The Gaming Outpost

I have a yen for for fantasy era tactical war games in the same vein as the ones that SPI released oh-so-many years ago (Lord of the Rings, Swords and Sorcery, et. al.). As long as the universe is logical and consistent, fantasy makes a great subject for conflict simulation gaming (read: “Wargames”). So I was pretty impressed that Fantasy Flight, the company that released Twilight Imperium and its many high priced add-on sets, has now released a series of very reasonably priced, pseudo-miniature style wargames called DISKWARS.

To begin with, this isn’t a collectible, though you should find yourself doing some trading and swapping of “disks.” You purchase ARMIES of the various fantasy races and genres (Undead, Dwarves, Elves, Dragonkin, Desert Dwellers, etc.). These are shipped in small boxes with about five-six countersheets called “flats.” About 3 of these flats are of the same theme as the box cover, the rest appear to be randomly inserted. The counters are circular (hence the title of the game series), and very nicely illustrated. You are expected to play the army in one box against the army in another, though there will probably be some shifting of units between boxes. Armies have alignments, good, evil and neutral. The rules state that no good units can fight in evil armies and vice versa (neutrals can fight in both). I found good units packed with evil armies and vice versa, so I had to do some swapping.

Disks are one huge LAND disk (which functions as your “home base”.. where your reinforcements appear, where you send armies to to capture, etc.). There are small SPELL disks and a SPELL BOOK marker (to hide what spells you use). There are TROOP/CREATURE disks of various sizes (theme troops and unique troop/creatures tend to be larger than the generic army troops). There are also some generic (square) game play markers that come in every pack for mechanisms like activation and hits.

Each disk has a buy cost, a movement rating, an Attack Value, a Defense Value, and a Toughness Value (hit points, essentially). Each unit also has a Unit Cost for unit purchasing. You are budgeted so much Unit Cost points per scenario.. generally, a 40 pt. army will make for a short game, a 50 pt. army a medium game, and a 100+ pt. army will make for a very long game indeed.

The Play Sequence goes like this:

1) Reinforcement

You maintain a reinforcement pile (a stack of disks, with only the top unit showing). Bring new units, up to however many is dictated by scenario rules.

2) Activation

This is where the action is. In the activation round, a unit can Move, Activate a Special Ability or Cast a Spell.

Moving is odd. You flip the disk, end over end, towards the scenario objective. Each flip is a “movement point.”

Special Abilities are varied.. anything from flying to spell casting.

Casting Spells is pretty straightforward. You have spells that are of a certain level, and spellcasting units that can cast spells of a certain level. You have to purchase spells within your Unit Construction budget, so you never have enough of them.

3) Missile Segment

Missiles are the oddest aspect of this rules system. You have to have a missile firing unit within range of a target. Then you put arrow counters (rated for the same rating as the firing unit) on top of an UNUSED DISK. Raise the disk six inches above the target unit and tip it over. Any arrow counters that land on the target disk cause a hit!

4) Combat Segment

Combat is very rock-scissors in the Diskwars system. One unit’s stronger, or it isn’t. If two enemy units meet during the movement phase of activation, they get into combat. If one unit is strong then another, the weaker one gets killed.

5) Remove Counters

Pretty much what it says.

There are a lot of things I like about Diskwars. The price is nice at $9.95. The art is glitzy, about on the level as some Magic The Gathering art. I love the tactical miniatures feel to the game… you don’t use a map, you just use your kitchen table top. I’ve played several games now, and am still trying to find the perfect combination for attack. There is a nice balance to the units that I have purchased already. On the downside, I don’t sense a lot of variation in this game. The special abilities aren’t that great. There appear to be all of 77 flats printed so far. That doesn’t add up to a lot of variation in the units, when you consider that there are 7 or 8 major armies out. Expansion sets are called for. The spells are okay, kind of ho hum in my opinion. Standard fantasy fodder.

What really burns me is the combat system. A simple larger strength rating kills the weaker unit? Don’t we get modifiers? How about a CRT? The missile fire is… well, gimmicky at best. It’s just a little too silly. The game plays very, very fast as a result and there doesn’t appear to be a real secret to winning… the big units kick the little unit’s butt, and that’s that.

The Verdict

However, I think there’s a lot of room to tinker with this system. It could be really great if they release expansions and variant combat rules… so I give this a (qualified)

THUMBS UP!