Wiz-War Simulator Part 1

I decided to revive an old project in a new medium with all the free time the recent pandemic created. Wiz-War is one of my favorite games and the pre-8th editions of it have a distinctly different feel from the modern 8th edition. While I know that the utter chaos isn't for everyone, I believe that the older edition needs to be preserved as a part of gaming history as it impacted many modern games like Magic: the Gathering.

As part of this preservation, I decided to recreate the game in Tabletop Simulator. It was surprisingly easy to import everything and have a working game. I simply had to breakdown the images I had of the 5th edition pieces into individual images file and they imported directly into the game. I don't currently have images of all the 5th edition cards, so I used the images from Illya's Magic Stone redesign instead. In the following posts I'll detail exactly what I did and how I solved some of the speed bumps I encountered.

PnP Wiz-War - Part 4: Finishing touches

In addition to the base game, I also printed out the community expansion. This adds many more cards to play with and lots more tokens to cut out. As of now I have not integrated any of the community expansion cards into my deck. Most of them are on the complex end and many of the basic support cards are missing to make a usable expansion. In particular, number cards (27.5% of the normal deck) and Pick Lock (3%) are not included in the file. I used Ilya's source files to add the community expansion symbol to some number cards and pick lock cards, which will let me tweak the deck. I will probably just select my favorite cards from the community expansion and balance them with numbers, Pick Locks and some other simple cards from the original game after some plays.

For the tokens I followed my previous method. First I pasted one set of each token to a big sheet of matte board.

So Many Tokens...

Once affixed, I sprayed with my ink fixative and allowed it to dry overnight. Then I scored the tokens and cut the outline of each strip and attached the back label, except for the creatures. These I fully cut out because I wanted the creature names to be on the same edge on both sides. With the original game, I could rotate 1/2 the labels before printing in the source files. Unfortunately, I don't have the source files for the full community expansion, which meant I had to do it the old fashioned way. Once the backs were attached, I sprayed them with my ink fixative. Then sliced them apart.

Community Expansion Tokens

This completed all the game components. In addition to the pieces, one also needs the rules. At the time of this post, there isn't a super good version of the rules to print and use. The core rules can be found on at Wiz-War.com along with a good card FAQ. Sadly the formatting on that site sucks. The first few pages of Kwanchai's Wiz War Redesign have the rules from the website formatted nicely. Unfortunately, there have been a few player made updates to clarify the rules. In particular, the distinction between Line of Sight and Line of Movement, which is present on Ilya's redesign, but not in the core rules. So in addition to the core rules, I strongly recommend having Ilya's Quick Reference on hand. It doesn't have the complete rules, but enough to get you started and fill in some of the clarifications to the core rules. I had mine laminated.

Quick Reference & Rules

I also found some great storage options for my copy. At my local hobby store, there was a square box which was perfect dimensions to hold all the boards & warps. I also purchased one of the small plastic dividers for all the different tokens. For the cards, I used one of my Magic: the Gathering boxing I had lying around. This is the complete set.

Completed Set!

One last thing, you will need a 4 sided die to play the game. Every reference in Wiz-War to a die is to a 4 sided die. This can be found at any gaming store.

PnP Wiz-War - Part 3: Cards

Last time I finished with all the pieces for the Base game and the two official expansions. This left me able to do take really nice staged pictures. Like this one:

5 Player Board in Action

Unfortunately, I can't actually play the game without the cards.

Instead of doing standard print and play using Ilya's files, I ordered custom cards through an online service. I knew that I wanted nice cards that would stand up to lots of use. And didn't trust myself to get the cuts correct on standard card stock.

After doing some research, I settled on PrinterStudio.com. They do custom cards of many sizes. I went with standard Poker Cards. It is just over $20 for 234 cards with the premium linen finish. (The linen finish is like $1 extra, so I went with it.) If you print all the cards (Base game, 1st Expansion, 2nd Expansion, Community Expansion) you will need 2 sets of 234 and one set of 54. This leaves you with 20 extra slots for anything else you can dream up. I added 2 custom cards, 8 pick locks and 10 black cards. You can skip the community expansion and fit everything in a set of 234 and one of 54. This is about $30.

