Sinister Fish Games is set to launch a new game on Kickstarter this summer called “Wizards & Co.” The game is a competitive dungeon raiding game where players battle for loot and treasures left behind by a deceased necromancer.
Designed by Virgino Gigli, Flaminia Brasini, Stefano Luperto, and Antonio Tinto, the team behind beloved titles like Grand Austria Hotel, Egizia, Alma Mater, Coimbra, and Golem, Wizards & Co. promises to be a game that combines Eurogame sensibilities with thematic richness.
The game features artwork by industry legend Miguel Coimbra, known for his work on popular games like 7 Wonders and Smallworld. Coimbra has created a delightful collection of creatures and the dungeons in which they delve.
In Wizards & Co., players deploy an identical deck of 10 creature cards, each with unique abilities, to compete for loot and treasures. Players place cards face-up and face-down around their choice of 2-3 octagonal dungeon boards, each of which has a rule-changing enchantment tile. Battles are fought when no more cards can be placed, with the majority of creature abilities triggering in clockwise order. Positioning and timing are therefore both key.
When the dust settles, the player with the strongest presence in the dungeon gets first choice of the artefacts on offer. All players will then collect gems based on the final position of their creatures in the dungeon. The game is played out over a number of dungeons according to player count.
Artefacts include equipment to buff creatures, treasure for end-game scoring, and even the ability to summon new monsters from the dungeon depths! But with rival wizards vying for the same prizes, players must carefully outmaneuver their opponents to claim the loot for themselves.
The game is won by amassing the highest score based on artefacts and gems collected. Colored gems give points for non-matching sets, while black cursed gems are worth negative points but are sometimes found in advantageous positions.
Wizards & Co. will be offered as a single edition on Kickstarter at a wallet-friendly price, under MSRP. Depending on funding levels, backers will receive a free stretch goal pack containing new creatures, artefacts, and enchantments. The stretch goal pack will not go into retail distribution, but will be available to purchase direct from the publisher at conventions and online.
The game is set to launch on Kickstarter this summer, and backers can expect to receive their copies at a discounted price.