Battle for Greece (campaign)

This article is about the campaign. For the expansion, see Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Chronicles: Battle for Greece.

Battle for Greece
Campaign information
Game	Chronicles: Battle for Greece
Civilization	Achaemenids (7) Athenians (8) Spartans (6)
Protagonist	Artaphernes Datis Themistocles Pericles Brasidas Lysander
Date	522–404 BCE
No. of scenarios	21
Author	Alkhalim Sirak
Map

“	A sharp breeze surges across the Aegean. The dockyards of Athens thrum with activity, the air filled with the acrid smell of pitch, slathered across the hulls of a hundred waiting warships. In the mess halls of Sparta, wolf-eyed warriors slurp bitter black broth, their arms still aching from the day’s exercises. On the shores of the Hellespont, the Great King of Persia watches as a vast host assembles before him, drawn from a hundred different lands. The battle for Greece is about to begin.	”
—

Battle for Greece is the titular grand campaign in Chronicles: Battle for Greece. It covers several era-defining events between the Hellenic world and the Persian empire, starting with the accession of Darius I to the throne of Achaemenid Persia, the Ionian revolt which set the stage for further conflict, and the beginning of large-scale invasions of Greece by Persia (which includes the legendary tales of Xerxes, Leonidas, and Artemisia), and then moves on to the Peloponnesian War.

The campaign is narrated by a nameless figure, who tells her guest of the stories behind the many ancient relics she possesses. Out of the 26 achievements added in the expansion, 20 can be obtained only in this campaign.

Gameplay

The expansion introduces a new approach to storytelling in Age of Empires II, with animated cutscenes. The Achaemenid section has cutscenes in the art style of Persian bas reliefs on rock faces, while the Athenian and Spartan sections have Greek vase/kylix art styled cutscenes. It has different colour schemes and meander patterns for the Greek sections, with the Athenian section using black-figure style artworks while the Spartan section resembles the red-figure style. The campaign comprises 21 scenarios covering over a century of history, with portrayals of famous battles including Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis, and features renowned historical characters including Themistocles, Pericles, and Lysander. The campaign features gameplay variety and a host of unique scenario mechanics.

A major mechanic introduced with this campaign is the persistent aftereffects of decisions. The player's choices of units and buffs gained in a scenario, as well as certain other decisions, can carry over to subsequent scenarios. This allows for more tailored and varied playthroughs. When replaying a completed scenario, the game asks the player whether they want to rewrite the decisions taken in the previous playthrough. The replay needs to be played fully from start till victory for the new choices to take effect.

Acts

The campaign seemingly consists of three "acts" - one for each of the civilizations. These acts can be compared to traditional campaigns in quantity.

	Act I	Act II	Act III
Civilization	Achaemenids	Athenians	Spartans
Protagonists	Artaphernes Datis	Themistocles Pericles	Brasidas Lysander
Number	7 (1–7)	8 (8–15)	6 (16–21)
Color	Orange	Blue	Red
Date	522–490 BCE	490–431 BCE	431–404 BCE

