Battle of the Gods: The Battle Rages On!

After Christmas Dan, Sajan and I played BotG (Battle of the Gods) all day every day for a bit over a week. I was the driving force of the rules, but Dan and Sajan both provided some good input regarding ideas for moves and characters. It was a really fun week, baking cakes whilst baked and playing a game, figuring out what works and what's fun.

I have 30 additional monsters now, split into 6 groups of 5 thematically. That is how I plan to package them and it feels like the right sort of number, a range of aesthetic tastes are met; With a cuter more girly looking group (Belles 'n' Broncos) and then a more gothic group (The Afflicted), new shiny tech, clean lines etc (Starfarers), similar to before but rusted and more organic (The Forgotten) then a very organic animal warrior vibe (Jungle Massif) and lastly the more ordered grey area science experiment gang (as yet still unnamed, referred to usually as Bard & Co)

Within the Belles 'n' Broncos:
-Pleasant Fairy 1HP
-Forbidden Mermaid 2HP
-Moonshine Donkey 2HP
-Drunk Flying Horse 2HP
-Magic Powder 4 HP

The Belles 'n' Broncos cover the girls and party vibe, so much so that before they were called the Belles 'n' Broncos they were the Whores 'n' Horses - but I'm trying to keep the game family friendly. They have some good synergy going on, Forbidden Mermaid lures enemys towards her, whilst Moonshine Donkey and Drunk Flying Horse are all about crashing into the enemy and unloading a hefty amount of damage, with Pleasant Fairy there to recover their HP from the recoil. Magic Powder can poison and steal moves, which means that the opponent needs to really consider what they try to engage Magic Powder with.

Within the Afflicted:
-Werewolf 1HP
-Gargoyle 2HP
-Time Ghost 2HP
-Zombie 3HP
-Vampire 3HP

The Afflicted are about not going away, they foil the opponents plans and keep the game going until the odds come out in a way that they can capitalise on and crush the enemy. Werewolf charges up and can then unleash a devastating melée attack, Gargoyle forces the enemy to keep their distance from him, Time Ghost freezes enemys in place, Zombie can zombify enemys so they join his side and Vampire can recover lost HP when he attacks opponents. This means that most of the Afflicted lean towards a playstyle of outlasting the opponent.

Within the Starfarers:
-Cosmic Librarian 1HP
-Kitty Jenkins 1HP
-Slandermun 2HP
-Galaxy Weaver 3HP
-Space Mantis 4HP

The Starfarers are for players that want to rebalance the luck of the dice, but pay for this by having no high strength attacks (except for the Space Mantis who has a powerful and expensive ranged attack). Cosmic Librarian can reroll energy dice, Kitty Jenkins can switch monsters places, Slandermun gets a cheap ranged attack with a downside, Galaxy Weaver forces the opponent to reroll energy dice and Space Mantis blows shit up with his cannon. This means that against the Starfarers your best bet isn't necessarily to take out the strongest monsters first.

Within the Forgotten:
-Crystal Tower 1HP
-Seal 1HP
-Dolphantian 2HP
-Lost Hologram 3HP
-Ancient Robot 4HP

The Forgotten have ways of slipping out of danger whilst still being able to lay down the hurt. Crystal Tower has a powerful ranged attack that needs to be charged up, Seal can cause blockades and channel the opponent into directions he likes. Dolphantian can change the type of terrain for a turn, slowing down an opponents monster or giving a speedboost to his own side, Lost Hologram can switch places with allies and Ancient Robot can lay down the damage and hold his opponents in place. When playing with the Forgotten there's a lot of ducking and dodging before a fast paced knock out.

Within the Jungle Massif:
-Poison Frog 1HP
-Sloth 2HP
-Chameleon 2HP
-Moth Leopard 2HP
-Seven Headed Tiger Man 4HP

Poison Frog can quickly and cheaply poison an enemy, Sloth slows down enemys around him, Chameleon speeds himself up to avoid danger or land a quick attack, Moth Leopard stops ranged attacks from coming in and the Seven Headed Tiger Man crushes some enemys and clamps others in place. The Jungle Massif can be played as a defensive unmovable force or as a lightning strike team, or defensive and then jump in with the killing blow - IE there's a few ways you can play them! :P

Finally, within the Bard & Co:
-Puppet Bard 1HP
-'Onorable Oxen 2HP
-Chatty Sage 2HP
-Psychic Catapult 2HP
-Chimera 4HP

Puppet Bard speeds his close by allies up, 'Onorable Oxen can defend himself to shrug off all but the strongest enemy attacks, the Chatty Sage can redistribute energy within the team, the Psychic Catapult has a strong ranged attack and finally the Chimera can steal moves and poison enemys. Whatever your plan is, the Bard & Co can make it easier!

So that's the teams, all the monsters have been extensively play tested and are all fair and balanced  meaning it's a matter of personal play style preference as opposed to who's the best when it comes to team selection. Not to mention, when it's time to select teams both players pool ALL of the available monsters and then select, meaning that team make up and plan complexity is almost limitless. With 40 monsters to choose from, you can try to come up with an ultimate team that you're really good with, or always use something new, never needing to repeat a past match!