After a month or two of playing here and there in DOSBox (and a lot of time spent just leveling up my characters for the hell of it), I finally beat the Ultimate Wizardry Archives version of Wiz6. I beat an older, floppy version of it around 1992 or so (the one without a fancy title screen or mouse support) - I still have the original floppy disks for that version, which were given to me by my cousin. I never beat Wiz7 (it's damn big with lots of random NPC encounters), but I did beat Wiz8. I'd never imported characters from one game to the next who have finished the previous game until yesterday; I hope to take my Wiz6 party through the next two games (if I can stay interested long enough), using DOSBox for Wiz6&7.

Here's the party I used, with noteworthy items acquired by end-of-game:
F-Dwarf-Valkyrie "Vhana" (lvl 42)
- The Avenger, Hammer+1.5, Ebony Plate, Mantis items

M-Faerie-Ninja "Shi-Zan" (lvl 31)
- Bushido Blade, Faerie Stick

M-Mook-Samurai "Oryn-Sa" (lvl 34)
- Muramasa Blade, Wakizashi+1, Mambuto of Death

M-Felpurr-Alchemist "Rames" (lvl 25; started as Monk, changed to Psionic around level 12, then to Alchemist after learning all Psionic spells)
- Cat O' Nine Tail, Wand of Ghosts, Ring of Stars, Wizard's Cone, Robe of Enchant (U&L), all Psionic & Alchemist spells

F-Elf-Bard "Zelina" (lvl 37)
- Cat O' Nine Tail, Demon's Tooth, Phrygian Cap, Chamail armor (U&L; had Jazeraint armor but it was too heavy), Glass Slippers, Horn of Prometheus

M-Elf-Bishop "Lysen" (lvl 32)
- Rammbus Staff, Displacer Cloak, Mitre (also in swag bag: Bone & Scarab necklaces, Forest Cape, Elven Bow)

Most characters equipped with Ankh of Wonder or other +Regen items to allow faster healing while resting in the temple.

Everyone was around level 30 (+/- 5 levels or so) at the end. I spent a lot of time leveling in the temple (must have gone through it well over a dozen times). My Bishop got to level 32 but still hadn't learned as many powerful priest spells as had my Valkyrie, since the bishop levels slower and alternates between getting priest and mage spells.

I took the main ending (kill the Bane King and Rebecca, try to take the Cosmic Forge pen) and then imported my characters into Wiz7 (Crusaders of the Dark Savant). The Ultimate Wizardry Archives includes Wizardry Gold which runs fine under XP, but I've heard it's buggy and I don't like most of the changes they've made to it from Savant.

Anyways, my characters all got knocked down to level 5 and lost most of their items, but retained high stats (with much higher carrying capacity for most characters as a side-effect) and many spells. I played around a lot and ended up bringing over The Avenger, Displacer Cloak, Bushido Blade, Faerie Stick, Ring of Stars, Muramasa Blade, one Cat O' Nine Tail, Wizard's Cone and a few less noteworthy items. I had to ditch the Rammbus Staff before importing because it is cursed in Savant (and therefore useless).

I started near the Tower of Dane, but followed the walkthrough (http://www.iosphere.net/~eric/wizardry/w7walk2.htm) and went to the map kit chest, beginner dungeon, and now New City. All the battles so far have been very easy (except I once got jumped by Ratsputin on my way to the beginner dungeon and got stomped into the ground for looking at him wrong), so I pretty much went straight to the jail when I got to New City. I stomped the initial round of guards with only a few bruises, and was rewarded with a level-up for my whole party. My Alchemist and Bishop gained several spells each.

That's where I am now... Having lots of fun thanks to DOSBox! I always dreamed of having two monitors and the ability to play Wiz7 in Windows so that I could have the game on one screen and the maps on another (see attached screenshot!)