SPARTA!: Struggle for Greece
SPARTA!: Struggle for Greece Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Board
The game board is a representation of the Greek sphere of influence and that of its most influential neighbours at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War.
Turn Track
The turn track used depends on the scenario being played: on the left, the 2nd Peloponnesian War turn track and on the right the Theban / Spartan War Turn track.
Each is made up of six turns, split into three eras:
- Turns 1 and 2 are respectively the Archidamian War and the Corinthian War.
- Turns 3 and 4 are respectively the Peace of Nicias and the King's Peace.
- Turns 5 and 6 are respectively the Ionian War and the Theban / Spartan War.
Above the current turn, the names of new leaders entering the game on that turn are shown. When entering a new era, add the action cards for that era to the draw deck and shuffle it.
Do not add the discards back into the deck.
Army Strength Track
Shows the respective army strengths of the Spartan and Athenian players. It also shows the reset spaces of the army strength markers.
Navy Strength Track
Shows the respective navy strengths of the Spartan and Athenian players. It also shows the shipbuilding costs at certain navy strengths - the Talent indicator at the bottom of each space on the track.
Asset Boxes
Elite, Skirmishers & Cavalry at the top of the map and the Allied Fleet asset holding area at the bottom of the map. The decorative round space is for the advantaged player to place a marker, easily showing which player has that advantage.
Battle Strength Track
The Battle Strength track is used during land and sea battles to track battle strength - showing which player is winning the battle at that moment.
Regions and Regional Reward boxes
Each region is shown in a distinct colour - the cities within a region use the same colour. Each region also has a distinct icon shown above the regional reward box and above each city for additional clarity. The controller of a region will claim the rewards shown in the associated regional reward box at the start of each turn.
Example: The Ionian Coast is shown in purple; controlling this region will earn the player a Cavalry asset and a Talent.
Ally spaces
These distinctive spaces represent potential allies. They cannot be attacked, but can be marched from if the ally is controlled by you. As with regions, the owner earns the rewards printed in the reward box if the ally is controlled. All allies require two influence to control them.
Region Control Tiles
Each region and ally has a control tile indicating the player who controls the region during an Assessment phase (if any) - the player who controls a region takes the matching tile.
If the region was neutral during the last assessment phase, the tile is not assigned to any player and is placed on top of the regional reward box.
Player Mats
Each player has access to their own player mat. The player mat contains the following:
- A space for ready leaders (place leader tiles to the left).
- A space for spent leaders (place leader tiles to the right).
- Spaces for Hoplites, Triremes, and commanders to be placed for each army or fleet (place tiles above or below the army or fleet indicator). Place a Hoplite or Trireme on top of a leader when mobilised.
- Action round sequence of play reminder.
- Treasury - for Talents, Favour, and your Desperate Times marker.
- An image of your state income - which you receive every turn in addition to rewards from regions and allies you control.
Cards
Action Cards
Action cards drive the events of the game. Each card is associated with a historical era, indicated at the very bottom of the card - with the Peloponnesian War scenario on the left of the card and the Theban / Spartan War on the right.
Some cards do not have any text on the left or right hand side of the card - those cards are not used during the scenario with no era listed.
Example: The Megalopolis action card belongs to the Peace of Nicias era during the 2nd Peloponnesian War scenario and to The King's Peace era during the Theban / Spartan War scenario. It would be added into the deck at the start of the era depending on which scenario is being played. If the left side of the card, where it says Peace of Nicias, was blank, the card would not be used at all in the 2nd Peloponnesian War scenario.
When a card has the "Remove" note, that means the card is permanently removed from the game after it is played, but not if it is discarded.
Action cards are played during a player's action round, one per round. Each player will play all the cards in their hand every turn - no action cards are kept between turns.
Setup Cards
There are four setup cards for the two large scenarios (2nd Peloponnesian War and the Theban / Spartan War).
During setup, you can select one, draw one randomly or use the recommended card. Each one changes the game and gives you a different starting point.
The same icons are used on the turn track and also on cards used for the two smaller scenarios (1st Peloponnesian War and Cleomenean War).
Battle Cards
Battle cards are for use in resolving battles. At all times players are limited to a maximum of six Battle cards in their hand. If they draw more, they must immediately discard down to six of their choice. Battle cards can be held from one turn to the next.
Battle cards are only playable during a battle.
At the start of each turn, shuffle all discarded battle cards back into the battle card deck.
Leader Tiles
The game contains 33 named Leader tiles listing each Leader's special ability, and an additional 6 unnamed, generic leaders (Strategos, Navarch and Polemarch) - three for each player.
Leaders have two sides: one regular and one veteran. The veteran side has a more powerful leader ability (the veteran side is gold coloured).
Leader tiles have one or more icons showing which scenario they belong to for ease of setup.
Markers
Influence cubes indicate the amount of influence a player has in a polis, metropolis, megapolis, or ally space.
Control discs indicate a player has sufficient influence in a space or ally for control.
Current Turn, Army Strength (one per player), and Navy Strength (one per player) markers track their respective tracks.
Raided and Siege markers indicate contested spaces.
Hoplite and Trireme markers or miniatures (three Hoplites and three Triremes for Athens, three Hoplites and two Triremes for Sparta).
The number corresponds to the army or fleet number for identification, and there is an image of the model used on the player mats, for miniatures.
Talents (Money) come in values of one and three.
Desperate Times (one per player). This allows a once-per-game special reaction to mobilise and fight the enemy.
Favour - in a variety of shapes and colours. These important resources are used to buy events on cards and to discard cards you do not want to play. The green one is earned via the Olympic games. In the event that you are due a Favour but there are none available, then you gain one Talent instead.
- Green - Gods and men. Discobolus - favour in competition among mortals.
- Yellow - Riches & Leisure. Cornucopia - favour of wealth. Harp - favour in leisure, or artistic ability.
- Red - Health & Love. Rod of Asclepius for Health. Herakles Knot for Love.
Battle Strength markers are used to mark the battle strength chart during battles to show which player is winning the battle.
Military Assets (Regular on marble side, veteran on gold side) are split between Elite, Skirmisher, Cavalry and Allied Fleets.
In battle the regular side is counted as a value of one, while the veteran side is counted as a value of two. Thus, two regular assets are the same as one veteran asset.
Megapolis, Colony, and The Helot Uprising markers are also included.
Card Ongoing Effects
Ongoing effect cards (such as Cavalry Covers Retreat and Timely Retreat) remain in play and modify battles or other actions as printed on the card.
Dice
The game comes with three custom dice per player with six sides (1x failure, 2x blank, 3x success).
Leaders, Hoplites and Triremes
Triremes (ships) and Hoplites (soldiers) are either:
- Available to be mobilised.
- Mobilised but not yet deployed to the map.
- Deployed on the map.
A Hoplite or Trireme on the player mat can be mobilised by paying three Talents and placing a ready leader on the player mat in the correct space for that force, ready for it to deploy. Place the leader in the correct space and the Trireme or Hoplite on top of the leader to show it is mobilising.
An already mobilised Hoplite or Trireme can be placed (deployed) onto the board to fight an enemy or conduct a raid. If a raid is successful, a force may convert into a siege or return home.
Once a Hoplite or Trireme has fought or completed its siege or raid it is removed from the map and placed back on the player mat, ready to be used again. The deployed leader goes to the spent box.
A Hoplite or Trireme can only be deployed if they have a leader in command.
If a commander is removed from the command section of a Trireme or Hoplite which will remain in place after the battle or event that removes him, he must be replaced by any other leader selected by the owning player from the ready box. If there are none, with any leader from the spent box.
In other words, a leader who is killed is always replaced unless the force will return home right after resolving a battle in which the leader is killed.
One force per space
Except during battles, only one Hoplite or Trireme can ever be in the same space.
Leaders are either ready, spent or commanding a Hoplite or Trireme. Their status is shown by their location on the player mat:
- Ready - placed to the left of the player mat.
- Spent - placed to the right of the player mat.
- Commanding - in a Hoplite or Fleet space and placed above or below the mat in the correct place.
At the start of each turn, a faction's leaders are all ready, except for those still involved in a siege (they are still busy commanding at the siege).
A ready leader can lead a Hoplite or Trireme. A spent leader can do nothing until next turn.
If a leader becomes veteran the leader tile is flipped to the veteran side, which has a better leader ability.
Each player has three generic leaders - Strategos, Navarch and Polemarch. Generic leaders on their regular side are not named leaders. Generic leaders who become veteran count as named leaders. Some cards target named leaders.
Named leaders who are eliminated through a game effect are permanently removed from the game, with the exception of veteran generic leaders. When a generic leader is killed (veteran or not), it is placed in spent leaders on the regular side.
Leader abilities only apply while that leader is taking part in an activity. Leaders with battle abilities only apply them while commanding a force in battle. Leaders with siege abilities, only while they are sieging.
Spaces, Influence and Regions
Map Spaces - Cities
The map is composed of spaces, each representing a city or an allied nation or state. Cities are represented by three shapes.
