Witless Wizards: Review

Witless Wizards: Review

Information:

Mechanics: Head to Head, Take That, Drafting
Player Age: 10+ 

Player Count: 2 - 4 Players

Time to Play: 15 - 25 Minutes 
Game Designer: Chris Marling
Game Artist:  Asterman Studio

Publisher: Drawlab Entertainment

Year Published: 2018

Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.

Objective:

Wizards may be immortal but, unfortunately, their memories are not. You are trying to prove that you still have control of your wits and can defeat any wizard in your path. This is achieved by drafting spells for you and your opponent(s), then attacking the other players until only one victor is left standing and the rest have had their stamina reduced to zero.

Component Anatomy:

Equipment Cards:

There are three types of equipment cards, offensive (red), defensive (blue) and special (purple). Each wizard can only have one of each type equipped. Both the offensive and defensive cards will have a value on the left-hand side. The offensive value is the base amount of your attack and the defensive amount will reduce incoming attacks from other players.
The special cards have no attack or defence, rather they have an ability that can be passive or activated by discarding the card. Each equipment card  may have a special ability type that will alter depending on the different factions. There will be three factions in each game,  from Wizard, Samurai, Medieval, Sci-fi, Pirate, and from expansions Druid and Vikings. An example of their variability is that the druid faction will heal the player and the sci-fi faction does not have much text on the cards but instead has high values of attack/defence.

Some of these cards will also have a number of concentration tokens on the right-hand side of the card that the player will receive each turn after the attacking phase.

Concentration:

These tokens can be used for various actions:
- Add more attack/defence based on the abilities of various cards
- Help your wizard to concentrate by adding one card to a draw
- If you are weakened (having 5 or less stamina) after an attack is resolved, you may spend as many concentration tokens at once to regain that many health

Character Board:

Each character board will have a stamina track and a spot for each type of equipment card.

Setup:

- Choose three out of 5 (7 with the expansions) factions and shuffle them together to create a communal deck
- Give each player a character board and start them at 20 stamina
- Player one will receive a 'Magical Crook of Standing' and one concentration token
- Player two will receive a 'Magical Armour of Resting' and one concentration token
- Player three will receive both of those cards and one concentration token.
- Player four will receive both cards and two concentration tokens

How to Play:

There are two phases to the game; the draft phase and the battle phase.

Draft Phase:

During this phase, you will have two draw phases. When the first phase occurs you will draw one card (one more if spending a concentration) and choose to give this card to an opponent or yourself (only opponents on your left or right if this is a four player game). This card will replace the card already occupying that spot on the player's board. After this occurs, a second draw phase will occur and this time you must give the card to the option that was not chosen the first time. I know this sounds confusing, but essentially on a turn, you will give one card to yourself and one card to an opponent, replacing the previous card on that spot.

Battle Phase:

Wizards can be an angry bunch when their wit is challenged. So excluding the first turn, the active player will attack another player every turn (the wizards on your left or right for four players). Your attack will be based on the attack value on the offensive card, plus the value rolled on the battle dice. Your opponent will deduct from your attack using their sum defensive value, although any left over attack will continue to cause damage.
For example, if the player's attack is 5 and the dice is rolled at 3 attack but the opponent's defence value is 6, then 2 damage will occur to the opponent. After this attack, the active player will gain concentration based on the concentration images on each of their equipment cards. Play will continue to the player on the left until there is only one wizard remaining that has gained their wits and defeated their enemies.

Final Thoughts:

Pros:
- With 5 factions in the base game and 2 faction expansions, there is plenty of variability between games
- There are many tactical decisions as the equipment you have will not last forever so you must use them effectively while you have them
- The more you play, the more familiarity you have with the factions and that makes  decision making faster within the game

Cons:
- There can be text heavy factions that I would not recommend using in the first game such as the samurai

'Witless Wizards' is a great combination of drafting and head to head. Due to the drafting nature allowing players to switch out yours and their cards constantly, the game is continuously changing the power dynamic between the players. This in turn allows for numerous tactical decisions to occur, such as if you should save your concentration or spend it to make a card more effective. There is a lot of randomness and luck in this game but that is what helps make it fast and enjoyable. Including the expansions, there are seven unique factions, that range from healing, set collection and using the dice for other effects. These factions help keep the game engaging and fresh. This will definitely be staying in the shelf as a fun and hasty head to head game and receives a Silver Seal of Approval.

Click...feed the addiction: 

Draw Lab Entertainment
Witless Wizards on BGG
Expand Your Game Facebook page
Expand Your Game Instagram