Tales of men, myths and monsters rules

[zemjw]

I had a couple of impulse buys at Carronade at the weekend, one of which was this set of rules.

It's by Chris Swan, the same guy who wrote Beyond the Empire, With Musket, Pike and Drums and Fighting the Dragon.

Subtitled "Rules for adventures in Greek Mythology", they are designed to recreate the adventures of Greek myths, "or at least the hollywood version of them"

I got mine from Caliver Books, but it looks like other places have them as well - https://www.caliverbooks.com/bookview.php?id=29914

I haven't done anything other than skim them, but I was wondering if anyone else had seen them. A google search turns up nothing useful, largely because of the common nature of the term

edited to add Caliver link

[Pattus Magnus]

I noticed the rules on Caliver’s website and would also be interested in hearing opinions from folks who have played (or even read them and can comment on things like game mechanics- there is very little detail available where I looked).

[MartinD]

I had my eye on them as well. I've been sitting on the Mortal Gods Mythic stuff for ages and haven't done anything with them though, so I held off buying this. I've got BtE and WMP&D and they look fun, but....

....I haven't found a single post of rules support online from the author or publisher even attempting to build up interest, or answer questions, discussion between players or even share photos of projects. After getting the Rennaissance rules in particular I thought they read better than Pikeman's Lament (and covered the 16th C) - they have more tribal options for Colonial actions too. Went online to see what the general vibe was and found a couple of scattered post asking much the same questions as I was.

Seems a minor critique, but every rules from Tribal to Saga has *some* online support from players or publishers, even if it is a 90's style Retro website. I noticed there was a supporting article in Miniature Wargames, but other than that, absolutely nothing. I mean it won't stop me from trying it out, but it's easy to lose inspiration over a project if you're doing it in a one-man echo chamber.

But anyway - report back on them, as I might pick them up if they sound good.

[zemjw]

The rules are reviewed in the latest Wargames Ilustrated (June 2023).

However, it has only just dropped through the door, so I haven't read it yet.

[steders]

Slight threadomancy
I picked these rules up at partizan this weekend
 I sat reading them last night but I haven't played them yet
Its a true skirmish game with what looks like 6ish figures a side
Characters can be given skills or gifts from the gods etc. There's a lot to choose from or randomly role for.
The troops available are graded from (I think) hero down to groups of 3 cannon fodder
I like that they are card driven and that more powerful characters get upto 4 cards.
When they are wounded they lose a card. It seems quite a neat mechanic.
When your card comes up you decide what your character will do and then test for it.
For everything. You want to move, take a test. You want to shoot take a test. you want to hit someone/thing, take a test
Each test has its own table
There are a lot of tables
Every test is D10 based, 1 is a spectacular failure, 10 is a spectacular pass with everything else grade in between.
This is true for every test EXCEPT damage rolls where 10 is poor and 1 is spectacular hit. Why!?
I can't see any reason for this at all. Very strange design decision
I also couldn't see if you could move and fight, it seemed to suggest it in the example of play but its not obvious as they are 2 separate actions which require 2 separate tests.
I did like that it comes with 6 scenarios which didn't need loads of figures.
Loads of different mythological beasts covered as well.
I think it would play ok but I can't help feeling there could have been just a single resolution table.
I'm also not convinced that it will be fun for your mighty heroes card to come up, him fluff his movement test and fall on his arse.
On reading it, I was reminded of Two Hour Wargames which effectively turn into a dice rolling exercise.
I enjoyed THW for a while but I became gradually irritated by the constant dice rolling to do anything.
I can't help feeling these rules would end up annoying me
I'll give them a run through to see how they play. 

[Pattus Magnus]

Steders, thanks for the description of the game mechanics. I have been wondering about these rules, as Greek mythology is a game type I am interested in, but haven’t heard many details. I agree that having so many tests could get old in a hurry. To me, taking tests for routine actions seems a bit redundant - that sort of thing is to add unpredictability during game play, but so is card-driven activation. I would have thought using cards to randomly assign activation order would be enough uncertainty.

That said, it will be very interesting to hear your experiences when you have played the game. Definitely post about it if you have the time!