As we have seen in the general historical overview in Book 1, individual leaders, first and foremost, but not exclusively, kings, drove the historical narrative in Ancient times. Accordingly, Hubris – Twilight of the Hellenistic World has been built around these leaders, their strengths and weaknesses, unique abilities and relationships. Who can you trust to get the job done? Who can you trust with an army? These will be essential questions when you play Hubris…

Introduction

Unlike modern states, Hellenistic kingdoms did not feature extensive administrations and bureaucracies: in many ways, the king was the state. But, no matter how talented he could be, he could not do everything on his own. To govern, he relied on a circle of people close to him, who were traditionally known as his Friends (in Greek: Philoi), though over time the term lost its original meaning to become more of an official title. Whenever a king needed a task to be taken care of, whether leading a diplomatic mission, overseeing a construction project or leading an army, he would appoint one of his Friends, usually selected because of their particular skills or connections, and also with an eye on their loyalty. Indeed, the model of heroic kingship epitomized by Alexander, and through which the original Successors built their kingdoms, was still very much present in the minds of Macedonian officers, leading to a number of rebellions by royal family members or prestigious generals…

In Hubris, whenever you want to do something in the game, whether undertaking an action or triggering a pending event, you will have to activate an available leader, and test their appropriate rating to determine whether you are successful, and to what extent.

Every leader is typically able to be activated twice per turn, and each activation takes up one activation opportunity, of which there will be at least four, but never more than six, for every kingdom each turn.  Since all leaders have different abilities, which leader to activate, to what end, and when, forms the core of player decisions…

Anatomy of a Leader Card

Every leader in the game is represented by a Leader Card. Let us look in some detail at one of these. As usual, all game material shown here is only playtesting prototype material.

This leader is Perseous, the eldest son of king Philip V of Macedon. You can see that he is affiliated at start with Macedon, and tagged as a member of the royal family, with the succession rank of #2. If he is in play (alive) when his father is removed from play (dies), he will automatically succeed as king of Macedon.

He enters play in the year 194 BCE, i.e. during the 6^th turn of the game (195-191). This means that he is of age to play an active role in politics, war and administration from that turn onward. His end date is 165, which, being the end of the game, means that, barring other circumstances, he would live beyond the scope of the game.

If he had an end date within the time frame of the scenario being played, he would be removed from play when the recurrent game mechanism “Ferryman of Souls” pops up if his end date matches the current turn, or a previous turn – since recurrent events do not necessarily occur every turn. However, irrespective of their printed end date, every leader must roll 2d6 when “Ferryman of Souls” is resolved, and is removed from play on a roll of 12, representing early death occurrences, such as from a battle wound, a riding incident, disease, or random assassination…

For a picture, I am using at the moment a coin minted during his reign (179-168 BCE). In the released version of the game, all leaders will have specially commissioned hand-drawn portraits on their cards.

Leader Capabilities and Ratings

Perseous has all three Capability icons existing in the game: the red Campaign icon, the blue Diplomacy icon, and the yellow Admin icon, which means that he is able to undertake all possible Actions and Reactions:

• With the Campaign Capability, he is able to undertake Campaign Actions and all kinds of military Reactions, including Naval Interceptions, Strengthening Defenses and Emergency Muster;
• With the Diplomacy Capability, he is able to undertake Diplomacy Actions toward autonomous cities and tribes, try to increase his kingdom’s influence in the Roman Senate or to forestall war with the Republic (though his Special Ability diminishes his effectiveness in this regard, see below);
• With the Admin Capability, he is able to attempt to Increase Taxes, Build new naval Squadrons, and undertake Evergetism Actions, various actions to increase the standing of the dynasty through public buildings programs or other benefaction initiatives;
• Various events may require a leader with a specific Capability icon to be Activated in order to trigger them.

He is rated for each of these Capabilities, with actually two ratings associated with Campaign: a Battle Rating and a Siege Rating:

• As indicated by its name, the Battle Rating is primarily used in battle, with each Unit under his command rolling once and generating hits if they roll equal or less to his Battle Rating;
• The Battle Rating is also used when rolling for Subjugation of Tribes during Campaigns;
• The Siege Rating, on the other hand, is used when rolling for Sieges of Cities during Campaigns.