Scenarios

No	Scenario	Location	Year (BCE)	Civilization	Protagonist	Historical event
1	Prologue: Gates of the Gods	Mesopotamia	522	Achaemenids	Artaphernes	Darius I's subjugation of a rebellious Babylon
2	Greeks Bearing Gifts	Ionia	499			Siege of Naxos
3	The Ionian Revolt	Ionia	499			Start of the Ionian Revolt
4	A City Ablaze	Sardis	498			Siege of Sardis
5	Chasing Smoke	Ephesus	498			Battle of Ephesus
6	Death to Traitors	Miletus	494			Battle of Lade and Fall of Miletus
7	Earth and Water	The Aegean Sea	490		Datis	Datis' campaign in the Cyclades
8	The Battle of Marathon	Attica	490	Athenians	Themistocles	Siege of Eretria and the Battle of Marathon
9	Raise the Sails	Attica	483			Greco-Persian Wars Interbellum
10	The Hot Gates	Thermopylae/Artemisium	480		Themistocles Leonidas	Battles of Thermopylae and Artemisium
11	Divine Salamis	The Bay of Salamis'	480		Themistocles	Battle of Salamis
12	Across the Wine-Dark Sea	Cyprus	478			Greek counterattack on Cyprus
13	Wrath of the Regent	Byzantium	478			Greek counterattack on Byzantium
14	The Fruits of Empire	Delos	471			Foundation of the Delian League
15	Within the Long Walls	Attica	431		Pericles	Early Archidamian War
16	I am Brasidas	Methone	431	Spartans	Brasidas	Athenian siege on Methone
17	Pyres on the Coast	The Peloponnese	430			Athenian Peloponnesian raids
18	Speeches and Spears	The Chalcidice	424			Capture and Battle of Amphipolis
19	To the Wall!	Sicily	414		Lysander	Athenian expedition to Sicily
20	Blood and Gold	Ionia	407			Battle of Notium
21	The Fall of Athens	Attica	404			Fall of Athens and end of the Peloponnesian War

Carryover

The following carry over from one scenario to the next:

Bodyguard

In the first scenario of each act of the campaign, the player can choose one of three bodyguard unit types to have access to for the remainder of the act. During the Spartan act, the player can decide to keep the original bodyguard, or choose one of two new bodyguard units for later scenarios.

Achaemenid act

Three options are available in Prologue: Gates of the Gods:

• Sakan Axeman (70 food, 30 gold): Infantry which damage the armor of enemy units. Build limit: 24
• Bactrian Archer (60 wood, 55 gold): Foot archers with high melee armor and attack bonus vs. cavalry. Build limit: 18
• Scythian Axe Cavalry (70 food, 85 gold): Cavalry good against infantry and archers. Build limit: 12

Athenian act

Three options are available in The Battle of Marathon:

• Ekdromos (70 food, 30 gold): Strong well-rounded infantry. Build limit: 24
• Cretan Archer (60 wood, 55 gold): Foot archers with high attack and range. Build limit: 18
• Greek Noble Cavalry (70 food, 85 gold): Cavalry good against infantry and archers. Build limit: 12

Spartan act

The same three options are available again at the start of the Spartan act, I am Brasidas.

Starting from To the Wall!, the player is given two options:

• Retain the previous bodyguard unit, hereafter renamed "Brasideios".
• Lysander's Raider (70 food, 40 gold): Elite units that generate gold by killing units and destroying buildings. Build limit: 20

Abilities

In multiple scenarios of each act, the player can obtain additional abilities and auras for their protagonist hero units.

Achaemenid act

• Source: Artaphernes
• Unlocked in:
  • Greeks Bearing Gifts
  • The Ionian Revolt
  • Chasing Smoke
• The cavalry and archer bonuses do not stack when applying to mounted archers.

Aura	Affects	Effects
Cavalry aura I	Cavalry	​+4 melee attack
	Mounted archers	​+2 pierce attack
Cavalry aura II	Cavalry	​+2 melee / ​+2 pierce armor
	Mounted archers	​+1 melee / ​+1 pierce armor
Cavalry aura III	Cavalry	40 HP/min
	Mounted archers	20 HP/min
Infantry aura I	Infantry	​+4 melee attack
Infantry aura II	Infantry	​+2 melee / ​+2 pierce armor
Infantry aura III	Infantry	-25% reload time
Archery aura I	Archers	​+1 pierce attack, ​+1 melee / ​+1 pierce armor
Archery aura II	Archers	​+1 pierce attack, ​+1 melee / ​+1 pierce armor
Archery aura III	Archers	​+1 pierce attack, ​+1 melee / ​+1 pierce armor

