Main Catalogue |  BOARD GAMES & CARD GAMES |  Phalanx Games |  Hector & Achilles

Hector & Achilles Price: £14.99 Card game, 2 players, ages 10+. Hector and Achilles, The Trojan War Is a fast paced and fun card game of epic conflict for 2 players. The players try to win individual battles with their armies and heroes and hope to manipulate the colours of the cards in their favour. Play with the heroes of Homer! ********** 2 players, 30 minutes designed by Leo Colovini, Marco Maggi, and Francesco Nepitello reviewed by Ben Baldanza Hector and Achilles: The Trojan War is a card game from Phalanx that follows their line of war games with German-style mechanics. The main designer, Leo Colovini, has proven himself quite adept at creating interesting abstract and card ideas, and both are evident in this game. Players takes the roles of the Trojan and Achaean armies, each leading 48 troop cards and using the special power of six unique heroes. The troop cards are sorted into four decks and placed on individual player boards, while the six heroes for each side are separately shuffled and placed in their own spots on the boards. The two boards face each other, and three of the troop stacks line up across from each other. During the game, battles ensue between matched up stacks of troops. The fourth troop stack for each player is their home stack and this is placed behind the three frontline troop stacks. The troop cards for each player are in six suits, with values from one to four in each suit. There is one hero card for each suit per player, and the heroes have values from three to six. In the game, battles take place through card play, but based on the play only certain suits will score. Like Colovini\'s Avalon, losing battles will cost you cards and you win Hector and Achilles by forcing your opponent to empty their three frontline stacks before you do. You can also win by depleting your opponent\'s home stack. The game plays through a series of battles, with each battle having three distinct phases. The opening phase has the attacker choose the top card from any troop stack. The number on the troop card (1-4), determines which of the troop stacks will be the aggressor. The card drawn also becomes the first attacking troop, and it is placed as the Vanguard to start the battle. In addition, the aggressor draws a Fate Tile. The Fate Tiles show a different color on each of their four sides, and it is positioned between the two players so that one color faces the aggressor while another color faces the defender. The defender then draws the top card from the selected stack and places it opposite the aggressor\'s Vanguard, and the battle has begun. In the second phase, each player takes four cards from their selected troop stacks plus the top card from their hero stack. Players alternate turns, placing troop cards to strengthen their position. In addition, each player can take an optional action such as changing their hero, deploying the hero card into battle, discarding and changing troop cards, or boosting a troop card using one of their Divine Favor markers. Also, at any point during the second phase, one side can retreat. Retreating loses the battle, but also saves some cards especially if chosen early. By definition, this phase is at most four turns long. At the end of each pair of turns, a ``fate sequence\'\' occurs. The current leader of the battle, that is the player with the higher total troop value so far, can rotate the Fate Tile 90 degrees in order to change the facing color for both the aggressor and the defender. After all four cards are played by each (assuming no retreat), the victor is declared. Each player reveals their hero card if it was not already played through one of the special actions in the turn sequence. Then, the players total the values of their troop cards but only those in the color of their hero and the Fate Tile count! All other troop cards don\'t matter, so turning the Fate Tile and holding secret the color of your hero can create the environment for good bluffing or strategic withdrawal. The final phase of the battle is the clean-up. The winner gets all of their cards back, while the losing side discards all of the cards used in the battle. If the defender had deployed his hero into the battle, that too is lost but can be rescued by surrendering one of the three Divine Favor markers. This is how a retreat can be strategic, as the loser of the battle discards only the played troop cards. If a player retreats before playing all four of their troop cards, the cards not played get returned to their stack. Any time a stack drops to less than five cards, it is considered depleted. Any remaining cards are combined with the home stack, and the original stack will be empty for the rest of the game. As stated earlier, depleting your opponent\'s three frontline stacks or their home stack wins the game. The home stack must be used in battle any time a depleted stack would be called into battle during the opening phase. In addition to the card play, a few other niceties are added. The Divine Favor markers allow players to boost the value of troop cards, adding to their strength. They also allow saving a hero that would otherwise be lost in battle. Retreating can save cards, but it is also shameful. Each retreat forces the player to add a Shame Marker to their board, and this marker forces the loss of additional cards in any subsequent losses. The winner of the battle becomes the aggressor for the next battle, and thus gets to position the Fate Tile initially. The game plays quickly and deciding when to fight and when to back down is the key. It does not feel very well balanced, however, in that it is likely to have some particularly strong and weak stacks, and how these match up against the opponent\'s shuffles can make a big difference. With only four cards, there may not be time to cycle through to get the right hero color to match your four drawn troops while trying to get the advantage to move the fate tile. And with six suits but only four represented on each Fate Tile, it is possible to have no cards that match any color on the tile. The ideas in the game are all good, but often the battle comes down to who drew the best cards. As a result, wins don\'t feel quite so satisfying and losses can often be frustrating. Of course, my wife Marcia thinks I feel this way since she usually wins. The production value is the quality expected from Phalanx, with the notable exception that the Fate Tiles are printed on both sides but should not be. This requires placing the tiles in a bag or drawing blind from the box for each battle. More important is that the play leaves something to be desired, and those who want a tension-filled card battle would be better served with Avalon. More ...

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