Witchstone – Board Game – Review, Reviews

Witches and magicians gather every 100 years – this is how many fairy tales begin, and the Witchstone by Reiner Knizia and Martino Chiacchiera (Huch) also has something like a fairy tale. Great show, great atmosphere and it wasn’t without reason that the Witchstone was at Kennerspielliste 2022. Because the instructions alone show us it’s a complex game, because there is so much to consider and it’s not easy to master without effort. But it is not easy for witches and sorcerers to obtain the title of Master of the Witch’s Stone, and in the end there can only be one. If there are two victorious witches at the end, the one with the most progress in the wand wins. What does that mean now? Like I said – a lot of effort!

The gameplay of Witchstone, the board game for experienced players

We have planned a game board with a crystal ball and bright connections connecting the places. On the board we also find a pentagonal graphic with special hex tiles, a scroll shelf with corresponding scrolls, a flask shelf and a magic wand with various bonus fields. Each player gets a magic cauldron with a screen, 15 hex pieces, 12 witches and wizards, 20 energy units for crystal ball paths and 3 markers. 6 colored crystals and 1 black crystal as obstacles in our cauldron. We put 5 of our hex tiles, showing different symbols, in front of us, and the rest is the draw pile. The game ends when each player has only 4 pieces in front of him.

Lots of options for working while spinning

And now we have the choice between 6 actions to collect points in each place. For this we take one of our hexagonal tiles and put it in our cauldron. There are two symbols on the tiles and depending on how many type symbols are connected after placement, we have several actions from them. So we try to put together large connected groups of symbols while removing the crystals in the cauldron from the same pot. Because that also gives us additional upgrades. Energy actions allow us to create paths on the crystal ball using energy units and the longer the connections are completed, the more points we get.

Witches actions allow us to place witches on the crystal ball in our tower or move them to specific fields of the crystal ball on our energy paths. If we get to the chips that are laid out in the fields at the beginning of the game, these are additional actions. But of course, newly occupied squares bring victory points.

Pentagram actions allow us to walk over spaces in the pentagram, which brings us victory points and additional actions. It can be permanent or one-time depending on how it is applied.

Crystal actions allow us to move crystals out of our boiler because they prevent our helical slabs from working. If we take them out this way, it costs us victory points. So quickly take her to the edge of the cauldron and unlock further action. Stick actions allow us to move forward on the stick and unlock more actions and victory points. Scrolling actions offer us buffs or prophecies. Both are of course victory points either once or depending on the conditions met. There are still many small details in individual areas, but the approximate process is outlined as follows.

Cascade score! Is the Witchstone board game fun?

It’s a crazy series of dots happening here, and it’s a totally interesting and diverse game. Every game is different and there is no such thing as a winning strategy. Everything is important and using everything at the right time brings us a lot of victory points. Then it is flattened thanks to the coils located at the end.

The game can lead to many chain reactions in its path and sometimes to the fact that you forgot something. The witch hunt / point hunt requires maximum concentration so as not to forget important details in the game.

The Witchstone is excellently designed and always exciting because it always goes differently. For me, it easily falls into the field of expert games, because the instructions require everything from you.

The game doesn’t invent anything drastically new, but the way the actions are built is exciting in the truest sense of the word. Trying to get the best out of the current promotions, there may be more. What magicians and magicians had to do to prepare the best recipes from their cauldron is remarkable. Just like Witchstone – a game that I can play over and over just to find a better recipe. An addictive game for an exciting evening at a high level. Try it.