Mythic Americas: Nowhere gets a place

by Troy Hill

In 2015 I sold off four fantasy armies from my time playing Warhammer Fantasy (up to ver 8). Fantasy just didn’t compete with the uber-meta mentality of the 40K crowd in my local area. And I was downsizing, drastically, in living space. Something had to go.

So, with my move to California, and the downsizing that accompanied it, reducing my miniature inventory to fit into a tiny Los Angeles apartment made sense. I wasn’t playing fantasy, and the latest GW fantasy just didn’t interest me. So I stuck with historical minis.

Then Rick Priestley screwed up my plans.

He wrote , and Warlord Games released it. Wait a moment. Rick Priestley? Father of Warhammer Fantasy of olde wrote a new fantasy miniatures game? Sign me UP! Oh, wait. I sold off all my fantasy minis.

Fast forward a year, and I had an Undead army mostly painted, a few games under my belt, with Orcs, and Goblins waiting in the wings to hit the painting table. And WoE uses the order dice system from a game I love (Bolt Action)? Excellent!

But, in Los Angeles, fantasy games like Kings of War, Age of Sigmar, and WH Ninth Age were competing for the fantasy gamers. Erehwon was having a tough go breaking through the clutter in the saturated fantasy gaming market. But, I and a couple of other intrepid souls hit the convention circuit running demos. Then Covid hit, and I moved back to the midwest of the US. Even here, in the two months I had before Covid, I found little interest in yet another fantasy game.

The most popular reason we heard about not wanting to switch into Erehwon was “Where’s the backstory? It’s generic…”

Well, that was the intent. Rick has said he designed the game to be both miniatures and setting agnostic. Erehwon is Nowhere spelled in reverse. That’s the kicker here. Nowhere is a tough sell when gamers are used to a backstory with their systems.

Enter the chaps at Mythicos Studios, Warlord Games new partner in the United States. Nelson Martinez, and Chris Remetz are the two primary designers behind the new game, however, they told Brad at the that members of the Mythicos Studios gaming club were instrumental in designing out the factions and playtesting them in the system.

What is Mythic Americas the game?

I’ve seen the book, and I have to say, I’m impressed. The concept behind the book and the system takes what Rick Priestley gave us with WoE, and moves it to a new level of awesome.

Nelson and Chris, as explained on the podcast, took the WoE system, complete with all of the FAQ, errata, and clarifications that Priestley has made to it, and used those rules as the basis for Mythic Americas in a soon to be published rule book. If you’ve played WoE, you’ll be very familiar with the rules. Of course, due to the historic nature of the setting, they didn’t include rules for artillery, nor for war machines like chariots. Those may be added at a later date with future factions (conquistadors, anyone???)

What Mythic Americas (MA) does to the rules is layer on mechanisms for a campaign setting and add in new rules as needed for the setting and new factions.

New Factions?

Yep. New factions.

As Nelson explains on a variety of podcasts, and on the , most fantasy armies and settings are based on at least a European culture and mythology. Many are firmly set in the Tolkien-esque myths with dwarves and elves and orcs. Nelson, however, grew up in South America, and knew that the Americas, from the Northern tip, through Central America, and down to the frigid southern tip of South America is a culturally rich and diverse set of nations. Why not build a fantasy setting and factions based on what the various cultures in the Americas have in their own history?

And Nowhere gained a place.

And cultures for factions. The MA book details four factions. The Tribal Nations of North America with the Aztecs form the first two that will be released. Also in the MA book are Incas and Mayas. (Note: Nelson points out on Brad’s podcast that “Mayan” is the language, “Maya” is both singular and plural for the people and culture.)

Warlord is releasing starter sets with the Tribal Nations and Aztecs. Incas and Maya forces will follow.

What’s different?

MA changes WoE by adding a layer of purpose to the mythos, but one that shifts with the winds of change. From the MA website:

During the timeline of Mythic Americas: Warlords of Erehwon, and era is coming to its predestined end. This is the Way.

