First Game of Ilium: A Game of Heroes

Aeneas and his Dardanians,
four warriors and two archers

Hector and six shield bearers

Last Thursday morning Craig came over and we played our first game of Ilium: A Game of Heroes out in the shed. I forgot to put the memory card back in to my camera so none of the photos I took actually turned out! It's a pity because it was quite a nice looking game with two hills, trees, goat herders and their goats, grape vines, a ploughed field and the Achaean and Trojan forces. I took extra photos of the Trojan force I used in the game to make up for this and have posted these with the game report. 

Craig had an Achaean force with three heroes Menelaus, Odysseus and Menestheus and their three contingents of  promachoi (forward fighters). My Trojan force also had three heroes Aeneas, Hector and Sarpedon mounted in a chariot with Glaucus as his driver and their three contingents. The rules have stats for all the various heroes and their contingents, use D10 dice and random activations with tokens or cards. We played the Battle on the Plains scenario, which has six turns with reinforcements of a third hero and their contingent arriving on the third turn.

It proved to be a lot of fun and a very close game which could easily have gone either way. In the end I just managed to kill Odysseus and Menelaus, although both Aeneas and Hector were severely wounded. The game is won by the side that earns the most kleos (glory or renown) and by killing Odysseus and Menelaus in a duel I had three points to nil. I could have earnt more by stripping them of their armour and carrying it off the table but it was the sixth turn and the game was over. We both really enjoyed and hope to play another game soon.

Sarpedon and Glaucus with four Lycian warriors

Goat herders and their goats