Peloponnesian War by Mike Haran
Peloponnesian War is a game pitting the player against the game system, the player controlling the forces of the Athenian League, the game system those of Sparta. There are three fleets to a side using 1/1200 scale galleys and three hoplite armies using six millimeter scale hoplite forces for each side. The player may elect to decrease the Spartan fleet by one and add one to the hoplites in order to reflect the Spartan advantage in land forces and that of Athens in naval forces.
The game is played on a 22“ x 8” playing area divided into slices comprising NNW, NW, SW, SSW ditto for the east. A victory track running from +5 to -5 is kept track of as the game proceeds. Complimentary to the game board is the map embedded within the rule book with a lot more detail than that of the board playing area.
Play opens with both sides determining whether they get back any marine units knocked about by storms or in the case of Sparta showing up again after movement to a position unknown to the Athenian player. This is followed by movement of either the Athenian player or by the Spartan depending upon who is winning on the victory track. The Athenian movement is by means of referring to the rule book map and rolling dice in order to determine a fleet or armies exact position. This determines whether it can move to the adjacent slice, fleets needing a water position and armies a land area. Spartans move following a completely different method. A list is consulted containing geographical information regarding seas, gulfs, islands and continental areas on which a dice is rolled. This determines which slice a unit is placed and type of unit, army or naval, sea, gulf, island allowing fleet movement, island, and land areas allowing army movement.
After all movement for the Athenians a storm damage determination turn is taken (this only applies to the Athenians as Spartans can disappear on the after movement turn where ships are removed depending upon type and Athenian ships in the area). A dice is rolled and cross referenced so as to give a code number defining at which geographic position the storm struck, any fleet in a slice containing this area deemed to be in the same area and temporally removed from play.
There is an events segment which portrays actual historical acts such as the changing allegiance of Corcrya, Lesbos and the Chalcidice’s the action negated by enemy fleets in the area and such like.
The sequence ends this combat, all units in a slice having their combat value compared and the difference in the victory points noted. The victory track allows for the same units that began the game to be in it at the games end. Casualties are noted on the victory track which gives a league and advantage or a disadvantage making a naval or army unit merely a marker defining a units position, not its strength or composition.
This game follows a system I have developed and used for other games and to be used for future games, some more or less complete, some needing more development.