Robert E. Howard games paintjobs

 From Monoliths Conan board game and Mythic Games Solomon Kane new paintjobs are now getting finished now that my renovations are getting done. 

Solomon Kane from Against the Vampires

Nekari

Marylin

Kran

Zunna

And Howard's most famous creation: Conan

Conan the Pirate

King Kull

Gorm the Pict

Brule the Spear Slayer

N'Yaga

A very motivated Conan 

Zenobia

Baal-Pteor

Xaltotun

Pictish village in 3D

It is what it says on the package: my 3D Pictish village made for the Conan Board game. Made to fit on the game board and lived through a game or two. Although it burned down at least once...... 

Batman: Gotham City Chronicles review

Some readers of this blog may remember my review of Conan the Barbarian, a boardgameby Monolith that came out as a Kickstarter a few years ago. Since then Monolith has brought out the Mythic Battles: Pantheon game and has now revisited the Conan game engine in spectacular fashion with a board game called Batman Gotham City Chronicles.

Over 19.000 backers funded a licensed boardgame of Gotham's much needed (but not deserved) hero, the Dark knight, the Caped Crusader or whatever you may want to call him. Since this game will be available again from June 4th onwards, alongside the eagerly awaited Season 2 of the Batman Kickstarter I thought it only proper I'd write a review to make everyone who hasn't already bought into Season 1 reconsider. Mwuhahaha!

Learning curve

In the release of Batman, Monolith has shown to have learned much since Conan, not least in logistics and organisation. One may recall Conan was delayed for more than a year but Batman arrived exactly in the period that was promised. And, coincidentally, in time for my birthday.

Also, Batman offered an all-in-one buy deal that included all stretch goals (free Kickstarter "rewards" that become available as the funded amount rises above certain thresholds) as well as all available add-ons. This avoided the Conan KS problem of people not being able to afford all add-ons in the KS and hoping to buy them later only to discover some sets would never be released in retail (bye bye Black Ones…)

But the game itself showed many improvements as well. Let's visit them below.

Game context

Batman is a semi-cooperative board game for 2-4 players. One player plays the Villain, one to three other players play the Heroes. The game is, of course, set in Gotham City and features the endless crime fighting war of Batman and his allies against the arch-villains and their many henchmen that infest Gotham like rats. The Hero players cooperate against the Villain in mission-based scenarios.

The game offers locations in Gotham to play in as well as Wayne Manor and Arkham Asylum. The Batmobile is included as a game piece, there is a Campaign included and a Versus box through which two players can play against each other in the Villain skirmish mode. But I get ahead of myself. Let's explain more of the mechanics.

Game mechanics

The Hero players control individual characters (and the occasional ally) that must combat criminals and complete missions. They use Character cards that hold all Hero information as well as item cards for weapons, Bat gadgets and such. Skills and equipment enable you to do special things or roll extra dice. An improvement over Conan is that Batman included dashboards that will hold all character cards as well as Energy cubes (see below) conveniently together.

There are many Heroes available in the game and their skills and possibilities vary wildly. Combining Heroes is a skill all on its own. The scenarios usually offer a choice out of a few Heroes per player as a suggestion (which is also an improvement over Conan).

Each Hero has a limited amount of Energy (plastic gems) that enable the hero to take actions. A Hero may take any action he wants in any sequence and as often as the Hero's stats will allow. However, each action costs Energy and when a  Hero's energy is exhausted, the Hero is as well and no more actions are possible. Reclaiming Energy by resting takes time and to keep things interesting Heroes spend Energy a lot faster than they reclaim it! This prompts interesting choices. While a Hero can take a breather instead of a turn full of action, this will still not give him back all his Energy, so energy management is a crucial element of this game.

After the Hero turn is done the Villain may direct his Legions of Crime. He has about the same amount of Energy at his disposal as a Hero, but reclaims it faster. This is no luxury at all, since his Energy must power ALL adversaries. This may run up to 10-15 figures, some of which may be reinforced during the game. There are even more Villains to choose from than there are Heroes. Scenarios offer suggestion for Villain forces as a rule.

