Cyclades, eight Language Edition

This is a really brilliant game. Superficially, it somewhat resembles RISK, but without all the massive downsides of that game, not least the potentially absurd game length. Instead you are given an interesting, and constantly changing challenge. Winning the game always feels clever and elegant, like fitting jigsaw pieces into place, rather than the slow and tedious war of attrition that is RISK. Only you are squabbling with other players over the same pieces! Even losing is more fun - unlike RISK it is rarely obvious who will win until the turn they do.The game has a nice way of making you feel like you always have some stake in it. There are certain mechanics that can help bring players back from the brink, and the size and shape of the board means you are all constantly interacting with each of the other players. You also can't get to the point where you have so many territories and armies you can't be rivalled - it just doesn't tend to work like that. There is an upper limit of 8 armies and 6 navies (iirc), and you rarely find yourself running out of them.It also works surprisingly well with just two players (most 3+ player games that say they can be played with two of you are quite awful without at least a third player).The quality of the game is also great: sturdy boards, nice looking cards, chunky tokens, and lots of little plastic pieces. The monsters are particularly fun, and they even took the trouble of casting each faction a different model for their navies and armies!I am building up a fairly impressive collection of board games, and this one has filled a real nice gap left by games like Catan and Risk, that have a similar scope and style, but are just frankly far more dull.

Game is great but the box came slightly damaged which would have been fine, but it meant the board got damaged as well...

Having seen and heard a lot about this game I was quite excited when it arrived and wasn't disappointed. I have only just starting getting into board games and have always felt quite intimidated when I have sat down to play a game which consists around a million rules and lots of different movements. However in regards to this game, I felt it to be quite a good introductory game to the whole strategic board game world. The rules are relatively easy to pick up and after a couple of practice rounds everybody knew how to play and even form a strategy.The game is such good fun and presented beautifully. I've been told that the expansion packs make the game even better, but on it's own I still feel as though the game packs a lot of enjoyment . Bare in mind that I am no expert on board games, but I feel as though the game is above head and shoulders a better experience when played with 3-5 people, I played a two player game a couple of weeks ago and despite enjoying the one on one contest, it wasn't quite as good.

Cyclades is a fantastic looking game. The artwork is beautiful and the components are very high quality. You play as one of 5 factions who are locked in a race to build (or conquer) two cities. To aid you your faction will need to make gold from trade routes over seas or harvest from the land and then spend it on less gentle pursuits. Spend gold to raise The Kraken and destroy your rivals fleets, send harpies to wrench control of islands away from your opponents by snatching up his army, wage war with all your favourite mythological monsters at your side.But wait, you only have a certain amount of gold and you are all praying to the same greedy Gods to get their favour. The bidding wars between players is as brutal as any combat and you will be cursing your friends as they win Ares' favour and he grants them a horde of blood thirsty Spartans to take your beautiful city away from you whilst bribing Medusa to turn your Army to stone!This game will have you talking about key moments from the nights play for days and you will want to play it again and again and again for many years to come.Buy it!

This is a very easy and straight forward game, perfect for a friendly boardgame night based on strategy to destroy your friends 😈The lithological creatures give a nice touch for a legal cheating move!

Great game. Arrived a bit battered. I think this box has sat in the warehouse for a while.

Brilliant game, even got the expansion few weeks after. Lots of nights spent gaming since buying this. Would thoroughly recommend to any risk/domination gamer looking for a different style of game! The art work and figurines are very detailed and kind of explain the price. still worth every penny!

It was delivered quickly and came in perfect condition. The game is also a lot of fun to play. It is an easy going game and doesn't take too long which can be really nice with a few friends on a lazy afternoon.