Cyclades

Cyclades is one of the first board games I played after years of wargaming and RPGs. I grew up with Risk and Monopoly and the like but moved on to other forms of gaming as I got older, and in the meantime left board games behind. About two years ago I got the chance to sit down with some friends and learn the game Cyclades, and it pulled me into the hobby of more advanced board games. Because of that, it is a game that I recommend to everyone.

Cyclades is a board control game, similar to Risk in that players move troops around a map attempting to gain control of more regions. This makes the game style easy to understand for most any player. The map is broken up into islands and sea locations that give players access to their turn-by-turn income and open spaces to build different structures. The map is semi modular, with four different distinct options that are changed based on the number of players. More players means a bigger map with more available areas.

Each turn begins with players using their gold to bid on the favor of the Greek gods Ares, Poseidon, Athena, Zeus or Apollo. The number of gods available to bid on is always equal to the number of players. Each god gives a different benefit to the player who earns their favor. Poseidon lets the player build and move ships around the seas to bridge the gap between islands. Ares gives the player more troops and the ability to move troops across islands that have been bridged by ships. Each god also allows the controlling player to build a specific building with certain benefits. Apollo is always available to all players, with each player choosing him receiving at least one gold and the chance for more monetary rewards. This struggle is one of the game’s central mechanics.

The game is won when a player ends a round controlling two metropolis buildings. A metropolis can be acquired in one of three ways. If a player has one of each of the four unique building on the board they are immediately replaced with a metropolis. If a player ever owns four philosopher cards (bought when you control Athena) they are immediately traded in for a metropolis. Last, a player can use troops to conquer and island with a metropolis already built there.

This means that each player will continue to fight for the favor if different gods in each turn to diversify their holdings and military options. This makes the game very unique as conflict occurs off the battlefield and new tactical options become available based on which god you control in a given turn, and which god you plan to follow in subsequent turns. This is all further complicated and enhanced by the mythological monsters deck. Each turn a new monster is revealed (up to three total) that has a unique one-time ability that can be used by the active player if they have the money to purchase the monster card. Some monster give gold or move troops, others destroy building or protect items. Zeus allows players to build temples that reduce the cost of monster cards.

Cyclades’ great strength lies in the variables on the board. The order of god on the board, gold available, monsters available, and the threat presented by other player all factor into the decision making. The theme of competing for the gods’ favor is very well executed in their differing abilities and tactical strengths. Direct combat, sneaky use of monsters, and staunch defense are all valuable play styles. The games components—board, figures, cards and tokens—are all very high quality. Their art and durability are top notch. The rule book is short and easy to understand, and each player is given a game screen with summaries of every item in the game. You really get your money’s worth in both game play and production value.

This game gets a solid A rating and is highly recommended.

Something refreshing anyone?
What’s that sir? You were never really into auctioning? What if these have bloody consequences?
Never was too much into war gaming? What if you could buy the service of a Kraken to eat the enemy ships at your shores?
Cyclades invites you to a Mythological buffet of game mechanisms, each spicing up the previous. Get a napkin.

Gameplay, in short
Everyone starts with a small army occupying a few islands in the Cyclades archipelago. This is not enough for the ambitious leader you are of course, so you will try to expand to more terrain and build impressive metropolises using your hard earned cash to win the favor of the godz.
After a small (re)setup, each round starts with an auction for the favor of one of the Greek godz. This goes quickly around the table until everyone is (or has to be) satisfied with the god that will do their bidding for the round.
This is followed by players, in oder of the godz they’ve picked, executing the accompanying actions. The player who won Poseidon will be able to move ships and start sea battles. Zeus can give you Priests and reduce the cost of future auctions etc.
This is mixed with the Mythological creatures that are on offer as well. They give the game its flavor and ever changing tactics by offering one use power-ups for the round.
Go round and round until someone manages to squeeze out a second Metropolis.

Components
This is one of the best looking games I own. If opening the box and looking through all the shinies doesn’t cause you to create an embarrassing amount of saliva, maybe you should reconsider your geek status.