The Villain uses a Command Board, that is his version of the Character dashboard. The main feature is "The River" where he keeps his character cards. The more to the left a card is placed, the cheaper it is to activate. Once activated. the card moves to the right and can only be activated against a bigger Energy cost. The entire "River" then flows to the left. So the Villain can (twice per turn) activate every card he wants but the Energy costs may vary enormously. Here, too, energy management is the key.

The skill and combat system has cleverly and completely done away with modifiers by using special coloured dice. These come in four colours and some colours are more effective than others. No math is required, just pick the right number of dice of the right colour and roll them!

All this makes for a game full of well-pondered decisions while still flowing fast enough to get that action-packed feel that perfectly fits the rainy streets of Gotham.

The Versus box, by the way, offers a second Command Board and the possibility for the players to play against each other using a Command Board each (so a unit of characters instead of individual ones) or reversing the game and playing individual Villains against units of Heroes. This too is a big improvement over Conan where one has to buy a second Base Game to acquire a second board.

Game components

The game comes in six boxes that contain all boards, miniatures and game components. Actually it is possible to store everything in the boxes even after punching all the counters (a somewhat rare affair and way better than Conan) but for convenience sake I use a separate counter box that can be passed around the table more easily.

Boxes, boards, booklets and counters are all quality stuff. There is a separate cassette to store the rule booklets in. Playing boards are large foldup affairs that are printed on both sides, providing maximum variation with a minimum of material. The several booklets contain a bunch of scenarios, much more than there were initially included in Conan.

The rulebooks are IMO a great improvement over the Conan books. The initial Conan rulebook was dreadful, badly translated from French and very much incomplete. Monolith actually reissued a new ruebook for free for all backers.

The Batman rulebooks are much better. They are complete, much better translated and contain lots of examples of play. The internal artwork and layout are not to everyone's taste and to be honest the pages can be so busy with pics and colours it takes some effort to find the information at some points. But apart from that the rulebooks are comprehensive, complete and set up with logic behind them.

The game comes with its specialized dice and even the extra dice were included in the All-in. Point of critique for the genuine Batnerds: there was no Batman dice bag in the Kickstarter. I had to buy one from a separate source of course. I am sure this will be amended in Season 2……

The miniatures

… are excellent! Let the pictures speak for themselves. They come assembled and ready to play with and take paint very well after a few hours in some dishwasher liquid and a good scrub with a toothbrush. The tough plastic they are made from does not break easily. There were some warped parts (a problem caused right after casting by the still-warm plastic cooling off too quickly) but this can be easily remedied by dipping the miniature into hot (near-boiling) water for a few seconds, bending it in the right shape and cooling it off under a cold tap. Preferably before painting, by the way….

You will meet Joker and Harley, Pinguin and Riddler, Batman and Robin and all the major Heroes and Villains, as well as the more (or even extremely) obscure characters like Batcow and the Animatronic T-Rex, the biggest figure in the game. Although Clayface is not to be trifled with either. The Batmobile is superb and hails from the Fears comic if I am not mistaken. 

Season 2 and The Second Chance

On June 4th Season 2 of the Batman Kickstarter will go live. This will include a second chance to buy Season 1 as well as -of course- the first chance to buy Season 2. The contents of Season 2 are still clouded in mystery as I write this, but more Heroes and Villains from the sheer inexhaustable stock of the Batman Universe can be expected. Me, I have set my hopes on a Tumbler Batmobile and/or a Batpod motorbike as well.

Mythic Battles: Pantheon Review ****

As the regular readers of this blog may know I have gifted myself a big Kickstarter each year for the last few years. After Conan: The Boardgame and Zombicide Black Plague in 2017 this turned out to be Mythic Battles: Pantheon. Made by the same company as Conan and born from a cooperation between Monolith and Mythic Games this game looked especially promising. Last January I received it and could finally start painting and playing!

