Today we’ve added Mystery Wizard to our P500 list. To help you get a sense of how the game flows and how players interact, developer Andrew Ruhnke has created for us this inside look at this exciting new game designed by the trio of wizards at It’s a Lion! Games. Enjoy! – Gene

The table at start of Diana the Sharpshooter’s turn.

In this article, you’ll get to see a detailed look at the gameplay of GMT Games’ upcoming spell-fueled board game: Mystery Wizard. Here, you’ll see a sequence of 6 turns midway through a game, broken down in-depth to illustrate the structure of a turn, how players interact and what choices they have, as well as the general flow of the gameplay.

The game of Mystery Wizard takes place on a magical hexed island, that houses in its center an enigmatic tower, containing powerful mysteries that can transform the fortunes of the island’s occupants. Nestled on the coasts of the island lie several small villages, each of which has selected their champion to retrieve these mysteries from the island’s core, and claim them for their village’s own. However, the mysteries are few, and the wizards are many, and only one can hope to claim all of the tower’s secrets….

In this particular game, our competitors are the timid centaur Diana the Sharpshooter, the agile Windzard Zephyrion, and the odd pairing of Guy the Bear and his porky friend Christopher. They began the early game roving the island in search of buried treasure, ancient spell scrolls, and citizens in need, and have accrued a small collection of mystical items and powerful magics. Believing himself prepared, Guy decided to make a play for the tower, successfully securing one of its mysteries, and began to make a run for his village. However, this drew the attention of the other spell slingers, resulting in a magical arrow from the centaur finding its mark. With the Bear wounded, and a covetous wind mage bearing down on him, we now begin Diana the Centaur’s turn as she attempts to finish the job before the Bear can secure the first of the two mysteries needed to win…

The board at the start of Diana’s turn. The Bear, carrying a Mystery, is two hexes from his village, forcing Diana to respond.

In Mystery Wizard, a wizard’s turn is comprised of two Actions, with a Window of Opportunity before and after each Action where that wizard (or any other wizard) could attempt to cast certain particularly fast spells, called Instant spells. Meanwhile, there are three main uses for Actions: Walking (where the wizard simply moves to an adjacent hex), Talents (a unique, non-Spell ability available only to that specific wizard), or Burst Spells (spells that are often more powerful than Instant Spells, though can only be cast using an action on that wizard’s turn). With a wounded Guy the Bear in her sights, and Guy’s village within reach of receiving the powerful Mystery he’s holding, Diana uses her first Action to cast one of her Burst Spells, Sniper Shot. Sniper Shot, in addition to being a Burst Spell, is also a Ritual Spell, which are spells unique to one specific wizard, and that don’t go away upon use but are only exhausted, to be recharged again for later use.

Sniper Shot deals 1 damage to a wizard within range, and the Bear is only at 1 life, having already taken a Sniper Shot from Diana previously. However, the spell does not simply happen — the other wizards have a chance to react! Whenever a spell is cast, it is placed in The Duel. Here, other wizards can cast Instant Spells and attempt to counter, redirect, or otherwise respond to the original spell. In a last ditch attempt to save himself, the Bear casts one of his own Ritual Spells (this one an Instant Spell), Spell Snack, which gives the Bear a 1 in 6 chance to negate the effects of any given spell. No other Wizards respond to this, and thus Guy attempts his Spell Snack… Alas! He rolled a 4, and thus his last ditch attempt fizzles. Diana’s magical arrow strikes true, felling the Bear where he stands, and dropping the powerful Mystery at his feet.

Diana’s Sniper Shot and the Bear’s failed Spell Snack on the Duel.

But fret not! Death is only a temporary setback for these powerful magic users. Guy is reincarnated back at his village, relatively unscathed save for his ritual spells now all exhausted and unable to use until they are recharged. But Guy has one trick up his sleeve for just such an occasion. As Diana goes to take her second action, Guy announces he has a play to make on the Window of Opportunity following Diana’s first Action and before her second. He casts an Instant Spell, this time from a scroll he found while questing earlier in the game. Unlike Ritual Spells, this was hidden in his hand, and thus the other Wizards weren’t expecting this. The spell is Untap Dancing, which refreshes all of his Ritual Spells, which were previously exhausted upon his death. For a moment Guy appeared down and out, but suddenly, all of his magical abilities are back online!

