Godtear Guide

If you've got your hands on a copy of Godtear, or you've been invited to a game night where you're expected to play it, then you might find our Godtear Guide insanely helpful. It'll run you through what the game is and exactly how it works too.

What is Godtear?

Godtear is a competitive miniatures skirmish game by Steamforged Games. It is played on a hex map that streamlines movement and range. In Godtear, players take control of Champions battling in the Cradle to capture the crystalline essence of the gods.

Godtear battle — Finvarr prepares to protect his banner from Titus' advance.

Godtear Guide - Mechanics

The aim of Godtear is to gain 5 victory points by winning rounds. Each round is worth a different number of victory points which increase from 1 to 3 and then back to 1 again over a 5 round game. It’s a very interesting mechanic that allows for some warbands to have a slower start and gain momentum, aiming to win later rounds against faster warbands.

Rounds are won and lost on an influence track known as the Battle Ladder, where players try to pull the turn marker towards their own end. Points are awarded for placing banners on objective hexes, keeping them there until the end of the round, and knocking out enemy champions and followers.

Each round takes place over 2 phases, the plot and clash phases. In the plot phase, the first player activates all of their champions and followers before the second player does. In the clash phase, actions alternate between players. Champions and followers also have different abilities depending on the phase, and these are shown on their double-sided stat cards that match the phase they’re in.

The number of champions played is decided by the players, competitive games are played 3 champions vs 3 champions, but shorted games of 1v1 and 2v2 and longer games of 4v4 can also be played. Players select their champions and their pre-set followers. There are no restrictions on which champions can be chosen so there is a lot of variety in terms of force composition. Champions come in 4 types and the miniatures are color-coded per type. Each type of Champion gains extra points for completing specific tasks

The 4 types of Champions and their tasks are:

Guardians (blue) - gain bonus points for scoring a banner in the end phase
Slayers (red) - gain bonus points for knocking out enemy Champions
Shapers (green) - gain bonus points for placing a banner in the plot phase
Maelstroms (yellow) - gain bonus points for knocking out enemy followers

Attacks have a very mechanically straight-forward system. The number of dice rolled is determined by the attack. The custom Godtear dice have blanks, 1 hit, and 2 hit symbols. The hits need to equal or exceed the dodge stat of their target. Then a number of dice determined by the attack are rolled for damage. The protection stat is taken away from the damage and any remaining hits are dealt as wounds.

Having a Champion or Follower removed from the game doesn’t mean it’s the end for them though. Your opponent will score points for defeating them, but Rally and Recruit actions can be used to heal your Champions and bring back followers to the table, in order that they can continue fighting.

Godtear Starter Pack contents — The contents of The Borderlands Godtear Starter Set.

Godtear Guide - What do you need to play?

There are several components required to play Godtear, which include miniatures for the Champions, the hex-map, cards, counters, and dice. All these are provided in 1 of the 2 available starter packs. Each starter pack includes 2 different champions, which can be played in 1v1 games to learn the game, then against an opponent's starter pack in a 2v2 game, and then finally added to with a champions expansion for a full 3v3 game.

The 2 starter packs that are available are:

The Borderlands (Contains the Champions Finvarr and Titus)
Eternal Glade (Contains the Champions Nia and Morrigan)

Apart from the Champions, it contains, each starter pack is identical, so your choice of starter pack depends on which Champions appeal to you more. You can read about each Champion below, and then in more detail as we produce our guides for each.

Godtear Guide - Products

Godtear was originally produced through a successful Kickstarter campaign, but the products listed here in our guide will only focus on the retail version of products available.

Godtear miniatures come pre-colored and require no assembly, meaning that it is entirely playable out of the box. No other components or tools are required.

Starter Sets

Each starter set contains 2 champions and all of the components required to play a game of Godtear. While each starter set contains 2 champions, everything required to play with the full roster of 3 champions is included, so a full game of Godtear can be played with 2 starter sets and 2 champion packs split between 2 players.

The Borderlands Starter Set (Contains the Champions Finvarr and Titus)
Eternal Glade Starter Set (Contains the Champions Nia and Morrigan)

Champion Packs

Each champion pack contains 1 champion and their stat cards. These can be added straight into a Godtear starter pack to make up the 3 Champions needed for 1 player or can be used to replace the Champions in the starter packs if you want to continue playing 1v1 games with only 1 starter pack.

Rhodri Champion Pack
Lorsann Champion Pack
Blackjaw Champion Pack
Halftusk Champion Pack
Rangosh Champion Pack
Grimgut Champion Pack
Rattlebone Champion Pack
Raith'Marid Champion Pack
Sneaky Peet Champion Pack
Mournblade Champion Pack

Finvarr and his 3 followers, along with their action cards.

Godtear Guide - Champions

In this section, you will find a brief introduction to each of the Godtear Champions available through retail. You can read about each Champion in detail in our Champion Guides linked to under each heading.

Guardian Champions

Read our full detail Guardian Champions Guide.

Finvarr

Guardian Champion with great dodge and healing.
Comes with 3 followers.
Has powerful friendly banner movement abilities.

Halftusk

Guardian Champion with solid defense and healing abilities.
Comes with 3 followers who can enter objective hexes.
Has access to a free bonus attack if the first attack hits the target.

Mournblade

Guardian Champion with great banner range.
Comes with 3 followers.
Is extremely fragile, but can be rallied easily.

Rhodri

Guardian Champion who is very durable.
Comes with 4 followers.
Slow, but great defensive line with followers and has access to a clash phase claim for some great point-scoring.