The Last Labour of Hercules is part card game and part wargame. Covering a period of twenty years, it does not represent a single siege of Tangier but many attempts, some large and some small, by the Moors, to dislodge the English. For long periods the protagonists tolerated each other, and the English even formed the odd local alliance. The Moors spent much of the period of occupation engaged in a brutal civil war — or put another way, they were in the process of emerging from Medieval anarchy. Also, they had to ward off attempts by the Ottoman Sultan to reestablish his suzerainty over the land.
As the English player you must keep the Moors at bay while gauging how many of your precious resources you can spare to build Tangier’s Great Mole – a breakwater that will protect your ships. As the Moorish player you must endevour to make the English inclined to leave, ideally by sacking Tangier. At the same time, you have two additional problems to deal with. First, there is the small matter of a civil war among the Berber tribes. Then, there is the Sultan at Istanbul. He seems to be under the false impression that Morocco belongs to him. If the Moors ever take the town's Citadel they win outright. If the English ever complete the Great Mole they win outright. If neither side can achieve their main objective, someone might or might not win on points, by comparing the English player’s progress on the Mole against the Moorish player’s ability to secure Morocco for his dynasty.
—description from the publisher