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When we acquired this Cthulhu Wars, we felt like we were gifting a Christmas present to ourselves! This box is HUGE! The thick map boards, sturdy figures, and rulebook are hefty, and everything inside is beautifully crafted, from the colorful figures to the artistic, printed components.
If you’re a fan of H.P. Lovecraft (or even if you’re not), Cthulhu Wars is a must-have! Having knowledge of the different factions and, of course, Cthulhu definitely makes this game fun, but it really does stand on its own as a solid board game.
The box contains everything you need to play for two to four players, complete with four factions. There are additional factions and maps you can purchase to enhance the game and expand it up to eight players. However, adding just one faction to the base game allows five players to play. We are looking forward to buying more expansions and accessories to expand our collection! How’s it Played?
To win you must collect six Spellbooks and have the highest ‘Doom’ on the Doom Track. Sounds simple, right? Not so much! Each player chooses one of four factions: Great Cthulhu, Yellow Sign, Crawling Chaos, or Black Goat. They receive the appropriate components which include a Great Old One, Monsters, Cultists, Power Markers, Doom Marker, Faction Card, and six Spellbooks. The power marker is placed on the faction card’s power track, starting at 8.
The sides of the two-part map you use depend on how many players you have. For two players, we used the 3-player sides of the map. The number of players also determines which Ritual of Annihilation track you use. This track, and the Doom track, are adjacent to the map. Each player starts with their Doom token on zero. 36 Elder Sign trophies are placed in a cloth bag. 24 gate pieces and 20 dice are placed for all the players to access. Each player starts the game with their six Cultists and a Controlled Gate on the map. If Cthulhu is in play, that player goes first, otherwise, players have to choose a first player. That player receives the First Player Token and decides the direction of play. There are many rules to follow and actions you can take in this game – too many to list here – so, we will summarize. Play is in four phases:
If the Ritual of Annihilation is on 10 and someone performs the ritual, it moves to “Instant Death” and the game ends. Hopefully someone has all six of their Spellbooks at that time, otherwise, nobody wins – yikes! Speaking of Spellbooks… How do you get them? On your faction card there are six slots to place your tomes – each space has a criteria to meet in order to place a book. For example, Great Cthulhu can place a book for killing or devouring an enemy unit in battle. You can use the spells for each Spellbook you gained during your turn. Make sure you know all your criteria, because if you forget to gather all your books, you can’t win the game!
As mentioned, the game ends when a players performs a Ritual of Annihilation and moves the marker to the Instant Death Spot, or reaches 30 or more ‘Doom’ on the Doom Track. When that happens, it may look like that player won, especially if they have all six Spellbooks, but until all Elder Sign tokens are revealed, you simply don’t know for certain. Once endgame is triggered, everyone reveals their Elder Signs and adds them to the Doom Track. The player with the most Doom and all six Spellbooks wins! Timing of the Game It took the two of us a little over an hour to play. We were fortunate to have our friends, Tony and Pam, join us one night, and it took the four of us just a little bit longer to play. Tony was kind enough to bring an additional faction: Azathoth. This is a faction of neutral monsters and a new Elder God from which any of us could use throughout the game. That faction also add six neutral spell books we could use in lieu of our own. These options, accessible throughout the game, made Cthulhu Wars an even more engaging experience! We’re excited to explore more factions and keep playing this game, over and over again…until the End Times, that is!
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