To use the website you must first have a separate image for every single card. They should be formatted as 822x1122 pixels for this service. The easiest way to do this is use Ilya's source files and a free trial of Corel Draw. You can then select the card and export as a .jpg. After exporting simply expand the canvas to the correct size and add a canvas color to match the border (xFFFF00 is what I used) in your favorite editing program. This works for all but the community expansion. Ilya's is not complete. If you contact Black Canyon on BoardGameGeek.com, he can send you the community expansion properly formatted. Or you can just send me a message and I can send you everything bundled up.

Once you have the files, it is simply a matter of uploading them to the site in batches of 30. Then autofilling once they are all uploaded. The one wrinkle is the site doesn't really like files with the same art so you have to manually copy all cards that have duplicates manually. It is just drag and drop, but still a bit tedious with all the number cards.

The site often runs deals on shipping or simply larger orders, so be sure to search around for codes to reduce the final price.

PrinterStudio gave me an estimated delivery of about 7-10 days. The cards arrived at the early part of that window. They were in good condition so lets check them out.

Why is Buddy an Attack?!?!?!

Overall I am very satisfied with the cards. They are clearly of good quality and all the colors are nice and crisp. My only complaint is there is some inconsistency across the card packs. I ordered 3 sets, 2 of 234 and one of 54. One of the sets of 234 has a slight yellow-green hue and is cut a little more off center than the other two sets.

Can you tell which one is miscolored?

Honestly the difference in hue is not the big. If you are not a perfectionist, like me, you should have no issue mixing the cards. Even if you can tell the difference when studying them, given lower lighting and focus on the game it shouldn't be noticeable.

If PrinterStudio had given me consistent hue and cutting I would give them a 5 out of 5. But I can only go with a 4 out of 5  for them. And only for PnP. If you are doing a game to sell, I advise a test run first.

Now that I have over 550 Wiz-War cards, who wants to play with me?

PnP Wiz-War - Part 2: Tokens

Last time I finished the boards and other foam core pieces. This left me able to build magical dungeons to play in like this:

5 Player Board Setup

Unfortunately, I have no pieces to move around the game board. So that is the next step in the construction.I have to build the absolutely massive number of tokens present in Wiz-War.

For the tokens I was looking for about 2mm thick cardboard. They needed to be stiff and actually have some size to them so they are easy to pick up. What I ended up with is 1mm matte board. You know the stuff that is used to edge paintings. It is definitely a nice rigid material for tokens. The downside is 1mm is a bit thin to pick up. Also matte board is HARD to cut. I went out and bought the special Zirconium coated Exacto blades to speed up the process and tear the label paper less. Definitely a worthwhile upgrade if you are using matte board. Other options are illustration board (matte board with a different coating) or chip board. Sadly I couldn't find those in the hobby shops I visited.

I think that I screwed up my first batch. And being the smart cookie that I am used the treasures as the first batch. Essentially I pasted them close to the edge. Then cut out the outline. This left me with no registry marks for accurate cutting. Overall the pieces look OK, but are a bit irregular. Which is not good for things that are used all the time.

Treasures and walls

With the next batch I tried something different. Instead of cutting out all the pieces I pasted of one side of the labels to the matte board.

The rest of the tokens for the Base game & 2 released expansions.

Then I scored between all the tokens. This allowed me to use the registry marks for more regular tokens. It is important not to cut all the way through yet. Then I cut out the outline of each row of tokens. This let me affix the back side label to the row and provided good guiding marks. Once the back side was on, I flipped the labels and used the scores to separate the tokens. This worked MUCH better and resulted in very regular tokens.

For the large block of walls I didn't do them double sided. So I just cut the inside lines first. Then did the outer edge so everything pops out in one nice bunch.

Sticks & Stones will break your bones

Creatures & Environmental Effects

Wizards, Treasures & Home Bases

Unfortunately, I am not done with tokens. There are still the community expansion tokens. Plus I think I will re-do the treasures because the are a key game piece.

PnP Wiz-War - Part 1: Foam Core

One thing I have been meaning to do for awhile is make a Print and Play (PnP) version of Wiz-War. The most recent, and nicest looking, re-design of 5th edition I have found is Ilya's which is posted at BoardGameGeek.com. 5th seems to be the most popular version to PnP as it was the last iteration by Jolly Games. 6th and 7th are simply 5th with minor graphical updates. I have never done PnP before, and am not that good at crafts so making my own copy of a board game is going to be a challenge.

