Review
Glorantha: The Gods War
Glorantha: The Gods War takes the Cthulhu Wars frame and tightens the parts that needed it: less runaway snowballing, more decision-making, and runes and fragments that genuinely add to the game. Its miniatures, regrettably, do nothing for me.
- Published
- 2019
- Designer
- Sandy Petersen
- Publisher
- Petersen Games
- Players
- 3–4
- Playing time
- 120 min
Petersen’s second large project arrived after a long production delay, yet on the table it reads as a lightly revised Cthulhu Wars. The lineage is plain — Cthulhu Wars in different overalls — but this is notably more playable and more strategic.
Its principal improvement is that an early success is less likely to become an irreversible snowball. The interesting decision is when to turn an advantage into pressure, and when to pursue the new options supplied by runes and fragments, rather than assuming a winning position will obligingly keep winning by itself.
The lineage is plain — Cthulhu Wars in different overalls — but this is notably more playable and more strategic.
TheTrainSpotter
We played five, using the four core factions and the Invisible God, whose role recalls the Ancients in Cthulhu Wars, with neutral tribes, cosmic monsters and dragons also sharing the board. It made for a sound game: plenty of Ameritrash spectacle, and additions that do not feel ornamental but materially improve the experience.
The visual side remains the thorn for me: I find the miniatures genuinely ugly, and RuneQuest’s aesthetic has never been to my taste. Fortunately, I bought it for the gameplay; as a version of this system, Glorantha: The Gods War comes very close to being a Cthulhu Wars killer.
Fortunately, I bought it for the gameplay; as a version of this system, Glorantha: The Gods War comes very close to being a Cthulhu Wars killer.
TheTrainSpotter
Source: BoardGameGeek
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