State of Play: 300: Earth and Water

 

 

Another week, another short game crammed into seemingly ever-tightening window of opportunity. Early this week, T and I carved out an hour-something of evening to try out 300: Earth and Water (Nuts! Publishing, 2018). This isn’t a new game but It was new to us; I’ve only had it a couple of weeks, and while I was keen to try it out, other games arriving around the same time tool precedence like Saigon 75 (Nuts! Publishing, 2023), of which you can find a brief session write-up here).

I’ve felt like my time isn’t my own of late. There are a number of reasons for that – one of which I should be posting about soon – but this isn’t helped by my gaming buddy, T’s variable availability. So, against this backdrop, we got together to do something I have always made a point of not doing; we sat down to play a game the rules of which I hadn’t quite finished reading, let alone absorbing. Thankfully, 300 is a very easy game to pick up and to teach. The rules are clear (not always a given they’ve been translated from another language), with good examples, and the concepts are familiar enough from broader gaming experience to present no real hurdles to play.

Opening set-up, but incorrect orientation. the long sides should face each player.
Also, the cards (right) tend to get lost in the table-cloth pattern. 3 out of 10 for
presentation (the photo, not the game, which is really quite nice).

300: Earth and Water is an asymmetrical game, built around the theme of the contentious relationship between the Persian Empire and the uppity Greek city-states. The game plays out over five rounds. Each round represents an opportunity for the Persians to stage an expedition into Greece to conquer new territories. In each round, the two sides gather their resources (in the form of resource points, the currency the players use to purchase both their land and naval forces and the means with which to order them), then comes a series of card plays. Players take turns playing a card from their had (each has a maximum of six), which they can use for the event on the card or as an action to move armies or fleets. A player can pass one round, then play a card the next, but when both players pass, the round ends. I the scoring stage of the round, each player counts the number of cities they control; these numbers are compared, the player with the higher number winning the difference between the two numbers in points, which are recorded on a pendulum track. The first player to eight points, or whichever has pints at the end of the fifth round, is the winner.

Ephesos falls (well, for one round - I took it back in the next round). If T had taken
Abydos instead, he could have destroyed the Pontoon Bridge (bottom centre), and
given me a headache.

Everything about this game is elegantly simple, except for the actual play, which presents both sides with compellingly difficult choices at every stage. The game requires planning in the face of limited knowledge of the enemy’s plans. The Persian side always spends their resource points first, of which they have twelve. After seeing how the Persian player has outfitted himself for the coming campaign, the Greek player can spend his six points accordingly. Fleets cost two points for the Persians and one for the Greeks, while armies and cards cost one point each for both sides. Being a learning game we each bought a mixture of military resources and cards with every turn, T tending to match the number of cards with which I – as  the Persians – had furnished myself.

Sometimes things don’t go as planned; Twice, and in consecutive rounds, I drew a card with the event, “Sudden Death of the Great King”, which takes effect on drawing. The event declares the Persian ruler has died, and the campaign for that round has been cancelled, with no points awarded to either side for that round.

I managed to build the ponton bridge across the Hellespont early in the game, which meant the Persians weren’t restricted to ship-borne movement to take ground. The Greeks, while weaker, weren’t without teeth – a naval invasion and successful combat taking one of the major Persian city of Ephesos saw early gains in points, but a slow and steady onslaught by land saw the Persians claw back a slim lead to finish the game on two points.

The board at correct orientation, at the close of the game (a close-run thing).

This is a small package, with a roughly 11” by 17” mounted board and some wooden markers, cards and dice, all fitting into a digest-sized box with a magnetic closure, but 300: Earth and Water offers a lot of game. It’s very much on the strategy-puzzle end of the spectrum, which won’t appeal to everyone, but for a short game, it’s intellectually challenging and a very satisfying experience. It's only been one game, but I can see where I made early mistakes as the Persians, and I’m look forward to trying the game as the Greeks.

300: Earth and Water is also available to play for free on Rally the Troops, if you’d like to try it out before parting with your hard-earned, but with Christmas coming up, this would also make a nice little stocking stuffer that you probably won’t resent having to play with a junior recipient (and it would be a little more personal than an Apple Music voucher).