Moytura

• Designers: David Thompson and Trevor Benjamin 
• Publisher: Bitewing Games
• Players: 2
• Age: 12+
• Time: 45 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3T2MQ9J
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

The battle of Moytura has begun. As a leader of the Tuatha Dé Danann, spread your influence across the land to succeed in your quest to become High Ruler of Ireland, invoking the powerful deities of the Tuatha Dé Danann to aid you in your cause with their command of water, travel, war, and creation — but the road will not be easy for in your path to legend stand the sinister Fomorians and other mythical beings hungry for battle, not to mention a rival clan with ambitions of their own. Steel yourself and prepare for a legendary struggle. Rewrite the myths of Ireland, chieftain, and take your place as the true High King!

Moytura features seven map set-ups for any combination of clans. The game also includes three special enemy clans that replace 1-3 of the standard Fomorian clans. These special clans introduce more challenging foes with asymmetric abilities: the Ellén Trechends (three-headed beasts) expand in all directions, the Oilliphéist (sea serpents) expand rapidly along the coast, and the Banshees invade targeted regions instead of spreading out from their largest group.

You can also enjoy a solo / cooperative variant if you prefer playing that way! Thanks to the intuitive enemy faction system built into the main game, Moytura lends itself easily to these optional variants.

In Moytura, you and your opponent command competing factions of the Tuatha Dé Danann, but you are not the only ones struggling for control of ancient Ireland. Three enemy clans act together as a third opponent faction that competes with the players and scores points. Points are gained by having the most influence across Ancient Ireland at the end of each era. Within each of the eleven regions, the faction with the most or second most units across all the spaces of a region will score the indicated points. After two eras, the faction with the most points wins.

To set up, the board is placed on the table.  It shows a map of Ireland, split up into 11 regions, each comprised of 3 to 7 spaces.  The deity tiles are randomized into the four tile spaces, and the Tuatha de Danann card is placed at the bottom-most space in the column.   There are four enemy cards per clan, take the cards for the three enemy clans in your game, shuffle them together and make two decks of 5 cards each.  Discard the unused two unseen. 

choose one of the setup cards and place pieces as directed on the card.  One player takes the white pieces while the other takes the black pieces.  The red, yellow and green clans are placed on the board, and collectively these clans score as a third player.  One space of each clan will get a stronghold marker in the matching color.  You will also place worship cubes on certain spaces on the board.

The game is played over two rounds, split into two eras of five rounds each.  One player goes first for the entirety of the first era, followed by the other player and then the enemy.  The players switch order in the second era.

Each round, the two players and the enemy faction each take a turn. On their turn, a player selects a deity tile (possibly spending worship tokens to reach it), then performs that deity’s actions.

When used, a deity tile resets to the most expensive position in the track. Deity tiles let players expand their influence and battle enemies according to the deity’s unique abilities. The position of the deity on the track determines how many counters can be placed on the board that turn, and each particular deity can be upgraded (if chosen in the expensive spaces) to give ongoing bonuses each time you choose that deity going forward.  You can always use the two lowest spaces in the column, but you have to pay Worship tokens to use the top three deity tiles.

When you expand, you take your alloted number of tokens, choosing an area you occupy as the start and place them in a targeted space (legal based on the rules of the deity you choose).  You cannot place into a space controlled by your opponent nor on an enemy stronghold space.  If there are enemy clan markers on your target space, a battle occurs, and one marker from each side is removed until there is only one side remaining.  Keep the defeated enemy tokens as three of them can be traded in for a Worship marker.  You can also gain Worship markers by taking control of spaces that started the game with one on it.

On the enemy faction’s turn, an activation card is revealed from the deck that expands one of the three clans. Some activation cards are stronger than others, and players must carefully track which clans are most likely to attack and where.  There is a fixed set of rules that dictates where a clan will expand.   

At the end of the first era, there is a scoring round.  Each of the regions is scored based on the number of units in the spaces of each region.  The player with the most (this can be either player or the combined enemy clans) scores the larger number of points, the second place player scores the smaller.  Players score an extra two points if they have majority in a region with an enemy stronghold.

Repeat the process for the second era, remembering to switch the order of the human players.  After the second scoring, the player with the most points wins – this could be the enemy!  If the enemy is tied for the lead, it wins automatically.  If the humans are tied, ties broken in favor of the player with the most Worship tokens left over.

My thoughts on the game

Moytura is a game with a historical feel – part of the Bitewing 2p history series.  I was a bit unsure of this when I took a demo at Origins 2026 as it did look a lot like a Dudes on a Map game.   And, sure, it is one.  But with a nicely designed set of rules that really make it accessible for a euro-gamer like me.

The game is easy to set up – just choose one of the six possible setup cards and you’re underway in about a minute.  The action selection process is intriguing, and you can try to set up a series of turns to get the action you want in the position you want.  

Why does position matter?  Well, if you want to upgrade an action, you can only do so when you pay for it in one of the two highest spaces (cost of 3 or 2 worship cubes) – and when you go, you get the upgrade corresponding to that space you paid for.  Thus, to get a maximally upgraded action, you’ll have to pay for it at the top at some point as well as in the second to top space.  It seems like a lot of work, but trust me, when you get a turn where you can place six of your discs on the board at once, it is a very powerful move towards area control scoring.

The game definitely encourages you to attack the three enemy clans.  First, you get convert those defeated troops into Worship cubes.  Second, clans expand to every vaild adjacent space to their largest encampment, and keeping their area of control small is the best way to not be over-run by the enemy.  If the humans ignore the enemy too long, they can control the scoring and end up winning the game!

If you’re into a game with a bit of fighting, this area control game may scratch that itch.  It’s not really my thing, but I enjoyed the game enough, and I’d certainly be willing to play it again.  It will stick around at least through the fall as I expect to play it at least once on a cold fall Saturday with Notre Dame football on in the background.  This definitely fits into my Fightin’ Irish game night roster.

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Mitchell T: Moytura does an outstanding job of utilizing a dummy army in an area control game. The highlight of this game is the interesting turn selection mechanism that drives the placement of your dudes. The cooperative/competitive dynamic that requires both players to defeat the alien hordes is also compelling. I also very much enjoy the map itself and the various ways it develops depending on the movement of the aliens. I did find the movement of the hordes to be slightly fiddly, somewhat interrupting the game flow, but it is a small matter. This is, in short, a highly original, two player, dudes-on-a-map area control game with lots of replayability and a pretty darn high fun factor. We’ve played it about a dozen times and you do gain more skill as you play. This is a rewarding game playing time investment. Azure gets played more because it is so crisp and short. I love them both!

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!  Mitchell T
• I like it. Dale Y
• Neutral.
• Not for me…

Amazon affiliate link:  https://amzn.to/3T2MQ9J