No one knows exactly where they came from; these beings wielding immeasurable power and granting mortal man gifts of such destruction to wage war. Their names are legend; Zeus, Hermes, and Athena. Then there are the men who became legendary from their gifts; Perseus, Achilles, and Heracles. Man vied for their favor, sending priests to build great monuments to honor them in hopes for the gifts they would bestow.
Lords of Hellas is a 1-4 player game by Awaken Realms, where players have 4 unique paths to victory. Set in ancient Greece, but with weapons and power with a science fiction theme, it is a unique hybrid with amazing components and some of the best-detailed miniatures I have ever seen. Awaken Realms is known for their high quality of games they produce, and Lords of Hellas is no exception.
This is the first review that will be in two parts; the multi-player and the solo. The solo is a unique campaign experience from the regular game and it needs its own article. As stated in the title, this review will provide an overview of the multi-player. Enough introduction, let’s crack open this pandora’s box of awesomeness.
To start, lay out the game board on the multi-player side. Take out the monster trays, monster die, miniatures, quest tokens, and the combat, event, monster attack, quest, artifacts, monster artifacts, and blessings cards. Shuffle all of the event cards and draw the top seven. If it is a monster, place the monster miniature on the board where indicated. If it is a quest, place it in the quest area on the board, and the matching quest token where indicated. There is only room for 3 quests, on the board so any additional quests are discarded. If a duplicate monster card is drawn, discard it and draw another one. Shuffle the discarded event cards back into the event deck and place it on the board. Set aside the glory tokens for each land as well.
Shuffle all of the blessings, combat cards, and general artifacts and place them in their appropriate spaces. Take the monster tray and monster artifact for all of the monsters in play and place them next to the board in addition to the monster die and wound tokens. Take the gods artifact for each of the three Gods and place it on the board and the base of each gods monument on top. Randomly draw a temple card and place the temple standees on the card in addition to the oracle of Delphi. Give each player a help tray and help card.
Next, give each player an army board, control tokens, priests and hoplite’s in their color choice, six activation tokens, and 3 attribute markers. Shuffle the 4 characters and deal one randomly to each player. Give each player the corresponding hero miniature. Each player has a starting bonus indicated on their heroes board as well as levels for leadership. strength and speed. each player starts their hero at the lowest level for each placing an attribute marker on each. Decide who goes first. The first player gets to place 2 hoplites and their hero on any region. The next player does the same but cannot place their hero in the same land. The player who goes last takes the first turn.
As stated earlier there are 4 victory conditions in the multi-player game. When a player either controls 2 lands (usually made up 3 or 4 regions indicated by a color band on the board) they immediately win. If a player controls 5 regions with a temple, they win. When a player has killed 3 monsters, they win, and finally if a player completes a monument and controls that region for 3 turns, they immediately win,
On a player’s turn, they will perform any or all of the regular actions and one special action. The regular actions are using artifacts, prayer, hero movement, and hoplite movement. A player can perform them in any order but can only do each once. Players may use any artifacts they have. To use an artifact, rotate the card and complete the action indicated. A player will have to charge the artifact in order to use it again for a future turn. A prayer action allows a player to place a priest from their priest pool at a monument. The player gains the benefit indicated on the help tray based on the level of the monument. A player may move the number of hoplite’s based on their leadership value. A hoplite moves from one region to an adjacent one. Each region has a population strength. If the player has enough hoplite’s to match or exceed that level, they place a control token in that region. If a player controls a region with a monument, they gain the gods’ artifact under that monument. If hoplites move in a region already occupied by another player’s hoplites, a battle will occur.
Battles are determined by comparing the army strength of each side. A hoplite is 1 strength and a region with a city and a hoplite in the city, will gain +1. Each player may then play combat cards. A combat card will have a strength value and a bonus action. After the attacker plays a card, the defender may play one and play returns to the attacker. Each player may play any number of cards they want until each player passes. Once they pass, they may no longer play any cards. The final strengths are determined and the highest strength wins the battle. The loser must retreat to a non-hostile or neutral region. If they can’t then their army is killed. In addition, combat cards may indicate a casualty. A player removes a hoplite for each casualty on each card. If the victor has any remaining hoplites, they can place their control token in that region. If a hoplite moves in a region with another player’s control token but no hoplites, they take control of that region.
