Game: Atlas & Zeus

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gamephotos — 2008-02-06T12:30:41+00:00

As If Drowning Wasn't Enough, You Can Be Killed By Volcanoes Too

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Time To Leave - If You Don't Get Off The Island Quickly, You'll Drown

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Adding Pilings Increases The Capacity Of Single Occupancy Islands - Until The Island Sinks

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Caught In A Net - Trapped On The Island Until It Sinks

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The Islands Are Placed In A Ring, Each Island Connected To Two Others

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Two Islands Left - It's Him Or Me - And He's Got The Flood

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Sample Start Position - One Character Per Island And The Flood Starts On Island 1

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Everyone Squeezed Onto The Last Island And Awaited Their DOOM

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Cards Are Placed On The Action Track (See Comments For Explanation)

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Cards Are Revealed, And Actioned, One At A Time, From Left To Right

Thread: Re: Hand size and Prayer card

GaryP — 2007-03-12T23:11:36+00:00

Yes, you've got it exactly.

Thread: Hand size and Prayer card

shininiu — 2007-03-10T15:47:15+00:00

Prayer card states that;
Draw an additional card for each of your Character Tiles located on the Sacred Islands.

And draw card phase states "Each of the 2 players takes the top 3 cards..."
Then does your hand size increase from 6 to 6+(number of cards you drew with the Prayer card), permanently?

Thread: Atlas Shrugged…

otha62 — 2007-01-25T00:05:52+00:00

Overview
Atlas & Zeus is a 2-player card game about conflict on mythical Atlantis. The designer is Bruno Cathala, who also co-designed Shadows Over Camelot. My version is the English one published by Eurogames as part of their “Games for 2” series. Atlas is banished from Atlantis to bear the world upon his shoulders and Zeus is wreaking havoc among the two greedy clans that remain. Each player is in control of one of the two clans and must play the cards from their action deck proficiently in order to avoid extinction. The object is to be the sole surviving clan before Zeus ruthlessly sinks the last island. Thirty minutes playing time seems to be the norm for us.

Out of the Box
Inside the box are 50 action cards, 16 large island tiles, 16 character tiles, 2 tortoise markers, 2 net markers, 2 pilings markers, a rising waters marker, an initiative marker, a folding action order track, and a rulebook. The tiles and markers are nicely illustrated and of good stock. The cards are on the small side, and kind of thin, but they’re functional, with each card clearly explaining its action. There are 25 red cards and 25 blue, providing a deck of identical actions for each player. The island tiles are each numbered from 1 to 16. The character tiles come in two sets of 8, 1 red set and 1 blue, and represent the clan members, each having a numerical value of either 20, 30, or 40. Likewise, the tortoise, net, and pilings marker sets each have a marker for each player, 1 red and 1 blue. The action order track unfolds to reveal numbered spaces (from 1 to 6) where the action cards will be played during the game. The rulebook comes in sort of a tri-fold brochure; while the text is on the small side, the rules are clear, the action cards are described in detail, and there’s a nice illustration of how the game lays out.

Set Up
Each player selects a color and takes the matching action card deck, along with the matching tortoise, net, and pilings markers. Shuffle the 16 island tiles and randomly place them face up, forming a circle of islands. Next, shuffle the 16 character tiles and randomly place one on each island. Put the rising waters marker on island number 1. Unfold the action order track and place it on one side of the playing area, in easy reach of both players. Each player should shuffle their own action cards, forming a draw deck in their area. Lastly, each player should draw 6 cards from their respective decks to form their starting hands. The player whose character tile is on island number 1 receives the initiative marker and starts the game.

Game Play
During your turn, you must place 3 action cards from your hand on to the action order track. You must place your cards face down on 3 of the 6 numbered slots on the track and cannot place cards on slots of the same color (the 1&2 are yellow, 3&4 are white, 5&6 are green). This is meant to balance actions, with the only way you can have two actions in a row is if you place cards on either the 2 and the 3 or the 4 and the 5. After both players have placed their cards, starting from the first slot on the action track and ending with the sixth, each card is revealed and acted upon one at a time. After all actions (i.e., characters moved/removed, markers moved/placed, islands sunk) have been completed, Zeus will sink the island containing the rising waters marker, and that island will be removed from the game, along with any residing character tiles. The remaining islands will be moved closer, filling in any gaps, and the rising waters marker will then be placed on the next highest valued island compared to the island that just sank. For example, say the 3, 4, 7, 10, and 15 islands are in play and the marker was on island 7; that island would sink and be removed from the game and the marker would move to island 10. Each player will draw three cards from their respective decks and the initiative marker will be passed to the other player and the next round will start.

The game ends when there is only one clan inhabiting Atlantis, with the player controlling that clan the winner. If both clans are eliminated during the same action, then there is no winner.

