Wiz-War has returned, and it looks horrible!

Cave Evil and Wiz-War are very different. Wiz-War is a zany 40 minute game where it's all about seeing wild spells and beating the hell out of each other.

Cave Evil is a methodical game of exploration with resource collection and smaller probes into your opponent's territory. It usually takes us three hours to play with setup.

Wiz-War is the perfect end of the night game. Cave Evil requires the main event slot.

God damnit Thank you, Charlie.

I liked everything about Steve Jackson's Strange Synergy board game except the name and the graphic design. The name is tolerable, but completely fails to convey that this is a game about teams of super-powered characters battling in an arena. But I disliked the Phil Foglio art for it so much that I slapped different cover art on the box and then swapped a bunch of artwork from somebody's website about their personal Champions rpg campaign. I actually loved Phil Foglio's old recurring cartoon in Dragon Magazine, What's New With Phil & Dixie, because it was hilarious at times. But his silly art isn't a good match for everything under the sun, and his selections for Strange Synergy seemed to completely miss the comic book angle. I may end up going for this new edition of Wiz-War, and I also may end up slapping a new cover on the box.

Yesterday's live stream was... Sad.

Those blokes were so low energy and in need of rules clarification, it made me wonder if they even played Wiz-War before they hit record. I don't need a used car sales pitch, but come on. A bit of charisma and preparedness could go a long way.

After a work week of back and worth in this thread, I've cooled my jets. A little.

I do like;
- 6 player options
- 8 wizards/colors to choose
- A low price point

I'm curious about;
- SJ "curated"/developed spell deck. 119 cards, eh?
- D4 now a unique D8

I'm still perturbed with;
THE ARTWORK
- 8 mediocre illustrations from Phil Foglio is an injustice.
- The tiles are lackluster as a freshman's effort in Graphic Design 1, and that may be okay if the overlaying chits were popping with great contrast. They're not.
- No illustrations on the cards. Yes, I understand this is because 1) SJ, and me, are old and we can't read small text AND 2) individual illustrations would have cost $$$. Well, I think the FFG illustrations were borderline masterworks and believe that kind of evocative world building will be sorely missed in this edition. "Theater of the mind!" you say? No. FFG made a great stride with card presentation in the 8th edition. This 9th iteration is weak.
THE KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN
- Clearly it's going well for SJG. Nevertheless, the crowd funding page launched with muddled content, an insincere goal, and a tie-in to two additional products that have nothing to do with Wiz-War.

While I'm not filled with the same vitriol I had earlier, I'm still not jazz hands about it.

drewcula wrote: - D4 now a unique D8
.

It's really just 1-4 x 2; I actually bought one to use for my copy because I hate "rolling" D4s. They suck, but a D8 is great.

I've bought 8-sided d4s for my Wiz-War set too.

Some of the Chessex editions came with them, while some came with pyramid d4s. It's a little thing that really helps.

Everything about this so far feels very much like what I expected from SJG. They really are like the unfrozen caveman of the gaming industry. However, I also feel that Wiz-War is basically of the same era, so aside from the marketing clownery, it's pretty much a great fit. They weren't going to put foil on the cards or tack in a whole bunch of WILD NEW CONTENT! Just ship the damn game.

(of course, even that last part is something not to set on your calendar, because expectations)

I liked seeing the playthrough and don’t think it was a bad presentation, although it isn’t really “professional” either. They used to have a spokesperson, GloryHoundd, that did more engaging videos. In a way, having them not knowing the game helps because then their questions may also be questions that customers have.

drewcula wrote: 2) individual illustrations would have cost $$$.

With AI art here now, this part of the process should no longer cost much going forward. I generated over 8000 images in one month in Midjourney (for $30 total). While a fair number are unusable (due to AI currently not knowing how to draw hands), there are a lot that compete with what is on Magic cards these days.

As others have stated, I am glad to see this game at $30. There needs to be a return of games in that price range. While component quality may not be quite as nice in that range, I think that we can start to expect decent-looking productions due to AI art.

hotseatgames wrote: It's really just 1-4 x 2; I actually bought one to use for my copy because I hate "rolling" D4s. They suck, but a D8 is great.

A friend and I were wondering why more people didn't use d4s when designing games, and we thought they looked cool, so we decided to make a game with them. After picking up a couple of d4s and rolling them, we realized why people didn't use them in games. There is just something sadly lacking from the experience. Having custom d8s to replace d4s is the way to go.

Is anyone looking to sell their 8th edition plus expansions? Just asking for a friend...

Dr. Mabuse wrote: Is anyone looking to sell their 8th edition plus expansions? Just asking for a friend...

Who can keep track of all these editions? It's like trying to remember which songs are on which Chicago albums.

Don’t have much to add to the discussion but imo the best “d4s” I’ve ever rolled are the chonky d12’s in Root.

Unfortunately, it seems the $30 price tag isn't going to stick. There's an SJGames comment on the KS saying the retail will most likely be $40.

8th edition. Cold dead hands.

I'm glad the game is being revived but holy shit... the necromancer is drunk.

quozl wrote: Unfortunately, it seems the $30 price tag isn't going to stick. There's an SJGames comment on the KS saying the retail will most likely be $40.

So $30 from OLGS, and way less shipping

Frohike wrote: but holy shit... the necromancer is drunk.

Not uncommon in dark times.