In all cases, the highest the rating, the more effective the leader is, as successes are gained by rolling equal or less to the appropriate rating. Various To Hit Modifiers (THMs) may apply, for instance:

• Elite Units get a +1 THM in battle;
• A Siege Train grants a +1 THM on Siege rolls;
• A number of Cities and Tribes are deemed Strongholds and impose a -1 or -2 THM to Siege or Subjugation attempts against them;
• A Diplomacy attempt against a Place already Aligned with another Power suffers a -1 THM; if it has a Garrison, that THM is -3 instead;
• An Increase Taxes attempt gets a +1 THM if friendly troops are in the targeted Satrapy…

Perseous’s Battle Rating of 4 makes him one of the best field commanders in the game, with only the famed Hannibal, who can come in play as an exile from Carthage, having a better rating with 5. His Siege Rating of 2 is average. Diplomatically, with a Rating of 3, he is good though not great. Same thing with his Admin Rating of 3. Overall, Perseous is a very capable leader, though with some flaws as we are going to see now.

Special Abilities

Most leaders have Special Abilities. Perseous is afflicted with a negative Special Ability: as he was strongly disliked in Rome (which preferred his younger brother Demetrios, who had been a hostage there for a number of years), he suffers a -1 THM on every Diplomacy Check involving Rome, whether trying to increase influence in the senate or to forestall war. This brings an interesting choice for the Macedon player in the late stages of the game, as an event may force them to pick an heir to Philip V: Perseous is the most capable, but Demetrios may be better able to avoid a confrontation with Rome. However, his ties there prevent him from undertaking anything against Rome and its allies, including the Greek cities…

Other Special Abilities found in the game include military or diplomatic bonuses in certain circumstances, or powerful actions unique to this leader, such as the ability to suborn enemy leaders, train troops or improve the ratings of one’s king…

Loyalty and Intrigue

While not every leader has all three Capability Icons nor Special Abilities, they all have Loyalty and Intrigue Ratings, which define how reliable and potentially troublesome they are.

Loyalty in Hubris represents both how personally ambitious and how faithful to their king leaders are. This is especially critical for leaders entrusted with military commands, though some events will check the loyalty of leaders at court. Should a leader fail a Loyalty Check, typically during a recurrent “Ambitious Generals” game mechanism, he will rebel, setting himself up as an independent power, controlling troops and places, and will usually have to be eliminated by military force.

Intrigue on the other hand represents both the ability of a leader for shady undertakings and the likelihood that they will create trouble at court. Some events will require Intrigue checks, making high Intrigue leaders desirable. But the most common use of Intrigue ratings is when the recurrent game mechanism “Intrigues At Court” is resolved: then, the Intrigue Ratings of all Friends at court – i.e. not in the field with a military command – are totaled and compared to three times the Intrigue Rating of the king – or of two times that of his Chief Minister if there is no king of age, i.e. under a regency. If higher, every Friend at court must test their Intrigue, possibly resulting in one or several of them being removed from play, fallen victims to deadly court intrigue! Some other events, such as the dreaded “Succession Crises” which are put in the Events Deck upon the death of a king, also require testing Intrigue of key leaders.

It should be noted that Loyalty is most critical for leaders in the field with a military command, while Intrigue typically plays with Friends who are at court. This introduces another balancing act, with Loyalty, Intrigue – and Renown, as discussed below – being key considerations when deciding who to send out with an army and who to keep at court close to the king…

In the case of Perseous, his Loyalty of 5 is below average, reflecting his ambition, which may make him a liability if he were to accumulate Renown before acceding to the throne. His Intrigue of 4 however is above average, again making him something of a liability when at court, but also positioning him well to handle his court easily once he becomes king – if he survives long enough…

Renown

Where all other Capabilities and Ratings are set – though some Ratings may be modified by the Special Abilities of the leader or of another leader in the same court – Renown must be earned, usually on the battlefield, though not exclusively.

Renown is capped between a maximum value of 4 and a minimum value of -2.

Renown is intimately linked to Loyalty, in that a leader’s own Renown is directly subtracted from his Loyalty, and his king’s Renown applied as a THM on Loyalty checks. As a result, leaders who have more Renown than their king are at a significantly higher risk of rebelling! This can prove especially problematic under a regency or under a weak king: would you rather risk defeat on the battlefield with an inferior commander, or risk an abler commander develop ambitions of his own?

Renown may also modify Intrigue Ratings, although only to a reduced extent, for some game mechanisms, including “Intrigue At Court” and “Succession Crisis” checks. Here again, a king with high Renown will more easily be able to keep control of his court, and high Renown Friends will create more trouble, while being less likely to fall victim to court intrigues…

Another key aspect of Renown is that the Renown of a king is directly added to his kingdom’s Total Victory Points (VPs). This can prove decisive, as 4 VPs exceeds the VP value of most Satrapies in the game, but negative Renown can also offset gains on the map! When a king dies, half of his Renown is converted to Dynastic VPs, a kind of essentially permanent VPs independent of the strategic situation or the current king.

As you can see, Renown is a very precious commodity, highly desirable on your king, but fraught with risks on other members of his court, even on his heir apparent…

Courts

The leaders currently affiliated with a kingdom form that kingdom’s Court. Every kingdom includes two permanent positions: those of the King and his Chief Minister.

