Titanomachina: Myrmidon Mega-Ants

 

For a while now, and perhaps ever since I played Battle Masters by Milton Bradley and Games Workshop, I've had the idea of a game wherein each unit has a corresponding card, and when that card is drawn that unit can activate. Sound familiar? Well, something that had irked me for a while was how Titans (and other 'war engines') were treated vis-a-vis infantry in Epic 40k and Epic Armageddon, especially after they worked reasonably well in Epic Space Marine (2nd edition). I think big things like Titans work best when they are treated as collections of small things, and that a big failure of games like Warhammer is because the big stuff is treated like big amorphous bricks. That's on top of stuff like heroes and commanders just being extra-elite workhorses rather than crucial morale and command-control nodes. 

I also really like how ants work. They're eusocial organisms, and my biggest disappointment with 40k was always how Tyranids did not work like them. 

Bringing the Myrmidon Mega-Ants into Titanomachina is thus my way of showing that it can be done better, and in a way that I can find fun and satisfying. The notion is that players can build a deck of 22 cards with a matching set of 22 bases-worth of Mega-Ants. Players have different types of bases, and as well as a card for each base activating all instances of that kind of base, each card can also be used for some other purpose, like returning destroyed bases to the board, and coordinating mass actions by several different types at once. 

The tricky part now is, surprisingly, figuring out how to fit the Myrmidon figures into a base that gets under the maximum file size for Tabletop Simulator. I mean, also figuring out the card layout and meaning, but mainly playing with the models that miniature master Jason Miller has provided.

It's a nice little game development distraction while I figure out how to deliver the incredible giant robot action of Titanomachina. I might even release it as a separate-but-compatible game...