and often does!

Look for Wiz-War to appear on store shelves in the fourth quarter of 2011. While you wait to procure your copy, keep an eye our website for previews and other magical delights related to this breathtaking board game of battling casters!

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