The first step was printing out all the boards, token, and other game pieces (excluding cards & rules) on full sheet labels. (Base game, 1st Expansion page 1, 2nd Expansion page 1, Community Expansion Part 1 pages 1-3, Auto-warps, Wizard HP) This allows you to just stick them to your backing without worrying about glue. It is really the simplest way to go about making pieces. The one catch with this game is the pages are formatted A4 which is slightly bigger than letter. Most stores only sell full sheet labels in letter size. My advice when printing is to choose the Actual Size option and just look at every page in the print preview to ensure nothing is being cut off.

A big recommendation I have seen when researching this topic is to use an ink affixative to preserve the printed images. Also it seems that ink jet printer's color can be faded by the sun, so needs UV protection. I used Krylon UV-Resistant Clear Coating Matte for this project. As of now I am still experimenting with it so not sure how necessary this step is, but will go over what I have done, will do and have learned.

I sprayed a few coats on the sheets before mounting them on my chosen backing. Then used another few coats once mounted and cut. This makes the pieces look nice, but they are grainy to the touch. Plus I found a fine white powder from handling them, which is a bit annoying. I think that I used too much on my first pieces and didn't give it enough time to dry before handling. I would spray VERY thin coats, you shouldn't see any wetness, and leave them to dry for a good few hours. Plus I would only do 3 coats or so. One before mounting and 2 after mounting.

For this project I choose 3/16" Black Foam Core for the mounting material on my boards, auto-warps and HP trackers. A large sheet of this will provide you with exactly enough space to mount these things. Before mounting I cut most of the white space off. This way the pieces didn't take as much room and I could save the tokens for another material.

Being the perfectionist that I am, I used a decoupage tool to ensure no air bubbles and a flat mount. It is probably overkill, but an option for those who must have it perfect.

Once mounted I used an exacto knife and metal ruler to cut through the foam core, using the nice registry lines Ilya included. This take about 4-5 passes per line to ensure a smooth cut. For the player boards and Wizard HP trackers the results are quite nice.

I am less impressed with the small warp markers and auto-warp markers. The foam core is hard to cut in a circle and doesn't like to be cut starting from an edge. Which makes it hard to cut small pieces and anything else fancy.

I also STRONGLY recommend that you have a vacuum on hand. Foam core is pretty messy and leaves lots of particles lying around, especially with the smaller pieces.

One last cool thing that I found is a storage case which holds all 8 boards and the auto-warp pieces perfectly.

As I complete more pieces of the game, I'll continue this series. Next up will be the massive number of tokens for this game.

Deck Distribution and Optimal Play in Wiz War

I have been thinking more about why the 8th edition of Wiz-War feels so different from the 5th. Some of it is clearly because they took out some of the more devastating spells, like Buddy or Swap Home Bases, and toned down some mechanics, like the new stun mechanic instead of just losing a turn. So there are far fewer of the higher end spells. But Fantasy Flight also cut out the lower end. Not by just removing traps, but also combining the 2s and 3s with other minor spells. This flattening of the power level has a dramatic effect on optimal play.

In the 5th edition, there were a lot of cards that tended to just clog up your hand, 2s I am looking at you. But discarding to draw was a actual risky decision. While there was a chance of getting an actually amazing spell, there was also a chance of getting something far worse. It was often the correct play to keep mediocre or situational cards and try to maneuver into position. This encouraged creativity and truly memorable plays.

8th edition Wiz-War has no traps and essentially every card has the same basic power level. So burning it for a minor advantage is optimal because you know you will get another card about as useful from your draw. This leads to plays like using the Werewolf transformation just for the extra point of movement and dismissing the spell on the turn it is cast so another can be used at the destination. This sort of play would never have happened under the 5th edition where the transformations were powerful in their unique abilities.

Part of the issue is the combining the 2s and 3s with spells. Usually these numbers were essentially trash as were the spells they were placed on. But you still couldn't burn through them too fast by discarding or boosting your speed because getting stuck with no numbers to boost spells was crippling. Now players have more flexibility because if they burn a 2 or 3 now, odds are there is another coming attached to a spell that might be useful. The added flexibility of the cards actually reduces the space of rationalizable choices because there is no real resource trade off. So it is almost always correct to burn the cards for a marginal advantage to inch ahead of the other players.

