Wargamers deal in memory. We call it history, or military history, but what it boils down to is memory. Some memories are shared, some collective, some are unique and some are very selective. The featured game and article this issue hits the memory button on several levels. First, "Go Tell the Spartans" triggers my memories as a teenager watching the flickering black and white image of Leonidas and company being deluged by arrows until nothing is left but a pile of pincushions that once were the fiercest fighting force on the Greek Peninsula. Second, "Go Tell the Spartans" fast forwards in my memory ten years or so, watching a small color image of Burt Lancaster feverishly holding a hopeless position against the silent and cunning Viet Cong. Lastly, "Go Tell the Spartans" what? What is being said here both in terms of gaming and history? Wargamers are like the Spartans in some ways. An elite above a group, wargamers have much and little in common with garners who contest over Monopoly or Scrabble. Wargamers fight hard in their cardboard and mapsheet world, and can be as fierce as Leonidas when they grip not a sword, but a handful of dice. We deal death and destruction with a flip of the wrist or lately, the turn of a card. We have evolved from "realistic" wargames that weren't very, to glossy European-style hybrids that don't pretend to be "realistic", but do model history well, or at least our memory of it. "Go Tell the Spartans" means "don't forget us". Keep a memory alive. Wargamers do that in ways much different than Homer or Herodotus or Xenophon. At first Wargamers read books to go with their games, one influencing the other, then the games became history lessons themselves with extensive designer notes and historical backgrounds. Now, Wargamers jump on the Internet, grabbing handfuls of memories to enhance their gaming experience. This issue, we go deep into the past to shed some light on Thermopylae. This battle, while extensively gamed in the past, continues to draw our attention because it is one of the pivotal battles in the Western world. The Persian Empire, which had smashed all other rivals, was poised to pour into Europe proper and add a few more satrapies to its roster. The list of the crushed was impressive: the Medes, the Babylonians, those who inhabited Asia Minor, the Hebrews (who never recovered from the Babylonians) and the Egyptians (who were on the skids anyway thanks to the above mentioned Babylonians plus pressure from the west and south). Here was an empire that, in reality, was its own worst enemy. Torn by internal strife and factions (read the Biblical Book of Esther to get an interesting view of Persian royal life at its finest), the empire was just too big to be effectively governed and maintained. Just as its predecessor the Babylonian empire decayed through excesses, the Persians did the same. They won battle after battle, but only because nobody really stood and fought. They were clever soldiers (the Biblical Book of Daniel gives an interesting account of how the Persians sneaked in during the famous "feast of Belshazzar"), but they were victims of their own success. Their numbers should have guaranteed them high morale and certain victory over the uncoordinated Greeks, but the lesson of the Spartans meant that they could be beat, and led the way for them to not only be beaten, but be beaten so decisively, that they never seriously contested the Greeks in their home territory again. By the time of Alexander, their giant empire was so rotten that when Alexander kicked in the front door, the whole structure collapsed in a few years, never to regain its former glory. The battle also gives us a clash of elites versus elites. The 300 Spartans go head to head with the Immortals, Persia's version of the Imperial Guard. Ten thousand strong, this massive unit is thrown away in senseless frontal attacks until a betrayal can afford them their advantage. "Go Tell the Spartans" they done good. Over twenty-four centuries later, we are still talking about them. As long as we do, they will never be forgotten. If in some far-flung George Lucas or Edgar Rice Burroughs future, some commander reflects upon a hopeless situation that calls for an immense stall campaign and considers the actions of Leonidas, it will be as much because of the lightning bolt this battle caused along the circuits of history as anything (or, perhaps his grandfather showed him a yellowed copy of Against the Odds, who knows?). "Go Tell the Spartans that we have done our duty". Here at Against the Odds, our duty is to serve you by giving you the best that the industry has to offer. Last issue's map got some of the highest marks we have yet received on graphics. This time we are offering up a design by Rob Markham, one of gaming's finest designers. I have included an eclectic mix of articles on various subjects that I hope will enrich your knowledge. It is my hope to include at least one design related article each issue. I have emailed around the world and back again soliciting articles that reflect the wargaming body as an international whole. Please contact me with your ideas, your opinions, even your poisoned pens. All knowledge is valuable, and I would rather you be blunt than vote with your feet. Wargamers thirst for knowledge, to build their memories, and I aim that this magazine be an ever-flowing fountain. On with the show! Back to Table of Contents -- Against the Odds vol. 2 no. 2 Back to Against the Odds List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by LPS. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com * Buy this back issue or subscribe to Against the Odds direct from LPS.