Collection: All Mythic Americas

Mythic Americas

Brought to you from Warlord Games, bring the mystic to life with this skirmish tabletop starter set containing everything needed for two players in Mythic America warbands to battle, the Aztecs versus the Tribal Nations.

A Warband represents your own band of warriors – courageous humans, blood-thirsty monsters, legendary heroes, and mythological entities from the depths of the darkest myths.

Fast-paced and exciting miniature battles upon a standard-sized table between rival forces. This game provides a new multi-level, scenario-driven approach offering plenty of opportunities to reward tactical play.

Uses 10-sided and order dice, making for a game with mechanical depth as you try to score points and accomplish objectives.

Build, paint and play! The construction and painting of the models and watching them come to life are just as much fun as the game itself! Inspired by the likes of Charles Grant and Donald Featherstone, along with a healthy helping of JRR Tolkien, HP Lovecraft, Frank Herbert, and Michael Moorcock, Rick Priestley is a name synonymous with fantasy and science fiction wargaming, and since his first published set of rules in 1978 (Reaper, co-written with Richard Halliwell), he has been responsible for some of the finest wargames rulesets of the last four decades. From the first-ever edition of Warhammer through to Warhammer 40,000 and Necromunda, Lord of the Rings through to Warmaster and Warmaster Ancients, Rick has led the way in fantasy and science fiction wargame design. He has also worked on a number of historical systems too, such as Black Powder and Hail Cesar. Following on from the highly successful Rick Priestley-penned science fiction game Beyond the Gates of Antares, in 2019 Warlord Games published Warlords of Erehwon, a fantasy wargame system by Rick that allows for small – medium-sized games of opposing warbands.

Seeing the purposeful lacking of a single dedicated background setting within Warlords of Erehwon as something to expand upon, Mythicos Studios’ Nelson Martinez created Mythic Americas: Warlords of Erehwon with the aim of fusing his enthusiasm for Rick’s original game with his love of Native American culture and mythology. Set for release in December 2020, this is my review of Mythic Americas: Warlords of Erehwon. Meanwhile, my article Mythic Americas: Warlords of Erehwon… A Talk with Nelson Martinez and Friends can be found here.

Mythic Americas: Warlords of Erehwon Rulebook

Author: Nelson Martinez Book Type: A4-sized Softback Pages: 157 Cover Art: Nelson Martinez Internal Art: Nicholas Martinez, Elizabeth Martinez, Nelson Martinez Photography: Nicholas Martinez, Warlord Games Faction Design: Brian Timmermann, Chris Remetz, Matthew Hall, Brian Heineman, Michael D’Agostini, Nelson Martinez, Christopher Masucci, William A. Van Houten, Joe Lagasse, Andrew “Red Gevhere” De Almagro, Anthony Fassano Rules Lieutenant, and Expert: Brian Timmermann Research: Matthew Hall, Brian Heineman, Joe Lagasse Playtest Organiser and Enforcer: Brian Heineman

Copy Editing: Matthew Hall, Brian Heineman, Michael D’Agostini, Chris Remetz Additional Artwork, and Layout: Nelson Martinez Miniatures Used: Mythicos Minis and Warlord Games Miniature Design: Elizabeth Martinez; Creative Director. Matt Parkes Sculptor and Production Manager. Miniatures Painters: Joe Lagasse, Brian Timmermann, Nelson Martinez, Christopher Masucci, John Margiotta, Chris Remetz, Michael D’Agostini

Thanks To: John Russell, and The Silverbacks Special Thanks To John Stallard whose enthusiasm and generosity have made this book possible, and Simon Tift who sees the magic and wonder of the Americas. Manufacturer: Warlord Games/ Mythicos Studios

Mythic Americas

With its dynamic pace, the balance of detail and playability, and focus on inclusivity, Warlords of Erehwon is one of my favorite wargames and I consider Rick Priestley to be one of the finest rules writers of all time. I was very interested to see what the Warlord Games/ Mythicos Studios partnership and Nelson Martinez-created Mythic Americas: Warlords of Erehwon contained.

“In your hands you hold not a book, but a door,” so begins Mythic Americas: Warlords of Erehwon. Penned by Mythicos Studios founder Nelson Martinez, this book uses the original Warlords of Erehwon rules and game mechanics as its foundation, built around this unique setting with Native American mythology at its core.

As he details his time growing up in Venezuela and Colombia and his family history, it is instantly clear that Nelson’s cultural roots and his love for Native American mythologies are areas he is deeply passionate about. Another passion of Nelson’s that is made obvious is wargaming and the works of Rick Priestley especially, “Why choose Warlords of Erehwon for Mythic Americas? Two words: Rick Priestley. Rick is, in my opinion, the very best rules writer in the gaming industry.”

The Balance is a mandate from The One. The Balance between life and death is at the center of everything on Mother Earth. This is the Way. For eons upon eons balance has been maintained not just on sacred Earth, but throughout all of creation by two powerful forces – The Everliving and the Everchanging. These two sides of one perfect coin were created by The One so as to maintain the Balance. This is the Way.