Athenian act

• Source: Themistocles
  • In his infantry form, Themistocles affects land units
  • In his warship form, Themistocles affects warships
• Unlocked in:
  • The Battle of Marathon
  • Raise the Sails
  • Divine Salamis

Aura	Affects	Effects
Cavalry/Galley aura I	Cavalry	​+4 melee
	Galley line
Cavalry/Galley aura II
Infantry/Monoreme aura I	Infantry	​+4 melee
	Monoreme line
Infantry/Monoreme aura II
Archer/Lembos aura I	Archer	​+2 pierce
	Lembos line	​+4 melee attack
Archer/Lembos aura II	Archer	​+2 melee / ​+2 pierce armor
	Lembos line	​+2 pierce armor
Archer/Lembos aura III	Archer	40 HP/min, -25% reload time
	Lembos line	40 HP/min, -25% reload time

Spartan act

• Source: Brasidas or Lysander
• Unlocked in:
  • I am Brasidas
  • Pyres on the Coast
• Brasidas starts out with the first level of infantry aura and can thus only gain two levels in other aura types.
• Infantry aura buffs stack with Polemarch aura effects.

Aura	Affects	Effects
Cavalry aura I	Cavalry	[What?]
Cavalry aura II	Cavalry	[What?]
Infantry aura I	Infantry	​+4 melee attack
Infantry aura II	Infantry	​+2 melee / ​+2 pierce armor
Infantry aura III	Infantry	40 HP/min, +25% attack speed
Archery aura I	Archers	​+2 pierce
Archery aura II	Archers	[What?]

Other choices

Achaemenids act

• A City Ablaze
  • Saving key structures grants benefits in Chasing Smoke:
    • The Farms grant additional starting food.
      "Fresh fodder and grain from the farmland of Sardis. Thank Ahuramazda we saved it in time."
    • The Coin Mint grants additional starting gold.
      "Gold-struck darics from the mints of Sardis. Thank Ahuramazda we saved them in time."
    • The Bowman's Workshop grants free Padded Archer Armor.
      "The bow-makers of Sardis send aid. Thank Ahuramazda we saved their workshops in time."
    • The Noble Quarters unlocks the War Chariot from the Civic Age and the Elite War Chariot upgrade in the Classical Age.
      "Aid from the noblemen of Sardis. Thank Ahuramazda we saved their dwellings in time."
    • The Menagerie grants free Scale Barding Armor.
      "Nisaean horses from the menagerie in Sardis. Thank Ahuramazda we saved it in time."
    • The Smithies grants free Forging.
      "Finely-wrought iron from the smithies in Sardis. Thank Ahuramazda we saved them in time."
    • The Tannery grants ^[What?]
      "Corselets from the tanneries in Sardis. Thank Ahuramazda we saved them in time."
    • The Marketplace grants ^[What?]
      "Plump geese and finely-milled flour from the food market in Sardis. Thank Ahuramazda we saved it in time."

Athenian act

• Raise the Sails
  • Researching any of the unique naval technologies in this scenario allows them to be researched in all other scenarios where Themistocles is playable (i.e. The Hot Gates, Divine Salamis, and The Fruits of Empire).
• Across the Wine-Dark Sea and Wrath of the Regent
  • Handing the relics to Pausanias in both scenarios grants the "Philolacon" achievement. If given to Pausanias, the former relic will reappear in I am Brasidas at the Methone Temple with the old man and grant an attack bonus to Brasidas' infantry, while the latter relic will reappear in Pyres on the Coast, granting a speed boost to Brasidas' infantry.
  • Handing the relics to Salamis in the first scenario and Polycritus in the second grants the "Reject the Regent" achievement. If the latter Relic is given to Polycritus, then it will be taken by Lysander if Aegina is captured in The Fall of Athens, improving his stats. It is possible that this is bugged, as no change to the stats can be seen in Lysander's information panel.

