Switch Theme:

Mortal Gods [including Mythic]  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
»
Author Message
Advert


Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
  • No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
  • Times and dates in your local timezone.
  • Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
  • Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
  • Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.




Made in ru
Death-Dealing Devastator





I decided to create this topic on this subforum since, despite Mortal Gods being primarily close to reality, its developers recently launched full-on fantasy expansion with mythical creatures. While I'm not completely sold on ancient Greek fantasy, I may very well look into it if we end up liking this game.

So, does anybody hear play MG or at least know somebody who does? Despite the game seemingly having good sales and a lot of new releases lately, it's hard to find places where it's being discussed, almost nobody posts anything on the subject even if they play it.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/10/28 21:52:22


 
   
Made in ru
Death-Dealing Devastator





Hoping to get the first game on this friday with my opponent's hoplites in the process of being ready.

Spoiler:
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

Let us know what you find out....

Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing 
   
Made in ru
Death-Dealing Devastator





So me (Sparta) and my opponent (Athens) finally had our first games today. They were pretty quick as we played only 175 pts with no plahanxes, they didn't give us the whole picture but there is still a lot to unravel.

Spoiler:


First, we generally liked what we saw and will likely play again in the nearest future. Battles are fast, dynamic and very chaotic which makes your brain constantly work out on where to strike next. Combat lines constantly flow, bend and break with units running through the gaps and killing supporting troops caught unaware. Ruleset is pretty unusual and has a lot of nuances I haven't met in any other wargames (like multiple models squads possessing greater HP than single models but roughly the same attack stats - which shows their ability to form a wall to repel enemy attacks I presume), learning it will definitely be fun and it seriously differs from any other skirmish game I've played or heard about (except maybe Blood & Plunder - both games' commanding and activation systems are nearly identical - and Bolt Action - primarily because of random activation system).

The game is, just like we expected, is pretty fantastical even in its milder form without additions of cyclops and centaurs: it remind me of an epic Hollywood action flick with Achilles-like heroes battling it out and gods intervening to save them via Omen system of buffs and debuffs. It's fast, bloody and dynamic with a lot of room for different roster compositions - it nails all the main factors for a great skirmish game in my opinion.

But! There are also a few buts, and Mortal Gods is no exception.

The game definitely needs to be played at higher formats, probably 250 pts or so being the absolute minimum and 300-400 being standard. Low bracket games are very random and heavily influenced by single lucky throws since there are a few models rolling small amount of dice. Chances of success are slim: depending on circumstances, scoring a hit has 1/2 or 1/3 chance, then defender can deflect these hits with 1/3 chance (although a number of defense dice is very limited and it's possible to have deal at least some damage if you get a lot of attacks), then you can would with 1/3 chance. Regardless of whether you are an experienced hoplite or a peasant with a club, both units can instantly die if they roll badly and their opponent doesn't. Attack and wound tests also have multipliers: if you roll crossed swords symbol, you get two attacks instead of one which can also multiply into two more wounds each later. As you can guess, wounding enemies is generally hard but very susceptible to change of fortune: you have actually good chances of inflicting zero damage in your attack but if you don't, you can roll anywhere from barely scatching your opponent to completely tabling them with similar possibilities. As a result, we had a lot of failed charges and a lot of charges evaporating entire units but very little in between. I am, however, pretty certain it happened because of small warbands. If you roll a lot of dice, such skewed results are less likely to happen and there's also a lot of room for backup plans. When your entire army is just 3-4 units, losing one of them is almost guaranteed defeat unless you also get lucky and eradicate enemy unit in the same manner.

Same counts for heroes. They were exceptionally powerful in our games easily destroying large chunks of opposing warbands, but that's precisely because companions were too few and far between (it's possible to make 2/3 of your roster consisting of leaders which leads to them almost outnumbering regular troops in smaller games). Once we get at least 4-5 warriors for every hero I assume odds will be pretty even.