Besides being pretty, every tiny piece is high quality. Everything from the main board, the voting tiles, the coin, the miniatures. Oh! The miniatures. Why is it that each player gets different models for their boats and soldiers? No reason. Other than drowning you in theme and atmosphere. The player screens help here as well. Each player has different artwork to instill fear in their opponents. Details details details.
This game is an ode to boardgaming. Everything has been done with big scoops of love here.

Buy it?
Cyclades is a little bit of everything. It all works together like a Swiss watch and then manages to merge it with the theme as well! That is a hat’s off and deep bow from me. But this might also cause you to be disappointed that a certain element isn’t meaty enough. Not really crunchy enough for number-crunchers or tactical enough for war-tacticians.
For sure its plenty if you are the type that wants to taste a bit of everything from an exotic buffet but doesn’t want to end up with too much on his plate.

INTRODUCTION
Cyclades takes place on an archipelago off the coast of ancient Greece. Players become the leader of a great Greek city-state, namely Sparta, Athens, Corinth, Thebes and Argo. Players move their city’s armies and fleets, build structures, use mythic creatures and seek favors from the Gods in their quest to dominate the Cyclades archipelago. The theme is very well represented in the game. The object of the game is to acquire through conquest, building or other methods two Metropolises. Cyclades is for 2 to 5 players ages 13 and up and plays in about 100 minutes. The game has measures to scale for fewer players; however, I would recommend Cyclades for 4 or 5 players.

COMPONENTS
The components are excellent. The board is double-sided and has two halves which are put together to form different boards depending on the number of players. The boards are mounted on thick cardboard and have very colorful thematic artwork. There are thick cardboard tokens and plastic playing pieces. The large size cards are marginally durable and have great artwork. The rulebook is 6 pages and fairly well written and organized, and contains many examples of play.

SET UP
Set-up for Cyclades is easy and fairly quick. Each player receives a reference screen, their troops and fleets, and five starting gold. The board halves are placed together per the number of players and then starting troops and fleets are placed for each player according to the set-up diagram in the rulebook. The mythological creature deck is shuffled and placed on the board along with the priests and philosophers. A starting player is determined and you’re ready to play!

GAME MECHANICS
Cyclades is played in a series of cycles consisting of the following five steps:

1. Mythological Creatures
2. The Gods
3. Revenue
4. Offerings
5. Perform Actions

MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURES
The top card is drawn from the Mythological Creature deck and placed in the leftmost slot on the board. There are three slots on the board. When a new creature is drawn all creatures already on the board move one slot to the right and eventually are discarded if not used by a player. A player can use any of the three creatures on the board as long as the indicated amount of gold is paid. Any temple the player controls reduces the cost of the Creature by one gold per temple to a minimum of one gold.

THE GODS
The four God tiles are shuffled and randomly placed in the God spaces on the board. Some Gods are not available depending on the number of players. There is a tile for Zeus, Poseidon, Ares and Athena. Apollo has a permanent space on the board. The God tiles are mixed every turn because it determines player order for the Perform Actions step. The player who wins the favor of the topmost God goes first and then proceeds down to Apollo.

REVENUE
Each player receives one gold for each prosperity marker he controls.

OFFERINGS
Players seek favors from the Gods through an auction bidding mechanic. In turn order, the players place their offering token on the corresponding space for a God they wish to seek a favor. The offer is made in gold. If a player is outbid, then he immediately replaces his offering token to another God. He cannot place his token on the God he was just outbid on. The bidding continues until all offering tokens have been placed, and then each player pays the amount of gold corresponding to their offer minus 1 gold for each priest the player controls to a minimum of one gold.

PERFORM ACTIONS
This step is the heart of the game. Gods are activated in order as determined in The Gods step. Players take their actions according to what each God will allow them to do. The Gods grant the following abilities:

Zeus: The player receives one free priest. The player can obtain an additional priest by paying four gold. A player can also build a Temple for two gold apiece. All buildings are constructed on an island the player controls within the solid white lines on the board. If a player does not have space to place a structure, then he cannot build.

Athena: The player receives one free philosopher. The player can obtain an additional philosopher by paying four gold. Once the player has four philosophers he must return them to the deck and construct a Metropolis. A Metropolis is placed on an island the player controls within the dashed red lines. If there is no space to build the Metropolis, then the player must destroy building(s) to make space. A player can also build a University for two gold apiece. A university does not give any benefit accept that it is one of the four buildings needed to construct a Metropolis. Once a player has constructed a temple, university, port and fortress, then the four buildings are removed and replaced with a Metropolis.

