So today I had a free day so I went sat and watched some of my historical war gaming buddies play “Mortem et Gloriam” a very different take on 15mm Historical war gaming. Then I am used to with DBM or Feilds of Glory, They explained the game mechanics to me as they played the game so I could learn to play it . I do very much like that it’s a, I move a unit you move a unit, and so on till all units are moved , and that in combat phase when it’s your attack both sides resolve attacks and take damage simultaneously.
The card priority mechanic is nice
Here is how it works (excerpt from {MeG} website:
Combat
“Damage is cause by rolling the special Mortem et Gloriam Death Dice. These are a set of dice in five colours: BLACK, WHITE, GREEN, YELLOW and RED. There are three symbols on the dice: a Skull, a Crossed Sword & Arrow, and a fancy S (short for “special”). When you roll the Death Dice, a Skull symbol kills an enemy base – simple! The Crossed Sword & Arrow symbol causes a wound – and two wounds kill a base. And the fancy S generates special effects.
So in the game you will roll these dice for each column of bases shooting or fighting in order to damage opposing troops. The better your troops are, compared to your opponents, the better the dice you roll. RED dice are brutal and have 2 Skulls, 3 Crosses and an S. BLACK dice are timid in comparison, and have only one Cross, an S and four blank faces that do nothing. So, put simply, your job as Army Commander is to get your troops into a position to roll the largest number of the best dice in order to break your opponent.”
Leaning your troops
“You have a wide range of tactical options and choices to make as an Army Commander. These are all managed using Mortem et Gloriam Command Cards. The cards mirror the colours of the Death Dice with BLACK, WHITE, GREEN, YELLOW and RED cards. There are 8 BLACK, 12 WHITE, 16 GREEN, 12 YELLOW and 6 RED in each pack. The basic concept is the same as the Death Dice – RED cards are the best and BLACK the worst. RED cards will allow sophisticated moves, BLACK cards generally allow nothing at all.
The final twist in the movement part of the game is that there are three types of troops: Drilled, Formed and Tribal. Drilled troops find things easy to do – so rarely need better than a GREEN card to do things. Tribal troops find all but the basics more difficult, and will often need YELLOW and RED cards to do sophisticated things. There is a rich variety of different moves to choose from in the game – the cards are used to pay for all of these. So more cards, of better colours will always be a good thing.”
Movement
“The Command Cards are played alternately in Mortem et Gloriam – you play a card to prompt an action, then your opponent and so on. This creates a system of movement that is inter-woven rather than the I-move-everything /you-move-everything of recent decades. Instead you will find there is an ebb and flow of actions and counters occurring continuously. Better Generals with Drilled troops can react more easily to an opponent’s actions than poorer Generals with Tribal troops. You will also find yourself playing your cards in different phases of the game to perform tasks during fighting as well as movement. There is simply no such thing as “my go” – both players are involved all the time.”
Fast and furious
“Mortem et Gloriam is designed to be played at a fast pace. The pre-amble phase of the battle has all the grand tactical options you need, but they are resolved quickly – so you will usually be in action within 20 minutes of moving the first troops. The game is designed to be a fast moving and bloody affair, and like most battles, even as the victor you will usually have suffered – hence, “nobody gets out unscathed!” The game is designed to be played to a conclusion in 2 hours once you are familiar with it.”
For more on this check out
http://www.thewargameszone.org/62/The-Ancients-Zone
Also I would like to point out that the army list for all eras are free on line to down load!
So Mortem et Gloriam may not yet be the most widely played Ancients game out there!
ADLG – L’Art de la Guerre
Might be more available as it has a good fallowing out there in the gaming world, but my game group prefers the more unusual gaming experience so I’ll be joining them occasionally for Mortem et Gloriam. So after today I think I am going to get the starter set that comes with the Rules, dice, cards and references sheets. To get me started. I still have all my movements templets from when I used to play Fields of Glory and DBM.
Next post I’ll post my Athenian Hoplite army !
Better sign off now!
See you in the wasteland!
I have not taken any close ups of my Hoplite army till now, as I have finally finished the bases I’m not as embarrassed for them to be seen by other Ancients and historical gamers!