Observations
While there’s a bit of randomness in Atlas & Zeus, particularly in the initial tile layout and the drawing of action cards, it doesn’t overwhelm the game. Managing your hand well and playing your action cards in tandem can somewhat counter a little ill luck. I try to save attacking cards, like Harpoon, Volcanic Eruption, Crab, and Net, for turns when I have the initiative and can play them in the number 1 slot, guaranteeing that my opponent can’t escape their full power. Other cards, like Tidal Surge and Tidal Wave, I always try to place on the 6 slot, so that when I move the rising waters marker, I know where it’ll end for that round. Likewise, when I play a Fog card (allows me to remove one of my opponent’s cards), I’ll usually remove his last one, especially if it’s on the 6 slot. Some cards are lethal when used in combination, such as Weakness and Crab, Movement and Harpoon, or perhaps Net and Tidal Wave/Tidal Surge. Before playing, I’d suggest you read through each card’s action and understand just what it does. Not only will this give you a little insight to which cards will interact well with each other, it can also prevent you from making a misplay. Case in point, my nephew played an Indiscretion card meaning I had to play my cards face up next turn. Well the next turn he had the initiative marker so I placed my cards last; thus since he’d already played his cards, seeing my face up cards didn’t give him much of an advantage.

I really like the mechanic of the action order track as it adds another dynamic to the game. Not only must you plan your actions three cards in advance, you also have to take into account your opponent’s possible moves as well. Do you fill the 1 slot with a powerful card, or opt to use a deadly 2-3 combination, hoping that your opponent won’t be able to place a counter to it in the 1 slot? While it’s not brain surgery, it definitely makes the game more lively and gives you something to think about.

Conclusions
I’ve always enjoyed 2-player games, especially those from Kosmos and, more recently, those from Queen. It may be that I like the 2-player games because I have more opportunity to play those since it's easier to find just one other player. Any way, I’ve found Atlas & Zeus to be comparable to the Kosmos line of games. It plays quickly, it’s fun, and as I’ve mentioned before, the action order track makes it even more intriguing. So if you’re looking for a solid 2-player game of conflict with a balanced mix of hand management skills and chance, this is probably a good choice for you. I currently rate Atlas & Zeus a “sinking” 7.

Thread: Re: Fogged meditation

Ocssalg — 2006-07-25T13:57:02+00:00

So it's an automatic Meditation. Funny I missed that. Thanks.

Thread: Re: Sinking volcano

Liumas — 2006-07-24T15:11:13+00:00

A quick search of the existing messages reveals that this question has been asked and answered before. Bruno Cathala's answer:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/20580

Thread: Re: Fogged meditation

Liumas — 2006-07-24T15:03:36+00:00

From the rules, under Phase 5, "Take Cards":

If there are not enough cards available, the discarded cards are shuffled to create a new draw pile.

Thread: Fogged meditation

Ocssalg — 2006-07-24T13:37:22+00:00

Often the use of "meditation" is necessary to shuffle your discards back into your draw pile, or else you will run out of cards to draw. What happens if your Meditation card is eliminated by your opponent's Fog card? Do you autmatically lose when you run out of cards to draw?

Thread: Sinking volcano

Ocssalg — 2006-07-24T13:32:41+00:00

Normally the island with the 'rising tide' marker on it sinks at the end of the round. What happens if a volcanic island has the 'rising tide' marker and it erupts during the round? We immediately move the marker to the next lowest island, and that island sinks at the end of the round. Another alternative would be that no additional island sinks that round, i.e. move the marker to the next lowest island at the end of the round with no further sinking. We can't find anything in the rules about this.

Thread: Atlas & Zeus: Review

gschloesser — 2006-02-22T19:48:49+00:00

ATLAS & ZEUS

Designed by: Bruno Cathalla
Released by: EuroGames
2 players, 20 minutes
Reviewed by: Greg J. Schloesser

EDITOR'S NOTE: This review first appeared in Counter Magazine #26

Since Atlas & Zeus was designed by Bruno Cathalla, the fact that the game scores higly on the “chaos” meter shouldn’t have surprised me. Bruno seems to favor a healthy dose of chaos in his designs, sharing that trait with his kindred spirit, Bruno Faidutti.

Atlas and Zeus recreates the mythical struggle to survive the catastrophic sinking of the island kingdom of Atlantis. The sons of Atlas had divided into two warring clans, struggling for control of Atlantis. Zeus was incensed by their greed, so he sent a massive flood that quickly began sinking the islands of the kingdom. The final survivor would be granted survival by the powerful god.

Sixteen island tiles, conveniently numbered 1 – 16, are randomly placed in a circle. Amongst these sixteen tiles are four volcanoes and two sacred islands. Onto these tiles are placed sixteen character tiles, 8 representing each player. These character tiles have values of 20 – 40, with most of them being soldiers carrying a value of 20. The “rising waters” marker, the harbinger of doom, is placed beside the #1 island tile.

Each player receives identical decks of cards, which are the engines that drive the game. These cards trigger an assortment of actions, including the ability to move one’s forces from island to island, harpoon an enemy character on an adjacent island, attack an opponent, cause an unexpected tidal surge, immobilize an opponent’s character, reshuffle your deck, etc. Players shuffle their decks and draw six into their hands, and the start player is determined by flipping the initiative token. The game begins.

