Wizard’s Quest
Treasure Hunt on the Island of Marnon

Wizard’s Quest can be played by from two to six players. The mapboard portrays the island of Marnon, which has been divided into thirty-six territories and eight castle spaces. Orcs are placed in approximately one-third of these spaces, and players in turn place their men in the remaining unoccupied spaces. An opposing player then places your treasure in the most inaccessible spots he can find.

Each turn, orcs currently on the board are reinforced with additional orcs by a random die roll. Spaces which contain four orcs then frenzy and attack any and all players in spaces adjacent to their spaces. The dragon then goes marauding as he flies from space to space, determined by a random die roll. He stops his flying for the turn as soon as he lands and devours at least one of the players’ men. The wizard also makes a visit to a randomly determined space, bringing with him reinforcements and protection from attack.

Each player in turn may petition the wizard and then attack a space adjacent to one his force currently occupies in order to move closer to and finally capture his treasure. The first player to collect all three of his treasures is the winner.

Contents

• Title: Wizard’s Quest, Treasure Hunt on the fantastic island of Marnon
• Period: Fantasy Medieval
• Type: Strategic Boardgame
• Time Scale: 1 turn = 1 or several days
• Ground Scale: 1 space = 1 province
• Troop Scale: 1 counter = 1 man
• Author: Garrett J. Donner
• Format: 6 Pages of Rules, 35 Petition Cards
• Language: English
• Publisher: Avalon Hill Game Company, Baltimore, MD
• Published: 1979

Wizard’s Quest is a fun boardgame in itself, but Wargamers may find it even more useful as a campaign tool for ancient, medieval, or horse & musket campaigns using miniatures. The full-color mapboard of the Island of Marnon is beautifully designed and easily adapted to miniature campaigning. Troop movement from one map province to another may take one or several days, depending on the intended size of the campaign. While Wizard’s Quest considers every troop counter to represent one man, the counters could just as easily represent a platoon, company, or battalion. The provinces appear to be large enough for a military force of several thousand men and horses to march through them or offer battle there, but players may want to consider that the provinces provide only enough food and fodder to sustain a certain number of troops as a permanent garrison.

The Marnon Economy

Provided that there is no supply from overseas, the Island of Marnon would have to generate enough agricultural surplus to feed the military forces permanently stationed there. Assuming that the campaign players intend to deploy 60 infantry, supply wagon, and foot artillery units, as well as 20 cavalry and horse artillery units for the campaign, the annual agricultural surplus would have to be ((60 × 1) + (20 × 8)) × 52 = 11400 points, or an average of 317 supply points per province. The players might agree that mountain provinces generate a below-average surplus, so that coastal or farm provinces may provide a higher share of the overall agricultural output. The majority of supply points become available at harvest time every year, and they may be collected and stockpiled by the player who occupies the province at that time. War-torn provinces might provide only a fraction of the supply points normally generated there.

Supply and Logistics

Foot units and supply wagon units consume 1 supply point, horse units 8 supply points per week. Supply wagon units consist of enough wagons to transport 6 supply points. They move at foot artillery speed and must use roads. Players are well advised to set up a chain of supply depots, and use their wagons to shuttle supply points between depots. Tony De Lyall offers a free campaign management software which can be used to run campaigns on the Island of Marnon.

Wargame Rules