The Factions of Mythos of Legends

Each miniature that is created will belong to one or more factions within the Mythos of Legends system. This is to help differentiate and create diverse and rich gaming experiences which revolve around a theme or narrative, but practically it also helps maintain a degree of fairness and balance across the system and make for a more enjoyable experience for all. Each faction has been built upon pre-existing myths, stories and legends that have developed across the millennia, making the collecting and gaming experience recognisable and exciting to all who wish to embrace the Mythos of Legends. In this section, we hope to provide an overview of the five factions we wish to unlock over the course of the Kickstarter campaign. Objectively, we plan to start with two – Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece – with the target of unlocking the rest through Kickstarter pledges.

Each faction has been designed to offer a variety of play styles within the army faction rules. These rules will be available for free on this website upon the completion of the Kickstarter fulfilment and the release of backers miniatures, but they have already been written to ensure all backers will receive a fantastic gaming experience as soon as possible. We’ll be discussing how each faction is different during the Kickstarter campaign and exploring the system rules in greater depth, so watch this space for lots more exciting information.

To find out more about the Kickstarter, please click the link below:

Ancient Greece

It is a time of great heroes and legendary monsters, demigods and great quests. When the Lords of Olympus raise the call to arms, the Greek City States answer. The indomitable heroes of the age stride to war alongside the beasts that they would normally find themselves slaying, alongside massed ranks of spear and pike.

The Greek army takes the field built around solid blocks of defensive infantry, the Hoplites and Phalangites, who present a deadly wall of pikes to their enemy. They are ably supported by archers, skirmishers and cavalry which can harass the enemy’s flanks and defend those of their own unwieldy phalanxes.

The heart of the army, though, is the legendary units. Powerful figures which stride out of legend to lead their mortal brethren. Heroes of the epic tales such as Achilles, Odysseus and Heracles will strike fear into the heart of any enemy, and the likes of the Gorgons, Cyclops and Hydra can tear through mortals with barely a pause. They are the hammer, to the anvil of the phalanxes.

Given the focus of the Greek list on its legends, the Greek player can take more legendary units than any other faction. And given what they can do, why wouldn’t you? This is a faction for the player who wants to see their legendary heroes striding the board, tearing apart the enemy single-handed. Who can stand in their way?

Ancient Rome

Rome stands as a bastion of mankind against the supernatural, blessed, damned and divine powers of the world. Not for them the beasts or demigods within their ranks. No, a Roman army works on flesh and blood, iron discipline, inspired generalship and cold, hard steel. No matter the origin, there is little that can take on a legion and emerge triumphant. The Roman people – and gods – will it to be so.

Roman units can come in two flavours – the Hastati, Principes, Triarii model of the Republican legions or the later legions of the Empire following the reforms of Gaius Marius. Whichever troops the player uses, the citizen soldiers of Rome remain versatile and steadfast.

The Roman army can easily field more units of high-quality infantry than other factions, armed with versatile swords and javelins to respond to any foe. They can pass their generals’ orders along the line, giving the Roman player an unprecedented degree of tactical flexibility when compared with other factions.

Backing up the legions are the auxiliaries, a wide array of useful support troops able to plug any skill gaps that the legions lack, and a selection of powerful war machines capable of reaching out and striking the enemy from afar.

The Roman faction is best suited for the player who isn’t interested in demigods or monsters, but who would rather field large groups of quality infantry and win the day through tactical flexibility, discipline and the strength of a legionary’s sword arm.

Ancient Egypt

Pharoah’s will be done.

The Egyptian army is one based around its king, the living God who rules over the lives and souls of all of his subjects. The Pharoah takes to the battlefield in glory, and his people follow.

The Egyptian army follows a unique mechanic, the Balance of Maat. Egyptian priests can call on a wide variety of powerful spells and rituals, but each one of these either brings more order or disorder to the world. These rituals can bring great benefit to the Egyptian army, but the Pharoah (and the Egyptian player) must strive to keep order and disorder in balance, for no army can truly emerge victorious with Maat unsatisfied.

The Pharoah is undoubtedly the centre of the army, accompanied by his Princes. If the Pharoah should be slain, one of the Princes may rise to the task and assume the mantle of Pharoah to continue the struggle.

