Elemana Chronicles

The Game

Elemana Chronicles is a fantasy themed tactical battle game from local game designer Darius Tan. This is a squad level battle arena game that draws inspiration from online battle arena games like Mobile Legends. It is a 2-player-only game. Each player controls a team of three fighters - one hero and two monsters. There is a mana pool on the board which players try to dominate to score points. You also score points by killing an enemy character. Killed characters respawn and come back to life next round. The game is played over 6 rounds. You win if you have more points by the end of the 6th round. 

There are several factions in the game, each with its own characteristics. Your team must be made up of characters from the same faction. Your hero is usually smaller in size compared to your monsters. 

The miniatures are quite detailed. This is one of the selling points of the game. The miniatures look fantastic. They are all 3D printed. 

This fighter is good at fire related magic and attacks. 

This miniature has been painted

During a round, players take turns activating one of their fighters. Every fighter has some action points, which are spent to perform various actions. Fighters have various characteristics, e.g. movement range, attack strength, armour strength. The common actions a fighter can perform include moving, attacking and casting spells. Attacks can be melee or ranged. You need to use tape measure when moving and attacking. You have to adhere to attack and movement ranges.  

You have to buy your own tape measures

Battles feel, for the lack of a better word, "physical". In that what's physically on the table matters a lot. You use a tape measure to check distance, for both movement range and attack range. You need to physically check line of sight to see whether someone you are trying to shoot is blocked from view. When you need to move, if there's someone physically blocking your way, you have to detour. The white circle on the board is the mana pool. At the end of a round, if you have a fighter next to it and your opponent doesn't, you will control the mana pool and score points. If both players have fighter next to it, then no one controls the mana pool and no one scores points. The mana pool basically forces you to get near each other and to fight. It is not easy to score points so you don't want to allow your opponent any easy points. 

You roll dice for both attack and defense. A successful roll is normally whether you roll a particular number or lower. If the attacker makes more successful rolls than the defender, he inflicts damage on the defender. Every fighter has a health bar. If it gets reduced to zero, the fighter dies (and will respawn next round). 

The health bars of your three fighters.

Every fighter has a character chart which lists its stats, abilities and possible actions. They can cast spells. Some powerful spells are limited to a single use per game. 

There are two types of mana in the game, and they can be used in different ways, e.g. making rerolls for your dice. One type of mana gets recharged every round, so you will usually try to use it all before the end of a round. It will get refilled anyway. It is a matter of how you want to use it. The other type needs to be used more carefully, because you may want to leave some for future rounds. Mana is stored at player level and not fighter level. Your three fighters share the same mana. 

You can upgrade your fighters, increasing their stats and abilities. You also collect gold to buy equipment. These are done between rounds. 

This is an NPC (non-player character). I think of them as monsters, as opposed to my hero's sidekicks being called monsters (what kind of boss calls his assistants monsters?). These NPC's get activated after all the players' fighters have been activated. They will move towards and attack the nearest fighter. So generally you want to stay away from them, or kill them swiftly before they start attacking you. But then there are other complications - e.g. your opponent. 

The Play

This is a miniature wargame, so the simulation level is high. The precise positions of the fighters are important. They affect line of sight, attack range, blocking and movement range. You have to juggle all these details as you play. Because of that, it feels real and immersive. You can imagine yourself on the battlefield. Whatever you can do in real life, you probably will be able to do in the game as well. Or at least something equivalent. For example, when I played, I had a general strategy of getting all three of my fighters to focus their attacks on one particular enemy fighter. The idea was this was the most efficient way to kill one enemy. Once that was done, my opponent will lose one third of his power. But soon I realised this was a rather simplistic strategy. My opponent could tell what I was trying to do, and he simply used a tough warrior type to block and engage some of my fighters. If I ignored that tough warrior completely, it would keep pounding my fighter. I might end up losing a fighter even faster! 

This rock golem was one tough nut to crack. 

Each fighter has its unique characteristics. Within each faction, there are synergies you can make use of. To play well you must discover and understand them. You need to understand your fighters well to make good use of their abilities. 

My tall guy fighter (left) wanted to rush Darius' petite hero (middle), but the rest of my team couldn't catch up. Darius had a monster-class fighter (right) nearby protecting his hero. 

Fighting is resolved using die rolls, so there will be some luck. However the game is still primary about tactics. You must use your fighters and their abilities well. Dice will be rolled many times, and each time multiple dice will be rolled. The luck evens out. Sometimes you'll be luckier, sometimes otherwise. Ultimately you still need to make the right moves to be victorious. Luck won't save you if you play poorly. 

Three-headed dog and rider. 

This guy looks hangry. 

The Thoughts

Elemana Chronicles is a miniature game. It is a tactical battle game like Warhammer. Many aspects of fighting are simulated in detail, so it feels realistic. At the same time this level of detailed simulation also means more work for the players. It can be a little tedious. This is unlike boardgame type tactical battle games, where many aspects are abstracted and simplified. In Elemana Chronicles, the battlefield is not abstracted to a chessboard grid or a hex map. Every millimeter on the map counts. 

The game concept is similar to online battle arena games (MOBA games) like Mobile Legends. You have two competing teams fighting. If you get killed, you respawn. The factions and the individual fighters have their own characteristics which you need to understand well to play well. Now I must admit that squad level battle games are not really my thing, regardless of the boardgame type or the miniature game type. Nevertheless, it was an interesting experience for me to try a genre I don't usually play. 

Darius and I have chatted several times about tabletop games and the tabletop game industry in Malaysia. Making and selling a miniature wargame in Malaysia is difficult. In fact, making and selling casual boardgames and card games in Malaysia is already difficult. Most Malaysian do not know boardgames other than a handful of mass market games. So miniature wargames are a niche within a niche. Elemana Chronicles is aiming to go overseas eventually. If you are interested to give it a go, contact Magick & Drumstick Games.