Here on Earth, the One has also created The Ruling Children, or simply, The Children. The Children have come in many forms in the past. Today we humans are the Children. As today’s Ruling Children, our only role The One has given us, is to help maintain the Balance…or perhaps (no one really knows) to unbalance it. This is the Way.

What this means is that before a game of MA, players roll to see if their faction is fighting for The Everliving or the Everchanging. (This is the “alignment” of the faction for that game only.) These two sides are in conflict, and The Children (humans and their factions) don’t realize which side they’re really struggling for. Of course, as players, you can agree to choose sides before building your lists or to keep it random.

Everliving v Everchanging

The side of the balance (alignment) your force is fighting for determines several other factors in the game.

WA introduces Blessings of the Way. Nelson has said that the starter sets from Warlord will include cards for these Blessings. What do these cards do?

Well, they have the ability to affect gameplay – but each may only be used once per game. The effects of each blessing are listed in the MA book,  so you can play by making your own cards if need be. They’re simply a game aid to indicate when you have used the Blessing’s ability (flip it or discard it).

Each Blessing is different but similar to one from the other side of the balance. I can’t share those yet, but they do have abilities to affect order dice on units, or still in the bag, or even ability checks and modifiers. Per Jon Russell, you’ll have to wait on Nelson and Chris to reveal such spoilers.

Scenarios

Yep, the Balance and the Way affect what happens on the tabletop. Originally, WoE came with nice, but fairly generic kill point type scenarios. Nelson and Chris told Brad on the podcast that one of their goals in designing MA was to layer on complexities that would make finding the killer meta combo difficult if not impossible.

They do this in MA in two different ways. First, the scenarios in the MA book are in addition to those in WoE’s original book. One such scenario has forces dueling to construct “objectives” for their specific cultures, and destroying the other force’s “objectives.” VPs are awarded for each one standing at the end of the game.

However, there are secondary objectives that are alignment dependent and chosen by the player in secret before the game begins. These secondary objectives are called Devotions to the Way. Because they are alignment dependent, they won’t be the same as the other player is attempting. These Devotions might be as simple as gaining a VP for each monstrosity they kill on the opposing side.

Balance of the Meta

This is the intriguing part of what the folks at Mythicos have done with MA: they have brought some sense of balance to the uber-smackdown-meta-army-building that other games seem to devolve into.

By layering in the random alignment selection, and the subsequent Blessings and Devotions of the Way that brings. Then by adding in scenarios that move from kill points to both open and secret objectives, they’ve brought a balance to list building that they hope will encourage more rounded list building for campaigns and potentially even tourneys.

My Review

Overall, I love the concepts they’re adding to WoE. Just looking through the offerings on , as well as hearing the gents from Mythicos on various podcasts tell tales of past playtests, and what each faction is bringing to the system is intriguing.

I have to admit, that the setting and cultures depicted may not appeal to everyone. I’m more of a Tolkienesque Orcs and Elves or even Vampire Counts type of player. But the models that Mythicos designed, and Warlord is producing for the new system are intriguing. Just reading the factions in the MA book shows a lot of depth to what is coming for the game.

Give it a look, if you like a little Tribal Nations or Aztec in your fantasy. From the Quetzacoatl to the Wendigo, Mythic Americas has the cultural flavor of the Americas brought to Erehwon. Give it a look, and a playtest.

 

Troy is a long-time gamer, with interests in fantasy and historical games. In addition to herding cats here at NoDiceNoGlory.com as editor and chief typo hunter, he is part of the Warlord Games North American Demo team. Once we get past the pandemic, you might find him in NE Indiana at a game store, or any of a number of gaming events in the central part of the US. He is currently suffering through lock-down by building a model railroad empire in his basement. Rumors abound that 10mm Napoleonic “reenactors” may end up fighting off a 10mm band of Orcs or Undead on the railroad. We’ll have to wait to see what happens.