After I'd read all the bad press about Hellas, I was concerned. 
After all, I'd just bought it and was looking for a chance to play 
it - but all the bad reports (with one or two exceptions) had me 
worried that I'd bought another dog. 

Well, the chance came tonight when my son and I sat down to play. He 
grew up in a gamer's household and cut his teeth on Avalon Hill war 
games. However, in recent years, with five kids of his own, he only 
has time for shorter German games. In recent times that has 
consisted of Battle Cry, Settlers, Pizarro & Co, Carabande, and 
Piratenbucht.

Visiting at Christmas gave us a chance to try Hellas. Ninety minutes 
later we were both enthralled with the game. I won 10-4 after a long 
struggle that see-sawed back and forth. None of the run-a-way, can't 
catch the leader stuff with us. I siezed an early lead and held on 5-
4; 6-5; 7-6; 8-7. But he had been collecting god cards and began to 
sieze the initiative with a bold thrust into my territory. Soon he 
had taken the lead 7-6, then 8-5. For a while it see-sawed with him 
in the lead 8-5; 7-6; 8-5; 7-6. His attacks had thinned him a bit 
allowing me to have more men to attack his spreading kingdom. 
Eventually, I was able to garner stronger Ares and Zeus cards and 
began to fight back. After a long struggle I regained the three 
cities he had taken from me and seized the lead 8-6. I then played a 
god card to reduce his hand to 3 cards - then attacked behind his 
lines with a non-adjacent water attack, a two-city attack, and 
an "extra man" attack. His back lines had been neglected with only 1 
man each guarding three different islands. This final thrust ended 
the game 10-4.

We both felt the tension of wanting (needing) to do far more than we 
could each turn. The game swayed back and forth with neither of us 
feeling comfortable with our position until the very end. We found a 
good balance to the game between the limited number of men, and the 
number of cities needed to win. This forces the spreading of your 
forces, and weakens your defense. 

Early on we felt that the Poseiden cards were important for land 
grabbing - but get too many islands and you are too thin to defend 
them. Later, the Zeus and Ares cards were more important. 
Overall, we both gave it a solid 8 ! I am really anxious to play it 
again.

This is a low-density war game which is far deeper than it appears. 
For those who like to make the best of fate, make something out of 
nothing, debate when to expand and when to consolidate, and feel you 
are always holding on by just a string - this is a very good game. 
One caveat - this was our first time to play - so perhaps future 
games will dampen our enthusiasm. However, for now, we both want to 
go at it again.

Frank Hamrick
Rocky Mount, NC
  


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