The Theme
The game is based on the Greek Myths and starts right after a raging war between the Titans (recently freed by a jealous Hera) and the Gods. Monsters and Heroes have participated on both sides and the war tore down Mount Olympus and ravaged the Earth.

Poseidon

In the game, which takes the form of an opposed boardgame, players play teams of Heroes, Minions and Monsters, led by a God or Titan, that score the Earth for Omphalos; the rare pockets of divine energy that are the remains of dead Gods and Titans. Winning a game is usually about winning the most Omphalos.

The Components
As I had come to expect of a Monolith product the game is exquisitely styled. The boards are comparable in function and style with the Conan boards and look at least as good, if not better. Heavy four-part folding cardboard with a gorgeous two-sided print give you two playing boards for the price of one. Since I bought the core game and two of the large expansions this gave me a total of 8 playing boards.

Game in progress. Note the 3D cardboard terrain

Dice, cards, Figure dashboards are all from durable plastic or high quality cardboard or card. The game came with specifically designed 6-sided dice but can be played with normal dice as well.

The game contains a number of scenarios for 2 to 4 players, although the game can simply be played on any board as an opposed battle between teams.

The game comes complete with 3D cardboard terrain features. These look quite good in their own right but can be easily replaced by "real" terrain from any wargamers collection.

Replacing cardboard terrain with real stuff is easy

The figures were my real reason for entering the Kickstarter. They were numerous and gorgeous and worth the money for the figure collection alone. They come in several categories and truly deserve their own spot in this review. The pictures speak for themselves, but I will detail their role in the game for each category.

Zeus

The Gods
Each team is led by one God or Titan that is immediately recognisable because of his, her or its size. At about 80mm or 1:25 scale the Gods tower over the rest of the figures. The Titans (as their name befits) are even larger. Detail is exponentially better and it is a joy (and a rare experience, since I rarely paint figures so large) to paint them. All the well-known members of the Olympus Club are there: Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Athena, Poseidon et cetera down to some lesser known players like Hecate en Helios.

Mighty Aphrodite

Each God has specific strengths and weaknesses in the game so the choice of God determines your strategy and the rest of your team up to a point (literally, but see below).

Gods are easily the most powerful pieces in a game, although some Monsters and Heroes come close. Gods are legendarily hard to kill, but can die in this game. The God or Titan of your team is the only one who can absorb Omphalos. Lose your team leader and you lose the game.

Hecate, She Of The Crossroads

Gods are controlled through a dashboard where their Life Points and abilities are recorded.

Heroes and Monsters
The Gods are reinforced by (more or less) human Heroes and Monsters. These are powerful game pieces in their own right and some may even stand up to a God or Titan. Heroes and monsters are individual pieces of varying size, from puny (28mm scaled) humans like Achilles or Circe to huge monsters like Hydra or Scylla.

Scylla will really grab your attention. And everything else! 

All Heroes and Monsters have specific strengths and weaknesses that may combine with other figures to reinforce or weaken them. So choose wisely!

Pegasus and Bellerophon

Heroes and Monsters are controlled through a dashboard where their Life Points and abilities are recorded, just like Gods are. When a Hero or Monster dies, he, she or it is removed from the game.


Minions
Last in line are the hosts of Minions that may support the Gods and Heroes. Here we find 28mm figures of the Argonauts, the Myrmidons, Hellhounds, Skeletons, Stymphalic Birds and many, many more. Buying MB: P gives you an instant Greek Fantasy collection!

Minions come in units (although all game pieces are called units) of more than one figure. This may result in (for example) 2 Centaurs or 6 Skeletons.

Hoplite Minions

Minion units are controlled through a simple card that records their abilities and lose Life Points by removing figures. Once all figures of a Minion unit have died, the unit is destroyed.

Minion units are recyclable however. Gods may Recall minions to their side, completely restoring all losses and moving the Minion unit to their space on the board.

Skeleton Minions

Like Heroes and Monsters, Minion units have specific strengths and weaknesses that may combine with other figures to reinforce or weaken them.

The Game
So MB:P got form spot on, but does it have substance?

