Disclaimer: A copy of Wizards & Co was provided by Sinister Fish for review

Designers Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli, Stefano Luperto, and Antonio Tinto have brought us some wonderful games, such as Lorenzo Il Magnifico, First Rat, and Coimbra, as well as some not so great games, like Grand Austria Hotel, and Egizia (This is a joke. These are two of Otter‘s favourite games and I really like harassing him. Egizia is a very fine game). It was this pedigree of designers that I agreed to receive a review copy of their latest game, Wizards & Co, published by Sinister Fish Games.

In Wizards & Co, players take on the role of wizards, seeking the treasure of the recently deceased high necromancer, packed away in unguarded dungeons. You head to the local big box store Henchpersons & Minions and pick their deal of the day to acquire a preassembled crew of creatures that will help you haul the treasure out. Unfortunately, that preassembled crew was such a good deal, your rival wizards picked the same team, and now you’re all vying for the treasure with the same henchmen.

Wizards & Co kicks player asymmetry to the curb and gives everyone the exact same abilities. The game is out-thinking your opponents to get the most loot and win the game. A game of Wizards & Co. has a number of dungeons in the centre of the table, each one with a number of empty slots. On a player’s turn they can play one or two cards to one or two dungeons, one of those cards can be face down. Then, depending on the number and orientation of those cards, they may draw 0, 1, or 2 cards. When a dungeon runs out of open slots, then a ‘battle’ happens. First, starting from the statue and moving clockwise, each monster activates in turn. Some monsters will stun or destroy other monsters, and if they do that to another minion before it had the chance to activate, they don’t activate at all.

Some creatures offer persistent effects, others trigger when they’re placed, but most activate during the battle phase. After every minion has activated and the dust settles, whoever filled up the dungeon gets to take the enchantment, and whichever player has the most minion power in the dungeon gets to take one of the two treasures. Second place gets the remaining treasure, then, any minions that are sitting at an entrance that has a gem icon, takes one of those gems, and all the minions go to the bottom of their respective players decks.

The deck system is fairly clean in Wizards & Co. There are no discard piles, all discards just go to the bottom of the deck. On one hand, no need to shuffle. But more than once I accidentally picked up my deck of cards instead of my hand, which is probably more of a scathing indictment of my terrible big hand small deck strategy than anything else. It is somewhat unintuitive to remember, “if you played one card face up, draw two cards. If you played one card face down, or two cards face up, draw one card. If you played two cards to the same dungeon, draw no cards”. Thankfully, there is a player aid, but we did have to keep referencing that aid as we played. A potential sticking point for some people.

I have some complaints about the rule book, and how some of the information is laid out, but once you start playing, all the pieces start to fit together. What appears as a light and silly game can actually turn into a cold, calculating puzzle. Because everyone has the same creatures as everyone else, it can turn into a standoff. At first, placing a monster in a tower early seems like a good idea. Lock down the gem you need. However, placing monsters in lucrative spots invites their specific foils, and that damned ogre that bumps a creature from an occupied slot turns what was going to complete your gem set into forcing you to take yet another void gem.

The Cavern of Wonders – I love that the dungeon name changes depending on the combination of the dungeon tile and enchantment

The base game comes with 16 creatures, of which you’ll only use 10 per game, plus another 6 special monsters that only get unlocked for the player who acquires their specific artifact. The replayability of Wizards & Co doesn’t lie in its variability, but in the depth of strategy. Learning how and when to play your monsters is vital, as is a good memory. Counting which foils have come and gone, and understanding when to rush a dungeon versus spreading your forces out.

I’ve done terribly in this game. My memory is so awful, that I laid a face down giant killing hobb in an empty tower, then placed a giant there in my next round, completely forgetting what I had done the turn before. I got bounced out of lucrative spots several times, kicking my units into the void gem spots, decimating my gem horde in the end game. But I still had fun! The reveal of the face down monsters when the tower fills up is exciting, as is when you correctly place a monster in a way that it either kills, or avoids being killed.

As I said above, the rule book isn’t very clear on the details, and there isn’t a comprehensive glossary of icons. This had me flipping back and forth in the book a few times on game night, which could leave some gamers feeling frustrated, but really, that’s my biggest complaint about Wizards & Co. The components are nice, the gems are all shaped differently with screen printed accents, the cardboard is sufficiently thick, the cards feel good in the hand, no complaints on the physical production. The artwork by Miguel Coimbra is colourful and fantastical. Each of the imps, hobbs, giants, and monsters felt unique and dynamic.

woof, that’s a lot of void gems

I also don’t think Wizards & Co. plays particularly well at 2 players. With only two dungeons, it turns into a waiting game. Of course, on your turn if you have cards, you must play at least one, it almost feels like a game of chicken. Slowly adding one face down card to each dungeon until someone is able to fill it on their turn, hoping that the specific foil isn’t present. With more players, you need to take more risks to stake your claims, as the dungeons fill up fast. You don’t always have time to slow roll your creature deployment. Somewhat unintuitively, while a large part of the game is about taking gems, I don’t think they’re the best return on investment. It takes 6 different gems to get 12 points, but a single A treasure is worth 7. But don’t take strategy advice from me, I’ve lost every game I played.

As I said before, the joy in Wizards & Co doesn’t lie in its variability, but in its mastery. Developing a meta strategy among your friends, and finding ways to surprise and counter each other, is a fun experience, and it only gets better as you and your friends become more familiar with the potential that each monster holds. I do hope that Sinister Fish Games has some expansions in the pipeline, as I would love to see more creatures become available to shake up the gameplay. If you have a group that likes to replay the same game multiple times, Wizards & Co. will reward you for that proclivity.