The Tain

An older mini-campaign that I understand was intended for entry in a Mill contest. It comprises five maps, I will attempt to overview some key points of all, then visit them individually.

Colour-maps

The colour-maps used in this campaign are relatively basic, and some are better than others but all will serve to give some idea of what you are fighting across. Ground textures are fine for the most-part, but pretty bland, and water is a garish blue that doesn't fit very well at all. I understand it must have been difficult to produce five solo/co-op maps in time for a contest though.

Storyline

The idea behind this campaign is that the shade Phelot (Shiver and then the Deceiver's lackey) has returned, and brought with him an army of Myrkridia and assorted other enemies. Nothing too original not a huge departure from Myth canon either.

The pre-game texts are short, without music or narration, again not really expected for a contest or single-effort as this is, but the spelling is fairly poor and the text is pretty uninteresting, not like the Myth 1 & 2 journal entries.

Likewise, any dialogue in-game is without sound and not always delivered in the right order.

Myrkridia Rush

A prologue level that would have been better if made playable, or sacrificed to spend more time on other colour-maps, as it features a unique colour-map that is unremarkable.

The camera jitters around a load of poorly placed models to view some boring peasants who then get massacred a bit. It's not very interesting to watch unfortunately, so anyone playing this may be better off skipping it and starting with the first actual map.

The River

This map has you following the route of a bright-blue river, fighting off enemy hordes. The colour-map is fairly typical, with bright-blue water, and strange looking hills, but the path you are following appears to have been given a bit more attention which is a nice touch at least though no saving grace.

The game-play however is fairly solid, with various randomised, mixed groups of enemies that can sometimes be quite tricky to fight. Healing roots are plentiful (and necessary on higher difficulties). The hints make special mention of the hut which can be found about two thirds in, but I've no idea why as it appears to do nothing.

This is a fun map to play if not all that pretty to look at.

At the Trows

With this map you start on an odd looking, slightly too-tight canyon type bit that leads to a large open area where the enemies are encamped, laying siege to a small Trow fort. Again the colour-map is basic, and doesn't distinguish some areas you'd expect it too, and looks especially odd at the Trow fort as no effort was made to apply texture to the walls/courtyard area. All topped off with more bright blue water as a moat.

The start of the map will be tricky as there isn't a particularly good area to move about in which can make unit-management difficult, and leave your dwarves or archers trapped if they try to flee an enemy that gets too close. Afterwards however the map is plain-sailing, as the Trow fort has a total of eight cannons that shred pretty much everything long before it reaches it, and a whole heap of uncontrollable Trow that kick everything else to pieces, not leaving you with much to do. If you do venture beyond the walls, the cannons will mince pretty much everything you have, your best bet is just to keep your journeyman alive and heal stoned Trow.

The Escape

The colour-map one this one has some kind of Photoshop filters applied, which do make it a bit more visually interesting but still very basic. It is however probably the best looking of the colour-maps.

Game-play on this map as well is especially interesting, as it is full of winding paths which intersect in nasty little hubs where you can quickly find yourself fighting enemies in three or more different directions. This map may be a lot more of a challenge than the previous two, but is a lot more fun as well. Choose carefully where to defend yourself, and keep your eye on the different routes an enemy can take to get to you.

Big Push

Emerging form the world knot with the Warlock Hero Seanchaidh you get straight into a fight. It is your job to get to the besieged castle (where you already have a handful of units).

Colour-map again is fairly basic, garish water with some slightly better looking fords. A better ground-texture than the earlier maps, but as with At the Trows there is no dirt texture for the castle walls, so it looks really odd.

There are a handful of fights at the start, including some Wights to watch out for, but after that it's a clean run to the castle. Once there you may as well just sit inside and let the uncontrollable allies take out most of the enemies, and just pick off the rest, strengthening any of the walls that are inevitably laid to waste by friendly dwarves. Staying outside may be more fun on lower difficulties, provided you stay out of range of your allies, otherwise you will be overwhelmed, and most likely blown to bits if you try to retreat back into the castle. The allied warriors have some kind of death-wish, fully expect them to throw themselves to their doom first chance they get.

Big Push II

Another battle on the same map as before. I personally think it should have just been combined with the previous map, rather than being separate, as it would have made it a bit longer.

This map is mainly just a good old fashioned case of too many units at once. You have control of most of the units in the castle (except for a couple which seems to be a bug), which includes a ton of warriors. You'll be facing loads of enemies, but with the main threat coming from the groups of Myrkridia which will include a load of giants. Safest thing to do is get your dwarves away from the walls and lay satchel traps and just blast the crap out of everything that comes close.

There are however some scripting glitches which appear to make your warriors more aggressive than normal, meaning you'll find them often hurling themselves into enemy groups to thwart your efforts, and unfortunately warriors don't fare too well against groups of Myrkridia, even when they have large numbers on their side. You'll have to pause often to keep your forces under control, and use that Trow and your dwarves to great effect to stand any chance of winning this.

Ultimately this map ends in a fairly disappointing climax.

Conclusion

For the most part the game-play is fairly sound, and for a basic mini-campaign is playable. If you just want to play the best maps then I would personally just play The River and The Escape, though some may enjoy the others.

An old school solo that plays very well and is quite entertaining. Not the best work, technically, but often quite a lot of fun and it never takes itself seriously.

Author seems to have made the story up as he went along, not really caring too much. Somehow, that all seems fitting with the unpolished visuals and such.

Gameplay is often very challenging and definitely fun, though, so I'd suggest this one for a quick but of action.

Not sure why the last two levels seem to be duplicates, however.