They command varied forces including powerful chariots, skilled and experienced guard units, and terrified slave soldiers forced to battle by their masters’ whims. The Pharoah’s divine will can also cause the mythical creatures of his homeland to follow him into battle. The likes of Sphinxes, Griffons and Serpopards can often be found in the Egyptian army, presenting a daunting challenge to anybody who wishes to defy them.

The Egyptian player therefore has access to an interesting variety of troops, monsters and priests, all going to war to support their divine king, with mystical abilities to terrify their enemies.

Dark Age Pagans

Many different peoples are loyal to the Gods of Asgard. The likes of the Vikings, Visigoths, Ostrogoths and Alemanni are disparate peoples who come together at the instruction of their divine lords to wage furious war on the outsiders. One thing they all have in common – the various tribes live life hard, and have become hard peoples as a result. The Dark Age Pagan faction has access to brutally effective troops, fighting with a Northern Fury.

Their units aren’t as large as those that some of their enemies field, but they make up for it with individual strength and skill at arms, and the leadership of their chieftains. Where other armies increase the size of their units to make them stronger, the armies of the Asgard pantheon instead add Chieftains, which make an already hard-hitting unit even deadlier. If the Asgard player can get their troops into combat, the enemy will feel the pain. But they must be careful, since the reduced number of models means that wounds are felt severely.

The forces of Asgard do not need deadly monsters to bolster their ranks, since the mortals are deadly enough – though these creatures can still be a dangerous addition to their strength. Also useful to these hardened warriors are the likes of the soothsayers and dwarves, who possess abilities to bolster the Asgard player or compromise the plans and units of their enemy.

The Dark Age Pagan faction is best suited to a player who wants the enemy to be afraid of even their basic troops, with small units of deadly warriors backed up by sorcerous creatures who can make their impressive charge even deadlier.

Eldritch Abominations and the Cults of the Elder Gods

This way madness lies.

Many had forgotten the ‘Beings from Beyond’, but enough remember. Foul creatures are spawned in the deep and remote places of the world, and whispers enter the heads of mortals speaking incantations that they cannot begin to fathom. Cults blossom, digging tendrils into the underworlds of all nations, their rulers oblivious to the dangers within.

When these cults take to the field of battle they can lead armies made up from the very peoples who fight against them. Cultist armies have access to some units from the other factions, mortal soldiers who have fallen into the worship of these Eldritch Gods, who feed the strength of the cult with their devotion. Creatures such as the Deep Ones, Shoggoths and Night Gaunts emerge from nowhere to battle alongside their mortal brethren. All fight with a tenuous grip on sanity.

Madness is contagious where the ‘Beings from Beyond’ are involved. The armies who fight against them have to be constantly on their guard, not to let the Eldritch horror into their minds, to turn them into gibbering wrecks.

The hallmark of this faction is its unpredictability and insanity. Cultist players can spread madness to the ranks of their enemies with chanting hordes and priests of forbidden lore. The creatures who follow the army can do strange and disturbing things, able to catch the enemy off their guard. The Cults of the Elder Gods are a faction for the player who takes delight in destroying their enemy’s battle plan from inside out, manipulating the enemy’s troops and threatening flanks that the enemy had no idea were even under threat.

The World of Lardello

The Game Mechanics of Mythos of Legends

The game works entirely on four different stats, Wrath (used for close combat attacks), Wisdom (used for shooting attacks and morale), Swiftness (used for movement and charging) and Determination (used for saves and wounds). The score needed for success on any die when making a check against one of these stats is given by the deity’s profile, so for example a player with Odin will pass Wisdom checks more easily, while by contrast a player with Thor will struggle with Wisdom but will pass Wrath checks more easily.

The unit’s stats give the number of six-sided dice that you roll, with each one passing on the value indicated by the deity. So, for example a player makes a Wisdom check where their unit’s stats give them 6 dice, and they might need 3 of those rolls to be successes to pass the check as a whole.