Poseidon: The player receives one free fleet. The player can obtain an additional 1, 2, or 3 fleets by paying 1, 2 or 3 gold respectively. Fleets are placed on sea spaces adjacent to an island the player controls. A player can also build a Port for two gold apiece. A port gives the player’s fleets a +1 defense combat bonus if the fleets are in a sea space adjacent to the port. The player can also pay one gold to move the fleets in one space up to three spaces.

Ares: The player receives one free troop. The player can obtain an additional 1, 2, or 3 troops by paying 2, 3 or 4 gold respectively. Troops are placed on any island the player controls. A player can also build a Fortress for two gold apiece. A fortress gives the player’s troops a +1 defense combat bonus if the troops are on an island with a fortress. The player can also pay one gold to move the troops on an island. The troops can move any number of sea spaces to another island as long as the player has a fleet in each sea space.

Apollo: The first player to activate Apollo receives one gold and a prosperity marker. The prosperity marker must be placed on an island the player controls. Other players that activate Apollo receive only one gold. If a player controls only one island, he receives four gold.

During their turn players can also purchase Mythological Creatures. There are 17 Mythological Creatures such as Medusa, Chimera and the Kraken which grant a host of special abilities such as destroying troops or fleets, obtaining gold, and destroying buildings to name a few. Once purchased, the Creature is used immediately.

Combat in Cyclades is straight forward and quick to resolve. Whenever a player moves either his troops or fleets into a space with enemy troops or fleets respectively, combat begins. Players simply add up the number of troops (or fleets), and adds the roll of a special 1d6 to get his total. Defenders also add one for any fortress (or port in case of a fleet battle) to his total. The lower number loses a troop (or fleet). The battle continues until someone retreats or is destroyed.

Even if a player obtains two Metropolises, the game does not end until the current cycle is complete. This gives players a chance to take a Metropolis away from the player who has two of them before the game ends. If a player has two Metropolises at the end of a cycle, then he wins. Ties are broken by the player with the most gold remaining.

THOUGHTS
Cyclades is an easy game to learn but takes a few plays to learn the tactics. In my opinion, Cyclades is a medium weight game and I would not recommend it to casual gamers. There is a lot of strategy in what amount the player offers to a God, which God he chooses to make an offer and how he uses the ability of the God he has obtained. There are clashes between player’s armies and fleets, and the Creatures also give an element of screw your neighbor so player interaction is very heavy. In fact the end game can get quite crazy. Players need to keep tabs on opponents’ situation and be ready to deny them the victory while simultaneously working to achieve victory themselves.

The knock on Cyclades is that often times the game does not end well. A player with a lot of gold on hand can use Zeus to troll through the Mythological Creature deck to find a Creature which will win him the game. There are a few Creatures which in certain situations can give a player the victory, Pegasus is the most common. Pegasus allows a player to transport troops from one island to another without the use of fleets. I understand this concern, but the Creasures are meant to be powerful. Players could House Rule that Zeus’ ability can be used a maximum of three times. This may also be rectified in the expansions.

In any case, Cyclades is an excellent, fun game with great theme play. I strongly recommend Cyclades to avid and power gamers.

I love games with a whole pile of dudes on a map. I think it’s mostly because when you have a whole pile of dudes on a map, most of those dudes aren’t going to live until the end of the game. I don’t think of myself as a particularly violent person – in fact, ethically I’d classify myself as a pacifist – but if you give me a choice between a game that’s about building and a game that’s about destroying, most of the time I’m taking the second.

Dudes on a map games come with their own set of tropes that usually define the genre. Typically, if you’re unboxing a game like this, you’re expecting buckets of dice, some form of area control or conquest, unit differentiation, and maybe asymmetric factions or a tech tree of some kind. You’re expecting to buy dudes, move dudes, play cards on dudes, and send dudes to cardboard*. Then you can watch while other people send your dudes to cardboard*, until it’s your turn to buy dudes again. That’s sort of dudes on a map in a nutshell, whether you’re talking Risk or Nexus Ops or War of the Ring.

