Painting Update - Mythic Americas

Unfortunately due to some unforeseen scheduling mishaps, I wasn't able to get any games in over the long weekend, so I'm back with another painting update. 

Apparently Mythicos Studios is planning a Mythic Americas tournament at Historicon this year. I wasn't going to go, but I could see myself getting a single day admission ticket and heading over to Lancaster for this event (if attendance seems like it'll be high enough). 

Over the past year, Mythic Americas has seen the addition of the Inca and Maya factions, and I really wanted to put together a Maya warband. I started with the Ah Kin Priestess as a test model for skin tone and faction scheme (teal, purple, and orange). 

It also helps that the Priestess is accompanied by models from another Maya unit; Alux Swarms. Pronounced Aloosh, these tiny statues were inspired by Maya legends of mischievous spirits. They use "Insults & Trickery" as their in-game weapons, causing Pins instead of Wounds. 

Corpse Flower Wars - Mythic Americas AAR

This past weekend Sam and I met up for a game. 

Having received his painted Aztecs for Mythic Americas, Sam was looking to finally plaay his first game with the rules. So I brought out my own Aztecs for a 1,000 point mirror match. 

We played the "Build Altars for the Gods" scenario, which works as a good introduction to the rules. Both sides scores points for building altars on the enemy's side of the table, and knocking down enemy altars on their own sides. 

We set the table up as a sort of jungle temple which worked out well. 

Both sides sent most of their forces to the center, with some light skirmishing on the flanks. 

I was looking forward to seeing how some of the recent changes to the rules (the removal of the Monstrosity table, giving Monster units the options to buy more wounds) would work in-game. 

Sam obliged by charging his Quetzalcoatl into my Ayar!

And the feathered serpent was brought down from the skies by the undead monstrosity. 

My victory quickly soured when Sam broke my (arguably) star unit of 2 Wound Tlalocan-Bound Marauders after just two combats. That was a mistake on my part, as I had a Blessings card that could have stopped that if I hadn't already played one earlier in the same turn. 

And unfortunately my left flank was shattered with both units of Jaguar and Eagle Warriors fleeing for their lives. 

Late in the game, Sam was the first to finally construct an Altar. With no units to contest it, I was hoping to get my own Altar built in the center, but Sam's lone Marauder was able to push back my Bound Dead to my side of the table. Meanwhile my Ayar ambled off to (hopefully) block Sam's units. 

The numbers on my side were quickly dwindling, and Sam had plenty of activations compared to me. My Ayar was also taking hits and was only down to a single Wound left. 

Unfortunately, a risky gamble didn't pay off when Sam charge a Bound Dead unit into my Warlord, and the High Priest was killed. With my own Bound Dead unit failing its order test and going Down, I conceded the game to Sam as I had no units left that could build Altars and contest Sam from doing the same. 

So the game ended 0-1 with Sam's warband winning. Neither of us managed to score any points from our Devotions (I'm never picking terrain specific Devotions again, as I have a tendency to pick pieces that my opponent heartily defends). 

I did learn a few things from this game, however. The new Monstrosity and Magic rules (that remove their respective charts and the Wild-Bound-Allied system from Erehwon) are great. With my limited experience, the Monstrosities are more likely to stick around instead of being lost to a random chart result. And the added wounds to Monster units do a lot for their viability. I can see Monster units in one of two functions; Units with less models and double wounds for durability, and units with more models and single wounds for offensive strikes. Four model units with double wounds may be a good middle ground, but they're expensive and can still be lost to a single failed break test, like mine were during this game. 

That said, Sam and I enjoyed the game. Sam's looking to either pick up Inca or Inuit, while I'm going to focus on my Maya after a brief Battletech painting interlude. 

Painting Update - WWII, Mythic Americas, Romans, Warmaster

It's been a long time since I've had any posts about what I've been painting between games, so here's an update!

I wanted to add a little more armor to my 28mm Late War Germans, so I picked up a Marder III from Warlord Games. 

I also finished the monstrous Ayar for my Aztec warband in Mythic Americas. This Monstrosity is a Mythic Americas original, formed from the shattered soul of one of the legendary Ayar brothers after having been captured by the Aztecs and sacrificed. Now an Aztec High Priest can call upon the Ayar to aid them in battle. 

I've been working on a Second Punic Wars project as well. Josh was kind enough to supply me with a fully 3d-printed set of miniatures. As Josh will be commanding the Carthaginians, I took over the Romans. 

Here's a unit of Velites. We're using Hail Caesar for the rules, and DBx basing. So two bases for small units. 

