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do what you gotta do. And the
example also shows multiple
ways of helping or hindering
the process. Athens could
have built up Hellespont
more, they could have built
up Boeotia, invaded to con-
test the Isthmus of Corinth
again, or raided to sap Spartan strategos (note, though on raiding, you pay three strategos to draw card (values 1–5) and hopefully hurt the other guy more than you hurt yourself. In short there are lots of options.
I Two caveats
Herman has crafted a lot of smaller
scenarios, including a set of six which he suggests strongly that beginners should work through in order, thus in small chunks teaching you the basics. I second his recommendation. In addition he’s also crafted some “bots”, called Phormios in the game (after an Athenian leader during the war), to allow less than four players to play the game. The Phormios walk the player(s) through selection of Pri- mary Strategies and the resultant issues to be debated and placed, plus decision matrixes to work through the when and where decisions that are so important to
the game. Overall, we found the use of Phormios slow the game consid- erably, although they are an excellent way of beginning to get a feel for what’s important to both
sides in this conflict.
There are two caveats with Pericles.
The first is that at its heart, it’s a Card Driven Game. As you’ll have noted above the main currency that drives the game are the strategos, and you get them from the card play. Get poor cards and you get only a few strategos. If the other team gets more, they can dominate – and here’s where military Raids can play a big part in the strategy of the game. Recall that in a Raid there is no defense, just the loss of strategos for the raidee – hopefully more than the three the Raid cost you. In general over a campaign things will even out card-wise, but a single bad turn can put you in a bad position. Scenarios can really be affected by this aspect.
The second caveat with the game is that it’s not a casual game. This isn’t the game you’ll pull off the shelf in a “let’s do something” moment. Although the
mechanics of the game are relatively straightforward, the whole is complex and putting it all together takes a time investment to grasp. Like the COIN series from GMT, the more you play Pericles the more you’ll enjoy it, but to truly enjoy it you need friends who are just as inter- ested and just as committed to it as you are. That doesn’t happen very often. It is, however, very worth it, when you do. For those with the friends, a groups and the commitment, this game is an 8 bordering on9.Fortherest,I’drateita5.
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51
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Title: Publisher: Designer: Artist: Players: Age: Duration: Price:
Reviewer
John D. Burtt
Pericles
GMT
Mark Herman
F. Colmenares, K. Grünitz 1–4
about 14+ years
about 1–6 hours
about $85
Playing appeal
John D. Burtt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/5
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2018
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