Court of the Dead: Mourners Call

Product Information

Look at that pretty boy. That’s a face with potential. I wanna know what’s under those GODDAMN SEVEN LAYERS OF CLOTH, SIDESHOW. 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. Those that look upon me see a form most pleasing to their desires, for it is easier to blind oneself with guile than to bear witness to the truth of our nature.”-Gethsemoni, the Dead Queen Here’s the concept: Heaven and Hell are in a war that has raged since the beginning of time. And, since Heaven and Hell no longer represent good and evil, the war is nothing more than an ongoing battle for supremacy while consuming Etherea, energy provided by mortal souls. To gain this resource, these forces rely on Death himself (a big Charon-esque figure) to harvest souls. Demithyle stands approximately 16 inches (~40.6cm) tall with 35 points of articulation. The Demithyle figure also comes with pauldrons, breastplate, “Chainmail” shirt, vambraces, faulds, skirt, cloak, grieves, boots, and eight pieces of interchangeable hands. Equipment includes the Cryptmourne sword and a scythe.

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: The Relic Knights are sturdy vessels for the most devoted of the soulborn. Thirteen forms, each harder to haunt than the last. No will was strong enough to haunt and inhabit the thirteenth form—until Robert Ravlatch came along. In life, Ravlatch had already resisted harvesting well beyond his mortal allowance. But when the Alltaker saw Ravlatch’s stubborn potential, he made a deal with him. If Ravlatch could inhabit the impossible thirteenth Relic Knight, he would become Death’s Paladin. And so began an epic partnership that could fill volumes. As a Relic Knight, Ravlatch is the eyes and ears for the Alltaker, questing to collect essential artifacts and uncover the secrets of the Celestial Realms. This is probably not the type of book you want to sit down and read all at once. For all it’s creativity this is a book of facts about the Underworld. There is a bit of story here about how Death came to rule the Underworld and some hints of a story about wars and rebellions that have plagued the Underworld. That being said it is primarily a book of imagined facts and the reading can get a bit dry at times. The amount of information (albeit imaginary) thrown at the reader is a bit overwhelming too. But, that aside, does the game deliver in mechanisms? It certainly has a lot of them, and besides the Dreadsgrip meter, all are straight textbook implementations. There is really nothing of strong interest in any of the actions and phases, and any player who has played Blood Rage will be groaning that they’re not playing that title. The drafted action cards are larger sized, making it easier to see their abilities. Something that Bookworm really likes is how death is portrayed in this book. Human beings fear death greatly and as a result, characters that embody death are more often than not the villains or antagonists. The Grim Reaper chasing the terrified soul through the wood, but this is not accurate…Rarely will a reviewer complain about a game’s theme, but here it is due. Others may see the story inherent in the theme as some epic struggle against the ignorant powers that be. In reality, having seen the source material, nothing is further from the truth. The short stories in the graphic novel merely serve as a vehicle for the absolutely amazing and wonderful art, but offer no real substance for the (intended) mighty struggle in the game. As such, Court of the Dead is a game woefully devoid of meaning and motivation. In some ways, that’s worse than a pasted on theme.

The miniatures themselves were very lush, but all in all, they aren’t a necessity and could have been another token. Now to my main and really only gripe about the game. Hidden objectives. I feel these should be small additions to the main end game scoring, a couple of little extra points. However, with Court of the Dead your hidden objective can radically swing the scoring, so much so that you have to skip whole swathes of the game because achieving your objective will be far more beneficial. My objective was that I would get double points for unity tokens. All I was doing for the whole game was farming unity. I didn’t buy units, claim locations or any of the other aspects. To be fair, I can't even comment on those aspects.Followers of Flesh thrive in chaos. They’re impulsive, and don’t mind if plans change last minute. As creative creatures, they can bend a situation to their will. Sometimes it’s difficult to discern what they’re truly passionate about, because passion radiates from each of them as they throw themselves headfirst into everything they do. With their emotions constantly fluctuating between strong and uncontrollable, they are the greatest friends as well as the greatest enemies — and sometimes, they’re both. This is very much a coffee table type of book. It’s fun to read little sections of the book at a time and the history of the Underworld has been very thoroughly fleshed out and shows excellent creativity and imagination. Death’s first creation, the spiritborn Gethsemoni, was fashioned from raw flesh, her mind coalesced from the collective subconscious of humanity, and as such, her form echoes the expectations of the living. Beautiful and flawless to behold, this resident of the shadow realm glimmers like a jewel in the darkness. But be warned – the Queen of the Dead’s countenance is naught but a distraction. Her mercurial mood and unfettered ambitions make her a dangerous and volatile player in Death’s Court, and leader of the Faction of Flesh. I'd probably need another play through to make up my mind, so I can say I enjoyed it enough to at least consider doing that.