Witchcraft (2008) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the game
• Components
• Game Preparation
• Game Sequence
  • First Phase: Placing tiles on the game board
  • Second phase: The encounter
    • 1. Casting a spell on an enemy wizard
    • 2. Activating Altar powers
    • 3. Activating Special Tiles
  • Tiles and stacks
  • Exhaustion
  • Power Tiles
  • The end of the game
• Tiles in Witchcraft
• Special Tile Powers
  • The Prophet
  • The Prince
  • The Barbarian
  • The Key Keeper
  • The Priest
• Altar Powers
  • Altar of Energy
  • Altar of Protection
  • Altar of Teleportation
  • Altar of Summoning
• Draw
• Tournament mode
• Master mode

Object of the game

The object of the game is to defeat the opposing player's guild. Each turn a player decides which of his wizards will attack, and then the attack is resolved. An attack can be made on one of four altars in the temple or on an enemy wizard. A successful attack on an altar gives a player a unique power (additional movement, adding a new piece to the board, refreshing a unit, etc.). A successful attack on an enemy wizard gains control over him, and the wizard starts to fight under control of the attacker.

Victory is achieved by the player who takes control over all the opponent's wizards or who makes the opponent unable to cast a spell during their turn.

Components

• 1 game board
• 4 altars
• 4 power tiles
• 9 green guild tiles
• 9 red guild tiles
• 6 special tiles
• 8 exhaustion tokens
• 4 shield spell tokens
• 3 pairs of additional board game pieces (map tiles with 1, 2, 3 game spaces)
• This rulebook

Game Preparation

Put the game board in the middle of the table (or other gaming surface) so that every player has comfortable access to it. Next randomly select altars and put them in the spaces shown on the diagram.

Before the game begins, each player should choose which guild he will command - red or green. The guilds' wizards are represented by tiles with a gem of the corresponding color in the center. Then each player receives 9 tiles representing wizards of their guild. The red player is dealt all the tiles with a red gem; the green player is dealt all the tiles with a green gem.

Next you should deal special tiles. Each player receives one Prophet tile. From the remaining four special tiles each player receives one random special tile. Put the remaining two special tiles in the box. You will not need them for the rest of the game.

You should flip your special tiles to show the color of your guild.

In the first phase of the game players will set up eight wizards on the playing board. The remaining tiles are: The Monk, The Prophet, The Telekinetic. Players should put them aside near the game board; they will be used in the course of the game.

Players take also one random power tile and place it face down in front of them secretly.

Before the game begins each player should shuffle eight wizard tiles and place them in a stack.

Players choose who will start the game.

Diagram legend: 1 - Board with altars; 2 - Face down Power tiles; 3 - Stack of tiles; 4 - Reserve tiles; 5 - Counters; 6 - Additional board pieces; 7 - Tiles removed from the game.

Game Sequence

First Phase: Placing tiles on the game board

In the first phase of the game, players prepare for the coming clash of guilds. In turns they put their wizards on the game board, creating the starting situation for the impending battle.

The starting player draws the first wizard tile from his stack and places it on any free space on the board (not occupied by another tile or altar). You should be careful - wizards cast spells only in specific directions.

When laying a tile, you should carefully choose a direction of attack of each mage, changing direction of an attack throughout the game will not be easy. Each wizard can cast a spell in eight directions.

Then the second player draws the first tile from his stack and places it on any free space on the board.

Players alternate drawing the top tile from their stack and placing them on free spaces on the board.

When the last wizard tile is laid on the board, the first phase ends and it is time to start the second phase - the encounter. The first player will remain the same in the second phase.

Second phase: The encounter

In this phase players will alternately cast spells by activating their wizards on the board. After a spell is cast, the wizard is exhausted, and the player should place an exhaustion marker on the activated tile.

A legal move is:

1. Activating a player's wizard to hit an enemy wizard
2. Activating a player's wizard to hit an altar and trigger its power
3. Using one of the player's special tiles and resolving its effect

If the effect of a move cannot occur for any reason, then the move is illegal and cannot be made.

Example: You cannot cast a spell on an Altar of Summoning if there are no more additional board pieces left.

Example: The Barbarian cannot cast a spell that destroys an altar if all altars have already been destroyed.

Example: You cannot make an attack that would hit a wizard protected by a magical shield.

1. Casting a spell on an enemy wizard

The spell cast by an activated wizard always hits the first enemy tile in the wizard's line of sight, no matter how far away. The spell symbol on the wizard's tile shows the direction of attack (always in a straight line). A wizard with two spell symbols casts spells in both directions at the same time during one activation, possibly hitting two enemy wizards.

Wizards cast spells over their friendly units. Friendly units do not block line of sight towards enemy wizards in the same line. Altars do block line of sight: wizards cannot cast spells over them.

