Unstable Moments in Wizard’s Academy: Burning the Ice

Dec 31, 2024 | Sessions | 0 comments

Set out to protect a magical school from catastrophe and disaster with a handful of amateur students in Wizard’s Academy.

For many years, Wizard’s Academy has been one of my favorite games that doesn’t come to my table nearly as much as it should. My last play was years ago… Some of these students could have graduated by now! Ha ha! I grabbed my beloved copy and eagerly started setting up for the next scenario. Time to save the academy from… Itself?!

Game Overview

Game Name: Wizard’s Academy
Publication Year:
 2016
Designer:
 Gregory Carslaw
Artists:
 Sean Andrew Murray & Ludwin Schouten
Publisher: 3DTotal Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)

The goal is to complete a scenario, working through all kinds of disasters throughout the enormous academy. Rooms offer unique actions, while spells are the most exciting part… They’re entirely unknown! Amateurs cast them to discover their effects and how they might help.

Planning How to Manage Threats and a Scenario in Wizard's Academy
R

First Play

December 26, 2017

Complexity

4

Latest Play

December 29, 2024

Expansions

0

Setup Time

20 Minutes

Lifetime Plays

22

Play Time

1 Hour & 45 Minutes

:

High Score

N/A

1

Game Area

44" x 30"

;

Low Score

N/A

Back to the Labyrinth

The main play area consists of 17 different rooms, most of which are in a simple 4×4 grid. But hallways don’t connect everywhere, and getting from point to point isn’t easy.

Such an iconic and classic scene! Although some of the rooms might look a little similar at a glance, with practice, it’s pretty straightforward to find each one quickly.

The trick is to remember where they are… If the scenario actually keeps them all in place! Strange magic runs amok.

Managing disasters is another main element, as there are all sorts of threats that may appear to the students.

Evaluating the Assortment of Rooms and Glyph Sources in Wizard's Academy

Organized Chaos

A lot of components can make for a very disorganized area, but I use a few UberTrayz to manage most of the components. These even have lids for easy cleanup, too!

Spells are my favorite part of the game, though. These are all randomized during setup at 4 different levels.

Each spell is tied to a specific glyph pair, which forms the requirement for casting it. Ah, but it’s not so easy…

Usually, around half of these spells are botches, which can do all sorts of damage. Yet some disasters interact with each other in unexpected and oddly useful ways.

A Bt of Organized Chaos Among the Unknown Spells and Disasters in Wizard's Academy

The Dream Team Trio

Playing solo seems to work best with 2-4 characters, and my preferred team consists of a trio. All of them are excellent, yet this time it was Flitter, Irini, and Nyvetta.

Each wizard has a special ability, and a specific school of magic that can have its spells boosted. Irini is unique in that she can spend extra glyphs to boost any spell.

So much fun! I also love the bits of humor, like how no one can remember why Nyvetta was turned into a bear. Ha!

I think I’ve played with every wizard at some point, and they all feel like they create their own little stories.

Choosing Amateur Wizards to Solve Complex Problems in Wizard's Academy

A New Scenario

Continuing with the scenario booklet, my next challenge revolved around a lot of unstable rooms. In other words, they switched constantly until frozen in place with ice.

I was initially quite excited about this prospect, but this was the worst experience with the game I’ve ever had.

It wasn’t the difficulty of it: Ice is one of the hardest threats to maintain, owing to how it melts whenever fire is near. There was a specific solution to win this one.

Also, all of my early efforts were always thwarted by some bad luck. A good case of loving the game, not the scenario.

Setting Out to Freeze the Academy in Place with an Unusual Scenario for Wizard's Academy

Favorite Games Aren’t All About Perfect Plays

If this was my only experience with this game, it wouldn’t even be close to one of my favorites. This scenario was simply terrible for me and felt like it moved away from a lot of what makes the game so much fun. However, did this mar my opinion? Nope! It got me thinking about what my favorite games are all about, and what I expect from them.

Not every single play or session is going to be amazing. I have a pretty good idea of the types of solo games that have a high chance of delivering a great experience, but it sometimes isn’t meant to be. Indeed, scenarios can be even more prone to fizzling out for some players. What matters to me is the overall experience across multiple plays.

To use some of my strongest wording, I strongly disliked this session. Yet looking back at the other scenarios I’ve completed over the years and the wonderful memories means I’m not writing the game off… Maybe just the scenario! 

Futile Firefighting

During my first attempt, it took me a little time to figure out the best rooms to create ice in. It didn’t even dawn on me to think about the arrangement of the rooms yet…

And there was fire from the very beginning, which I thought I was doing a decent job of controlling. I moved it outside the academy a few times, and thought I had it!