Each turn consists of six phases:

1) The player with the initiative marker chooses his three actions. The player places three of his cards face-down onto the “Action Order Track”, which is numbered 1 – 6. Each set of two consecutive numbers is colored differently, which is important to the playing of the cards. When a player places his three cards, he may not place two cards on numbers with the same color. This will prevent a player from having more than two consecutive turns in a row.

2) The player without the initiative marker then chooses his three actions. This player now places three of his cards on the remaining three spaces on the Action Order Track.

3) Resolve actions. The six cards are revealed and, in order, the actions are resolved.

4) Sinking an Island. The island where the “rising waters” marker is located sinks into the sea, taking any occupants with it. The marker is then moved to the island with the next highest number.

5) Draw cards. Each player takes three more cards from their deck into their hands.

6) Turn End. The circle of islands is condensed to close the gap left by the sinking island, and the initiative marker is transferred to the opposing player.

The game ends as soon as one player loses their final character, whereupon victory goes to his opponent. Our games have all clocked in at 20 – 30 minutes.

As mentioned, the cards lie at the heart of the game and control the action. The key is deciding how to use the cards you possess in order to bring about the desired results. For instance, a player might wish to play a card allowing him to move one or more of his characters, followed by a card which causes a volcano to erupt. The eruption destroys the island, plus disrupts the adjacent islands, forcing any inhabitants to flee to neighboring islands. Since each island has a capacity of “1” or “3” inhabitants, the timely eruption of a volcano can cause your opponent to lose numerous characters.

The kicker, of course, is that your opponent will be playing cards, too. This often disrupts your plans and causes unforeseen results. In other words: chaos. Still, the chaos seems a bit constrained, so it isn’t just a matter of playing cards mindlessly, hoping for the best. It is very important to use your cards in the best possible manner and in the most powerful combinations.

Many cards are VERY powerful. The Tidal Wave card allows the player to move the ‘rising waters’ marker to any island, while the Tidal Surge cards -- there are 2 of these in each deck – moves the marker up to two adjacent islands. Placed late in a round, these cards can catch your opponent off-guard, causing one or more of his characters to be trapped on the doomed island. Even once used, these cards can resurface with the play of a Mediation card, which allows the player to reshuffle his deck.

The harpoon cards also wreak death. This allows a player to slay a character on an adjacent island. The Metamorphosis cards allow the player to transform his characters on an island into killer crabs, attacking any opposing characters on that island. Nasty crustaceans.

A few cards are relatively worthless if drawn later in the game, or if the current board situation is not conducive to their use. Like most card games, the luck of the draw can and does play a factor. If your opponent gets certain cards into his hand before you, he may be able to wreak havoc on your characters and put you at a severe disadvantage. This can be frustrating.

Although I do enjoy the game, I also have some concerns. I is quite possible for a player to be hampered with poor or even useless cards for several turns. This can frustrating, and it can magnify the amount of luck involved in the game. One has to accept the “luck of the draw” element, both good and bad, in order to enjoy the game. Otherwise, frustration will quickly rise to the surface.

If one can accept the inherent swings of fate caused by the luck of the draw, then Atlas & Zeus will likely prove to be a fun filler. If you are looking for a game which gives you control of your fate and allows for a wide breadth of strategy, then you would be best advised to alter your vacation plans and not visit these doomed islands.

Thread: Re: Question on Island sinking

GaryP — 2006-01-07T17:01:51+00:00

Not that this will probably ever be noticed, but a big thanks from me as well, Bruno. This came up in an earlier game, and we made the correct choice, it seems, but I didn't have BGG handy at the time to see if this had already been addressed. Congrats on a great game, and thanks for taking the time to answer questions!

Thread: Re: Question about battling.

GaryP — 2006-01-07T16:55:15+00:00

I'm quite fond of this game, but I agree that this could have been spelled out more explicitly in the rules.

The only way to engage in battle is play one of your three CRAB Metamorphosis cards. When played, your opponent's characters are removed on any and all islands where the sum of the numbers on your character tiles is greater than your opponent's sum. Nothing happens on any island where your sum is equal to or less than your opponent's. The WEAKNESS card is only useful when played before a CRAB card in the round, reducing your opponent's strength totals.

The HARPOON is a straightforward attack between adjacent islands and is good for eliminating the high-numbered characters.

Other than that, you'll have to use some clever play to persuade your opponent to nap in the sea bed. VOLCANIC ERUPTION has two parts. It's an easy pick if your opponent is sitting on an island. However, it can be additionally devestating if your opponent has characters on an island between the volcano and an occupied 1-Character island. They will also be eliminated as they cannot move away. (See the VOLCANIC ERUPTION card description.) Finally, good use of TIDAL SURGE, TIDAL WAVE, or a well-placed NET can ensure your enemies take the final plunge. Just keep in mind that a FOG can just as easily ruin those plans.

Don't forget your surfboard.

Thread: Question about battling.

thirteen — 2006-01-07T09:41:21+00:00

I have a question about battling in this game. HOW DO YOU DO IT? The rules sheet I got with the game explains everything else about the game, but never once mentions battling. Could someone clue me in as how to do this? This looks like a really cool game, if I just knew this one little bit about the game. Thank you.