But it is still Diana’s turn, and she has one more Action. While she wasn’t expecting the Untap Dancing, ultimately she isn’t too worried about it and her turn can proceed as planned. She uses her second action to cast the second of her three Ritual Spells, a Burst Spell called Rope Arrow. She places her spell on the Duel and reads its effect: she can snag the Mystery the Bear just dropped and pull it into her possession! From there, she’s only a few steps from her village, and centaurs can cover ground fast! Zephyrion says he can’t (or won’t) do anything about that, so it is up to Guy, and he only has the same longshot he had before: Spell Snack. He places Spell Snack on the Duel, and, when neither Diana nor Zephyrion have anything to say, rolls his die. A 6! This time, luck was on the Bear’s side, and to Diana’s dismay, her Rope Arrow is snatched out of the air and into the jaws of a bear! Not just that, but the magical nature of the arrow refuels the Bear, allowing him to refresh one of his ritual spells. As Spell Snack is the only exhausted spell, that means it is the one to be refreshed, which in turn means Guy is ready to Spell Snack all over again!

With a roll of 6, the Bear’s Spell Snack eats Diana’s Rope Arrow.

Diana was not expecting that Spell Snack to work. She’s out of Actions too, so all she can do is cast her third and final Ritual Spell (which is an Instant), Run Wild, which allows her to move to an adjacent hex for free, as long as she’s standing in a Region (the brightly colored portions of the board). She happens to be standing in the Marsh Region, and so she uses her spell to travel to the nearby Temple (one of 6 on the Island), which allows any Wizard to Refresh all of their 3 Ritual Spells upon entry. So while Diana’s turn did not go quite according to her plan, she at least has all 3 of the Ritual Spells she used that turn (Sniper Shot, Rope Arrow, and Run Wild) back online and ready to cast. But that’s not all that happens on her turn: Zephyrion the Windzard, who had been quietly watching these events unfold, now makes his move. Unbeknownst to the other wizards, he had acquired somewhat of a similar ability from some friendly goblins prior in the game, and chooses now as his time to reveal it: Zephyrion casts Slink, which resolves uncontested, allowing him to move to an adjacent space for free, sneaking in under the Bear and Centaur’s nose and grabbing the Mystery token Guy had just dropped upon his death.

The board at the end of Diana’s turn and at the start of the Bear’s. The Bear was slain by Diana and respawned at his village a couple hexes away. Meanwhile, the Windzard slinked in and picked up the Mystery the Bear dropped.

But now it is Guy the Bear’s turn. Usually somewhat of a pacifist, recent events (e.g. two arrows in the back) have left him a bit angry. Meanwhile, there’s an unscrupulous wind mage now in possession of the Mystery that he had just dropped tantalizingly close to his village. Guy does not like the idea of the Mystery changing hands, and with his Untap Dancing last turn, he has something to do about it. Guy casts one of his 3 Ritual Spells: Bear Rush, targeting the Windzard’s hex. If it were to go off successfully, Guy would charge the Windzard’s hex, deal 1 damage to him, and then knock him back out of the hex. Zephyrion in turn does not like the sound of any of that, and casts a spell of his own, one that he was rewarded for completing a quest earlier in the game, and had been holding back for a time such as this: Counter. The Bear tries yet again to Spell Snack, but rolls a 2. The Windzard’s Counter renders the Bear Rush null.

With a roll of 2, the Bear’s Spell Snack fails to stop the Windzard’s Counter, which in turn protects the Windzard from a dangerous Bear Rush.

But that’s not the only trick Guy has up his sleeve. After all, unlike the other two wizards, he has a friend: Christopher the Pig. Christopher was out sniffing for treasure in the nearby desert, but now his buddy Guy is in need. Once on Guy’s turn during a Window of Opportunity, Christopher can move to an adjacent hex, and now is the time he elects to do that. The pig moves into the Bear’s village, occupying the same hex as Guy. Sensing an opportunity, Diana announces she has a play to make. She casts the last spell from her hand: Lightning, targeting the Windzard. The Windzard has no response, and so the spells resolves, dealing 1 damage to the Windzard, taking his starting health of 2 down to 1. He is wounded, but (for now) still standing.

But now it is Guy’s second Action, and following Diana’s blast to the Windzard, he can attempt to go for the kill. Guy decides to use a Talent: Throw Friend. Unlike Ritual spells, these don’t exhaust and they don’t go on the Duel; they just happen. Circumnavigating the Windzard’s tricky counter magic, Guy hurls Christopher at Zephyrion, dealing another 1 damage. This time, the damage proves fatal. Following the death by airborne pig, the Windzard’s held Mystery is dropped on the ground next to Christopher the Pig (as Christopher himself cannot carry the Mystery), and the Windzard is reincarnated back at his village on the other side of the island. However, Zephyrion was in possession of a magical stunt double he acquired earlier in the game, so while his death did force him back to his village, his ritual spells did not exhaust, which may prove crucial in the events to come…

Zephyrion the Windzard’s Stunt Double, which protects his Ritual Spells upon death.

