Wizards of the Wild
Wizards of the Wild Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 7 Wizard sheets
- 1 Score sheet
- 28 Wooden markers in 4 colors
- 39 Spell cards (19 Level I, 20 Level II)
- 39 Challenge cards (19 Level I, 20 Level II)
- 8 Acolyte cards
- 6 Sorcery dice
Setup
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Each player chooses a wizard and takes the wooden markers of 1 color.
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On your wizard sheet, place markers on tome and arcane at 2, gems at 3, mana at 4, and skulls at 0.
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Each player chooses to use either Side A or Side B of their wizard sheet.
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Each player puts a marker at 10 on the score sheet. Set the other score markers aside. During play, if a player's score passes 50, place a marker on 50. If it passes 100, place the marker on 100.
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Shuffle the level 1 spell and challenge decks, then deal a number of cards from each to separate piles:
- 2 Players: 6 spell and 6 challenge cards
- 3 Players: 8 spell and 8 challenge cards
- 4 Players: 10 spell and 10 challenge cards
Unused Level 1 cards are put back in the box.
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Shuffle all the level 2 spell and challenge cards and place them face down in separate piles.
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Stack the level 1 spell cards atop the level 2 spell cards.
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Stack the level 1 challenge cards atop the level 2 challenge cards.
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Draw 2 cards from the spell deck and 2 from the challenge deck. Display them face up in the middle of the play area.
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Shuffle the Acolyte cards and deal 7 into a face down pile to form the Acolyte deck. Unused Acolyte cards are put back in the box.
Flow of Play
The first player of the game is the last person who fed a pet. An Acolyte card is turned up and placed in front of that Wizard. Turns go clockwise from the Start Player. When everyone has had a turn, the round is over and a new Acolyte is turned up. When there are no more Acolytes, the game is over. The player with the most points wins!
The Acolyte Card
During a game round, the Acolyte card has the following effects:
- Mana Penalty At the start of the round, all players suffer the card's mana penalty. Each must reduce mana on their wizard the indicated amount. If you run out of mana, advance your skulls 1 space for each mana you lack.
- Bribe Option During their turn, a player may bribe the Acolyte to gain victory points (see Bribe the Acolyte, below).
- Skull Penalty At the end of the round, the player with the most skulls loses victory points as shown on the card. In a tie for most, all tied players lose victory points. If all players are tied, ignore the penalty.
Important! After applying the end-of-round skull penalty, all players reset their skulls to zero!
Your Turn
On a turn, you first must Fill the Display and then Roll Dice. After rolling dice, you may optionally Buy Cards, Use Cards, Bribe the Acolyte and Store Resources. The powers of a Wizard may be used as specified any time during your turn. After taking a turn, pass the dice clockwise.
Fill the Display
If there are fewer than 4 cards displayed at the start of your turn, draw cards from the spell or challenge deck until 4 are displayed. You may draw from both decks if you like! If there are 4 cards displayed at the start of your turn, you may instead discard any 1 displayed card and replace it with a drawn spell or challenge card.
Roll Dice
You must roll all of the dice at least once. You may re-roll some or all of the dice up to 2 more times. The die faces are as follows:
- Arcane is used to buy challenge cards.
- Tome is used to buy spell cards.
- Arcane/Tome allows you to choose arcane or tome.
- Mana is spent for many spell effects. You get 2 mana per die result. If your mana is ever penalized during play, but you have none, you must advance your skulls 1 for each mana you lack.
- Gem is used to Bribe the Acolyte for victory points. Gems are also spent for some spell effects.
- Skull may cost you victory points at the end of the round if you have more skulls than anyone else. However, having enough skulls activates some spell effects.
Important! Immediately after each dice roll (including re-rolls), mark any new skull results on your Wizard!
Buy Cards
You may spend arcane to buy challenge cards and tome to buy spell cards. You may buy one or more cards. When you buy a card, you do not assess its victory points until the end of the game. If you buy any cards, you may not store arcane or tome (see Store Resources, below).
Important! In addition to dice, you can use stored resources, spell or challenge effects, and your wizard's special ability to buy cards.
Use Cards
Every card has a unique effect.
