Lost Cities designer to turn epic Greek classic The Iliad into a half-hour board game for two players

Two new board games from acclaimed designer Reiner Knizia will kick off a collection of two-player titles inspired by classic mythological tales. Ichor and Iliad will open the releases with a pair of board games lasting less than 40 minutes that explore battles between humans and gods.

The Mythos Collection is the brainchild of Bitewing Games, the board game publisher that previously worked with Knizia on the upcoming European board game duo Cascadero and the small-format Cascadito. If you’re not familiar with Knizia, he’s one of the most prolific board game designers behind Lost Cities, Tigris & Euphrates, and Modern Art. A true battle royale creator, his credit list contains equal parts one-off thrill projects and familiar, smaller-scale titles you’ve probably never looked twice at.

Iliad will be a board game in which both players must strategize how to use the most powerful pieces as the board turns into a pitched battle between Greeks and Trojans. With that historical-mythological conflict as a backdrop, opponents will take turns placing pieces on a 6×6 board in a way the publisher calls reminiscent of Samurai, Blitzkrieg, and Caesar. To win, you need to tactically assign your best units and know when a battle is lost and when you can swoop in for an unexpected victory.

By comparison, Ichor is built on a more abstract premise and mechanics. Likened to Santorini by the publisher, Ichor challenges two players to be the first to deploy all of their pieces by moving unique figures around the board: Greek gods like Zues, Athena, and Aphrodite on one side and the monstrous Cyclopes, Sirens, Minotaurs, and other mythical beasts on the other. All pieces have a powerful one-use ability in addition to their rook-like movement. Easy to learn but with plenty of depth, Ichor is ostensibly the board game where the idea of ​​the Mythic Collection first originated.

“A few years ago, I heard an interview where Reiner Knizia mentioned that publishers aren’t interested in two-player games, so he doesn’t often design them. This puzzled me,” said Nick Murray of Bitewing Games. “It all started when I asked Reiner to show me his best two-player designs and even encouraged him to design new games that we would happily support. Since then, we’ve evaluated around 20 designs from the Good Doctor, ranging from extremely simple, decades-old abstract strategy games to brand new, surprisingly complex experiences.”

Both Ichor and Iliad will launch a joint Kickstarter campaign in late June to fund physical boxed versions. Bitewing Games expects both board games to begin shipping to backers in early 2025. Ichor was illustrated by Tyler Miles Lockett and Brigette Indelicato, and Iliad's artists are Harry Conway and Brigette Indelicato. Future Mythos Collection titles are still in development, but it seems the future of the initiative will depend in part on the success of these first two releases.