Thread: Re: Some Atlas & Zeus card questions

relic10 — 2005-06-17T22:06:13+00:00

Thank you for the help.

Thread: Atlas & Zeus Review

relic10 — 2005-06-11T03:24:32+00:00

If I had to pick my favorite game designer, I suppose I’d have to choose Bruno Cathala. While the Kosmos 2-player line is my favorite line of games, Euro Games “Games for 2" is my second favorite; and while the Kosmos line has a laundry list of designers, the “Games for 2" are all designed by Bruno. I’m a sucker for inexpensive, simple, quick, 2-player games, which is probably why I like the “Games for 2" line like I do, and Atlas & Zeus is another good addition to that series.

First of all, the similarities and differences when compared to other “Games for 2": Atlas & Zeus comes in a small, sturdy box and contains components made of quality stock, as could be expected. The rules are short and sweet, and play relies heavily on the cards in one’s hand, which is also par for the course in the “Games for 2" line. As for the differences, this game is not played on a board; instead, sixteen 3" x 3" tiles are laid out in a circular pattern to form the playing area. Also, this is the first game in the line to have a theme that is not humorous, or at least light. As a matter of fact, the beautiful artwork on the components does a great job of painting an atmosphere of bleakness and turmoil, which fits the theme quite nicely.

The game takes place in the final days of Atlantis, with large sections of the land falling off into the sea at an alarming rate. The players, members of two separate clans, find themselves battling each other for a temporary foothold on land that is all too quickly being consumed by the raging ocean waters.

To set up, the sixteen tiles that make up the playing area are placed randomly face up in a rough circle between the two players. Each of these tiles depicts a small piece of land, whether it be temple on a rocky crag, a volcano, or a small fertile island, all of which are surrounded by a raging sea. Some of these tiles have a maximum capacity of one character tile at a time and others allow unlimited character tiles on them at one time. Speaking of character tiles, there are also sixteen of these, representing soldiers of three different strengths (8 for each player, with one player playing the blue army and one the red), which are placed randomly face up, one character tile per island tile on the sixteen island tiles. Each of the sixteen island tiles is numbered (1-16); a token representing the rising ocean water is placed on the island marked with a 1. As you can see, set up is totally random in this game. Then each player is given an identical deck of 25 cards in their own color (blue or red), which they play from throughout the game.

Gameplay goes like this: Each player starts with a hand of six cards drawn from the top of his or her deck of 25. There are no turns in this game, per se, as both players decide at the same time which three of their current six cards will be played during the course of that turn. When both players have secretly decided what cards to play this turn, the player with initiative (initiative alternates between the players each turn) places his or her three cards face down on the action order track. The action order track is a narrow cardboard track with six spaces, numbered 1-6. The player with initiative decides where his three cards will be placed, and which card on which space. There are simple rules regarding placement of cards on the track to prevent one player from playing his cards all together, or claiming the first few spaces on the track all to himself. Then the other player places his cards on the remaining three spaces of the track, in whichever order he chooses.

The cards are then resolved in the order they appear on the action order track by turning the first card face up, resolving it, and then moving onto the next card. The cards are the meat of the game, allowing movement of characters, combat with the other player’s characters, defensive actions, offensive actions, etc. Not all cards have a military feel; for example, of the sixteen island tiles, four are volcanic islands. The “volcanic eruption” card allows the player to remove one of these of his choice, destroying that tile, but also forcing an evacuation of the two adjacent tiles. If characters cannot evacuate the adjacent islands, they are destroyed. (That’s just an example of one card; there are many in the game).

After all six cards have been resolved, one of the remaining island tiles sinks into the sea and is removed from the game. This will be the tile with the “rising water marker” on it, which begins the game on tile #1. However, through the normal play of cards, the”rising water marker” will be moved around quite a bit during the game, so the tiles will not be removed from the game simply in numerical order. After a tile is removed, the “rising water marker” is placed on the tile with the next available number, chronologically. If there are no tiles with a higher number than the one that just sank, then the “rising water marker” is placed on the lowest numbered tile that still remains. The player who had initiative this turn relinquishes it to his opponent, and a new turn begins.

The game ends when one of the players loses his or her last character tile. If it so happens that both players lose their last tile(s) at the same time, the game is a tie and both players lose.

Overall, this is a good game. It is certainly not as fast-paced as many two-player games, including any of the other "Games for 2". However, it is strong on theme, easy to learn and teach others, and is quick and fun to play, but there is plenty of room for strategy. The action order track is a nice mechanic, with a mix of randomness and strategy rolled into one. Even though both players have identical decks of cards, they are drawn randomly, with six in hand at any one time. And since three of these must be played on a turn, a player may find himself trying to make the best of a bad situation. The action order track also makes it so that the players are trying to benefit from their chosen cards for the turn while trying to guess, and if possible disrupt, their opponent’s actions, as the action cards are resolved in order, and played face down.

