Ok its about time i got round to reviewing this gem. Its a favourite of our group - the London Board Games Club.

Essentially each player takes the role of a noble family in Ancient Greece. Through political influence and controlling forces in successful battles, you earn victory points - the most wins. Victory points are gained via statue points, battles won and one point per cube left on the board at the end. The start players get to place starting two influence cubes in each city with a bonus two cubes to be placed in one city or split between two.

Each turn involves the following phases: Tile selection - each player selects a coloured tile which grants either two influence cubes in a named city (two shard tiles), one cube in any city, or one cube in a named city plus the added option to either nominate a cube for election or to eliminate any cube. Players are limited to selected only one colour per turn.

Election, starting with whoever controlled Athens in the previous turn (turns 2 and 3) each player gets to nominate a cube for election. Each vacancy in every city must be filled with candidates. The candidate with the most influence remaining in the city wins the election, but that player then loses influence equal to the opposing influence. Both candidate cubes are also lost. Each city should now have a leader. Any player without control shares control of the Persian forces.

Army and navy placement. Starting with a player nominated by whoever controls Sparta each player in order then 'spends' their tiles with two shards on placing up to two army/navy tiles on the 'battlefield' of their choice. That player may then spend a cube from a city to add up to an additional two tiles from that city.

When placing forces, the first player to place forces at a battlefield in attack, becomes the primary attacker, with forces of other cities acting as allies. A similar principle applies to defending a city except the player who controls a city has control over who is the primary defender. If a battle is contested or a city attacked without defence, victory points are awarded as per the battle tile to the primary attacker or defender. If a battle is defended without being attacked, the defender gains two cubes in that city.
Some battles give a bonus to attack or defence by way of defenders or rebels.
There are rules preventing attacks on cities you control and who can ally with who - i'll not go into the detailed rules - they can be read.

Battles. In turn each contested battle is fought. Each side compares their forces on a ratio chart to determine what they need to roll or better to score a hit. Most battles are fought over two rounds - one land and one sea - although some are one round only. Victory in a round goes to the first side to register two hits or if this is done simultaneously, the first side to score a hit when the other side fails. Victory in round one gives a one hit bouns to round two.

At the end of the turn, each leader dies and a statue in their honour is built. Statue victory points at the end of the game are based on the city (each city grants different levels of points per statue) and how many defeats that city has suffered (the more defeats the less value the statues have).

One of the things i really like about this game is its relative simplicity (although we got a few rules wrong when we first played). Yet the game has a nice depth to it and is nicely balanced. Each city has a fair balance between strength in battle, statue point value, resistance to defeat and the likelihood of needing to be defended each turn.

Influence/elections: Having played this game a few times now, this has to be my favourite part. The choice over which tile to pick, do you nominate early and risk assassination to get a nomination in before someone else, who to assassinate, which cities to go for, which opponents to face, do you even bother to contest leaving two players to contest a city depleting their influence. A lot of variables, backstabbing, tit-for-tat choices and trying to gauge who the leader in the game will be are all part of the fun.

Battles: The battles have brought out some interesting choices too. Choosing one shard tiles to wait and see where other players will invest their resources before committing your own troops is crucial for defenders, whereas attackers also benefit from this - hoping to seize an opportunity to attack a weakly defended city whilst retaining the option to grab the primary attacker slot in key battles.
Players controlling Athens and Sparta usually have to consider allowing others to defend some of the battles they have control over to avoid mass defeat and the choice over where to send allies can make the difference between victory and failure - often a kingmaking move - sometimes a necessity to protect your own interests ie your own statues.

An excellent game. I'm a fan of Struggle of Empires too but Perikles for me is the game to play in preference when there is less time available and i want things lighter on the brain. Typically, this game has been played within 4 hours.