First off, let me state that I love Small World, and play with every expansion. So, being from the same designer definite got my attention.
The game is a resource management/territory control with an interesting turn order mechanic. Careful decisions of what to do first, second, etc, are important, as every action moves you up a certain number of spaces on the time track. The person in the last position on the time track continues to take turns until his actions have caused him to move passed another player on the track. Through this manipulation, you can actually end up taking multiple turns in a row. By the same token, if you get too far ahead of everyone else, you will be waiting as all the other players need to pass you before you can go again. However, there are certain times when it might be preferential to get ahead of everyone (namely - the Zeus locations - points on the time track where effects that can hit everyone occur - if you are in a strong position, it is to your advantage to cause them to activate before someone else can change the standings).
Each type of action you can take has a different cost in time, so you have to balance between moving, creating new settlers, battle, and development (development costs considerably more than other actions). The point of the game is to earn the most prestige in the eyes of the Gods of Olympos. This is done by developing your civilization beyond everyone else's. Points can be scored for territories you control at the end of the game, but these are a relative pittance. The bulk of a high scoring player's score will come from developments and wonders built. To earn the resources, you need to control the territory that produces said resource. Resources are not consumed when used, with the limitation on purchases being the need to have different types and different amounts of resources. You may fully well need to give up a territory to more one of your tokens to somewhere else to produce a different resource (either because it's cheaper, or because you can't produce more settlers).
Player interaction isn't as direct or cutthroat as in Small World, but the map is designed to crowd the players into conflict. I'll never found it to tip into extreme screwage, and even in the moments when I was attacked, it didn't ruin my plans, so much as force me to change my method of achieving my plans. One player felt like he was screwed, but he never tried to change his standing in the game, and was consistently the target of the negative God cards (there are ten God cards, half are bonuses, half are penalties, nine of them will occur each game, and as specific times, so you should always be able to manuveur yourself into a safe position).
The first time we played, it took us about the listed time, and this was with constant references to the rules. I imagine it'll actually play a lot faster, and though it's listed as a 90 minute play time, I think it'll easier clock in around 60-70 with experienced players.
Overall, I really liked the game, and will bring it out to the game table regularly.
Simple mechanics, simple victory conditions. Multiple strategies to acquire victory. Player interaction, but not outright screwage. Attractive board and nice components. Some randomness to change the way the game plays each time. Another great game from the creator of Small World.
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