Osprey Games – Warriors of Athena Heroes

Frostgrave, Stargrave, Oathmark and Rangers of Shadow Deep. All these games have one thing in common: Joe McCullough. Known for his focus on narrative-driven games, another game penned by him is being released, and once again, the partners for the release are Osprey, for the rulebooks, and Northstar Miniatures, for the corresponding game accessories.

What is it about?

It is a harsh, wild world, and the mythical monsters of ancient Greece have been unleashed. As if that weren't enough, bandit lords, sinister cults, and other evil forces are also wreaking havoc. In their desperation, the inhabitants of the various city-states pray to the gods. But mortals are only a means to an end for them. A tool for entertainment or pleasure, not worth further concern. Only Athena hears their pleas and decides to help the mortals. Her means of choice are the many illicit demigods who populate the world and have the power to rise up against evil. But she must carry out her mission in secret, for the other gods do not like it when their toys are tampered with. And so she quietly and inconspicuously leads the heroes to where they are most needed, so that their deeds may become legends.

In this book, players take on the role of one of these heroes and their companions to face unexpected adventures and challenges. Conveniently, however, you don't have to face the horrors of mystical Hellas alone—other players can also join your hero as demigods and take part in the battle between good and evil, humans and monsters.

First impression

At first glance, the product appears to be of high quality in terms of design. The cover is made of attractive, thick cardboard, which suits my personal taste. However, the material is rather soft, which quickly leads to dents. I immediately noticed wrinkles and damaged corners on the sample copy I received, which I later saw in other reviews as well. The entire book is printed in full color, although I couldn't identify any special colors off the top of my head. I also did not find any flashes caused by misalignment of the printed images—however, the paper is wavy, which suggests that it was printed in the wrong direction or stored in rather damp rooms. I also noticed that one of the bindings was misaligned, which means that the pages do not line up flush with each other.

From a print perspective, it's actually a nice product, but it could have been finished more neatly. Compared to the German print publication of Frostgrave, a ribbon bookmark would have been a nice touch, but that's just nitpicking at this point. I guess that's an old career quirk when you come from the print industry.

The layout features a cool, white marble pattern. Here, personal taste comes into play again. I like the look, but to keep it from looking too clinical, I would add a few sections in a different marble color. This doesn't detract from the look and makes the different sections of the book more interesting to read. For example, you could depict the hero creation in a more sepia-toned look.

Some of the graphics in the book are in full color, such as the artwork and scenic shots, while others are in grayscale, such as the images used for visual support. The latter sometimes seem a little contrived and could blend in better with the page, e.g., as larger background graphics that are not quite so dominant in the foreground. The quality of the drawings is great throughout the book. But I'll come back to that in a moment.

The structure of the table of contents is an important factor in forming a first impression when leafing through the book for the first time. Here, I can say that it provides a quick overview, which speaks for a very good division of the subject areas and, in this case, also serves as a glossary. For players like me, who have to look things up from time to time after long breaks, this is a real blessing! The book is roughly divided into the following sections:

• What you need to play
• Character creation and abilities
• Companions
• Game mechanics
• Steps to take after the game

The actual rules can be found starting on page 62, with the preceding section dealing with the creation of a hero and their backstory. I will go into a little more detail about this in one of my upcoming articles, as it was very entertaining to read and creating the heroes was fun.

This is followed by a look at the tokens required and the steps involved in a campaign, such as injuries, determining experience points, and loot.

Artworks

Anyone leafing through the book will inevitably admire the style of Hazem Ameen's illustrations. The art style is a little lighter than in Frostgrave and strongly reminiscent of comics such as The Sixth Gun or Odyxes. This is not his first foray into antiquity, as he has already provided artwork for the board game Minos: Dawn of the Bronze Age. In my opinion, this suits the setting well, as the relaxed drawing style fits in well with the mythical and rather loosely interpreted legends of antiquity. I like the dynamic style of the drawings much better than, for example, in the second edition of Frostgrave, where the characters are more or less drawn in a straight line from top to bottom. In Warriors of Athena, the images simply tell a story much more clearly, which sums up the heart and soul of the entire work in a nutshell.

However, the double artwork, such as the cornucopia bursting with grapes that can be seen on pages 47 and 49 and also appears in Warriors of Athena Quests, was a slight drawback.

Scenic Shots

The same applies to the scenic shots in a slightly modified form. For example, the same image can be seen on pages 17 and 57, although on page 17 the centaur and satyr appear to have been added using graphics software. On page 57, only half of the image is visible, but it is definitely the same image. This becomes even clearer on page 118, where the identical image from page 17 can be seen, only this time without centaurs and satyrs.