The only thing I outright disliked are Omen markers. You see, the game has rotating activation system similar to the Bolt Action (or so I've heard, never played BA myself): you randomly draw stones of different colours out of shared bag and either activate unit of regular warriors (white), a hero (black) or apply random Omen card (red) which can either buff or debuff friendly or enemy models - they represent random occurances of faith or Gods themselves intervening. If you get a marker you're unable to spend since all your units of this type have already been activated, you pass it to your opponent. Once three red markers are drawn, the round ends, you put your marbles back into the bag and begin anew.

Pretty simple, but if you draw an Omen card, you CAN'T activate and pass this right to your opponent, getting pretty miniscule buffs (or outright debuffs if you're unlucky) in return. Since in smaller games there aren't a lot of activation tokens for small amount of units, it's extremely easy to draw markers you can't use several times in a row, allowing your opponent to activate their entire roster unhindered. Game one essentially ended on the 3rd turn with me getting two Omen markers in a row and then two markers I couldn't use since my heroes have already been activated. Athenian player got a sequence of free activations and tabled my entire roster except for the Lochagos (your band's leader) who died the next turn.

IMO it's very punishing: depending on circumstances you can get an Omen card you can't even use (archer attack upgrade but you have no archers in your roster) or take severe penalties (every time your hero activates they get damage or -1 to all defence rolls this turn). It was pretty unfun to draw debuffing Omens, lower my defences and get instantly destroyed by enemy charges. Blood&Plunder has very similar system with Joker wildcards, but they come IN ADDITION to your current actions this turn, not instead of, and even if their effects are negative, they don't necessarily apply to your models. This is much more fair and doesn't leave you helpess before your enemy simply because you got unlucky one time.

But overall the game is pretty great and I look forward to trying it again.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/11/06 18:48:17


 
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

This game looks like it needs a lot of "gubbins" to play. Cards, special dice, tokens, bag of chits, etc.

True?

Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing 
   
Made in ru
Death-Dealing Devastator





Sadly, very true and probably one of the downsides. You can theoretically use any marbles of three different colours (the most important thing is for them to be of roughly the same shape), but custom dice are hard to substitute, gift and omen cards have to be present to allow you to use specific mechanics and you can't play without unit cards at all, which aren't free and should be bought separately.

In modern skirmish wargames it seems manufacturers try to outperform each other on the matter of how many cards they can put in their games. From my experience, the only game that did it with no hassle is B&P, and only because you can get any card pack you want, not necessarily the official one.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
My first impressions sparked some interest in our local group, so far five players are willing to test it, some already ordered some stuff.

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2020/11/07 10:15:42


 
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

I was interested, but it sounds "Monetized" to the the extreme.

Call me old fashion, but that is a HUGE design turn-off for me.

Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing 
   
Made in ru
Death-Dealing Devastator





Yes, I can definitely see that being turn-off. It's not even the cards themselves that annoy me, it's impossibility to acquire them in pdf format, all of their products are physical only. It's pretty dated by today's standards. Getting newly released cards from Russia will be huge pain in the arse.

Also call me broke, but after I found out rulebook is just 20-odd pages I have no idea why it isn't free.
   
Made in ru
Death-Dealing Devastator





Played two more games and can now 100% say Mortal Gods is definitely very swingy. My Spartans were completely trumped by common Greeks in the first game but I still managed to achieve a draw by throwing my Lochagos at my opponents' light infantry and eradicating them. First activation of the second game had a lone slinger almost destroying entire hoplite base, leaving only one (mortally wounded) spearman still standing. Said spearman then charged enemy peltasts the next turn and completely wiped them out with successful crits. I ended up winning after my Lochagos charged, scored critical hit once again and tabled enemy hoplites.

I'm slowly starting to think that ciritcal hits granting a unit another activation and possible hit multiplications doubling perceived units' damage output are not a good game mechanic.
   
Made in ru
Death-Dealing Devastator





Well, at least battle lines are nice, I'll give it that.

Spoiler:

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2020/11/21 15:40:47


 
   
 
Forum Index » Other Fantasy Miniatures Games
Go to: