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Lords of Hellas
60m - 90m
1 - 4 Players
Ages 14+
Hand management games are games with cards in them that reward players for playing the cards in certain sequences or groups. The optimal sequence/grouping may vary, depending on board position, cards held and cards played by opponents. Managing your hand means gaining the most value out of available cards under given circumstances. Cards often have multiple uses in the game, further obfuscating an "optimal" sequence.
Hand Management
Miniatures
Variable Player Powers is a mechanic that grants different abilities and/or paths to victory to the players.
Variable Player Powers
This mechanism requires players to select individual actions from a set of actions available to all players. Players generally select actions one-at-a-time and in turn order. There is usually(*) a limit on the number of times a single action may be taken. Actions are commonly selected by the placement of game pieces or tokens on the selected actions. Each player usually has a limited number of pieces with which to participate in the process.
Worker Placement
Ancient
Miniatures
Mythology
Sci-fi
120.00
€
Original price was: 120.00€.
85.00
€
Current price is: 85.00€.
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Kickstarter – Gamefound
Board Games
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Thematic
Ελληνικα Παιχνιδια
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Arkham Horror: The Card Game
Marvel Champions: The Card Game
The Lord of The Rings: The Card Game
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Aratar
A very well produced game, but this rating is not just based on the components. The game itself is very good. I love the four different victory conditions and the chrome of the huge amount of abilities.
ajewo
Lords of Hellas is an dudes on the map game with a mix of SciFi and Greek mythology. Many game mechanics are inspired by Kemet, but Lords of Hellas still offers some fresh twists. [b]What makes it special?[/b] * Dudes on the map with heroes who hunt monsters and fulfill quests. * Multiple win conditions: area control, hunting monsters, building monuments semi-cooperatively with fragmented statue miniatures. * Special actions that can be used only once until any player resets all player boards which creates an interesting timing element. [b]Pros:[/b] + Artwork Overall great artwork and drawings. + Strange theme The theme is a mix of Greek mythology and SciFi. I really appreciate the cool SciFi look but the SciFi elements looks like a put-on. It does not have any connection to the game or background story. + Great components The components create a great table presence and an epic atmosphere. The minis are very detailed. There are a lot of card board and plastic tokens as well as different deck of cards. However, the player boards could have been recessed so that the tokens for the three hero tracks do not move accidentally. + Different win conditions There are no victory points. Players should pursue multiple goals instead of focusing only on one which I find quite refreshing. Players mainly try to stop other players from winning until one player cannot be stopped. + Area control Each area has either a city (to recruit troops), a temple (to gain priests), or a monument (gain god artifact). Each area type is part of one of the different win conditions. + Neutral areas In the beginning of the game, neutral areas must be conquered first by exceeding the population with a certain number of troops. Depending on one's strategy and special powers, the population may prevent one from expanding quickly. + Free starting positions during set-up Each player can freely choose the starting position anywhere on the map at game set-up. Starting near monsters can involve some risks. + Special action selection Each player board provides the same special actions similar to Kemet. It forces each player to do diverse actions - you cannot activate the same special action more than once until any player builds a monument fragment which resets all player boards. This creates an interesting timing element which is quite unique to Lords of Hellas. + Card-based combat Combat is card-based and similar to Kemet. Each hoplite (troop) provides one strength. During combat attacker and defender play combat cards in turns to increase their combat strength until both pass. The winner is the player who has the highest strength. + Multiple-used combat cards Combat cards are used to attack, to defend, or hunt monsters. You should always have some combat cards in your hand otherwise you are an easy target. Each combat card has a strength value, casualty symbols (like in Kemet), a special effect triggered in combat, and a special effect used when hunting. The multiple-used cards create interesting decision-making: which cards to use and which to keep for future fights? + High variability and replayability Due to different monsters, quests, gods, and heroes (if you own most expansions). Any combination of them create a different game each time. Moreover, each god comes with an unique deck of blessing cards (unique faction upgrades). Since blessing cards are drafted, the order of drawn blessing cards also changes each game even if you play with the same gods / blessing cards. + Drafting unique blessing cards The unique blessing cards create specialized, asymmetric factions (like the power tiles in Kemet) over the course of the game. The drafting is triggered sometimes when a temple is build. The draft is done in reverse player order so that players