Slitherine

or Achilles Gets His Butt Kicked

This is a great scenario. There is an amazing amount of action, drama, uncertainty, and just plain fun packed into that little map with 10 cities.

I have played this one through to a win as both sides now. I just finished winning it as the Trojans.

I enjoyed the whole thing, but the was one battle right near the end, circa turn 130, that was one of those gaming moments you will remember a long time.

I was counter-attacking to recapture Skamandros. First I sent in a big stack of Levy with a few Skirmishers. They found Achilles and his Myrmidons, and got butchered, but they did kill most of his auxiliary troops.

Right behind them, I sent in Aineias with the best stack I could create, 7x Dardanian Nobles, 4x Thorakitai, 2x Prodromoi, 2x Cretan Skirmishers.

With his support units having been cleared by the first group, it wasn't too hard getting around his flanks.

Soon the battle came down to Aineias backed by a big mob of Dardanian Nobles (glowing a radioactive red), versus Achilles backed by his 3 units of Myrmidons, (glowing a cobalt blue).

I looked down carefully, and the two leaders were actually duking it out. I zoomed in and watched them duel for a long time, then Achilles got chopped, and Aineias swept the field.

Pretty cool, eh?

Cool, though my favourite is still Thermopylae, trying to save every man for the next wave that comes at you

Thermopylae is indeed an awesome scenario....love it.

I have read that two of the 300 Spartans actually survived Thermopylae.

One of them killed himself in shame, and the other went on to redeem himself by having one hell of a day at Plataea.

Which reminds me, rather obliquely, of two great books by Gene Wolfe - Soldier of the Mist, and Soldier of Arete.

Hmmm, I just searched amazon and there's now an "omnibus" containing both, entitled "Latro in the Mist"

Check it out!

Hah, one cool part of this scenario I'd forgotten to mention.

The Diplomacy front.

The Greeks and Trojans HATE each other with a bitter, burning passion. But there's nobody else to send their diplomats to.

So you keep sending diplomats back and forth, and they keep getting flogged, boiled in oil, beheaded, blinded, and so on.

But what else is there to do with them? So you send another one

1 spartan survived, he went back to sparta to report what happened only to be killed anyway for not dieing with his men

I happen to like Illyrian (sic) Revolt scenario more, specially the first time you play it.

This is the good thing about Spartan, retrospectively the best game I ever enjoyed, EU2 coming closer.

About Thermophylae legends, I don't believe half of them (well, maybe 95 % of them) but surely spartans put a good fight there.

I like the point Possum made about diplomats in Trojan Wars scenario

My "Illiad" lately..

To sum it up.. Greeks win But..

Odysseus fell during the battle outside Skamandros (Athena wept for the loss of her Hero) ...so much for an Odyssey
Achilles, Petroclus and the Myrmidons tried to storm Troy but took heavy casualties in an early assault and were forced to retreat.
It came down to a unknown Hero who stormed the gates, and finally won, even though he took severe casualties.

luciusvarrus wrote:My "Illiad" lately..

To sum it up.. Greeks win But..

Odysseus fell during the battle outside Skamandros (Athena wept for the loss of her Hero) ...so much for an Odyssey
Achilles, Petroclus and the Myrmidons tried to storm Troy but took heavy casualties in an early assault and were forced to retreat.
It came down to a unknown Hero who stormed the gates, and finally won, even though he took severe casualties.

This is not the epic story I was expecting