DEMO

While voyaging through the treacherous Forbidden Mountains

last night, you discovered a latched chest in a crumbling tower. It
contained two decks of cards, identical save that one was painted
blue, and the other red.

Each card was illuminated with a number and marked with one of
four symbols—arcane runes representing:
♠ necromantic conjuring,
♥ curative sorcery,
♣ whimsical charms, and
♦ treacherous alchemy,
alongside portraits of ancient and powerful spellcasters.

Soon after, in a wilderness tavern, as you sit riffling through the

cards, a bony old man in a tattered robe and hat slumps into the
seat across from yours. "Where did you get those old cards,
child?” he rasps. “Wizard War is no ordinary game. I’ll have to give
you a demonstration.”

Before you can reply, you find yourself standing atop a tower, high
above a vast, scorched field, with another tower perched at the
opposite edge. A cackle fills the air: "It has been many seasons
since I last did battle upon this blasted heath, so I may be a bit
rusty! But I, Alfaquizzic the Cantankerous, will treat you to the duel
of your life!"
 able of contents
T Wizard War in a Nutshell…………………………………………………….1
Getting Started………………………………………………………………….2
Waging the Wizard War………………………………………………………3
Anatomy of a Round/Peace Phase…..………………………..3
Planning Phase……………………………………………………….4
War Phase……………………………………………………………..5
After a Lane Is Won………………………………………………….6
Face Card Rules………………………………………………………………..7
Ace Rules…………………………………………………………………………8
Spellbook Rules………………………………………………………………..9
Neutral Spellbook…………………………………………………10
Suit Spellbooks…………………………………………………....11
Spell FAQ………………………………………………………………………..13
When Do I Have Initiative?...........................................13
Glossary…………………………………………………………………………14

T
 izard War in a nutshell
W
• Wizard War is loosely based on the classic card game War, with
added strategic depth. Players draw hands and choose which
cards to lay face down in three columns called Lanes, opposite
their opponent's cards in the same Lane.

• Each card played costs one Pip: a reserve of magical energy that
is tracked on six-sided dice. Pips are gained at the start of each
turn, or as a reward for playing cards of the same suit in a Lane
together.

• At the end of each turn, all cards in each Lane are flipped, one
Lane at a time. The player whose cards add up to the highest to-
tal in a Lane wins that Lane, dealing damage to their opponent's
Hit Points (HP).

• Winning a Lane by a margin of less than 10 deals 5 damage to

your opponent, while winning by 10 or more deals 10 damage.

• After a Lane is counted, all cards in it are moved to their owners’

Graveyards (discard piles), except any face cards on the win-
ning side. Face cards remain in play until their controller loses
the Lane in which they are placed. Keeping face cards on the
board is key to staying ahead.

• Pips can also be spent to activate spells from your Spellbook,

which is chosen at the start of the game. Spells give you options
beyond simply choosing which cards to play in which lane. This
demo includes the spells for the Spades and Hearts factions.

• The game is over when one wizard's HP is reduced from 54 to 0.

1
 etting started
G
Before you start playing, you’ll need:
• Two wizards (players)
• Two decks of 54 playing cards
• Six six-sided dice (or two 20-sided “turndown” dice)
• Pencil/paper or an app for tracking HP totals
• Robe and wizard hat (optional)

The following pages are designed to teach you the game as you
play. The instructions are nested to explicitly indicate when to ref-
erence more advanced rules during the course of play, so that you
don’t need to know every rule before playing your first round.
It is strongly recommended that you print and cut out the reference
card PDF included with your demo. Wizard War is designed such
that all the rules text you should need to reference after the first
few games can be found on these easy-to-check cards.

BEFORE THE FIRST ROUND:

1. Choose Wizard names. See Wizard Names Appendix in the

above link for inspiration.
2. Each player shuffles their deck and then reveals the top card.
The player who reveals the larger number becomes the First
Wizard, and the other player becomes Second Wizard. (Aces
count as 1. In the event of a tie, flip the next card.)
3. Each player writes their Wizard Name, First or Second Wizard,
and “54 HP” on a sheet of scrap paper. Leave room to track
changes to HP.
4. Each player chooses their Spellbook Ace, forging an Arcane
Pact with a particular suit and thereby gaining access to that
suit’s Spellbook (see page 9).
5. The First Wizard chooses first, sets their Spellbook Ace
face up in front of their deck, then shuffles their deck.
The Second Wizard then does likewise.
6. Both players cannot choose the same Ace.
7. Each player draws a hand of 7 cards from the top of their deck.

