Lords of Hellas

Begin by placing the double-sided game board with the 2-4 player side face up. Place the three monument bases (Zeus, Athena, Hermes) on their designated spots on the board, along with their corresponding artifact cards. Shuffle and place the Combat, Artifact, Event, and Blessing card decks in their respective areas. Randomly select and place one Temple card on the 'Temples' space, revealing its draft options. Place the cardboard temple pieces on the Temple card (6 for 2-3 players, 8 for 4 players), and the Oracle of Delphi miniature on its designated spot. Place the Monster Attack die, wound cubes, glory tokens, and quest tokens near the board. Resolve initial events by drawing seven Event cards, placing monster miniatures and quest tokens as indicated. Each player selects a hero board, receives their hero miniature, 4 priests, 15 hoplites, 1 control marker, 1 ring for their hero, 3 attribute tokens, 6 action tokens, and 1 Combat card. Place your hero and 2 hoplites on any starting territory you control, and place your control marker if you meet the territory's hoplite requirement. Proceed clockwise for other players.

The goal in Lords of Hellas is to be the first player to achieve one of the four distinct victory conditions. These conditions are: becoming the Warlord by controlling all territories in two regions; becoming the Favorite of the Gods by controlling five territories that have temples built on them; becoming the Monster Slayer by defeating three monsters; or becoming the King of Kings by fully building one monument and maintaining control of its territory for three consecutive turns. The game concludes as soon as any player meets one of these conditions.

A player's turn consists of two phases: regular actions and special actions. During the regular actions phase, you can perform any of the following actions in any order, as many times as desired, but each specific action type (Hoplite Movement, Hero Movement, Pray, Use Artifacts) can only be performed once per turn. You may also choose not to perform any regular actions. After regular actions, you must perform one special action, marking it with an action token. Special actions include: Build Temple (construct a temple in a controlled territory with your hero present, gaining a priest and a blessing card), Recruit (recruit hoplites in controlled cities or Sparta), March (move any number of your hoplites from one territory to an adjacent one), Prepare (heal your hero, draw a combat card, or recruit hoplites in a region with your hero), Hunt (initiate a hunt against a monster in your hero's territory), Usurp (gain a glory token if your hero is in a territory with a glory token), Build Monument (add a level to a monument in a controlled territory), and End Turn (remove all used action tokens, roll the monster die, and draw an event card).

The game features four distinct victory conditions, and the first player to achieve any of them wins immediately. The 'Warlord' condition is met by controlling all territories within any two complete regions on the game board. The 'Favorite of the Gods' condition requires a player to control five territories that each contain a constructed temple. The 'Monster Slayer' condition is achieved by being the first player to defeat three monsters. Finally, the 'King of Kings' condition is met by fully constructing any one of the three monuments on the board and maintaining control of the territory where that monument stands for three consecutive turns.

The game concludes as soon as any player successfully meets one of the four specified victory conditions. There are no tie-breakers; if multiple players achieve a victory condition simultaneously (e.g., through an event or a final action), the player whose turn it is wins. The game does not proceed to a final scoring round; the victory is immediate.