Titan is an Avalon Hill fantasy board game for two to six players. Originally published in 1980 it is now out of print. Each player controls an army of mythological creatures such as gargoyles, unicorns, and griffins, led by a single titan. The titan is analogous to the king in chess in that the death of a titan eliminates that player and his entire army from the game. The player controlling the last remaining titan wins the game. Avalon Hill was a game company that specialized in wargames and strategic board games. ... A board game is a game played with counters or pieces that are placed on, removed from, or moved across a board (a premarked surface, usually specific to that game). ... The word mythology (from the Greek μυολογία mythología, from μυολογείν mythologein to relate myths, from μύος mythos, meaning a narrative, and λόγος logos, meaning speech or argument) literally means the (oral) retelling of myths – stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use the supernatural to interpret natural events and... A gargoyle adorning the Dornoch Cathedral in Dornoch, Scotland. ... The gentle and pensive maiden has the power to tame the unicorn, in this fresco in Palazzo Farnese, Rome, probably by Domenichino, ca 1602 The Unicorn (from Latin unus one and cornu horn) is a fictitious legendary creature. ... Composite of Pomeranian heraldic charges of griffins. ... In Greek mythology, the Titans (Greek , plural ) were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary Golden Age. ... Staunton chess pieces, left to right: pawn, rook, knight, bishop, queen, and king. ... Chess is a recreational and competitive game for two players. ...

Gameplay

	Brush		Desert
	Hills		Jungle
	Marsh		Mountains
	Plains		Swamp
	Tower		Tundra
	Woods

The main game board is comprised of 96 interlocking hexes, each with a specified terrain type. Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ...

Each player's army is organized into legions of one to seven creature tokens stacked face down. The legions move according to die roll, subject to restrictions marked on the board. No two legions may occupy the same hex on the game board. If a legion moves into a hex which is occupied by an enemy legion, the two legions must fight to the death on a tactical map specific to that terrain. The terrain usually gives a battle advantage to creatures native there.

Each time a legion moves, it may recruit one additional creature if the territory to which it moves is native to at least one creature already in the legion. For example, centaurs may recruit in the plains and woods, ogres may recruit in the marsh and hills, etc. In Greek mythology, the centaurs (Greek: Κένταυροι) are a race of creatures composed of part human and part horse. ... The Ogre from Hop o My Thumb illustrated by Gustave Doré An ogre (feminine: ogress) is a large and hideous humanoid monster. ...

Each creature may recruit its own kind, but multiple weak creatures may be eligible to recruit more powerful creatures. For example, one ogre in the marsh or hills may recruit only another ogre, but two ogres in the marsh may recruit a troll, while three ogres in the hills may recruit a minotaur. Trolls with an abducted princess (John Bauer, 1915). ... In Greek mythology, the Minotaur (Greek: Μινόταυρος, Minótauros) was a creature that was part man and part bull. ...

Titan is well-designed in many respects, but it is most distinguished by the incentives for combat. In games such as Risk it is wise to attack as little as possible, and build up strength, while encouraging the other players to exhaust themselves in endless battles with each other. In Titan, it is possible for the victor of a battle to emerge stronger than before, depending on the circumstances. Risk is a commercial strategic board game, produced by Parker Brothers (now a division of Hasbro). ...

The victor of each battle is awarded points based on strength of the creatures vanquished. For each hundred points a player earns, he is awarded an angel, a strong creature which can teleport from its own legion to aid an attacking legion in future battles. Also, for each one hundred points a player earns, his titan becomes stronger in battle. And finally, at four hundred points, a player's titan gains the ability to teleport on a roll of six, attacking any enemy legion regardless of position. This speeds the conclusion of games, and makes protracted stalemates unlikely.

Like many strategy games, the quality of a Titan game suffers when too few players are present. While a game may be played with two or three, four to six players make the best game, because otherwise the board is too open and the early game is characterized by a great deal of movement and recruiting, with little or no combat. Often such games are resolved not by battle, but by one player getting lucky recruitment rolls and the others resigning. Serious gamers consider four to be the ideal number of players for Titan (a crowded board may force early combats on players who roll a high number and cannot make a non-attack move), but more is better than less.

Although dice control the fortunes of the players to a certain extent, skill plays a considerable role. Numerous decision points distinguish experts from amateurs, including:

• Whether to split a legion into two legions for faster recruiting, or keep it unified for more effective fighting.
• Whether to recruit creatures which are better at fighting, or creatures which have more potential for further recruiting.
• Whether to risk losses in attacking in exchange for the potential benefits.
• Whether to defend against an attack in hopes of inflicting maximum damage, or concede, thereby halving the points the attacker gains.
• Whether to use the titan as a powerful attacker, or shield it against any possible danger.
• Whether to hide a weak legion in favorable terrain, or keep moving it in order to keep recruiting.
• Whether to move a legion to a hex where it may recruit, but will be forced by the movement restrictions to move in an unfavorable direction on the next turn.
• Whether to grow a moderately weak legion, or sacrifice it to divert an enemy legion

Also, the tactics and strategy of individual battles invite considerable study. A slightly inferior force under superior generalship will win more often than not.

The only serious drawbacks to the game are the moderate complexity of the rules, the potentially long play time (the 2-12 hours suggested on the box side is no lie!), and the socially awkward possibility of one or two players being eliminated long before the game is over. These disadvantages aside, Titan is perfect for serious strategists who view a little luck as desirable to keep a game from getting stale.

Contents

Titan has a huge number of game pieces to play with and most players add more of their own as well. Here is a complete list of everything that is originally included with the game:

• 1 Masterboard (22"L x 16"W x 3mmH)
• 1 Law Of Titan Rule Book
• 4 Playing Dice (Standard Die size for most board games)
• 6 Battlelands Sheets (11 areas and 1 rule sheet (8 1/2" x 11"))
• 8 Character sheets (Each character sheet holds 49 pieces that are 1"L x 1"W x 2mmH)
• 1 Hit Counter Sheet

As this game was made back in 1982, not many game pieces have survived all the playing time over the years. A variation for the Hit Counters could either be writing down the damage on paper or simply using smaller dice on the character.

Spinoffs

The 1997 card game Titan: The Arena was loosely based on this game. It was co-designed by Reiner Knizia and published by Avalon Hill and was later repackaged by Fantasy Flight Games under the name Colossal Arena. // For the game on The Price Is Right, see Card Game (pricing game). ... Reiner Knizia is a prolific German-style board game designer. ... Avalon Hill was a game company that specialized in wargames and strategic board games. ... Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) is a Roseville, Minnesota-based game company that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games. ...

External links

• Titan Home Page Bruno Wolff's Titan page, with rules errata, tournament results, etc.
• Titan and Titan: The Arena at BoardGameGeek
• ACTS Automated Card Tracking System by Warhorse Simulations, where you can find games and play with people from around the world
• Colossus, an online implementation of Titan
• Gods of Titan, a variant of Titan