- BGG rating
- 6.5
The Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C.
1992
Rules assistance for The Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C.
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2 players
- Complexity 3.5/5
Rules assistant for The Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C.
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Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
The Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C. is a board game expansion released in 1992 for 2 players. It was designed by Richard H. Berg and Mark Herman and its main mechanics are Dice Rolling, Hexagon Grid, and Line of Sight.
About the game
An expansion for The Great Battles of Alexander, this module is found in RBM/GMT's C3i Magazine Nr 1. It is the first C3i magazine scenario for Great Battles of History. As with other games in the series, it uses a combat system that emphasizes weapon/armor superiority and maneuverability over quantity. According to designer Mark Herman, "Hoplite warfare is a rather stolid affair. In most battles it's a question of whether Phalanx "a" can outpush and outsnarl Phalanx "b". This, for the most part, is why we chose not to begin our Great Battles of History series with something like HOPLITE: Classical Greek Warfare. With only a few exceptions, the scenario pickings alternate between dreary and grim. Marathon, one of the pivotal battles in classical history, is one of those exceptions." Marathon features the first bloody meeting between the great Persian Empire and the emerging power of Athens. The Persian army utilized light infantry and light cavalry from across their cosmopolitan empire. The Athenians used the famed Greek hoplites.
Categories
Designers
Publishers
- GMT Games
- RBM Studio
Questions and answers
The Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C. supports 2 players according to the catalogue. This is the publisher’s listed player count, so the game is designed for exactly that number of participants. Variants for other group sizes, if any, are described in the rulebook of your edition, so check it before setting up a different configuration.
The Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C. has a complexity rating of 3.5 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-weight game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
The Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C. belongs to these categories: Wargame, Ancient, and Expansion for Base-game. Its main mechanics are Dice Rolling, Hexagon Grid, and Line of Sight. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of The Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C. are: Richard H. Berg and Mark Herman. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists The Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C. as an expansion. Expansions add new content, rules or scenarios to an existing base game and usually cannot be played on their own. Check the box or publisher description for the exact base game required, and make sure your edition of that game is compatible with this expansion.