A roll is a success if it passes the target score given by their deity model. For example, if a unit of Deep One Hybrids under the patronage of Cthulhu had to undertake a swiftness test, they would begin with four dice. For a swiftness check die to considered successful, the number shown on the die would have to be a 4, 5 or 6; since Cthulhu’s target score is “4+”

The number of dice being rolled in a check may be affected in a number of ways, including the special rules and equipment that are attached to the unit. For example, whilst the Deep One Hybrids above have a determination value of “2”, they also have “Armour [2]” listed within their equipment. This rule means that if the Deep One Hybrids are forced to take a determination save after being attacked, they add two extra dice to the check roll and as such would roll four dice, with a roll of a 4, 5 or 6 being considered successful due to the target score set by Cthulhu.

In addition to determining what the player needs to roll to pass each die, the deity can also add or take away dice from the roll by moving around the mythos board. Each side of the board is labelled with one of the four stats. Wrath and Wisdom sit opposite one another, as do Swiftness and Determination. If the deity is right next to one board edge, say Swiftness, all stat checks involving Swiftness gain 2 extra dice. But because the deity is as far away as they can get from Determination, all stat checks involving Determination lose 2 dice. If the player moves one square away from Swiftness, they instead gain 1 extra die to Swiftness checks and lose 1 from Determination checks. The next square takes them closer to Determination and the relationship flips over, and so on. There is no central position, which means that the player’s deity must always be positioned to boost two stats and take away from the other two. This means that from turn to turn the players need to think carefully about which stats will be most important to their army and position their deity appropriately.

The game uses alternating activations and a priority system. At the start of every turn, players roll off for priority with the player who scores highest getting to go first in every part of the turn. Generally the player with priority carries out one action, then their opponent, then back and forth until both players have exhausted their actions in that part of the game turn.

Once priority has been determined, play enters the Mythos Phase. This is the main phase for the deities to attempt to influence the battle. The players must move their deity to a different square on the mythos board every turn, which prevents players finding the ‘best’ square and camping on it for the length of the game.

This phase also gives the players the chance to attempt Divine Intervention, which where the gods attempt to exert even more influence on the game. Each player is given four ‘Divine Dice’ which they can use to roll for divine interventions, or can save to use later in the turn by adding them to any stat check that they want to. Each deity has three divine interventions on their profile which are written to be interesting, diverse and tailored to match the legends and personality of that deity. This adds some mythic flavour to the match by, for example, allowing Zeus to hurl a thunderbolt at the battlefield, Loki to steal divine dice from his opponent or Nyarlathotep to spread madness around the mortal soldiers fighting in his name. These kick in from the second turn onwards, one of the measures adopted to prevent players from trying to ‘alpha strike’ their opponents’ units off the board before they have had a chance to do anything.

After divine interventions, the game moves to the Orders Phase. Players issue orders to their soldiers in the form of Mythos Obols, tokens which have identical backs and order symbols on their face. They are chosen in secret and placed face-down next to their assigned unit. This means that even though activations alternate, the actual actions that the units will carry out are somewhat locked-down by the state of the battlefield at this point in time. This requires strategic thinking on the part of the players since they know that some of their units which activate early will be faced with a battlefield looking largely as it does at the point they issued the orders, while the units which activate later might be faced with a different scene after most of the other units have carried out their actions.

Players can issue orders to March (move quickly), Release (make a shooting attack), Charge (charge into combat with an enemy) or Command (issue commands to other units with generals and officers). Some units can also use a Mythic Action order, which is usually a unique ability listed on their profile. Many legendary units have Mythic Actions, but some regular units do too.
Once both players have secretly issued all of their orders, the game moves to the Activation Phase. The player with priority chooses the first unit to activate, reveals the order on its Mythos obol and carries it out. Play then passes to their opponent and back and forth until all orders have been completed.

Finally play passes to the Resolution Phase where players determine combat resolution and roll break checks for losers, clear away any in-game effects from earlier in the turn and determine if victory conditions have been met dependent on the scenario being played.

The World of Lardello

Introduction to Black Powder - Featuring Rick Priestley

Warlord Games have released a brand-new tutorial video, taking you step-by-step through a game – a Black Powder game. What's more? You'll be guided through the game by Rick Priestley himself!

Introduction to Black Powder – featuring Rick Priestley
In the tutorial, not only does Rick take us through how to play Black Powder, he talks us through the writing process of both the first and second editions. He talks about how he came up with certain rules and what to expect from the latest edition.

It's a real treat and a great insight into a legendary games designer's head!

