Ilium: Gaming with Heroes

We took Ilium: A Game of Heroes out for another run this week. I'm not normally keen on showing games with unfinished minis, but the game is in a good place and, fired by enthusiasm, I thought I'd share a glimpse.

We played the standard Battle on the Plains scenario, pitching three heroes and their accompanying promachoi against each other between the main army lines. I started with Helenos, prince of Troy, and the Amazon queen, Penthesileia. Andrew started with Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and Ajax, prince of Salamis. 

As the initial contingents clashed on the right of the plain, reinforcements arrived in the form of Aeneas and his Dardanians on the one side, and Achilles and his Myrmidons on the other. 

The gods were very attentive, intervening early in the battle. Apollo sent a plague to weaken the Achaean promachoi, while Athena took the form of the lesser Ajax before being driven off by Penthesileia.

Penthesileia and Helenos then focused their attacks on Agamemnon, bringing him down, despite the Greater Ajax forcing his way through the melee. 

The Greater Ajax was the next to fall, surrounded on all sides by Trojans and Amazons. It was looking grim for the Achaeans, until Achilles started to make his presence felt. First he dispatched Aeneas, abandoned by the gods, before he swift-footed it across the plain to quickly butcher a handful of promachoi.

One of Helenos' promachoi managed to strip Agamemnon's armour and carry it off the board, while two Myrmidons dragged Aeneas's body back towards the Achaean lines.

The battle hung in the balance as both the Achaeans and the Trojans had each accrued three Kleos (points of glory). Penthesileia and Achilles then met in the midst of the fighting. Penthesileia was heavily wounded and it looked like it would only end one way, but she was joined by one of her Amazons whose lucky strike hit Achilles in his weak spot, bringing him down and leaving the Trojans the victors with four Kleos to three.

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It feels like the time to unleash the rules on a couple more playtesters, so if you fancy having a look, drop me an email (irregularwars@gmail.com) and let me know how you'd like to help. You'll need a 2'x2' table, and around 20-30 singly based models per side. 😁