The islands of Greece have been a tease to me since the first time I played Marita-Merkur. What fun we might have defending them, what fun invading them. The island fighting we do for Corfu and Crete has only heightened that desire.

The long narrow island of Euboea just northeast of Athenai is one in particular that looks tempting. Thus was I delighted to find that Euboea figured into the actual campaign. As the Commonwealth forces fought a rearguard action at Thermopylae (that bottleneck position at 15A:0413), they feared the Germans would use Euboea as an avenue to outflank them, and indeed the Germans did cross over to Euboea using local resources and swept down the length of the island.

This information led me to further geographic investigations, and I discovered a number of mistakes in the Europa map of Greece. Perhaps "mistakes" is too harsh a word since none of them reaches Olympian stature. But details are details, and surely wargamers love to sink their brains into maps as well as into OBs. Therefore, let's look at some of the irregularities in the geography of Greece.

Hellenic Straits

Hexside 15A:0610/0711 should also be a crossable strait. In fact a causeway links Euboea to the mainland here, but it may not have existed during the war.

Hexside 14:5019/15A:0120, on the western coast, is also a crossable strait.

Use SE rule 31.A.2, Kerch Straits, for these. To wit: Ground units may move and overrun across a straits hexside as if it were a major river hexside, but they may not attack across the hexside. The hexside is treated as a major river hexside when tracing supply lines. (Note: SE rule 31.A.3, Baltic Islands, which allows combat across sea hexsides, is probably too liberal for use in Marita-Merkur.)

Misplaced Cities

The major port of Volos and the transportation line leading to it should be in hex 15A:0112, not 0212.

Drama is one of those cities that sits on the fence between two hexes, in this case 14:4405 and 4406. The map designer chose to topple it into 4405, a mountain hex. Since the city actually rests in the middle of a wide valley, the aesthetical choice would be 4406, a clear terrain hex. Furthermore, since Europa airfields are forbidden from mixing with Europa mountains, it is better to avoid placing cities (with their intrinsic airbases) in mountainous terrain when plain alternatives exist.

Forgotten Rough

Although this has zero impact on play, the island of Skyros (15A:0606 and 0607) rates as rough. Hex 14:4909, the tip of the Kassandra peninsula, should likewise be rough terrain.

Mystery Lakes

Similarly, an extensive marsh called Copais exists in clear hex 15A:0612. If this morass is worthy of a swamp hex, it too is probably seasonal.

A large lake is shown on the MaritaMerkur map in the area of 15A:0117. The only source I have that documents this lake is Bill's Michelin map (left over from his bicycling journey through Europe). It is man made, so the question is, when was the river dammed?

The '39 Collier's and other sources show a large lake on the Struma River in the area of hexside 14:4507/4508. The recent Michelin map shows nothing.

I've not made firm decisions on these lakes since my sources widely conflict.

That's the sum of it, folks. When I approached Bill with my findings, he startled me in turn with a confession so unusual that I asked for it in print. Read on!

Confessions of a Buttinski