2
 aging the wizard war
W ANATOMY OF A ROUND
Each round is divided up into three Phases:
• Peace, for gathering resources and preparing;
• Planning, for laying down cards;
• and War, for flipping over and counting cards.

The flow of play within a round is determined by passing back and

forth Initiative: verbal confirmation that you are done making deci-
sions for now and the other player has the floor. (You may also repre-
sent who has Initiative with a token, such as a poker chip, if desired).

The First Wizard begins the game with Initiative.

PEACE PHASE ☮
1. Each player gains 4 Pips⚀. (Players cannot exceed 18 Pips at a
time. Both players have 0 Pips before the first Peace Phase).
2. Each player draws 5 cards (unless this is the first round).
• If you run out of cards to draw, shuffle your graveyard
back into your deck.
3. Initiative is given to the player with the lowest current HP total.
• If HP totals are tied, Initiative is given to the First Wizard.
4. The player with Initiative may cast any spells which their Spell-
book Rules indicate may be cast “at any time.”
5. Initiative is passed to the other player, who may do likewise.
6. Initiative is returned to the previous player, who checks if the
House Advantage ability in their Spellbook, which is triggered “At
end of Peace Phase,” has any effect this turn.
7. Initiative is passed to the other player, who does likewise.

Once the second player has made any decisions they wish to make
during the Peace Phase, Initiative passes back to the player who be-
gan the round with it, and the Planning Phase begins.
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W PLANNING PHASE ♙
1. The player with Initiative places cards face-down in three
Lanes in the center of the play area, paying 1 Pip for each card
they put into play.
• If you have no Pips remaining, you must use a spell to
get more before playing more cards.
• Up to 3 cards may be played on each side of a Lane. A
Lane may also contain no cards, if desired.
• Cards may not be moved after they are played.
• You may only play one face card per Lane.
• During this step, the player with Initiative may use any
spells that can be cast during the Planning Phase.
• After a player casts a spell, during any Phase,
their opponent is temporarily given Initiative to
cast a spell of their own in response.
• You may not play cards with this temporary Initi-
ative during the Planning Phase. You must pass
Initiative back after casting your spell if it is your
opponent’s turn to play cards.
2. Initiative passes to the other player, who does likewise. After
placing cards and using any relevant spells, this player then
asks if the other player is satisfied with the current state of the
Lanes.
• If the other player wishes to play more cards, Initiative
passes back to them. Repeat this process until both
players are satisfied with the state of the board, then
the War Phase begins.
• Otherwise, the War Phase begins immediately.

4
W WAR PHASE ⚔

1. At the beginning of the War Phase, the First Wizard receives

Initiative.
2. Both players flip over their face-down cards in the Lane to the
First Wizard’s left hand side (Lane 1).
3. Calculate the Total Value of the cards on each individual side
of the Lane.
• First, add up the Value of all numerical cards on each
side of the Lane.
• If any face cards are present, count Jacks as 11,
Queens as 12, and Kings/Jokers as 13.
• If any Aces are present, consult the Ace Rules on page
8 to determine whether those Aces count as 1 or 14.
• Matching Bonus: If all cards on your side of the Lane
are the same suit or the same number, gain Pips equal
to the number of matching cards (must be 2 or more).
4. Before the count is finalized, the player with Initiative may use
any spells that are permitted during the War Phase. Initiative
then passes to the other player, who may do the same. Pass
Initiative back and forth until both players are satisfied.
• You may use Pips gained from a Matching Bonus in this
lane to cast these spells.
5. Note any changes to the Total Value of each side which may
have resulted from any Spells cast, then compare the Values.
6. The player with the largest Total Value wins the Lane.