Each city space has an autonomy value from one to three. The shape of the space and the number of icons above the space indicate the value of each space.
Each space can hold as many influence points as its autonomy value, and no more. When a space has influence points equal to its autonomy value, it is controlled by that player.
The soldier symbol beneath a 3 value city reminds the players that these cities each give a bonus when resetting army strength.
There are three types of city spaces: circular spaces which are called polis (town), square spaces which are called metropolis (hometown), and hexagon spaces which are called megapolis (city).
Map Spaces - Allies
Each ally has a reward box and a matching control tile. As with regions, the controlling player will earn the rewards printed at the start of the turn.
Allies are only gained through the play of specific cards. Each has an autonomy value of two.
Influence
Only one player may have influence in a space – if a player places influence in a space that already contains enemy influence, the enemy influence is first removed on a one for one basis.
When a space holds influence equal to its autonomy value it is controlled by that player. A controlled space should be marked with a wooden disc to quickly and easily show control.
When a space holds less (or equal) influence than its autonomy value, it is friendly to the player with influence and hostile to the player without influence.
Use the wooden cubes to mark a space which is not yet controlled, to make it easy to tell the board state. A space with no influence of either player is neutral to both players.
Example: The Athens player has a single influence marker in the Crete ally space. Crete has an autonomy of two. Crete is friendly towards Athens, and hostile toward Sparta. Subsequently, the Athens player adds one influence to the Crete ally space, placing a large influence marker. Crete is now allied with Athens.
Raids and Sieges - contested
Any space containing a raided or under siege marker is contested. Contested spaces are never controlled by anyone, no matter how much influence is present.
Regions
Each city space is within a region. Ally spaces are not part of a region.
The owner of a region is the player with the highest total autonomy value of controlled spaces within the region at the time of calculation. If tied, neither player owns the region.
In other words, count the influence you own, but only in spaces you fully control – partial control of a space does not count toward control of a region.
At the start of each turn, the owner of a region will earn the rewards printed on that region's regional reward box.
Example: During the Assessment phase, the Spartan player controls the Corinth space while the Athens player controls the Epidaurus space. The Spartan player gains (or retains) control over the Corinthian Isthmus region, as Corinth is an autonomy three space and Epidaurus only an autonomy one space. Prior to the next Assessment phase, the Athens player gains control over the Megara space, with 2 autonomy. During the next Assessment phase, both players now control a total of 3 autonomy of spaces in the region and so neither player controls the region, and neither will receive its control tile and the associated rewards.
Colonies
Four spaces on the map (Rhium, Heraclea, Decelea, and Pylos) do not have regular spaces but instead have an image of a field. These spaces (and the land connections to them) do not exist unless marked on the map with the overlay tiles provided. Until constructed they are entirely ignored.
These spaces do not exist at the start of the Peloponnesian War scenario and still must be founded (via play of the New Colony card). In the Theban / Spartan War scenario, these all start with the proper marker to indicate they have been founded.
Land Connections (roads)
Spaces connected to each other via land connections are adjacent. This matters for marching armies and supplying a siege. Note that colony spaces which do not yet exist do not have any connecting roads – they do not exist. These roads are marked on the map in a distinct colour.
Harbours
Spaces containing an anchor sign are harbours. Harbour spaces can be moved to by a Trireme. A space without an anchor cannot be moved to by a Trireme.
Game Sequence
The Phasing player is the player who is currently playing a card.
When there are no cards remaining in the action card draw pile (or battle card draw pile) reshuffle all discards to form a new draw pile.
In addition, at the start of every turn shuffle the battle card discards back into the battle card deck.
Turn Sequence
A turn in SPARTA! has the following sequence:
- Reshuffle the battle card deck
- Regional Assessment, collect rewards
- Hoplite Reset (skipped on turn 1)
- Shipbuilding (skipped on turn 1)
- Recruitment (skipped on turn 1)
- Rebuilding (skipped on turn 1)
- Deal Action Cards (skipped on turn 1)
- Action Rounds (6 rounds)
- Olympic Games
- Check for new leaders and ready all leaders
- Victory Phase (at the end of the scenario)
Regional Assessment
Players check each region and ally to determine control. Regional & ally control tiles are distributed to the controlling player.
Then each player collects the rewards listed on their regional and ally control tiles, and on their player mat as state income.
If the reward is an Asset, put it in the correct asset box (without flipping it) or return it to the control card (if that region became uncontrolled).
If the reward is a number of Talents and/or Favour, the player takes that amount and puts it in their Treasury. Each player also receives Talents as state income. Thebes receives a battle card and Athens a Favour. This is printed on your player mat as a reminder and can never be lost.
Hoplite Reset
Each player sets the position of their army strength marker:
- Four if a player has zero army strength.
- Six for the player with the higher army strength.
- Five for the player with the lower army strength.
- Five if both players are tied in army strength.
Then alter the position of each marker:
- -1 for each ongoing friendly siege (a siege by a friendly Hoplite at an enemy city).
- +1 for each uncontested friendly controlled Megapolis (3 city) - (not raided, not under siege and with 3 of your influence markers on it) - each '3' city has a hoplite icon on it as a reminder.
Note: it was usually possible to field new armies even after major defeats during the previous year.
Example: It is the beginning of turn 2. After several battles in turn 1, the Athenian player's army strength had fallen to 2, with the Spartan player's army strength still strong at 5. Each player controls their Capital Megapolis, while Athens has a siege ongoing at Potidaea. Army Strengths are initially reset to 5 for Athens and 6 for Sparta, and then further modified to respectively 5 and 7.
Example: Same as above, except Athenian player's army Strength had fallen to 0. Their army Strength now initially resets to 4, further modified by +1 for control over Athens and -1 for the siege at Potidaea to a final 4.
Shipbuilding
Both players may spend Talents on Shipbuilding to increase their navy strength. To do so, the player spends Talents equal to the number in the box beneath their current navy strength and then increases their navy strength by one.
If one player has a lower navy strength, that player may increase strength, then the other player may do so and finally the player with the lower strength – if still lower – may increase strength again.
If players are tied in navy strength, the Athenian player may increase strength once, followed by the Spartan player.
Recruitment
Both players may spend Talents on recruitment to rebuild eliminated military assets belonging to a region or ally they control. Each player may take any number of Recruitment actions by taking turns doing so, with the Spartan player going first.
Once a player passes, they may no longer take Recruitment actions this turn. To take a recruitment action, the player spends one Talent and returns the eliminated asset to the asset box on its regular side.
Players can never rebuild Mercenary military assets in this way - only via the play of battle cards.
The Sparta Elite asset can always be rebuilt.
Rebuilding
Remove all raided markers from the map, except from a space that is still under siege.
Raids last for a single turn – if you want to deny control, you'll have to keep raiding!
Deal Action Cards
Both players draw six cards, with cards being dealt alternately, Sparta receiving the first card each turn.
Action Rounds
Players alternate performing action rounds (Sparta first) until neither player has any cards left in hand. Both players will play all six cards every turn.
Each Action Round follows this pattern:
- Resolve raids by your own Hoplites and Triremes that are already on the map and are not sieging a space. Either raid and return home or raid and start a siege. Leaders returning home are spent.
- Play an Action Card if you have one. Ignore this step if you do not. Alternatively spend two Favour to discard an action card instead of playing it.
- Deploy mobilised Hoplites and Triremes.
- Mobilise new Hoplites and Triremes.
- Prosecute Sieges.
- Battles – the phasing player chooses which battle to fight until all have been resolved.
When neither player has a card remaining, the current round is completed, then proceed to the Olympics.
The Olympics
At the end of each turn, the Olympic games will be held. Further aggression will breach the religious truce held across Greece so that participants can journey to and attend the games.
When neither player has any cards left and the round has ended, both players check to see if they have Hoplites or Triremes on the map which have not yet raided or begun a siege. If they do, either immediately remove them, or roll a die for each (the owning player chooses):
- Failure, the Hoplite (or Trireme) is removed from the map and its Leader is permanently eliminated.
- Blank, the Hoplite (or Trireme) is removed from the map and its Leader moved to spent.
- Success, continue the deployment as either a raid or a siege as normal.
Then both players check to see if they have any mobilised leaders commanding Hoplites or Triremes that have not yet been deployed to the map. Those armies will not get a chance to act. Those leaders are placed into the spent leader area of the player mat.
Once all Hoplites and Triremes have completed their activities, the Olympics will be held. Both players will roll two dice.
Each player who breached the truce by rolling a die for a Hoplite or Trireme as above rolls one fewer die.
Each player who removed a Hoplite or Trireme from the map without rolling or who spent a leader who had not deployed rolls one additional die.
The player with the most success results wins. If tied, the player with less controlled regions wins, Sparta if still tied. The winner chooses to gain either one Talent and the green discobolus Favour - which is taken from wherever it is - even the enemy treasury, or two Talents. The loser gains the reward not chosen by the winner.
The turn marker is advanced to the next turn. Receive any newly arriving leaders. All leaders are moved from spent to ready.
