Retro Review: Mutant Chronicles: Siege of the Citadel

Manufacturer: Pressman Toy / Target Games / Playtoy Games (1993)
Author: Richard Borg
Game Type: Board Games
Players: 3-6
Average Length: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy (casual gamers)
Setting: Sci-Fi
Contents: Modular map (8 + tiles mounted on a stand), three-dimensional (targets and arches of the citadel), 38 plastic miniatures, special dice, cards (events, equipment, quests), cardboard game board (with units and plastic pins), summaries, missions book.

The jutting spires of the huge Citadel reached through the smoke like a monster. Every attempt to take it had been shattered by the battle magic of the hideous Nepharites. Still, the Imperial Infantry moved forward, with a feeling so strong this mission might finally be realized.

McHurst felt a surge in his chest. Three other corporations would soon join the fight under the banner name “Doomtroopers.”

In Mutant Chronicles, you control one of five corporations: Imperial, Cybertronic, Mishima, Capitol, or Bauhaus. With your own unique expertise, you make decisions and plan your strategies. Each successful mission brings you to a new one with a different Citadel layout and different events that can help or hinder you in battle. Each promotion gives access to more powerful weaponry! The strike on the Nepharites is beginning! Grab your Punisher Shortsword and your Plasma Carbine and make your mark in the Mutant Chronicles!

Description
Perhaps the most ambitious of the three games designed to support Mutant Chronicles, the Siege of the Citadel is a game created along the lines of Space Crusade and HeroQuest, but equally as enjoyable. Players are Doomtroopers of various corporations in the world of Mutant Chronicles and (in turn) the Dark Legion, in various missions that have as their ultimate goal the destruction of the Citadel of the Legion.

Players must cooperate to achieve the ultimate goal, but low-blows are allowed and even recommended to complete the missions (secret and corporation-to-corporation).

What’s in the box
The big box is very rich in content, as all games of this type (again, see Space Crusade or HeroQuest). The map is variable and consists of eight checkered tiles larger than one that is mounted on a raised (with a scale used). The drawings on the map are certainly not beautiful landscapes, but then represent the inside of a dark and hellish place.

The papers included in the game are of different types: side quests, events, equipment, specialty papers, and papers for the forces of the Dark Legion. Some equipment cards are illustrated in color, others not. The cards also have two special types of text.

The package also includes nine special dice: three whites, three reds and three blacks, which have some blank faces and others with a symbol of an explosion. The number of symbols increases starting from the white dice to blacks. The type of dice to use depends on the power of weapons and creatures, and the level of the Doomtroopers themselves.

The instruction booklet, illustrated with a cartoon MiniStore, explains all the necessary rules, and also includes an optional rule to calibrate your game to the number of players. The booklet contains missions that form a sort of mini-campaign (10 in all).

The highlight of the pack, however, is made up of the miniatures. There are 10 detailed miniature Doomtroopers and lots of evil creatures, ranging from the weak undead legionnaires to the monstrous Ezoghoul, adding up to 38 miniatures in all – in 28mm heroic scale.

Each guild also has a marker for initiative, and a perforated plank on which to take note (with appropriate plastic pegs) of the wounds that each Doomtrooper may sustain, along with experience points, credits and extra actions of the group.

Finally, there are fact sheets that explain measure the area of damage for weapons (such as rocket launchers) and the type and amount of dice rolled for the dark creatures depending on the level of Doomtroopers.

Rules
In a word? Simple. In each mission, one of the players chosen at random plays the Dark Legion. Each mission has a set number of rounds. In each turn, you roll a counter-initiative to see who goes first.

Then the map is prepared according to the mission. Each area of the map can contain from zero to three creature cards. Each mission has a certain number of turns, and each turn the player of the Dark Legion runs an event card (if applicable) and receives the number of reinforcements indicated on it. For example, if the mission lasts up to 5 rounds, there will be five cards in game event.

The movement is fixed (3 boxes per turn), and every time a Doomtrooper enters into a new area, the player consults a map of the Dark Legion creatures in this area.

Each creature killed is worth a few points, and after a certain number of points scored the entire team (which is made up of the two Doomtroopers) gains a level, having access to more powerful weapons and gear. In addition, the mission is worth credits (which can be used to buy equipment), and there are also side quests, dungeons, which are also valid ways to gain money.

Each team has a set number of special cards that can be played only once per mission, and these cards have two effects, which you can only play for one of two effects. One is in favor of its characters, but the other is against the characters of other corporations.

Comments
Siege of the Citadel is a simple and exciting game. You can spend hours playing it, and the degree of competitiveness is high – even though it is a cooperative game it is important to make more points than the “allies” and complete quests, perhaps preventing other corporations to follow suit. Plus the fact that each mission, the role of “bad” changes and is determined randomly makes the game more interesting.

In addition, Siege of the Citadel is compatible with other boardgames of the same series, like Fury of the Clansmen, allowing players to use the miniatures and gear from these games.

Conclusion
After HeroQuest, Siege of the Citadel is probably the best game of miniature / tabletop product of all time. It’s fun, fast, and baddassed.

The Good

• The game is fast-playing
• Impressive number of miniatures
• Great replay value
• Competitive and cooperative gameplay
• It integrates with other games in the series
• It’s freakin’ HeroQuest with guns

The Bad
Look out – here comes my rant…

How the hell this game ever got produced is beyond my understanding.

The Mutant Chronicles is an absolute shameless ripoff of Warhammer 40K.  Mutant Chronicles was developed by the Swedish company Target Games. And Target Games had already developed a reputation for… ummm… shameless ripping off. They released the role-playing games Drakar och Demoner (Dragons & Demons) as their answer to Dungeons & Dragons, Mutant (the precursor of Mutant Chronicles), which was their answer to Gamma World, and Mutant RYMD, which was their version of Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0.

It’s all big shoulder pads, huge weapons, massive maws of gritted teeth, and cartoonishly super-heroic miniatures. The Mutant Chronicles-universe tabletop game called Warzone is about as 40K as you can get, down to the designs of the figures. And the embarrassingly enjoyable film, Mutant Chronicles, is so filled with scenes out of a Dan Abnett novel that you can’t help but shout “For The Emperor!” when you watch it.

But despite the lack of originality going into the design of this property, you can’t help but like it. If you’re the type of gamer who enjoys opening up on hoards of demons – Mutant Chronicles is for you.