Here's the Hastati. Regular sized units will be four bases. 

The Principes are close in style to the Hastati. The white feathers on the helmets will help distinguish them from the front, and from behind the chainmail armor also makes them stand out. 

The Triarii are the most visibly distinct, with feather and crests on their helmets, and their long spears. 

Hail Caesar calls for a 2:2:1 proportion of Hastati, Principes, and Triarii, so that's what the two Roman legions will be formed from.

And finally, the commander 

I have another battlegroup of Romans to paint up (probably with blue shields), along with a battlegroup of allied Italians and a cavalry battlegroup. 

What currently on the table is a Daemons of Chaos army for Warmaster. I received these minis from another Black Gate Miniatures kickstarter, and I wanted to take them to a tournament. The upcoming event at Historicon was the perfect excuse to start working on them.

This is a brigade of three Daemon Hordes and a Daemon Swarm. The demonic infantry are generic looking (they would work for any 10mm demonic force, rather than something specific to the Warhammer Fantasy world), so I've used a color palette that should tie them in to the main four factions of Chaos. 

Keeping the Balance - Mythic Americas AAR

This past weekend I packed up the car and traveled up the length of the state to Mythicos Studios in North Jersey for a Mythic Americas event. 

While billed as a "beginner tournament," it was really more of a casual meet-and-greet. I got a chance to meet the designers and playtesters of the game, and got the chance to dive into some really juicy background lore of the Mythic universe. I was also shown some previews of upcoming models, and was even given a bunch of Inca models that were the first to be produced domestically, instead of by Warlord!

While up at the store, I did get a chance to play a couple game. Noticeably, everyone who had shown up brought Aztecs! Unfortunately the one player who had an Inca warband for the event wasn't able to make it. 

 

My first game was against Eric and was a mirror match with his Aztecs in the "Liberators and Captors" scenario. 

While it was a fun game, my dice were not on my side throughout the day. My first attempt at Magic with my High Priest (both the Warlord and the Magic User for the Aztecs) resulted in a miscast, which prevented him from casting spells for the next turn. My Ayar also blew up when it tried attacking a pinned down unit of Jaguar Warriors. And my own Jaguar Warriors were turned aside by a small, un-buffed unit of Bound Dead. 

I did manage to steal the one Captives objective that was in the center of the table!

With my offensive capabilities gone, I could only play defense and try to hold on to the Captives until the game ran out. Unfortunately I lost one, and didn't manage to score my Devotion. Eric did, so the game ended with a 2-3 loss. 

My second game was against Chris, the designer behind the Aztec faction. We played the "Build Altars" scenario, and for variety's sake Chris used a Tribal Nations warbands.

Unfortunately, my bad luck continued. My Warlord once again had a miscast on the first turn, and disappeared from the table for a turn (fortunately, Chris' Medicine Man had the same problem!). My unit of Marauders were wiped out in a single turn of shooting, and the rest of Chris' warband chewed through my Aztecs in a hail of stone-tipped arrows and tomahawks. 

While I managed hold on to a slight victory points advantage by throwing down as many altars as I could, in turn 5 Chris pulled out a solid reversal that I wasn't going to pull back from using his Devotion. I believe the game ended in a 4-6 loss. 

So while I look for new dice, I still had a great time. The store and the people in it were fantastic, and I'm excited to see where Mythicos takes the game and Mythic universe. 

Jungle Altar-cation - Mythic Americas AAR

I've been pushing the local group to play more Mythic Americas, which had languished in the Covid void since last year. Josh took me up on my battle challenge and so macuahuitls and tomahawks clashed in a skirmish set in the jungles of Mesoamerica. 

I set up a pretty standard table, with some contributions from Sam - like the massive ziggurat - who was watching alongside Bill as Josh and I played. 

The Balance of the Way (primary scenario) was "Build Altars to the Gods." To score victory points, warbands would need to spend a turn either building an altar in the opponent's half of the table, or knock down an altar that the enemy had built on their own side.  

My Everliving Aztecs had ten Order dice, and the warband consisted of:

• Tlalocan High Priest
• 2 units of Tlalocan-Bound Dead x10
• Tlalocan-Bound Marauders x3
• Jaguar Warriors x7
• 2 units of Eagle Warriors x5
• Spider Sisters x3
• Ayar (Bound Monstrosity) 

Josh's Everchanging Tribal Nations also had ten Order dice, and had:

• Sachem on War Eagle
• Medicine Man
• 2 units of Mohawk Warriors x5
• 4 units of Seneca Archers x5
• Wolves x5
• War Eagles x3

Deployment was pretty simple - 6" from a table edge. The ziggurat divided the table and turned the game into two smaller conflicts: my living warriors and Ayar facing off against most of Josh's infantry on one side, and my undead against Josh's mythical units on the other. 