Spartan act

• Blood and Gold
  • Completing Cyrus' request to conquer the cities of Notium and Priene, as well as the three specified towns, has him sending Tribute Ships of resources to the player in The Fall of Athens.
  • Allying with the Milesian Oligarchs to take the city has them sending the player a fleet in The Fall of Athens.

Characters

• Artaphernes: The half-brother of Darius and satrap of the region of Lydia. In Battle for Greece, he is a mild, capable administrator who bemoans the emperor's dismissive attitude towards him. His restive province is soon upended following the consequences of the disastrous invasion of Miletus, and he vows to execute Aristagoras for his treachery and its aftermath, which requires him to repeatedly lead Achaemenid forces on invasions of Greece.
• Datis: A capable Median general, he is a prominent commander in Darius' army, favored by the emperor. He lends his support to Artaphernes, and is then assigned by Darius to lead an invasion into the Greek mainland. After a string of victories, he loses to the Athenians and Plataeans at Marathon.
• Darius: The Achaemenid Emperor, he came to power through a military coup and political slander against the former emperor Bardiya. With his legitimacy on shaky ground, his early rule was turbulent and fraught with rebellions. In the campaign, he considers insubordination inexcusable and crushes the rebels in Babylon, and vows to do the same to the Ionians and the Athenians.
• Aristagoras: The tyrant (ruler) of Miletus, he came to power through currying favor for his Achaemenid masters. He leads a disastrous invasion of Naxos funded by the Achaemenids, during which he flees the battlefield. Fearing the wrath of his former masters, and with nothing left to lose, he coaxes the Greek citizens of Ionia to rebellion, with support from the Athenians.
• Melanthios the Athenian: He leads the Athenian mercenaries who were persuaded by Aristagoras to raid Ionia and the Achaemenid Empire for quick riches, and to fan the flames of the Ionian revolt. He appears in person in A City Ablaze, Chasing Smoke, and The Battle of Marathon, in the last of which he is besieged by his own mercenaries for failing to pay them.
• Artemisia: The Carian-Greek queen of Halicarnassus, her city-state serves the Achaemenid Empire. She fights in the various battles against the independent Greek city-states, securing a victory at Artemisium.
• Dionysius: A Greek admiral and brutal taskmaster, his endless drills before the Battle of Lade resulted in his troops refusing to even fight. In the campaign, his navy can be demoralized by destroying his Fort. Disgraced, he takes to a life of piracy.
• Themistocles: A daring Athenian politician, he persuades his fellow citizens to utilize the wealth from a newfound silver mine to turn Athens into a naval power. He eventually builds a powerful fleet and becomes its admiral. After the disaster at Artemisium, he manages to secure an important victory against the Persians at Salamis, and takes control of various Greek territories and colonies. With his diplomatic skills, he is paramount in forming the Delian League against the Spartans.
• Aristides: An Athenian politician, he is highly respected for his just and fair views. In the campaign, he is initially a rival to Themistocles, but they eventually become allies against their common enemies, the Persians.
• Polycritus: An Aeginetan commander, his fleet is feared and despised across Greek coasts for their piracy. However, when Greece is threatened by the Achaemenids, he joins forces with the other city-states.
• Miltiades: A prominent Athenian Strategos, he leads the Greeks to victory at the Battle of Marathon. Being responsible for a failed military expedition some time later, he meets a disgraceful end from gangrene in the prisons of Athens.
