Tips & Strategy

How to teach Leader 1: Hell of the North, building a first course, when to attack, using the peloton and pursuits, and where reviews differ from the rules.

How to teach it

• Start from the energy table: free squares by rider type and terrain, then the paying-squares price list (1, 3, 5, 8, 11, 15). Everything else is about spending that energy well.
• Play the first turns with all riders in the peloton and the peloton tile in the middle of the table, so everyone sees the order of actions.
• Add the events as they come up: slipstreaming the first time two riders line up, cracks at the first mountain, the cobbles table at the first cobbled hexagon.
• Keep pencils with erasers at hand, and keep the energy tables in view of everyone — they are public information.

Your first race

• Course: 6–8 hexagons with every terrain colour, one intermediate sprint and the final sprint, one feed zone halfway. Leave weather out.
• Sprints: give sprinters room — about 12 squares between the sprint zone start and the line.
• Climbs: put a category 2 or 3 token on the first mountains; category 1 punishes every attack.
• Players: 3–4 players with a full team each play best. More players mean long waits.

When to attack

• Attack where your rider is strong: a rouleur on the flat, a climber on a mountain (where his breakaway move cannot crack), and anyone from the last square of a descent.
• Attack where the peloton loses ground: on bends with dotted squares it rides the long way round.
• Small, steady efforts last: paying 1–3 energy a turn is far cheaper per square than one big jump. A breakaway that gets caught the same turn pays twice.
• Ride behind a rival to slipstream, and remember a move of 6 (5 on cobbles, 8 downhill) shakes off whoever is drafting you.

Using the peloton

• The back of the peloton is the cheapest place in the race; sit there while nothing is happening.
• Move to the front a turn before you plan to attack — only the front may break away.
• Pursuits are shared work: a team may not pursue more than twice in a row, so catching a strong breakaway usually takes two teams cooperating.
• A rouleur pays extra when the peloton starts on a mountain: drop him back or accept the cost on long climbs.
• Keep feed zone tiles face down until you need them: the energy is the same, but rivals cannot plan against it.

Videos versus the rulebook

The rulebook wins where they differ.

• Some reviews say every rider in the peloton pays 1 extra when it starts on a mountain; the English rules make only the rouleurs pay it.
• Older Leader 1 rules (and some reviews of them) charge three times the cost for a crack and add a fall penalty; in Hell of the North a crack costs twice and a fall costs the move plus a skipped turn.
• The Dutch publisher’s FAQ says the same team may not pursue twice in a row; the English rules say not more than 2 times in a row. Agree before the race.
• The Italian rules roll for each treacherous cobbled square crossed; the English rules do not say (FAQ).

Fan courses and variants

Players have published real race courses (classics and grand tours built from these hexagons), stage-race classification rules, peloton variants and solitaire rules on BoardGameGeek. They are fan content, not part of the game: see the files page.

Host game

Show the finish and the five phases, then the public Energy table. On turns 1–3, ask whether a rider is in the front or back of the peloton before declaring an attack. Let players choose their effort after seeing the free and paid portions; check the phase sequence rather than recommending an opening attack.

Rehearse preparing a breakaway

Put a rider in the back of the peloton. It cannot leave during phase 2, when breakaways are declared. It may move to the front during phase 3, but phase 2 is already over: that change prepares it for the next Game Turn.

Then start the next turn’s breakaway phase with the second-place support token, continuing through third and fourth before first. A rider leaving the front must move at least four squares; identify its free movement and pay for any additional squares using the Energy table. Breaking away.

Sources

YouTube: Leader 1 Hell of the North Review, by MarcoOmnigamer; Leader 1 - Hell of the North (NL), by Nox’ Spellenzolder. Publisher: FAQ lijst Leader 1 Hell of the North, The Game Master. BGG: community answers are linked by thread in the FAQ; fan material is on the Leader 1: Hell of the North files page.