Sorcerer (board game)

Sorcerer is set in a place where seven different universes (represented by different colors) touch each other. Each player plays a sorcerer who controls one of the universes and tries to defeat the other sorcerers using magic. In addition to magical spells and human soldiers, each sorcerer can summon various magical creatures, teleport units from hex to hex, and fire energy bolts at opponents. The game offers a number of different scenarios for setup. There is a random attrition rule: during each turn, two colours are randomly chosen, and all units standing on those units are damaged or destroyed. In addition, sorcerers can summon a vortex, which moves randomly, damaging or destroying units it encounters while also creating new vortices.[1]

Victory points are generated by capturing enemy forts, controlling the most cities, and by converting white spaces to the player's color. The player who collects the most victory points over a limited number of turns is the winner.[1]

The game is played on a paper map with 518 one-inch hexagons using die-cut pasteboard counters representing various magical and non-magical units.[2]

Sorcerer was reviewed in The Space Gamer several times in 1976. In Issue #4 (Winter 1976), Glen Taylor recommended it, saying, "All in all, Sorcerer is a very good game. It presents an original fantasy situation in a fascinating and physically beautiful game format. The game is complex, but easy to learn. Scenarios are balanced, and the game employs the right proportion of skill and chance." [3] In Issue #5 (March-May 1976), Sumner N. Clarren also thought the game was worthwhile: "Because the game system of Sorcerer is such a departure from other fantasy or simulation games, it may take several sittings to fully master the intricacies of the rules. Once learned, however, the game moves quickly and the rules are remarkable clean and free of ambiguities. Even then, the best strategy and tactics for a talented sorcerer are not always obvious and must be learned with experience."[4] And in Issue #8 (October-November 1976), Linda Brzustowicz was a bit more nuanced, saying, "I found Sorcerer to be an enjoyable game. The one major point of the game I didn't like was the shallow development of the importance of magic."[2]

Rob Thompson reviewed Sorcerer for White Dwarf #1 , giving the game an overall rating of 7 out of 10, and stated that "Sorcerer is an enjoyable game. A fun game without being a facile game. Colourful in looks and language. Sorcerer will be more attractive to gamers who are more interested in wargames as games rather than as historical simulations."[5]

In the August 1978 edition of Dragon, although Jim Ward found the game could be enjoyable, he had issues with the combat resolution tables, which he thought were overly complicated. And he changed one rule: "[The game] was a lot of fun after we decided to ignore the random attrition rule." Ward recommended the game as long as players weren't expecting an overly complex game, saying, "Fantasy buffs will enjoy playing the game from the creation of creatures and tossing of energy bolts standpoint. On the other hand, one shouldn’t expect any complicated tactical situations to occur."[1]

In March 1980, in the inaugural Issue of Ares Magazine, Eric Goldberg gave the game an average score of 5 out of 9, saying, "The game system is nice, but it seems more appropriate for an abstract color war game than for a fantasy game. In the final analysis, Sorcerer fails as both a game and as fantasy."[6]