1.00The Persian Wars #4 - Blood at Thermopylae (4 missions) <« ¿¡¬√ƒ≈ ˇˇˇ œ ˇˇˇ dlg4 ˇˇˇ dlg4 º¶ ( Thermopylae - Day One Thermopylae - Day One.scn ô† ‰Ø Thermopylae - Day Two Thermopylae - Day Two.scn £ }P Thermopylae - Before Noon on Day 3 Thermopylae - Before Noon on Day 3.scn gû äÛ Thermopylae - After Noon on Day 3 Thermopylae - After Noon on Day 3.scn 1.11 X5≤5Û Time had been wasted.
And the feeling gnawed at Leonidas like a rodent in the night.
The Greek Alliance had chosen to make their first stand at Tempe, in Thessaly, but there were too many mountain passes, too wide to defend. Of course, he understood the logic behind that initial choice -- it was important, after all, to try to keep Thessaly from defecting to the Persians.
But that was politics. And good politics seldom meshed with military tactics.
Withdrawing from Tempe, the revised plan was now to hold the advancing Persians at a narrow pass between the mountains and the sea, called "Thermopylae" because of the warm springs nearby. While a small force of hoplites held the choke point, the Allied fleet would keep the Persian navy bottled up at the Straits of Artemesium.
It might just work.
But there was a pass through the mountains, called the Anopaea, that would allow the Persians to attack the Greeks from behind. Leonidas knew that the first order of business was to secure that mountain pass and station a guard there. The Phocians had been assigned to the task.
In a very short time, the milling troops around him -- speaking now of past battles, preparing their gear and their hearts for combat -- would be tested man-for-man as few soldiers ever are.
And not all of them were equally committed to the test. In particular, the king was keeping an eye on the 400 hoplites that had been sent from Thebes. Leonidas had expressly brought these men with him to Thermopylae because Thebes was suspected of negotiating secretly with Xerxes. The troops were intended to demonstrate Thebes' loyalty.
But Leonidas had heard the sullen-faced soldiers muttering, and he knew that their hearts were not in it.
For that matter, the Phocians and Locrians had turned out in force only because the Greek Congress had assured them that a massive army was being mustered to drive Xerxes out of their lands.
Holding such a patchwork of troops together in the coming days would be no small task.
300 Spartans -- hand-chosen by Leonidas -- together with their warrior-king, would have to be in the front of every battle. To inspire courage. And to shame those who might weaken.
Astride his warhorse outside the village of Alpeni, he felt the wind coming off the Bay of Malis. It was cool, almost soothing. He enjoyed the comfort it gave him under his breastplate and greaves. But the dampness in the air also brought uneasiness as he recalled the ominous words of the Oracle at Delphi. When asked about the outcome of this war, the Pythia had replied:
Either Sparta would be burned to the ground.
Or a king would die.
An inescapable doom seemed to spread open before Leonidas.
And then he smiled.
Doom must be met with the same high-heartedness as victory.
VICTORY CONDITIONS:
It is the first day of the Battle of Thermopylae. The Thebans and the Thespeaens have already deployed their forces at the narrow neck called "'The Western Gate" of the coastal pass.
Additional troops -- including archers from Phocis -- are still coming in, and they're outside the village of Alpeni.
You must accomplish three things today, Leonidas:
1. Build ten units of medium wall and a barracks within the yellow flags to guard the mountain pass.
2. Ride to the small wall on the beach to resume command of your forces.
3. Complete these conditions before the attacking Persians have decimated your forces. Specifically, if the Persian Guard kills half the Thebans AND half the Thespeans - you will have suffered too much attrition to have any chance of victory. (There are only 16 units of each deployed at the start of the battle.)
You have undertaken an extraordinary mission here at Thermopylae.
It is the first day in the making of a legend. ÏΩ{êdÁyfiwÜ€0)íê,≥ ôNze)Jÿ5óô@Q†I¿ rEà°EuœÙÓévfz=,◊ä# ≥q0ÿb‰ÕéÀvTVf* T.é‚ÿÆî ÃÃRΩ›XÙvo˜¸—ùS’wL$eU1øÁ˘N˜Ù,ˆ2 .a À3óæù>∑Ô˘û˜}ü˜˝æÛ'wG—'>Ò_ˆ±Lvj|,5›¶ÀìôÈôÒ‘TÚëπ‘Ùÿ-›Ú;cy,;ööH˛Δ¯ƒDÍXÊñn˘ù±Ù€ˇ ììŸÈŸ‘ƒÌ÷æ|<3s2ì L›¶ –oˇ/ùüû ü9ŒÀ[∫˝∑˚B˚ßS4˛L2{4˘∑S„∑‡øi⁄ˇ∂µ?^~º¸x˘Òڄ«Àèó€oâˇfi√flOƒœµ¸•+^flÏÁÔªΔÁ˝Â ◊˝Ìıó˛˜˚À˚Øx˝ìWº˛¿Ø?x≈Î]Ò˙Œ¯u||fl|ÒgÂ
The damp sea air mingles with the smell of the fallen men, and the ground at the western gate is muddy from viscera and blood.