My only complaint with this game is that it usually turns out that surviving the destruction of Atlantis is secondary to surviving the attacks of one’s opponent. In other words, since each player has eight character tiles to play with, if one or both players act aggressively, it will probably be the case that the game will end with most of the sixteen island tiles still in play. I would’ve liked to see more cards effecting the islands themselves, and fewer military cards.

That being said, I still like this game and would definitely recommend it.

Thread: Re: Netted character questions

rplea — 2005-06-04T19:17:27+00:00

And can characters move through islands containing netted characters?

Thread: Re: Some Atlas & Zeus card questions

Fledermaushaus — 2005-05-30T21:01:06+00:00

In answer to your questions:
1. Cards are revealed and actioned in order. Firstly, 'The Action Card in the position #1 is revealed and its effect is immediately applied. Then the second action is resolved in the same way, and so on..' So as soon as a Fog card is revealed its action has to be carried out immediately, and so you can only guess blindly.
2. The movement is '3 movement points to be distributed as you wish between your Character Tiles'. So you can move one tile 3 spaces, or 3 tiles one space each etc. There is no restriction on where they start from i.e. each tile can start from any island and so up to 3 tiles could be moved from up to 3 islands with each movement card.

Thread: Some Atlas & Zeus card questions

relic10 — 2005-05-30T20:26:04+00:00

1) When the FOG card is played, does the player playing the FOG card have to decide which card will be effected blindly (i.e. as soon as the fog card comes up) or can he wait until his opponent's cards begin to turn face up to make the decision?

2) When playing a MOVEMENT card, the instructions say the destination of the 1-3 character tiles can be multiple islands; so, can the start point of the movement be divided among up to three islands, or must the movement begin from only one island per card?

Thread: Atlas & Zeus SURVIVE variant

Fenway5 — 2005-02-14T20:44:58+00:00

Being a fan of the old Survive game (and of Atlas & Zeus) we play a variant that adds to the tension and fun in the game. The cardboard markers for your troops should be placed one at a time face down on an island tile. This makes it much more hazardous to jump, move, and attack. Also this makes it more difficult for your opponent to sink an island not knowing who is going into the drink! Mark the red team tiles with a small red dot or soime similar mark to denote it from the blue team. In our own game we use 20mm greeks glued to small red and blue chips with their point value written on the bottom-so it is secret!! Much more flavor and tension in the game now! Have a go yourself!

Thread: Session Report

Misha99 — 2005-01-10T14:15:46+00:00

Chris and I played this afternoon - it was a learning game for him, whilst I had played Greg Schloesser a few months ago when I last visited New Orleans.

Our first game was aborted after a rule error (I had thought that men of different colours on one island was an automatic battle). In our restart the score was close, with a couple of notable plays. I had planned to destroy a volcano with 2 of Chris's pieces on it when he pulled out Fog and took my eruption away from me! Talk about lucky!

He also managed to cast a net on an island with 2 of my pieces, followed by a Tidal Wave to destroy them.

In the end it was 3 men to 2 left in my favour, a late Tidal Wave of mine was enough to eliminate his pieces and give me the win.

Ratings: 7 all round.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2004-08-23T15:33:52+00:00

R.J. arrived near the conclusion of our Goa game. When it was finished, both Michael and Willerd departed, leaving R.J. and I with some time to occupy before the Shanghai Trader game concluded. After a quick consideration of the options, I decided to introduce him to Atlas & Zeus, Bruno Cathalla’s latest creation.

I described the game in considerable detail in the May 12, 2004 Gaming Session report on the Westbank Gamers website, so I won’t go into further detail here. The game, although quite chaotic, is entertaining. Attempting to arrange the right combination of cards – and hoping that your opponent won’t play a card to spoil that combo – is enjoyable. However, it can also be frustrating if you are saddled with mediocre to poor to useless cards for a turn or two, while your opponent enjoys a powerful hand. Yes, this should even out over the course of the game, but there is no guarantee.

Still, I’m enjoying the game so far. I don’t know if it will have a long shelf-life, but it seems destined to stick around for awhile longer.

After having me on the ropes near the end of the game, I used a well-placed net and a timely tidal surge to eliminate the final three soldiers from R.J.’s army. This earned me the victory and the favor of Atlas.

Ratings: R.J. 7, Greg 6.5

Thread: Re:Netted character questions

Bruno des Montagnes — 2004-07-26T08:55:02+00:00

ndgamer (#46639),

Answer is yes!!
Net is to be considered as a "wall" all around the island, that avoid characters to go elsewhere (excepted if they can fly).
So, there is no problem to throw a harpoon above the net !

Thread: Re:Netted character questions

ndgamer — 2004-07-25T02:50:22+00:00

Bruno des Montagnes (#46531),

Thank you for responding, and yes, I am enjoying this game quite a lot. One more question about the netted characters...

Can a netted character harpoon another character, or does the net prevent this?

Thanks again

Thread: Re:Netted character questions

Bruno des Montagnes — 2004-07-23T21:02:43+00:00

Hello !!

you're right !!