The game started with my Ayar getting absolutely hammered by Josh's ranged units. While it did end up chewing through a few Nations units, it was a harsh reminder that the Erehwon rules aren't vey friendly to Monstrosities!

While my undead horde rolled forward, my living warriors had to take a more cautious approach as they were under fire from Josh's archers. I also didn't know where the War Eagles and mounted Sachem was heading, since they could easily move 30" in a single turn. 

Josh decided to have the Eagles split off into two groups. The Sachem led his mount deep into my lines, hoping to quickly drop off an Altar somewhere I couldn't easily reach. The other group went straight into the morbid mess of the Ayar. Unfortunately, while their claws did some damage and stripped the monster of some of its cadaverous armor, the Eagles were wiped out in the process. 

Over the next couple turns, the battlefield was quickly emptying as units wiped each other out. The Ayar's "Stuck-In" special rule caught two Nations units, and the monstrosity killed the Medicine Man and a unit of archers before dying in turn. This let Josh reveal and score a victory point for his Devotion (secondary objective), Trophy Hunters. The coin in the picture showed where the Ayar fell, and Josh's units would need to stay near the trophy to score another point at the end of the game.

I then rushed up the useless Spider Sisters (since the Ayar was gone and the Sisters were only in my warband to increase the monstrosity's armor through spells) to the light cover on Josh's side of the table, as I had chosen it for my own Devotion, Consecrated Ground. Josh wasn't going to let such an easy target go, and massacred the Spider Sisters with a well-timed volley of tomahawks from his Mohawk Warriors.

In response, I charge the Mohawks with my unit of Jaguar Warriors, and after a fierce melee, only a couple of the Aztec knights were left standing. This let them score the Devotion on the next turn, scoring me a point.

Just out of sight, Josh had a unit of Seneca archers build an altar to score a point for the turn.

 

With the final turn of the game, Josh managed to sneak by and knock down one of my altars as my undead chased around the surviving Mohawk Warrior. 

I also used my Eagle Warriors to knock down an Altar, scoring another point. 

Unfortunately, a disastrously timed failed Order test kept Josh's Sachem from flying in and preventing him from scoring the bonus point for his Devotion, which left the Aztecs with 4 points against the Tribal Nations' 2. The gods of the Triple Alliance were pleased with the sacrifices!

Another fun game of Mythic Americas. There's still plenty we need to explore, like the scenarios, and Josh and I need to become more familiar with our chosen factions' strengths and weaknesses. 

However, it's great to get the game on the table. I think the Devotions of the Way and the Blessings of the Way (the single-use cards each players get) adds a great set of twists to the original Erehwon rules. 

It looks like Josh will be picking up the Inca when they come out, and I'll be waiting for the Maya to be released. 

Painting Update - Battletech, Squadhammer, Mythic Americas

As more wargamers in the area get their vaccines, more opportunities for games are starting to pop up!

In the meantime, I'm still working on various projects. 

 

I still have a Clan Jade Falcon force to paint for Battletech, so I though I'd tackle the Star that comes in the Clan Invasion boxset. 

The big guns are mounted on an Assault-class Executioner and a Heavy-class Timber Wolf (likely claimed from Clan Wolf as isorla by the Falcon mechwarrior). 

Supporting the larger mechs are two Medium-class mechs, a Nova and Mongrel, and a Light-class Adder.

Also finished is a combat squad of Astral Claws, the main antagonist of the Badab War from the Warhammer 40,000 universe. I've got it in my head to play out a campaign using Nordic Weasel Games' Squadhammer, a fun-looking beer-and-pretzel ruleset. 

I've worked out a number of profiles for the rules that cover the essentials of an old 5th Edition 40k Space Marine force, and recently discovered and purchased an out-of-print Space Marine Strikeforce boxset, which will give me everything I need for a Squadhammer force. 

I also finished another unit of Tlalocan-Bound Marauders for the Aztecs, which will let me field a warband up to 1,000 points. I'll need an Ayar (a massive undead monstrosity) and another unit of Tlalocan-Bound Dead to reach 1,250. That's a decent sized game for Erehwon-based rules. 

Painting Update - Mythic Americas

This year's painting progress continues!

