If you've ever dreamt of raising hordes of undead and sending them forth to crush stupid peasants beneath their metatarsals then Deth Wizards, the latest miniature agnostic wargame from Snarling Badger, might be just what your black heart desires. As with their previous titles Deth Wizards is a narrative focused wargame that can be run solo, co-operatively or as a standard pvp skirmish. This time though you’re leaving the heroics behind and playing as near immortal necromancers who, not content with power over life and death itself, have even grander plans in mind.

From the off it's good stuff as you build your necromancer from scratch, making them a powerhouse of dark sorcery or a more hands on kind of sicko, choosing from one of six different Necromantic Legacies and long list of Necromantic Powers, raising a selection of bony or otherwise ethereal minions and finally kitting out the dank lair they like to chillax in. Then once you've stitched together your shambling, spooky horde, you're ready to set out across the land, raising villages, looting tombs, performing foul rituals and partaking in a bit of regicide, all on the way to becoming a dark god. 

As we've come to expect from Loper and Venturella the rules are well laid out, quick to pick up and, assuming you’ve got a handful of suitable miniatures and scenery lying about, it’s no exaggeration to say you could be playing your first game in minutes. The setup is simple enough, in a standard one-on-one game, you’ll start with 7 points worth of undead minions under your control, a basic skeleton costing 1pt whilst something tankier like a Flesh Golem setting you back 4. Each game then lasts five turns, with each turn split into rounds during which you get to activate your Necromancer and up to four points worth of minions.

Once activated a model can move and either perform an attack or use a special ability, or in the case of your necromancer unleash one of their foul Necromantic Powers. Combat is simple, if you’re in range to attack you simply roll a handful of d10s equal to that models Offense rating, and each roll above the targets Defense stat counts as a hit and generally does 1 damage. There’s various special abilities to factor in, and all kinds of way for your Necromancers to do even more damage or knit minions back together but after our first stab at it, games have generally proceeded at quite a clip. 

Whilst you can just skirmish amongst yourselves the game’s story mode is where Deth Wizards special embalming sauce lies. Here, either on your own or in a dubious alliance with another necromancer, you must negotiate eleven, escalating scenarios that pit you against AI driven heroes -pious paladins, priests and the like- who have decided to stick their boring noses in your business. 

As you progress through the campaign you’ll amass more power, learn new diabolic sorceries, beef up your minions (literally in the case of Shamblers) and go all Grand Designs on the charnel pit you call home, kitting it out with all kinds of home comforts from fungal gardens to scrying pools.

The scenarios are a diverse lot though I’d probably have preferred a bit more variation to the objectives than just murder everything in sight. In that regard Loper and Venturella’s own Space Station Zero remains the standard for an interesting narrative campaign in our eyes. Still each scenario features enough complications to keep things interesting, and if you have the scenery to hand, or fancy a modelling challenge, then an hour to two spent pushing little horrors through gloomy graveyards and cursed forests as you strive for a dark apotheosis is rarely a dull. 

If you’re looking for a quick to get in to wargame, with lots of narrative and modelling potential, then Deth Wizards is definitely worth giving a go. You’ll probably only want to run through an entire campaign a couple of times at most but that’s the beauty of these kind of games, they’re not lifelong commitments and can just be picked up as and when, and enjoyed in the moment.

Designers: Adam Loper, Vince Venturella
Art: Martin McCoy, Sam Lenz
Published by Snarling Badger Studios

This feature originally appeared in Wyrd Science Vol.1, Issue 6 (August '24)

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