Recently, I tried out these neat little skirmish game, 1490 Doom. It's set in a an alternate history in the titular year, where a miasma known as the creeping death has emerged, forcing everyone to seek shelter high above. This translates to the game rewarding the team that can get to the highest position, with some scenarios even forcing you to climb or suffer the consequences. We played a more simple introductory game with three players.
The game is set on a circular map, with as much vertical terrain as you can muster. I cannot stress enough how important it is for this game for the terrain to be multi-tiered. Most wargames can get away with 2 levels, but I think this would have been more fun with 3 or even 4 levels. Each group has only 3 models, selected from a variety of classes with no repeats allowed. There's just enough tweaking where list building is quite fun and varied, but not so much that you'll be stuck in analysis paralysis land. Each model can either tweak one stat (other than attacks), take a different weapon, or equip a consumable, which is a single use item. These are called enhancements, and you only get 3 per group, one of which has to be on your leader, and you can't double up ie take 2 stat changes.
With only seven rounds and three models each only allowed to perform 2 actions (move, dash for 2'', attack, ability, set gear, retrieve gear, open chest, pick up item), the action economy of the game is fraught with risk. As such I took a Beekeeper class, whose abilities allow you to hinder opponents, robbing them of an action, as well as having a combat debuff aura. I also had a Scavenger, a speedy little trickster who had a one time use dagger that robs you completely of your turn and a valuable re-roll once per turn, and a Saboteur, who excels at area denial and throwing bombs. My goal was to focus on utility more than damage, as I wanted to see how the game engine functioned and not necessarily how killy I could be.
And boy did this game deliver. The way all of the different classes interact with each other is delightful, rewarding carefully laid plans such as hindering a model, poking them from a few inches apart, then running away, before your next model goes ahead and lies a trap so that your two models don't get followed. With only 3 models to worry about, there's room to breath and think tactically, instead of having to hold a whole warbands ability in your head.
The climbing is a fun challenge as well. Most medieval-style games (that is to say, melee focused) have a tendency to devolve into mobs rushing into the center to scrum it out. But having to climb forces you to move around the map to find different avenues up, as a player might be blocking you from climbing up to where they are. I do wish we had some wider elevated spaces to give some more room for maneuver, and my risers should come in handy with that.
I never felt that any of the classes were oppressive, and each one felt like they had neat little tricks up their sleeve that kept everyone on their toes. Each model has a powerful once per game ability that creates another fun choice of when best to pop that, kind of like an ultimate in a video game.
I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed this game, and I'll definitely be returning to this system. There are a lot of combos that I want to explore, and it seems like the game creators are publishing new classes semi-frequently, which will help mix things up.
-The Space Dinosaur
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