Joining Kickstarter is the latest and final instalment of the Ludos game series by Lemery Games, Ludos: Europe, a selection of four handpicked, two player, small box games from Ancient cultures across Europe, which I have been lucky enough to get my hands on early to explore these ancient games.
Following on from their previous collections Asia, Africa and America, Ludos games are made to ensure we’re preserving the games of the past and introducing them to a modern audience, with the missions statement still going strong in the Europe addition, with Bear Hunt from the Roman Empire, Brandubh from Ireland, Petteia from Greece, and Sahkku from Finland.
And as someone who at the end of last year read the board game history book The Game Changers: How Playing Games Changed the World by Tim Clare, I found myself enthralled and intrigued by ancient games across the globe, so Ludos: Europe was timed to perfection at the peak of my curiosity, so I couldn’t wait to delve into history.
After getting to uncover its mysteries and try all four games in the collection, I can share my thoughts and views on Ludos: Europe. But was it an incredible exploration through history, or was it the kind of history lesson in school you fell asleep in?
A Masterclass In Design
I am going to start this review a bit differently to how I usually would by first talking about the game art, because I feel with Ludos: Europe that first impression of getting the game was so important.
With the collectors edition of the game, which comes with all four games and the free deluxe collectors box, you receive this visually stunning game box which immediately had me wanting to discover the ancient secrets hiding inside.
The beautiful design of it is so evocative of the history Ludos: Europe is bringing to life. The designers Luca Kamilla Kuti, Timea Koszegi and Livia Varga deserve all the praise in the world for the amazing job they did on the design of this game. It feels authentic and wonderous, just begging to be brought to the table any game night.
Every time someone has come round since I received my cop, I have felt compelled to show them the beautiful box like an unveiling just to show off how gorgeous it is, like a new piece of art I have lovingly hung on the wall, even if the person I am showing has zero interest in board games.
It truly is a visually stunning production, with the beautiful and practical design of each small box game fitting wonderfully into the sides of the main box, creating this sense of anticipation each time you choose one of the games to play.
The individual games themselves are all wonderfully decorated and ooze authenticity, and are easily portable to fit in your pocket if you want to show off your favourite within the collection to your friends or family or take to the pub.
The incredibly vivid colours from the box art to the components of each game brings to mind ancient worlds and the cultures these games depict, with the lovely pieces and fabric mats the games come with not only a joy to play with, but do justice to the loving authenticity the game is trying to achieve, with the feeling like you’re playing something straight out of the British Museum. So before I even get into the mechanics and how each game play, I have to give my props to Lemery Games for the amazing production of Ludos: Europe.
We’re Going On A Bear Hunt
I thought the best way to approach this review in terms of the individual games that make up the Ludos: Europe collection is just give a brief overview and thoughts on the games one by one, starting with the game that least excited me before working up to my personal favourite.
Bear Hunt, which comes from the Roman Empire, was actually the first game I tried in the collection, and I would recommend as a good starting point if you order the collection yourself.
In Bear Hunt one player plays as the titular bear whereas the other acts as three gladiators, looking to capture the ferocious animal.
Rooted in the tactical traditions of the Roman Empire, Bear Hunt is an abstract strategy game where both players are moving their pieces along designated paths around a small game mat. The bear is simply trying to avoid capture for a number of turns, whereas the gladiator player is trying to corner the bear, so that they can no longer make any legal moves around the mat.
It is an extremely simple game which looks wonderful on your game table, can be taught in less than a minute and played in less than five. Personally I didn’t find enough within the game to hold my interest for long, as someone probably who has been brought up on modern board games and their thousands of rules, but where I think Bear Hunt would really shine is as a game to teach children to hopefully get them into the hobby.
It’s rules are super simple and its gameplay quick, perfect for young children who might just want to play a little game with their parent or sibling, while having enough strategy within it to keep you and them engaged in the game, as well as teaching them basic game principles of strategising and planning.
A fun little game which might not offer much to modern board gamers, but a perfect game to have in the back pocket if you have young children or even elderly parents who prefer their board games simpler.
Luck Of The Irish
Brandubh is an asymmetric war game where one player takes on the role of the Celts, while the other controls the larger Viking force. The Celts win if they can get their king to safety in the corner of the game mat, while the Vikings are simply looking to capture said king.
Players will be moving their individual components around a square mat, trying to achieve their individual goals. For the Celts its simple, get the king from his throne to a corner. The Viking player perhaps has a more tactical game, working out moves and strategies two steps ahead to manoeuvre themselves in position to either capture Celt pieces to remove their influence from the game, or more importantly, to capture the king and win.
Like Bear Hunt, and really every game in this collection, the rules aren’t complicated and gameplay is quick and easy to learn. Where I think it offers a bit more than Bear Hunt though is in the levels of different strategies you can employ, especially as players have differing win conditions.
The mat and pieces are really lovely and beautifully evocative of Irish culture, and the speedy gameplay does provide that oh just one more game feeling that’s perfect for these pocket sized two player games.
I personally found the next two I will mention from the collection a bit more engaging, but Brandubh certainly has a lot to offer, even if again it might be better for younger gamers. I also haven’t yet explored its variant Tablut, which uses all of the game pieces, which might add greater depth to the game. But so far my impressions are it kind of feels like a slightly paired down version of Petteia, which I shall discuss now!
