Mythic Battles Masterclass: Why most games are decided before Turn 3

[Iltisman]

Before anyone grabs a pitchfork: yes, "Masterclass" is a shameless clickbait title, and I apologize accordingly.

Anyways, after roughly 750 games on BGA, I've accumulated a fair amount of experience, though certainly not enough to claim mastery of the game. There have been others before (OTO and Quite Frank are but two great names coming to my mind immediatly) and even now to humble me.

To the point: I commented on a game i just watched. These comments were originally written for a friend. Yet, since I ended up writing far more than intended, I thought others might find some value in them as well.

https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=879985527

You might have to go into the "view game replay" screen first and activate my comments by ticking a box near AJ_800 ' s name.

The focus is less on individual moves and more on drafting, deployment, map evaluation, and early-game planning—because I believe these aspects decide a surprisingly large number of games before the real fighting even begins.

Comments, criticism, alternative viewpoints, and corrections are all welcome. I'd be happy to hear what experienced players (and those who will be) think.

And if this turns out to be useful, perhaps I'll do another analysis in the future.

Hope it helps someone.

All the best!
Stay fair! Have fun!

[Iltisman]

Ssry, had to amend the link

[OTO]

Not grabbing a pitchfork, but not sure I agree.

The game you commented is one of many. It suffers from being played with an open draft : IMHO, MB doesn't work well if you remove the needs to choose from a limited selection of units.
Therefore, we watch another game of Freyr trying to grab the stones while Njord tries to pin him and smash his divine head. The two gods are probably the best ones, but makes for dull fights.

To expand on your original idea : of course, a game of MB is strongly influenced by each player knowledge of the map, the unit, etc. Same as good chess players pay careful attention to opening.
But opening isn't the whole game. With an opponent matching your skill, the game will keep on being challenge. I've played my share fair of games, here and IRL, where a seemingly weakest draft ends up winning : because of cards, of dice, or sheer skill of a player to turn things around even when they look bad.

It's the reason why I still love that game (and proudly own the three mythologies) : it's never over before the end.
My last IRL pinned Set against Demeter against Skadi. I ended up winning with Demeter reduced to 2 HP by a pummelling Set. This wasn't expected, neither by me nor my opponents (I had a bad start, way too cocky for the safety of my units). The game has surprise.

To conclude, I agree that placement and draft are crucial parts of the game (as in every skirmish, and notably less than, for example, GW games). But there's still lots to do after turn 3!

[Iltisman]

Thanks for your highly esteemed opinion.

And I think we don't actually disagree. I may simply have expressed myself poorly.

My intention was never to suggest that drafting and deployment are all that matter, or that games are effectively over after three turns. Far from it. On the contrary, I do totaly agree with you reg. what makes this a great game.

What I do see, however—both online and at the table—is that many players treat drafting and deployment as a necessary pre-game procedure rather than as an integral part of the game itself. In my experience, especially newer players often make critical mistakes during those early stages and spend the remainder of the game trying to recover from them. Hence, the point of this post was less "the game is over by turn 3" and more "many games are made much harder than they need to be before turn 3."

Of course, experienced players might be able to recover and stay challenging. However, my comments were primarily intended as a helping hand for less experienced players, encouraging them to think of draft, deployment, and map evaluation not as setup, but as the opening moves of the game itself.

[N1th]

Amazing tutorial! Thank you!

[OTO]

many players treat drafting and deployment as a necessary pre-game procedure rather than as an integral part of the game itself. In my experience, especially newer players often make critical mistakes during those early stages and spend the remainder of the game trying to recover from them.

You're quite right on that. Draft especioally is a big part of the game.
Actually, I wonder if this "mistake" you're describing (treating it as procedure and not as part of the game) is made by players who thinks MB is a "boardgame" and not a "skirmish game on a board".
From my experience, most boargames, even complex ones, have a fixed beginning. You may have a few choices, but mostly you set up the board and go.
On the contrary, most skirmish games needs you to "build" your army before playing, sometimes between hundreds of options. The "meta" game is key to win.
MB does a bit of both : you only have a limited unit pool, that is shared with your opponent, but you need to really think about your pick to win. And you're on a board...

That's why your comments make for a great tutorial : draft is probably the most complex part of the game to master - it's so easy to overlook something like having someone to Block, or Guard...

All this writing makes me want to play, now