This combining of the 2s and 3s with other cards is probably a contributing factor for requiring that maintained spells cost against your hand size in the 8th edition. Essentially people have too many possible cards in their hand. The combining the 2s and 3s with minor spells probably doubled hand sizes. Now we not only have 1 card where we might have had 2, there is also less fear of cycling through cards so we see more during the game. Without mechanisms to fill hand slots the shear number of options people have would get out of hand. Which would lead to both decision paralysis and the game becoming even more about shear efficiency. Not to mention less board clutter as people have fewer creations out at a time.

Honestly the most potent cards are now some of the stones. Especially those that give a minor buff to cards or movement every turn. These allow the player which posses them to do that one extra thing every turn. Which builds up to a huge lead over the course of a game. In a recent 2 player game, the turning point was when I used strength to rip a speed stone from the other player. This minor shift in power resulted in very divergent paths on what we were able to do and me winning simply because I could cover more ground.

Overall I am disappointed by how balanced the cards are in the new 8th edition of Wiz-War. This balance makes the game one of pure efficiency instead of the traditional chaotic good time. In addition, the extra options on the cards through the combination energy actually reduces the space of correct play. I think that fewer options and more variable card power would result in a more interesting game due to requiring the players to be more creati

Review: Wiz-War 8th Edition

I finally got a chance to play the 8th edition of Wiz-War. Some of my friends had a homemade copy of the 5th edition which was a blast to play. It was a very light game. The purpose was to kickback, relax and hopefully have some awesome stories to tell. The minimalistic design of the older version really emphasized this as the cards had no art and the tokens simply had the name of what they were. All the visuals were inside your imagination. I was really excited to play the new 8th edition because of how great the previous version is.

Overall my reactions are mixed to the game. It is still a fun game to play, but it doesn't capture the spirit of the 5th edition that I was hoping for. Granted, I only played the 8th edition with 2 players and this game really shines with 3+. But I think that I got a good taste of the modern mechanics to make a decent judgement.

What I liked was there was still an emphasis on being creative with spells. Things that manipulate the board were especially fun like Rotate Sector or Destroy Wall. The creation elements were a bit lack luster by comparison because of the new maintaining spells rule. But this can be easily corrected using a variant or two at the end of the rules.

The flavor of the game also stays very true to the original. All the new, fancy art and high quality pieces really bring you into a fantasy world. Nothing really seems out of place for a wizard battle royal. The card art has a lot of anime influences. But this is not a bad thing as it reminds you not to take the game too seriously.

My main complaint is this game is not swingy enough. While most modern games aim for balance by having nothing really overpowered, the strength of the 5th edition was balance achieved by extremely overpowered cards. Essentially all the cards that were not utility cards in the 5th edition were extremely powerful. It wasn't hard to torch someone within an inch of death. But the balance came in they would be able to return the favor in the not to distant future. In the 8th edition, all the advantages and cool plays build on marginal advantages over a number of turns. Doing something to absolutely wreck another player is much harder now. Overall the cards are at a more uniform power level and the counters are more prevalent than in the 5th edition.

I think this leads to a less memorable play experience. It is still very enjoyable to build up small advantages until the win is inevitable. Especially trying to do it under the nose of other players who have the same goal. I love Magic: the Gathering for this type of play, but am not really looking for it when I break out Wiz-War. I would prefer more swing and randomness. This generates much better stories. No one remembers the time that you kept a card advantage over your opponent and just won because you had more actions. But everyone remembers the time you were fried almost well done, but managed to teleport to safety and then fry the offending player with lightning to return the favor a few turns later.

There is still a lot of strategy and creativity in the latter type of play, just far less planning due to the chaos that multiple players can unleash. It feels good to not have to feed the Spike in me all the time. Sometimes Timmy wants his time with the massive attacks and flashy tricks. And the 5th edition of Wiz-War was just such a game. While I like the new 8th edition, there is just too much room for Spike to come out. Hopefully, this is less of a case when playing with more than 2 players. But I think that with the flattening of the spells' power Spike still has ample room to come out an play.

EDIT: There is a fan art version of the 5th edition with both official expansions and a community expansion which looks really nice on Board Game Geek. I recommend that those interested in making there own copy use that over the scans linked previously.