You know the story. Buncha monsters storm Mount Olympus. The pantheon is in a scramble. Who’s this coming to save the day — Hercules? More like Hunk-ules.

Reiner Knizia’s Ichor isn’t Disney’s Hercules, and thank the gods for that, although Tyler Miles Lockett’s illustrations do somewhat resemble the Gerald Scarfe amphorae look of the animated feature. When I previewed the thing a year back, I liked it somewhat less than its sibling title Iliad. Now that they’re both finished and on my table, though, I’ve been giving Ichor a second look. And while it’s still the zanier and less measured of the pair, there’s so much to appreciate about Knizia’s portrayal of this divine brawl that I can’t help but be charmed.

Read the rest of this entry →

There’s a hallmark to a great Reiner Knizia game. When learning the thing, you say, “That’s it?” Five minutes into your first session, you go, “Oh, that’s it.” What initially seemed too simple is revealed as a bottomless puddle, a glassy mirror that belies the fathoms lurking below the surface.

Ichor is one of two Knizias forthcoming from Bitewing Games. It’s a reimagining of an earlier Knizia title, Clinch, which appeared in Spielbox Magazine in 1993 and was produced as the abstract game Tiku. In 2009 it received an upgrade in the form of Battle for Olympus. Ichor follows closely on the heels of that game, but with a series of adjustments and improvements that make it an absolute python on the battlefield. No, not the snake python. The dragon Python.

Read the rest of this entry →