I finally had more units arrive for my Mythic Americas Aztecs. These Jaguar Warriors are the elite infantry for the faction, but are still lightly armored. I'm guessing they're best used as a second wave, once the enemy has ground themselves down on the various undead units or have taken pins from the Eagle Warriors. 

I've been using Steven Thomas' guide for painting Aztecs for the shields. It's a great reference page for inspiration. 

Spider Sisters are a disturbingly posed unit (perhaps based on the Spider Goddess of Teotihuacan?) that are support casters - they're weak in combat and can only be magic level 1. So they're best used to buff a single unit that will probably keep the enemy's attention, like the monstrous Ayar. I'll have to pick up one soon!

Painting Update - MESBG, Mythic Americas

Great news, everyone; I'm vaccinated! 

But that means I've got to wait another 2-3 weeks before I feel comfortable enough to reach out to other vaccinated gamers to start playing again. 

In the meantime, you might (not) be surprised to learn that I've been painting. Although less than I'd like since the weather isn't cooperating and I don't have a decent indoor spot to prime. 

I finished another set of Mordor Orcs to bulk out my Black Gate Legendary Legion, including a Captain and a Banner Bearer. Each of the basic sword- and spear-armed Orcs have a duplicate model, but I couldn't fit them in the lightbox. 

I also finished two units of Aztec Slingers for Mythic Americas. 

I've found that having ranged units in Warlords of Erehwon (and by assumed extension, Mythic Americas) to be really important. Pins are how heavily armored units can be countered, and even a single pin forces your opponent to roll a die to see if the pinned unit activates, which can disrupt their plans.

While the Tribal Nations already have their ranged units, Seneca Archers, since the game's launch late last year. In contrast, the Aztecs haven't had their unit, the Eagle Warriors, even shown yet. So I picked these Eureka Miniatures Aztec Slingers up to use in games instead. Since the Eagle Warriors can be upgraded with light armor, these will be the cheaper, unarmored versions.

I was worried about how the Eureka figures would scale, but I think they compare well to other Mythic America Aztecs. They'll certainly fit in from arm's length at the gaming table. 

Painting Update - Mythic Americas, MESBG

New year, new minis!

Just before the last year closed out I picked up the collector's edition starter set for Mythic Americas, a new wargame based on the Warlords of Erehwon ruleset and set in a mythological pre-colonial Americas. The starter set comes with small warbands for two of the four initial factions, the Tribal Nations (essentially the Haudenosaunee/Iroquois) and Aztecs. 

I found the Aztecs the more interesting of the two factions, since they're a horde faction that uses undead infantry and monsters, supported by comparatively expensive units of lightly armored, elite living troops. The Tribal Nation focus more on hit-and-run tactics using small groups of lightly armored warriors. 

The warband is lead by a Tlalocan High Priest and his bodyguards, a magic-user who can enhance the various undead units that make up Aztec warbands. He's not as strong as other factions' Warlords, but who needs that when you've got a horde of undead warriors to fight for you?

Tlalocan-Bound Dead are the mainstay units of Aztec warbands. While they are rather weak compared to most other combat units, the various magic-users in the faction can make these units tougher, stronger, or raise reinforcements. 

In addition to the Bound Dead, there are also Tlalocan-Bound Marauders, hulking monsters that wield massive macuahuitls, the famed weapon of various Mesoamerican cultures. 

I'm looking forward to playing Mythic Americas, and to get my hands on the rest of the Aztec faction miniatures.

I also finished a Mordor Troll Chieftain, as well as the mounted and foot versions of the Mouth of Sauron. These are regular options for Heroes in the Mordor faction, but they're critical for the Black Gate Legendary Legion (which covers the very end of The Return of the King when Aragorn leads the men of Gondor to the Black Gate to distract Sauron's gaze from Frodo and Sam). 

The Legion supercharges a Troll Chieftain, giving it an extra point of Might, Will, and Fate, as well as making it Fearless. So as long as the Black Gate Chieftain is alive, the rest of the army will likely be sticking around. 

To accompany the heroes for this list, I've got a bunch more regular Mordor Orcs to paint, which you'll likely see in the next update. 

Mythic Americas - Rules Review

Unfortunately, the overall clusterfeth of the pandemic mixed with the holiday season meant that Warlord Games has had some trouble getting their shipments out.

I thought I would just wait, but the opportunity presented itself for me to pick up the limited edition collector's set and, well...

Yeah. So I thought I'd do a little overview of the system. (I'm still waiting on part of that order from Warlord. I want my Jaguar Warriors!)