But then threats began activating over and over. The fire spread, and this turn was the end of me. My ice all melted.

It was frustrating to have all of my early efforts literally erased. And I needed ice in 12 rooms to win! Yikes.

The Trouble with Managing a Growing Block of Ice with Fire in Wizard's Academy

Useless Sorts of Spells

Setup involved mixing in a guaranteed ice spell, but the rest were all random. None of them helped me out, and I had the bad luck of finding a botch to add even more fire!

Usually, scenarios offer a large decision space where there isn’t a single path to follow. “On the rails” is a term you might hear in regards to the false perception of agency.

I thought I did something wrong and stumbled across a strategy discussion specifically about this scenario.

From what I read, winning comes down to almost tricking the game in a single, certain way. No room for creativity.

The Fun of Casting Spells to Find Out What They Do in Wizard's Academy

Flitter and the Glyphs

I had a pretty good thing going with Flitter! Since she could carry an extra item, she could treat all glyphs as the ones required to cast the spell for ice. Excellent idea!

Except the ice spell got blocked by newly added glyph sources, and it was impossible to manage the fire along with casting new spells… Which then had to be bound.

A fire robe allowed Flitter to ignore fire, which was pretty neat! The other wizards had the same robes, too.

I laughed about how they would explain this… “We were supposed to freeze the academy. Burned it down instead.”

Planning to Create Ice Everywhere and Avoid Fire in Wizard's Academy

A Futile Effort

My first play lasted 3 hours, and I had probably lost about 45 minutes in. I reset with the knowledge of how to win, and although it felt like cheating, I felt like I had a chance.

Only… I didn’t. Even with what seemed like the perfect planning, random disasters created too many problems.

I had 6 rooms frozen in place at one point, and was on my way to freezing over a few more. That is, until random fire destroyed my efforts and I was down to 1 frozen room.

This lasted 2 hours, but again, I likely lost long before that time. Still love the game, yet this scenario was not fun.

A Very Fun Game and an Out-of-Character Frustrating Scenario in Wizard's Academy

Session Overview

Play Number: 21 & 22
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)
Play Details: Unstable Academy, Hard Difficulty Level
Outcome: 2 Losses

There was a moment when I thought I had the best idea of flooding rooms and then freezing a central room that was about to activate… Instant ice everywhere! Except the green glyph source spawned in a room I could never reach. So it was one calamity after another. Definitely can’t trust these students to not burn something down! Ha! I still found some funny moments, but this was a rough time.

Using Water and Ice Together with No Success in Wizard's Academy

%

20 Plays

Affordability

Price & Value

10

Functionality

Challenges & Mechanics

10

Originality

Design & Theme

10

Quality

Components & Rules

8

Reusability

Achievement & Enjoyment

10

Variability

Distinctness & Randomness

10

+ Pros (Positives)

  • Uncovering unknown spells by casting them is a lot of fun and offers all sorts of ways to interact with the academy.
  • Each wizard is unique with a special ability and school of magic, allowing for different strategies.
  • There are many types of threats ranging from fire to demons, yet not all of them are present during each play.
  • Disasters slowly progress with worse and worse circumstances, but these are seen ahead of time to plan for.
  • Managing the worst threats allows for creative solutions that often utilize other threats or botched spells.
  • Humorous lore snippets are interesting to stumble across in the rules and give the game a lighthearted feel.

– Cons (Negatives)

  • Bad luck can be almost impossible to overcome at a certain point, yet gameplay can continue on a little too long.
  • Threat interactions aren’t clearly laid out in the rules, although unofficial references easily solve this issue.
  • All of the components are excellent, but the play space is very large and can get disorganized rather easily.
  • Setup can take a little bit of time with the way the disaster and different spell decks have to be randomized.

More Wizard's Academy

Explore related posts about Wizard’s Academy!

Victory Conditions

Complete the Scenario

  • Overall Goal Progress 80% 80%

Goals and Milestones

R

Complete Demon Binding at the hard difficulty level.

R

Complete Evasive Grimoire at the hard difficulty level.

R

Complete Golem Construct at the hard difficulty level.

R

Complete the Inspector Calls at the hard difficulty level.

Q

Complete the Unstable Academy at the hard difficulty level.

Continue the Conversation

What are your favorite scenarios from Wizard’s Academy? Have you ever stumbled across a scenario you didn’t enjoy in a solo game? I still love this one and look forward to playing some more, but this scenario may remain right out! It was still a lot of fun to get this back to my table again. At least I had the classic amateur wizard outcome… Burned up. Ha ha!

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