Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Wondering how Wizard King plays in particular.

Malfred, what, if any, block games are you familiar with?

I'd suggest heading over http://www.boardgamegeek.com and checking out the page for Wizard Kings - there you can find a lot of reviews, and other such things about the game.

I own Victory: The Blocks of War. I actually own everything for the game, 6 armies, extra pieces for 4 armies (elite units), all the extra maps, etc.

I would not call it a bad game, but in a sense i'd hesitate to call it a game. It feels more like a game kit, if that makes sense. You get a rulebook, 2 armies, and some maps. The rulebook contains about three different scenarios you can play, and thats about it.

It's up to the players to come up with interesting scenarios, winning conditions, etc.

That said, I find it's an excellent lighter multiplayer wargame, particularly nice is that it can be a true multiplayer block game. If you have enough maps the amount of battlefields you can make is cool. You can shape your maps to be mostly land, or too have a lot of water to do more naval stuff, etc.

We used to do play 4 player games, with two players to a team. That was fun, but it's beer and pretzels type stuff. Not sure how much depth you want in a game like this.

The only problem with the game is that mounting a successful attack can be daunting, especially since everyone has access to the exact same units. There is no "flavor" so to speak of in the game. Everyone has access to the same generic units based on WW2 technology.

As a result of the fact that all the units are the same, and everyone starts off with the same number of production points (what you use to build stuff) the game can very easily turn in to a stalemate, which is the most common complaint with the game. Most agree the game isn't bad, but isn't great. I guess it will depend on your game group and what you're looking for.

Obviously Wizard Kings differs there because there are different factions, with different units, etc - but from my understanding the basic system is similar to Victory but don't quote me on that.

Anyway, any questions on victory feel free to ask.

On last thing Malfred - head over to the Victory Games website, the rules for both Victory and Wizard Kings are available on there website. I have about 50+ boardgames now and i've found when thinking about purchasing any boardgame that the best thing to do is read the rulebook. I don't know if you play a lot of board games, but more and more board game publishers are putting their rulebooks online for prospective customers to read, plus it's nice to be able to reference a rule on the computer too (laptop, etc). Coming from a boardgame background I sometimes get a little annoyed when I have to shell out $50+ for a miniature ruleset, but the rules essentially ARE the game, as you could get minis from any source, not just the company who puts out the game.

I think the Victory rules are under 20 pages. I think it's more like 12-14, so it should be an easy read.

I'm more interested in Wizard Kings. Thanks for the general overview of the
block games. I have absolutely no experience with them and my interest stems
from the fact that my buddy was playing Victory the other night and I pretty
much announced that I had to have my Elves and Dragons if they expected me
to play a game with blocks and stickers. He said there was one.

From various things I've read, they've mentioned something about random armies
in Wizard Kings expansions? What's with that?

malfred wrote:I'm more interested in Wizard Kings. Thanks for the general overview of the
block games. I have absolutely no experience with them and my interest stems
from the fact that my buddy was playing Victory the other night and I pretty
much announced that I had to have my Elves and Dragons if they expected me
to play a game with blocks and stickers. He said there was one.

From various things I've read, they've mentioned something about random armies
in Wizard Kings expansions? What's with that?

Columbia Games has changed how Wizard Kings is sold. You'll want Wizard Kings 2nd edition from what I gather (thats all they sell anymore.)

Basically they sell the Base Game of Wizard Kings which contains playing pieces for all 7 armies.

They sell an expansion pack that contains 21 blocks, featuring 3 blocks for each army. It appears that these blocks are random.

You probably want to go here and read some reviews on the 2nd Edition of Wizard Kings, if you're going to make an investment in this game.

Wizard King Rules

I'd also check out the rules, as I linked above. See if you like how combat is resolved, etc.

Victory is an older game now, so i'm not sure how similar it is to Wizard Kings, but all of Columbia's block games are similar in terms of combat resolution (basically each unit hits on a certain number against certain other types of units.) The amount of dice a unit rolls in attack is usually determined by what "step" a block is on. Blocks usually have 4 steps, everytime it takes damage you rotate the actual block to the next step below it. Once you get hit on the last step the unit is eliminated.

Steps in block games are pretty standard, but i have one block game where not all the blocks start with 4 steps (some only have 3 or 2, but this block game is pretty different from others in the genre.)

Block games are fun if you've never played one because the fog of war element allows for some nice bluffing elements.