If a spell hits an enemy wizard through a side that is protected by a magic shield, then the move is illegal and cannot be made.

After the hit, the active player should take the hit wizard from the board, removing all tokens from it (exhaustion and shield tokens). Next, he should flip it to show the color representing his own guild and put it on ANY of his tiles (tiles of his color) on the board, creating a stack.

Every tile captured this way should always be put ONTO a tile belonging to the active player (never on an empty field!). You cannot change the order or direction of tiles lying under the tile just captured. You can also put the captured tile onto a tile that has shield or exhaustion tokens. This removes all shield and exhaustion tokens from the stack.

2. Activating Altar powers

You can decide to hit an altar with a spell instead of casting it against an enemy mage. This way you will activate the power of the altar.

After an altar is hit its power is immediately activated (see Altar Powers). After you resolve the altar effect, put an exhaustion token on the wizard who cast the spell.

3. Activating Special Tiles

Special tiles, like The Prophet, The Prince, The Dame, The Barbarian, The Priest do not cast spells in specific directions. Instead they have unique special powers, which are described below (see Special Tile Powers). In every other aspect they count as every other wizard tile (they become part of stacks, are exhausted after being activated etc).

Tiles and stacks

Many stacks will be created during the game. Every stack created this way is considered to be one tile which is represented by the tile on the top of the stack. A stack doesn't block line of sight, and the powers of altars can affect it, etc., just as if it were a single tile.

After a stack is hit by an enemy spell, the active player takes control of all wizards in the stack. He takes tiles off the game board and flips them to match the color of his guild. Then he distributes tiles among tiles of his guild (putting them onto the tops of the stacks). For example if a player cast a spell on a stack containing four wizards, he could take them and put three of them onto one of his wizard tiles and the fourth one onto another tile.

Players are free to check tiles that are under any stacks any time during the game, but they can't change the order or direction of wizard tiles beneath.

Exhaustion

After casting a spell, a wizard becomes exhausted. The player should put an exhaustion token on the wizard. As long as there is an exhaustion token it cannot cast spells and be activated.

An exhausted wizard can still be a target for spells or altar powers. If it is hit by a spell, it is flipped to show control by the other player, and the exhaustion token (as well as any shield token) is removed.

Power Tiles

During a turn, a player can use the power of a power tile before or after he activated his wizard. The power tile is then removed from the game. The effect of the power tile is the same as the power of the corresponding altar.

The end of the game

If a player cannot make a legal move on their turn, they lose the game. Sometimes a "dirty victory" is possible, where a player with only one or two stacks wins against a player who controls many stacks, because the player with many stacks has no legal move!

Tiles in Witchcraft

Wizard tiles: The Apprentice, The Archmage, The Master, The Golem, The Monk, The Watchmen, The Telekinetic.

Every tile represents one wizard fighting for a magic guild. A tile can have the following symbols:

• Gem - (red or green) represents membership in the red or green guild. Gems are used to divide the tiles before the game. During the game, they have no special meaning.
• Color - Every tile is red on one side and green on the other. If the tile shows red it means that the red player controls this wizard (and all wizards in the stack beneath it).
• Spell direction - when a player puts a wizard tile on a game board, he can choose a direction (or directions) where his wizard will be casting spells by the tile facing. He can choose one of eight directions, indicated by the spell direction symbol.
• Spell power - wizards can cast three kinds of spells. They have various powers and effects:

MAGIC MISSILE. Magic missile is a basic spell. It hits the first target in the line of sight. It can hit an altar and an enemy wizard. An enemy wizard tile is hit unless it is protected by a magic shield blocking in the direction of the attack. By hitting an altar, a magic missile activates the altar's powers. It can be cast by: The Apprentice, The Watchman, The Golem and The Master.

THUNDER. Thunder has the same effect as magic missile. In addition thunder can break through a Magic Shield. When a wizard is casting thunder targeting a tile protected by a Magic Shield, the shield is deactivated and thus an attack can be made legally, and the wizard is hit. It can be cast by: The Monk, The Archmage.

BLAST. When a wizard casts a Blast spell, the active player can choose any target in line of the spell that will be hit (not only the first one). It can target an altar or enemy wizard tile. An enemy wizard tile is hit unless it is protected by a magic shield blocking in the direction of the attack. Blast can be cast by: The Telekinetic.

The Master performs a spell in two directions simultaneously. Therefore a spell cast by Archmage is made in two directions and if possible hits two targets at once. At least one attack in one direction must be legal to cast a successful spell using The Archmage. Thus, if one of the targets in the line of spell is protected by a shield (or there is no target in the line of spell), but a second spell hits the target, the move is legal.

