CHAOS · ORIGINAL RULES REVIEW

Magic, movement & combat

Wizard Arena now includes all 60 original spells and all 32 summonable creatures. Combat, spell statistics and starting positions are taken from the original Spectrum data. The rules below apply to both graphics modes.

Each round

1. Choose one spell privately, or pass. Creature spells may be real or an illusion.
2. Cast in player order. Select a highlighted target; for personal spells and Magic Wood, select your wizard’s square. Shadow Wood and Wall allow several placements. The spell is spent even on failure or cancellation; Disbelieve is unlimited.
3. Fire and blob spread, castles may expire, and occupied Magic Woods may grant spells.
4. Move and attack in player order. The last wizard alive wins. The original limit is 15 + twice the initial number of wizards: 19 rounds for two players, 31 for eight.

Combat and movement

There are no health points. Combat + a random 0–9 roll must exceed defence + another 0–9 roll to kill. A tied melee or ranged attack is defended. A successful moving attacker enters the defeated creature’s square, unless a protected rider or captive remains there.

Ground units move one cell at a time. Straight steps cost 1; diagonal steps cost 1.5. You may spend a final 1 point on a diagonal, or a final half-point on a straight step. Flying units choose a landing square directly and can cross obstacles. Select a new unit only after finishing with the current one: switching ends its actions.

Entering an enemy’s neighbourhood causes engagement: attack an adjacent enemy or finish movement. At the start of a unit’s turn its manoeuvre rating can let it escape. Shadow Form avoids engagement until the wizard attacks. Shadow Wood stays rooted and attacks one adjacent enemy per turn.

Undead and ranged attacks

Vampires, Ghosts, Spectres, Wraiths, Skeletons, Zombies and raised creatures are undead. Ordinary living creatures cannot harm them. An ineffective attack spends neither movement nor a shot. Undead and wizards with Magic Knife, Sword or Bow can attack undead; magic attack spells also work.

Elves, Centaurs, Manticores, dragons and wizards with Magic Bow can shoot after moving or after pressing Finish movement & aim. One shot per turn. Diagonal range counts as 1.5; line of sight is required. Ghosts, Wraiths, Magic Fire and corpses do not obstruct it. As in the original targeting routine, a friendly creature can also be shot—check the owner before firing.

Mounts and shelter

Move your wizard onto your Horse, Unicorn, Centaur, Pegasus, Gryphon or Manticore to mount it. Mounting ends that piece’s movement. On later turns, move the mount to carry its wizard, or press Dismount and select an adjacent empty square or eligible shelter. Dismount before moving. Spells originate at the rider’s current square. Defeating a mount reveals the wizard; it does not kill both.

Any wizard can enter an unoccupied Magic Wood, including another player’s. Up to eight trees grow automatically, subject to space, separation and line of sight. An occupied tree has a 40% chance per round to grant its rider a random spell, then disappears. This is the source of Turmoil. Magic Castle and Dark Citadel shelter their owner and cannot be attacked; each has a 20% chance per round to disappear.

Fire, blob and corpses

Fire and blob spread after the casting phase. New growth waits until the next round before spreading again. Friendly units are safe. Blob traps enemy creatures underneath it; defeat or disappearance of the covering blob releases the captive. Fire attacks creatures it reaches. A wizard caught by either, including a mounted wizard, dies.

Real living creatures killed in normal combat leave a corpse; undead and illusions do not. Corpse squares can be entered. Raise Dead restores the creature’s original statistics, makes it undead and gives it to the caster. Magic attacks destroy rather than leave a reusable corpse.

Other magic

Sword adds 4 combat and Knife 2; they replace each other. Armour adds 4 defence and Shield 2; they replace each other. Bow grants ranged combat 3 and range 6. Wings grant flight with movement 6. Shadow Form grants movement 3 and +3 defence, and ends when attacking. Law and chaos benefit matching spells; opposing spells do not become harder to cast.

Magic Bolt has strength 3 and Lightning 6 against defence; ties hit. Judgement spells test magic resistance. They destroy creatures, or remove a targeted wizard’s creations while leaving the wizard alive. The original executable gives Justice and Dark Power three shots, Decree and Vengeance one. Subversion changes a real, unmounted creature’s owner. Turmoil redistributes board pieces.

Original quirks and fidelity limits

Where the manual disagrees with executable instructions, this version follows inspected code: the judgement shot counts, Subversion favouring higher resistance, the reversed fire/defence comparison, and blob capture stripping illusion/raised flags are retained.

This is not yet certified as a bit-for-bit recreation. The computer opponent uses a new strategy. Randomness comes from the server, rather than Spectrum hardware timing. Pixel-based line of sight uses a shared sprite snapshot rather than the original interrupt-driven framebuffer. Turmoil transfers occupied squares to empty squares in board order. Sounds use the original beeper parameter tables, but CPU contention, beam timing and browser playback differ. Retro effects reproduce the original patterns with adapted timing. Illustrated mode uses a complete modern fantasy art set with separate movement, attack, spell and death animations.

Enable Sound effects in Settings. Reduced motion replaces the expanding wizard-death effect with a fade. Online rooms, optional turn timers, reconnect handling and the illustrated theme are additions.

Sources: original manual, original disassembly, and pinned snapshot and annotated disassembly. The port has automated rule and online API tests; these are not a substitute for an exhaustive emulator comparison.