A hero movement action lets a player move their hero a number of regions based on their speed. Heroes can move into neutral or hostile regions with no effect. If a hero lands in a region with a quest token they may immediately begin that quest. To go on a quest a player moves their hero off of the board onto a quest card. A player can start in any area of the quest they are able to match the starting requirements. If a hero starts a quest on the third requirement, the quest ends and the hero gains the reward. If a player starts a quest on any other space, they advance their hero to the next level in place of the hero movement action. Do not draw a new quest to replace a completed one.
After a player has made all regular actions they choose, they take one special action. Special actions are either build temple, hunt, march, usurp, recruit, prepare or build monument. A player chooses an action and places a used marker on that action. Players start with no active priests in their priest pool. Only priests in their pool can take the regular prayer action. If a player controls a region with a temple icon, they may build temple by removing the next temple from the temple card. If that space has a blessing symbol, the player performs a blessings draft. Draw blessing cards equal to the number of players plus one. The player who initiated the draft picks first from the blessings and then the next player in clockwise order until all players have a blessing, discarding the remaining one. The player then receives a priest in their priest pool.
March lets a player move all of their hoplites from one region to an adjacent one. A usurp action lets a player take immediate control of a region their hero is in if they have the corresponding glory token of the land that region is in. All opponents must retreat but take no losses. A recruit action lets the player gain 2 hoplites in any region they control with a city. If a player controls Sparta, they recruit 4 hoplites. Prepare allows the player to either heal a wound, draw a combat card or recruit a hoplite. A player may do 2 in any combination they choose.
The hunt action allows a player’s hero to hunt a monster in the same region of their hero. To hunt a monster, first draw combat cards equal to the hero’s strength. The hero can play combat cards inflicting a wound for each area on the monster that matches a card’s symbol. Once the hero stops their attack, if the monster is still alive they retaliate with an attack. An opposing player draws 2 monster attack cards and plays one. Each monster attack has a number and an effect. A player can defend by playing cards that match or exceed the attack value. If an attack is blocked, the hero takes no damage draws 2 combat cards, and the hunt continues. If the hero does not defend, they suffer the damage indicated on the monster’s attack card. If a hero takes a wound, they flip an ability marker to the wounded side. If a player either takes a fourth wound or inflicts no damage, the hunt ends. All damage to the monster remains, otherwise, the hunt continues until the monster is killed or the hero retreats. If a hero kills a monster, they may either take the monster artifact, a general artifact, or add a priest to their priest pool as a reward. They also earn the glory token for the region the monster is in.
The last action, build the monument, has several steps. All priests are returned to their player’s supply, not their priest pool. Next, a player earns a priest to their pool for every region they control with a temple. They recharge all artifacts, remove all used action tokens and add the next level to a monument. This action also triggers the event and monster phase. The player rolls the monster die for every active monster and takes the action based on the result. Finally, draw the top card of the event deck and place any new quests in an open quest space and any new monster on the board. If the card matches a monster already active, that monster has evolved and adds the new spaces to the monster tray indicated on the card.
Play then continues clockwise with the next player taking regular actions and one special action. Once a player has achieved one of the four victory conditions, they win immediately.
Lords of Hellas has area control, hand management in addition to basic card action mechanics. A hunt is basically a mini hand managenent game inside the main game.
With 4 unique paths to win, the game has high replayability. Its full of strategic decision making; will a player choose to control lands or temple regions with lots of hoplites or would they rather just go and fight monsters with their hero instead. Or perhaps pray at monuments and focus on building one. Its an open sandbox, giving players the freedom to carve their own way to victory.
The components are top notch, beautiful artwork, stunning miniatures and quality pieces, its easy to see why Awaken Realms has had so much success with their Kickstarter campaigns.
Lords of Hellas is the full package; a solid challenging game experience with quality components that are some of the best in modern board games. The gods will certainly favor those who add Lords of Hellas to their own collection.
Next up, Lords of Hellas the solo experience.
Written by Ed Carter
Lynn Makes
Hi, I’m Lynn, and I Make.
Props, Cosplay, Scale Models, Home Projects and just about anything else that involves me Making.
Imagine Peace, A Year of Gifting
Imagine Peace Foundation will host an Earth Day Event that will inform the community about the latest recycling tips and EcoLife Conservation will talk about the incredible work being done on the planet with their charity April 22nd 6-7 pm