Court of the Dead: Mourners Call

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Everyone is already dead in the Underworld. It’s time to join the factions of Bone, Flesh and Spirit as they work to achieve the goal of the Underworld: to gather enough forces to take on the celestials of Heaven and Hell to end their ceaseless war. If the players work diplomatically in Court of the Dead: Mourners Call to maintain a balance, they can ensure the Underworld survives long enough for them to also complete their collective and hidden individual objectives. The player who best contributes to these goals will earn Death’s favor and a place among the elite of the Underworld. I know, there’s little to work with, and I’m not itching for some Alltaker (which is, btw, the most badass name for Death that I’ve ever heard) side dong, but here’s Exraile; Resolve Locations– Finally, after all of the above, players gain bonuses from each location and faction they control in terms of majority. These rewards most often come as Etherea or Faction Points which will translate into points at the end of the game.

Where the book shines is in its artwork and I'd wager that this will likely be the most popular aspect of Court of the Dead for most readers. It was certainly my favorite aspect, as the pictures are just lavishly done and beautiful enough that I'd say that if you're looking into getting this, I'd recommend the print version. (Assuming that there will even be an e-book edition.) This was gorgeous in my e-book ARC, but I know that it won't hold a candle to the larger print copy. In the sprawling citadels of the Underworld, deep within the vast libraries of Voxxingard, a curator sits. Staring at an empty tome, he ponders the puzzle that has been laid out before him by his Master, the shepherd of souls known as Death—a question deceptive in its simplicity, “What is the purpose of the realm of the dead?” To answer this, the curator must write a journal chronicling the rise of the Underworld and the history of the never-ending war of Heaven and Hell. From the lowest scavenger of corpses to the highest chancellor, all those within the Underworld must be questioned and examined. For what is the purpose of the land of the Dead? Is it a haven for the refugee spirits of the mortal world? A sinister part of the celestial war machine that threatens to consume reality itself? Or does it instead serve to bring true balance to the long abandoned promises of Heaven and Hell? Accompany Death’s curator on his strange journey as he unravels the most terrible and wonderful secrets found within the Court of the Dead.

Welcome to the Underworld

In terms of an Underworld United, those in Spirit should consider connecting with their physical selves to further their connections with other mourners and to remain more grounded in their environments. Like followers of Bone, beings who lean toward the Spirit Faction might benefit from structure so that they can complete a project rather than drift from interest to interest, never achieving one idea’s fullest potential. I'm also not a fan of competitive games that still involve cooperation. I'd rather just focus on my own goals than having to worry about working with my rivals diplomatically to do things like pay tithes or not invoke the Dreadsgrip. But each to their own. A nameless shadow encroaches at the fringes of the Underworld. Beneath the citadel of Daer-Gholl, Death perceives. And, finally, the locations on the board which should provide some intrigue for the control aspect of the game are largely resource/faction influence mining locations. Besides controlling them for victory’s sake, there doesn’t feel like there’s much challenge between players with them. In summary, it’s a good game, but other similar games such as Blood Rage do it better and are far less fiddly, even the hidden objectives are far more balanced.

Among them rises a leader, Demithyle of the Mortis Knights, whose gift of inward sight presents him with whispers of wisdom gathered from many mortal lifetimes — if only he might learn to grasp them. But even as the Nameless drive the scourge of their bael reiver hordes ever closer to the city, devouring all in their path, Demithyle finds himself displaced from both the army that calls him captain and the city he has only begun to call home. So, is there fun? There is some in the calculating way to deploy figures each round and which cards to draft. Players can plan and execute a strategy to gain resources and delicately force other players to spend more to defend their own plans. But on the whole, the interaction is very passive, even for area majority games which this reviewer is a big fan of. And, in addition to all of the above, the game is clearly meant for 3-4 players, not two. Final Thoughts: Based on an all-original design by Sideshow, threezero are proud to introduce the 1/6 Demithyle fully articulated figure from Court of the Dead. Sideshow and TBLeague present the Gethsemoni: The Dead Queen Sixth Scale Figure, a regal new addition to our original Court of the Dead collection. The nature of the Flesh Faction is adaption, perfectly complimenting this poseable sixth scale figure and her array of Underworldly accessories.

