Elfenwizards

Elfenwizards Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

Game board
42 major spell dice (7 in each of six colors)
39 wizard tokens
42 minor spell tokens (7 of each color)
12 gray magic tokens
1 dragon for the Grand Thaumaturge
1 rulebook

Setup

Place the game board in the center of the table.
Place the gray magic tokens in the Gray Magic space.
Each player takes a set of 7 major spells (dice), 7 minor spells, and the tokens of the corresponding color. With three players, use the red, green and blue pieces. With four players, also use yellow. With five players, also use black.
Each player places his wizards on the spaces according to the placement table (on the back of the rules). Unused tokens go back in the box.
One player is designated Master of Seals. He keeps track of points and so must have paper and pencil.
On the first turn, the first player is determined randomly. He receives the Dragon.

The Turn

The game is played over a maximum of four turns. Each turn consists of ten phases, played in this order:

Retirement of the Grand Druid
Casting and allocation of major spells
Casting and allocation of remaining major spells
Recovery of minor spells
Competition and award of titles
Recovery of minor spells
Award of vacant titles
Demotion of remaining wizards
Removal of gray magic tokens
Scoring

1 - Retirement of the Grand Druid (except on the first turn)

If there is a wizard in the Grand Druid space, its owner places one of his minor spells on the turn counter, on the number of the turn that has just ended. He may take this spell from his supply or from the Minor Spells space of the game board. This spell stays on the turn counter for the rest of the game. This player also receives the dragon.

The player then takes the wizard that was on the Grand Druid space and places it on any Wizard space of his choice.

2 - Casting and allocation of major spells

Starting with the player holding the dragon and continuing clockwise, each player in turn rolls all his major spells and places all or some of them on the various spaces of the game board.

3 - Casting and allocation of remaining major spells

Starting with the player holding the dragon and continuing clockwise, each player in turn rolls all his remaining major spells (those he did not place in the previous phase). The player then chooses between accepting this roll and placing all these spells on the various spaces of the game board, or paying one minor spell (placed in the Minor Spells space of the game board) to reroll one last time all the remaining major spells before placing them on the game board. If a player chooses to reroll the dice, he must reroll all the major spells he did not place in phase 2.

4 - Recovery of minor spells

Players who have major spells in the Minor Spells space can recover one minor spell for every two points of dice. For example, a 4 recovers two, two 1s recover one, a 3 and a 1 recover two. Any remaining points are lost. Players take back the used major spells and place them in front of them.

If a player still has unused major spells in the Minor Spells space, they remain there for now.

5 - Competition and award of titles

The wizards fight, by casting spells, for each of the titles. (See Competition for Titles and Award of Titles below.)

6 - Recovery of minor spells

Players who have major spells in the Minor Spells space can recover minor spells in the same way as in phase 4. Players take back the used major spells and place them in front of them.

If a player still has unused major spells in the Minor Spells space after recovering all his minor spells, he may either leave these major spells in the space for the next turn, or take them back in front of him without their having been used.

7 - Award of vacant titles

Vacant titles are awarded to the losers of the duels, who are in the Rout spaces (see Routed Wizards below).

8 - Demotion of remaining wizards

Wizards who could not be given a vacant title are placed by their players back in the Wizard spaces at the bottom of the game board. Wizards who were previously Druid or Sorcerer receive a gray magic token, as indicated on the Rout spaces of those levels. Gray magic tokens are placed under the wizard token.

9 - Removal of gray magic tokens

Players who have major spells in the Gray Magic space can remove one gray magic token from any one of their wizards for four points of dice (on one or several dice). For example, a 5, a 2 and a 1 remove two tokens. Players take back the used major spells and place them in front of them.

If a player still has unused major spells in the Gray Magic space, he may either leave these major spells in the space for the next turn, or take them back in front of him without their having been used.

Translator's note: the cost of recovering the tokens seems to me, from experience, a bit high. I suggest lowering it to 3.

10 - Scoring

The Master of Seals calculates and records the players' points.

Allocation of Major Spells

In phases 2 and 3, a player may place all or some of his major spells on the spaces of the game board. Major spells can be placed in the four Major Spells spaces, in the Minor Spells space, or in the Gray Magic space. A player may place as many major spells as he wishes in each space. Once the die is set down and the player has removed his hand, a major spell can no longer be moved.

Competition for Titles

Starting with the player holding the dragon and going clockwise, each player in turn must place two major spells, two minor spells, or one major spell and one minor spell. The two spells must be placed next to one or two wizards. If a player has only one spell left, major or minor, he may place only that one. A player who no longer wishes to place spells may pass, but a player who has passed can no longer place spells during this turn. Players continue placing spells until all have passed.

