Trial of the Gods

We’ve had a Greek month at home lately. Yogurt for pita only Greek. For relaxation Hades on my PC. The board game chose the Cyclades. Continuing this trend, it’s time for Trial of the Gods.

Has the game stood up to my trials?

Trial of the Gods is a 2 to 4 player game in which we will travel along the Greek coast. There we will visit numerous islands, fight mythical beasts, get help from the Argonauts and gain the favour of the gods. It’s almost like the Cyclades, only without the bidding.

All our actions will boil down to one thing, which is to compete in 4 different categories. This is something so unique that I had to remind my players of it every time.

What I like about Trial of the Gods

God building

I love deck-building games. I’ve probably written this hundreds of times before and I’ll write it again and again.

We will start each game with the same cards. On top of that we will add 2 more cards of our captain, who we will get at the beginning of the game. So we already have a slight asymmetry.

We will acquire new cards from the Greek gods. We can get cards from Aphrodite, Athena, Ares Hades, Poseidon and Zeus. Each God has different cards that are good for some aspect of the game. Although it’s a bit of a shame that the instructions don’t mention the details of their specialities. We’ll just have to discover that for ourselves. The biggest surprise, however, was that Aphrodite can sometimes hit back harder than the god of war. Apparently, love hurts.

The cards will be used to perform all the actions in the game. We can also use them in several ways. Which is also something I like. Because we either use the card’s modifier or its special ability. Then it involves paying a cost, but believe me it’s worth it. Especially considering that these special skills are really strong and you can make some cool plays with them.

The most important thing is also that we have a lot of options to remove cards from our deck. We can quickly make ourselves a strong deck. Although there is a drawback here. Because the cards are worth acquiring quite a lot of. Given that this is one of the categories in which we will compete at the end of the game. It’s nice that I can remove cards, but on the other hand I have to take as many as I can. Which made our decks a bit cluttered.

Now I’m the captain

Trial of the Gods tries to make the gameplay more interesting for us every time. Because, as I mentioned before, at the beginning of the game we will get a captain card that will give us a special ability and 2 asymmetrical starting cards. Each Argonaut will have his 2 favourite gods. Which we will also randomly set at the beginning of the game.

On top of this, we will also add various feats that we can purchase during gameplay. These are such passive skills that combo with our actions. Through all of this we get a good level of replayability.

Sparse but pretty

The box graphics are just gorgeous. l I could have a painting like this at my home. The art on the cards and on the meeples of the beasts also pleases me. In terms of illustration, it’s divine. The rest of the components are as good as can be. The player boards are also cool, as they have such small cut-outs for the cards. In terms of components, it’s good.

Hey, but you didn’t tell me about this

At the start of the game, during and between each round, it’s worth reminding players that we are competing in all 4 categories. That is, it doesn’t matter how good you were at killing monsters. You can even have 7 beasts killed and the next players one each then you will still get 6 points. However, when you mess up the other rankings you just lose. Therefore, in this game you have to compete in all categories. This is especially important in 3 to 4 player games, because then tie breakers come in more often.

Something that came out on average

Olympics

What I really like about this game is that we will often use newly purchased cards. Because in addition to the adventure phase we will use them to compete in the Olympics. I would call it a mini-game, where we play 3 cards and try to collect as many symbols as possible that match the sports competition. There was some excitement in the process, but not so much.

Meeplebeasts

The Greek waters and islands are inhabited by various legendary beasts. On our way we will encounter Gorgons, Harpies, Sirens, Hydras, Minotaurs and something called Chupapa or whatever.

The defeated monsters will end up on our ship and we can deploy them to hinder other players on their journey. However, the thing is, there’s almost no need to do this. Because such an obstacle is no obstacle at all. Because we can leave the area with the monster without consequences. Then we get such a sad smiley face, which lowers our honour. It may affect the tie at the end of the game, but considering how many cards we have to spend on the fight it just pays off to run away.

Then let’s move on to the battle. We sail into a field with a monster then we can fight it. To defeat the beast then we must have more strength than it. Strength will be taken from our cards that we can play into battle and the abilities we have unlocked. Some cards will also have a special ability that can help us in battle.

Each monster will have a base strength stat and will also roll extra dice that can increase its modifier and provide it with special abilities.

The whole trick is to have at least a strength 4 higher than the monster. Because then we immediately defeat it. If we would win with a lower strength then we simply inflict a wound on it and have to fight it again.

Overall, the combat is OK. It’s possible to dabble with it a bit, but it doesn’t cause me any bursts of excitement. However, this is not the only element in Trial of the Gods that cooled my enthusiasm.

Something that came out badly

Exploration

One of the categories we’ll be competing in towards the end of the game will be the explored islands. The more islands we explore the better for us. To do this all you have to do is visit it and play a card with a flame symbol. There is no philosophy here. The only surprise may be that some islands will hide treasure. Then you will gain extra laurels during the competition. So it can be good or it can be bad. That’s all. The competition for exploration is over.

How many Argonauts are needed for an expedition?

Trial of the Gods does not provide us with any special interaction between players. This was particularly evident in the two-player games. Where everyone could cruise around their own patch of the map and we might not even meet. The competition in all these categories is also more interesting when we play in a larger group. Because then we consider ties more often and this race for island exploration is better. Trial of the Gods is definitely for 4 players.

As for the gameplay time, you have to count about 2 hours. For such a simple game, the gameplay itself was a bit long for me. On top of that you have to add the set up, which can be a bit tedious.

How to play it?

The manual lacks such clarifications. Because there were questions we couldn’t find answers to. This was particularly true of the cards that allowed new monsters to be moved or placed. Could there be 2 monsters on one field? My best conundrum concerned how many lives the monsters had at all. It would have been useful to write it all out a bit more clearly.

Summary

Trial of the Gods throws us an interesting gameplay theme. Competing for god influence and building decks should work. However, the gameplay itself comes off rather pale. You basically sail around these islands, sometimes kill something, occasionally explore a bit, and that’s it. There are not a lot of exciting plays or moments (especially during the Olympics). After each game I felt that I had played, built a cool deck, but not used it to its full potential. Now you’re probably thinking there will be an entry starting with ‘but’, but that won’t be the case this time.

The final verdict: Trial of the Gods did not pass my trials

Pros

• Deck building
• Greek atmosphere
• Little asymmetry
• Interesting point count

Cons

• Long set up
• Exploration without exploration
• Combat so ok
• Olympics
• 4 players only
• Not very clear rules

[Game provided by Ludus Magnus Studio]