There are also certain things that you’re definitely not doing in a dudes on a map game. Like not attacking with dudes, for example. Or building stuff that doesn’t do anything. Or auctions. You are most certainly not doing auctions.

But what if your dudes were pretty pious dudes, who liked to be on good terms with their gods? Then maybe they would think that you should give offerings to the gods, so that the gods would do fun things like help you win battles, or not sink your ships, or let you think deep thoughts. And what if your opponents’ dudes were also pious, and in fact thought they were more pious than your dudes? Then you might have to get into some sort of competitive offering war. And that might feel like an auction, if auctions involved shouting and cussing. And what if your dudes were a bit more sophisticated, so that they didn’t just like sending your opponents dudes to cardboard*, but they also wanted to catch a good show on the weekend and have a decent sushi place in the neighborhood? Then your dudes might appreciate a bit of urban development in between rounds of battle.

Cyclades takes the DoaM archetype and turns it on its head. It’s easy to take a look at it and see plastic figures and a big map of the Greek islands and think, “Been there, done that.” But you probably haven’t, because this isn’t your typical DoaM game. For one thing, indiscriminate conquest doesn’t directly move your dial. In fact, player elimination is very difficult to accomplish in this game, and if it does occur, it happens so late in the game that it likely won’t matter. Instead, players are competing to control two metropolises at the end of a full round of play. The most common way to obtain a metropolis is by building (or conquering) one of each of the four building types (Temple, Port, Fortress, and University). Each building is associated with one of the four gods and can only be built after successfully obtaining their favor – more on this in a moment. Alternately, if the gods aren’t smiling on you, then you can march over to your opponent’s building or metropolis and take it. This is much more difficult than it sounds, because you also need the favor of the appropriate gods to go to war.

You’ve probably started to figure out that you’re not doing much without the favor of the gods. There are four gods that grant actions in the game: Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, and Ares. Zeus’ favor grants the ability to add priests to your cause, making offerings go your way a bit more often. Zeus also grants a measure of control over mythological creatures and allows you to build temples, which reduce the cost of recruiting creatures to your side. Poseidon predictably allows you to build and move ships, including engaging naval battles. Poseidon also allows the building of Ports, providing defensive bonuses during naval battles. Ares is Poseidon’s landlocked counterpart, providing for army recruitment, land combat, and the construction of Fortresses, which provide defensive bonuses on land. And then there’s Athena. Athena gives you a philosopher, which provides the awesome ability of doing absolutely nothing. However, if you can recruit four philosophers, then you’re immediately granted a Metropolis. Apparently, enough thinking grants some interesting telekinetic abilities, which I don’t recall from any of the classic Greek myths but perhaps I’m wrong. Athena also allows you to build a University, which also provides the incredible bonus of absolutely nothing. However, you’ll need either Universities or Philosophers to build a Metropolis. There’s a joke here somewhere, but I’m having trouble finding one that doesn’t sound like a political statement. Once you’ve built all four types of buildings, you must immediately cash in one of each type for a Metropolis, which also coincidentally grants the abilities of each of the other buildings.

This brings us back around to the auction part of the game. Only one player can earn the favor of a given god for each cycle. This creates some interesting situations. Let’s suppose that you are eyeballing a rather nice property on your oppoent’s island. You have a bunch of dudes on your island that you want to use to attack, but your ships are out of position. Before you can move in and ruin the neighborhood, you need to get your ships into position to transport your troops. In this case, you need to gain Poseidon’s favor – he’ll allow you to build and move ships. However, he won’t grant the ability to actually attack – that’s Ares’ job. So you need to plan ahead – Poseidon first, then Ares. But your opponents might also want to build ships or move troops, so they’ll also want to get the attention of Poseidon or Ares. The gods aren’t particularly picky – in fact, they’re pretty * mercenary when push comes to shove. Just show them more dough than your opponents, and you’ll be able to harness their power. Apparently, the gods need to eat too.

