Board Game Review: Wizard's Quest

James Lees is our Abnormal Member for Board Games. Today he reviews one of the games from his own collection: Wizard's Quest.

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Wizard's Quest! A name that strikes fear in the heart of even the most veteran board game player. Wizard's quest is actually a board game from my own collection but it has gained such infamy I feel it deserves to be spoken about.

I bought Wizard's quest on a charity shop market stall for about £4 because I fell in love with it's generic name and generic box art. The rules say that what I purchased the Third Edition (1980) making it a fairly old game. The age of the game is shown not only in it's (what we would now consider genericness) but also in a quaint little box on page 4 of the rules. The box details the address of The Avalon Hill Games Company and the information that if you post them a stamped self-addressed envelope their design department would be happy to take the time to answer queries regarding play.

But getting into the game itself. The rules are mammoth, 6 A4 sides covered in some of the smallest writing known to man. They begin with a lovely bit of lore. The gist of it is that there were some people fighting over some land there was so much bloodshed that the great Wizard Peacemaker decided to step in. By giving each of the warlords powerful treasures and getting the other warlords to scatter them across the lands and telling them that whomever can butcher their way across the land and reclaim all their treasures first will be crowned ruler. It is for this reason (and also the fact that he makes works multiply like nobodies business) that he soon lost the name Peacemaker and gained a name that I shall not share but that rhymed with Bankstick.

The set up is relatively simple. Everyone chooses a starting castle (which has it's own territory) and then Orks are placed throughout the board using dicerolls and then you fill the rest of your territory using warrior tokens Then you place your enemies treasure tokens on the board (preferably as far away from them as possible).

From there it works very much like risk with attacking, moving and gaining men. However there are also the Orks to contend with as more are placed each turn automatically attacking anything nearby and if left unchecked they can 'frenzy' which let's just say isn't fun. But not only this each turn you must also face the dragon. The dragon hops around the board as determined by dice rolling chomping everything it lands on until it lands on some troops then contented with its meal settles down. Now this sounds great as in theory as it could wipe the board of Orks but it never does! It almost always drops straight onto your troops. And there is also our old friend Wizard Bankstick who turns up and just multiplies all the Orks and stops you from fighting.

The odds are really against you at the start and it always feels like a miracle when you manage to pull through. But eventually most of the Orks lie dead and the game moves into the second phase where you try to carve your way through the island to your treasures through the people that used to be your freinds, praying that the dragon didn't land on the bulk of your army. Also woe betide you if you decide to attack a castle because you will lose everything.

Anyway the game will end suddenly when somebody manages to get a boat (don't ask me how I can't remember) and then they will zip around and get all their treasures almost instantly.

Wizard's Quest will take about 3-5 hours but it will be over in a matter of minutes. If you've got the time I recommend  playing it because it's certainly an experience and its fun but whether its good or not is a different question entirely.