After first very positive experiences with Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (I will abbreviate later to ACIS) and having in mind the forced lockdown, I decided I am ready for more solo scenarios with that title. I already had pleasure to familiarize with the “Fall of Rome II” – split in two parts – first Western empire and then the Eastern one. That was tough play and I expected nothing less in my next endeavor… taking into account that this will be invasion of mighty Persians (Darius & Xerxes) on the Greek world! Yes, I will play a “Greeks and Persians” scenario!

A side not here. I am really positively surprised by the great lengths to which the author of the game went when preparing those solo scenarios – there is a lot of interesting special rules there (gold for example) which also try to reflect the historical situation, good historical background, clear set-up and victory conditions. The game is abstract, that for sure, but still gives a lot of fun and hard puzzles to crack. Let us see how it went for me this time!

Set-up

01
Yes, we will be trying to prevent Darius – and then Xerxes – from conquering the Greece. Interesting to see if we manage.
02
The set-up of the game – there are still some Greeks in Asia Minor! Land Persians – purple, Sea Persians – Red, my Greeks – blue, Barbarians – black.
03
My forces have some special cards – permanent benefits of “Academy of Science” and “Armored Infantry” and cards I can “draw” each turn – “Triremes” and “Strategos”.

Turn 1 & 2 

11
The fun starts – I am pretty hard-hit in Asia Minor – as expected…
21
But worse things will come – three devastating cards scourge the Greek mainland and only gold saves me from total annihilation.
22
Still, my superb Competition Cards would allow me to repel that first wave of conquest.
23_after_Tunr1and2_Epoch2
That was pretty close but I survived. Some barbarians should also disappear from map above but they were mistakenly overlooked by Greek and Persian forces fighting each other 🙂

Turn 3 & 4

31
Let us bring the fun to our opponents. Heresy in Phrygia removes 6 Land Persian disks!
33
Here they come – my unexpected allies – Barbarians from the south. With my help they will pillage the Egypt!
34
But I am also hit with by the Sea People – Persian domination on sea seems to be undeniable now
41
Just before competition phase – a lot of fight on sea, my counter-attack in Phrygia and another battle in Greece.
42_after_T3E2andT1E3
After four turns situation does not look so bad – Land Persians gold in Egypt was wiped out, Phrygia has fallen but this is not the end of the fight as we shall see…

Turn 5 & 6 & 7

61
Last 3 turns are very exciting; first, I continue attack in Asia Minor.
62
But the Sea Persians managed to land their troops again – this time also at Sicily!
63
Land Persians will take back the Egypt finally.
71
And will get some decent reinforcements!
72
The relentless Sea Persians will finally destroy Syracuse. I simply did not have enough manpower to fight everywhere, especially once non-core Greek land was attacked.
75_T4E3
The final situation on the map. No Greeks in Asia Minor, Syracuse conquered, mainland Greece defended and total chaos in Egypt. In the end I won 39-15 (click to enlarge)

Summary

That was fun play and I must admit there were times I really thought the Greece will break like a glass and I will be overwhelmed. Still, my experience shows that AI is much better as defending side – rather then attacking – in ACIS. And you will be able to see this in my next episode of Solitaire games – this time “Alexander the Great“.

Strongly suggest – if you have the game – to take it out of the box and try to play some of solo scenarios. The current situation of forced stay at home is good excuse to play much more boardgames.