How to play Ethnos Board Game & Review

Ethnos is a set collection, area control game.

Title: Ethnos

Year Published: 2017

Designer: Paolo Mori

Publisher: CMON Limited

Players: 2-6

Game Time: ~60 mins

Set-up Time: ~3 mins

Ages: 14+

Theme: Fantasy

Mechanisms: Area Control, Card Drafting, Set Collection

How to win: Score the most glory by controlling regions, playing large bands and scoring other points through various Race special abilities.

Game Description

In Ethnos, players call upon the support of giants, merfolk, halfings, minotaurs, and other fantasy tribes to help them gain control of the land. After three ages of play, whoever has collected the most glory wins!

How to Play Ethnos

Round-Up

So, one thing I like about this game is that I FINALLY found a version of this mechanism that I like. When either taking a card from an available selection or playing them as a set works well in Ticket to Ride, but I didn’t really like the game. Royals took a step closer but still fell a little flat for me after a couple of plays. This one does it.

The variation of the races in each game makes for a tonne of things to think about. Only half of those available are so you’re never really playing the same game each time. Also, due to them not being in the game all the time there’s no ‘one strategy’.

Races

Speaking of which, none of the Races feels overpowered and they’re actually quite well balanced. You’ll have a preference for sure but none are really ‘must-haves’. If you play a decent-sized band you’ve done something right no matter the leader of that band.

Having said that, the trolls are strong. All races will give points if you happen upon a few of them but the Troll tokens that break ties during the area control part of the game is strong. Mostly as you’re taking points from opponents as well as gaining them.

The combination of races each game is important and leads to interesting combos. Having Skeletons and Halflings together is… interesting, as are Dwarves and Skeletons.

Shuffling

The major downside is shuffling. You have to do a good proper shuffle 3 times per game and I mean a PROPER shuffle. As a round progresses the cards are sorted into colour and race assets are played so a full stack shuffle is required. Petty, I know but still…

Finally, there is a bit of luck of course. If the card you need isn’t available you could top deck one if you’re lucky. You could ‘draw into’ cards of the same race or region. Maybe someone plays a band and discards cards giving you access to the card you need.

Ethnos Rating

An awesome game with plenty of variation.

I give it 7/10

Ethnos First Impressions May 2017

0:18 – Overview
0:40 – Game Play
3:45 – Summary

Jesta ThaRogue