still build temples even if they do no trigger a draft (in hope that the following player will trigger a draft by building the next temple). + Asymmetric player powers Each player starts with a hero who provides one unique special ability. Like Kemet, all factions are equal at the start of the game but they become more and more asymmetric over the course of the game (due to blessing cards). There is also an expansion that gives each faction its own unlockable special abilities. + Heroes Some heroes can be used to support troops in combat, but not all. Heroes are mainly used to hunt monsters, fulfill quests, or trigger special area effects (e.g., usurp or recruit). You level up your hero by advancing the three hero tracks (leadership, strength, speed) which has a big impact on your game and playstyle, e.g., leadership determines how many troops you can move on your turn (each player starts at 1!). Moreover, heroes get injured which temporarily sets one or more attributes to 1 until healed. The player has to decide the right timing to heal the hero which cost time and maybe some promising opportunities. + Priest management Priests are kind of a resource and mainly used to upgrade your hero. Players race for the limited priest spots on the god monuments. Priests can also be used in combination with some blessing cards for one-time boosts. + Artifacts Artifact cards provide even more unique special powers. They are mainly gained by hunting monsters. + NPC monsters Each monster has a unique attack for combat and for a region. Monsters are hunted for rewards: artifacts, priests, and glory tokens. Hunting three monsters is also a win condition. Hunting monsters is a very enjoyable and a tense push-your-luck game. The hunting player must use combat cards to defeat the monster. Another player draws two monster cards and picks the worse one which is used against the hunter. Moreover, I like that the player who built a monument fragment can do some decision-making for each monster: Attack the region or move? Where does the monster move? + Open map The map is rather open and offers little choke-points which prevents stalemates. Moreover, there are some abilities to attack behind enemy lines. + Player aids [b]Neutrals:[/b] # Language dependent There is text on combat cards, quest cards, player boards. # Some luck of the draw Drawing new combat cards, new quests, and new monsters. Especially hunting monsters has some luck element but it creates also great tension. # Little luck of the roll The game has one die that is only used for the monster "AI" (move or attack). # Many expansions (and modules) Solo campaign, one vs all, 5th and 6th player, a lot of variants. Mixing certain (more complex) modules is not recommended by the rules. If you want to own maximum variability for this game (all heroes, gods, and monsters), you need to buy the The Dark Ages, City of Steels, and Lord of the Sun expansions. I recommend the Dark Ages expansion because it provides the most variability for the base game. # Pretty expensive Especially for completionists. # Potential for king-making # High player interactivity Area control, race for temple and city areas, race for limited priest spots. The game is a classic dudes on the map styled game (no alliances, no negotiation, no agendas like in Twilight Imperium or Rising Sun). # Cadger After one player has failed to defeat a monster, other players can easily finish it (monster keeps the damage). # Game balance If only one player hunts monsters, this player can hardly be stopped and will probably win the game. This may create the impression of an unbalanced game, but it is more the fault of an inexperienced game group to let this happen. # Abrupt endings The game may end abruptly, because one player may do a sneaky attack to take control of a certain area and immediately win the game. # Rules The rules are not always clear (see FAQ: http://awakenrealms.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Multi-faq.pdf). Important information is distributed in small paragraphs and may be easily forgotten / overlooked. However, I like the glossary at the end of the rules. [b]Cons:[/b] - Overwhelming It is hard to keep track of the state of the game due to all the plastic on the board and all the different game mechanics. It is also hard to keep track of all the unique abilities of each player. - Map does not scale The map does not scale with the number of players. I would have preferred a smaller map for 2-3 players on the backside of the main board (instead of the same map used for the solo campaign). The base map is a bit too wide for three players. - Convoluted Some expansions are rather convoluted and give the impression of crowd-pleasers (less would have been more). Some players already find the base game too convoluted due to all the different game mechanics. [b]Thoughts:[/b] Lord of Hellas is clearly inspired by Kemet (blessings, special actions, card-driven combat) which is a good thing: "better copied well than badly made yourself". There are more intertwined game mechanics in Lords of Hellas that provide some fun new twists. What I like most are the multiple win conditions, the NPC monsters, the multiple-used combat cards, and the variable game set-up. Lords of Hellas may not be as elegant and face-paced as Kemet but it surely is more epic. [b]Similar games:[/b] * Kemet: area control, very streamlined, fast paced and aggressive, less epic, card-based combat.
Anambubolea
on top of my list, a war game that deeply embeds adventure and strategy to a level that makes you want to play again and again