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- BGG #6,465
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- 7.0
Evil High Priest
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Rules assistance for Cthulhu Wars: Ancients
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 90–120 min
- 14+
- Complexity 3.3/5
Rules assistant for Cthulhu Wars: Ancients
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Cthulhu Wars: Ancients is an expansion for Cthulhu Wars released in 2018 for 2–5 players, 90–120 minutes per game, and ages 14 and up. It was designed by Sandy Petersen and Lincoln Petersen and its main mechanics are Variable Player Powers, Area Movement, and Dice Rolling.
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About the game
The Ancients Faction are a human-oriented faction, and are particularly unusual, because they don’t have their own Great Old One. They have to be extremely sensitive to the other players, and must engage in diplomacy and negotations to an extent previously unknown in Cthulhu Wars. Like Yellow Sign, you need to travel across the world. In your case, this is to build Cathedrals in the same areas marked with Symbols as Yellow Sign (though you also have to build one Cathedral in an unmarked area). Fortunately, you have an ace up your sleeve – other factions often rather like to share their areas with a Cathedral. But you can’t always rely on this, and you lack the punch of Yellow Sign’s undead army. Like most factions, each of your creatures has a spellbook dedicated to it. Unlike every other faction, these spellbooks actually make your creature inferior in some way! However, they’re still worth getting for two reasons. First, they make the creature MUCH less expensive, and thus let you have a good combat punch (which you’ll need). Second, you can’t win the game without all six spellbooks! Your special faction ability is Dematerialization, and is useful in movement. Each Doom phase, select one area in which you have units. Move any or all of those units to one other selected area, anywhere on the map. In play, you’ll find this useful not only for planned attacks, but also for building your Cathedrals. —description from the publisher The Cathedral, Un-men, Reanimated, and Yothan sculpts are credited to "Tidal 4".
Editions
- Cthulhu Wars: AncientsenPetersen Games2018
- Cthulhu Wars: UraltendePetersen Games2020
- Cthulhu Wars: Les AnciensfrPetersen Games2018
Designers
Publishers
- Petersen Games
Questions and answers
Cthulhu Wars: Ancients supports 2–5 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Cthulhu Wars: Ancients is 90–120 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Cthulhu Wars: Ancients for ages 14 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Cthulhu Wars: Ancients has a complexity rating of 3.3 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-weight game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Cthulhu Wars: Ancients belongs to these categories: Fantasy, Fighting, and Horror. Its main mechanics are Variable Player Powers, Area Movement, and Dice Rolling. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Cthulhu Wars: Ancients are: Sandy Petersen and Lincoln Petersen. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Cthulhu Wars: Ancients as an expansion for Cthulhu Wars. Expansions add new content, rules or scenarios to the base game and usually cannot be played on their own, so you need Cthulhu Wars to use it. Check that your edition of Cthulhu Wars is compatible, as some expansions were revised between editions.