Game Overview

Game Name: Sorcerer
Publication Year: 2019
Designer: Peter Scholtz
Artists: Many (5 Credited)
Publisher: Wise Wizard Games
Solo Mode: Included in Sorcerer: Endbringer

Over just a handful of rounds, spells bring out elements like minions and cursed attachments to wage battle against an enormous nemesis. Creating a character is an easy and interesting prospect with all sorts of ways to play, and each fight is more about thoughtful planning than pure strength.

This Sorcerer’s Power

The artwork is amazing with so much detail and personality, yet it leans into a dark and sometimes gory aesthetic. It’s amazing! But just a note about what to expect.

With an eye towards Halloween, it was certainly time to keep on bringing in some costumed Calico Critters. This little sorcerer kept a close eye on the brutal Erlik Khan!

A bit of cuteness tempered any of the darkness, although I was in the mood for this kind of scarier sort of setting.

I mixed up all of the battlefields to create a global kind of battle, ranging from London to the coast, and even Egypt!

Creating a Full Deck

At the core of gameplay is a roughly 40-card deck. Now, I’ve played many deck construction solo games where the choices are all left up to the player. Lots of customization!

But this can be overwhelming at times. This one takes a unique approach, combining 3 different small decks that can be randomized for a character, lineage, and domain.

This was how Zevrane the Demonologist of the Bloodcursed Ship came to be. So easy to choose or randomize these!

Perhaps the only major downside to the vast content is how much is no longer available at retail, limiting the options.

Planning and Prepping

Gameplay is relatively straightforward with a fantastic player board that lays out almost everything… Just not the important parts of the solo mode for the nemesis.

A total of 6 actions may be performed each round, using cards and energy in a variety of ways. The trick is to figure out the optimal ways to utilize each deck. A neat puzzle!

Omens offer ways to re-roll dice during the battles across a trio of areas. Or, they might come in handy at other times.

There are high-cost, powerful cards to find in each deck, but very rarely does a hand not offer up some clever options.

Erlik Khan…. Khan!

For the solo mode, the enemy is a character with a similar sort of method to deck construction. There are 4 nemeses, 4 archetypes, and 4 scenarios to mix together for variety.

And they can be very different, all with various challenges. I started off with the easiest option: Erlik Khan the Deathdealer is Leading the Invasion. A descriptive name!

The nemesis deck offers multi-purpose cards used in most instances, which the archetype deck contains minions.

Most information is on these cards, although the rulebook is needed for a few important reminders, especially setup.

Dealing All the Damage

To battle! I had to take a little time to figure out exactly how to use Zevrane’s strengths, but I managed to bring a powerful minion into play for some awesome turns.

With Zevrane in the same battlefield, I could use a special tactics card to increase the dice rolled up to the maximum. And a few omen tokens allowed me to re-roll for this result…

No minions in this battlefield meant all of the damage went against the monolith, which required 9 damage. Toppled!

The goal is to defeat the monolith in each battlefield, which is much harder than it might seem at a glance.

Lining Up the Minions

A character begins with a total of 30 health, which can be depleted in many ways. The nemesis often does direct damage regularly, but unopposed minions are dangerous.

Often, my own minions were there to soak up damage and trigger abilities, rather than do a lot of damage. It all depends on the deck, though, and there are many strategies!

Actually, I might define those more as ideas to try out… For I made a few blunders along the way and had to try again.

Zevrane made short work of the easiest form of Erlik Khan, and I decided to move onto a new character and scenario.

Miselda’s Introduction

Although combining the different decks during setup is mostly there to make deck construction easy, I still enjoy the little thematic elements that can weave their way in.

Miselda was my next character. She was a Thaumaturge of the Forlorn Opera House, which seemed really interesting!

This lineage was a little more difficult to figure out, though, as it introduced new mechanics. Light counters are a new currency that can be very powerful when used correctly.

Guess who didn’t use them correctly? Ha ha! Still, this was a fully different experience than my plays with Zevrane.

A New Form of Erlik

To increase the difficulty level, I probably should have left the archetype the same and just adjusted the scenario… But I bumped up both of them. Much more challenging!

I will note that there is a lot of text to read across the cards, particularly for the nemesis. This took me out of the game a little bit at times, although it wasn’t the worst thing.

I did wish for clear icons. All of Erlik’s abilities appeared to be ongoing, but one was for the start of the round.

Most of this was intuitive after I started playing, yet there was a bit of reading fatigue that distracted me.

Erlik Who?

It appeared that this cheerful Calico Critter sorcerer used up all of her luck on Zevrane! Although I kept her nearby, Miselda didn’t have much success against Erlik.

Part of it was my fault for increasing the difficulty level in a couple of ways, although I wonder about the overall balance.

Some archetypes or scenarios almost require a certain way to play, while others are more open to experimentation.

The makeup of a deck might also play into things. Not every character, lineage, and domain work well together, so missing out on synergies could be a frustrating experience.

Defeated on the Coast

Try as I might, Miselda never came close to defeating Erlik. It was tricky to master the light counters and the way the new revelation cards worked… Not quite my style, I guess.

It was fun to topple a monolith and come close to taking down another one, though! Yet the enemy minions were just too difficult with the way they dealt tons of damage.

There’s certainly a fun solo game here, though! I just may need to make sure I keep an eye on the difficulty level.

And maybe my next character just needs to be Calico Critter the Calico Critter of the Calico Critters? Ha ha!

Session Overview

Play Number: 1-6
Main Expansion: Sorcerer: Endbringer
Solo Mode: Included in Sorcerer: Endbringer
Play Details: Zevrane and Miselda vs. Erlik Khan
Outcome: 2 Win & 4 Losses

It was awesome to find lots of unique cards to utilize! A few cursed attachments helped a lot, and I was just starting to recognize how to set up some of the legendary minions in this deck. Although the artwork can be dark and grim, this is a wonderful world of magical battles where trying out a new deck offers all kinds of ways to play. Very enjoyable!

Affordability

Price & Value

7

Functionality

Challenges & Mechanics

9

Originality

Design & Theme

7

Quality

Components & Rules

8