Cyclades: Legendary Edition - Learn While Playing

Here is my Cyclades: Legendary Edition tutorial, where I teach the game as it is being played. Paid sponsorship by Open Sesame Games.

Teaching Timestamps:
Introduction - 0:00
Game overview - 1:00
Game start - 3:27
Income phase - 4:00
Offerings phase - 5:36
Actions phase - 9:59
Build basic buildings - 10:15
Gaining a priestess - 11:14
Buying creatures - 13:03
Placing troops - 16:05
Moving troops - 17:00
Apollo & placing prosperity - 19:53
How the game ends - 21:09
Cycle initialization phase - 21:57
Maintenance phase - 26:18
Combat explanation - 28:39
Placing ships - 32:45
Hera building placement - 43:15
Mercenaries explanation - 43:33
Recruiting a hero - 44:42
Heroic movement action - 46:22
Gaining philosophers - 56:55
Placing a metropolis - 59:53

[GettingGames]

CORRECTIONS:
32:40 - Ports only add to combat in the single sea region that the Port is touching, NOT all sea areas adjacent to the island.

[andrejvukic]

This whole guide: presentation, tone and attention to detail are top notch. Chapeau!

[FredzGreen]

Thanks for another great video - this seems like a fascinating game - made me really keen to back the kickstarter!

[DarrinLauritzen]

6:42 nice to see that the god tiles are designed in such a way that they flip over the correct way. It's a little thing, but it matters lol

[philipboardman]

Instantly upvoted for pronouncing Cyclades correctly.

[RodrigoSanAlv]

Excellent video! Very well explained and entertaining to do the rules explanation along a playthrough. Thanks! Very interested in getting this game now

[Bleuchz]

Whoa you reviewed original Cyclades 9 years ago. NINE!

[netcrashYT]

Yes! What a classic and great game to bring back!! Love it at the full five player count. The end conditions are kinda wonky (and Inis tried to correct that) but hey, just a minor nit

[MisanthropyAnD]

I haven't played this game at all and am only researchng, however, I never thought a game that included dice would look fun because it leaves a lot to chance and it undermines the strategy or tactics one wants to employ. But I feel like this game highlights the reality of warfare e.g. attackers usually sustain significant casualties during an attack, even where the defender has less troops. Anyone attempting an invasion should bring a large force e.g. the invasion of Normandy, Gallipoli, take your pick. So you should bring additional troops to give you an advantage to overcome the uncertainty of war.

The defender has the home turf advantage so that even if they are outnumbered, there are factors at play where a good defence can outmaneouvre a large attacking force. Gallipoli is a good example of this, probably one the few failed items on Winston Churchill's resume.

Then there's just luck; when the Mongols attempted an invasion of Japan, nature intervened. Thanks to a typhoon, the Mongols suffered heavy casualties and failed in their conquest of Japan. The long story short, it seems like dice works in this game, because it introduces chance which exists in real life. You need to account for that chance by bringing additional troops to battle to compensate for the possibility of things going horribly wrong.

On the flipside, there are examples recorded in history where a small force is capable of taking on a much larger force, whether they were defending or attacking. 300 comes to mind. So if you were game, you could use a small force to attack a larger force and win because again, this happens in real life. I'm sure Xerxes thought everything would be a walkover until he encountered the Spartans.


In a board game like this, (again I've never played it but want to) it could get stale, either being the player with a large roster or watching a friend dominate and knowing they will just steam roll across the map with their army in the absence of dice. The dice roll focuses the mind of the attacker by building up their forces to ensure a win as much as possible and not getting cocky beacuse 5 is larger than 3 therefore I will always win and never sustain casualties.

The other reality the dice highlights is stalemate and sustaining casualties even when you win, or eventually win a battle. If the dice were not used, no sane player would enter another territory knowing it will cause a stale mate or tie. So weirdly enough, being quite anti-dice, I feel like I would give this game a go and it has made me appreciate the use of it, at least in this game.

I wasn't intending on talking about dice quite so much, but there you go.

Great video by the way. I'm really drawn to this now :)

[SinsitTangtham]

Can mystic creature move to another land by the chain of fleet?

[gamesvitae]

At the end, the turn order for the next round was done incorrectly.

[rowie]

For Apollo, is it correct that the prosperity tokens must be placed in a land and sea are *you control*? Looking at the rulebook, and Rodney’s video, they both just mention that you place them in *a land area” and *a sea area” with no restriction that you must control them

[gianlucabernabei]

hi, i like this game, but i have a doubt:

it is possible to repeat optional action (like buying a monster or an heroic movement) after another action ?

example: after buying a moster i do an heroic movement and i conquer a new territory....can i now buy another monster?

another example: (after the mandatory action) i buy a ship, then i do a movement, the i buy a monster and the i conquer a new terrytory....can i now buy another ship to put on that territory ( i am under the limit of three)?

on the manual it is sad to "alternate the actions" but i find it not very clear. do you know the answer? thank you

[zseus_games_plants_cooking]

Always great videos, You have made a big dent in my budget for the last few years! lol I really love your T shirt. Awesome design, Any chance that they are available for purchase?

[Charris]

nice explanations of the new Legentary version of the loveable game Cyclades..! I have question about Metropolises.... the bonues that every one has different we benefit from them after we loose the island with that Metropolis as it refer to 11page rulebook or we benefit every round of the Metrolis extra bonus or we just count the metropolis as 4 different type of buildings connected as in old classic Cyclades ?!
my Ultimate box did not have the 15 different Metropolis buildings and there are some red carton bonuses tokens and a black bag

[Paddingtonisgood]

Hey would you say this game is great 3 players with the Legendary edition? That would be my primary player count.

[horhevamp]

In case anyone can answer the question - if you ran out of heroes... do you reshuffle them?

[TylerDeLisle]

I don't normally want to see setup in games... but I'm curious here because original Cyclades you had set starting spaces. In Hades they introduced a bidding for snake draft priority in claiming locations. Do players just claim their 2 tiles in this version?

[michaelkemp]

@JonGetsGames Another great LWP from you. This game looks fantastic. I feel like the more players the better given you have more options available to you with the gods. I also think the lower the player count the more intense decision can be and the more tense the bidding can be since there are only a few gods out there. Is that something that I am imagining or something you have seen as well (not sure how much you have played this game)? Thanks!

[thiagokastrupmello]

On the 3 cycle yellow should be in the 1 spot for next biddin stead of purple.