ILIAD
Conflict Games (published by GDW), 1978
Designed by Tim Orisek and Rik Fontana
Complexity 4 on a scale of 10
 
Reviewed by; 
William Sariego
February 2005
 
With the blockbuster movie Troy still in our minds, gamers may be
tempted to dust off copies (or troll the 'Net looking for) of the old
classic, Iliad, by Conflict (GDW). The game simulates the battles before
the legendary city and is based largely on Homer's epic poem. Like the
movie, however, events are condensed to allow action and excitement. In
other words, heroic battle as opposed to a 10 year old siege. 

For those unfamiliar with the game the player's control individual
heroes, either Major or Minor; no armies per se. Each side only has an
OoB of 30 (23 Minor and 6 Major and 1 special case for each) heroes and
begins the game with only ten in play. You are talking low density game
here! 

Heroes are rated for attack, defense, movement, saving throw and victory
points. The latter are awarded to the other player if your hero is
killed. Saving throws represent the chance (mostly quite low) of Divine
intervention saving the hero from death. As an example; Patroclus, a
Greek Minor hero of some familiarity, has a 14 attack value, 13 defense,
moves 7, with a save of 1, and is worth 3 victory points. Movement
values range from 4 to 9. Saving throws are as low as you can get at 0
(impossible) upwards to 5 (50% chance). Every Hero is worth at least one
point if sent to Hades, up to a high of 10 for Hector's death (Achilles
is 9). 

Speaking of those two mighty warriors, other than the vp values above,
Achilles is 22-22 with 0 save and a move of 6. Hector is 20-19 with a
save of 1 and a move of 5. You can freely move, but only attack with 3
Minor and 1 Major hero in your turn. In combat a hero can be forced to
retreat, suffer wounds (6 accumulated equals a kill) or be killed out
right. 

Each player has a deck of cards representing Divine intervention in the
battle, and each can appeal to the gods for sacrifice points. The latter
can be used for many things; increasing a hero's combat values, allowing
extra heroes to attack, etc. The cards are the only real detriment for
solo play. 

In addition to killing off heroes, players can score points for being
close to the others home base (either Troy or the Greek ships),
destroying Greek ships, and breaching or damaging the walls of Troy.
Since Achilles is in a funk most of the game (he is one of the Greeks
starting heroes) and sulking on his ship and Troy's walls are harder to
damage than it is to destroy a Greek ship; you can give the slightest of
edges to the Trojan player. 

There is some chrome to represent the story and associated special
rules. The rules concerning Achilles are the biggest. He is basically
inactive unless certain game events happen that causes him to leave his
ship, hack a Trojan hero to pieces, and then promptly return. Needless
to say, the Greek dream move is to attack Hector with Patroclus, with
the latter's death resulting. Achilles will come out until he kills
Hector in this case. 

This is a fine little game and I'm certainly glad to have a copy. With
the recent movie fresh in our collective minds, you might even use the
game to get some sword swinging fantasy gamers to try a board game! 

Unable to resist tinkering with any game in my collection (some extra
counters are included demanding use), I've added the following two
heroes as a result. Neoptolemus (son of Achilles) for the Greeks and
Priam, King of Troy for the Trojans. Neoptolemus enters play the turn
following the death of Achilles (if it ever occurs). There are five
Trojan heroes noted as "Sons of Priam". If three of them are killed add
Priam the following turn at Troy. Their values are: 

Name    Victory Points    Saving Throw    Attack    Defense    Movement
 
Neoptolemus    2              1             12         10         6
Priam          2              2              7          8         4
 
Both are treated as Minor heroes. Yes, Priam was pretty old but so was
Nestor, and he is included in the Greek OoB. Sorry, still no Trojan
Horse counter...........