Checkout the campaign over on Gamefound.

How to Play Witchbound

I already covered most of it here in the preview that I did. But I want to cover it a little bit more as to how your average action goes.

The game mechanics are pretty simple. You collect items, spells, actions, and prompts as you play the game. Each of those can be used with interacting with things are people. To do that, you take the number from the prompt of “Hello” for example and combine it with the character you are speaking to and their number. So “Hello” might be 2 and the character might be 40 for 240. And you read some story and make some choices or track a quest.

There are challenges you do as well. To succeed at those you either can spend focus or you can roll a die. Your results there will determine how well you did, in RPG fashion. Though, you do have a limited number of auto-succeeds for things that are really important.

Why You Don’t Need This Game?

Firstly, it is solo only. Now, I’ll immediately disagree with that premise here. This is a solo only game, but like most solo only games, you can split the decision making and make it a multiplayer game. Whether that’s making the decisions jointly or taking turns, you can turn a solo game into not being solo easily enough. But for some, it being solo and having to work at it will make it not the game for you.

It is a mechanically light. I’ll talk about this in what I like about the game as well, or why you need it. But the actions you do and interactions are simple. There are elements to the game that are very choose your own adventure. And getting that story from the choose your own adventure is the experience. But like something like a Legacy of Dragonholt, or Roll Player Adventures, there are good decision making points and challenges.

Why Do You Need It?

It is a solo game that is fast to the table. I didn’t mention this in the other part about solo games. That was more for people who didn’t want a solo only game. But if you like solo only games, like I do, then Witchbound should be interesting because it’s a bit story driven game. Not to the size of a box like Gloomhaven or Middara, but big in that there is a lot of story. But it takes a minute or two to get it to the table.

To go along with that ease of getting it to the table. It is also easy to play. This is a game where you don’t need to know a ton of rules, again making it easier to table. But also making it more accessible than Gloomhaven or Middara because you don’t need to dive heavily into rules before starting play. So it is a game that can work for anyone.

Next is the story and artwork. I lump both of them together because they really do create the interesting elements of the story. The artwork is great, very cute, very anime, and delivers an aesthetic where you can tell what type of world it is. The writing supports that.

Price point is the final reason you should back this. If you want a story driven game, this is $40 plus shipping for 30 hours of game play. The fancy version is 80. Yes, it doesn’t come with all the minis, because it doesn’t need them, and that also makes it much easier on a wallet.

Back or Brick – Witchbound

This was an easy back for me. When I went through all the crowdfunding games I knew of, this one made it to my Top 5 for 2023. And the price point, having demoed it, all of that made it extremely easy to back. I really like the story and artwork. And Witchbound is the perfect type of game to play on Malts and Meeples.

I also look at this and see a game that I can hand off to my wife, someone who likes games and either play jointly, or she can pick it up for herself. Or as my 4 year old gets older to play with him. I don’t think it is so juvenile that it’s a kids only game. But it does seem to offer a whole family experience in terms of adventure. I think I mentioned games like Zelda or movies like Kiki’s Delivery Service and a show Little Witch Academia. Those aren’t adult, but they work well for adults to enjoy, and I think this also hits that.

So how about for you, is this a Back or Brick?

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Spoilers For WandaVision Start Now

Now, I’m going to talk about the show here, not the prediction or what we got wrong about those. If you want to hear me talk about that, you can do so over with the 10 Minute Marvel podcast. But I will talk about the questions and end credit scenes and what we might be looking at.

What’s the Story

WandaVision is a story, at it’s basic level, about Wanda dealing with her grief. She has just lost Vision twice and the snap happens and dusts her. Then the blip happens and brings her back and she gets to fight Thanos. When the show starts, however, she’s had weeks to start to process her grief.

Things start out very haywire in this 1950’s sitcom show. Wanda is there, Vision is there, and they are happily married living in this almost ideal world. However, we see that things aren’t quite right. But the community seems to be good, they have the classic nosy neighbor and Vision works at a job that makes no sense like in sitcoms. The next episode we move into the next decade and so on, until we break to what is the outside world and we see that Wanda has basically taken the whole town captive to create this ideal world for herself where she can get Vision back.

We get the introduction of a lot of interesting characters. We see Jimmy Woo, FBI Agent from Ant-Man, back and he’s learned close up magic, Darcy from Thor is there, now Dr. Darcy, and Monica Rambeau, the young girl from Captain Marvel, now all grown up. And that’s just outside of the Hex spell that Wanda has cast. Inside there is Agnes the nosy neighbor and the witch Agatha Harkness. And the two kids that Wanda creates, Billy and Tommy.

Things do have to come to an end, though, when Agatha wants to take Wanda’s powers, the acting-Director of SWORD is out to create his own Vision, and Wanda comes to realize that she’s torturing the people in the town. Now there’s a ton more to that, but if you’re this far into this article, you’ve watched the show as well.

Thoughts On The Show

I really loved WandaVision, I won’t go into the random theories like I said, but even those were fun. I thought that this was great show to come back with. I love the sitcom universe that has been created and the decades that they go through. They nail how they get through the decades and they nail the intrigue in the story.

It is interesting, I’ve heard about people who waited to binge the show, and they did get as sucked into the mystery. Based off of the format of the show, I think that a lot of us who were watching it week by week and had missed Marvel, it was easy to try and see clues in everything. But even with going down that rabbit trail, I still loved the show. I didn’t think that the end was disappointing at all. In fact, in my 2nd to last 10 Minute Marvel on it, Season 2 Episode 7, I wasn’t sure where it was going to end.

