The Scepter of Zavandor – A Wizard’s Work Is Never Done

In The Scepter of Zavandor, you step into the shoes of a wizard with big ambitions. This isn’t about waving a wand and making flowers bloom. You’re here to rise through the ranks of Zavandor’s magical elite. To get there, you’ll need to explore ancient regions, master the use of magical gems, summon arcane copies of yourself, and maybe make a few deals with old and very picky guardians.

👥 1-6 players, ages 14+
⌛ Playing time: 90 minutes
📝 Designer: Jens Drögemüller
🎨 Artwork: Michael Menzel

🏢 Publisher: DiceTree Games (review copy provided)

Gameplay Overview

The world of Zavandor is split into six regions, each with its own flavour and set of strategic options. You don’t go there yourself, of course. You send magical duplicates, which are essentially copies of your wizard self, to explore on your behalf. They do the legwork, travelling through different regions, unlocking upgrades and collecting magical rewards. From lava-filled mountains to half-forgotten ruins, every region has something useful to offer if you’re willing to invest the magic to get there.

At the start of the game, each player chooses a character. These wizards all begin with slightly different advantages, depending on their magical focus. During the game, you can summon up to five duplicates, but you’ll need to spend magic to get them into play. Once summoned, they stay with you for the rest of the game.

Each round begins by determining turn order. After that, players extract magic. The number and type of magic you receive depend on the gems you have activated and any bonuses you have unlocked. Opal potions always provide a fixed amount of magic. The other potions, like sapphire, emerald, diamond, and ruby, are drawn from shuffled decks, so you never know quite what you’ll get.

On your turn, you can take several different actions, in any order, and as often as you like. The only exception is exploration. Normally, you can only explore once per turn, using one of your duplicates. Some magical items let you explore more than once. Your other options include summoning duplicates, buying and activating gems, starting auctions for items, selling gems to produce magic, or forming contracts with guardians.

Exploring the regions is one of the most important parts of the game. Each region has four stages. Moving from one stage to the next costs magic, but doing so unlocks powerful effects. Some regions give you permanent potion bonuses, others reduce gem costs or give you items, and some just let you carry more potion cards in your hand. If one of your duplicates makes it all the way to the fourth and final stage of a region, you earn two victory points. The regions all feel different in what they offer. For example, if you want to unlock ruby magic, you’ll need to push deep into Fire Mountain. If you’re more interested in better gem trading, the Goblin Village might be worth the climb.

Gems are at the heart of your magical engine. There are five types: opal, sapphire, emerald, diamond, and ruby. At the beginning, everyone has access to opals and sapphires. If you want to use emeralds or diamonds, you’ll need to get the correct spell books, which are usually found through items. Rubies are a bit special. They’re the most powerful, and you can only use them if you’ve explored Fire Mountain to its end, or if your character starts the game with ruby access. Once activated, gems are placed into your magic circle or into sockets on magical items. They provide you with magic each round and also count for points at the end of the game.

Magical items are bought through open auctions. On their turn, a player can start an item auction by picking something from the Goblin Shop. Everyone can bid, and the winner pays in magic or by selling gems. These items have a major impact on your options. Some offer extra gem slots, others give free actions like summoning or exploring, or provide spell books or hand size upgrades. A few are worth points at the end of the game. Just keep in mind that only the player whose turn it is may start the auction, and only one item auction is allowed each turn.

Later in the game, players get the chance to form contracts with powerful guardians. These are ancient beings tied to specific magical disciplines. To claim a guardian, you need to win another type of auction. When you do, you get five points immediately, plus bonus points depending on your board state. You might score more based on how many gems you’ve activated, how many regions you’ve explored, or how many items you’ve collected. Each guardian is unique, and once one is taken, it’s no longer available to others.

The game ends after the round in which the fifth guardian is contracted. Everyone gets to finish their turn, and then it’s time to count up the points. You’ll score for your activated gems, fully explored regions, magical items, and guardians. The player with the highest total becomes the new master of magic in Zavandor.

A Fresh Take on a Classic

The Scepter of Zavandor has been around for a while. Originally published in 2004 by Lookout Games, it quietly earned a solid reputation, finishing ninth in the 2005 Deutscher Spiele Preis. Designer Jens Drögemüller would later go on to co-create Terra Mystica and Gaia Project, so if those names ring a bell, you’ll have a sense of what kind of gameplay to expect here. This new edition, released in 2024 by DiceTree Games, doesn’t change the core mechanics but brings a full visual update, including new artwork by Michael Menzel and upgraded components.

It plays with one to six players, works best with three or four, and usually runs around 90 minutes. With more players or on your first go, expect it to stretch a bit longer.

