For the Gods is a divine board game of Greek myth, but it’s one step short of epic

For the Gods! is the latest title from a trio of star-studded board game designers. Between them, Trevor Benjamin (Mandala, Resist!, Undaunted), Brett J. Gilbert (Mandala, Divinare), and David Thompson (Undaunted, Resist!) have a small army of awards and nominations. That means, for their next project, expectations are sky-high.

That’s fitting for a board game about the Greek Gods, though it doesn’t take place on cloudy Mount Olympus. Instead, two to four people play as these deities’ human worshippers. Your goals are much more mortal: sail the Aegean archipelago, and build taller temples than your religious rivals.

This is an area majority game whose simple rules are as smooth as Grecian marble, but as rich as a wine-dark sea. The core engine is an efficient bag-building mechanic. Everyone starts the game with 24 stones in their bag (with zero to three pips printed on top), and you’ll begin with a starting hand of five, hidden behind a privacy screen.

Each turn, you’ll choose whether to visit a new region on the stunningly vibrant board. Each stop on your voyage costs a stone, which you’ll return to the bag. Once you’ve reached your intended port, you can choose to establish, elevate, or dedicate a temple.

Establishing means building a fresh temple in that region, while elevating extends an existing structure. When establishing, simply grab a base, and place any number of tiles with matching pips on top. If the region has a god token lying around, throw it straight in your bag.

These god tokens come into play when you dedicate a temple. You can dedicate as part of an establish or elevate action, and it allows you to place a single god token on top of your temple. This adds a fancy cornice, which looks snazzy, but mainly exists to show the value of the pips beneath. More importantly, though, dedicating your temple triggers that god’s power.

Four to six random gods form your pantheon, depending on player count. Dedication lets them shake the earth and seas in different divine ways. Athena swaps the location of two temples on a single island, while Ares steals a god token from a rival temple in the same region. Hestia lets you use two types of stones on a single temple, while Hermes straight-up gives you another turn.

Hephaestus and Zeus both add extra foundation stones to your temples, and Poseidon teleports you across the map. Artemis and Aphrodite both give you a chance to collect additional glory tokens – which you can usually only acquire by building a region’s tallest (or, sometimes, second-tallest) temple. It’s these Glory tokens that decide the game’s winner.

The gods are what turn these calm seas into surging, strategic waves. You’re no longer just gunning for the island that nets you the most glory. A detour to pick up a powerful god stone could seriously change the board state, and it’s worth squabbling over those pieces before they’re gone. The fact each game’s gods are randomized makes this tactical tempest tough to control, but it also makes this a game worth returning to for repeat plays.

Those aren’t the only tricky choices you’ll face. Your voyage starts gently, with enough space for everyone to build their towers. Quickly, though, the archipelago grows crowded.

You’ll need to decide which Glory tokens to fight over, and what stones you’re prepared to spend on that battle. A tower using all of your three-pip tokens is almost guaranteed to win, but that means fewer chances to claim land elsewhere. Plus, do you spend a god token early or late – or avoid spending them at all?

Some, like Apollo and Hermes, trigger additional draws from your bag. And, once someone cannot draw the required number of stones from their bag, end-game triggers. All other players take a final turn, and Glory points are totaled. Triggering end-game isn’t a death sentence for your zealots, but it’s a disadvantage that could bring your plans crashing down.

For the Gods! is an easygoing, beginner-friendly teach, but the competition is rather brutal. The gods do not suffer misplays. Take your eye off an undisputed region, dedicate at the wrong time, or mismanage your remaining bag, and it’s easy to fall behind in the race for glory.

That breeds an environment of tense turns, where your decisions have real impact. The game’s reliance on luck occasionally stifles this, as a bad pull from your bag can seriously slow you down. Still, it’s a relatively minor frustration. The joy of this game is making the best of the limited turns, space, and stones in front of you.

It’s a successful design, but for me, it’s not particularly memorable. Area majority is a crowded genre, and many rivals offer more innovation, complexity, and strategic thrill. Plus, there’s no clever marriage of theme and mechanics that elevates this above the many, many other Greek mythology board games. For the Gods! is gorgeous, but its theme feels superficial overall.

Those aren’t deal-breakers, and I expect many people will love For the Gods! Its simplicity, style, and strategy are impressive, if not ground-breaking. Any minor deity would be happy with this offering.

Want to learn more about the year’s best board games? Check out our guide, which I update weekly. Or, poke me in the Wargamer Discord and ask for some more recommendations.

A review copy was provided by the publisher.

Source: Wargamer