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.

I'm not sure magic really fits the game ethos currently. I thought it was too bland when this edition was released, with spells that were essentially shooting attacks being most prevalent, that has been overcome with the successive clash of kings supplements, there are a wealth of spells to take. In practice though, I don't see many of them being taken that often. Possibly this is because there are some spells obviously better than others, or possibly because it's simply not worth paying up for more spells on top of the Wizard's default spell. On top of this many of the good spells have items that can be given out that do much the same thing while making use of the heroes other perks For example an elf standard bearer with heal is cheaper than a mage with inspiring, a Ratkin enforcer with bane chant lute can camp near buffing units cheaper than a warlock can, and can disrupt enemy casters in combat when needed.

Then some spells can be spammed to break the game. A high powered wind blast can essentially neutralise an objective for the player who plays second. On a flying individual stealthy banshee that is hard to prevent (damn you Liam if you are reading this!) and can just be spammed all game long pretty indiscriminately.

Which leads me to my idea. Limited casts for the spells. Like 2 or 3 per game. Pay for a second or third spell and you can cast each 2 or 3 times, so you can use your wizard all game long. The down side is that you would need to keep track, and one benefit of KoW over other systems is it's simplicity. The upside, is that it would become viable to take a mix of spells opening us the game a bit, forcing tactical choices (do I heal now, or do I lightning bolt that enemy while I have a good shot? Should I wind blast now or do I wait in case there is a 7th turn? Do I pay to get enough spells for a potential 7 turn game, or do i save some points assuming my wizard won't last the whole game anyway? I should win this combat anyway, is it worth surging into the flank or will it be useful later?) and making wizards a bit more interesting than just Elven healer, goblin sniper, etc.

Anyway, just musing really, so if you have any thoughts I would be happy to hear them

For one, I am not a fan of the complication of magic. At first I also thought magic is bland and was shocked it is just "stuffed" into the shooting phase. But after playing the first one or two games I realized the beauty of it.

That being said: I do not think a "limited casts" approach is smart because of the counting. If you want to limit it, then I would limit it by dangerous side effects. E.g.: You cast a spell, then roll a die and on a 5 or 6 you take some damage. Something like that. That via probabilty limits your uses. I do not completely like this suggestion either because I am not a fan of the fluff implications of that.

But as I said: I am a fan of vanilla magic: Cast in the shooting phase, always successul on 4+ (that this was changed with CoK was a big mistake IMHO)