Now, it is Zephyrion’s turn.  Now a long way from the Mystery Token and with fewer spells in hand, the Windzard may appear to be in a bad spot. But he is capable of stirring up quite a bit of commotion when he wants to, and for now he decides to bide his time. He spends his two actions Walking around the Bay, searching sunken treasure for magic scrolls, and acquiring a new powerful spell, before turning his course for the nearby temple, to be able to refresh his spells should the time come.

The board after the Windzard’s turn and before Diana’s second turn. The Windzard is searching the Bay for treasure, while the Bear is still in his village with Christopher presiding over the dropped Mystery two hexes away from the Bear’s village.

It is now Diana’s turn again, and she still has that Mystery in her sights. Having refreshed her spells at the end of her prior turn, and seeing that the Bear has mostly exhausted his abilities and the Windzard is nowhere nearby, she spends her first Action by loading up another magical Rope Arrow and firing it towards the dropped Mystery. Sure enough, the other two Wizards have nothing to say about it, and for the first time the Mystery is in her possession. Seeing her village just across the Marsh, she starts her gallop home, spending her second Action to Walk into the Marsh, and then in the Window of Opportunity afterwards, casting Run Wild to attempt to move an additional hex towards her village. This would place her directly adjacent to her village, and Zephyrion can’t have that. In response, he plays an Instant Ritual Spell of his own: Gust, which resolves and allows him to move a Wizard in the target hex to an adjacent one. Before Diana’s Run Wild spell can go off (as spells are resolved in the duel from top to bottom, i.e. in the reverse order they were played), she is picked up by a small gale and deposited into the nearby temple. While this refreshes all of her Ritual Spells, it means she is no longer in a Region, and thus her Run Wild spell fizzles. Instead of being one hex away from her village, she is now three, courtesy of the Windzard.

The Windzard’s Gust foils Diana’s Run Wild, pushing her out of a region before it can go off.

It is now back to Guy’s turn, and out of spells and with most of his Ritual Spells exhausted, he is in sorry shape. The Centaur absconded with his Mystery, and has galloped too far away for him to do much about it. But, there is another Mystery still held in the island’s central tower, and with the Windzard likely focused on stopping Diana, he might be able to sneak it back to his village. So he spends his two actions to Walk twice, beginning the trek towards the tower, with his friend Christopher entering the Desert to resume sniffing for treasure.

The board at the end of the Bear’s second turn and at the beginning of the Windzard’s second turn. Diana (now in possession of the original Mystery) blown wayward from her village by the Windzard; meanwhile, the Bear has begun the trek back to the tower to recover another Mystery.

It is now Zephyrion’s turn, and he takes a moment to ponder his tomes as Diana watches nervously. A small smile creeps over his lips as he realizes a Mystery just might be his. Zephyrion, using his first Action, casts Cyclone, a Ritual Spell of his that remained open upon death due to his Stunt Double. A tempest engulfs the island, sending Guy the Bear, Christopher the Pig, and Diana the Centaur all flying clockwise around the island. Then, he reveals what he found in the bay: the powerful Burst Spell Huff and Puff, which moves a target Wizard up to 3 hexes. Realization dawns on the other two wizards what is about to happen. Powerless to stop it, the spell resolves, and Diana, upon landing in another Temple from the Cyclone, is instantly picked up once again in yet another powerful gale, this one dropping her directly in the Windzard’s village.

The pair of spells that the Windzard used to score the first Mystery of the game.

All of the sudden, the ancient magic stored in the Mystery is released, transforming the village of clouds around her. The Windzard successfully returned a Mystery to his village, and, in an ironic twist, used Diana as his courier to do so! But the game is not over. Not until a Wizard has returned both Mysteries to his village is he or she victorious! Just as a Mystery was returned, it reappears back inside the enigmatic tower, and the chase begins anew! While Zephyrion the Windzard may revel in his recent victory, a not too happy Centaur prepares an arrow to fire, and a certain bear and pig duo make their way towards the tower, to perhaps claim a Mystery of their own…

Final Board State

Author: Andrew Ruhnke