Good morning everyone,

Happy new year! This is the time of year when I like to rank the women playable characters in games; usually computer games, but this year I'm going to rank the goddesses whose powers you can enlist to help you in 7 Wonders Duel: Pantheon. This is obviously pretty niche #content, so firstly I recommend the game which is super fun and of which I have played more than 100 hours this year, and secondly they are all historical goddesses so you can enjoy reading about that too.

I don't want to get super into the rules and stuff, so here's the basics of what you need to know about the game:

1. Points are good
2. Money is good
3. Wonders are good
4. Winning is good

Okay? Okay! Let's go.

7. Ishtar

Mespotamian goddess of love, beauty, sex, war, justice and political power. In the game, though, she is one of the more niche goddesses, sometimes helping you to win in one fell swoop and sometimes having basically no powers at all. So indie. So above it all. Don't let anyone change you Ishtar.

6. Minerva

Roman goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Again, super cool. But remember how I told you that in this game winning is one of the things that is good? Minerva helps you to prevent your opponent from winning, which is fine, but not quite as good as winning yourself. Nice owl though.

5. Nisaba

Now we're getting into it. Mesoptamian goddess of writing, learning, and the harvest. Nisaba lets you steal the achievements of your opponent, which is satisfying in its own right, gets you money and points, and might actually mean that you win outright right then. Go ahead and snake those achievements, you have earned it.

4. Astarte

Phoenician goddess of fertility, sexuality, and war. Astarte gets you both money and points, and is accordingly quite a treasure. She's placed outside the top three because it's not quite the vulgar wealth represented by her sister:

3. Tanit

Look, in this game, 12 coins is SO MUCH MONEY. You can do so much to advance your agenda or frustrate that of your opponent with the kind gift of Tanit, Phoenician goddess of the end of the drought. MAKE IT RAIN, BEAUTIFUL GIRL.

2. Isis

AKA Beautiful Virtuous Isis, so called because the Egyptian gods who are men in this game are absolute dicks. She's an Egyptian goddess whose maternal aid was invoked in healing spells to benefit ordinary people. She benefits you in this game specifically by letting you build a wonder, which is, you will remember, good.

1. Aphrodite

SO POINTSY. 9 points is a lot, easily enough to tip the balance of the game in your favour. Aphrodite, Greek goddess of  love, beauty, pleasure, passion and procreation just hands them to you. Here's something fun to do – whenever your opponent activates Aphrodite, say "Is that yer bloomin' girlfriend." It's always funny, or at least it still is to me after over 100 hours.

Love,

Alex xx.