Lords of Hellas Board Game Review

This War of Mine, The Edge: Dawnfall, Nemesis, Dreamfall is on KS now, and some other story game based on Arthurian legends I think.

They are one of those "miniatures-first" companies, but their games have a quality that most others don't. Still, I think they let their Kickstarters run a bit fast and loose, taking backer input, etc. Too many cooks, as they say.

Tainted Grail was the one that had everyone talking a few months ago on here about fussing with the Authurian legend.

That was the vaguely 7th continent one, right?

WadeMonnig wrote: Tainted Grail was the one that had everyone talking a few months ago on here about fussing with the Authurian legend.

Yeah, some people thought Arthurian canon was in their possession and they threw their toys out of the pram when Awaken Realms dared to use it as a base for Tainted Grail.
The game went nuclear on KSer not due to the minis, unless you buy a special expansion there are only 15, but for the theme and content and quality and just fresh use of a few mechanics (including that used in 7th Continent). You actually get the Core but two separate expansions for around $90 plus postage so people are looking forward to it.

Back to Lords of Hellas, I picked up a KS on eBay and am looking forward to getting it out, it should go down well with my euro-centric group (area control, not co-op) as well as my normal trashie group. Unfortunately it had a couple of games in the queue in front of it so there has been a delayed start on it, but going on Wade's and Charlie's reviews I don't think either group will be disappointed.

I don't think you should include expansion content or go more than four players until you've hit the game a few times. The base game feels very well balanced but the expansion content shakes things up. It's also like a 60-90 minute game normally, but going to higher player counts can really drag it out.

southernman wrote: The game went nuclear on KSer not due to the minis, unless you buy a special expansion there are only 15, but for the theme and content and quality and just fresh use of a few mechanics (including that used in 7th Continent). You actually get the Core but two separate expansions for around $90 plus postage so people are looking forward to it.

This seems a little bit of stretch considering that the "Only Core game" option with extra minis outsold the option without minis. I do think the theme/content/quality you mention undoubtedly played a part in its success, but I still think a lot of it was minis-driven.

Last night we had 2 games of Lords of Hellas back to back. We started with a 4 player game. Two players were new. I got Cassandra and thought for a moment about starting at the Oracle of Delphi, but couldn't resist taking Sparta. While I never did a whole lot with it, I never lost it either. No one even tried to take it. Part of the reason was I also got the fantastic Blessing "Local Support" which makes it easy to get hoplites on the board.

One player was going hard on hunting monsters, and he was literally one wound away from killing his third monster. He didn't have the cards for it, so his turn ended. The next player then scooped up his last region needed for a "control 2 lands" victory. This game took 2 hours, and about 45 minutes of instructions. LoH is an easy game to teach, but there is a LOT to teach.

One player left, so we decided to have a 3 player game. Setup resulted in the board being covered in monsters and not a single quest was available. This set the tone for monster hunting, and after 80 minutes, someone killed their third monster for a monster hunting victory. Both new players liked the game, although one player said he didn't like the "alien technology" aspect of it, but whatever.

Both games, I don't think I ever had a viable path to victory. I was thwarted in pretty much anything I did, and mainly served to take up space. I think a solid start is possibly more important than I had previously thought; for example, if initial placements leave someone relatively alone, that player has a huge advantage.

Initial placement is very important. I would always recommend starting with a stronghold so you can recruit.