Victory Phase
If it is the end of the scenario, check control over all regions. The player controlling the most regions wins the game. Allies are not counted & are ignored. If the count is a tie, Sparta wins the game.
SPARTA! only has end-game victory conditions because setbacks and comebacks are likely to occur. There is no harm in quitting - once into turn four and later, if you are only losing ground and don't see a way to turn it around, surrender and try again!
Card play notes
If a player discards a card via card play, the event on the discarded card is not implemented.
A player may also discard a card by spending two Favour instead of playing a card. Again, the event is not implemented.
Several cards are removed from the game once played instead of being placed into the discards. Cards that are discarded as above are not removed.
Any card text that contradicts the written rules supersedes the written rules. If in doubt, do what the card says.
If a card deck is empty, shuffle the discards to form a new draw deck right away.
When entering a new era, add the action cards for that era to the draw deck and shuffle it. Do not add the discards back into the deck.
Battle cards which contradict a leader ability do not take precedence - leader abilities always apply instead.
Example: Lysander will still win a drawn combat because of his ability even if the enemy has played a battle card with the same effect.
Envoys
Many cards (and other effects) allow a player to send a lesser or Greater Envoy to a space or ally.
Envoys allow a player to place (or increase) their influence in a space, and/or reduce (or eliminate) their opponent's influence.
A Lesser Envoy places (or removes) 1 influence. A Greater Envoy places (or removes) 2 influence (or removes 1, then places 1) in a single space or ally.
Important: Unless allowed by a card, envoys cannot be sent to contested spaces (spaces that have been raided or that are under siege).
Whenever a player may send one (or more) envoys, they may choose to send one of those envoys to their uncontested (not raided, not under siege) Capital instead (if friendly or neutral). To do this your capital can't be under siege, raided, or contain any enemy influence.
Capital City
Sparta is always the Spartan player capital. The Athenian player capital is specified in the scenario.
Military Actions
During each player's action round, that player may spend Talents to prepare Hoplites and Triremes for military action. Some cards may also give 'free' Hoplites or Triremes to a player.
Mobilise a Hoplite or Trireme
By spending three Talents, a player may move a ready leader to the commander section of a Hoplite or Trireme on the player mat. This Hoplite or Trireme is then mobilised, and the leader becomes the commander. Place the Hoplite or Trireme on top of the leader to show it is now mobilised.
At the time of mobilisation, a player may pay an additional two Talents to draw a Battle card.
Note: Paying the additional 2 Talents can also be done when mobilising due to a card effect e.g. Home Garrison or when using a Desperate Times marker. But it can only be done when mobilising.
Any number of Hoplites and/or Triremes may be mobilised at the same time. If a player has no ready leaders, they cannot perform this action. You need a ready leader to mobilise.
A mobilised Hoplite or Trireme will deploy and be placed on the map the following round. This means you need to plan ahead: If on round one you mobilise, you'll not deploy until round two, and won't raid or start a siege until round three (but if you go to fight a battle it would happen right after deploying, in round two).
Desperate Times
Each player has one Desperate Times marker. This can be discarded during your turn to mobilise one Hoplite or Trireme at no cost in Talents and then immediately deploy to fight an enemy force. As with a normal mobilisation, two Talents may be spent to draw a battle card.
Your Desperate Times marker allows you to respond right away to an unexpected enemy deployment, and always results in a battle. You get it only once per game, so make sure it really is a desperate time!
Demobilisation
Once a Hoplite or Trireme completes its military action – by raiding, fighting a battle, completing a siege, or disbanding before the Olympics, it is returned to the player sheet and its leader is placed in the spent box.
If a Hoplite or Trireme does not deploy when able to do so, it is demobilised, but the leader may return ready instead of spent – you still lose the Talents spent to mobilise, though. This means when a Hoplite or Trireme can be placed on the map, it must be – either use it or lose it.
Example: During the previous action round, the Athenian player mobilised a Hoplite using the Cleon leader. During this action round, the Hoplite was neither deployed nor used to initiate battle. Cleon and the Hoplite are both returned to the player mat. Cleon is ready.
Deploying a Hoplite or Trireme
The round after a Hoplite or Trireme is mobilised it must be either deployed to the map or demobilised. When deploying to the map there are three possible outcomes:
- Deploy to raid a space.
- Deploy to raid a space and then begin a siege after raiding.
- Deploy to fight an enemy Hoplite or Trireme already on the map.
When deploying a Hoplite: The target space must be neutral (no influence) or hostile (enemy influence).
You must be able to trace a path along roads starting at one of:
- Your friendly (but not necessarily controlled) Capital city.
- A controlled 3 value city (megapolis).
- A controlled ally.
- A controlled colony.
- A space with a friendly Hoplite currently sieging - but not one that is raiding.
The path must pass through neutral (no influence), friendly (your influence) or contested (raided or under siege) spaces with no enemy Hoplites or Triremes present. A path can never trace through an ally.
Note that it's easy to block yourself if you mobilise too many Hoplites at once - it is better to stagger them, ensuring there is somewhere for them to march to.
When deploying a Trireme: Select a neutral or hostile harbour space anywhere on the map.
If deploying to fight an enemy Hoplite or Trireme: An enemy Hoplite must be fought by your own Hoplite – triggering a land battle. An enemy Trireme must be fought by your own Trireme – triggering a sea battle.
There are no restrictions – your force can march or sail anywhere on the map. No path is required and no starting space is required – you only need the right type of unit ready at the right time.
It was difficult to prevent access to an area completely, and so we assume that troops are able to march or sail to where they are needed. City-state forces were also capable of performing a sortie against raiding or besieging Hoplites, and likewise fleet could attempt to protect the coast against hostile ships.
Raiding
A deployed Hoplite or Trireme will raid the unraided space it occupies in the round after it has been deployed unless it is attacked - and removed - by an enemy force before that happens.
A force that is placed onto the map hasn't yet arrived – the enemy has some time to react.
You can't re-raid an already raided space, everything of value has already been taken! You can however deploy to an already raided space to start a new siege, but you'll receive no income as you are not raiding it.
To perform a raid: If not already, place an enemy control disc in the space removing any influence cubes. Do not alter the influence of an already-raided space (marked with a raided marker). Then the raiding player takes one Talent and adds it to their treasury and places a raided marker on the space.
If you raid an uncontrolled space the space becomes enemy controlled - after all you just burned their fields!
A raided space is contested and no longer counts as controlled until the raided marker is removed.
The raiding force then either:
- Returns home (place the Hoplite or Trireme back on the player mat, and the leader in the spent box), or
- Begins a siege.
If the raid was conducted by a Trireme, replace the Trireme with an available Hoplite model and transfer the leader to the correct place on the player mat. If there is no available Hoplite, a siege cannot be started. To siege, a force must get off of the ships – and whilst ships still may be involved, this is now a land action as the city is surrounded.
In this round and all following rounds, the Hoplite may conduct one prosecute siege roll.
Example: Sparta has a Hoplite at Athens which was placed there last round. This round, the Hoplite will raid Athens. Gain a Talent and place a raided marker on Athens, then return the Hoplite to its player mat and place the commanding leader in the spent box.
Example: Athens has a Trireme (commanded by their Navarch leader) on the uncontested (and Spartan-controlled) Syracuse space. They decide to replace the Trireme with a Hoplite (returning the Trireme to the player mat and moving the Navarch leader to the Hoplites command box), they gain a Talent, place a raid marker on the Syracuse space (if it was uncontrolled, they would also have placed sufficient influence for Spartan control). If they had no ready Hoplite marker, they would have had to raid the space and then return home instead. The Athens player will now begin their siege of Syracuse.
Siege
To prosecute a siege, spend two Talents and choose a siege with a friendly Hoplite. Each siege can be chosen once per round including on the round that the siege begins.
Roll dice as determined below, reducing your army Strength track once if at least one failure is rolled and reducing enemy influence in the space by one for each success rolled. A blank result has no effect.
Roll one die and:
- +1 die if more adjacent uncontested (not raided, not sieged) friendly-controlled spaces and allies than uncontested hostile-controlled spaces and allies.
- +1 die if besieging the Sparta space.
- +1 die if the army strength or navy strength track provides you with an extra die. (+2 dice is possible if both apply.)
- -1 die if besieging the Athens space.
You will roll between zero and three dice at most.
The +1 for more friendly-controlled spaces represents local allies and help with supplies.
Example: The Athens space is under siege by the Brasidas leader controlled by the Sparta player. Sparta controls the Megara space while Athens controls the Laurion space, so Sparta does not have more friendly spaces nearby. The total number of dice rolled is base 1 plus 1 for Brasidas and minus 1 for the city of Athens, total 1 die.
Example: Same situation, but both the Laurion and the Megara space are Spartan controlled. Total number of dice rolled is base 1, plus 1 for Brasidas, plus 1 for more adjacent uncontested friendly-controlled spaces, minus 1 for Athens for a total of 2.
The -1 die for Athens is because the city had a long wall running from the city proper to its harbour, Piraeus. Sparta, on the other hand is easier to siege because it had no walls at all, relying on the strength of its Spartiate populace to protect the city. Sieges against Sparta will be easier to prosecute, the Spartan player will need to battle any Athenian army arriving at Sparta's doorstep.
