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Ethnos
Year
2017
Players
26
Play time
60min
Min age
14+
Weight
2.11
BGG rating
7.46
BGG rank
#339
Best with
4

MeepleMates notes for Ethnos

Public snippets combine board game metadata with MeepleMates play history so visitors can evaluate the game for real group play and game night planning.

  • Ethnos is available as a public board game page on MeepleMates for group planning and collection tracking.
  • Best with 4 player according to player poll data.
  • BoardGameGeek average rating 7.46 and BGG rank #339.
  • Groups use this page to connect Fantasy metadata with real play history, ratings and game night notes.
  • Recommended player counts include 2, 3, 5, 6.
In Ethnos, players call upon the support of giants, merfolk, halflings, minotaurs, and other fantasy tribes to help them gain control of the land. After three ages of play, whoever has collected the most glory wins! In more detail, the land of Ethnos contains twelve tribes of fantasy creatures, and in each game you choose six of them (five in a 2/3-player game), then create a deck with only the creatures in those tribes. The cards come in six colors, which match the six regions of Ethnos. Place three glory tokens in each region at random, arranging them from low to high. Each player starts the game with one card in hand, then 4-12 cards (double the number of players) are placed face up on the table. On a turn, a player either recruits an ally or plays a band of allies. In the former case, you take a face-up card (without replacing it from the deck) or the top card of the deck and add it to your hand. In the latter case, you choose a set of cards in your hand that match either in tribe or in color, play them in front of you on the table, then discard all other cards in hand. You then place one token in the region that matches the color of the top card just played, and you use the power of the tribe member on the top card just played. At the end of the first age, whoever has the most tokens in a region scores the glory shown on the first token. After the second age, the players with the most and second most tokens score glory equal to the values shown on the first and second tokens respectively. Players score similarly after the third age, then whoever has the most glory wins. (Games with two and three players last only two ages.)

Categories

Fantasy

Mechanics

Hand ManagementSet CollectionOpen DraftingArea Majority / InfluencePush Your Luck

Best with how many players

1
Not rec.
2
Recommended
3
Recommended
4
Best
5
Recommended
6
Recommended
6+
Not rec.

Community votes from BoardGameGeek

Language dependence

Some necessary text - easily memorized(16 of 19 votes)

Sub-rankings

  • Strategy Game Rank#245

Videos

YouTube8

BoardGameGeek11

External data

Wikidata enrichment: 1 links · 2 facts · latest game data 07/26/2026.

Latest Wikidata run: ok · 08/08/2026.

Links

  • Wikidatawikidata.org

    Source: WikidataUpdated 07/26/2026

Facts

Publication date
2017