THE BATTLE OF MARATHON: A war gamer's approach

Mark's Game Room returns to bring you the Battle of Marathon! Persian invaders have landed in Greece - can JT's Athenians repel this incursion from their lands, or will Joe's Persian forces change the course of history?
Please welcome special guest Herodotus, the father of history!
Join us as we examine how we use ancient artifacts and historical scholarship to help make our scenario as close to the real history as we are able to understand - then watch JT and Joe duke it out on the field. Victori sunt spolia - to the victor go the spoils!
As always, please like and subscribe! It helps us out a ton and the more we get, the more videos we're going to be able to create!
00:00 Intro
00:58 History and Artifacts
08:27 Forces and Scenario
10:20 Will the real Herodotus please stand up
10:40 Game Turn 1
12:26 Game Turn 2
14:38 Game Turn 3
18:36 Game Turn 4
20:45 Game Turn 5
22:27 Outtro

[@Michael-ws7rc]

Wow. I didn’t know Herodotus was still alive. Cool. I’m glad he learned English so I could understand him!

[@questwise4077]

You guys rock! I stumbled upon your channel while watching Litte Wars TV recently. I am a wargamer from Northern Michigan and have a degree in ancient history, with a minor in ancient languages, from Concordia University and the University of Michigan. I'm so happy to see an energetic group who are keeping historical wargaming alive and well. I appreciate all that you are doing. Game on!

[@MichaelCorryFilms]

Erm.. Pheidippides didn't just run from Marathon, he ran 150 mi in two days to Sparta, and then ran back. After arriving at the aftermath of the battle, he then ran the 25 mi from the battlefield back to Athens. He had to outrun the Persian fleet that was trying to sail to Athens so that Athenians friendly to Persia wouldn't open the gates.

[@Carl-MGR]

Correct! Though we just were explaining the origin of the term Marathon there. Not unlimited time to get into everything I'm afraid. I think the more salient point is that the story is almost certainly untrue. Herodotus doesn't mention him at all!

[@MichaelCorryFilms]

@@Carl-MGR Herodotus only mentions him in the run to Sparta, not the Marathon run though. He was too busy hanging out and having a conversation with Pan on the road. :)

[@StatsScott]

The introductory history section was great. Also enjoyed the split screen rendition during the battle to see the dice rolls, players, and board all together. And Herodotus’ narration dialed it up to 11. Maybe he could continue with commentary on battles outside of his strictly interpreted timeline? What would he think of Napoleonic warfare? Who would the impartial father of history root for?

[@BrixtonTone]

Well done to those Greeks, really thought the Persian Immortals were going to swing the result but they failed. Great game

[@danielcannon9893]

JT is a beast!

[@oldschoolfrp2326]

Great presentation of the history & archaeology paired with the game; Nice to see those 28mm troops in action

[@traccas01]

Fun fact: Euboea is called Evia in Greece. "Evia (/ˈɛviə/, EH-vee-ə) also known by its antique spelling Euboea (/juːˈbiːə/, yoo-BEE-ə; Greek: Εὔβοια Eúboia, Ancient: [ěu̯boi̯a], Modern: [ˈevia]) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete, and the sixth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only 40 m (130 ft) at its narrowest point)." source Wikipedia

[@traccas01]

Great production guys, and great game.

[@edstewartjr4530]

Love Charlie's photobomb in the museum!!

[@Strat0Patrick]

Great balance of historical juices and entertaiment, your channel is real gem, glad that found it, subscribed immediatly. Cheers from Ukraine!

[@andrewbarnett4518]

Wonderful video, I appreciate the visit to the museum.

[@wouthendriksen2259]

Great content! Fun to watch. Must have taken quite some time and effort to make and edit.

[@wylde_hunter]

I love the narrated wagame style - good post, good editing.

[@1glenngary]

Fun to watch. I got into historicals trying to flesh out 'whatifs' in my ACW research!

[@cetx]

Great video! I'm painting a Roman and Egyptian army right now, and by way of research, I'm reading Herodotus and watching all the documentaries I can as I paint. I'm new to historic wargaming, and the research phase has been an unexpected joy.

[@andrewshaw3703]

Great Video. Kept my attention to the end.

[@edwardmiller821]

Great job guys.

[@edwardmiller821]

I would of loved to see the game run at the museum too.

[@BwfVid]

That was beautiful guys!

[@christopherhunt1957]

Another amazing video. Thank you!

[@stevenverdoliva6217]

Nicely done 👍🏻

[@phillipj.benson9497]

Really awesome filmography for such a small channel! Great video man.

[@davidgeister]

Bravo!

[@meiketorkelson4437]

Great video and got a follow from me. Educational and you managed a battle report that had great pace.

[@ericfarrington366]

Thanks for using Men of Bronze for this. Was this the scenario used at Historicon as well?

[@bigsarge2085]

Awesome, guys!

[@andrewbarnett4518]

Hey Mark, I have asked this question on the "The BEST ancient naval wargame for 5$!!!" video but haven't received an answer, which I would really appreciate so I'll ask it here again. I really liked the naval bases. What size are the hexes and what scale ships are used? I would like to start a naval project.

[@Carl-MGR]

Sorry we missed your question! The hexes are 3", we used 1/2400 scale ships, but I also have 4" hex version with 1/600 ships. It's really up to you.

[@andrewbarnett4518]

@@Carl-MGR Thank you very much for your reply!

[@troydodson9641]

How can this happen to the greatest army in the world!? Have the Gods revoked favor from the King of Kings? Jokes aside, grand stuff. I very much look forward to Napoleon. A bit on the side here, as cheesy as the narrator is, do more. Love to see Procopius talk trash on the Goths

[@j.b.macadam6516]

Thanks for the video! Keep up the good work!

[@theobessiris9681]

Great and very enjoyable video. I have a question. Who makes the ships shown in the game?

[@Carl-MGR]

It's a Russian paper model company that is currently unavailable due to the war. They run like $15, but now it's impossible to get them. Sorry!

[@3tacoman]

War !!!!

[@bigsarge2085]

Burn those boats!

[@YOUPIMatin123]

You know what? It doesnt matter at all, but nice surprise to see a black gentleman in a wargame.

[@PMMagro]

Lovely narration :) Easy on the 19th century "Western civilisation" and all the nasty non European threats to it. What was "Europe" like 490 BC? You are talkning about industral age nation states "Europe".