After very enjoyable Pericles – First Peloponnese War, me and my group had possibility to reenact second installment of this conflict – so today I will present to you session report from Second Peloponnese War.

After brief discussion we decided to randomly assign factions

  • Konrad – Sparta, Agaid
  • Marcin – Sparta, Eurypondit
  • Jacek – Athens, Demagogue
  • Michal – Athens, Aristocrat

The initial set-up is visible below. Athens still keeps tight grip on Aegean Islands while Spartan is dominant in land theaters and in Sicily:

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At the first glance, seems Athens have easier position – no Persian War – but on the other hand more theaters are prone to Sparta attack. Should be fun!

TURN SIX (430-425 BC)

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Main developements:

  • Aristophanes card sets Will of Assembly for Sparta in Hellespont and for Athens in Sicily. That would be interesting – they need to build bases there!
  • 1 – in political phase we have change of governments both in Athens (Michal => Jacek) as well as in Sparta (Marcin => Konrad). What is more, war is being declared…
  • 2 – both sides put a lot of effort into building bases in designated, by Will of Assembly, theaters – and finally both sides succeed.
  • 3 – brilliantly played Diplomatic Issue gives Sparta base on Aegean Sea.
  • 4 – that was a little bit surprising, but Athens wins two land battles, clearing-out Aetolia and Boetia.
  • 5 – Sparta musters large fleet, which they manage to transport from Corinth to open see.
  • War score: Sparta 10 – Athens 46 (main decisive factor was two land battles won by Athens)
  • Factions score: Jacek 27, Michal 19, Konrad 8, Marcin 2

TURN SEVEN (424-419 BC) and TURN EIGHT (418-413 BC)

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And again, short summary of main actions:

  • Aristophanes confuses a lot – first in Turn 7 we lost land units and strategos, and then in Turn 8 we have again Will of Assembly giving Sicily as target to Athens and South Sporades to Sparta.
  • 1 – Jacek (Athens) and Konrad (Sparta) keeps tight control on the governments – no changes there.
  • 2 – after long struggle, Spartan base on Aegean Sea falls.
  • 3 – another success for Athens – Spartan base is removed from Hellespont (as well as all accompanying units).
  • 4 – Athens heavily invest in the infrastructure (bases in Nauptacus) in order to build army/navy in high quantities.
  • 5 – that was painful… whole Spartan fleet (8 ships) is being sunk in it entirety near Corinth…
  • 6 – …and meanwhile Sparta attacks Thessaly and conquers it.
  • 7 – Here we have another, surprising land win by Athens – Chalcidae
  • 8 – Money fuel war. Two Persian bases are built so Sparta can easily recruit more forces.
  • 9 – In the end, Sparta contests Athens but without any real danger to us; at the same time Sparta fails the Will of Assembly…
  • War score: Sparta 27 – Ateny 90
  • Factions score: Jacek 53, Michał 37, Konrad 22, Marcin 5

Unfortunately, time did not allow us to play further – still it seems that the final result was rather decided.

Summary:

It seems that Sparta was not aggressive enough – Konrad and Marcin built a lot of bases, used diplomacy but rarely used simple, direct, brutal force of Spartan hoplites. Athens were preparing concentrated and direct  strikes, often on land (3 battles won). However, all of us still had a lot of fun!

PS. If you would like to read other session reports from my blog in English, just click on Category: In English

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