Hellas

(All photos provided by the talented users here on Board Game Geek)



Two player games are an integral part of my collection for the simple reason that two is the number of people that is the easiest to get together to play a game. A lot of times in the evening after my wife and I have put the children to bed we are looking for a game for the two of us to play.

I first saw Hellas while surfing around on the net for different games and the time period and pieces caught me right off. "A wargame!" I thought to myself and maybe a wargame my wife will play. Hellas is not a wargame in my opinion because the mechanics and strategy of a wargame are not there. Hellas is a game of area control and that's it. You are conquering land and trying to earn x amount of victory points to become the winner which after reading the rules online sounded right up our alley.

Hellas is a very long game that over dramatizes the game play of conquering cities on your way to scoring enough victory points to win.

On to the review.

THE GAME IN SHORT AND THEME:

The game takes place around the time of the Greek city states and represents the many conflicts of the different Greek peoples in trying to take over other city states and coercing the gods to help.

The theme is what grabbed me first in wanting to play this game. The theme is represented well in this game through the plastic troops and ships to the pictures of the temples on the board and artwork in the cards.

OPENING THE BOX AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS:



The box is the standard Kosmos two player game size if you have played any of that line if not the boxes are close to 10 inches by 10 inches square. A very small box. Quality is good though of the box and upon taking the shrinkwrap off of the game I was impressed by what I saw. The Kosmos line is not overly expensive so don't expect the world here but the quality is equal for what you pay.

My expectations are high here upon opening the box and seeing, at a glance, quality.

THE COMPONENTS:



Included in the box is a deck of cards (in three different colors representing the three different gods; ares (war), neptune (water), and zeus (genera)). These cards are differentiated by color so they are easy to tell apart. The quality of the cards is just sub that of a Bicycle deck of cards. In playing this game one is not going to constantly have to shuffle the cards and worry about wear and tear. The cards work for this game.



The second thing that is included in the box is the two different sets of troops (represented by color), and seperated into two categories boats and infantry. Quality here is cheap plastic. These are not miniatures that I would take the time to paint (which I do not do a lot of anyway) but I will say they serve their purpose save one point. The infantry pieces have a habit of falling down because their bases are small. Quality with these guys for me is not the end all because they function in the game well. I do not like small pieces but this is a small game so what do you do?

Some examples:



Third, you have the game board itself that is represented in six sided "Settlers of Catan" like pieces. The board is modular which is one of the highlights of this game because the game will change with each play. The quality of the pieces is decent as can be said of all the components included in this game but I keep saying this and I think this holds true, "it works." When looking at components that is something that I remind myself of. Does this work? Here it does.

Examples:

Size of Hellas game board piece versus Catan



Fourth, the rulebook including is again decent quality. Glossy paper, pictures, and easy to read print.

THE RULEBOOK; ABILITY TO LEARN AND TEACH HELLAS:

The rule book is easy enough to read and after one read through I felt I had a good enough grasp of the game to play and teach it. The information presented was concise with good illustrations.

I had no trouble teaching this game which is always an added blessing for me because I am usually the one teaching the games at home and in our game club.

After one read through I was able to teach without having to refrence constantly the rulebook. For me a two player game should be that easy to learn and to teach but have depth that will bring one back to play again and again.

So how is the gameplay?

GAMEPLAY:



The game starts with the doplhin tile placed in the middle and then starting tiles are placed to form starting areas for each of the players. This game is a pure area control game. Keep that in mind. With your starting troops on the board the game is ready to begin.

Players will be battling over land and water trying to take over cities to reach the magical victory point total to win the game. ON a players turn players can place troops (boats and/or men), draw cards, or explore by placing a new tile.

Players are limited to the ammount of soldiers they can have in a city (3 men), but the strategy is to build up your arms and then assault cities by moving soldiers into an enemy city causing your troop number to be greater there than your opponents. If you exceed your opponents ammount of arms then you win the city and your influence grows. When the battle occurs over land then if there is a tie the attacker wins unless there is an influence of cards that would change a statistic. The only other action in combat is the cards which can be used to turn the tide in a battle in different ways.

There are also temples that can be taken in areas of control that provide more troops as well.

This constant deploying troops, moving troops, drawing, and playing cards continues until on player wins, no ties.

The game has a built in run away leader detterent as well as a leader deterent. Being in first place as far as points makes the game easier for the other player because you are limited to the ammount of troops that you have and as your kingdom grows it gets harder to defend. Causes a lot of ebb and flow in the game.

This is where my big problem with this game is. This game never wants to end. I equate it to Risk with two people playing with escalating cards and the game constantly goes back and forth with no victor in sight. Same here. One player gets ahead and becomes weak with the gain in land and not enough soldiers to defend and the other player gets ahead and back and forth.

I have yet to play a game in under 90 minutes. To long a game for what is really here. I want to enjoy this game but do not because of the time involved in playing this, what should be a 45-60 minute game that takes 90+.

PRO'S of Hellas
1. Modular board.
2. Simple to play and teach.
3. Good enough depth of strategy for what is here.

CON's of Hellas
1. Time. To long a game for what is here in this area control game.
2. To strong a detterent to the leader, what causes long games.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I really want to like this game and I have not yet gotten rid of it but I have thought about it very often because there are other games that give more for playing them in 90 minutes compared to Hellas. I will probably keep it because once in a blue moon I do feel like playing it but then in the midst of playing I realize why I do not rate this game very high.

If you like area control games this one has an innovative way towards doing that with a great theme that works, but ask yourself if 90 minutes is worth this simple game.

For me the gameplay does not justify the time required to play, and time is a big factor in my game playing and ratings because my time is limited.

My Board Game Geek score: 6/10

What say you?

Thank you!

Gregory