• Leonidas: The legendary king of the Spartans, he is informed of a prophecy that the Spartans will meet certain doom at the corridors of Thermopylae. Wanting to preserve the legacy of these soldiers, he selects his elite 300 to lead into battle, as they had already sired heirs. With the help of his Greek allies, he and his Spartans make a last stand at Thermopylae to buy time for the rest of the Greek forces to evacuate.
• Xerxes: The son of Darius, Xerxes I is the illustrious leader of the Achaemenids who is most well known in the west for claiming victory at the Hot Gates and razing Athens to the ground. In his homeland, he is instead remembered for the grand constructions made at the capital of Persepolis, including the Gate of All Nations.
• Oracle of Delphi: The priestess (Pythia) of Apollo at Delphi serves as its oracle, and is highly respected across Greece for her powers of prophecy. In the campaign, she is portrayed in cutscenes, and her words shape the actions of powerful men all around.
• Pausanias: A Spartan regent and general, Pausanias was among the pan-Hellenic forces who launched a counterattack against the Achaemenids. His treatment and conduct of the other Greek cities and their leaders caused a lot of resentment and division, resulting in the split of the alliance into the Delian and the Peloponnesian Leagues.
• Pericles: Pericles is the leader of the Athenians while it is under direct assault of the Spartans during the Peloponnesian Wars. His policy is defensive, which invites the ire of Cleon.
• Aspasia: She is the consort of Pericles who provides guidance and exposition in Within the Long Walls. Originally from Miletus, Aspasia became a resident of Athens, and was one of the most influential women of Greek Classical Antiquity.
• Cleon: He is the political rival of Pericles, and will continually slander and taunt him and Aspasia. He stands as their opponent in the regularly held elections of the city. After the death of Pericles in the plague, Cleon takes up command of the city and changes Athenian policy to one of aggression, leading invasions and raids across the Peloponnese. He eventually loses to Brasidas at the Battle of Amphipolis, dying in battle.
• Brasidas: An honored Spartan officer, Brasidas is distinguished from other Spartans not only for his rousing speeches, but also his charm and wit. In the campaign, he is the moderate restraint to Lysander's more violent and brutal ambitions. He defeats Cleon at the Battle of Amphipolis, but his injuries prove fatal and he dies after the battle.
• Lysander: Born a mothax, he detested his half-helot heritage and the lower status it yielded him in Spartan society. Bitter and ruthless, he rose through the ranks of Spartan military during the Peloponnesian Wars, and valued victory by any means necessary over anything else.
• Perdiccas: Perdiccas II was the ruler of Macedon who frequently switched sides to support the Athenians or the Spartans during the Peloponnesian Wars. In Speeches and Spears, he can be befriended for a payment, but he will eventually betray the player anyway once Lysander has uprooted most of the Athenian influence in the region.
• Gylippus: Gylippus was a Spartan strategos who was assigned as the leader of the defenders when Syracuse was attacked by the Athenians. In To the Wall!, he is assisted by Lysander and his forces to build a counter-wall and defend the city against the Athenian assault.
• Cyrus: An Achaemenid prince, Cyrus, given the moniker "the Younger" to differentiate him from his illustrious ancestor Cyrus the Great, was the satrap of Lydia during the closing years of the Peloponnesian War. Lysander of the Spartans strikes an alliance with Cyrus to receive funds to build a navy and defeat Athens, in exchange for subjugating the cities of Ionia that had broken free of Achaemenid rule.
• Agis: Agis II was the king of Sparta during the Spartan invasion of Athens. He supports Lysander with his own land forces in The Fall of Athens.

