Masters of the Universe - Battleground, a review.

Master of the Universe.

As per my last post, I picked up this starter set on an impulse at Colours wargame show. I had seen it online when released and the reasonable price per kilo (Seriously you get a lot of heavy plastic in there) plus the freebie added He-man and Battlecat mini, was enough to convince me.

The box contains a cardboard hexed board, a lot of plastic scenery and ten minis, five each of heroes of Eternia and villains. Even if the rules were rubbish, the plastic components were definitely worthwhile. The terrain pieces are generic enough to be used for other games and the minis are great quality too.

The set is produced by Archon Studio who also make the Dungeons and Lazers range of plastics including their great range of dragons, one of which I own:

Like the dragon, the plastic pieces fit together so perfectly, there has been a lot of thought put in how these kits are made. I would say though, that to produce the dynamic poses they have, each model is comprised of around seven to ten pieces, meaning there is a lot of craft knife work to be done on their contact points to the sprue. (Not a project for a first timer.) It's took me a couple of evenings to glue them all together, but they look great.

I have yet to play the game, but a quick read through of the rules seemed to make sense. Each player has a deck of cards that they use to 'bid' for priority then use the same cards to assign mana and action points to their models. Mana is used to cast spells or re-roll dice, action points for moving, shooting etc. The cost of an action increasing if attempted multiple times in the same go. Resolving attacks is pretty simple, roll a number of dice equal to the relevant stat, succeeding on a 4+ and then the defending player cancels out successful rolls with their own test.

There are lots of exceptions to the rules on character cards and item buffs to keep the game interesting. For example, the sword of power can use mana to increase its attack. Characters can also spend a turn focusing to improve their odds the following turn.

A well set out and clear rulebook, an additional book of different missions and some high quality plastic parts make this a great starter set. There are two 'Wave one' add ons available now with a third 'Wave two' coming in October with extra characters and cards. Fingers crossed eventually we might even get She-Ra and Swift Wind!