MORTAL GODS... FINE WINES AND SPARE RIBS...

This year, 2024, continues to see old abandoned warming projects resurrected and games set up and played on the dining room table. One such neglected rule set is Mortal Gods, which I acquired during Covid and was pretty excited about until Clash of Spears erupted onto the scene and confined this, and other, rules sets to the book shelf. Four years on and I've been painting Wargames Atlantic's skeletons and this is their first outing, pitted against a living, breathing, Greek force, temporarily redeployed from my Clash of Spears Syracusans.

This is a small action of just 230ish points a side and takes place on the remote Aegean island of Hemoroides where the local Lochagos, Testakles is attempting to prevent the, also local, necromancer, Heinos from taking control of the award winning vineyard at Megaboozo, and using it to produce a full bodied and robust Agiorgitiko, to lubricate and enliven their cadaverous ceremonial jamborees.

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Testikles is ably assisted in his endeavours by the ever-so-slightly self absorbed Promachos, Domestos, while Heinos is seconded by the considerably dead Nekudaimon, Verdigris.

HEINOS AND VERDIGRIS

As this is my first game of Mortal Gods, the objective is straightforward... whichever side has the most people/skeletons in the vineyard at the end of the game is the winner!

The battlefield seemed quite cluttered when I laid it out, but it proved to be a bit too exposed for those who were in the sights of the archers, especially the skeletons who have no armour roll to get them out of trouble.

I placed both skeleton archer units on the flank to overpower the Greek archers, which didn't work out as planned! I also got one of the cards temporarily the wrong way up! In practice, the skeleton archers proved to be of little value because they invariably used their activation to use their defence value when they were targeted by their Greek counterparts.

Testakles, Domestos and the Greek peltasts quickly made for the cover of the ruins in the centre of the battlefield.

Domestos was unlucky enough to draw a Fate card which forced him to always move towards the enemy which quickly brought him into combat against the hapless skeletons. Some awful dice rolling saw the Hero surprisingly pushed back.

A group of Greek peripoloi hurled themselves into the skeletons and drove them back and causing two casualties.

Domestos found himself assailed by Verdigris which saw the beginning of a slogging match in the shadow of the ruins, involving the two Greek heroes and wave upon wave of increasingly desperate skeletons!

Verdigris was now having to face both Greek heroes and, although groups of skeletons continually arrived in support, they were quickly thrown back, leaving Verdigris to continue his lone vigil.

As Verdigris fought on against the odds, Heinos repeatedly called more and more skeletons from the depths of Hades and sent them forward to battle the Greek heroes.

After a valiant stand against all the odds, Verdigris was finally dispatched by Domestos who was able to follow up his victory and hurl himself into battle with Heinos the Nekromantis who stood defenceless against the onslaught.

With the "retirement" of the Nekromantis the game came to an end, with a comprehensive victory to Testekles and his Hemoroidian Lochos, meaning that the worshipers of Hades were going to need a visit to Tescotes for their ceremonial wine supplies (at least the Clubcard would receive a hefty boost of bonus points). The game played out very differently to the way I expected it to, with the skeletons unable to do sufficient damage to the Greeks before they were swept off the table. Heinos the Nekromantis then spent each activation bringing back the slaughtered skeletons so that they could go off and be slaughtered again! With Heinos as their leader, the skeletons don't have anyone who can stand up to the Greek heroes in combat; Verdigris, the Nekudaimon, gave a good account of himself but, ultimately, with only medium armour to protect himself, he was overwhelmed by the combined attentions of Testekles and Domestos, as would anyone be!

At various points in the game I interpreted the rules for defence incorrectly, allowing groups to use both a defence roll and an armour save, when I think you are supposed to choose which you employ, rolling a courage test if you have an activation available but would rather rely on an armour save instead. With the skeletons, giving up their activation for a defence roll means that they end up just standing there waiting to be cut down by the next Greek who comes along to attack them, but, if you are lucky enough to pass the courage test with the single die they roll, their lack of armour means they'll be lucky to have anybody(!) left standing to fight anyway!

So, it's back to the drawing board with the Horde of Hades and some time spent looking more carefully at the nuts and bolts of their characteristics. I didn't use my Hydra (Henry) for this game and I haven't finished my Zealots yet, but I'm not sure that they would have made a huge difference to the outcome of this game. The secrets to success are obviously there somewhere for the forces of Hades and, now I'm not spending all my time painting and basing, I need to delve further into the rules to unlock those secrets and give Testakles and his Hemoroidians more of a run for their drachma...