Successful Siege
When the besieging player removes the final influence cube from a besieged space, the siege is won. The besieging player gains Talents equal to the space's autonomy, returns the besieging Hoplite to the player mat, returns the commander to the spent box, removes any raid marker present and places a control disc on the space.
Note that a successful siege will not result in a raided settlement – we assume that the troops help with some rebuilding efforts before they depart back home.
Abandon a siege
After making a Prosecute Siege action, the phasing player may end the siege by rolling one die, eliminating the besieging leader if the roll is a failure. Also place a raid marker onto the space.
On any other result, the leader survives both the experience of the siege and of returning home empty-handed.
Return the leader (if not eliminated) to the spent box and return the besieging Hoplite to the player mat.
Diplomacy
If a space becomes friendly to the besieging player during a siege, immediately end the siege. The besieger does not gain any Talents - just remove the army & return the leader spent.
Battles
An enemy Hoplite must be fought by your own Hoplite – triggering a land battle. An enemy Trireme must be fought by your own Trireme – triggering a sea battle.
Battles are fought in the order selected by the phasing player.
Land Battles
Both players start by calculating battle strength:
- +1 for the side with the largest combined value in the Elite box. The Elite advantage.
- +1 for the side with the largest combined value in the Cavalry box. The Cavalry advantage.
- +1 for the side with the largest combined value in the Skirmisher box. The Skirmisher advantage.
Each regular asset is counted as a value of one (marble side). Each veteran (black/gold) asset is counted as a value of two.
- +1 for the side higher on the army strength track. The larger force advantage.
- +1 for the player holding the control tile of the Battle Region. The home ground advantage.
The player with the higher strength marks the difference on the battle display to show which side is winning the fight at present. The maximum advantage is three. You do not get any kind of bonus if you would be above three.
Example: Sparta has the Elite advantage and the larger force advantage for a total of two. Athens has the home advantage for a total of one. The battle strength is marked on the battle tracker in the red one box. Sparta will win if nothing changes.
Battle Cards
Each player with zero, one or two Battle cards in their hand may draw a battle card at the start of a battle. This has no cost.
The attacker has the first opportunity to play a battle card. Several battle cards call for an asset to be reduced – a veteran asset is reduced to regular, and a regular asset is eliminated if already reduced. Likewise some cards promote an asset - improving a regular asset to veteran. Some cards also grant new assets.
Whenever assets change during a battle, re-check the advantage for the asset type that changed.
Example: An Elite asset is reduced from veteran to regular by card play. Immediately check to see if this changes which player has the Elite advantage. If it does, alter the battle strength.
A battle card which cancels an advantage also reduces the battle strength of the player who had that advantage. The advantage cannot be counted during this battle at all by either player.
Battle cards can only be played during a battle. Also note that many battle cards have sea and land effects – they can only be played for the matching effect in that type of battle.
Players continue playing battle cards until both players pass consecutively. Once both players pass consecutively, the side with the highest battle strength is victorious. If both sides are tied, the battle is a draw and neither side is victorious.
Leader Fate
Both players must roll for their leaders. The owning player rolls a die to determine the fate of that leader.
Success: The leader becomes veteran – flip the leader tile over to the gold side (if already veteran, the owning player draws a battle card).
Failure: The named leader is permanently eliminated and is removed from the game (note that generic leaders return to the game on their regular side next turn - place into spent leaders).
Because leaders may become veteran during a battle, a leader may have a better effect at the end of the battle, but cannot change the winning player - so if you lost the battle, your new ability can't change that - not even to a draw. However, abilities that do not change the winner are immediately active.
Battle Consequences
The player with the higher battle strength wins the battle.
The victorious player reduces their army strength marker by one. The defeated player reduces their army strength marker by two.
Additionally, the victorious player gains one Favour.
If the battle strength ends on zero, the battle was a draw and both players reduce their army strength marker by one.
Return all leaders involved in the battle to their spent box and all Hoplites to the player sheet.
This means that fighting a battle – win or lose – prevents an enemy raid. Sometimes it might be better to fight, knowing you will likely lose, than to allow a strategic city to be raided.
If the battle space was under siege and the sieging player did not lose the battle, (that is, they drew or won) they do not return home – they continue their siege. If the sieging player did lose, mark the space with a raid marker if not already marked.
Sea Battles
Sea battles are fought exactly as per land battles except for the strength calculation and that losses are suffered on the navy strength track.
Both players start by calculating battle strength:
- +1 for the side with the largest combined value in the Allied Fleet box. The Allied Fleet advantage.
Each regular asset is counted as a value of one (marble side). Each veteran (black/gold) asset is counted as a value of two.
- +1 for the side higher on the navy strength track. The larger force advantage.
- +1 for the player holding the control tile of the Battle Region. The home ground advantage.
The player with the higher strength marks the difference on the battle display to show which side is winning the fight at present.
Scenarios
SPARTA! has four scenarios - in chronological order:
- 1st Peloponnesian War (3-turns)
- 2nd Peloponnesian War (6-turns)
- Theban / Spartan War (6-turns)
- Cleomenean War (3-turns)
The 1st and 2nd Peloponnesian Wars were between Athens and Sparta as they jostled for position. The first war was a fairly even affair, with both sides achieving some successes, but no clear victor.
The 2nd Peloponnesian War ended with Spartan conquest of Athens as the traditional land power demolished its rival at sea after a terrible plague in Athens and some questionable strategic decisions on behalf of the Athenians. With a large population and the food supply from the sea cut off, Athens had no choice but to sue for peace.
The Theban / Spartan War occurred as the result of Spartan domination - the Thebans taking the role of the now much-reduced Athenians, and beating the Spartans at their own game on Land, with the help of pretty much all of the other Greeks and the Persians, and with some new tactical ideas.
Finally, the Cleomenean War - the last gasp of the Spartans, as the Spartan king Cleomenes III attempted to retake control from the Achaean League, a loose confederation of Greek states formed in the power vacuum. Ultimately, they called for help from the Macedonians who routed the Spartans decisively and ended the idea of a Spartan resurgence.
All of the scenarios have been carefully balanced to give both sides a chance to win.
If you are new to the game, we suggest the 2nd Peloponnesian War as the best starting point to learn the game.
1st Peloponnesian War
This scenario lasts 3 turns and will take 1-1½ hours.
All battle cards are shuffled together into one deck. Give each player one battle card.
Action Cards: Use only the cards with a blue owl in the top left corner of the cards. Blue owl action cards are split into two decks, based on the word and colour on the bottom of each card.
To the Boeotian War cards add the following cards: Home Garrison, Helot Uprising, Peloponnesian League, Argive alliance, Northern Envoys, Barbarian Allies, Central Greece Envoy, Military Assistance, Citizen Colony, Veteran Warriors, Traitors within City, New Alliance, Intrigue, Closer Ties.
To the Athenian Crisis cards, add the following cards: Delphic Oracle, Fleet Action, Stratagems, Corinthian Schemes, Perdiccas.
Shuffle the cards from the Boeotian War deck to form the initial play deck & deal six to each player.
Place the Turn marker on the Turn 1 space of the 1st Peloponnesian War track standalone tile. The track shows which deck to use, and when to add in the new cards from the second deck. When adding new cards, do not add in the discards.
Give each player their Desperate Times marker.
The Sparta player takes the Sparta player mat, three Hoplites and one Trireme. The Athenian player takes the Athens player mat, two Hoplites and two Triremes.
The leaders used for this scenario have the blue owl or Owl/Lambda symbol in the top left corner.
Place all Regional and Ally control tiles on the map in their holding boxes. Place all matching military assets on their respective control tiles - all on their regular sides.
Athens army strength: 5 Sparta army strength: 6 Athens navy strength: 9 Sparta navy strength: 7
Athens Setup
All leaders are regular, not veteran. All leaders not mentioned are not in play. All remaining Hoplites & Triremes are placed on the player mat, ready to be mobilised.
The Athenian capital city is Athens.
- Myronides: Ready Leaders
- Tolmides: Ready Leaders
- Athenian Polemarch: Ready Leaders
- Athenian Navarch: Ready Leaders
- Athenian Strategos: Commanding Fleet 1
- Fleet 1: Persia (sieging) Persia
- Athenian control disc - Athens: Attica
- Athenian control disc - Euboea: Attica
- 1 Athenian influence - Megara: Corinthian Isthmus
- Athenian control disc - Naxos: Cyclades
- Athenian control disc - Naupactus: Boeotia
- Athenian control disc - Pharsalus: Thessaly
- Athenian control disc - Potidea: Chalcidice
- Athenian control disc - Lemnos: Chalcidice
Sparta Setup
All leaders are regular, not veteran. All leaders not mentioned are not in play. All remaining Hoplites & Triremes are placed on the player mat, ready to be mobilised.