Components and Presentation

The first thing most players will notice is the new artwork. The main board shows Zavandor’s six regions with a nice balance between theme and clarity. Each area has its own look, from scorched mountains to eerie ruins and mossy woodlands, all drawn in a detailed, classic fantasy style. It gives the game a consistent atmosphere without overwhelming the eyes.

The player boards are well laid out. Every section has its purpose, from gem slots to spell books and duplicate tracking. Once you’ve played a few rounds, everything becomes second nature. The gem tokens are particularly nice: five colours of thick, transparent plastic that you move around your board as your magic engine develops. They feel good in the hand and give the table a bit of colour. Potion cards are clearly colour-coded, and the iconography across the game is easy to follow after a brief explanation.

There’s nothing particularly flashy about the components, but they’re functional and well made. Even the meeples, which are fairly plain, do their job clearly. DiceTree also includes a good number of storage containers, which makes the setup less of a chore. Always a plus for a game with this many bits.

Rulebook and Ease of Learning

The rulebook is long, but it’s clearly structured and fairly easy to digest. It walks you through the basics step by step, with examples and diagrams to explain trickier situations. There’s a fair amount of lore woven in, with little introductions for the regions, characters, and guardians. Some players will enjoy that added flavour, others will skip it and just look for the icon reference. Fortunately, both approaches work.

You’ll probably still have a few questions during your first play, but once the main loop of extracting magic and spending it on actions is clear, the rest falls into place fairly naturally. The rulebook is easy to refer back to if needed.

What It’s Like to Play

At its heart, Zavandor is a game about building your economy over time and deciding how to spend your resources most effectively. It starts slowly. You’ll spend the early rounds extracting small amounts of magic, gradually buying gems, and figuring out how to get your duplicates on the board. The real decisions begin once your income stabilises. From there, you’re constantly weighing short-term benefits against long-term efficiency.

It’s not a complicated game in terms of rules, but it asks you to juggle quite a few things. You’ll need to think about auctions, potion draws, gem upgrades, region effects, and timing. And somehow make all of those work together without running out of magic. The game isn’t punishing, but it rewards forward planning. If you enjoy that kind of layered decision-making, there’s a lot to explore.

Auctions are the main source of player interaction. Competing over magical items and guardian contracts creates moments where your plan can get disrupted. Outside of that, most of the interaction is indirect, racing for region bonuses or trying to stay ahead on efficiency. You’re mostly focused on your own board, keeping your machine running while watching what others are bidding on.

There is a risk of falling behind if your engine doesn’t get going early. It’s not always easy to catch up, especially if another player pulls ahead with a strong gem setup or gets access to powerful items first. That can feel a bit frustrating, but it also makes timing and momentum an important part of the game.

Strengths and Friction Points

The economic engine is satisfying to develop, and the way the different systems connect feels deliberate. You start small, but once your gem engine is rolling, you begin to make bigger moves and can finally afford to compete in the more expensive auctions. There’s something enjoyable about going from scraping together three points of magic to comfortably outbidding your rivals for a key item.

The pace, though, is something to be aware of. The first few rounds are relatively quiet, especially with new players. It can take a bit of patience before the game starts to open up. With higher player counts, there’s also the risk of downtime creeping in, especially when someone’s turn involves a lot of math or auction discussion. It plays best with three or four, where turns move at a steady rhythm and the auctions stay competitive without dragging.

Asymmetry is present but not extreme. Each wizard starts with a different setup, but you’re not locked into a specific strategy. That means you can adjust depending on what items and bonuses come up, but it also means early choices have a big influence on how smoothly your plan develops.

Setup is on the heavier side, simply due to the number of decks, tokens, and player pieces. The storage helps, but you’ll want to keep things organised between plays. It’s not a game you’ll want to pull out for a quick half-hour session. It takes a bit of table space and a bit of time, but once it’s going, it’s worth the effort.

Final Thoughts

We’ve played The Scepter of Zavandor a handful of times, and what stands out is how carefully constructed it feels. It doesn’t try to impress with gimmicks or wild twists. Instead, it gives you a solid structure and asks you to work within it. That kind of steady, thoughtful gameplay won’t appeal to everyone, but it will click with players who enjoy efficiency puzzles, careful timing, and slow but satisfying growth.

It’s not a game that plays itself. You’ll need to stay focused, manage your resources well, and think a few turns ahead. Players who enjoy games like Power Grid will likely feel right at home. If you prefer games that are more dramatic, faster paced, or filled with surprises, Zavandor might come across as a bit dry.

For us, it found its place as a game we’d bring out when we’re in the mood for something deliberate, competitive, and quietly tense. It’s not about making flashy moves, but about building something that works and squeezing just a bit more out of each round than your opponents.

📝 We received a review copy from DiceTree Games.