An amazing combination of game mechancis

🏛️Pillars of Heracles is the next game from @apeirongames who last created Ahau. Ahau flew a bit under the radar, but it really impressed us with its uniqueness. Pillars of Heracles is similar in a way: an amazing unique combination of mechanics: area control, deck-building and an action selection rondel!

There is a lot to unpack here, I’m not even sure where to start. 🤔 Let’s go with the theme! 

As the name implies the game is set in Ancient Greece, and with a mythological setting: with gods, titans and creatures you might know. Players will explore the surrounding lands and expand out, deploy new units and construct buildings  - the game can end in 3 different ways, and most of your points will come from Regions and Cities you control at the end, so it really leans heavily on the area control aspect. ⚔️ There is tons of direct conflict but no actual combat - it’s always just about being present with more Power than your opponent, and you won’t (usually) remove units or buildings from each other.

Multi-use cards and the rondel are the heart of the game. Each turn you will either do a replenish turn to draw new cards and refresh things, or do an advance turn by playing a card. When advancing, you move on a rondel clockwise around according to the Power of the card and do the depicted action. Additionally you can move units and use the ability of the card itself too.

Almost every action requires you to spend resources, which you can either play by covering up resource icons you own on the map, or by discarding cards showing that resource. You always have to prioritize which ability you might want to play, what to discard as resources, and what value to keep for advancing on the rondel. It’s a deliciously layered decision throughout the game. As you play you will be adding and removing cards from your deck too.

There is a lot more here: meaningful tracks, asymmetric city state powers and heroes, unlockable abilities and powerful mythology cards. But for those stay tuned for a follow-up post shortly. 😉

If this all sounds intruiging, then check the game out on Kickstarter!