You've been in many battles, Leonidas. Witnessed death hundreds of times. But not like this -- the bodies of your enemies piled in heaps, body fluids soaking into the earth like snowmelt in spring.
How many thousands of Persians advanced to the slaughter yesterday? The numbers were uncountable, wave after wave -- conscripts from distant regions of Asia, fine infantry from Media, archers from Scythia -- some charged heroically onto the unwavering spears of your stalwart Peloponnesian allies, but many were driven into battle by the whips of their commanders.
Among the Greeks, scarcely more than a few hundred died.
The aching in your limbs this morning is good.
Then you hear the watchmen give the all-clear. A messenger galloping hard from Trachis has been passed through the lines. Riding to your bivouac at the small wall where you slept in full battle gear, he is off his horse before it has stopped, saluting your rank as he stands before you in the Greek manner.
He has brought you news that strikes cold to the marrow of your soul.
A local Greek, Ephialtes of Malis, has sworn to his friends that he will reveal the mountain pass to the Persians. If this happens -- if Ephialtes reaches your enemy -- then that path through the hills can be turned against you, and Xerxes will be able to attack you from behind.
Ephialtes must be found and killed before he can complete this act of treachery.
Your messenger reports that he has been seen near Trachis.
In an instant, you are snapping commands to scouts and light infantry units. Your men must scour the area and farms around Trachis. The traitor must be found and put to the sword.
Meanwhile, your heavy troops must be marshaled to resume the defense of Thermopylae.
Reinforcements have arrived at Alpeni. They can be brought in to assist you, and though Ephialtes must be killed, nevertheless, by the end of the day, you must keep your losses to a minimum.
VICTORY CONDITIONS FOR DAY # 2:
1. You must locate and kill Ephialtes of Malis
2. No more than 8 Theban AND 8 Thespeaen units can be lost. (You have 12 of each at start.)
You heard him, Leonidas, when the third day of your astonishing defense at Thermopylae began, and a message arrived in camp:
The man you killed was not Ephialtes of Malis.
In fact, at this very moment, Ephialtes is leading Xerxes' captain, Hydarnes, through the mountain pass. The Immortals have been amassed. They will soon be streaming at you from behind, even while the Persian Guard attacks from the front.
You know that the Pass of Thermopylae will fall today.
You survey the brave and bloodied men who've fought with you here, men who have etched a timeless place in history for themselves. Though you are a Spartan, they are not. You cannot ask them to die in vain, and so you give the order: the Lacadaemons, Locrians, Corinthians, Arcadians, Mycenaeans and Thespeaens will retreat.
Your 300 Spartans will hold the pass.
And a hardened smile cuts through your lips.
The 400 Thebans are ordered to stay and fight beside you. And you know they have no choice -- if they refuse to fight, all of Greece will know they are secretly on the side of the Persians. Meanwhile the Phocians will do their best to delay the attack of the Immortals through the mountains.
But the Thespeaens refuse to obey your orders!
All 700 of them insist that they will stay and fight as well.
Today you will die, Leonidas.
However, if you wreak enough damage on the Persian horde, you will die victorious.
It is the hour for which every Spartan trains from the moment of birth.
VICTORY CONDITIONS:
1. Kill 50 Persian units before you are vanquished.
2. Do not retreat from the small wall on the beach. You must go down defending the Spartan pennant that is planted in the ground there.
3. At least one unit other than Leonidas must survive.
A word of advice, Leonidas: Use every resource available to you. Don't forget the Phocians defending the mountain pass, and recruit whomever you can from the outlying villages...
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Leonidas has fallen -- his body, hacked by the swords of the enemy.
The furious Spartans, fighting as never before, cut their way through the ranks of the Persians three times to recover the body of their fallen king.
Three times, the Persians take it back.
As the Spartans summon their strength to attack yet again, another blow falls:
The Thebans have deserted.
Seeing that the Greeks will lose, they hold their hands up to surrender to Xerxes -- claiming they have always been willing to kneel before him, but that the Greek Alliance, and Leonidas in particular, forced them to fight.
Many of the Thebans are shot dead as they approach the Persian lines. But most of them are finally accepted into the enemy's camp.
Now the Spartans fight alone with the Thespeaens.
Make no mistake about it:
It will be a fight to the death.
VICTORY CONDITIONS:
1. You must recover the body of Leonidas -- the artifact being held by the Persian troops.
2. Bring it to the Spartan pennant on the low hill near the wall.
3. Three long swordsmen have been assigned to guard Leonidas' body once it has been brought to the hill. They must give their lives defending it.
4. You must have possession of the artifact to win.
5. The scout unit must survive -- to tell the tale.
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