Godtear

Godtear is a two player skirmish level board game published by SteamForged Games in the UK.

The premise of the storyline is that the gods have been slain, and mortal champions have arisen to claim their power from the remaining "God Tears" that have been left laying about, and the resulting conflict with other champions. Unfortunately there is painfully little fluff on the units and characters, so the players are left to fill in their narratives entirely on their own.

From a design point of view, the aim is to get the players into the action as quickly as possible. There are no points scores to calculate and no min-maxing of unit options. Models are played straight out of the box and comprise of a Champion and their Followers. The game assumes that each set is equivalent to every other set in terms of value, although certainly some units are harder to play than others, or offer more complex stratagems in order to play efficiently.

The scale of the game is intended to be played with 1-3 champions per player, with a one champion game taking about half an hour; though larger games obviously scale up in complexity and length.

Gameplay Overview

The turn is split into three phases:

• The Plot Phase, where each player performs the entirety of their actions at once, activating each champion and unit one after the other, looking for good positions to strike, or preparing buffs and debuffs that will help later.
  • The plot phase is the only phase where a champion can put down their Banner and stake a claim to the objective hexes strewn across the board. These are worth big points at the end of the turn, though they will require protecting until then.
  • Going first in the plot phase can have its advantages and disadvantages; It allows you to throw penalties on your opponent before they get the chance to do anything about it, but you are affectively allowing the opponent to see all of your moves and give them the room to counter you.
• The Clash Phase is where players alternate activating their units back and forth and is generally the most energetic phase. Where plot abilities are usually inoffensive, the clash abilities are where nearly all attack and damaging abilities occur.
• The End Phase, where administrative clean-up is performed. Each players banners are removed and victory points are scored. Some champions have abilities that only apply in the End Phase, so its worth keeping an eye on.

In each phase an activated unit can perform two actions, such as moving, attacking, or casting. Sometimes a unit can perform a third action, depending on its abilities, and sometimes units have passive powers that help them in certain situations. Unit abilities are performed using proprietary dice which show hits and misses. When a unit attacks another, they need to roll to hit with a number of dice indicated and meet or exceed a target's dodge value. If an ability causes damage, it then needs roll a number of damage dice and then have a result that exceeds the units protection value.

Like Champion units, Follower units activate all at once, regardless of how many models are in that unit. While they may all move as a single action, only a single model may be the origin of an attack or a casting, potentially meaning that a six man squad could have five men standing around doing very little. To counter this imbalance, Followers often have scaling abilities based on the number of models they have stacked in a single hex, or are in adjacent positions on the board, allowing for impressive moves that can meet or even exceed those of their leaders.

It's also absolutely worth mentioning that no model is ever removed from the play permanently. Any champion or follower knocked out can spend an action to "rally" or "recruit" and return to play. Some Champions are better at this than others, giving bonuses to returned units, or bringing more models back at once. Effectively meaning that a player always has an avenue of reclaiming the initiative rather than inexorably declining into irrelevance if the battle continues to go against them.

Victory Conditions

The goal of Godtear is to score a total of five victory points, with each turn providing a set number of victory points to the leading player at the end. This means that games can last up to five turns, but are more likely to finish much earlier.

As each turn progresses, the players record their steps by moving the turn token left and right on the victory ladder, representing their dominance over one another. Players move steps by:

• Slaying an enemy Champion: 4 steps
• Slaying an Enemy Follower: 1 step
• Claiming an Objective Hex: 1 step
• Still having a banner on an Objective Hex in the End Phase: 4 step

If the ladder is on one players side during the end phase, they claim the token and its victory points. The next turn token automatically starts on the other player's side, giving them the choice of whether to go first or second next turn.

Champion Summaries

Slayers

Slayer Champions are cast in red plastic. They gain +1 step on the victory ladder if their champion personally knocks out a enemy champion.

Their abilities are usually centered around high damage attacks. Their followers are sometimes quite weak, but often fill supporting roles that apply buffs and debuffs in order to help their leader.