- Nicomedes: Ready Leaders
- Sparton: Ready Leaders
- Spartan Strategos: Ready Leaders
- Spartan Navarch: Ready Leaders
- Spartan Polemarch: Ready Leaders
- Spartan control disc - Sparta: Peloponnesos
- 1 Spartan influence - Mantinea: Peloponnesos
- Spartan control disc - Elis: Peloponnesos
- Spartan control disc - Epidaurus: Corinthian Isthmus
- 1 Spartan influence - Corinth: Corinthian Isthmus
- 2 Spartan influence - Thebes: Boeotia
- Spartan control disc - Ambracia: Aetolia
- Spartan control disc - Panormos: Sicily
- Spartan control disc - Gela: Sicily
- Spartan control disc - Persia: Persia
Sparta Elite: Veteran (flip to gold).
There are no setup cards for this scenario. Start play with Regional Assessment.
1st Peloponnesian War special rules
Colonies: The colony markers are not in use. None start in play nor can any be placed. The colony spaces & their roads can therefore never be used.
Athenian Circumvallation: Until play of The Long Walls, the -1 die penalty for besieging Athens is not in effect.
Neutrality of Corcyra: Place the Aetolian Fleet asset on the turn two space of the Turn track. Place it on the Aetolia control tile when the turn track advances to turn two.
Persia & the Egyptian expedition: The Athenian first fleet starts the game sieging Persia. This is an exception to the usual rules that only Hoplites can siege, and that only city spaces can be besieged.
- While sieging, the Athenians will suffer -1 Army Strength per turn as with any siege.
- The fleet can be attacked by a Spartan fleet, but will only be removed if Sparta is victorious (as with any siege).
- The Fleet can prosecute the siege as normal, but never with more than one die, and without gaining the benefits of a successful siege.
- If all Spartan influence is removed, treat as the Athenian fleet as recalled (see below).
This means you can remove enemy influence, but not place your own and you won't earn any Talents.
If still sieging at the end of the game, the Athenians count one additional region in their total.
Athenian Fleet Recall: At the end of any Deal Action Cards phase, the Athenian player may return the Trireme to the player mat, spending the leader. The siege marker is removed (without being replaced by a raid marker) and Athens also loses one Navy strength.
This represents the Athenian expedition to Egypt, part of the Persian empire, which caused Persia issues for several years, but also kept the Athenians rather busy.
2nd Peloponnesian War
This scenario lasts 6 turns and will take 2-3 hours.
All battle cards are shuffled together into one deck.
Action Cards: Remove any cards that have a blue owl or a yellow sun in the top left corner of the card. They are not used at all in this scenario.
The action cards are split into three decks, based on the word and colour on the bottom left of each card.
Shuffle the cards from the Archidamian deck to form the initial play deck & deal six to each player.
Take all the cards from the Peace of Nicias and Ionian War decks and set them aside, ready to be shuffled into the deck during the Deal Action Cards phase of turns 3 and 5 respectively.
Place the Turn marker on the Turn 1 space of the 2nd Peloponnesian War track (left hand side). The track shows which deck to use, and when to add in the new cards from the second and third decks. When adding new cards, do not add in the discards.
Give each player their Desperate Times marker. The Sparta player takes the Sparta player mat. The Athenian player takes the Athens player mat. Take one Hoplite for each army slot and one Trireme for each Fleet slot on your player mat.
The leaders used for this scenario have the Lambda or Owl/Lambda symbol in the top left corner.
Place all Regional and Ally control tiles on the map in their holding boxes. Place all matching military assets on their respective control tiles - all on their regular sides.
Athens army strength: 4 Sparta army strength: 6 Athens navy strength: 7 Sparta navy strength: 5
Athens Setup
All leaders are regular, not veteran. All leaders not mentioned are not in play. All remaining Hoplites & Triremes are placed on the player mat, ready to be mobilised. The Athenian capital city is Athens.
- Pericles: Ready Leaders
- Cleon: Ready Leaders
- Athenian Polemarch: Ready Leaders
- Athenian Strategos: Commanding Army 1
- Athenian Navarch: Commanding Fleet 1
- Army 1: Potidaea (sieging) Chalcidice
- Fleet 1: Mobilised
- Athenian control disc - Athens: Attica
- Athenian control disc - Laurion: Attica
- Athenian control disc - Euboea: Attica
- Athenian control disc - Naxos: Cyclades
- Athenian control disc - Anaktorion: Aetolia
- 1 Athenian influence - Chios: Ionian Coast
- 1 Athenian influence - Lesbos: Ionian Coast
- 1 Athenian influence - Byzantium: Hellespont
Sparta Setup
All leaders are regular, not veteran. All leaders not mentioned are not in play. All remaining Hoplites & Triremes are placed on the player mat, ready to be mobilised.
- Pleistoanax: Ready Leaders
- Spartan Strategos: Ready Leaders
- Spartan Navarch: Ready Leaders
- Spartan Polemarch: Ready Leaders
- Archidamus: Commanding Army 1
- Army 1: Mobilised
- Spartan control disc - Sparta: Peloponnesos
- Spartan control disc - Elis: Peloponnesos
- 1 Spartan influence - Mantinea: Peloponnesos
- 1 Spartan influence - Corinth: Corinthian Isthmus
- 1 Spartan influence - Thebes: Boeotia
- Spartan control disc - Delphi: Boeotia
- Spartan control disc - Ambracia: Aetolia
- Spartan control disc - Potidaea: Chalcidice
Sparta Elite: Veteran (flip to gold).
Players choose (or randomly draw) a setup card and follow the instructions. Your cards may be inspected prior to taking any decisions on the setup card.
Once complete, start with Regional Assessment.
Theban / Spartan War
This scenario lasts 6 turns and will take 2-3 hours.
All battle cards are shuffled together into one deck.
Action Cards: Remove any cards that have a blue owl or a yellow sun in the top left corner of the card. They are not used at all in this scenario.
The action cards are split into three decks, based on the word and colour on the bottom right of each card.
Shuffle the cards from the Corinthian War deck to form the initial play deck & deal six to each player.
Take all the cards from the King's Peace and Theban War decks and set them aside, ready to be shuffled in the deck during the Deal Action Cards phase of turns 3 and 5 respectively.
Place the Turn marker on the Turn 1 space of the Theban / Spartan War track (right hand side). The track shows which deck to use, and when to add in the new cards from the second and third decks. When adding new cards, do not add in the discards.
Give each player their Desperate Times marker. The Sparta player takes the Sparta player mat. The Athenian player takes the Thebes player mat. Take one Hoplite for each army slot and one Trireme for each Fleet slot on your player mat.
The leaders used for this scenario have the Club or Owl/Lambda symbol in the top left corner.
Place all Regional and Ally control tiles on the map in their holding boxes. Place all matching military assets on their respective control tiles - all on their regular sides.
Athens army strength: 6 Sparta army strength: 5 Athens navy strength: 7 Sparta navy strength: 7
Place the 4 Colony markers in:
- Heracleia: Thessaly
- Rhium: Corinthian Isthmus
- Decelea: Attica
- Pylos: Peloponnesos
Athens (Thebes) Setup
All leaders are regular, not veteran. All leaders not mentioned are not in play. All remaining Hoplites & Triremes are placed on the player mat, ready to be mobilised. The Athenian capital city is Thebes.
- Ismenias: Ready Leaders
- Athenian Polemarch: Ready Leaders
- Athenian Strategos: Ready Leaders
- Athenian Navarch: Ready Leaders
- Thrasybulus: Commanding Fleet 1
- Fleet 1: Mobilised
- Athenian control disc - Thebes: Boeotia
- Athenian control disc - Delphi: Boeotia
- 1 Athenian influence - Athens: Attica
- Athenian control disc - Euboea: Attica
- 1 Athenian influence - Corinth: Corinthian Isthmus
- Athenian control disc - Epidaurus: Corinthian Isthmus
- Athenian control disc - Naxos: Cyclades
- Athenian control disc - Persia: Persia
Boeotia Elite: Veteran (flip to gold).
Sparta Setup
All leaders are regular, not veteran. All leaders not mentioned are not in play. All remaining Hoplites & Triremes are placed on the player mat, ready to be mobilised.
- Lysander: Ready Leaders
- Spartan Strategos: Ready Leaders
- Spartan Navarch: Ready Leaders
- Spartan Polemarch: Ready Leaders
- Agesilaus: Commanding Army 1
- Army 1: Persia (sieging) Persia
- Spartan control disc - Sparta: Peloponnesos
- Spartan control disc - Elis: Peloponnesos
- 1 Spartan influence - Mantinea: Peloponnesos
- Spartan control disc - Pylos: Peloponnesos
- Spartan control disc - Miletus: Ionian Coast
- Spartan control disc - Samos: Ionian Coast
- Spartan control disc - Heracleia: Thessaly
- Spartan control disc - Decelea: Attica
- Spartan control disc - Melos: Cyclades
Pelo Elite: Veteran (flip to gold). Sparta Elite: Regular (white / marble).
Players choose (or randomly draw) a setup card and follow the instructions. Your cards may be inspected prior to taking any decisions on the setup card.
Once complete, start with Regional Assessment.
