How to win friends and influence nations:

Ethnos is a fantasy area control game in which players wrestle for dominion over a mystical land. Based on that sentence, what comes to mind? Sculpted miniatures? Dice rolling? Civilization Management? Hours of slogging contemplation only to end in a pyrrhic victory and hurt feelings? Ethnos is a wonderfully elegant, fast-playing abstract game that is simultaneously aggressive and welcoming; basically the opposite of what you’d expect from the box.

Over three ages (rounds), players will use a shared pool of cards to form bands of warriors and influence territories. As each round concludes, they’ll earn points by having the most influence in the various territories and for the size of the bands they’ve played.

To start, randomly pick 6 of the 12 fantasy races to form the draw deck; these will also determine which (if any) extra boards or components will come into play. Players each get one card to start, a market of face up cards is revealed, and the remaining forms the draw pile. Oh, and don’t forget to shuffle in the 3 dragon cards into the bottom half of the deck (more on that later).

And the first age begins! On a player’s turn they may either draw a card (either from the deck or face up market) or play a “band” of cards from their hand, discarding your remaining cards to the market. Bands consist of one or more cards that are either all from the same province (color) or all of the same race. Furthermore, one of the cards must be selected as the “band leader”, which determines which racial ability and which province you are influencing. If the number of cards in your band exceeds the number of influence discs you have in a region, you add a new disc.

Play continues until *GHASP* someone drew a dragon! This signals the beginning of the end of all things. Once three dragons have been revealed, the age is over and players immediately discard their hands and count points. You’ll feel a thrilling desperation as you decide whether to play the cards you have, or push your luck and try to keep drawing, knowing full well that a third dragon could be right around the corner.

This continues for three rounds (two in a 2-3 player game), with the draw deck being reformed at the beginning of each age. While your bands go away, your stacked influence discs remain in like miniature obelisks constructed in your honor; which is important because the regions become more valuable with each new age. There’s a nice ark to Ethnos as you’ll likely be playing bigger, badder bands as the game goes on, further driving the tension and desperation as the third dragon of the third age draws near*. Finally, at the end of the three rounds, points are awarded and a winner is declared.

*coincidentally, “Third Dragon of the Third Age” is the name of my new prog-metal band