• Morrigan, Lich Queen of the Frozen Wastes: (Eternal Glade Starter Set). Despite coming in the starter kit and being a good exemplar for how Slayers are probably meant to be played, Morrigan requires a bit of micromanagement that is unfriendly to newbie players. She has a good range of attacks with very high damage potential, iceblade is a very good attack that can also deal consistent damage so long as the enemy has a debuff applied, and Icebolt applies the qualifying debuff. Similarly, "Snowball's Chance" allows her to one-shot ANY model with a single hit, but Morrigan is extremely dependent on gaining buffs and applying debuffs to ensure her skills actually work. Thankfully her passive ability allows her to double the bonus provided by buffs, but her Cold Bones followers are ONLY able to give her +1 accuracy or movement buffs, meaning that if she really wants to hurt something, she needs an allied champion to layer on those damage buffs.
• Lorsann, the Autumnal Wind: Elven glass cannon with archers as followers who are almost as good as she is. Lorsann has insane range and damage potential and is reasonably easy to play without thinking too hard about it. She can just give herself a damage buff and apply a protection debuff against the enemy in the plot phase, and her selection of attacks in the clash phase range from simply applying one damage for free, all the way up to rolling five damage dice on an attack TWICE. Her Mistwood Ranger followers can also apply a protection debuff and have a respectful ranged attack that can do extra damage to wounded champions, though it runs the risk of stealing the kill from their leader and losing the free ladder step. Lorsann's massive drawback is the protection score of 1 that she and her followers share, so they will get torn up like wet paper as soon as something mean looks at them. Lorsann's passive powers allows her to hit-and-run so long as her attacks cause at least one wound, giving her the option of keeping well out of the way.
• Maxen, the Artificer: High damage sniper that comes with a bunch of look-out birds who grant accuracy buffs to adjacent champions. His own attacks have decreasing accuracy with range but his Eagle-Eyed companions make him a better team player than Lorsann, since he can counter his own penalties while buffing allies. His movement speed of 1 is godawful though, and he has no inherent means of boosting it, so on a battlefield with widespread objective hexes or against a speed-debuffing opponent he will be in trouble, again hinting at his need to be supported by allied champions who can buff him in turn.
• Keera, Dragon Princess: Contrary to having a strong champion and weaker followers, Keera has two dragons and actually has zero offensive potential on her own. She does have attacks listed on her skill card, but per passive skill dictates that they must be measured from her dragon companions and they are essentially better versions of the dragon's standard suite of attacks. Because her attacks are measured from two different locations that are capable of flying over obstacles, she is a very good slayer, since she actually finds it easy to chase and attack enemy champions. However, despite being massive dragons with five wounds each, they actually have low dodge and protection scores, so they can go down surprisingly easily. This all means that if the dragons go down, Keera can't make any attacks for a while. Thankfully one of Keera's skills in both Plot/Clash phases allow her to immediately recruit a dragon so they will never be down for long. The problem is that she still remains a fragile champion on her own with no ability to attack, so if someone gets up in her face and the dragons are elsewhere, then she is in REAL trouble.

Maelstrom

Maelstrom Champions are cast in yellow plastic. They gain +1 step on the victory ladder for each follower they take out personally.

Maelstrom characters are typically have skills that are able to hit multiple models in a single hex, or are able to strike into multiple hexes. Their followers often come with abilities to rapidly deploy or take advantage of area.

• Titus, the Disgraced: (Borderlands Starter Set) Titus is the quintessential Maelstrom champion. He is a great hunter of followers. On his own he is a very useful champion, with +1 dodge and protection against follower attacks as his passive ability. He can force followers to move to his advantage, and he a couple of primary attacks that can hit two models. His ultimate ability also lets him use a skill, move one space, and use another skill, AS ONE ACTION. His Glory Seeker followers are no slouches either and have an attack that scales massively as the target gets surrounded by more Glory Seekers, meaning it pays to spread them about rather than concentrate them. Additionally, Titus is great for positional play as his followers automatically move two spaces when they are recruited, getting them back into action quickly.

Shapers

Shaper Champions are cast in green plastic. They gain +1 step on the victory ladder each time they place their banner as part of a claim action.

