Solo games of all sorts are having a moment in the sun, and one of the leaders in designing solo wargames, Joseph A. McCullough, author of Rangers of Shadow Deep, Frostgrave, and Stargrave, has a new game coming out from Osprey Games. Warriors of Athena is a game set in mythological Bronze Age Greece, featuring adventures inspired by the myths of Perseus, Hercules, the Argonauts, and others.
This game comes in multiple books. The core book, Warriors of Athena: Heroes, details how to create both your hero (or heroes) and their band of followers. Each hero, your personal character on the table, is a demigod, with a randomly chosen deity as one of their parents. Each deity comes with Gifts, and some also come with Weaknesses. These can range from boosted stats to extra Skills. The Skills heroes and their followers can have include: Artistry, Athletics, Diplomacy, Hunt, Navigation, Perception, Strength, and Trickery. Your Hero will also have Heroic Abilities you can invoke by spending Strain, which is effectively taking damage to perform a superhuman feat. Finally, your character will have Thread of Fate, spun by the Three Fates themselves. You can use these Threads to buy rerolls and the like to help your hero achieve their fated destiny.
Companions for your hero can include animal companions like Hounds, Lions, and Ferrets (for you Beastmaster fans); mortal men like Slingers, Hoplites, and Barbarians; and even supernatural creatures like Centaurs and Satyrs. You build your band based on your hero’s wealth and the number of points allowed by the scenarios. If you have friends joining you in the game, they can also play heroes, but you need to split up the points allowed for building out your band between the heroes.
If you’re familiar with most other McCullough games, Warriors of Athena will feel very familiar to you in its mechanics. The only die you need is a d20, and you want to roll high. Rolls are modified by the Skills your model has (having an appropriate Skill adds +3 to your roll) as well as their stats: Move, Fight, Shoot, Armor, Will, and Health. Each round is divided into phases that dictate when the individual models act: the Hero Phase, the Creature Phase, Companion Phase, and Event Phase. Characters taken out during a battle roll for death or injuries after the battle is over to see if they make it out alive, live with a wound that inflicts a penalty, or perish from their wounds.
However, there are some fun new rules this time around. You’ll need a deck of common playing cards you’ll use to randomly generate events and complications during your adventures. As in Rangers of Shadow Deep, hunger and thirst are issues that need to be addressed. In addition, if you roll poorly on an attack, your weapon can be broken. In a pinch, however, your heroes and their companions can always pick up a rock to fight with.
In addition to the usual magic items, there are Talismans of the Gods, which are one-shot magic items (like potions in D&D) that you can use for a temporary boost to a model’s abilities. Before an adventure starts, your heroes can make sacrifices and offerings to the gods for bonuses. Sometimes, a quest might give you the opportunity to make an offering. However, if you fail to make an offering, or roll a 1 on performing the offering, your heroes might earn the displeasure of the gods and face penalties that will make your quest more difficult.
The other book is Warriors of Athena: Quests which includes missions divided into scenes. There are options to play with a GM, and most of the quests start with a short introduction that can be roleplayed. The book also includes stats for all manner of monsters, foes, and even the gods, just in case your heroes find themselves crossing spears with the likes of Ares or dodging the arrows of Apollo.
If you’re a fan of Greek mythology and Harryhausen movies, Warriors of Athena is a must-have. It’s also a great way to introduce friends who prefer more cooperative games to the fun of minis skirmish wargaming. Make the proper offerings to the gods and journey to your local Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy® today to acquire your own copies of the Warriors of Athena books today.