- Challenge Cards have an immediate effect or an end of game effect. After resolving the immediate effect (if any), the challenge card is turned face down, inactive, until the end of the game.
- Spell Cards usually have an effect that may occur once per turn, including the turn on which they are bought. Some spells require you to spend a resource to cause the effect. Spells with the "Whenever" keyword are exceptions, triggering each time their condition occurs. Spell cards are kept face up.
Bribe the Acolyte
Once per turn, you may bribe the current Acolyte, spending gems to score victory points.
Important! You can only Bribe the Acolyte once per turn!
Store Resources
At the end of your turn, if you do not buy any cards, you may add unused tome and arcane to storage. Mana and gems may always be stored. Your Wizard sheet shows the limits for storage. Any leftovers are lost.
Ending the Round
After everyone has taken a turn, resolve the Acolyte's skull penalty (see Skull Penalty, above). Discard the old Acolyte card. The new Start Player is the next clockwise player, and that person draws a new Acolyte card.
End of the Game
The game ends after 7 rounds, when there are no more Acolyte cards to turn up. In final scoring, everyone assesses the victory points of all of their spell and challenge cards - including all end of game challenge card effects. The highest score wins! In the event of a tie, the player with the most challenge cards wins. If still tied, the player with the most spell cards wins.
Example of Play
Suppose I'm using Willow the Squirrel as my Wizard....
At the beginning of the round, Tippy the Acolyte is turned up. Every player, including me, loses 1 mana.
At the beginning of my turn, there are 3 cards showing in the display. I draw 1 more card, and this is my display....
My first dice roll: I mark the skull immediately. Because I want The Cauldron spell the most, I keep the tome and reroll everything else. After my second roll, I have...
I keep the 2 tomes and the gem, and reroll everything else. After my last roll, I have...
I mark a skull again, so I now have 2. Now it's time for actions...
...but with my 3 tomes from dice, I'm still 1 short of buying The Cauldron. That's easily fixed, as I use my 3 tomes from dice and my 1 tome in storage to buy it.
I can almost buy a Challenge card too. I have 1 arcane from dice, and if I spend 2 mana, I could use my new Cauldron spell to create 2 more arcane. Unfortunately, 3 arcane still isn't enough.
For most players, my 1 arcane would be lost -- you cannot add tome or arcane to storage if you buy cards during your turn. However, Willow the Squirrel's special power enables her to break this rule for arcane! I go ahead and spend 2 mana to use The Cauldron and store 3 arcane!
I store 1 more gem from the dice. I cannot bribe the acolyte because I'm 1 gem short.
I'm finished now, so I pass the dice. After the last player of the round has a turn, we'll see whether my 2 skulls are the most. If they are, I'll be penalized 3VP at the end of the round.
Solo Setup
Prior to setting up, remove all cards with the solo icon. After shuffling, put 7 cards from the level 1 spell deck on top of the level 2 spell cards, and do the same for the challenge cards.
As usual, deal 7 Acolyte cards to a pile, and turn up 2 spells and 2 challenges for the initial display.
After you choose your wizard, choose any other wizard card to be your opponent and place it nearby. Mark all of the resources on that wizard card at the starting resource levels. Mark the opposing Wizard's starting victory points according to the level of difficulty you want:
- 70 Apprentice (Easy)
- 80 Sorcerer (Medium)
- 90 Archmage (Hard)
Important! In the solo game, the opposing wizard does not take turns, but is the foe you must defeat to win!
The Acolyte Card in Solo Play
To begin a round, turn up an acolyte card.
- The Single Player Icon shows how many skulls to mark on the opposing Wizard at the start of the round.
- The Mana Penalty applies to your Wizard, but not the opposing Wizard.
- You may Bribe the Acolyte if you choose.
- The Skull Penalty is ignored in solo play. Instead, a die is rolled to determine it at the end of the round (see End of Round, below).
Your Turn (Solo Play)
The normal rules apply with a few changes.
- When you Fill the Display, discard any cards on the display that you didn't buy. Put out 4 new cards of your choice from the spell and/or challenge decks.
- If you use a spell or challenge that affects the opposing Wizard's resources or victory points, mark them down as usual.