5
W AFTER A LANE IS WON

7. The player who lost the Lane loses 5 HP if the difference be-
tween the Lanes is less than 10, and loses 10 HP if the differ-
ence is 10.
• If a face card is present in the winning Lane, consult
the Face Card Rules (page 7). In the event of a tie, no
Face Card Effects are triggered.
• If both a face card and an Ace of matching suits are
present in the winning lane, the face card is Promoted
and removed from your deck—see the Ace Rules for
more information.
8. All cards in both sides of Lane 1 are put in their players’ re-
spective Graveyards (discard piles), with the exception of
face cards on the winning side of the Lane, which remain into
the next round.
• In the event of a tie, all face cards in the Lane are
moved to the graveyard as if both sides lost.
9. Repeat steps 1-8 for Lanes 2 and 3, which are, respectively,
the Lane in the middle and the Lane on the First Wizard’s right
hand side.
10. Once all Lanes have been counted and resolved, the round
ends, and the Peace Phase of the next round begins.

Repeat this process until one player’s HP has been reduced to 0.

When a player reaches 0, even in the middle of a round, the game
ends immediately, and the other player is declared the winner.

Congratulations on completing your first Wizard War!

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 ace card rules
F
When calculating the Value of cards in a Lane, count a Jack as 11,
a Queen as 12, and a King or Joker as 13.
You may only play one face card on each side of a Lane. If all 3 of
your Lanes currently contain a face card, you will not be able to play
any more face cards until one of them has been removed. Spells
that add cards to a Lane may not add a second face card to a Lane.
Unlike most cards played in a Lane, which are moved to the Grave-
yard after the Lane’s final count, face cards remain in place until
their controller loses the Lane in which they are played. Unless re-
moved by a spell, they remain in their Lanes for as long as their con-
troller continues to win that Lane. Face cards in a losing Lane are
moved to the Graveyard as normal.
Having a face card in a winning Lane triggers a Face Card Effect
after the final count, depending on the card’s suit:
♠: Your opponent must discard a card (or lose 2 HP if unable).
♥: Gain 3 HP.
♣: Return this face card to your hand and gain 1⚀.
♦: Draw a card.
Regardless of the suit of the winning face card, you may choose to
instead trigger the Face Card Effect of your Spellbook suit. For ex-
ample, if your Spellbook is Hearts, and you win a Lane with a Jack of
Diamonds, you may opt to either draw a card or gain 3 HP.
JESTER’S PRIVILEGE
For the sake of most rules questions, treat a Joker as a King with no
suit, with one big exception: unlike other face cards, Jokers do not
stay in their Lane after the final count, regardless of whether their
Lane is won or lost. They’re fickle that way.
Jokers can also be counted as any suit for the sake of calculating a
Matching Bonus, as long as all other cards present on their con-
troller’s side of the Lane are of the same suit.

7
 ce rules
A
In Wizard War, Aces represent the legendary weapons and wands of
the four Wizard Houses. Their Value is 1 in most circumstances,
much like a weapon poses no danger unless it is held by someone
who knows how to use it.
However, these weapons become deadly when wielded by a wizard
of their own House. An Ace’s Value becomes 14 if, and only if, it is
played in a Lane with a face card of the same suit (or a Joker).
In plain English:
• an Ace is always counted as a 1,
• except when it is played on the same side of a Lane with
a face card of the same suit (or a Joker),
• in which case its Value is 14.
When you win a Lane with a face card and a matching Ace, you gain
12 Pips and the face card is Promoted to a non-combat role, hav-
ing fulfilled its heroic destiny by wielding its house’s legendary
weapon in combat.
When a face card has been Promoted, remove it from the game by
setting it to your right side. It is no longer in play and may not be
shuffled back into your deck until after the game. At the beginning
of each turn, for each face card you’ve Promoted this game, gain
one additional Pip.
Whenever you win a Lane with a face card, if you’ve previously Pro-
moted a card of a different suit, you may opt to trigger the Face
Card Effect of any suit of a card you’ve Promoted as though you had
that suit’s Spellbook as your own.
As implied above, Jester’s Privilege extends to the ability to wield
Aces. The Wild Magic employed by wizards of the House of Jokers
lets them attune the artifacts of any House or crown—something
many a king has learned the hard way.

8
 pellbook rules
S
Each player selects a different Ace at the beginning of the game,
signifying their Arcane Pact with a particular Wizard House and
granting them access to that suit’s Spellbook. Once selected, your
Spellbook cannot be changed until the end of the game.

Your Spellbook grants you a set of spells—abilities unique to its

suit. Spells each have a cost (typically paid in Pips) which, when
paid, allows you to immediately do whatever the text of the spell
says.

