Description
Each Captain starts with the same amount of crew aboard (35) and also starts with supplies to feed the crew (45). Each space your ship sails consumes another supply so you’ll have to find more quite quickly or risk running out! Gold can be found on the journey home and can be useful for giving as a donation to the Gods, should you run afoul of one or another of them. Of course, the more wealth one should return home with, the better!
The Gods
The Greek Pantheon of Gods is many and varied, and each player will also play the role of the Gods and how Their powers affect the game. You will draw from a communal Gods deck and select when and where you utilise the various powers. You might choose to bestow extra supplies or Gold to your own ship or speed it along its journey toward home, or you may choose to use the power of the Gods to blow another ship off course, wreck it in a storm or any other such devious tricks. There are various ultimately powerful curses in the games, that angry God’s will place upon unwary ship captains. Still, there are also bountiful blessings by other Gods that might counteract those curses. When the Gods are using their most powerful magic, this takes precedence in the game and can even affect other less powerful magic that the Gods are also using in a given turn, sometimes making it obsolete or changing what it does! Sometimes the Gods will bless a ship itself, and empower it to move more swiftly through the Seas, or have its crew protected from death, and many many other useful things.
The Quests
After leaving Troy, and before returning home to Ithaca each Captain is forced to complete six dangerous quests!
The infamous Cyclops lives on an island where your crew must visit but beware he likes to dine on Greek Sailors!
The Scylla & Charybdis leaves a Captain between a rock and a hard place, as it is impossible to sail past without losing crew along the way!
The infamous Sirens sing a song to lure the foolhardy sailor who passed within earshot but the quest must be completed, some Captains may be luckier than others !
The Lotus Eaters invite the crew to stay, why not partake of the Lotus petals and stay forever in a foggy bliss, the worries of your life left far behind?
Circe, a powerful Goddess bids the Captain to visit her Island, but it will depend what mood you find her in, whether she will be cruel or kind to the visiting Sailors!
And an adventure is not complete without a magical visit to the land of death itself – The Underworld – where things may go quite awry for an unwary crew!
Once a Captain has sailed his ship through these six dangerous quests only then may he sail home to Ithaca, or risk being lost at Sea forever !
Sailing ancient Greece is not without its perils, and ten large quests cards are used as a timer, of sorts, to place a sense of urgency upon the brave captains! Once the Quest cards are exhausted then ACT I of the game ends that turn and all players having not completed the 6 quests will find themselves lost at sea (and eliminated!). But, quite often it then becomes a challenge for the remaining Captains to sail for Ithaca and join their fellow Ithacans in celebrating a safe return home. Sometimes a Captain does so well that they are able to return home before the end of ACT I. Of course, every adventure deserves a Victor and this one will be decided by the Captain who manages to get as many of their crew home alive ! Secondary to that, in the case of a draw, Gold will decide which ship’s crew return the richer! A special competitive ruleset has been designed which encourages tournament play.