- If your opponent is supposed to discard a card, instead, the opposing Wizard loses 1 value in 2 different non-skull resources of your choosing (tome, arcane, gem, or mana).
- If your opponent is supposed to lose the victory point value of a card, inflict a 4VP loss on the opposing Wizard instead.
End of Round (Solo Play)
After you have taken a turn, a special Solo Skull Penalty applies. To determine the skull penalty, roll one die. The result may affect you or the opposing Wizard, depending on who has more skulls. If you are tied, there is no penalty and no roll is needed.
- If the result is tome, arcane, 2 mana, or gem, the result shows what is lost.
- If the result is arcane/tome, the penalized wizard loses 1 of whichever resource is greater (if tied, you may choose which resource is lost).
- If the result is skull, the penalized wizard loses 3VP.
End of the Solo Game
The solo game ends after 7 rounds, when there are no more Acolyte cards to turn up. However, there is special scoring at the end of the game.
- If the opposing Wizard has lost value in 2 different non-skull resources, he loses 1 victory point (VP). If he has lost value in 3 different non-skull resources, he loses 2VP. If he has lost value in all 4, he loses 4VP.
- For each completely depleted non-skull resource, the opposing Wizard loses 2VP.
For example, if an opposing Wizard has lost 1 gem, 2 tome, and 1 mana by the end of a game, he loses 2VP because 3 different non-skull resources have been lost, plus he loses 2VP more because he has no tome left.
Compare your final score to the opposing Wizard's final score to determine the winner!
Questions and Answers
Can I play with 5 players? Yes, though you'll have to get markers for the fifth player. During setup, deal 12 spell and 12 challenge cards atop the level 2 cards. A 5 player game does take longer to play!
Can my Wizard's special ability be used as often as I want? In general, abilities may be used once per turn, unless they have the "whenever" keyword, just like spells. However, you should consider Quantum's abilities to be active throughout each turn.
During solo play, can I discard a card from the display? No. But in solo play, the display is cleared after each turn automatically.
During solo play, what if the rolled Solo Skull Penalty is a 2 mana loss, and I have no mana? Normally, you would add a skull for each mana you lack. But it doesn't matter because the round is about to end, so your skulls will reset to zero anyway.
What if another player buys Breathing Tax and I don't have any gems? You get a lucky break! When cards or Wizard powers force you to pay a resource, but you have none, you don't pay anything. Only mana has a special penalty when you don't have any and are forced to pay.
I rolled 2 tomes on my turn, but it wasn't enough to buy a spell. But I did buy a challenge card. Can I store the 2 tomes? No. If you Buy Cards on your turn, you cannot add any tome or arcane to your Wizard sheet. However, you may keep any tome or arcane on your Wizard sheet from a previous turn.
The player before me didn't buy any cards, so there are 4 showing in the display when my turn starts. Do I get to put a new card out? Yes. When there are 4 cards already showing, you may (if you like) discard one of them and replace it with a challenge or spell card.
Why are there shadow, enchantment, and sorcery spells? Because some cards specify bonus effects for certain spell types. For example, Dastardy Plot is worth 3VP for each shadow spell you have at the end of the game.
Are spell effects optional and challenge effects mandatory? Yes. If a spell effect is partially negative, the effect will begin "You may..." to remind you that you don't have to use it. So you don't have to use Animation of Brooms, but if you do, you get the entire effect. For "Immediately..." challenge cards like Assassination Attempt, the effect always occurs once, right after you buy the card.
If I buy a card like Assassination Attempt, its immediate effect says lose 2 mana. What if I only have 1 mana left? Do I lose 1 mana and add 1 skull as a penalty? Yes. Any time you are forced to pay mana and you cannot, you take 1 skull for each mana you lack. But you can buy the card, because the card's effect is not part of the cost.
What if I lack enough mana to use a spell like Little White Lie? Can I gain a skull in order to use it? No. This is an optional use of mana and you cannot spend mana you don't have.
What if I have 4 mana? Can I use Little White Lie twice on my turn? No. All spells except those with the "Whenever" keyword can be used only once during your turn.