Some of these spells can only be activated at certain times. Below

is a list of symbols used as shorthand in Spellbooks and elsewhere:

⚀: Indicates Pips. “-6⚀:” in front of a spell means that the

spell costs 6 Pips to activate.

⧖: Indicates that a spell can be used at any time, in any

phase, as long as the user has Initiative.

⚔: Indicates that a spell can only be used during the War

Phase, before the final count of the Lane in which it is used.

♙: Indicates that a spell can only be used during the

Planning Phase.

The penultimate ability in each spellbook is that suit’s House Ad-

vantage, which triggers at the end of each Peace Phase if certain
conditions are met.

The final ability in each Spellbook is a Passive ability, which is also

triggered by certain conditions, but can be triggered in any phase—
for example, Spades’ Passive ability lets its player gain a Pip when-
ever they discard a card.

9
S
In addition to their Pact suit’s Spellbook, all wizards have access
to a Neutral Spellbook (see below), which contains generic spells
not limited to a particular suit.

Many of the spells in the other Spellbooks have powerful synergy

with the Neutral Spellbook, so it is recommended that you consid-
er these spells an extension of your suit’s strategy.

⚀ BEGINNER SPELLS FOR GIMMICKLESS WIZARDS ⚀

(Neutral Spellbook)

Remote Viewing
-2⚀: Look at the top 3 cards of your deck. Put one into your grave-
yard, then put the rest back in any order. (⧖)

Pull from Aether

-3⚀: Draw a card. (⧖)

Enchanted Bandage
-4⚀: Gain 2 HP. (⧖)

Alfaquizzic’s Murder Missile

-10⚀, discard a card: kill target face card. (⧖)

Spell Recycling
Discard a card: gain 2⚀. (⧖)

10
S ♠ THE NECROCARTICON ♠
(Spades Spellbook)

Dark Harvest
-4⚀: Move target non-face, non-ace card from your graveyard to your
hand. (⧖)

Sacrificial Curse
-X⚀, discard a card: Increase or decrease the Value of target card of the
same suit as the discarded card by X until this round ends. (⧖)

Osseos’ Skeletal Summoning

-10⚀: Move target face card from your graveyard to a Lane under your con-
trol. (⚔)

House Advantage: At end of Peace Phase, you may pay 4 HP to Promote a

face card in your graveyard. You gain no Pips when you Promote this card.

Passive: Any time you discard a card, you gain 1 HP. If you discard a face
card, you also gain 1⚀.

♥ DIAGNOSTIC MANUAL OF MAGICAL DISORDERS ♥

(Hearts Spellbook)

Stamina Serum
-2⚀: Increase the Value of target face card by 1 until end of War Phase. (⚔)

Plasma Extraction
-3 HP: gain 1⚀ (⧖)

Aesclepia’s Infallible Inoculation

-10⚀: Name a suit. The Value of Cards in that suit in target Lane is not
counted this turn. (⚔)

House Advantage: At end of Peace Phase, if your HP total is less than

your opponent’s, gain 2⚀ .

Passive: Whenever you would gain any amount of ⚀, you may choose to
gain that much HP instead.

11
S ♣ HIDDEN MAGICKS OF THE FAE FOLK ♣
(Clubs Spellbook)

[PURCHASE FULL GAME TO ACCESS CLUBS SPELLS]

♦ SPELLS FOR SUCCESS ♦

(Diamonds Spellbook)

[PURCHASE FULL GAME TO ACCESS DIAMONDS SPELLS]

12
 pell FAQ
S
Remote Viewing (⚀) — These cards are not drawn and are sepa-
rate from your hand. It is recommended that you set your hand to
the side while viewing them. Putting a card into your Graveyard as
a result of this spell does not count as discarding for the purposes
of Spades’ passive ability.

Osseos’ Skeletal Summoning (♠) — If you already control a face

card in a Lane, this spell cannot move a second face card to that
Lane. If you control a face card in all three Lanes, you are not able
to cast this spell until one of them has been removed. It can, how-
ever, move a face card into a Lane in which you already control
three cards, as long as one of them is not a face card.

Aesclepia’s Infallible Inoculation (♥) — This spell neutralizes the

suit in both sides of the Lane, regardless of who controls the cards
of said suit. It is fully possible to negate the Value of your own
cards with this spell.

Attempting to increase the Value of cards with another spell after

Aesclepia’s Infallible Inoculation has negated their Value will have
no effect in practice. Cards of the suit named by this spell in the
targeted Lane cannot be counted until the following round.