Adam: The components for Court of the Dead are beautiful. The sculpts, the art, the quality of the paper for the rulebook, the incredibly well-designed box (everyone knows how much I love a well-designed box and Court of the Dead's is up near the top). But the game itself didn't grab me. I can't fault it, everything works smoothly and there are some fantastic elements with the card drafting, multiple ways to work towards victory. It just didn't feel like there was anything new. Kit is the owner of ABZ Games, Aberdeen’s gaming community hub. He has been playing board/card/war/role-playing games for near on 25 years. Currently, his favorite game is Wild West Exodus by Warcradle. You are a Mourner – an allegiant of Death – dedicated to realizing his noble ambition to end the celestial war and restore balance to the universe. However, Death’s purpose includes your own ulterior motives. You and your fellow Mourners must unite and rise, or fall together. But only one Mourner will achieve their particular vision of the Underworld united. Your task will not be easy. While the Underworld is united in its purpose, it is divided in its strategy to achieve that aim. There are three factions in the Land of the Dead: Bone, Flesh, Spirit. Each is a unique path to rise up against Heaven and Hell. A fictional non-fiction tome exploring the world, characters and factions of the Underworld, from the original creations of Sideshow Collectibles. But ignore the flowery language, and you’ll notice that there is some real potential behind the CotD universe. It’s so incredibly vast and detailed, I fully expected there to be some kind of Tabletop Role Playing Game based on CotD and was honestly surprised when I found out that there’s nothing more than this book and the standard Sideshow figurines. Don’t get me wrong, the statues are beautiful, but I’ll really start throwing money at my screen as soon as they release something like Fate Core based Tabletop RPG campaigns. CotD deserves more.

So far the Court of the Dead collection has introduced a cast of extremely diverse characters. Following the debut of the first Reaper General, the Queen of the Dead and Red Death made a huge impact last summer at San Diego Comic-Con. They garnered further enthusiasm during Sideshow’s October Spooktacular event, and again at the Burbank horror-themed convention, Monsterpalooza, where visitors saw a gallery of new artwork and sculptures including Shieve, the Arbiter of Bone, Gallevarbe, Death’s Siren, and the Templar of Bone. Each round players also draw Wallows cards, which give challenges, in return for rewards. Not completing a Wallows card challenge can result in a consequence. The Court of the Dead Wallows cards, Ulterior Motives, and Mourner cards. On The Tabletop Only Death and his Court of the Dead can save us from the savage war between Heaven and Hell that is eating up the souls of mankind. ” We played a 3 player game of Court of the Dead for our test game. Kit, who drew an Ulterior Motive card that doubled the score for his Unity tokens, focused on farming Unity for the entire game, leaving Kyla and I to fight over the locations. Kyla needed to control areas with Spirit guild figures, so her focus was on gaining those, and I would get bonus points for each set of 1 bone, 1 flesh, and 1 spirit guild figures. Adam's forces of the dead prepare to invade the board under the protective gaze of Death himself.

The Final Verdict: At the time of this writing, this book had only been out for a little over a year and it appears that Court of the Dead has not been out for much longer either. Bookworm could not be more excited! Normally, when they have discovered a franchise, it already has a dedicated fanbase and Bookworm has to struggle to keep up! Here, Bookworm is right at the beginning. Bookworm cannot wait to explore more of the Underworld and the Court of the Dead. Kier, Death’s First Sword, is a fallen angel. Cast out for her impurities, the vengeful, raging Kier is Death’s adopted daughter. She is far more present in the Underworld, on and off battlefields, as the representative of Spirit Faction. Unlike her teacher Ellianastis, however, Kier’s future is far bloodier, and where The Great Oracle pursues secret texts, Kier pursues violence as a means to bring unity to Illverness. Court of the Dead is good worldbuilding. Imagined by Tom Gilliland and written by Landry Walker and Corinna Bechko, with stellar art by give or take thirty different artists.