Mythic Battles - The Overlord Compendium III

A copy of The Overlord III arrived in the post a short while ago. I'd been waiting for this since January when Monolith first hinted at it on their forum.

There's a very active Monolith fanbase which has been largely responsible for the production of two previous publications; Compendium I and II, which covered additional material for Monolith's Conan boardgame. Compendium III aimed to do the same for Mythic Battles Pantheon.

Now I have my copy, here are my thoughts.

Versions
The Overlord III compendium is produced in both French and English language versions. This review is of the English language version.

Format

The Overlord III is A4 soft-bound, saddle stitched (i.e. stapled) and runs to 44 pages including covers.

Presentation

Printing is in full colour throughout on good quality thick, glossy paper. The layout is clear and easy to read and enhanced by illustrations from the game. Its good to see that Monolith haven't skimped on quality. Overall, this is comparable to the printed material in the core game. Top marks for Monolith here.

Content

There are eight scenarios for Mythic Battles Pantheon; three standalone and five for a campaign based on the Odyssey. Whilst all the scenarios look fun and challenging to play, they are not new material and are already available as free downloads on Mythic Scenarios. It is disappointing that The Overlord III compendium does not contain any original scenarios, though some do appear in English for the first time. Players who only own the Mythic Battles core boxed game may also be disappointed to find that several of the scenarios require one or more of the game expansion sets.

Continuing the Mythic Battles theme, The Combo Pool is a two-page article on a number of force recruitment options designed to be mutually supportive and beneficial. Choosing the right combination can enhance the overall strength of your chosen force, so if you are looking for ways to do this The Combo Pool will set you in the right direction. Maybe there are shades of power gaming here, but I think the article is useful beyond that in highlighting a few of what must be hundreds of potential combinations to experiment with. As with the scenarios, the examples include forces from several expansion sets, so you will need more than the core boxed set to try these out.

Next up is a tutorial. 'The Rocks' details how to make a 3D terrain element for the Mythic Battles map  'Olympus Ruins'. The tutorial steps are easy to follow and well illustrated, though the finished piece isn't the most inspiring bit of terrain. I much prefer the look of the 3D printable version offered by Monolith  as a downloadable .STL file on their forum. However, lack of a 3D printer makes the 'home made' version an acceptable alternative.

Fan fiction is a mixed blessing. Sometimes it can be surprisingly good, sometimes mediocre and occasionally unadulterated rubbish. The short story 'Phobius' can best be described as falling in the 'mediocre' camp. There is nothing terribly bad about the story or the writing style, but nothing terribly good about it either. To be fair, it does suffer in places from being translated rather badly from French into English and it may be that in its original language it is a decent story better told. Personally, I would have been happier to see more scenarios, tutorials or articles on game strategy instead of fan fiction, but I understand Monolith are attempting to cater to all tastes. Perhaps the intention was to offer some inspiration to Mythic Battles RPG players, though that isn't stated.

Of more practical use is a painting guide for Talos and other fire elementals. This covers four pages, liberally illustrated with step-by-step photos. The text is fairly easy to follow, but is somewhat marred in places by poor translation from French to English. In fact there's whole paragraph of text that hasn't been translated at all; signs of sloppy proof reading and editing. The writer refers to his choice of colours at various points throughout the text, but it would have been helpful if these could have been presented as a list, either at the start or end of the article.

At this point, the compendium departs from the theme of Mythic Battles Pantheon and devotes five pages to a primer on Norse mythology. This is anticipates Monolith's next instalment of the Mythic battles line; Mythic Battles Ragnarok. It is an interesting read and probably helpful in 'setting the scene' for Ragnarok. I don't recall seeing something similar from Monolith for Greek mythology, but perhaps their thinking was that Norse myth is less well known and deserves a better introduction to players. I  should say at this point that I have no interest in investing in Mythic Battles Ragnarok when it is finally released (presumably via Kickstarter), so my preference would have been more material for Pantheon - but that is no fault of Monolith's.

The final article is a photo-essay on the sculpting of a 'Demon Nurse' for Monolith's new game; Claustrophobia 1643. Again, I would have preferred more Mythic Battles content, but found the article an interesting insight into the sculpting and design process. For example, I had not appreciated the forethought required when designing large, complicated sculpts to accommodate multi-part castings. In this case, the underlying metal armature had to be designed in such a way that when the sculpt is cut into parts, the armature does not get in the way whilst still supporting the sculpt.

The rear cover of the compendium is devoted to a profile of Jarl Jorund (or possibly Jorun - there is some confusion here as the title says the former whilst the accompanying recruitment card says the latter). This is a new unit for the forthcoming Mythic battles Ragnarok. There is a brief description of the unit in play, recruitment and bonuses, plus the aforementioned cut-out unit cards which you will need to copy unless you want to deface your copy of the compendium. I guess Monolith have included this as a 'teaser' for Mythic Battles Ragnarok, though you could experiment by recruiting this unit to your Mythic Battles Pantheon forces (but you will have to provide your own model). 

Value for money

At the time of writing, The Overlord III is available for 3 euros from French game retailer Philibert. For a 44-page, full colour soft-cover book this is a very reasonable price indeed. However, once you factor in postage rates it does look a little less of a bargain. For example, postage to the UK is quoted at 9.95 euros. To be fair to Monolith, they have previously come in for some flak from customers who ordered but failed to receive copies of earlier publications - so this time, orders are only sent by trackable, signed-for postage which of course increases postage costs. Philibert also don't skimp on packaging. My copy arrived in a  heavy-duty card wrapper which meant it reached me in perfect condition, but at a cost in postage compared to a flimsy envelope or plastic wrapper.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

Good quality

Well presented

Useful, playable material and tutorials for Mythic Battles Pantheon

Value for money (base price)

Cons:

No new scenarios

Some material is unusable without Mythic Battles Pantheon expansion sets.

Poor translation, editing and proofing

High postage costs

Conclusions

The Overlord III Compendium isn't all that I'd hoped for. There's no denying the physical quality of the product, but this is let down by issues with translation and spelling that could easily have been picked up by some decent proofing and editing. Okay, it's fan-made so it isn't a 'professional' publication, but it has Monolith's input and endorsement; it's an 'official' product and Monolith are using it as a vehicle to promote their existing and forthcoming games. In that sense, I would have expected better. 

As to content, I do feel a bit cheated by the fact that none of the scenarios are new. Since this is a paid for product, I would not expect it to contain material that is freely available elsewhere, albeit in download format only. The inclusion of four pages of fan fiction just feels like padding to me. It adds nothing to my understanding or enjoyment of Mythic Battles Pantheon (though I appreciate that others may enjoy it, or find it inspirational). 

Overall, this is a useful but flawed product. I'm glad I got it but wish it delivered more. Perhaps my expectations are unreasonable, given the bargain price of the compendium (postage not withstanding), but I can't help feeling this is a missed opportunity to deliver some original content - even if that meant a greater purchase price.

In conclusion, I have given The Overlord III Compendium a rating of 3/5 ✮✮✮✩✩