In this two player card game the players take on the roles of Hera and Zeus as they fight for control of the heavens. Hera has kidnapped Io, an ally of Zeus and Zeus has taken Argus as his hostage. The first player to rescue their ally from the clutches of the enemy is declared the victor. The game revolves around each player's deck of 43 cards. Each card is a warrior or mythological creature that will fight for their God and each player has 16 different units at their disposal. The play area for each player consists of a grid made up of 3 rows x 4 columns. This represents the ranks of each player's army and they are created by placing a unit (card) into one of these positions. The game begins with each player drawing 9 cards and three of these must be placed in the 3 front rows of their army. It is from these front positions only that attacks can be made. Every card in the front row will earn the player a command point at the beginning of their turn. So at the start of the game each player has three command points. A command point can be used to; draw a card, play a card to the table (army) or use a mythological power (some cards have myth powers). Myth powers are strong but they burn the card immediately, not allowing them to reach the table. Some myth cards have a battle rating and when played to an army they can fight and therefore have a longer term impact. When cards are played to the table, they are played face down so the enemy is required to attack to unearth your units or use special cards such as the Pegasus which allow them to spy on a unit in the front row or select a card from the enemy's hand, potentially discarding it. At some point the players will draw their hostage, which they are trying to keep safe. At this point they must decide if they will keep the hostage in their hand or play it to the table and try to keep it safe by playing it in the rear ranks where it is protecting by the forward units. Keeping a hostage in one's hand can be dangerous as a Pegasus could allow the enemy to draw a card from your hand and discover it. However once the hostage is on the battlefield it is vulnerable to any number of tactics that may rip your defensive lines apart. The game can also end without the discovery of the enemy's hostage. If a player starts their turn with no cards in play then they are defeated and if they cannot use all of their command points on a given turn they are also finished. This makes players think very carefully as they get close to drawing the final cards from their deck. How those final cards are utilised will be crucial.

The game offers much more depth than may be apparent as all but 3 of the 16 units available to each side offer special mythological powers and several of these have multiple options when using their powers. The decks are well balanced to offer offensive and defensive strategies and like Magic the Gathering, many of the units act as counters to one another in certain situations. Hera and Zeus delivers a very different style of play to other games in the Rio\Kosmos 2-player series and bluffing can become a key strategy at times. I am happy to report that this is a worthy addition to the series.