This is the latest from Conflict Games, a subsidiary of Game Designers' Workshop. It comes in their now-standard, 10" x 13" x 2", oversized bookcase box. The 19" x 25" mapboard is mounted on hard cardboard and printed in blue, black, brown and red on white, There is one 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of 5/8"-square counters, and one 4 1/2" x 5 1/2" sheet of 1/2"-squear counters. The bottom of the box is separated into six compartments for storing the punched-out counters.

Unlike the Chaosium's Troy, reviewed here in issue #85, this game concerns only the ten-year siege of Troy VII described by Homer, and involves only individual gods and heroes, not armies of lesser mortals. The scale used in this game is not stated but is obviously smaller than that in Troy. In that game the City of Troy occupied one hex, while in this it occupies seven.

The map has a grid of 20mm-wide hexagons. All heroes have a zone of control (ZOC) and must stop upon entering an enemy hero's ZOC. It costs two extra movement points to leave an enemy ZOC. Only one hero is allowed to occupy any given hex, with the exception of the seven hexes of the city. There are three types of combat: hero vs. hero, Trojan hero vs. Greek ship and Greek hero vs. walls of Troy (built in defense factor of 10). All combats are considered individual contests. Ganging up is not allowed. Wounds may be received by a hero as a result of combat. A hero may recover from such wounds during the wound recovery phase. When a hero is killed, there is the possibility that an Olympian god will intervene to save him - by means of a saving throw - and he returns five turns later.

Each side has a deck of gods' favor cards. At the end of his turn each player may draw one card from his deck. These say such things as, "HERMES will add one to the movement factor of all Greek heroes" or "APHRODITE will stop any action about to be taken by Athena." Also at the beginning of his turn a player may attempt to gain "sacrifice points" by calling upon the Olympian gods for support and assistance. He secretly chooses one of his four gods ' counters and places it face down before him. His opponent then may attempt to block this appeal by naming one of his gods. (Gods which cancel each other are listed on the appeal table.) If the appeal is not blocked a die roll and the appeal table will indicate the number of sacrifice points granted. These points may be used to augment strength or to add to potential in a number of ways.

The game is won through the accumulation of victory points for wounds inflicted and geographical objectives. Iliad sells for $11.98 and is available from Lowery Enterprises . It should appeal to fantasy fans, especially those with an interest in Greek mythology.

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