What stood out to me as so great, though, was Elizabeth Olsen’s performance as Wanda. We really got to see Wanda’s character being fleshed out. But not just fleshed out, but in this small world dealing with the grief of everything that’s happened. It’s heart breaking at the end, and it’s tough to see what she went through growing up. Though, I do love the Easter Egg that she seems to have had powers before dealing with the mind stone at all, and that’s cool.

Kathryn Hahn as the nosy neighbor Agnes and the witch Agatha Harkness was amazing as well. I love the fact that they didn’t kill of her character. I know that we’re getting a multiverse, but Marvel has killed a lot of characters that if they want to bring them back in, it’ll be a bit hokey. Wanda just used magic on Agnes to make her into that nosy neighbor character she had chosen to play. I want her character back, and I can see her coming back possibly as early as Dr. Strange And the Multiverse of Madness.

Overall, just a phenomenal show. I think it is unfortunate that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier didn’t come out first. WandaVision had very high expectations for something very big. And the mystery format encourages people to dive into the story and try and figure out and find every clue. That said, I like that it didn’t need a ton of big reveals or twists to tell an amazing story. And it has a lot of twists and some reveals anyways.

What Questions Are There Going Forward?

Now, Marvel rarely does anything without some future plans. Especially now, it is so big, they can plan out years in advance. We know everything that’s coming out in the next two years and some beyond that. But how will WandaVision tie into that, and are there any loose ends to be answered.

Who Is Jimmy Woo’s Missing Witness?

Now, some think that it might be Ralph. He has a head shot, maybe that is to help him get into his new character. However, there is a major flaw with that thinking. Jimmy Woo sees Evan Peter’s/Pietro on screen. If Ralph is the person in witness protection, Woo would have recognized him. Now, that might be a plot device to get him there and have him as a character in the show. But could WandaVision have worked without him there, probably, it could have been anyone. I like the call back to him, but I want to know who his witness was, and will that come up again?

Where Did Vision Go?

I am not talking about the one in the Hex, that was a construction of Wanda. But the white Vision. After the hex Vision gives white Vision his memories, White Vision just peaces out. He flies away, he doesn’t help Wanda, he doesn’t do anything, just heads away. Where did white Vision go to? I mean, he’ll likely return, I could see him returning to help train a team of Young Avengers.

What Did Wanda Hear At the End?

Yes, I know she heard her kids. That part is obvious, but how, I guess, might be a better question. This could go back to one of the original theories. In the comics, Billy and Tommy are part of Mephisto’s soul. That might still be the case in the MCU. It could be that she is hearing them call across a dimension for her to find them. This scene, I think, is important for Dr. Strange And the Multiverse of Madness, and I’ll talk about that more soon.

Why does Monica dislike Captain Marvel so much?

Now, this seems like it could be for a few reasons. I have heard theories that the radiation from Captain Marvel caused Monica’s mother’s cancer. Or it could be as simple that Captain Marvel wasn’t there to stop Thanos at the first snap. Had she been there, could have Monica at least been by her mother’s side when she passed away? But it’s only been three weeks, it feels like it might be a longer cause, so the causing the cancer, or not coming or being available when Monica needed her during that time.

So We’re Getting Skrulls?

I talk about this in 10 Minute Marvel as well, but we are getting more Skrull. The comic Secret Invasion storyline is all about Skrull being able to be anyone on Earth. They can pretend to be heroes, they can get into important places in the government with the plan to take down and take over the world. Now, Skrull, that we’ve seen, aren’t like that in the MCU, the Kree are worse. However, we know we get a Secret Invasion story which will star Nick Fury and will tie into Captain Marvel 2, so what is going on there. And how will Monica play into it?

What Will Happen In Dr. Strange 2?

Final question to ask, but what will happen in Doctor Strange 2? I think that’s the question most people have. We knew that WandaVision was going to tie into Dr. Strange 2, and it seems now probably into Spider-Man 3 as well. But how will that work? I, of course, have thoughts on what this looks like.

In Dr. Strange And the Multiverse of Madness, I think that Wanda will start off as the bad guy. The Darkhold, the book that she is reading, in the comics was created by Chthon. He is an elder god of chaos, I could also see it being created my Mephisto in the MCU. But basically, I expect it will have corrupted Wanda. Wanda is going to start tearing open the multiverse looking for Billy and Tommy, and tear into the Dark Dimension as that is where Chthon resides, of course so does Dormammu. Dr. Strange will confront her and he will lose a battle. In fact, he might lose his magic to some extent because of Baron Mordo. But being a Doctor and not someone who gives up, he will go back to Wanda and instead of fighting her, he will try to heal her. At that point in time, though, a ton of damage will be done and it might be impossible to close off the multiverse again. He will be able to heal her and he will help her to find Billy and Tommy. But together, both will have to fight against Chthon or Mephisto, whomever has the boys. If they want to make it more focused on Mordo, then Mordo would somehow have them. Together, they defeat the big bad and Wanda gets her boys back.

What do you think of that idea? Would you watch that movie? Let me know in the comments below.

And what do you think of WandaVision? Did you go down the theory rabbit trail? Where you hoping for something bigger to happen?

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