Theban / Spartan War special rules
Peloponnesian War Losses: The Aetolia Fleet and the Attica Cavalry begin the game eliminated, but can be rebuilt. Note that the first opportunity to rebuild these eliminated assets will be during turn two.
Persia: When the scenario begins, Spartan Hoplite Army 1 (commanded by the Agesilaus leader) is on campaign "somewhere in Persia". This is an exception to the usual rules that only city spaces can be besieged.
- While sieging, the Spartans will suffer -1 Army Strength per turn as with any siege.
- The Hoplite can be attacked by an Athenian Hoplite, but will only be removed if Athens is victorious (as with any siege).
- The Hoplite can prosecute the siege as normal, but never with more than one die, and without gaining the benefits of a successful siege.
This means you can remove enemy influence, but not place your own and you won't earn any Talents.
Army Recall: At the end of any Deal Action Cards phase, the Hoplite may be returned to the player mat (with Agesilaus remaining in its command zone, and so remaining mobilised and ready to march right away.) Remove the siege marker from Persia, and do not replace with a raid marker.
Note that the 'Starvation' card cannot be used against Persia, and 'Coup de Main' can be used to move Agesilaus.
Cleomenean War
This scenario lasts 3 turns and will take 1-1½ hours.
All battle cards are shuffled together into one deck.
Action Cards: Use only the cards with a sun in the top left corner of the cards. Sun action cards are split into two decks, based on the word and colour on the bottom of each card.
To the Cleomenean Conquest cards add the following cards: Traitors within City, Surprise Descent, Central Greece Envoy, Closer Ties, Barbarian Allies, Military Assistance, Home Garrison, Envoy to Metropolis, Veteran Warriors, Corinthian Schemes.
To the Macedonian Intervention cards, add the following cards: Diplomatic Overture, Starvation, Stratagems, Delphic Oracle.
Shuffle the cards from the Cleomenean Conquest deck to form the initial play deck & deal five to each player.
Place the Turn marker on the Turn 1 space of the Cleomenean War track standalone tile. The track shows which deck to use, and when to add in the new cards from the second deck. When adding new cards, do not add in the discards.
Give only the Spartan player their Desperate Times marker. The Sparta player takes the Sparta player mat, two Hoplites and one Trireme. The Achaean League player takes the Achaean League player mat, two Hoplites and one Trireme.
The leaders used for this scenario have the sun or Owl/Lambda symbol in the top left corner.
Place the following Ally control tiles on the map in their holding boxes: the special Macedonian ally tile with a sun symbol, Megale Hellas and Crete.
Place the following Regional control tiles on the map in their holding boxes: Peloponnesos, Attica, Aetolia, Corinthian Isthmus, Cyclades, Boeotia, and Thessaly.
For all other regions not in play, place an unused action card in the usual spot to show 'not in play'.
Place all matching military assets on their respective control tiles - all on their regular sides.
Athens army strength: 7 Sparta army strength: 7 Athens navy strength: 4 Sparta navy strength: 4
Place the 4 Colony markers in:
- Heracleia: Thessaly
- Rhium: Corinthian Isthmus
- Decelea: Attica
- Pylos: Peloponnesos
Place the Megalopolis tile on the Mantinea space, Peloponnesos.
Achaean League Setup
All leaders are regular, not veteran. All leaders not mentioned are not in play. All remaining Hoplites & Triremes are placed on the player mat, ready to be mobilised. The Athenian capital city is Corinth.
- Aratus: Ready Leaders
- Aristomachus: Ready Leaders
- Athenian Navarch: Ready Leaders
- Athenian Strategos: Ready Leaders
- Athenian control disc - Mantinea: Peloponnesos
- 1 Athenian influence - Argos: Peloponnesos
- Athenian control disc - Corinth: Corinthian Isthmus
- Athenian control disc - Epidaurus: Corinthian Isthmus
- Athenian control disc - Laurion: Attica
- 1 Athenian influence - Athens: Attica
- 1 Athenian influence - Thebes: Boeotia
Sparta Setup
All leaders are regular, not veteran. All leaders not mentioned are not in play. All remaining Hoplites & Triremes are placed on the player mat, ready to be mobilised.
- Cleomenes: Ready Leaders
- Megistonous: Ready Leaders
- Spartan Strategos: Ready Leaders
- Spartan Navarch: Ready Leaders
- Spartan control disc - Sparta: Peloponnesos
- Spartan control disc - Elis: Peloponnesos
- Spartan control disc - Pylos: Peloponnesos
- Spartan control disc - Kythira: Peloponnesos
- Spartan control disc - Megale Hellas: Megale Hellas
- Spartan control disc - Crete: Crete
Sparta Elite: Veteran (flip to gold).
There are no setup cards for this scenario. Start play with Regional Assessment.
Cleomenean War special rules
Limited War: Only five Action cards are drawn each turn.
Macedonian Intervention: At the beginning of the Deal Action Card phase of turn two, Athens may take the Antigonus card in hand (drawing only four additional cards).
Loss of Prestige: Place the Peloponnesian Elite asset on the turn two space of the Turn track. Place it on the Peloponnesos control tile when the turn track advances to turn two.
Land Conflict: Skip the shipbuilding step for the whole scenario.
Campaign Games
Peloponnesian Wars Campaign
The Peloponnesian Wars campaign game allows you to play out the 1st Peloponnesian War and then continue on to the 2nd Peloponnesian War with a brief interphase between.
Use the 1st Peloponnesian War setup.
Rather than determine the victor of the 1st Peloponnesian War scenario, perform the following steps to prepare for the 2nd Peloponnesian scenario:
- Move the Turn marker to the turn 1 (2nd Peloponnesian War) turn track.
- Eliminate all leaders except for both sides' generic Strategos, Navarch and Polemarch, and Pericles, Pleistoanax, and Archidamus.
- For each pair of veteran leaders eliminated, one generic leader from the same side may remain on its veteran side (or become veteran if not already).
- Add the Cleon leader with the Athenian ready leaders.
- Place Archidamus (if available) or the Spartan Strategos (otherwise) in command of the First Spartan Hoplite.
- Place the Athenian Navarch leader in command of the First Athenian Trireme.
- Place the Athenian Strategos leader in command of the First Athenian Hoplite.
- Add the Second Spartan Trireme and the Third Athenian Trireme to the game.
- Move the First Spartan Hoplite, the First Athenian Hoplite, and First Athenian Trireme to their respective spaces with leaders, indicating they are mobilised.
- All spent leaders are moved to ready.
- Sparta sends a Greater Envoy to a single Athenian-controlled Metropolis (2) or Megapolis (3) space (not Athens).
- Athens sends a Greater Envoy to a single Spartan-controlled Metropolis (2) or Megapolis (3) space (not Sparta).
- Athens sends a Lesser Envoy to one hostile space.
- Sparta sends a Lesser Envoy to one hostile space.
- Each player controlling more than two veteran Assets reduces veteran Assets they control until they control two.
- The First Athenian Hoplite is placed in one Spartan-controlled Metropolis (2) or a Spartan-controlled Polis (1) if no Metropolis is Spartan-controlled, with a Siege marker.
- Remove all Influence from all Ally spaces.
- Do NOT skip any phases during the first turn of the Second Peloponnesian War scenario.
Grand Campaign
The grand campaign game allows you to play out the 2nd Peloponnesian War and then continue on to the Theban / Spartan War with a brief interphase between.
Use the 2nd Peloponnesian War setup.
Rather than determine the victor of the 2nd Peloponnesian War scenario, perform the following steps to prepare for the Theban / Spartan War scenario:
- Eliminate all leaders except for both sides' generic Strategos, Navarch and Polemarch, and Lysander and Thrasybulus.
- For each pair of veteran leaders eliminated, one generic leader from the same side may remain on its veteran side (or become veteran if not already).
- Replace the Athens mat with the Thebes mat.
- Add Ismenias (Athens, Ready Leaders) and Agesilaus (commanding Spartan Army 1).
- All spent leaders are moved to ready.
- Add the Third Athenian Hoplite Army to the game.
- The Spartan player sends a Greater Envoy to a single enemy-controlled space with an autonomy of two or more, or to an ally.
- The Athenian player sends a Greater Envoy to a single different enemy-controlled space with an autonomy of two or more, or to an ally.
- The Athenian player sends a Lesser Envoy to two hostile spaces.
- The Spartan player sends a Lesser Envoy to two hostile spaces.
- Each player controlling more than two Veteran Assets reduces Veteran Assets they control until they control only two.
- If the Athenian player currently controls any allies, Spartan Hoplite Army 1 is placed in one such ally - selected by Sparta - who is now under siege - see the special rule in the Theban / Spartan War scenario which instead applies to the chosen ally.
- Mobilise Athenian Fleet 1 (with Thrasybulus if available, with the Athenian Navarch otherwise).
- Do NOT skip any phases during the first turn of the Theban / Spartan War scenario.
- Keep the card deck and discard piles as they are.
- Add all unused Corinthian War cards to the deck (the other Corinthian War cards are already in circulation).
