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Fall, Halloween, Witchery! Perfect! Wickersby Village needs a wise woman, and your goal is to become that village’s local crone! In order to do that you must cast spells, but first, you have send out your familiars to gather the proper ingredients to cast them!
Was this Game Easy to Learn? The eight-page rule book is chock-full of nice examples and diagrams, and contains a sample play and variations to try for a solitaire game. This game has some options to learn, but not so many that they become hard to remember. We managed to cast all of the eight different spells during our first game. After doing each one at least once, you'll have it down! One rule that is easy to forget is that when you cast a cast a spell, you MUST say the incantation. If another player catches you casting without vocalizing the incantation, your spell FAILS! For our first time playing we cut each other a little slack, but next time we play there will be no leniency! How is it Played?
There are six boards that make up the play area. Each board is a location in the village that you place randomly each time you play to vary the game. You can even place them in different patterns, but we used the recommended 3x2 arrangement. Each location is manned with an appropriate villager to start the game: blacksmith, farmer, lord, miller, peasant, and priest (e.g. the priest starts in the “tithe barn”). To cast your spells, you collect from four decks of ingredients: fire, flour, silver, and soil. Shuffled into each deck are three “eye of newt” ingredients which act as wild cards for any ingredient. These decks are placed in their appropriate locations (e.g. flour is in the mill). Each witch receives:
Lastly, there are Witch’s Scheme Cards. These are the goals you need to accomplish in the game. The witch’s scheme cards are numbered 1 - 3, which are the points each are worth if you complete the goal. The higher the points, the harder the goal. Each player starts with three cards – one of each (1, 2, 3). These goals are hidden behind the privacy screen. As goals are completed, they are revealed and the points are tallied. Your witch needs 13 points to win the game! There are four actions to take per round. But, beforehand, in turn order, each witch takes one familiar token and places it in a location, allowing that witch to take two corresponding ingredients to start. This is done twice per player, after which a third familiar token is placed in the Village Green – a location with no ingredients. The last two familiars can each be added to the board by casting a spell during your turn. So, you basically start with four ingredients. Make sure to look at your goals and see what spells you need to cast to achieve them, hence what ingredients you may want to start with. Game play then begins:
Timing of the Game The game says it takes about 90-minutes to play. With more players it may take that long or longer, but with only the two of us, we finished the game in under an hour. This is a great game where your strategy may vary each time you play, depending on board setup and the scheme cards you have drawn. It was very entertaining, and we are looking forward to playing it with more of our friends!
Fun Fact: You can download 3D print files for the pieces on their website! We might buy a 3-D printer to try this out... Or, maybe not. But if you have one – how cool is this?
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