You can watch the tutorial bellow:

Warlord Games

Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy, 99, Dec-Jan 2018-2019

Issue 99 of Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy will be back from the printers in just a few days and on its way to subscribers. This time around, we're looking at some of the allied nations that helped Napoleon in his conquest of Europe. From the Danes and Poles to the Italians and Bavarians, there's something here for everybody.

Special Feature: Napoleon's allied armies
Adrian McWalter, 'Foreign and allied troops in the Grande Armée - Napoleon's allies'.
Adrian McWalter, 'Maloyaroslavets, 24 October 1812 - The battle of the Italians'.
Michael Leck, 'The British and Danish fight at Køge - The Træskoslaget (Battle of the clogs)'.
Derek Bruce, 'Bavarians versus Austrians - First clash at Landshut'.
Guy Bowers, 'A look at Napoleon's allied armies - Allies of L'Empereur'.
Andrés Amián, 'Danish versus Cossacks at Rahlstedt - Hussars at Hamburg'.

Features

Guy Bowers, 'A bitesize fighting retreat... from the air - Spitfires over Dunkirk'.
Mark Backhouse, 'Turf wars and street fighting in ancient Rome - Tales from the Caelian'.
Backhouse, 'Adapting W.A.T. to historical scenarios - What a Tanker into Normandy'.
Mark Unsworth, 'Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy Games Challenge runner-up - Dreadnought'.
Tony Harwood, 'Constructing a Neolithic mound - Making Newgrange'.
Piers Brand, 'Adding the weather worn look to DAK vehicles - Weathering the desert'.

Departments

Miniature reviews
Rick Priestley, 'Controversial'.
Henry Hyde, 'Tabletop tactics - Artillery's evolution'.
Martyn Braun, 'The irregular - Being a "rules lawyer" is good'.
Peter van Dop, 'Let's play: making a good ruleset better? Black Powder second edition'.
David Davies, Eoghan Kelly, and Ian Woolfenden, 'Game reviews - Enemy at the Gates, The Red Book of the Elf King, Sons of Mars, and America's Olde West'.
Book reviews
Parting shots

Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy

The Polish 'Few': Polish Airmen in the Battle of Britain

They came to fight for freedom and their country, they came to fight Germans. Men of the Polish Air Force, who had escaped first to France and then to Britain, to fly alongside the Royal Air Force just as Fighter Command faced its greatest challenge the Battle of Britain.

Many of the Polish airmen joined existing RAF squadrons. The Poles also formed their own squadrons, but only four became operational during the Battle of Britain: Nos. 300 and 301, were bomber squadrons, with another two, Nos. 302 and 303, being fighter squadrons.

Flying Hawker Hurricanes, both 302 and 303 squadrons were active by the middle of August 1940, just when they were most needed, at the height of the Battle of Britain, with Fighter Command stretched to its limit. The Polish squadrons, battle-hardened from their encounters with the Luftwaffe during the invasion of Poland and Battle of France, soon made their mark.

In particular, 303 Squadron become the highest-scoring unit of Fighter Command. In total, 145 Polish pilots, the largest non-British contingent in Fighter Command at the time, fought in the Battle of Britain. While Winston Churchill praised the contribution of the Few , the pilots of many nationalities who had defended Britain, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding was more specific:

Had it not been for the magnificent material contributed by the Polish squadrons and their unsurpassed gallantry, I hesitate to say that the outcome of the Battle would have been the same.

10mm Forest Guardian from Dark Fields Factory

The first model in progress of a new concept for the new 10mm fantasy game. 38mm size for a "big" hero model sculpted by Renato Benigna for Dark Fields Factory 10mm line.

Forest Guardian

Dark Fields Factory

New 10mm Fantasy Ophidians from Eureka Miniatures

For those of you who like your Fantasy on a smaller yet grander scale, Alan Marsh presents the Ophidians with their slithering and flying troops, as well as a giant armoured beast for them to mount or as an intimidating centrepiece for your force.

Ophidian Imperial Guard Elite 400FAN049

Ophidian Pythogres 400FAN050

Ophidian Heroes 400FAN051

Ophidian Archers 400FAN052

Ophidian Spears 400FAN053

Ophidian Slithery 400FAN054

Ophidian Fluttery 400FAN055

Ophidian Armoured Beast 400FAN056

Eureka Miniatures