It is an opposed game between 2 to 5 players. That took some getting used to, given that cooperative play is usually en vogue among game designers these days. That should not be a problem however.

Some Heroes: Achilles, Odysseus, Hercules and Leonidas

You assemble your team through a point system. Each figure or unit costs points and you may buy figures up to your max pool of points. You must take one God and one God only (or a Titan) but are free to combine figures for the rest of the team. Players choose Gods and units alternately, so beggars can't be choosers :)

Centaurs and Chiron

Players activate their figures through Activation cards. Each God, Hero, Monster or Minon unit has a given number of Activation cards that are combined into the Deck. Added are Art of War cards, that can be used to recall units, Activate more than one unit or Recall Minions and such. The number of AoW cards depends on the points you did not spend on buying figures. So you can choose between a large team or more AoW cards to give you options with the team you have.

One of the Gorgons

You may draw cards every turn (more if you pass) and may use AoW cards to pick or select even more. Activation cards are crucial, since you usually cannot Activate anything without the right card. Once your Deck has been used up, reshuffle and start again. All the other players receive all their remaining cards in their hand at that point in the game and reshuffle as well. Calling on the Gods for the right cards will be a common occurrence :)

Figures may perform one complex action (Absorbing Omphalos) or two simple one (like move, pick up an Omphalos or fight). You may not usually Activate the same figure twice in a turn but may Activate a second figure if and when you have the cards for it.

Helios

Absorbing Omphalos gives you points, but also Omphalos cards that can be used as AoW cards or to restore Life Points to your God. In the latter case they are discarded.

Fighting includes an ingenious sequence of dice rolling which gives you a choice between many dice scoring small hits or few dice scoring big ones. This choice gives you the option to inflict wounds on Gods with even the lowliest Minion (but you have to roll REALLY well then!).

The Great God Pan

The verdict
The rules mechanics give you an interesting game where team members must and can cooperate to grab the Omphalos and pass them to your God to Absorb and score a point. It kind of resembles an American Football; game in that way. Figures carrying an Omphalos can even be tackled and made to drop them.

Absorbing Omphalos is usually the best way to win a game, since killing all opposing Gods and Titans is quite hard. Gods do not tend to die easily and Titans even less so.

Finding the right combos for a team is THE challenge. There are many. many possible choices, especially when you have some expansions at your disposal. Pitting your combos against those of other players is really the gist of the game. And can make for some interesting and challenging choices and plans.

Getting the right card depends partly on luck, partly on choice as you can influence luck with AoW cards and an choose to have more of those in exchange of figures. Fighting is mostly a matter of dice luck, although the "Big Hit Option" does give you some influence there.

It is a turn based, opposed game in which only the acting player of the moment does things. This means the other player(s) must wait until their turn and can't really do anything. This I found an unexpectedly classic flaw in the game. One that is especially prominent in a multi player game where you might have to wait for three other players until you get your turn.

The Titan Atlas

While perhaps not being entirely reasonable I could not help myself comparing MB:P to Conan: The Boardgame. CTB is of course cooperative and requires all players to participate in every phase of a turn. Even inactive players can and must defend against attacks and still have decisions to make regarding resource management. Player immersion in CTB is significantly better in my eyes than in MB:P.

MB:P also depends more on chance. In CTB the only chance is in the roll of the dice when Fighting or performing Actions. Whether you do Fight or perform an Action is entirely up to you (as long as you have the energy to do so). In MB:P Lady Fortune's influence is enhanced because of the use of Activation cards. While you do have some influence on those, you still need to depend on luck more than in CTB. Being a great fan of choice and tactical dilemma over plain bad luck I think that is a shame.

So all in all I found MB:P a nice game, beautifully executed and well worth the cost for the figures alone, but not exceptional as a game in itself, despite some innovative aspects like the two-tier Fighting Dice rolling. The dependence on luck and the long waiting periods  between turns compare poorly to that other Monolith game, Conan The Boardgame.


Four out of five stars from me in this case, in which the fourth star is awarded for looks.

Persephone heralding Spring