Shapers are generally good utility characters, often coming with abilities that interact with objective hexes that give them more opportunities to place their banner. Their followers often come with gimmicks that are central to their playstyle.

• Nia, the Crystalmancer: (Eternal Glade starter set) Nia is a great beginner champion with a wide range of useful abilities. She can steal boons from enemies and shift debuffs to them. Most of her and her followers attacks have respectable range, so she doesn't have to get stuck in a melee. Her primary gimmick allows her to sacrifice a quartzling follower and replace it with an objective hex. This gives her somewhere new to deploy a banner while effectively walling off areas against enemy followers who can't enter the new hex; truly "shaping" the battlefield. Her main weakness is a lack of mobility, since she and her followers have low movement scores, or are forced to travel in fixed directions. While she does get quartzlings back for free whenever the banner gets removed, the need to sacrifice units for her main style means it she is constantly low on manpower and is unlikely that win head on engagements.

Guardians

Guardian Champions are cast in blue plastic. They gain +1 step on the victory ladder each time their banner gets removed as part of the end phase points accumulation.

Guardians and their followers are typified by a need to protect their banner once it has been deployed and are therefore quite tanky.

• Finvarr, Lord of Mirages: (Borderlands starter set) Finvarr is quite a forgiving champion to use; he is straightforward as a beginner champion, with decent mobility, and who scales up reasonably in larger battles. He and his followers play similarly to each other so there isn't a whole lot to take track of. Finvarr himself is likely to spend the game hogging a pocket of objective hexes since standing on them gives him +2 accuracy diceTheir primary attack loop is to cast void weapons to give themselves an extra damage dice, then use their vampiric weapons to restore wounds and keep them in play; even restoring dead followers without the need to constantly recruit more. Finvarr's other gimmick allows him to friendly banners around, which isn't of much use in a small battle, but can be a saver in larger, messier games where holding objective hexes can be difficult with multiple champions vying for space.
• Helena, Inspiration of Hope: Guess what? Helena IS her banner, so that means no action spared in order to plant it down and no chance of it being cast down just by the enemy walking over it. The problem is that she is fragile with only four wounds, so a good smack can take her out. To keep her on the table, her Peasant followers have the ability to heal her for one wound each phase. Her peasants are quite weak, but they gain +1 dodge and protection while within 2 hexes of Helena, and with SIX of them, and the possibility of restoring up to three per turn (using Helena's "Rally the Troops" skill) they can make an effective wall keeping her safe and healthy. Helena also makes a good support Champion for other teams with large body counts, since her ultimate ability allows all friendly Champions to immediately restore their followers up to the maximum, which can massively turn the tide of a battle in a single activation.
• Halftusk, Warden of the Stonekin Isle: The "tank" of the Guardians. Halftusk can heal two of his own wounds by using an action each phase, meaning it can be very difficult to drop him. He also has an interesting mechanic where his primary attack skill automatically allows a second attack as a bonus action, meaning he can throw out as much damage as some Maelstrom Champions. This is contrasted by the fact that his followers CANNOT cause any damage on their own but can pull banners and models from hex to hex. Halftusk's most interesting gimmick is the fact that his Froglodytes have the ability to enter objective hexes -something that is otherwise impossible for followers to do- and then supercharge their defences by adding +1 dodge and protection. Meaning that when Halftusk wants to defend his banner, he is absolutely capable of walling up around it and making sure that no-one else can waltz in and just knock it over.
• Mournblade, the Soulless:. The "Anti-Slayer". Mournblade has got a lot of useful gimmicks that make him a bastard to take down, especially in larger games. His "Undying" passive ability means he's only worth a single ladder step when he's defeated rather than four, and he immediately rallies himself when any enemy (Champion or Follower) is knocked out, so he doesn't have to waste an action if someone else can do it for him. If his allies happen to go down, he has the ability to rally ALL friendly champions as a single action, while his ONLY damaging attack automatically restores one of his Knightshade followers. Additionally, those Knightshades also reduce the speed stat of adjacent enemies to zero, effectively soaking the aggro and nullifying characters who might rather be doing something else.