Ethnos Board Game | Playthrough (2 Players)

Watch our two-player battle in Ethnos, the area control board game, published by ‪@CMONGames‬ in this playthrough video. Note: This is not a how-to-play video. To learn how to play the game check out Rodney Smith's video from @WatchItPlayed Link: • Ethnos - How To Play
From ‪@boardgamegeek‬ - In Ethnos, players call upon the support of giants, merfolk, halflings, 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!
In more detail, the land of Ethnos contains twelve tribes of fantasy creatures, and in each game you choose six of them (five in a 2/3-player game), then create a deck with only the creatures in those tribes. The cards come in six colors, which match the six regions of Ethnos. Place three glory tokens in each region at random, arranging them from low to high.
Each player starts the game with one card in hand, then 4-12 cards (double the number of players) are placed face up on the table. On a turn, a player either recruits an ally or plays a band of allies. In the former case, you take a face-up card (without replacing it from the deck) or the top card of the deck and add it to your hand. In the latter case, you choose a set of cards in your hand that match either in tribe or in color, play them in front of you on the table, then discard all other cards in hand. You then place one token in the region that matches the color of the top card just played, and you use the power of the tribe member on the top card just played.
At the end of the first age, whoever has the most tokens in a region scores the glory shown on the first token. After the second age, the players with the most and second most tokens score glory equal to the values shown on the first and second tokens respectively. Players score similarly after the third age, then whoever has the most glory wins. (Games with two and three players last only two ages.)
boardgamegeek....

[@adityarajivratnam6863]

Nice playthrough. I remember playing this several years ago with my Dad and enjoying it, though I remember thinking it would have been more fun with more players (as with many area control games). There was also a pretty nifty dino-themed variant the author kindly lent me pnp files of, which was way more thematic and had (subjectively) better art imo.

[@fenirob]

Thanks. I agree that 3 players (at least) would be better for Ethnos. It was still fun with the 2 player rules. Solid game.

[@larrye]

Such a great game. I wish they would have done expansions instead of the rework.

[@andrewwalsh531]

idk, I'm confused....it looks to me like you each were playing a band of cards large enough to surpass the total number of control markers in a region (w/o regard to color). Reading the rules, I think you were playing it wrong....I also checked Rodney's rules video that you linked & in that video he confirmed what is stated in the rule book (top of page 7):
"If your Band is large enough, place one of your Control markers on the Kingdom that matches the color of your Leader card. You can only place a Control marker if there are currently fewer Control markers of YOUR color in that Kingdom than the number of cards in the Band you just played..." (note emphasis on YOUR).
Long story short....I think you were making it a little harder on yourselves than you needed to. Looks like a great game though, but a little expensive in the secondary market right now :( There is an updated version but comparing the two editions, I prefer the artwork & game board of the original.

[@fenirob]

I didn’t teach this one, but I understood that the way we were playing was the rule for two players.

[@andrewwalsh531]

@@fenirob ahhh...I see that you were playing it correctly for 2 players....I had not read that far in the rulebook....oops. To me, that's a huge change & I guess I understand it but it's always disapointing to see significant rule changes for playing w/ 2 vs the other player counts. Probly because it's always a 2 player group for us :) Anyway thumbs up on another good video!

[@fenirob]

@@andrewwalsh531 thanks for the kind words.

[@jayblake682]

I have to disagree. Jeff is astronomically more evil than Fenirob.

[@fenirob]

Thank you!