Ultracast figures and Mortem Et Glorium from Plastic Soldier Company

Started by Norm, 28 November 2020, 11:48:20 PM

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Norm

A quick first impressions blog post on the Mortem Et Glorium ancient / medieval rules by Simon Hall and Published by Plastic Soldier Company.

Also a look at the new plastic material 'Ultracast' that PSC are using on their 15mm figures that support the MeG rules.

LINK
http://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2020/11/ultracast-figures-and-mortem-et-gloriam.html

Orcs

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Duke Speedy of Leighton

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Lord Kermit of Birkenhead

They are doing their 10mm 80's stuff in it. You can't put antenna on vehicles. The ancient stuff matches metal figures reasonably well, and is good detail.
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Norm

Thanks all, Will, your support and enthusiasm of the system contributed to my buying decision.

jambo1

A good review Norm, Ancients are not my thing but I could easily see myself taking a punt at both rules and figures, 3'x2' would be fine for me! :)

Steve J

A very useful overview Norm, of both the rules and the figures. The three game sizes are a neat idea, as we don't all have access the Perry sized games rooms!

Techno II


Leon

Nice review!  I'm not sure why both PSC and Warlord seem to be putting their own names on this new resin, it's all the same SioCast out of Spain.  The machines to run it are extremely expensive and the moulds are about 8 times higher than a traditional rubber one.  We've been approached by them a few times but I'd need close to £1 million to transfer our machines and moulds over to it!
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Norm

Someone else on another forum suggested that the machines may be leased. If that is true, that could be an arrangement just to see whether the material is viable before making a bigger commitment. It is also interesting to see that the other two big plastics firm, Victrix and Perry, at this stage seems to be sticking with their traditional product, so maybe we are in a wait and see moment.

sean66

Quote from: Leon on 30 November 2020, 12:59:00 AM
Nice review!  I'm not sure why both PSC and Warlord seem to be putting their own names on this new resin, it's all the same SioCast out of Spain.  The machines to run it are extremely expensive and the moulds are about 8 times higher than a traditional rubber one.  We've been approached by them a few times but I'd need close to £1 million to transfer our machines and moulds over to it!

Isn't this the same stuff GW declared was the next big thing in Wargaming a few years ago when they switched over to it  :-
I didn't like it then, was given a few figures made from it. So I think ill just wait till pendraken release it in metal.
Regards
Sean

Big Insect

Sadly I am not a fan of Mortem Et Gloriam (MeG).
I've played a number of trial games with a proficient player and watched a number of competition events and have come to the conclusion that life is just too short to go down this particular avenue.
I thought the initial pre-battle phase was way, way too complicated and protracted for the ultimate outcome.
I tended to get bored part way through it and just hurry the process to its ultimate conclusion just so I could get on with playing the game - all that use of special dice, play charts and cards - sorry you lost me there before we've even started. Also, I am really not sure the ultimate outcome couldn't have been achieved in a much simpler and faster way!

The rules also need a lot of figures/units if played in their original format.
Which is fine if you are a refugee from the old DBM or FoG school of gaming and have the larger armies already in existence in your gaming cupboard, but units made up of masses of bases in multiple lines (of which only c.50% actually have any real use in the game) are all well and good if you have a lot of existing figures (in 15mm or 10mm - great for figure manufacturers  :D) and of course they look very nice on the table, but if you are somebody that likes to experiment with a lot of different armies or army variants,  across a lot of different ancients sub-periods, this set of rules is going to prove very expensive for you.

The ultimate rules mechanisms - moving, shooting, combat all work pretty effectively. But there is nothing here that is really revolutionary or distinctive.
Command is different - but again it is a combination of special dice and cards and like the pre-battle terrain and deployment section I found it overly complex for the outcomes it ultimately achieved.

In addition, c.50% of the games I played ended in timed-out draws - so no ultimate defeat of one side or the other. Now that might be due to a number of factors - my inexperience, my & my opponents playing styles, the armies we were using, etc.etc.etc. But one thing I found for sure was that this is not a quick pick-up set of rules and it does not make for a quick or particularly decisive end result.

I must also admit to tending to favour the larger scale of miniatures at present for my ancient/medieval gaming - having spent most of lockdown painting 28mm Punic War figures - so this might be a set of rules more for those who enjoy massed battles in a much smaller scale.

Just my thoughts and views of course  :D

mark
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Duke Speedy of Leighton

Agree with some points.
As an early play tester, I have got back into ancients again after 15 years off. I love them. I like the unpredictability of the cards, and once you know the factors for your forces, the dice are easy.
But no rules are perfect. Horses for courses.
Maybe one day I'll get to take you through a game at speed...
Will
You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

Big Insect

Quote from: mad lemmey on 30 November 2020, 04:52:37 PM
Maybe one day I'll get to take you through a game at speed...
Will

That sounds like a post Covid (post vaccination) challenge I shall look forward to accepting Will  :)
Thanks
Mark
'He could have lived a risk-free, moneyed life, but he preferred to whittle away his fortune on warfare.' Xenophon, The Anabasis

This communication has been written by a dyslexic person. If you have any trouble with the meaning of any of the sentences or words, please do not be afraid to ask for clarification. Remember that dyslexics are often high-level conceptualisers who provide "out of the box" thinking.