WHEN DO I HAVE INITIATIVE?

The Phase Instructions (pgs. 3-6) name several specific times that
Initiative changes hands, but Initiative can also be taken at the end
of every phase, or after your opponent casts any spell.

It is not possible to interrupt an opponent’s spell with your own—

you must wait for the effects to finish resolving.

However, once your opponent’s spell is finished casting, you may

claim Initiative to cast a spell before they may take any other ac-
tions. You may not chain multiple spells in a row without giving
your opponent the opportunity to respond.

13
lossary
G
Control: “Card you control” is shorthand for “card which is actively
in play on your side of any given Lane.” You do not “control” cards
in your Graveyard, hand, or deck.

Discard: Refers specifically to cards discarded from your hand to

your Graveyard, as opposed to being moved to the Graveyard from
anywhere else.

Face card: Jacks, Queens, Kings, and Jokers.

Face Card Effect: An ability which is triggered by winning a Lane

with a face card, specific to that card’s suit.

Graveyard: Each player’s individual discard pile, containing all

cards discarded from their hands, removed after counting a Lane,
or killed.

HP: Short for Hit Points; represents a wizard’s health.

Initiative: Permission to cast spells or take other actions, passed

back and forth between players to give structure to the flow of play.

Lane: One of three columns in which cards are played. Each player
controls one side of a Lane.

Matching Bonus: Pips awarded for playing cards of only the same
suit or the same number on one side of a Lane.

On-Suit Bonus: A special passive ability in each suit’s Spellbook

which grants additional effects upon winning a lane with a face card
of that suit.

Passive: An ability in a spellbook which is not a spell that needs to

be cast, and is instead triggered when certain conditions are met.

14
G
Phase: Subdivisions of a round which mark out the times that dif-
ferent actions are performed.

Pip: An individual unit of magical energy used for casting spells.

Promotion: A special effect activated by playing an Ace together in

a Lane with a face card of the same suit.

Round: Subdivisions of a game, after which many effects reset.

Spell: Abilities found in each suit’s Spellbook.

Spellbook: A set of “spell” abilities, chosen by setting aside a par-

ticular Ace at the beginning of the game, which give form to a suit’s
strategy.

Target: Denotes a game object specified by a spell. Cards in Lanes

and Graveyards can be targeted, as can Lanes themselves.

Trigger: Denotes an instance of an effect being passively activated

by any occurrence, much like a bear trap is triggered by weight.

Total Value: The sum of the Value of all cards on one side of a
Lane (see Value).

Value: The numerical worth of a particular card. If the card is in

play, this includes the number printed on it, as well as any increas-
es or decreases applied to it by spells.

Wizard: That’s you! You’re a wizard, no matter what your parents,

teachers, and doubters may have told you.

15
 bout wyngspan
A
Wyngspan Laboratories is a creative collective focused primarily on
game design and development, operating remotely from various lo-
cations in the American Midwest.

Ross Holmes and Alex May, the designers of Wizard War, are the
founders of Wyngspan Laboratories, but are not the only members.
They met in college, where they first began designing games together
nearly ten years ago, but Wizard War is their first game to be released
commercially.

Wizard War is also the first project to be released under the

Wyngspan Laboratories umbrella, but it will not be the last. We al-
ready have several projects planned or in pre-production, including
supplemental material for Wizard War, modules and adventures for
other systems, and even a video game or two.

If you would like to purchase the full game of Wizard War after play-
ing this demo, please visit wyngspan-labs.itch.io!

Thank you for supporting us at the start of our journey. We’re excited
to see what happens next.
 WIZARD WAR
is a “tradingless” card dueling game for two players. Although
it’s inspired by classic trading card games, all you need to play
this strategic card battler is this book, two standard decks of
Poker cards, and some dice and scrap paper.

Forge a pact to borrow spells and soldiers from the Nefarious

Necromantic Militia ♠, the Witch Doctors of Medicine ♥,
the Fairie Princes of Pranks ♣, or the Mad Money Mages ♦.
Use their strength to defeat your opponent in a duel of wits,
and force that old windbag to move their tacky eyesore
of a tower far away from your glorious wizardly spire.
This blasted heath ain’t big enough for the both of you.

© 2022 Wyngspan Laboratories