Hello,

I'm looking for online reviews of Mutant Chronicles, especially reviews that would highlight the positive and negative aspects of game play experience.

How much is the game different from the original Swedish or US RPG, and what are the differences? Is the game thematic, or more generic, mechanic-wise? What sets it apart from other wargames such as AT-43 or Horrorclix?

Thanks!

There are a bunch of review links at www.boardgamegeek.com/game/22826

MC Miniatures Game uses the Warzone 3rd Ed UWZ book as an "inspiration" regarding making new miniatures. But the game rules are nothing like the old games. Someone said the dice system is more like the ones for Doom the boardgame. Though the dice remind me a teeny weeny bit of the old skool MC boardgames Siege of the Citadel and Fury Of The Clansmen. Hell... then it would remind me of Blood Bowl as well... No, Siege and Fury is the closest IMO to the older games, but with less minis in this one.

In regards of RPG differences... this game is very "true" MC regarding story and units. It's just a brand new game system and bigger minis than before.

Regarding the reviews, some are pretty old and the game had a "rough" start, but after the starter set first wave minis are out, all the other new minis are made by another company, and are apparently much better than these first ones (though I think they work just fine for me, and the bigger they are, the easier to repaint some of them yourself.)

The best news since man landed on moon though, is the new map-packs planned for release next year. They look to be Tide Of Iron type of maps, with you being able to configure the map just as you want. And hopefully there would even be made some kind of scenario packs as well, though that would most likely be fan-made.

I think it's a great game with lots of replayability, and it goes by really fast if you want. There are endless possibilities on how your army will look like. It really requires some thinking though, and intelligence goes a long way with this one. Kind of like advanced chess, with guns.

I haven't played AT-43 or Confrontation.

also you don't need rulers or calculators and you can get by with the dice from a single starter set wihtout too many rembering this value and rolling again situations.

The game is a unique addition to the MC franchise. Gameplay-wise, and scale-wise, I'd say it relates mostly to the great boardgame, Siege of the Citadel. Which is good news, since it was the best MC product, better than Warzone IMHO. You get to play four classic MC factions (Capitol, Bauhaus, the Brotherhood and Algeroth), and each faction has a unique gameplay which reflects its identity very well (Capitol is all mobility and ranged attacks, Bauhaus is defensive and mid-range, Algeroth get close combat powerhouses, with a lof ot hit points, and the Brotherhood is the tricky faction).

The game is a skirmish game, which sets it him apart from the WH40K-like AT-43. It plays fast, and also has very simple and elegant gameplay mechanics.

But the most unique aspect of the game, is the way you build your army. Not only do you have to buy your troopers, you also have to buy order tokens (necessary to activate your units) and Command cards (which are situational boni -like bonus attack dice for an attack- used to create deadly combos). There are only three price : bronze, silver and gold. And you get an equal amount of each for creating your force (the starter allows you to play a 3/3/3 game, but the game becomes much better from 5/5/5 on). Bronze troopers are weaker than silver troopers, which are weaker than Gold troopers. The same thing can be said for Command cards (bronze command cards being the weakest). Bronze order tokens grant the activated trooper one action, a silver token gives you two actions, and gold token gives you three. Order tokens can also be used to "buyback" some of the command cards, allowing you to use them more than once in the game.

This gives a lot of possibilities to build a lot of different types of forces : you could field a swarm of low quality troopers supported with top notch command cards and good order tokens, or field only a limited number of gold unist with a lod of command cards and order tokens for buybacks, or simply play a balanced force... All will play very differently, so there's a lot of thought implied in the army building (and the game also allows a lot of combos).

The more you play the game, the better your "feel" for the value of Command cards, troopers and order tokens will get, and you'll experience more and more interesting builds. So the "metagame" and surprise element (since command cards are hidden at the start of the game) are very important, like it would be in a CCG/LCG.

Still, despite this overall "gameishness", the factions specific gameplays and the MC universe gives it a lot of character.

Hope this quick (and not-so-objective) review will help you make your decision !

My concern is that most miniatures wargames are rather similar. I did like a lot Horrorclix though for the mechanics and the plot cards; does MC stand out from the bunch too, and how?

better dice, little math, the games can be set up to be quick or long (epic rules ftw!!), and command cards add some real depth to the battles and help make each fight different.

Also the army build system is unique, simple, and dynamic all at the same time.

see my post, linked below, for more infor about the unigue dice and army build system.

http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=12&efcid=6&efidt=7827&efpag=0#8168

Here's a link for an in-depth review I wrote on Board game geek. Hope it will be of some help !

www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/358768

That's helluva review Paptimus! Very good!

Thanks a lot, Nighthawk !

I really think the game is getting better and better thanks to FFG's strady support, and those who were afraid to try it at the release should know it !

awesome review.

I'm not sold on the scale being negative (the fact that it doesn't fit with other terrian is a good point that I've heard, but this game isn't just for minatures players as your review makes clear that it is a great pick up to play casually) and I think that FFG has made strides to really show off the models in the scale (karak and the ice golem along with the newer figs coming out in in 09)

Your review is pretty good, Paptimus. It's important that we promote the game among other players. Half the promotion of this thinks it's the "player to player" communication.

About the size of the minis, at first it felt a little strange for me, but once you get used to it, all the other figs start to look too small. Problem is the scale among the MC figures, the Rangers beeing bigger than the mighty Alakai? Weird.

Also, I don't know why people would want to use the Warzone minis, as they were not specially well sculpted: big heads everywere, weird faces and lots of many or ridiculous sculps all around... Warzone's Mercurian Spawn looked like a muppet, while the new one it's really a monstruous figure...

That's curious, Lars - you're the first person I've seen that said it not fitting in with all the current terrain we have being a good thing.

How so?

sorry if i was unclear, I thikn that a good argument against the scale is that it is bigger then the terrian most minatures players already have built.

Why i do not think it is a huge problem is that this game is meant to be accessible to non-minatures players as well, so they do not have to worry about the terrian issues. I think that the scale for the non-minatures players is a godd, especially as FFG gets better looking models out there (which they have been trending towards).

Also, for all you bozo wargamers, Heroscape terrain makes a great medium to build the maps in 3-d. The scale is perfect, although some figures will not quite fit next to the walls.