Netted characters can be harpooned
And they are eliminated in case a volcano erupts on an adjacent island (they can't escape, so they are eliminated !!)

hope you'll have fun with this game
p
Bruno

Thread: Netted character questions

ndgamer — 2004-07-15T02:41:40+00:00

I've had two questions pop up while playing this game.

1. Can netted characters be harpooned? (we assumed yes in our game)

2. If a volcano erupts, and the characters on the adjacent island are netted, are they allowed to move, or are they eliminated? (we assumed eliminated)

Thanks for any response.

Thread: Atlas & Zeus fluffy variant

Steve Cox — 2004-07-01T12:11:49+00:00

Some of the cards can be devastating, particularly if played early on or against a heavily populated island. Players who prefer to dampen down the swings in fortune that this can cause might like to consider making the following modifications:

Harpoon: The victim decides which of his tiles will be eliminated (partisan gods protect the rest). This way, your High Priest stands a chance of surviving beyond round 2!

Turtle card: In addition to its standard function, the Turtle marker protects the tile it is on against the crabs. However, the strength of the tile so protected is not counted when determining whether the crabs have superiority on the island. This change restores the usefulness of the Turtle card, which is reduced by the modification to the Harpoon card.

Crab cards: A maximum of one tile is killed on each island (crabmaster's choice, but note the new effect of the Turtle marker). Each surviving tile not protected by a Turtle marker attempts to escape to one of the two adjacent islands, but can do so only if there are no crabs there (regardless of their strength), and if the relevant population limit is not exceeded. Unsuccessful escapees are eliminated.

Breakers: No change - this card is more easily countered than the other people killers.

Stormtide: The card owner declares which island he intends to hit and moves the flood marker three islands closer to it via the quickest route (his choice if both routes are equal). If the stormtide has not yet arrived, both players then have the chance to evacuate one of their tiles from the destination island (card owner first), as if a volcano had erupted in the direction from which the stormtide is coming. The flood marker is then moved another 3 islands closer, after which each player can attempt to evacuate a second tile. This procedure is repeated until the stormtide reaches its destination.

Volcanic eruption: Evacuation of the adjacent islands begins with the tiles of your opponent.

Indiscretion: Assuming that the indiscreet player has the initiative, he does not turn his cards face up until after his opponent has chosen his three cards, but before he has placed them on the actions chart.

Thread: Re:Initial Report

Bruno des Montagnes — 2004-06-08T09:14:04+00:00

gschloesser (#38145),

Thank you for your report greg, and for steve's precisions, which are all correct.

It's true that the "3 man" symbol can lead to some confusion.... frankly speaking, i don't understand very well designer's choice.

Concerning luck factor, it's not so heavy when you well know the game and all the different cards. When the 2 players have the same level, it's allways the one which manages to anticipate opponent's actions which wins the game.

Many times it happened to me to loose 5 of mine atlants in the 2 first turns, without killing any of my opponents ones... but i was able to win the game, just managing to anticipate what she wanted to do... I kept my best cards for later in the game, i played them when i was quite sure to have the best efficiency and then i won !

Thread: Re:Initial Report

gschloesser — 2004-05-31T23:32:16+00:00

Steve Cox (#37997),

We did play 1, 2, and 4 correctly, but I phrased the description of the Tidal Surge card poorly. We did misplay #3, and you are correct about the only place this being listed being the illustration. Why on earth would they put a "3 man" symbol on these islands??

Regarding #5, I'm pretty sure we played this correctly, but when it was used, it only affected one island as the other islands weren't occupied from characters from both players.

Thanks for pointing this out to me!

Thread: Re:Initial Report

Steve Cox — 2004-05-30T18:24:34+00:00

gschloesser (#37681),
You might be interested to know that there are some differences between the German rules and the rules that you were using. I'm not claiming that the German rules are more definitive, as I suspect that the original rules are the French ones, which I haven't seen, but you might prefer one or two of them. Perhaps someone who has the French rules could comment?
1. The start player is not chosen randomly. Instead, he is the player whose people tile is on the first island. This makes sense, as it gives him a better chance to move his people away before the island sinks.
2. The action cards are not turned over all at once, but one by one, each being actioned before the next is revealed. Not having played the game yet, I can't tell what effect this would have, but it might help to reduce the damage inflicted by some of the more powerful cards, since their owner won't know what countermeasures his opponent might have put in place. My assumption is that the card affected by the Fog card has to be selected blind with this rule.
3. Island cards with 3 figures shown do not have a population limit of three, but an unlimited population limit ("unbegrenzte Anzahl von Personen")! This fact is mentioned only in the picture of a typical card in the 'Game Components' section of the rules, so perhaps you missed it?
4. Your description of the Tidal Surge card is ambiguous. The German rules allow the 'rising waters' marker to be moved only to one of the two adjacent islands.
5. The Killer Crabs card affects ALL islands, not just one! I should imagine that this rule change would have a considerable effect on the players' strategies, since it would make it far more risky to share islands with your opponent, at least until he had expended all his crab cards (but it would probably be a safe bet that his next card would then be Meditation (what you call Mediation)).