Mythic Americas: Warlords of Erehwon

Mythic Americas takes aspects of Native American mythologies, often overlooked in mainstream entertainment, and brings them to life upon the tabletop. Players can now field forces which include such creates as the Sasquatch, Wendigo, Quetzalcoatl, Ayar, and Werejaguar, alongside Mohawk, Jaguar, and Calakmal Warriors.

GAME RULES

Players of Warlords of Erehwon will be familiar with most of the rules in Mythic Americas, there are some different/ new aspects to consider though. The Chariots and Artillery sections have been removed, these things being factored into specific warbands where applicable. There are also no generic Magic spells in Mythic Americas, rather they are specific to each warband.

Mythic Americas: Warlords of Erehwon. Copyright: Warlord Games/ Mythicos Studios.

PLAYING THE GAME AND SCENARIOS

One of the big differences with Mythic Americas compared to the original Warlords of Erehwon is how scenarios are played. A key component of the rules of Mythic Americas and the world in which the game is set, The Way allows players to choose between two alignments, the Everliving and the Everchanging. A warband’s alignment grants in-game benefits to the respective player. Depending on whether The Way of your warband is that of the Everliving or the Everchanging, Secondary Scenarios of games differ.

Representing things such as the effects of Magic spells, in Mythic Americas a number of in-game cards and tokens are used. If you purchase the rulebook only then you will need to either purchase or make your own cards and tokens; Mythic Americas starter sets include them.

THE WARBANDS

THEE RULING CHILDREN OF THE WAY: The drama in Mythic Americas is in great part all about two ancient legions of eternal beings, the Everliving and the Everchanging, and their efforts to maintain the universal Balance as demanded by the One… This is The Way. But here on sacred Earth, it is The Ruling Children (humanity) who have been tasked by The One himself to not only keep the natural Balance of life on the planet, but in a twist of fate… disrupt it too.

Mythic Americas: Warlords of Erehwon

With other exciting and unique warbands already in the pipeline, the Mythic Americas book details the four initial forces available to players:

The Tribal Nations

The Aztecs

The Incas

The Maya

For each warband there is background information, tactical tips, unit stats, and magic spells (which are warband specific).

EXTRAS

The Extras within the book link to the specially created Mythic Americas: Warlords of Erehwon colour palettes by Army Painter; each warband has its own paint set and this is a handy way for painters to replicate colour schemes within the book. Though, personally, I prefer to invent my own colour schemes and have started to use oil paints instead of acrylics too.

Demonstrating the sincerity of Nelson Martinez’s interest in Native American history and culture, the Extras section also contains many references to history books, articles and websites.

Mythic Americas: Warlords of Erehwon. Copyright: Warlord Games/ Mythicos Studios.

MODELS

Such is the quality of the models for Mythic Americas, I will be doing a dedicated review of some of the figures in a future blog. For the time being, here are a few pictures a Seneca Archer, Tlalocan High Priest, Antisuyu Archer, Wolf, and Sapa Emperor mounted on Spirit Jaguar.

With Warlords of Erehwon used as its foundation, Mythic Americas risked going one of two ways; it could have disappointed, falling short of the mark after using such a well constructed set of rules as its basis, or it could have used Warlords of Erehwon as it was always intended, as a ruleset which can lend itself to different fantastical settings whilst holding a dynamic playing pace and sense of balance. To me, Mythic Americas: Warlords of Erehwon has not disappointed. Clearly a labour of love from Nelson Martinez, this Mythicos Studios/ Warlord Games joint venture offers players exciting warband-sized games with a range of exciting new factions and monsters. Meanwhile, the quality of Mythic Americas: Warlords of Erehwon miniatures is incredible. Combining fine detail with dynamic poses and dripping with character, for players and collectors alike the model range is an absolute treat (I shall be publishing a review dedicated to some of the models in due course). So, gather your forces, choose your alignment, the Everliving or the Everchanging, and navigate 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 Order dice test system, at the mechanical core of Mythic Americas, and an extremely balanced rules set offers Warband leaders great tactical freedom, but the game still offers lots of opportunity for fate and chance to have a say in the outcome of your battles.

Warrior units (10 models) Tribal Nations Starter warband: 1 Sachem Warlord Unit (Including 2 Mohawk Warrior Bodyguards - 3 models) 1 Mohawk Warrior units (5 models) 1 Seneca Warrior units (5 models) Dice Softback Rulebook Game Cards Tokens

Americas: Warlords of Erehwon Rulebook + 0 more Advertisement The Mythic Americas version of Warlords of Erehwon still keeps at its heart a singular objective in mind – to allow for fast-paced and exciting miniature battles upon a standard-sized table between rival forces known as Warbands. A Warband represents your own band of warriors – courageous humans, blood-thirsty monsters, legendary heroes, and mythological entities

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.

Mythic Americas Aztec & Nations Starter Set The new Mythic Americas version of Warlords of Erehwon still keeps at its heart a singular objective in mind – to allow for fast-paced and exciting miniature battles upon a standard-sized table between rival forces known as Warbands.

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!

Also check out This list that tells you why D&D 5e is the best edition of Dungeons and Dragons! or The Ultimate Comparison Guide to Selecting D&D 5e, Pathfinder, or Warhammer!