To start, at it's very core, Mythic Americas is Warlords of Erehwon, and you can find a very good review of the system by DakkaDakka user auticus here. The bones of the system are the same: D10's, low rolls are better, randomly drawn order dice, etc.

Mythic Americas thoughtfully put together a single page that summarizes the differences between itself and Erehwon:

The Way

After creating a warband, you are randomly assigned one of two Alignments: The Everchanging or the Everliving. Since this is done right before the game, you never know exactly what resources your warband will have. Your Alignment will determine which Blessings (a set of six, single use abilities) your warband receives, which Devotions (secondary objectives) you can get, and potentially which Magic your wizards can take.

That's another difference - unlike Erehwon, magic in Mythic Americas is faction specific. An Inca High Priest and a Tribal Nations Medicine Man will have radically different spells.

There's a very nice set of cards that have all these rules on them, which makes selecting Devotions and keeping track of spells and Blessings simple.

So, to play a game, you make your warband, find out which Alignment you are, choose the Balance of the Way (the primary scenario) and randomly select a hidden Devotion of the Way (secondary objective), and your off! Games last for six turns or until one side breaks, with a 50% chance of continuing on for an additional turn.

The primary scenarios are pretty interesting. No straight up brawls here. "Build Altars for the Gods" has players building objective points and destroying the opponents. "Rainy Season" sees both players struggling over a series of bridges to push onto the enemy side of the table. In "The Great Hunt", warbands compete to run down randomly spawned spirit animals. During "Pillage the Village" both warbands need to raid five buildings while preventing the opposing player from doing the same. With "Liberators and Captors", the warbands will need to transport captured enemies across the field while trying to free those under the opposing warbands control. And in "Fog of War", only half the warband is deployed, as reinforcements pour into the fight from all sides.

The secondary objectives add some spice to the primary scenarios. For example, the Everliving have "Endocannibalism Ritual in Honor of Gaia" which will score a victory point if a ritual can be enacted at the site of a friendly unit's destruction. The Everchanging have the reverse, "Cannibalism for the Devourer King" where the ritual must take place using a destroyed enemy unit. More Devotions include, "Divide and Conquer!", "Through Enemy Lines", "A Worthy Sacrifice", and "Trophy Hunters".

I think my only complaint about the book is the imagery. There's some repeat usage of models and some black and grey renders of units that haven't been made yet. There's also a few images that are blown up to a degree that their quality takes a hit, or could have been replaced by better pictures. I think these could have been worked on a little more, or replaced with artwork.

To close this out, here's a quick look at the four factions included in the rules:

The Tribal Nations are described as "a hit-and-run, finesse army." You have a number of lightly armored, fast troops that can ignore terrain restrictions (and even have magic to move certain terrain features around). Wolves and giant eagles act as fast flankers, while hardier monsters like Sasquatches and the terrifying Wendigo can strike from the woods and cause havoc.

The Aztecs are "designed around a core of many, lower quality undead warriors that, when enhanced by magic, can stand toe-to-to with tougher enemies." Their living warriors are elite but fragile. The faction is supplemented by a number of decent spellcasters, including the formidable Quetzalcoatl, as well as the corpse-throwing, undead monstrosity of the Ayar.

The Incas "represent a balanced, elite force that excel in magic and other ranged attacks." Many of their units have the Shieldwall ability, giving them a slow, grinding playstyle. This is helped by ayllus (a bola-like weapon) throwing warriors, Condor Riders, and the snake-like Maras that works well as a harassing monster. The Incas also have access to the only spellcaster that can cast two spells per turn.

The Maya are an "elite, well trained force with warbands that usually muster fewer models. They rely on psychology rather than brute strength" to win fights, and many of their units have the "Cause Fear" and "Vicious" special rules. Apart from the regular units of infantry, the Maya can count on units of Werejaguars and swarms of Alux (small, totem statues that cause pins instead of wounds). They're backed up by the bat monster Camazotz, which can use its speed, flight, and Baleful Glare to strike fear into the heart of enemy warbands. Unlike other warbands, the Maya rely solely on their Alignment to determine their magic.

In the book, each of these army lists are accompanied by a well-researched (as evidenced by the reference section in the back) overview of the historical peoples that the factions are based on.

All in all, I'm very excited to start playing Mythic Americas, and I've begun work on my Aztec warband. And I'll be picking up a Maya warband when they're released later this year!

I'm also interested to see more units and factions added into this game.

When the original pre-orders for Mythic Americas went up, I decided to pick up the small starter set and some additional units to try out the game.