- At the beginning of turn 3 of the Theban / Spartan War scenario, add all unused King's Peace cards to the deck.
Example of Play
Kris and Tâm have decided to play a game of Sparta! using the 2nd Peloponnesian War scenario. Kris will be the Athens player, while Tâm will be the Spartan player.
This example will follow them through the first turn. You, the reader, can follow their example, and by setting up the same components, continue their game at the end of the example.
To begin, they have setup the game as explained on page 19. They have chosen the Thirty Years of Peace setup card. This is the recommended setup card for beginning players.
Following the choice of the setup card, they inspect their opening hands before following the instructions on the card. Tâm has drawn the following six cards: Spartiate Losses, Fleet Action, Barbarian Allies, Central Greece Envoy, Peloponnesian League, and Athens Hires Mercenaries. Three of her cards use Favour of which she has none, so Tâm is determined to win some battles.
Spartiate Losses is a pro-Athens card, so she considers using her Pleistoanax leader to get rid of the card. Alternatively, Pleistoanax can be used to gain a Favour to use for one of the cards that are improved with those. Finally, Athens Hires Mercenaries is another pro-Athens card, that however can be used in an insidious manner. Tâm certainly would like to exploit that one if possible.
Kris has drawn Envoys to Megapolis, New Alliance, Delphic Oracle, New Colony, Veteran Warriors, and Closer Ties. There are certainly some options in that hand, but Kris thinks he will mainly use the hand to focus on Sicily and try to spoil some Spartan activity on the way.
Based on her opening hand, Tâm places 1 influence cube in the Gela space. Sicily is one of the regions providing the most Talents in the game, and Gela is a quick way for early control over that region.
Kris places 1 influence in the Lemnos space. Taking Lemnos is a tricky decision. It will temporarily give Kris control over Chalcidice, which gives an equal amount of Talents as Sicily does and also protects his siege over Potidaea. However, if Tâm were to defeat his besieging force, her two influence cubes in Potidaea would outnumber the one influence from Kris in Lemnos.
For his second influence, Kris isn't sure. An easy choice would be Sestos in Hellespont (for another three Talents), especially as he is holding the New Alliance and as such knows Tâm can't take Thrace on turn 1. However, there are alternatives to consider. If nothing changes from the current situation, neither player will have Skirmisher assets, and only Kris will have Cavalry and Allied Fleet assets. To make his military situation stronger, Kris could opt to place an influence in Epidaurus (for the Allied Fleet of Corinth) or in Epidamnos (for the Allied Fleet and Skirmisher of Aetolia). Less interesting options are Miletus or Pharsalus (for another Cavalry), Plataea (cancel out the Spartan influence in Delphi), or Megara (blocking the road from Sparta to Athens). Kris opts for the Epidamnos space.
Tâm places her final influence in Abydos, going for the Talents over the military assets.
Turn One
Like every turn, turn 1 begins with the Regional Assessment phase. After checking control over spaces, the regions and awards are divided along with state income as follows:
- Kris controls Aetolia, Attica, Chalcidice, and Cyclades, receiving 10 Talents, 1 Favour, the Aetolian Skirmisher, the Aetolian fleet, the Attica Cavalry, and the Cyclades fleet.
- Tâm controls Boeotia, Hellespont, Sicily, and Peloponnesos, receiving 13 Talents, the Boeotian Elite, and both The Pelo and Sparta Elite.
- All allies are still uncontrolled, as well as the Ionian Coast, Corinthian Isthmus, and Thessaly.
Kris places an influence cube on the Skirmisher, Cavalry, and Allied Fleet advantages. Tâm places an influence cube on the Elite advantage.
The next five steps are skipped on turn 1, so Tâm jumps ahead to the Action Phase, taking her first action. She has no unresolved deployments, so plays her first card. Of the three cards in her hand which are improved via Favour, the Peloponnesian League is the least impressive so she opens with that card, opting to send a Lesser Envoy to the Epidaurus space (gaining control over that polis space). As regional control is only assessed during the Assessment phase, the region remains uncontrolled. Peloponnesian League has the Remove From Game icon which means after being played, it is not placed in the discard pile but instead removed from the game entirely.
Round One
With her action card resolved, she has to decide where to deploy the First Spartan Hoplite Army. Two main options are open for her - either sortie from the gates of Potidaea and hopefully defeat the Athenian army deployed there, or march from Sparta to Athens (via the path of Mantinea, Corinth, and Megara). If a battle were fought in Potidaea at this point, she would have the Larger Force and Elite advantages, while Kris would have the Skirmisher, Cavalry, and Home Ground advantages, meaning he would be favoured to win the battle.
While she could buy Battle Cards (during her upcoming mobilisation phase) in order to win the battle, she decides against risking that battle, and instead deploys her army to Athens.
With all her mobilised miniatures deployed, she decides to spend three Talents on mobilising Pleistoanax as the commander of the First Spartan Trireme Fleet (expecting him to bravely fight the First Athens Trireme Fleet), another 3 Talents mobilising the Spartan Strategos as the commander of the Second Spartan Hoplite Army, and leaves 7 Talents for the remainder of the turn.
Tâm has no sieges and hasn't initiated any battles this turn, so ends her action round.
Kris also has no unresolved deployments, so ponders which card to play. Tâm has opened the hostilities by moving to Athens, and has another Hoplite and Trireme waiting in the wings.
He decides to play the New Colony card, targeting the Rhium space. After placing the colony tile and a control disc (matching Tâm's presence in the Corinthian Isthmus), he decides to deploy his First Trireme Fleet to Gela.
Kris considers using his Desperate Times marker to mobilise his Second Hoplite Army and attack Archidamus in Athens, but decides against - even if the attack were successful, he would be unable this turn to train another Hoplite army (as the First Hoplite Army is still busy besieging Potidaea), and then the Second Spartan Hoplite Army would just march on Athens during the next action round.
Instead, Kris mobilised his Second Hoplite Army with his Cleon leader (using five Talents and drawing a battle card: Unbreakable Shields / Nike Smiles) and his Second Trireme Fleet using Pericles (either Tâm will use her Trireme to attack the First Trireme Fleet, in which case another fleet should be sent to Gela, or she will go someplace else, in which case Pericles should fight her) for another three Talents, dropping to two Talents.
During Prosecute Sieges, he spends his final two Talents to make a Prosecute Siege action on Potidaea, rolling a single die. In order to free his Hoplite, Kris had decided to break off the siege if the roll was a failure, but he rolls a success, removes one Spartan influence from Potidaea (replacing the control disc with an influence cube), decides to keep fighting for Potidaea, and ends his action round.
Round Two
Tâm resolves the deployment of her first Spartan Hoplite on Athens, gaining a Talent (to eight), raiding the space, and returning home, returning the Hoplite to its box and Archidamus to the spent leaders space.
She then plays Fleet Action, mobilising the Second Spartan Fleet with the Spartan Navarch, spending an additional two Talents (leaving six) to draw Message of Friendship/Allied Navies and initiating battle with it against the Athenian fleet at Gela. Like all battles, this battle is only resolved at the end of the action round.
Tâm currently has her Second Hoplite Army and First Trireme Fleet mobilised. With Athens raided, she sends the Hoplite to Rhium and the Fleet to Epidamnos, and then does not mobilise anything else. No ongoing sieges means no prosecutions.
There is a Naval Battle, however. Both players calculate initial strengths at Gela, with Athens having two advantages (Allied Fleet and larger force) and Sparta having one (Home Ground). Both players hold fewer than three battle cards and thus draw another one (This is Our Land/Local Allies for Sparta and Bravery In Battle/Ship-to-ship Combat for Athens). Athens, as the attacker, has the first opportunity to play a Battle Card but passes. Sparta, being one behind, plays Message of Friendship and places an influence in the Panormos space. Athens, still winning, passes again, after which Sparta plays This is Our Land, removing the influence in Gela and cancelling both advantages of Athens. Sparta is now leading by one strength. Athens plays the Bravery in Battle card, gaining one Battle Strength (drawing the battle again) at the cost of reducing the Aetolian Fleet (which eliminates it). Sparta needs to pass, after which Athens plays Nike Smiles.
Both players now pass consecutively, and Athens wins the battle (as it ended in a tie). Both players roll a die, with the Spartan Navarch becoming veteran on a success and the Athenian Navarch rolling a blank which has no effect.
Athens, having won the battle, gains a Favour, and loses one Fleet Strength (to six). Sparta should have lost two Fleet Strength, but the Spartan Navarch, recently veteran, reduces this to one loss (to four). Both fleets are returned to their play mats, with both leaders returning spent.
Kris has no deployments once more, and decides to play Veteran Warriors, promoting his Cyclades Fleet to veteran.
Tâm currently has a Hoplite at Rhium and a Fleet at Epidamnos, while Kris has both a Hoplite and a Fleet mobilised. Kris decides to send his Hoplite to fight Sparta at Rhium, while he sends his fleet to Epidamnos. He has no Talents remaining, so does not mobilise anything or prosecute his siege at Potidaea.