I'm a big fan of scenic shots—they capture the atmosphere of the setting and bring the narrative to life. Here, I got the impression that most of the pictures were taken on the same table with slightly adjusted terrain. Not a big deal in itself, but for a product that has been of such high quality so far, I would have preferred to wait a little longer until more miniatures were available for more varied pictures.

An alternative suggestion on my part is to send promotional material to good painters and ask them to create beautiful scenic shots. Many are well equipped and can deliver very beautiful images along with good painting quality. I am sure that there are also some top-class painters who would be willing to paint the miniatures and send them back, as long as they receive some fame and glory in the form of having their name printed next to the picture in the book. This would be a practical approach that also involves the community in the creation of a great product.

How do you play Warriors of Athena Heroes?

Anyone who has already played Frostgrave or Rangers of Shadow Deep will quickly feel at home here, as Warriors of Athena uses the same W20 mechanics known from the Grave games.

Example of Melee Combat:

You roll a 6 on a D20 and have a Fight value of 6 in your character's stat line. The result is added up and thus amounts to 12. Your opponent has a Fight value of 2 and rolls a 7, which only brings them to 9. Your value is higher, so you have carried out a successful attack and hit your opponent.

Now the damage is determined. Your previously rolled and totaled value was 12, which, after the successful hit, now also corresponds to the amount of damage caused. But the opponent has an armor value of 10. This means that they only suffer the difference as damage, which, after deducting 10 for the armor, would cause two damage points.

So there will be some situations where you will have to do some quick math. However, after a few such calculations, the mechanics will sink in quite quickly.

A round is divided into four stages. The Hero Phase, in which the heroes and, depending on how many players are playing, one or more Companions take action. Then it's the creatures' turn – everything that doesn't belong directly to your warband. This is followed by the Companion Phase, in which all remaining Companions take their turn. The final phase is the Event phase, in which events are drawn from cards or new creatures are placed. That's right, you will definitely need a deck of conventional playing cards to determine events and loot.

Characters can usually act twice per round with a normal or simple action. There are also hero actions, special abilities that a hero can use without spending an action. Unless it is explicitly stated in the description of the ability that an action must be spent. Each character can use one ability per round, regardless of whether they are a hero, companion, or creature. It is also irrelevant who is currently controlling the character. This means that a player could use one of their opponent's abilities against their opponent, e.g., if a hero son of Hades has taken control of an undead creature and uses it to attack another enemy creature. As in Frostgrave, you can sacrifice hit points to influence the dice roll on a 1:1 ratio and thus possibly force a success. However, it should be noted that every successful action also leads to exhaustion, which also consumes hit points.

Closer to Rangers of Shadow Deep than Frostgrave are the tables that come into play after the scenario, such as injuries sustained, effects, and what treasures you may have recovered during your adventure.

The Oracle

I would like to briefly mention the Oracle here. Effectively, this is a game master, as is common in role-playing games. This is not essential to the game, but in my opinion it adds a strong narrative element. It also makes it easier to play so-called scenes. These are parts of the game that are not played on the tabletop surface, but in conversation with each other, and in which, depending on the situation, various skill tests are performed. For example, do we want to persuade a bandit leader to rethink his life and start over as a farmer? No problem - a test of his diplomacy skill makes that possible.

What‘s next?

Northstar Military Figures has already announced several models for Warriors of Athena on their Facebook page, and the upcoming release of plastic kits for satyrs and centaurs has also been confirmed. I'm pretty sure we'll see more books in this setting in the future, as it lends itself to a whole bunch of scenarios or campaigns. If Joe and Nick want to try something new, they could even run a campaign with the community to decide the fate of a fictional island. All in the spirit of Hellenistic-inspired adventures.

Conclusion

For £25, or €29.99 in Germany, you undoubtedly get a very high-quality product, but it does come with a few drawbacks. The duplication of scenic shots and the picturesque quality of the figures could be a little more appealing. The price is also steep when you consider that you actually need the second book, Warriors of Athena Quests, if you want to play solo games, and it costs just as much. However, it should be mentioned here that Heroes has 128 pages, while Quests is 176 pages thick. Considering the volume, the price is justified, even if it seems to require a deeper investment initially.

I believe that Heroes alone could be used to play good games against each other. Since the order in which miniatures are activated is determined by their Will value, it's also fun to try out different setups for your warband. I'm going to put this assumption to the test, as it's not explicitly mentioned in the book, but it seems obvious to me somehow.

Based on the previous marketing strategy and popularity of Joe McCullough's systems, it is to be expected that there will be further publications on Warriors of Athena. Ancient Greece, especially its mythology, also lends itself perfectly for telling stories.

In the next part of the review, we will take a look at this very side in the book Warriors of Athena Quests.

Warriors of Athena is a game by Joe McCullough and distributed by North Star Figures and Osprey Games.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.