It’s All Greek To Me
As someone who has always been fascinated and previously studied Ancient Greece, Petteia was probably the game from the collection I was most interested in playing.
An abstract strategy game built around tactical encirclement, Petteia is steeped in history, with mentions from the likes of Pluto and Plutarch, and was played by the common folk as well as great generals and philosophers of Greek history. Ludos: Europe does an amazing job of bringing all this history onto your board game table.
Despite its small size Petteia somehow has this presence on the table, it’s the game that made me feel most like I was stepping into a bit of history and learning something historic.
While it shares similarities to Brandubh in the way you capture your opponents pieces, here both players have the same goal, trying to simply capture your opponents other 24 pieces, or what is essentially their king piece, Strategos for the Greek Hoplites, or Lars for the Etruscans.
I found Petteia very engaging, where I had to think about every move. On your turn you can move any piece to any available square, with your Lars or Strategos also able to jump other pieces. This meant every move you make in the game is an important one, mistakes can be punished instantly and in a moment you can find your captain piece taken.
If my above descriptions sound a lot like Chess, then yes this was something that immediately came to mind with me while playing. It kind of plays as a simpler version of the worlds most famous game, which can be a positive or a negative depending on your feelings of Chess!
Rather than having to remember every different moves individual chess pieces can make, your pieces all move one and the same generally, which is far easier to understand and means its less likely one player will simpler be far better at the game, a common problem of Chess. But it does mean that often various games of Petteia can look very similar to another, as your limited in the different strategies you can concoct.
One of the things I really enjoy about Ludos: Europe is the games coming with lots of different variants and ways to play each individual game, and I think Petteia offers the best variant, Latrunculi, which is a Roman variation of the game. I would recommend this to anyone looking to spice up Petteia, as rather than a set starting position for all your pieces, it offers you a kind of opening draft, where players take turns choosing where to place their Hoplites or Etruscans, which made the start of the game immediately exciting and opened up new strategies.
Run Run Reindeer
My favourite game of the collection has to be the Finnish reindeer racing game Sahkku, which interestingly was the game that least piqued my interest when reading about the individual games.
In Sahkku each of you commands 15 reindeer, looking to race around the game track while removing opponents pieces to secure the best grazing lands for your Christmassy animals.
Along the way you can capture the lead buck, a piece which allows movement any which way around the track, providing opportunities for numerous captures, as long as you can hold onto it without your opponent nabbing him off you with the allure of fresh carrots.
The only game to feature dice, and what incredible wooden barrel dice they are, Sahkku is the game most like a modern board game in the Ludos: Europe collection. The luck of dice rolls can prove frustrating, but firstly, try rolling those barrel dice and not find joy in it, and secondly, Sahkku has so much depth and planning that best utilising the rolls the dice give you is paramount to your success.
They allow you to move your reindeer a number of steps around the track, or simply get more reindeer into play, but choosing where you move and who you activate is really important, as you also need to be keeping an eye on where your opponents reindeer are. Most importantly, you want that lead buck as soon as possible, as it can greatly influence the outcome of the game.
Sahkku was tremendous fun to play, a game I would own in of itself not just simply in an ancient game collection for its historical importance. It’s the game I most found finishing and wanting to go again, the game I thought about bringing to a board a game session at work or showing my family at Christmas, especially when it features reindeer!
A really lovely game in its own right, and when it comes as part of this beautiful collection, Sahkku is a cracking game, and for me the top tier game of Ludos: Europe.
A Trek Through History
As an overall collection, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Ludos: Europe. As I said at the beginning, I had found myself going down a rabbit hole anyway of researching ancient games, reading about things such as The Royal Game of Ur and those looking to restore them, so finding Ludos and what Lemery Games are trying to achieve, I was so intrigued, and the Europe collection does a fantastic job transporting these ancient European games into the present, without losing any of its authenticity or ancient charm.
The campaign and developers Lemery Games show a clear love and dedication to their goals, from the obvious research they did in selecting and developing these specific games for Ludos Europe, to their pledge to donate a game to an underrepresented community in countries across Europe for every 2nd LUDOS Deluxe collection sold. It’s clear how much extensive research went into the making of this game, and the desire to make it the best it can be with the stunning designs on display on the box and within the games.
Ensuring games aren't forgotten or lost to time is a noble mission statement, when you consider the amount of history in regards to gaming and play will have been lost over the course of time without the existence of something like this. With Ludos: Europe, each game feels like stepping into a little bit of history and culture, an exploration into play and the wonderful worlds board games have been creating and a part of for generations.
While I did find some of the games a bit too simple to really keep my attention, the collection does provide easy to learn abstract strategy games that feel perfect for teaching children about board games and play, with a wonderful historical spin and beautiful design to draw their attention, while still featuring modern board game mechanics which even tabletop hobbyists will be familiar with and can have fun mastering.
I haven't played the original Ludos games so it was wonderful delving into this idea and design, the only issue now is I am tempted to explore more games and worlds from different cultures with their other collections, and my board game cupboard is already bursting at the seams!
A wonderful idea with lovingly recreated ancient games, I would strongly recommend Ludos: Europe to anyone fascinated by the history of board games, or even for people looking to get their kids into the hobby, but don’t want Ludo or Frustration clogging up their collection.
