Pericles Review: First Impressions

In Pericles, two players are Spartan kings and two players...

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This is a great game but it's very much too much. I appreciate the inclusion of shorter scenarios but it feels too abbreviated at times in this format. I ultimately got rid of my copy, despite admiring it immensely, due to the difficulties in getting it actually played.

Yeah, this strikes me as one of those games you really need a committed group with the right level of rules grit attachment.

One of these "everyone needs to read and understand the rules for us to have a good time" games rather than a heavy teach at the table game.

I P500'd this thinking it would be four-players ancients Churchill and . . . it is absolutely not. There are obviously "familial"/series connections, but it's like checkers to chess. The Versailles game is supposed to be much closer to Churchill; otherwise I would've canceled. To be clear, I really like Churchill and its weight. It's not that I literally can't comprehend Pericles, though it's sometimes touch-and-go, but I can't imagine teaching it, which I'd have to do. I actually had it lined up, the year it came out, to play at Geekway, and I canceled it because I just couldn't manage to psychologically prepare myself for it and everything else I was doing. Plus, I think my dog got one of my spare pieces, which is still killing me even though it was a spare. (Sorry, and yes, the dog was and is OK.)

Strangely enough I have a friend's copy of this game waiting a trial. I played Pericles once right after it came out and it was a good experience, but took a while, like 5 hours. Since then...I just can't summon the drive to take it back out, relearn it, and teach it to other people. It is a cool game, but it has to have 4 people and they need to be prepared for a 4-6 hour affair and possibly call it a learning game. The way movement functioned and the cleanup at the end of the round were the real issues with planning your turn strategically. Cool game if enough people are really into it. If not shelf toad.