Race between whirlpools and a hydra in boating board game Greece Lightning
Paging Poseidon.
Speed across the waters in a race against rival trireme captains in Greece Lightning, an upcoming board game about a mythic Greek sailing race.
In Greece Lightning, players compete in the Hydra Regatta - a famous competition between accomplished sailors willing to risk the dangerous waters and hungry monsters to win glory in ancient Greece. During the two to four-player board game, each captain will have command of their own trireme - which is a type of Greecian ship - which they will need to steer between the many hazards that litter the waterway. Winners of the race will not only earn the renown of their people, but possibly even a place amongst the gods themselves.
Players begin the family-friendly game at the start of a circular track, which they’ll be looking to loop around twice ahead of their competitors. On a player’s turn, they’ll roll a navigation die - which is a d3 - and a movement d6 in order to push their boat ahead. Players can then roll a second movement die in the hopes of getting further ahead, however if they roll under the first movement die then they can only use the result of their navigation die.
After rolling their dice, players can then move their ship along the number of spaces on their current path equal to the result they rolled. Paths on the game’s track cut across one another, which enables players to switch paths if they’re in a space that allows them to do so. How paths intersect each other is determined by the placement of the 12 pieces that make up the game’s track, which are randomised with every playthrough.
Players will also occasionally encounter various bonus markers throughout the race, which include fish that can be spent to gain rerolls and navigating around whirlpools, favours from the gods that enable players to use certain actions, track wedges players can place on top of the board to aid themselves or hinder other players, whirlpools which they’ll need to find an exit out of, and the dreaded hydra - who must be paid in fish in order to be escaped. Whenever a player finishes a lap, they’re given a fish, wedge and a favour of the gods card - which they can use during their final lap to get ahead or stay abreast of their opponents.
Greece Lightning was co-created by Kathleen Mercury and Mark Sellmeyer, the designer responsible for Spin Monkeys - a board game about being a gang of monkeys who are drawn into a travelling carnival - and co-creator of Seasons: The Calendar Rummy Game, which rethemes the classic card game of Rummy with the months of the year.
WizKids is the publisher behind Greece Lightning and is best known for releasing horror board game Fury of Dracula: Fourth Edition, as well as deckbuilding board game Mage Knight and dice-rolling title - Quarriors!
Greece Lightning is set to be released in June, with a retail price yet to be confirmed. (Thanks, BoardGameGeek.)