Ilium: A Game of (god-forsaken) Heroes

I had a nice little mid-week game of Ilium: A Game of Heroes this week when Mrs Irregular Wars decided she wanted a go and we had a skirmish fought on the Trojan plain between the opposing lines of massed soldiery.

Opting to go with Achaean blue, she started the skirmish with Idomeneus, king of Crete (top centre), and Machaon, Lord of Trikka (top left), on the board. They faced off against my red Trojans, running the Trojan prince, Helenos (bottom centre), and his cousin, the Dardanian prince Aeneas (bottom right). 

At the outset, Trojan archer made a mockery of the Achaean shield-bearers, dropping two and having an arrow ricochet of a third to hit Idomeneus, causing three gruesome wounds. Machaon dashed forward to assist Idomeneus and heal two of his wounds, before the wounded Cretan king led his promachoi forward, hurling his own spear to wound Helenos, but otherwise having little impact. 

Aeneas led his Dardanians forward and laid waste to the Cretan promachoi before them. Machaon healed Idomeneus of his remaining wound, before dashing over to engage Aeneas in a duel. Machaon's Trikkan promachoi made their way up through the olive grove to engage with Helenos' followers. The Trojans started to fall rapidly, reversing the pattern (so far) of Achaean death and Trojan fortitude. 

Helenos and Idomeneus then also engaged in a duel. At this point, I was wary of the contest between Helenos and Idomeneus, but very confident that Aeneas would kill Machaon in short order. In the background, Menestheus, king of Athens, arrived to reinforce the Achaeans, and Penthesileia and her Amazons advanced to support the beleaguered Helenos.

And then the gods intervened, and the balance of the game started to shift. Far from winning his duel against Machaon, Aeneas was taking a battering. In the centre, Idomeneus quickly dispatched Helenos. Athena took human form among the ranks of the newly arrived Athenians, and the Trikkan warriors proceeded to slay Trojan and Amazonian warriors alike! Penthesileia decided that enough was enough and advanced into combat to duel with the Cretan king.

As their combat continued, two Amazonian archers gathered up the fallen Helenos, dragging his body back to the main Trojan lines, while in the distance, Machaon earned much praise by felling the mighty Aeneas! Athena-in-human-form and the other Achaean promachoi continued their sweeping advance, killing all Trojans/Dardanians/Amazons in their path.

Penthesileia finally succeeded in bringing down Idomeneus, but around her, the final Trojan promachoi fell.

As the final turn came around, the Amazonian queen was the last Trojan standing, engaged on three sides by Menestheus, Machaon and promachos-Athena. If the massed soldiery on either side had not chosen that moment to advance and join in general battle, it would have spelled her end.

The skirmish was over and, in strategic terms, was clearly an overwhelming Achaean victory. However, the bards do not care for strategy, but for glory! Counting up the kleos (renown) for either side, the Achaeans earned two kleos a piece for the duels that brought down Helenos and Aeneas, for a total of four kleos. The Trojans earned two kleos for Penthesileia's successful duel with Idomeneus, and another two kleos for rescuing the body of Helenos and bring him back to Troy, either to recover or for a noble burial. So with four kleos each, the Trojans and Achaeans tied for glory this day. Another turn, and it would have been much more one-sided!