A King must be a member of the Royal Family of that kingdom. When a King dies, he is automatically succeeded by the member of the Royal Family who is next in line as per Succession Rank on their Leader Cards. If there is no member of the Royal Family in play at that time, then there is no King until one enters play, creating a regency situation. Under some circumstances, a member of the Royal Family may be Hostage in Rome, and he is effectively considered to be out of play until freed by an event.

The King holds a special status in many game functions, and his Renown and Intrigue Ratings in particular are critical. All other leaders in a Court are considered to be Friends of the King, including leaders affiliated with a Minor Power allied with the kingdom.

The Chief Minister, unlike the King, is freely appointed from among a King’s Friends when a new one needs to be chosen, including from members of the Royal Family or leaders who were originally not affiliated with the kingdom, having joined the Court either after defecting from another Court, or through a bidding process for exiles or mercenary leaders. Only Allied Minor Leaders – leaders affiliated with a Minor Power allied with the kingdom – are not eligible to be Chief Minister.

A Chief Minister, once appointed, remains in office until he either is removed from play, defects or becomes king himself. Like the King, a number of game functions require the Chief Minister’s ratings to be checked, so choosing the right person for this office can be critical, in particular to offset some weaknesses of one’s King.

Both the King and the Chief Minister may be sent out to Campaign on the map, as long as they have a Campaign Capability Icon. When it is needed or desired to send another leader to lead a Campaign or undertake a military Reaction, another available Friend may be appointed as Strategos – a Greek term meaning both general and governor – and possibly entrusted with units to undertake this campaign. Up to three Friends besides the King and Chief Minister may be appointed Strategos, but such a position is only temporary and cannot last beyond the end of the current turn.

Any leader on the map, either the King, the Chief Minister or a Strategos, is not considered to be At Court. This is a critical distinction when resolving “Intrigue At Court” or, conversely, “Ambitious Generals”.

Leaders with full Leader Cards only represent the most noteworthy leaders who were active during the period of the game. Should a given Court fall below three members (including the King), an appropriate number of generic Replacement Leaders are randomly drawn from a pool specific to each kingdom to make up the numbers until new leaders join the depleted Court. While better than nothing, these generic leaders are obviously much less talented than the named leaders…

Example of a Court

You can see below an example of the Seleucid Court at the end of the 205-201 game turn:

The Seleucid king is Antiochos III Megas (‘the Great’), one of the best leaders in the game. At that point, he has wiped the stain of his defeat at the hands of Ptolemy IV at the battle of Raphia in 217, crushing his cousin Achaios’s rebellion in Asia Minor, then following the steps of Alexander all the way to the nearest reaches of India, restoring some degree of Seleucid authority over the so-called Upper Satrapies, hence his considerable Renown of 3…He is Spent (his card rotated upside-down) after Campaigning twice with his Royal Army, Siege Train and a Katoikoi (‘military colonists’) unit. He also has a peace marker showing that he has sworn peace with the current Lagid king, Ptolemy IV Philopator.

Next to him, his faithful Chief Minister, Zeuxis, is also Spent after Activating twice for Diplomacy and Admin undertakings this turn.

The Seleucid Court boasts no less than three members of the Royal Family beyond Antiochos III: his sons Antiochos (‘the Younger’) and Seleucos (future Seleucos IV), and his cousin Antipatros. This pretty much guarantees there will be no shortage of heirs, but also presents definite risks since Royal Family members are more liable to being tested for rebellions…

Here, both Antiochos the Younger and Theodotos, a defector from the Ptolemaic Court, have been appointed as Strategos during the turn, and both have been Activated only once during the turn, leaving them still potentially available for being further Activated.

Finally, Polyxenidas, despite not having campaigned himself, is Spent also, having been rotated twice to use his “Admiral” Special Ability. Such rotations outside regular Activations explain why the Court shows a total number of leader rotations of 8, even though there is a maximum of 6 Activations per turn.

Note that despite the Court counting seven members, a quite large number, Antiochos III is able to hold it together easily both because of his high Renown – giving him an adjusted Intrigue Rating of 5 when testing “Intrigue At Court” – and the “Faithful Friend” Special Ability of Zeuxis. King Antiochos should however be cautious about sending his eldest son Antiochos the Younger on campaign again, as his Renown of 1 lowers his Loyalty to a borderline dangerous value of 4…

Now that we have looked at the leaders and the kingdoms’ courts, I will present in the next installment of these Histories the lay of the land where these leaders practice their skills, the satrapies, cities and tribes, as well as how they come to be aligned with the various kingdoms, and their significance in game terms, from the collection of taxes through the waging of war to the collection of victory points…

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