We do a deep dive first look at History of the Ancient Seas I: Hellas, designed by Karl Hausser and published by Sound of Drums games. In this solo and 2-player civilization-building boardgame, one player takes Athens and the other Sparta as they vie for dominance in the ancient Greek states.
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Hellas at Noble Knight Games: https://www.nobleknight.com/P/2148118110/History-of-the-Ancient-Seas-I—HELLAS?awid=1430
Dies Irae at Noble Knight Games: https://www.nobleknight.com/P/2148118111/History-of-the-Ancient-Seas-II—DIES-IRAE?awid=1430
Mare Nostrum at Noble Knight Games: https://www.nobleknight.com/P/2148118114/History-of-the-Ancient-Seas-III—MARE-NOSTRUM?awid=1430
Sound of Drums Games: https://tinyurl.com/yvx29bc8
Hellas on Board Game Geek: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/342090/history-ancient-seas-i-hellas
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:27 Trilogy Overview
02:10 Hellas Overview
04:20 Documentation
07:56 AI Solo Bot
09:59 Pieces
12:34 Victory Conditions
14:18 Money
14:50 Player Aids
21:38 Map
27:00 Wrap
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#hellas #soundofdrums #wargames
This first look produced by Zilla Blitz. This game is a promotional copy provided by Sound of Drums, thanks!
Hellas First Look | Solo & 2-Player Ancient Greece Boardgame | History of the Ancient Seas I
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These wooden pieces look great!
So did you play it? Any new thoughts?
Thanks for the summary. Sharing to my webpage.
Dear Host,
As for “missing” 5th Golden Age as VP you mentioned at 13:20, it’s the last space on Stability Chart on the main board, where you move the marker to in case of gaining another level after already having +8 On Stability Track. It’s expressed in chapter 2 and 9.5 of the Rulebook.
Take care, thank you for your upload!
I really like the look of this game. Ticks a lot of my boxes, and feels similar to some of the PC games I enjoy. Is this likely something which might come to the channel for a short playthrough (I know you have heaps of things in the pipeline!!).
Thanks Mike, really clear insight into the game.
Surprisingly a good game. Definitely in my top 20 games editited in 2023.
As Spartan player you need to remember, that initial social and economical advantages are quickly are made up by Athenians localization and fleet numerical strength.
There’s not so many diversity in opening strategies, but enough to experiment with.
I recommend 3 little expansions out of 4, which add variety to the base game.
– New Markets (few options which gives players new resource distribution every game and eventually trading post after)
– Pirates in Barbarians – it’s a new tool and a threat for us at the same time.
– Heroes and Events spices things up giving a small hint of stochasticity to the game.
– Although I love block systems, I skipped – New Armies. I don’t think it could have desired impact and meaning on the 2 player gameplay. Since I don’t have another games from the trilogy I couldn’t use all the armies neither.
Happy gaming!
"Ressources"… literally unplayable 😉 Actually though, this looks like lots of fun. Thanks for the great video.
That looks like a fun one. Still working through my own shelf of shame before I buy another game.
The alternative victory condition cards are drawn randommly, one for each faction, and kept secretly. They represent between 6-8 VPs and shorten the game play time.
What do you think of this kind of rulebook layout? I have a few games I've designed and finished the components for and I'm in the final stages of the rules writing. This kind of rulebook layout is the direction I'm leaning. In your experience is this better than a rulebook and a seperate playbook?