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Another interesting question is whether quantity or quality is more important. I would tend to side with quantity if for no other reason that clearing the arena is a matter of quantity more than quality, although generally concentrated force is more effective than dispersed force. In the opening, when development means clearing the squares to which the Kings may move while starting to control the arena, quantity may be more important. During the middle game when the arena is well populated, concentrated force may be more important.
I had never been happy with the 150-move limit, but I just wasn't able to write an an adequate 50-move rule in time for the contest deadline. In fact, I have several me vs Z and Z vs Z games in my library that were in doubt on move 150 but won by move 170, where a draw would have been declared even though progress was being made. By the way, games of this length are extraordinary--the most recent involved me making a very long comeback from being within a hairbreath of lost at move 75. On the other hand, I have seen games that were pretty dea by move 100 or so that the new rule will stop before move 150. The new 50-move rule is complex, but is an accurate adaptation of the FIDE 50-move rule to the radically different conditions of Wizard's War. In actaul play, the irreplacablity of a piece will be more obvious than it seems from reading the rule.
<p>Very nice game. The dynamics of the opening, middle game and end game are quite distinct, although very different from FIDE Chess.</p><p>The opening is characterized by piece creation in tandem with piece development.</p><p>During the early middle game, positional play starts to develop, with a balance between attempting to get a material advantage by capture or by piece creation.</p><p>As the middle game proceeds, positional play becomes more important. While piece creation is always an important element it must take a secondary position as positional tactics become more critical.</p><p>In the late middle game, the goal of capturing the 'arena' starts to influence tactics. Capture of semi-royal Wizards also becomes a tactical and strategic issue.</p><p>Overall, a very nice game and very innovative.
Mike Nelson wrote on Thu, Jan 2, 2003 10:22 PM UTC:I have a Zillions 2.0 ZRF for Wizard's War that does piece creation automatically and also plays better. (Thanks to Jens Markmann for making the modifications.) It differs from the current ZRF in that it doesn't respect the piece limits--it will allow a player to have seven Knights or eight Rooks on the board at once. Extensive testing indicates that the piece limits are not necessary to play balance and that this rule can be dropped. Zillions has as yet not created seven or more of the same piece in games, but has done so in created positions. I don't want to make any changes to the web pages while the contest is being judged, but if anyone wants the new ZRF, eamil me and I will send it to you.
Mike Nelson wrote on Sat, Nov 30, 2002 04:10 PM UTC:Wizard's War should be quite playable with alternate armies--any three base pieces whose moves don't overlap should work. If you use pieces significantly weaker or stronger than the FIDE pieces I use, you will want to alter the 150-move limit. Wizard's War with different armies is a different question--it is quite a challenge to design two base piece sets which generate armies of equal strength. If anyone wants to try it, I would suggest a rule to keep the complexity down: When your Wizard captures an enemy piece resulting in the creation of a new piece, treat the enemy piece as its equivalent in your army. Example: You are using the standard WW army, your opponent is using an army with a BD as his Rook-equivalent. If your Knight-Wizard captures his BD, create a Chancellor, not an NBD.
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Well hey, apparently I never commented on this!
I quite like it! The interplay between needing pieces on the arena/safer on the enchanted squares is quite unusual.
Creating your own army is fun, and ensures no game start will be quite the same.
This is a very cohesive & well thought out variant.