Kickstarter board games veteran Monolith unveils new campaign, Mythic Battles: Isfet [sponsored]

Monolith Board Games knows its way around a Kickstarter campaign, having raised more than €21.5m across over a dozen tabletop crowdfunding projects since it was founded a decade ago. After big successes across projects including Conan, Batman: Gotham City Chronicles and Mythic Battles: Pantheon, Monolith is back fundraising for its latest in the Mythic Battles series, which sees the wars rage on the sands of ancient Egypt. In this sponsored article, Monolith highlights the mechanics, modules and miniatures on offer in the Mythic Battles: Isfet campaign.

A strong system and universe
Mythic Battles is a 2 to 4 player legendary adventure series, playable as a pure skirmish game, or as an epic saga comprised of numerous scenarios and campaigns. The game can also be played with 2 teams of 2 players. Each game focuses on a particular mythology, and can be mixed (or confronted) with the other two.

Stunning miniatures and peerless game boards set the scene, cards and dice decide the combat, and the draft mechanic ensures you field a mighty force, destined for glory and victory. Since its first opus with Mythic Battles: Pantheon in 2017, this system has won the hearts and minds of a large, dedicated community. It has been lauded for its accessibility, tactical richness, and its ability to unite both regular “skirmish” players and those accustomed to more Euro-style or abstract games. Pantheon is rated 8.2 on BGG (with over 3,000 reviews), and the second episode, Ragnarök, is rated 8.6.

This campaign will focus on Egyptian mythology and the millennia of history that have shaped the Two Lands. In Mythic Battles: Isfet, players will take control of the gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt, leading their armies in epic battles to restore balance to the universe–or bring about the triumph of evil and chaos! Ammit, the devourer of souls, has unshackled herself from her sacred bonds and plunged into the depths of insanity. Khepri, the dawn sun, offered himself up as a sacrifice to the jaws of the cosmic serpent Apophis. As their hearts slowly fester with the Isfet–a force of hatred and corruption–gods, monsters and mortals are cast adrift as they watch their world crumble. When the great tempest tears the sky asunder, only the mightiest shall remain. 

Easy-to-learn; Depths to Explore
Each unit possesses unique powers – Isis can heal; Akhenaten can push units away; Sobek can modify the terrain of the game board areas; the Benu can explode and reconstruct itself. And players can combine these powers to devastating effect. At the start of each game, you must choose a Divinity, and then build a warband to complement them during the draft phase. So choose wisely!

Your warriors fall into five different categories: Gods, Titans, Heroes, Monsters, and Troops. Each type has its own advantages ranging from subtle, brutal, fast, powerful, tactical, etc. You may build your army with any combination you like – the only restriction is the overall cost. If your God only wants Monsters to fight beside them, so be it.  After you’ve chosen your Divinity (a God or a Titan), you get a recruitment point budget with which to “buy” their followers.

This budget depends on the number of players at the table and of the chosen game mode. Heroes and Monsters vary based on their recruitment cost (from 1 to 5), which depends on their power level.

Game modes
In Skirmish mode, each player starts with 14 to 18 Recruitment Points, depending on the number of players. This phase is resolved by a draft between the players, each, in turn, choosing a unit from among those present. At the start of each game, you have to choose a divinity. Armies are led by them, as they are the most powerful miniatures in the game. Most of them, being gods, are only surpassed in power by a handful of Titans (more on Titans later).

Players compete on one of the various game boards, and win the game as soon as they manage either to defeat an opposing divinity, or to absorb 4 divine stones from the board. In Adventure mode, the number of recruitment points and the composition of armies work differently, with each scenario bringing its own special rules and recruitment methods to create the desired mood and feel. Players choose their desired game board. Some will be directly inspired by myths and legends, while others will be straight out of the minds of the team’s writers!

Victory conditions are also different for each scenario, offering greater replayability and nuance.

A mix of Dice and Cards
Mythic Battles use dice for combat; however, combined with a unique set of rules, you may mitigate unfortunate rolls and boost others to create epic moments of success. A deck of cards is used to manage all your tactical choices. Activation cards make up the bulk of your deck. Each unit you recruit has 3 to 5 Activation cards that are included in your deck, which represent the number of times you can activate those units before your deck runs out. This number is important, as units with 5 Activation cards are particularly aggressive, while those with 3 should be played more sparingly.

The rest of your deck is made up of Art of War cards, a sort of  “Swiss Army knife” card offering multiple uses such as drawing 2 extra cards, searching your deck for a specific Activation card, activating a second unit during your turn, or using your units’ most heavy duty powers. Effective and bold management of your Art of War cards is often the key to victory!

A Variety of Game boards

Mythic Battles is played on a series of lavishly illustrated, game boards (60x60cm). Each is divided into a number of areas for game play. Your miniatures are placed in one area at a time and move from one area to the next. The symbol in each area’s center tells you what type of terrain it is. The number in each area tells you the maximum number of units (not miniatures) it can hold. When full, no-one can enter the area anymore, but units in adjacent areas can still attack units in full areas as if they were in the same area. This becomes an important strategic consideration! Some terrain uses 3D elements like palm trees for a Forest area, or a statue in a Ruins area, each conferring specific bonuses.

Awesome Miniatures
Mythic Battles is a miniatures line that lives up to its name: human armies, of similar scale to those found in other games, are joined by gods. These imposing pieces average 65mm/2.5 inches tall, and Monsters can be even bigger. Still not big enough? Enter the Titans! These behemoths loom over the battlefield at over 100mm/4 inches tall! The miniatures we have produced for Mythic Battles: Ragnarök and Pantheon in the past are a testament to the care we take with our plastic production castings.

We have only improved since then. Thin parts of the miniatures such as spears, swords, and legs are made of ABS, ie, hard plastic, to prevent them from warping. Our Ragnarök set raised the bar even higher than all our previous games. Many pledgers insist they are the best of our entire catalogue of games. 

Join the adventure with your favorite mythology. Be it Egypt or Norse mythology (or both !), you can join us for this live campaign by clicking here.

And woe to the vanquished!