Disk Wars
Encyclopedia
Disk Wars is a collectible
fantasy
tabletop miniature wargame
designed primarily by Tom Jolly
and Christian T. Petersen and first published in 1999 by Fantasy Flight Games
.
The game takes its name from its atypical use of cardboard disks to represent military units, commanders, monsters, and battlefield terrain features. Tabletop wargames more commonly use miniatures and scale models for these purposes. The relatively low cost of cardboard play pieces compared to metal or plastic figures was one of the game's two major marketing points. The other was its deliberately collectible nature, inspired by the success of collectible card game
s such as Magic: The Gathering
.
The Disk Wars line is no longer in production.
(Good, Neutral, or Evil), and any special abilities. 4” disks are used to demarcate notable terrain features such as woods and fortifications. Smaller, roughly 1” disks are used on the sidelines to represent individual spells which are available for casting by magic-capable units. Even smaller square chits are supplied for performing volleys of projectile fire, recording wounds, and marking which units have moved or acted so far in the current turn.
Play proceeds in turns, during which each player in rotating order activates three of his as-yet-unactivated units (or all of them if he has less than three). An activated unit may cast a valid spell from its player's hidden stack of remaining spells, use one of its special abilities, perform a projectile attack, or move. After all disks have been activated and the results resolved, melee combat is performed between overlapping enemy disks, then a new turn begins.
Play mechanics conspicuously take the physical form of the game pieces into account. Melee engagements are determined by actual overlap between disks, with larger disks naturally able to engage more, or more disperse, enemies than smaller disks can. Moving a unit is accomplished by flipping it edge-over-edge across the playfield a number of times up to its Movement rating, so a disk's diameter is just as important as this rating in determining how much distance the disk can cover, and is more important when precise positioning is desired. Projectile fire is accomplished by dropping projectile chits from a minimum distance above the playfield; whichever disks they land on are injured, whether friend or foe.
Collectible
A collectable or collectible is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector . There are numerous types of collectables and terms to denote those types. An antique is a collectable that is old...
fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
tabletop miniature wargame
Miniature wargaming
Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming that incorporates miniature figures, miniature armor and modeled terrain as the main components of play...
designed primarily by Tom Jolly
Tom Jolly
Tom Jolly is a board game inventor whose games include Wiz-War, Gootmu, and Knots, Drakon, Cavetroll, Vortex, Light Speed, Cargo, Camelot, Disk Wars, WayWord, and Got It!. Of these Wiz-War is among the best known...
and Christian T. Petersen and first published in 1999 by Fantasy Flight Games
Fantasy Flight Games
Fantasy Flight Games is a Roseville, Minnesota-based game company that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games. Fantasy Flight Publishing was founded in 1995 by its CEO, Christian T. Petersen. Since the release of its first game product in 1997, the company has been doing...
.
The game takes its name from its atypical use of cardboard disks to represent military units, commanders, monsters, and battlefield terrain features. Tabletop wargames more commonly use miniatures and scale models for these purposes. The relatively low cost of cardboard play pieces compared to metal or plastic figures was one of the game's two major marketing points. The other was its deliberately collectible nature, inspired by the success of collectible card game
Collectible card game
thumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
s such as Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering , also known as Magic, is the first collectible trading card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011...
.
The Disk Wars line is no longer in production.
Components
Disks representing military units vary between roughly 1.5” and 4” in diameter and are printed on both sides with the units' numeric stats, point cost, racial faction, moral alignmentAlignment (role-playing games)
In some role-playing games, alignment is a categorisation of the moral and ethical perspective of the player characters, non-player characters, monsters, and societies in the game....
(Good, Neutral, or Evil), and any special abilities. 4” disks are used to demarcate notable terrain features such as woods and fortifications. Smaller, roughly 1” disks are used on the sidelines to represent individual spells which are available for casting by magic-capable units. Even smaller square chits are supplied for performing volleys of projectile fire, recording wounds, and marking which units have moved or acted so far in the current turn.
Collectibility
Components are printed on cardboard cards, or flats, and are die-cut for easy separation. One complete set or expansion of Disk Wars can contain over 80 different flats. Flats are packaged and sold in small quantities that are partially or totally random. In addition, not all flats are produced in equal quantities, and some disks appear more than once per flat or on more than one flat.Gameplay
Players first agree upon the number of competing sides, the game's objective (for example, defeat all enemy units, defeat all enemy leaders, or be the first to establish uncontested control of a particular location), and the maximum combined point value of units and spells that each player may field.Play proceeds in turns, during which each player in rotating order activates three of his as-yet-unactivated units (or all of them if he has less than three). An activated unit may cast a valid spell from its player's hidden stack of remaining spells, use one of its special abilities, perform a projectile attack, or move. After all disks have been activated and the results resolved, melee combat is performed between overlapping enemy disks, then a new turn begins.
Play mechanics conspicuously take the physical form of the game pieces into account. Melee engagements are determined by actual overlap between disks, with larger disks naturally able to engage more, or more disperse, enemies than smaller disks can. Moving a unit is accomplished by flipping it edge-over-edge across the playfield a number of times up to its Movement rating, so a disk's diameter is just as important as this rating in determining how much distance the disk can cover, and is more important when precise positioning is desired. Projectile fire is accomplished by dropping projectile chits from a minimum distance above the playfield; whichever disks they land on are injured, whether friend or foe.
Expansions
- Moon Over Thelgrim (1999)
- Wastelands (1999)
- Waiqar's Path (1999)
- Broken Shadows (2001)
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