PLAYED FOR YOU

Theomachie

Gods, myths and clerics

As a deity you send your clerics (prophets, priests or believers) into conflict, answer prayers and work wonders to take away all clerics from other deities. The game comprises Element cards as prerequisites for playing other cards, 120 prayer cards with action cards for effects, attacks and locations as well as power cards, plus myth cards, deity cards and desperation cards as last resort if you run out of funds in auctions.

At the start you draft your deck from prayer cards and choose your deity. You play in rounds and draw five cards from your deck for the round. A constellation made up from three open-faced and two face-down element cards is laid out and you offer believers as a starting bid for the constellation. Then you can raise your bid in three bidding round, that is, bid more believers/clerics, and can also play effects to acquire information or to draw more cards or to annihilate opposing clerics; in bidding round 2 and 3 one face-down card in the constellation is revealed. When at the end of three bidding rounds at least two players are still active, combat results. In Combat you play attacks and want to have stronger clerics than your opponents. The winner receives additional clerics, defeated deities lose their bids. At the end of the round all can buy prayers and myths for next round. The last player to own clerics wins the game.  

Deck building plus auction is an interesting mix that is offered in Theomachie with rather good rules and attractive design that supports the rules; the game is one for experienced players, despite the risk/chance element of hidden cards in auction and buying cards from the stack.

Players: 2-4

Age: 10+

Time: 75+

Designer: Tomasz Bylina, Adam Kwapinski, Jakub Wasilewski

Artist: Iga W. Grygiel, Malgorzata Sliwka, Beata Urniaz-Ksieska, Justyna Uniaz-Badowska, Lukasz Kowal

Price: ca. 30 Euro

Publisher: Fabryka Gier Historycznych 2013

Web: www.wydawnictwofgh.pl

Genre: Deck building, auction

Users: For experts

Special: Many players

Version: de

Rules: de en pl

In-game text: yes

Comments:

Attractive design

Basically good rules, including introductory version

Gaming experience necessary

Individual games vary considerably

Compares to:

Deck building games, games with auctioning of partly hidden information

Other editions:

Currently none

Chance (pink): 1

Tactic (turquoise): 2

Strategy (blue): 3

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 2

Interaction (brown): 3

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0