Easier said than done, of course – every player is trying to do the same thing. This game lives and dies on the auction block. If you have a group of players who get that the auction is the key part of the game, then this will be an insanely tense affair. Not only do the gods make particular actions available, the order of the gods will change from cycle to cycle as well, which can change the relative value of particular choices. The order of the gods on the bid track determines turn order for the cycle – if going first is more important than being able to perform a particular action, then it doesn’t matter who’s on first, that’s your deity. In addition, if you’re outbid for a particular god’s favor, you can’t immediately up your bid – you need to bid on a different god first. This sets up an awesome array of aggressive bids, counterbids, bluffs, feints, and strategic retreats. Do you start an aggressive, high bid on the god that you need this turn, or do you bluff on another god, hoping to get outbid so that you can pounce on your true goal? Do you bid offensively, going for the god that you need this turn, or defensively, attempting to deny an opponent the actions that he or she is seeking? You’ll need to do both to succeed. You’ll need to collaborate against opponents in strong positions – it’s not unfair to say that there’s a bash the leader component to the game, but with multiple avenues to building metropolises, that might be trickier than it seems. This is, by the way, where the do-nothingness of Athena suddenly becomes pure design brilliance: you simply can’t let an opponent start to double up on Athena, because the game will be over really quickly. On the other hand, taking Athena locks you into board position for a whole cycle, so it’s certainly not without tradeoffs. Towards the end of the game, when players are seeking a particular action to close the deal, every bid feels like war. Outbidding an opponent isn’t really all that different from kicking them in the shins and giving them the finger for good measure – it’s that visceral. And, if all else fails, you can always just punt: seek the favor of Apollo, which is essentially the equivalent of a pass, but with the benefit of a gold infusion and the ability to permanently up the production of one of your territories. An acceptable strategy is often to bid up your opponents until they’re sweating, only to secure Apollo and build wealth for a future turn.

The auctions are tense because they represent the primary means for accomplishing particular tasks that are necessary for victory. But in fairness they aren’t the only means; mythological creatures are available for players to call, trading gold for one-time assistance. Creatures introduce an element of surprise to the game. They can allow a player to move troops without seeking the favor of Ares; they can steal philosophers or priests from an opponent; they can destroy buildings or ships or troops. Players need to calibrate not only what actions are available to the opponent via the favor of the gods, but also what options exist for the opponent through summoning creatures. This makes Zeus an interesting choice in the late game – his favor allows a player to cycle through the creature deck, opening up possibilities that otherwise would not be available.

All of this combines into what I think is a simply incredible gaming experience. The game plays unbelievably well above the table – player interaction is strong and visceral, aggressive and strategic. A player will need to count on having his or her plans thwarted repeatedly, and will need to have backup tactics prepared in advance. The moves on the map are important; the moves on the bid track even moreso. And it’s difficult to count any player out – overextending by bidding too high for a key action can provide an opening for another player to jump back into the ring. Cyclades is something of an odd fusion – auctions with combat, dudes on a map with role selection, dice based combat with civ building. It does a lot of things in unusual ways, but the whole is most definitely greater than the sum of its parts. This is what I would consider to be a truly innovative game, one that shows both what can happen when basic mechanics are paired with a strong metagame and what dudes on a map games can be if they dare to think outside the box.

Played my first game of Cyclades last weekend and man was it fun. First and foremost this was one of the few games I’ve played where the theme really fits the mechanics and you really feel like you are a part of the game. Whether you are trying to gain one of the gods’ favor or summoning a monster to help you thwart your enemies it all feels good. There are lots of ways to play and many strategies to use in order to win. I also loved the the game board and pieces. Each army has its own look and style both their warriors and their ships. If you like a game with a strong theme and many ways to go about winning then give cyclades a try. It’s tons of fun and pretty easy to learn. So go out and conquer the Greek isles and show Zeus what you are made of.

Cyclades successfully combines euro game style with ameritrash feel. It has auction/bidding, money management, dice rolling, combat, beautiful artwork and great components, and a great theme to top it all off. Fantastic game.

This game is like a Euro with Ameritrash trappings. It’s one of the best 5-person games out there. It’s a little complex for kids, but it’s not hard to learn. It’s strategic, but fun. I highly recommend it.

Cyclades is an awasame game with great componets and great mechanics.
It’s a very simple game with good rules and a fine mix of euro game rules.
Recommended for no gamers too.
Fantastic theme,fantastic componets.