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2004-05-28T17:10:43+00:00

From a game ruled by bluffing and guessing (Tyrus), we moved on to a game ruled by chaos. Since Atlas & Zeus was designed by Bruno Cathalla, this shouldn’t have surprised us a bit. Bruno seems to favor a healthy dose of chaos in his designs, sharing that trait with his kindred spirit, Bruno Faidutti.

Atlas and Zeus recreates the mythical struggle to survive the catastrophic sinking of the island kingdom of Atlantis. The sons of Atlas had divided into two warring clans, struggling for control of Atlantis. Zeus was incensed by their greed, so he sent a massive flood that quickly began sinking the islands of the kingdom. The final survivor would be granted survival by the powerful god.

Sixteen island tiles, conveniently numbered 1 – 16, are randomly placed in a circle. Amongst these sixteen tiles are four volcanoes and two sacred islands. Onto these tiles are placed sixteen character tiles, 8 representing each player. These character tiles have values of 20 – 40, with most of them being soldiers carrying a value of 20. The “rising waters” marker is placed beside the #1 island tile.

Each player receives identical decks of cards, which are the engines that drive the game. These cards trigger an assortment of actions, including the ability to move one’s forces from island to island, harpoon an enemy character on an adjacent island, attack an opponent, cause an unexpected tidal surge, immobilize an opponent’s character, reshuffle your deck, etc. Players shuffle their decks and draw six into their hands, and the start player is determined by flipping the initiative token. The game begins.

Each turn consists of six phases:

1) The player with the initiative marker chooses his three actions. The player places three of his cards face-down onto the “Action Order Track”, which is numbered 1 – 6. Each set of two consecutive numbers is colored differently, which is important to the playing of the cards. When a player places his three cards, he may not place two cards on numbers with the same color. This will prevent a player from having more than two consecutive turns in a row.

2) The player without the initiative marker then chooses his three actions. This player now places three of his cards on the remaining three spaces on the Action Order Track.

3) Resolve actions. The six cards are revealed and, in order, the actions are resolved.

4) Sinking an Island. The island where the “rising waters” marker is located sinks into the sea, taking any occupants with it. The marker is then moved to the island with the next highest number.

5) Draw cards. Each player takes three more cards from their deck into their hands.

6) Turn End. The circle of islands is condensed to close the gap left by the sinking island, and the initiative marker is transferred to the opposing player.

The game ends as soon as one player loses their final character, whereupon victory goes to his opponent. This took about 30 minutes in our inaugural game.

As mentioned, the cards lie at the heart of the game and control the action. The key is deciding how to use the cards you possess in order to bring about the desired results. For instance, a player might wish to play a card allowing him to move one or more of his characters, followed by a card which causes a volcano to erupt. The eruption destroys the island, plus disrupts the adjacent islands, forcing any inhabitants to flee to neighboring islands. Since each island has a capacity of “1” or “3” inhabitants, the timely eruption of a volcano can cause your opponent to lose numerous characters.

The kicker, of course, is that your opponent will be playing cards, too. This often disrupts your plans and causes unforeseen results. In other words: chaos. Still, the chaos seems a bit constrained, so it isn’t just a matter of playing cards mindlessly, hoping for the best. It is very important to use your cards in the best possible manner and in the most powerful combinations.

Many cards are VERY powerful. He Tidal Wave card allows the player to move the ‘rising waters’ marker to any island, while the Tidal Surge cards -- there are 2 of these in each deck – moves the marker up to two adjacent islands. Placed late in a round, these cards can catch your opponent off-guard, causing one or more of his characters to be trapped on the doomed island. Even once used, these cards can resurface with the play of a Mediation card, which allows the player to reshuffle his deck.

The harpoon cards also wreak death. This allows a player to slay a character on an adjacent island. The Metamorphosis cards allow the player to transform his characters on an island into killer crabs, attacking any opposing characters on that island. Nasty crustaceans.

A few cards are relatively worthless if drawn later in the game, or if the current board situation is not conducive to their use. Like most card games, the luck of the draw can and does play a factor. If your opponent gets certain cards into his hand before you, he may be able to wreak havoc on your characters and put you at a severe disadvantage. This can be frustrating.

I was enjoying the game more than I thought until it neared the end. We spent several turns unable to do anything terribly constructive, and then I had a few turns where the cards I held were no match for the cards my opponent possessed. I had an advantage in numbers, but couldn’t draw the needed cards to finish him off. This was frustrating and seemed to magnify the amount of luck involved in the game. My initial enthusiasm declined.

I am anxious to play again to see if this was just a fluke or that future games will somewhat even out the luck-of-the-draw. I’m to too optimistic, as I fear that the luck is part and parcel with the card based system utilized. Still, the game was not a bust and did have some fun elements. I was more impressed with this than with Tyrus.

I drew quite a few harpoon cards early, causing the death of several of Jim’s characters. Jim, however, was able to use his “Prayer” card early, allowing him to draw two extra cards into his hand. This significantly increased his options each turn. I didn’t draw my Prayer card until all the Sacred Islands had sunk, meaning I didn’t have the opportunity to use the card.

