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After Asia, Africa, and America, the LUDOS collection now moves to Europe. And yeah, that already sounds bigger than it actually is. These are still small games. Pocket games. The kind you can throw in a bag and forget about until you’re stuck on a train or sitting somewhere with too much coffee and not enough conversation.
LUDOS Europe is the European entry in this ancient games series. Just like the earlier volumes, it’s a set of two-player strategy games with roots that go way back. The collection is expected to launch on Kickstarter on February 2nd. And yes, it’s still very much about small, travel-friendly games from European traditions. Not the kind of Europe with castles and knights on the box. More the everyday kind. Stones on boards. Lines scratched into wood. That sort of thing.
At its core, LUDOS feels less like a product and more like a preservation project. I know that sounds heavy, but you can feel it while playing. Someone clearly spent time digging into where these games came from, how people might actually have played them, and what could be kept without turning them into museum pieces.
The team behind LUDOS researches old and traditional games, often ones that don’t really show up in modern collections. Then they rebuild them with simple rules, small components, and materials that don’t get in the way. The idea seems to be: these games used to be part of everyday life, so let’s keep them playable in everyday life. Not locked behind glass or footnotes.
One thing I’ve always liked about the earlier LUDOS Kickstarters is the “pay what you want” option. Instead of pushing you straight into a full collection, you could pick one game and decide what felt fair to you. You’d get it in a simple travel pouch instead of the full box, which honestly fits the spirit of the project. It makes the whole thing feel less like a commitment and more like an invitation. Try one. See how it sits.
Gameplay overview – Bear Hunt
Bear Hunt is really bare bones rules-wise. One player controls a single bear. The other player controls three gladiators. Players take turns moving one piece to a connected space. Gladiators go first. Pieces are never removed from the board, and everything stays visible and keeps mattering.
The gladiator player wins by trapping the bear so it can’t move anymore. The bear wins by surviving forty bear turns. There’s a turn tracker for this, which slowly becomes the most stressful piece on the table. Every time the bear moves, you feel time tightening a little.
This one starts squeezing you pretty fast without doing much at all. Nothing flips, nothing changes suddenly, but every move feels heavier than it looks. Also, yes, being the bear feels unfair. Which I guess is kind of the point.
Gameplay overview – Brandubh
Brandubh is a classic attacker-versus-defender setup. One side has a king and four defenders. The other side has eight attackers. The board is a grid, movement is straight lines only, and everything is visible from the start.
Players alternate turns, attackers first. You move one piece any number of empty spaces horizontally or vertically. Captures happen by surrounding a piece between two enemies, or between an enemy and certain board spaces. Sometimes one move removes several pieces, which can feel rough if you didn’t see it coming. And to be honest, you often don’t the first few games.
The defender wins by getting the king to one of the corner squares. The attacker wins by capturing the king. The game ends immediately when that happens.
Brandubh doesn’t give you much space to recover. One slip can undo several turns of careful play. It’s also the kind of game where you sit back afterward and replay the whole thing in your head, wondering where it started to go wrong. Usually earlier than you thought.
Gameplay overview – Petteia
Petteia is the most abstract game in the set, at least for me. Both players start with twenty-four pieces and one leader. Everything is symmetrical, everything is open, and there’s nowhere to hide.
Pieces move any number of empty spaces horizontally or vertically. Leaders move the same way, but they can also jump over pieces in a straight line, which adds an option that takes a while to really understand.
Captures happen through flanking. If a piece is trapped between two opposing pieces, it’s removed. Multiple captures can happen in one move, but only during the active player’s turn.
The game ends when a leader is captured, fully surrounded, or when a player is reduced to only their leader or has no legal moves left.
You have to carry the thinking yourself in this one. Not because the rules are hard, but because the board doesn’t help you. It just shows you exactly where you stand and lets you deal with it.
Gameplay overview – Sahkku
Sahkku is the one that feels different. It’s the only game here with dice, and you feel that immediately. Each player controls fifteen reindeer, moving them along looping tracks based on dice results.
Reindeer start inactive and need to be activated before they can really do anything. Movement depends on how the dice fall, with one special result, Sahkku, letting you activate a reindeer, move one between tracks, or reroll that die.
Captures happen when you land on a track occupied by opposing active reindeer, removing all of them from that track. This can flip the situation fast compared to the slower pace of the other games.
There’s also a neutral lead buck in the center that you can recruit by sacrificing one of your own reindeer.
The game ends when one player captures all opposing active reindeer, or at least five while the rest are still inactive.
Sahkku feels less controlled than the others. Some people will enjoy that contrast. Others might feel it doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the set. Personally, I needed a couple of plays before it started to make sense. And I’m still not completely sure where I land on it.
Artwork, components, and visual design
Quick note first: the version shown here isn’t final, so some things might still change.
LUDOS Europe sticks closely to the look of earlier volumes. Small boxes, fabric mats instead of boards, and components that feel practical rather than decorative.
Each game has its own color and pattern, inspired by regional ideas without leaning too hard into theme. Everything is clearly labeled, which sounds boring but is genuinely helpful once you have several of these together.
The cloth mats are readable and sturdy, with decorative borders that don’t get in the way. You always know where pieces can go, which matters a lot in games like these.
The pieces are flat wooden tokens with printed symbols. No sculpting, no extra detail. Colors are strong and easy to tell apart. Some games include special pieces or custom dice, and everything fits comfortably into the small bags provided.
Our thoughts
The thing I kept noticing is how the rulebooks are written. They don’t just tell you how to play. They explain where the game comes from, what parts are known, what parts are reconstructed, and why certain choices were made. That context actually changes how you look at the game
Mechanically, these games don’t give you much room once you begin. There’s very little guidance once you start. You always know what the goal is, but that doesn’t mean you know how to get there. If you like games that reward careful play and punish loose moves, this will work for you. I can see people not connecting with some of these. Some feel dry, others need several plays before they stop feeling stiff. And if you’re looking for spectacle, this isn’t it. These games don’t try to impress you quickly.
Emotionally, the project feels like the intent is genuine. There’s no rush to overwhelm you with content or extras. It feels like someone saying: these games mattered once, maybe they still can.
When I look at everything together, LUDOS Europe feels like a collection you come back to rather than work through once. Games you learn, forget a little, and then relearn. Which, I guess, is probably how they were played originally too. And if nothing else, it’s nice to lose a game without blaming the dice. Except in Sahkku. There you can absolutely blame the dice. Tradition demands it.
📝 We received a copy of the game from Lemery Games.