Kris decides to fight the fleet battle at Epidamnos first. Once again, both players draw a Battle Card each. Tâm draws Higher Bidder/Mercenary Cavalry while Kris draws Allied Fleet Withdrawn.
In this battle, Kris has all three Naval Battle advantages (Home Ground, Larger Fleet, and more Allied Fleets). Tâm doesn't play her card, and neither does Kris. Kris wins the battle. Pericles rolls a failure, dying in his triumph, while Pleistoanax rolls a blank. Kris gains a Favour (his third already, to zero Spartan) and loses one fleet strength (to five) with Spartan going down two fleet strength (to two).
Again, both fleets are returned to their play mats, and Pleistoanax returns spent, triggering his special ability, allowing Tâm to discard the Spartiate Losses card. Even though it is marked with the Remove from Game icon, as it wasn't played but merely discarded the card is placed in the discard pile.
Next is the battle for Rhium. Both players draw battle cards: Block out the Sun/Slaughter for Tâm and Valour in Battle for Kris. Tâm has the Larger force and Elite advantages, while Kris has the Skirmisher and Cavalry advantages.
Kris may play the first card, but decides to pass as he is content with a tie. Tâm plays the Mercenary Cavalry card, spending two Talents (going to four) to place the Cavalry as veteran and gaining the Cavalry Advantage, suddenly winning the Battle 3 to 1. Kris plays the Valour in Battle card to promote the Athenian Cavalry, ensuring neither player has the Cavalry Advantage. While this is not a winning move (he is still losing the battle 2 to 1), it helps for future battles. Tâm wins as both players now pass. Kris rolls a success for the leadership fate roll (Cleon flips to veteran) while Tâm rolls a failure (the inexperienced Spartan Strategos is killed, and is placed into the Spartan spent leaders).
Tâm gains a Favour. Kris loses two Army Strength (down to two) while Tâm loses 1 Army Strength (down to five). Both Hoplites go back to the play mat, as does Cleon (to the spent leaders, gaining Kris three Talents for his ability, up to three).
Round Three
Kris has three Talents again, which means he could mobilise another Hoplite or Trireme. To prevent this, Tâm plays the Athens hires mercenaries card.
This mandates the Athenian player to spend two Talents to draw a Battle Card (down to one Talent, drawing Bravery in battle/Naval Support).
Tâm has no mobilised forces to deploy, but spends three Talents to mobilise her Polemarch, giving him command of the First Spartan Trireme Fleet (down to one Talent).
Kris still has four cards to play, and chooses to play the Delphic Oracle. At the beginning of the turn, he had entertained the possibility of marching from Rhium to Delphi and raiding the space prior to playing this card, but he clearly doesn't have the resources for that. Tâm, the controller of the Delphi space, decides to send her Lesser Envoy to Pharsalus, gaining control over the space. Kris has no forces to deploy, no Talents to mobilise or prosecute sieges, and no battles to fight so the turn goes to Tâm again.
Round Four
Tâm plays the Central Greece Envoy, spending her Favour to receive a Lesser Envoy to the Corinthian Isthmus (sending it to Corinth, up to two influence) and one to Boeotia, sending it to Thebes (also up to two influence). She deploys her Trireme Fleet to Rhium.
Kris plays the New Alliance card, sending a Greater Envoy to Megale Hellas and spends a Favour to immediately gain the Cavalry and Talent (up to two). He now ponders whether to use his Desperate Times marker to defeat the Trireme Fleet in Rhium, finally deciding against (preferring to keep the marker for a challenge in a later turn). With his two Talents, he prosecutes the siege in Potidaea, rolling a blank for no effect.
Round Five
Tâm resolves her raid of Rhium, returning the fleet home while gaining a Talent (up to two). She then plays her final card, the Barbarian Allies card. Without any Favour, Kris decides she only sends the Lesser Envoy to Aetolia. She sends the Lesser Envoy to Leucas.
Kris has two cards left. He opens with Envoys to Megapolis, spending a Favour to send a Greater Envoy to Syracuse.
Round Six
Tâm gets another action round as Kris still has cards remaining, but with no leaders, no forces and nothing to react to, she passes.
Kris gets the final action round of the turn (as after this round neither player has cards remaining) and plays the Closer Ties card, without spending the Favour (as he doesn't have sufficient), sending a Lesser Envoy to Syracuse, gaining control over it.
Olympics
With both players out of cards, the Olympics begin. Neither player has unresolved deployments nor unresolved mobilisations, so both players roll two dice, each achieving a single success. Sparta selects first, picking a Favour and a Talent (both players tied at one Favour). Athens then gains two Talents (up to two).
All the leaders (except for Pericles, who was eliminated) are once again moved to the ready leaders holding area, and the turn marker is moved to turn two, adding the Demosthenes leader to the ready Athenian leaders and the Brasidas leader to the ready Spartan leaders. All discarded battle cards are added back to the battle deck and it is reshuffled.
Turn 2
Once again, the turn begins with Regional assessment.
- Kris controls Sicily (Syracuse with three influence cubes outweighing the one Spartan in Panormos), Attica, Chalcidice, Cyclades, and Megale Hellas, for total rewards of fourteen Talents (up to seventeen) and a Favour (to two).
- Kris loses control over Aetolia, returning the reward tile and moving the Aetolian Skirmisher back to its reward box.
- Meanwhile the Aetolian Fleet was already eliminated and is waiting to be recruited again.
- Tâm has control over Peloponnesos, Corinthian Isthmus, Boeotia, Hellespont, and Thessaly, and gains twelve Talents (up to fifteen), and gains the Thessalian Cavalry asset (bringing the Cavalry Advantage to parity once more, veteran Mercenary Cavalry plus Thessalian Cavalry drawing against veteran Athenian Cavalry and M. Hellas Cavalry).
- Macedonia, Crete, Persia, Thrace, and Ionian coast are still uncontrolled.
Hoplite Reset occurs, with first Athens going up to five and Sparta to six (lower remaining versus higher remaining army strength). Subsequently Athens gains one strength but also loses one (one unraided Megapolis - Syracuse - and one ongoing siege) while Sparta gains one strength (one unraided Megapolis, Sparta). Final Hoplite Strengths are five and seven.
Sparta has the lower fleet strength so decides to gain a Fleet Strength (paying one Talent). Athens declines to build a fleet strength, with Sparta then building another Fleet Strength (once again paying the cost on the track underneath the currently occupied box, one Talent). Final fleet strengths are Athens five, Sparta four.
The only eliminated asset is the Aetolian Fleet on the bottom of the Tyrrhenian sea, and as neither player controls the Aetolia region, rebuilding is skipped entirely.
The raided markers are removed from Rhium and Athens.
Kris and Tâm will now draw another six action cards (meanwhile exhausting the draw pile and reshuffling the discard to complete their hand refill) and continue the game, as can you, the reader.
Solo Play
SPARTA! can be played solo with the bot taking either side - use the enclosed quick reference sheet to manage the bot player.
Play Balance
The bot is not as clever as you are! To balance this, apply the following difficulty levels:
- Easy: No player limitation.
- Medium: 3 cards visible.
- Hard: 2 cards visible & one Talent bot battle cards.
If the visible action cards are limited, at the start of the turn deal yourself 6 action cards as normal, but only reveal the number indicated. You may only play these cards. When you use a card, reveal another one. Thus, you will play with incomplete knowledge of the action cards you hold.
If on hard difficulty, the bot may draw battle cards for the cost of one Talent when mobilising, instead of the usual cost of two Talents.
How to run the bot player
The bot collects Talents, Favour and battle cards. Battle cards are drawn but kept face down. Action cards are dealt face-down in a line. The bot will play them sequentially left to right. Leaders are assigned when a force is mobilised, with the player selecting the most appropriate - a leader with a land bonus when a Hoplite is mobilised, and a leader with a sea bonus when a Trireme is mobilised. If in doubt, roll randomly to select.
Battle Strength
Track bot strength in battle both at land and at sea by calculating as though a battle were to take place but ignoring the home ground advantage. The bot is either advantaged, tied, or disadvantaged.
The easiest way to track this is with a blue cube on the battle strength track for sea strength, and a red cube for land strength.
The Olympic Spectacle (optional rule)
This optional module replaces the Olympic games die rolls from page 11.
The first test 'Running' is won by the player with the least Talents. If this is tied, Sparta wins (the Sparta icon is shown top right on the test).
The second test 'Boxing' is won by the player with the least Regions, with Sparta again winning ties.
The third test 'Chariot Racing' is won by the player with the least Favour, with Athens winning ties.
The fourth test 'Wrestling' is won by the player with the least Battle Cards, with Athens winning ties.
The player winning a test receives the reward shown underneath the test - usually one Talent and one cube of the winner's colour. In addition, if the winner is also advantaged in the asset category shown, they receive an extra cube. Additionally, add cubes for Olympic Demobilisations and Breaches of the Truce as indicated on the mat.
Once all tests have been resolved, add one cube of each colour to those on the mat and then place them all into an opaque container. Draw three cubes and award the Olympic Favour to the side with the majority of cubes drawn.