Trivia

• The story of the grand campaign was written under the narrative leadership of CaptureAge member Dr. Ben Angell, PhD in Ancient History.
• While the campaign covers the events of the Greco-Persian war in great detail, it skips a significant event, being the Battle of Plataea, which followed the battle of Salamis and was considered the finale of the second Persian invasion of Greece and an important Greek victory. The alliance between the Athenians, Spartans, Corinthians, et al., was already present here rather than forming before the Greek invasion of Cyprus as depicted in Across the Wine-Dark Sea.
• In the starting treasure hall cutscene, other than various Greek statues, busts, vases, and armaments, there are also artifacts from other cultures: a Mesopotamian tablet depicting the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, a Zhou-dynasty censer from China, a statue of the head of the Roman god Janus, a round parma shield with symbols of the Roman god Jupiter, a rectangular Roman scutum, and a bust of the Buddha from the ancient Indo-Greek Kingdom in the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent.
• While the subsequent grand expansion, Alexander the Great, launched with five difficulty levels, Battle for Greece can be still played only in three difficulty levels: Standard, Moderate, and Hard.

Gallery

A scaled-down version of the campaign's full map

In-game cinematic shot of the place where the narrator regales the chronicle to the player

Artwork of the full area

Babylon

Carystos

Brasidas leading a Spartan army

The Battle of Marathon

The ostracism between Aristides and Themistocles

Elections between Pericles and Cleon

Athens

The Acropolis of Athens

Character concept

Storyboard concept

Icon for Nicias, an unused character

Cutscenes

Darius invading Babylon

Aristagoras proposing the invasion of Naxos to Artaphernes

Aristagoras appealing to the Greek city-states to support his Ionian rebellion

Artaphernes dousing out the flames from the Greek raid on Sardis

Darius deciding to punish Athens for their raids and helping the Ionian insurrection against his empire

Miltiades rousing the troops before the battle of Marathon

Athenian victory at Marathon

A public ostracism between Themistocles and Aristides

Xerxes invading Persia

Athenian and Spartan alliance to stem Achaemenid advance

The prophecy of the Oracle of Apollo that the wooden wall (interpreted by Themistocles as the Athenian navy) will not be breached by the Persians

Athens burned down after the Greeks were defeated at the Hot Gates

The Athenian escape and holdout at Salamis

The Greeks led by the Spartan regent Pausanias for a counterattack

Combined Greek forces heading for a counterattack on the Persians

The Achaemenids routed from the Greek attack

Pausanias's conduct breaking apart the alliance and resulting in the rival Athenian and Spartan factions

Formation of the Delian League which becomes the Athenian Empire

Themistocles ostracised from Athens due to suspicions about his growing power

Pericles and Aspasia elected to defend the city of Athens

Pericles's death from the plague

Brasidas defending Spartan allies from Athens

The death of Brasidas from his severe wounds received at his final victory in the Second Battle of Amphipolis

The truce called after the battle (which would soon be broken)

Lysander allying with the Persians to build a fleet and defeat the Athenians

His naval victory over the Athenians

Destruction of Athens

His final act of casting a bronze statue of himself at Delphi, which drew the derision of all Greeks, including the Spartans

The rivalries and conflicts between the city-states re-emerge

The campaign's outro foreshadowing the next chronicle

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References

	Grand campaigns in Chronicles
Battle for Greece Achaemenids Prologue: Gates of the Gods · Greeks Bearing Gifts · The Ionian Revolt · A City Ablaze · Chasing Smoke · Death to Traitors · Earth and Water Athenians The Battle of Marathon · Raise the Sails · The Hot Gates · Divine Salamis · Across the Wine-Dark Sea · Wrath of the Regent · The Fruits of Empire · Within the Long Walls Spartans I am Brasidas · Pyres on the Coast · Speeches and Spears · To the Wall! · Blood and Gold · The Fall of Athens Alexander the Great A Lesson in Warfare Let the Prince Decide The Battle of Chaeronea Right to Rule Get Rich Quick ( Thracians) Woe unto Thebes The Battle of the Granicus Unto the Breach The Cilician Gates Tyre Must Fall The Battle of Gaugamela The City at the End of the World In the Land of the Five Rivers ( Puru) The Battle of the Hydaspes No Escape Katabasis A Voyage of Discovery Wrath A Lesson in Warfare Let the Prince Decide The Battle of Chaeronea Right to Rule Get Rich Quick ( Thracians) Woe unto Thebes The Battle of the Granicus Unto the Breach The Cilician Gates Tyre Must Fall The Battle of Gaugamela The City at the End of the World In the Land of the Five Rivers ( Puru) The Battle of the Hydaspes No Escape Katabasis A Voyage of Discovery Wrath The scenarios which do not have mentions of the civilization are played as the Macedonians.