This review is only for the solo campaign for Lords of Hellas by Awaken Realms. While several games play solo, Lords of Hellas has a definitive solo experience apart from the regular game. This is so unique and extensive that it warrants its own review.
The movie “300,” while not historically accurate, is definitely a powerful story based on history where the Greeks faced off against the overwhelming onslaught of the Persian army. In the solo experience in Lords of Hellas, you are Sparta and with one set of Greek allies, you face off against the Persian invasion in a two Act campaign. Sparta awaits your lead, oh mighty Achilles!
To start, set the board on the solo side. Take the blue (Sparta), yellow (Greeks), and green (Persian) armies. You will play Achilles and start with 2 blue hoplites your hero, and a blue control token in Laconia. Place a yellow control token in Mesania. You will separate the events deck into the quests and the monsters. Take the 5 glory tokens and place them in the neutral space on their respective colors on the population attitude track. You will only use the cards with the solo player for all decks (combat, artifact, blessings) so shuffle each and place them on the board where indicated. Take all of the monsters, monster trays, damage counters monsters die and artifacts setting them aside. Place 6 temples on the board and the Oracle of Delphi in the Phocis.
Take the Xerxes board and place the green control tokens on the first spaces of the Invasion and Mobilization tracks. The 4 priests are Xerxes spies and place them on spaces 2 thru 5 of the command track. Place 2 green hoplites in the Chalkidiki region.
Take all of the action tokens and place them in a face-down random pile. In addition, take the quest tokens and set them next to the quest event cards. Finally, assemble all 3 monuments and place them on their respective spaces on the board.
In the prologue of Act 1, draw 2 action tokens and compare their values to table A in the campaign book. This will indicate what 2 monsters start in the game. Place the monster in the region indicated on the monster card. Next draw 3 random action tokens, comparing their values to Table B. These are the only 3 quests available for the game. Place the card in the quest area and the tokens in the appropriate region. Do not return the used action tokens to the supply.
The solo game consists of two phases per turn; a player phase and an event phase. In the player phase, like the multi-player, perform any or all of the regular actions and one special action.
Special actions work a bit differently in the solo campaign, so we will go over them. A recruit action will only grant you one hoplite per region with a city, and it will be an ally until you control the glory token for that region and Sparta will grant two instead of four. You can build temples in both you and your allies’ region and you gain priests of your color only. A hunt action is the same as the multi-player version. A usurp action will allow you to replace yellow control tokens for your own in lands where you have the matching glory token. You can never usurp the red-bordered land. The prepare action works the same except you only recruit allied hoplites.
The solo game replaces the build monument action with the pass action. When the player passes, they remove all action tokens from their player board and set them aside along with any other used action tokens. Recharge their artifacts and move to the event phase. Unlike a build monument action, you do not return your priests from a monument from a prayer regular action, and you do not gain any new priests for each temple you control.
To take a special action, take a random action token and place it on the chosen action on your player board. After taking a special action, move to the event phase.
In the event phase, turn the action token over and look at the number then read the matching script entry from the campaign book. Move the invasion, mobilization markers to the indicated spaces. Once the mobilization track reaches the march space, move the Persian army one region along the path to the Oracle of Delphi. If a monster turn is indicated roll the monster die and match the result to the campaign book. The player then takes their turn and the game continues.
The campaign takes place in 2 Acts and each one has specific objectives to complete in order to win. In Act 1, the Persian advance forces are attempting to destroy the Oracle of Delphi and create a foothold in Greece. Act 2, the Greeks are trying to retake lands, and outlast the Persian invasion. Act 1 immediately ends when the Persians have taken over Phocis and destroyed the Oracle, their invasion forces have reached 10, or the Greeks have eliminated them. How it ends affects how Act 2 begins. The campaign book details all of the various outcomes.
In Act 2, the Greeks place a control token (victory counter) on the 10 space of the invasion track. Every battle they win moves the track down one space towards zero. The player wins if they control 2 lands, control more regions than the Persians, or still remain when the victory counter reaches zero.
Some important things to note, the player may only complete quests during Act one and any uncompleted quests will generate penalties going into Act 2. In addition, monsters, besides terrorizing the regions, will move on an indicated path to reach a monument. Once there, they will attack the monument removing one level every time they take a move action during a monster turn. The player loses immediately if a monument is ever destroyed completely. Furthermore, at the beginning of the game, Every region is neutral and does not support the player. Killing the monsters and completing the quests, will gain their favor and grant you the Glory token. Letting the monsters terrorize them, will decrease your popularity, and eventually, they will side with Persia.
If that wasn’t enough, you must stop the Persian army by battling them. You engage the Persians in two ways; attacking their forces or invading areas they control. When attacking them, they have 2 strengths for every hoplite in the battle against your 1 per hoplite. If there is a control token there, their army strength equals the invasion track value. You may play any number of combat cards you wish. Once the player has no further cards they wish to play, the Persian army then draws a number of combat cards based on their command level and plays the one with the highest strength value. Compare the strengths of each side, the highest wins; ties go to the Persians.
The campaign is not easy and definitely requires maximizing each turn. So many decisions to make, as the player has to decide how to handle the various challenges. Only Achilles can partake in quests and monster hunts, so it is imperative to use him as effectively as possible. Taking him out a few turns to complete quests is necessary, but stopping the monsters from destroying the monuments is just as important.
For a solo game, it is much more than earning points or playing the game as a second player; it is a very immersive experience and different from the standard multi-player.
Lords of Hellas is definitely worth considering for its multi-player version; adding this solo campaign makes it even more so. If you are looking for a well-designed game with critical decisions and challenges, Lords of Hellas may be worth your consideration.
Written by Ed Carter
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