Description from the publisher:
Villainous rats have allied with vicious hunting birds to pillage the humble mouse settlement across Meanderfield. But look! Brave mice, mounted on starlings and blue jays, swoop in to wage war against this evil alliance! The Downwood Militia soars into action against the Vermin Raiders!
Plaid Hat Games proudly presents Tail Feathers, the exciting new miniature skirmish game by our very own Jerry Hawthorne set in the beloved world of Mice and Mystics. Soar across the table, send your troops on dangerous missions, lock beaks with opposing birds, and defend your nest!
Featuring the beautiful hand-sculpted miniatures by Chad Hoverter Mice and Mystics fans have come to love, Tail Feathers raises the stakes with 13 dutiful ground troops, 5 headstrong birds that tilt for launching and turning, plus 5 daring pilots. Players will recreate the famous battles for aerial supremacy that shaped the Mice and Mystics world.
Outwit and outfly your opponent in stand-alone scenarios, or play a full campaign and see your units gain skill from one battle to the next.
Tail Feathers is a stand-alone game, not a Mice and Mystics expansion, but you can use your Mice and Mystics: Sorrow and Remembrance miniatures in Tail Feathers right out of the box.
Tail Feathers offers cinematic gameplay and a fresh, whimsical setting for tabletop skirmish gaming. Players must balance the use of both flying and ground units to achieve victory. Here are some highlights:
Compatibility! If you already own Mice and Mystics, you're in luck! Tail Feathers includes cards which allow you to use your Mice and Mystics figures in Tail Feathers! Bam!
Story driven campaign! Tail Feathers includes a scenario book with story rich scenarios all designed to be played either as both stand-alone experiences or linked together as a campaign.
Unique and challenging flight system! Tail Feathers includes 5 beautiful bird miniatures that are mounted on a special flight stand that allows the birds to 'tilt'. This tilting is a mechanism used to determine your flight direction, but the skill of effectively maneuvering your birds is up to you!
Everything you need! No empty box here. Tail Feathers comes with enough content for two players to field fully-realized, battle-ready forces, as well as cards that allow you to utilize your Mice and Mystics: Sorrow and Remembrance figures as Tail Feathers ground troops right away.
Tail Feathers expands the Mice and Mystics universe, introducing fans new and old to the battles on birds that secured peace and safety for the Downwood Forest. Tail Feathers' innovative game system will provide hours of fun and excitement in the world of Mice and Mystics.
- Standalone game that expands the Mice and Mystics universe into a new tactical format with sky and ground combat.
- Modular terrain and tree-based battlefield design enable varied and replayable scenarios.
- Bird and rider customization adds depth and strategic variety.
- Campaign progression and upgrades provide long-term player engagement beyond a single session.
- Backward compatibility with Mice and Mystics minis lowers barriers to entry and invites reuse of existing collections.
- Not a cooperative experience like Mice and Mystics, which may disappoint players who prefer co-op play.
- As a skirmish-focused title, it may have a steeper initial learning curve for players new to tactical minis games.
- Bird-themed aerial and ground combat within a shared fantasy IP. The game leverages the Mice and Mystics mythos to explore tactical battles that combine flight, terrain manipulation, and characterful animal units with distinct abilities. The overarching theme centers on progression and adaptation within a whimsical, family-friendly fantasy world.
- Tail Feathers is presented as a standalone game set within the Mice and Mystics universe. The battlefield is constructed using modular trees that allow battles to unfold both among branches and in the air, creating a mixed environment where ground and aerial units interact. The setting emphasizes a fantasy animal kingdom where mice operate as pilots and commanders while birds act as mounts and weapons in skirmish warfare.
- Campaign-driven progression with unit upgrades and rider customization embedded in a tactical skirmish framework. Narrative progression rewards player choice and persistence across games, reinforcing a sense of growth and narrative continuity within the Tail Feathers arc.
- Mice and Mystics
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- aerial_and_ground_interaction — Combat happens both in the air between trees and on the ground, creating dynamic cross-layer engagements between flying units and grounded forces.
- legacy_compatibility_with_existing_minis — The game is designed to be compatible with Mice and Mystics miniatures, enabling players to reuse existing figures from that line.
- miniatures_focused_gameplay — A tactical miniatures experience that emphasizes unit interaction, positioning, and miniature aesthetics over mass-market abstraction.
- modular_terrain_and_terrain_interaction — Battlefields are assembled from modular trees that influence line of sight, cover, and movement, enabling varied layouts and strategic decisions.
- rider_swap_and_abilities — Riders are interchangeable; different riders confer distinct abilities, and different birds provide unique aerial or ground capabilities, adding depth and customization.
- skirmish_tactical_combat — Small-scale battles that prioritize positioning, timing, and resource management over brute force, with an emphasis on micro-mights and micro-actions.
- unit_upgrade_campaign — A campaign system where units earn upgrades as players progress, introducing RPG-like growth and long-term player investment.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Tail Feathers should be out in November.
- It's a standalone game set in the M Mystics world.
- it's a little Skirmish battle game that involves flying units and ground units.
- you set up a battlefield using these modular trees.
- you can fight in the trees or you can fight in the sky between the trees with your birds.
- the little mice ride around on these birds.
- the birds tilt as you can see.
- you can swap out the riders with different Riders and different Riders have different abilities and different birds have different abilities.
- it comes with a little campaign so as you play through the campaign your units can be upgraded.
- it's a tactical Miniatures game a little Skirmish game.
- Not a co-op game like M and Mystics but it is somewhat compatible with M and Mystics.
- If you already own M and Mystics you can take all your figures from M and Mystics and they'll be able to play them in Tail Feathers.
- we provide all the cards to play all those Miniatures in this game.
- Painted Minis you see here are the ones that come in the game and I painted them myself.