After reducing Jim to one character, I was unable to get the cards into my hand that I needed to finish him off. He, however, harpooned and flooded my remaining characters, using a crab creature to dispatch my final character and claim the victory.

Ratings: Jim 6.5, Greg 6

Thread: Initial Report

gschloesser — 2004-05-27T20:57:43+00:00

Thread: Session Report

Yoder — 2004-05-19T14:19:48+00:00

Players: John, Joel

I normally don't do this in session reports, but since there's very little information here as of yet, I will describe the game a bit before giving the exciting, event filled play by play. I'm not going to describe every aspect of the game, just give the basic rules.

Description
Atlas and Zeus is one of those board/card hybrids that uses tiles to form a board-like arrangement, but uses cards to drive the movement of all pieces. The game starts with the 16 "island" tiles in a circle, in random order, with one randomly chosen "character" tile on each. Eight character tiles are yours, and eight are your opponent's; most are rated 20, although there are a few rated 30 and one 40.

The islands are numbered. In numerical order, one island tile will sink at the end of each round, eliminating all characters on it. The object is to have the last remaining character tile in play (it's possible to draw if all remaining characters are eliminated at the same time). Play is driven by 25 card decks, identical save for color, one for you and one for your opponent. The cards do things like:
Move: move one or more characters around the circle. Some islands can only have 1 character on them.
Harpoon: kill off an opponent's character.
Tortoise: protect one character from harpooning.
Net: keep all characters from moving away from an island.
Crab: pick an island; if one player's characters have less total value than the other's, he loses all the characters.
Weaken: all opponent's characters on an island have a value of 10 this round.
Tidal Wave: change which island sinks this round.

The clever bit is that players must choose the three cards they are going to use in the round in advance, and put them on an order track that has six spaces. One player places all three of his cards, then the other player (switching initiative each round). Each player must place one card in spaces 1 and 2, one in 3 and 4, and one in 5 and 6--so it's possible to have two cards in a row, but not three. It's got a sort of Robo Rallyish, Dragon Delta like feel. You can move a character onto an island intending to play crab, only to find your opponent is gone when you do.

Session
As you might have gathered from reading the above, the game is pretty bloody, with lots of ways to kill off your opponent's characters (and hey, if we're playing to the last man standing, there had better be!) John came out of the gate with a harpoon to the head for my 40 value high priest, then played tortoise on his own. I promptly netted that island, figuring since it had a low number my revenge would come soon enough. I then started moving characters to the two "sacred" islands and using the "prayer" cards to earn extra cards with them. Unfortunately, this was to be my downfall, as John drew his Tidal Waves early and killed a number of my guys.

At this point John had me well outnumbered. I fought valiantly, using harpoon and crab to kill off quite a few of his guys. A volcanic eruption at the right moment would have evened things out, but mine was at the bottom of my deck. In the end, John had three characters and I had one. In the last round he moved two characters to my island and crabbed the last scion of my noble race. There were probably six or seven islands left when we were done.

Analysis
There is a lot of luck in Atlas and Zeus, most of it stemming from the need to second guess your opponent. Many of the cards work best in tandem, but there are plenty of ways for your opponent to disrupt your play, including a "fog" card which allows him to discard one of your upcoming cards. Having the right cards and catching your opponent by surprise can be crucial.

That being said, experience will definately improve your play. There are a lot of card effects to consider, some of which are subtle. For example, I tended to ignore my move cards, since most of my people were on higher numbered islands. But moving away from an island where you have multiple characters to islands with a one person capacity can be a good defensive play.

I thought the game was a lot of fun, although it did seem somewhat hard to control at times. I need to play again to see how much of this is really an issue with the game, and how much is just getting used to the mechanics and the cards.

--Joel

Thread: Re:Question on Island sinking

Walt Mulder — 2004-05-15T04:47:51+00:00

Bruno des Montagnes (#36239),

Bruno, thanks for the direct reply. It's nice to get it straight from the designer. My wife and I both enjoy the game (she beat me the first time) so you can stop hopping anytime. I like the bluffing factor and how the cards are placed giving tough decisions on whether to try for two actions in a row or go for the first action before your opponent may ruin your plans.

Destroying the Volcano with the tidal token on it can be pretty devastating and an excellent strategy if your opponent is on the next tile higher, since at the end of the round, they'll lose that tile as well. Cheers.

Thread: Re:Question on Island sinking

Bruno des Montagnes — 2004-05-14T21:14:14+00:00

Walt Mulder (#35574),
Hello Walt

when a volcano is destroyed, with the tidal token on it, this token jumps immediatly on the island with the next higher number !!

it's sometime a very good way to make a big surprise to your opponent !!

Hopping you'll enjoy the game
Bruno

Thread: Question on Island sinking

Walt Mulder — 2004-05-08T05:57:26+00:00

We had a situation develop in our last game where a volcano was destroyed that had the tidal token on it. Does anyone know what happens to the token? Does it move right away to the next higher available island? If it didn't there wouldn't be an island sinking during that phase of the turn. Any ideas or rulings?