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Witless Wizards, by Chris Marking and Drawlab Entertainment, is a fantasy themed, fun and fast card game with mystical lashings of take that and push your luck.
The game is set in a fantasy realm, one where ageing wizards have been pitted against each other. The aim? To find out who is the most formidable wizard of all. Witless Wizards comes with four wizard player cards. Each has space for up to three cards that you'll have in play. There is also a stamina track.
Playing the Game
To begin, each player chooses one of the quirky wizards. Then, they place a red resin stamina marker on the 20 spot and collect one of the green concentration cubes. Finally, the starting item cards are given out as described in the rules. Three of the available sets of wizard cards are shuffled together and placed face-down within reach of all players. The game is now ready to start.
Turns follow the same pattern. Players draw a card from the deck and decide whether to keep it, equip it for their attack, defence or additional magical item slot, or play the card to an opponent's board. If they really don’t like the card for either of these purposes they can risk discarding it and pay a concentration cube to draw again. However, you can only ever discard one card on your turn which may leave you playing a great card to your opponent and spoiling your plans.
Here is where the strategy of Witless Wizards lies, along with both the push your luck and take that hilarity. Do you take that shield worth four points, to replace your weaker shield or use it instead to downgrade your opponent's six point shield? Or, do you risk it all and discard it in the potentially vain hope that you will be able to draw an even better card?
Of course, you may be left with a high value card that has to go to your opponent. This is clearly where the witless bit comes in! The clue is in the title! The poor wizards, although mighty, are old and their brains are not what they used to be. They have lost all their spells and can’t always remember them. Therefore, you muddle your way through the cards trying to find the right ones to deal damage to your opponent whilst protecting yourself from their attacks.
Once you have drawn a maximum of three cards and played two, one to yourself and one to an opponent, you choose who you will battle. When you have decided on a wizard to attack, you pick up the battle dice and roll. Do this whilst adding the sword value on the dice to the sword value on your attack card. Also, add any additional bonuses from the magical item slot. If your attack value is greater than your chosen opponent's defence (with all additional items included) their stamina drops by the difference. Play then rotates and continues.
Once players stamina is below five, they can use concentration cubes to remember a healing spell and raise stamina. Because if those witless wizards really concentrate, they are able to remember some of their magical art!
The magical items often provide special healing powers if they are twinned with cards from the same type of wizard sets. This is also the case for the additional bonus powers attached to the attack and defence decks. The game continues until a wizard's stamina drops to zero, at which point they are defeated. The last wizard standing is the victor and gains renown as the greatest, or least witless wizard.
Final Thoughts on Witless Wizards
Witless Wizards is a great little filler that will still provide those toe-curling moments of stress. How? Well, as you try and decide whether to play the card you have drawn to yourself, your opponent or risk discarding it all to pick a much better or worse card than you had hoped for. As any push your luck and take that game goes, be prepared for plenty of back stabbing during the game. You can also expect some highs and lows throughout.
The artwork in the game is brilliant and fits the theme perfectly. The comical and quirky nature of the cartoons and their associated names are brilliant. They really do make the game stand out on the table.
Witless Wizards is a lot of fun and would be perfect for family game nights. It also works as a fun, filler at a more established table. The mix of push your luck and take that, alongside the card and dice battles, is great and surprisingly well balanced.
The ability to play combinations of cards and the desperate search for the right cards to deal significant damage only for your opponent to replace one of your cards with something horrifically useless ratchets up the fun factor. However, as the cards cycle quickly you can soon be on the end of some magical retaliation!
So, don your wizard hat, deal out the cards and see if you can remember where you put those spells. If you can, you just might prove to be the most formidable of the witless wizards.