• SHIELD - Some tiles are protected by magic Shields, which protect against magical powers. Magic Shield protects against a successful hit by Magic Missile, Blast or a hit from the Archmage. It doesn't protect against thunder. A Shield always protects against attacks from a specific direction (indicated by the shield token). If a tile is hit by a spell from a direction it is not protected by the shield, the shield has no effect. A Wizard tile can be protected from more than one direction (like the Golem, or when a player activates the power of the Altar of Protection).

Tiles protected by a shield: The Archmage, The Watchman, The Golem.

(Illustrated example: a shield protecting from 3 directions.)

Special Tile Powers

Every special tile in Witchcraft has a unique power. These are not spells cast in a specific direction (except for the Priest).

The Prophet

By activating the power of the Prophet, a player performs the following action: remove one exhaustion token from one stack or tile and / or change the order and facing of all the tiles in that stack.

The Prophet can cast its spell also on a stack with the Prophet on the top of it, but it will not remove an exhaustion token, because the exhaustion token is always placed after resolving the spell effect.

The Prince

When using the Prince's power, the active player chooses one of his stacks. He takes the stack, removes one of its tiles from the game, and then divides the rest of their tiles among his other stacks, placing the tiles on the top.

More than one tile can be placed on the same stack.

The Prince's power can be played on the Prince's own stack. The Prince can be the tile removed from the game.

The Barbarian

When activating the Barbarian's power the active player can choose an altar to remove from the game board. The player can also choose an already deactivated altar, whose power has been already used (Altar of Summoning).

The Key Keeper

When activating the Key Keeper's power the active player can swap the locations of two of his stacks/tiles. The entire stacks can be rotated to change facing (but tiles in stacks can not be rotated individually in different directions). It is legal for one of the 2 stacks to be the Key Keeper's stack.

The Priest

By using the Priest's power the active player can activate altars in the spell's line of sight. The Priest can't be used to hit an enemy wizard. If there are two altars in the Priest's line of sight, the player can activate both altars.

The Priest's line of sight is blocked by enemy wizards. Only altars are affected by the Priest's spell.

(Illustrated: line of Priest's power.)

Altar Powers

If an altar is hit by a spell, its power is activated. All altars remain on the board until the game ends, unless hit by the Barbarian's spell.

Altar of Energy

The Altar of Energy's power lets a player remove up to two exhaustion tokens from any tiles. Note that the wizard who cast the spell to activate the Altar of Energy cannot benefit from this, since the exhaustion token is always put on the wizard after all the spell effects are resolved.

You cannot activate this altar if none of your stacks have exhaustion tokens.

Altar of Protection

The Altar of Protection's power gives a player one Shield token. He can put it on any wizard he controls.

A shield token has the same effect as a shield printed on a tile - it protects against a magic attack (except Thunder attacks).

A shield always protects against an attack from one of eight directions. A player should place the shield token clearly on the side of the tile where he wants to be protected. A wizard tile can have at most eight shield tokens - one for each of the eight directions.

If a new tile is stacked onto a tile with a shield token, this token is removed.

Altar of Teleportation

The Altar of Teleportation allows its user to move one of his wizards in one of eight directions to an adjacent unoccupied space and/or change its facing to any direction desired.

Wizards cannot be moved to a space occupied by another wizard or altar.

Altar of Summoning

The Altar of Summoning allows a player to bring new powerful wizard tiles into the game (from the three which were set aside before the game). Those wizard tiles can be laid on an additional map tile. Activating the Altar of Summoning proceeds as follows:

1. The active player chooses a pair of map tiles covering 1, 2, or 3 spaces.

2. The active player chooses a place next to the main game board where he wants to lay this additional map tile. He places one of the elements by the edge of the board. He lays a second one symmetrically on the other side of the game board.

A map tile with 2 spaces should be laid so that both of its spaces are adjacent to the game board.

A map tile with 3 spaces should be laid so that at least 2 of the 3 spaces are adjacent to the game board.

3. The active player chooses one of the newly added map tiles. The opponent takes one wizard of his choice - The Monk, The Prophet or The Telekinetic - and places it on any free space on a map tile selected by an active player. In case of 2 and 3 space map tiles, the opponent chooses on which free space he will place his wizard.

4. Now the active player takes one of his available wizards (The Monk, The Prophet or The Telekinetic) and places it on the other newly added map tile.

From now on, the newly added map tiles are treated as part of the game board. Both players can move wizards there, etc.

After all three pairs of additional map tiles have been placed, Altar of Summoning has no more power. Attacks on the altar are then illegal, but the altar still blocks line of sight and movement.

Draw

If the sequence of activation of both players does not change for three rounds, the game ends with a draw.

Tournament mode

During Tournaments, to remove random factor from the game, players can not use power tiles. They are not used in the game.

Master mode

Advanced players can decide which three wizard tiles will not be used in a game and put aside for later use (using altar of summoning).