Flash Review — Attila

Players: 2-4 
Works well with just 2: Yes—but see my houserules
Age: 10+ 
Playtime: 45 minutes
Complexity: 4/10

[An oldie that's still a blast today... Attila was first published back in 2000!]

The dreaded Huns are pushing Germanic tribes to scatter all over Europe, and it's up to you to help them thrive (and eliminate some rivals while they're at it) as they breach the outer reaches of the once-mighty Roman empire.

On your turn, you play a card to add a meeple of that color to a region of the board, then increase your influence over that tribe... or add a second meeple in that color to the same region. As soon as more than four meeples find themselves in a region, a conflict breaks out. Each player gets to play face-down cards that match one (or more!) of the colors involved: total power is tallied for each tribe (number of meeples + number of cards played in that color) and the weakest tribe is eliminated from the region. Then the region is pacified: nobody can play there for the rest of the game. 

The game moves through four eras, each one lasting a little longer than its predecessor and granting players a little more influence whenever they place a meeple on the board. Scoring takes place at the end of each era, for each tribe: the player in 1st place on a tribe's influence track scores 1 point per meeple from that tribe on the board, while the player in 2nd place scores 1 point per region those meeples occupy. After four eras, the game ends and whoever's managed to score the most points is declared winner.

The beauty of the game lies in its simplicity, and it's fascinating to think back to 2000 and realize that, at the turn of the millennium, this was as complicated as most eurogames got. Some of those did not age well (Doge or Vino spring to mind) but Attila sailed through the decades without shedding any of its charm or bite. It's a fast and brutal end-of-the-evening little game, and I can't believe I hadn't played it in a decade. Shame on me.

The game does come with two-player rules but they suck.
So here are my battle-tested houserules for a fun two-handed skirmish:

1. Each player plays one card per turn, per standard multiplayer rules.
2. In order to get points on each tribe's influence track, the second-place player must be within X spaces of the lead player, where X equals the current era (1, 2, 3 or 4).
3. For each conflict, after both players have played their cards, X cards are added to the conflict from the top of the draw pile, where X equals the current era (1, 2, 3 or 4).
4. No action tiles may be played during era 4.

Most easily forgotten rule: I mean, this game is so simple... but if you really need one, don't forget to score points after each era.

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