All spells must be placed next to the wizard in whose favor they are cast. A player may place spells in favor of his own wizards or those of his opponents. There is no limit to the number of spells in favor of each wizard. The only restriction concerns major spells, which must be placed at the level of the Major Spells space from which they were taken. For example, a major spell taken from the Major Spell space of the Necromancer level must be played at the Necromancer level.

A player is not obliged to place all his spells. However, spells that have not been placed have no effect and will thus have been wasted.

Award of Titles

When all players have passed, titles are awarded from top to bottom and from left to right. So one starts with the Grand Druid, followed by the 1st Druid (the one on the left), then the second Druid, then the 1st Sorcerer, etc. Each major spell is worth a number of points equal to the face shown on the die. Each minor spell is worth 1 point. For each title, the candidate with the most points in his favor wins and receives the higher title.

Example: a blue wizard is in the 1st Druid space and a red wizard in the second Druid space. Both are competing for the title of Grand Druid. The blue wizard has two major spells in his favor, a 5 and a 6. The red wizard has only a 6 and a minor spell in his favor. The blue wizard therefore has more points in his favor and is placed on the Grand Druid space. The red wizard is placed on the Rout space of the Druid level.

Most of the time, two candidates compete for each title. The candidate with the most points in his favor is then awarded the title, the other going to the Rout space of his level. If no candidate has any points in his favor, or if they both have the same number of points, neither of them is awarded the title, which remains vacant.

If there is only one candidate for a title, or if the same player controls both candidates, the player need only put one or more points in favor of his wizard for the title to be awarded to him. Opponents cannot place points to oppose it. However, if no points are played in favor of the candidate wizard, the title is not awarded.

When there are more than two candidates for a title (which is only possible at the level of the plain Wizards), the title of Necromancer is awarded to the two candidates who have the most points in their favor. If more than two wizards are tied for first place, no title is awarded. If two wizards are tied for second place, only the leading wizard is awarded the title.

A wizard must always have at least one point in his favor to be awarded a title. Even if he is the only candidate, a wizard with no points in his favor receives no title.

If there are no candidates for a title, it is not awarded.

There can be only one wizard on each space of the Grand Druid, Druid, Sorcerer and Necromancer levels. On the other hand, there is no limit to the number of tokens on each space of the Wizard level.

All wizards on the Druid, Sorcerer and Necromancer spaces who are not awarded higher titles are placed on the Rout space of that level. These wizards will receive the vacant titles, or will be demoted after all titles have been awarded.

After all titles have been awarded, players take back and place in front of them all the major spells they used during the competition. Minor spells are placed in the Minor Spells space.

Agreements and Negotiations

The only agreements allowed are promises concerning the use of spells during the competition for titles. Agreements are never binding. Players may not trade their major or minor spells, their gray magic tokens or their points.

Players who wish may limit the length of negotiations as follows:

In phases 2 and 3, each player is entitled to 1 minute of negotiation before rolling the dice.
In phase 5, players are collectively entitled to 5 minutes of negotiation before the competition for titles begins.

Routed Wizards

Wizards in the Rout space of the Druid level are awarded vacant titles first. If there is only one routed wizard at the Druid level, he is awarded the highest vacant title, except of course that of Grand Druid. If there are several vacant titles at the same level, the player chooses where to place his wizard. If there are two routed wizards at the Druid level, they are placed in turn order (starting with the player holding the dragon, then going clockwise).

After all routed wizards of the Druid level have been awarded titles, the same is done with those of the Sorcerer level, then with those of the Necromancer level.

As soon as all vacant titles have been awarded, the remaining routed wizards are demoted and placed in the Wizard spaces at the bottom of the game board. The player with the dragon first places all his wizards, then the next, and so on. Wizards demoted from the Druid and Sorcerer levels receive a gray magic token, placed under the token. There is no limit to the number of gray magic tokens under a wizard.

Scoring

At the end of each turn, players score points as follows:

Grand Druid: 10 points.
Each Druid: 7 points.
Each Sorcerer: 5 points.
Each Necromancer: 3 points.
Each plain Wizard: 2 points.
Each gray magic token: -1 point.

The Master of Seals keeps track of each player's total score.

A large gap in scores generally appears in the first turn, because of the starting positions. However, balance is restored over the rest of the game, and no starting position is particularly advantageous.

End of the Game

The game ends when one of the following conditions is met:

It is the end of the fourth turn.
It is the end of a turn in which a player was awarded the title of Grand Druid for the second time.
It is the end of a turn in which, for the second time, no player was awarded the title of Grand Druid.

In the final count, at the end of the last turn, players receive 1 additional point for each minor spell they still have in front of them.

The winner is the player with the highest total score.