This module was ispired by the comic "300", written and illustrated by Frank Miller with painted colors by Lynn Varley; the comic was adapted into a film with 2007's 300. 

The module contains

To play with this module you need the module archive  (608K, updated 7 nov 07);  unzip the archive on your Hoplites directory: all the 300-specific graphics will be put on a special directory (named 300) under the base Hoplites root. No special install action are required: after unzipping the module the next time you'll run Hoplites the 300 button will make the module available automatically.

This is the first version of the module, so i can expect  that some elements are not yet tuned and other components could be added or modified: let me know your ideas/comments about it.

300 is not an historical module: the idea is to re-create some of the epics of the combat between Leonidas an Xerses at the Thermopylae as depicted in the comic, so do not expect historical accuracy or detail.

This module is a lab for some new features of the Hoplites engine: the most important changes are

  • The Victory conditions for the Spartan player in this module are different from the standard: there's no way to route the Persian army, so the duty of Leonidas is to keep control of the gates for 50 turns; at the end of the 50th turn, if the Spartan army is still on the field (i.e. not routed) the Spartan player wins. The Persian player wins only by routing the Spartan army in less than 50 turns.
  • The map has only 7 central zones, the wings being protected by the Hot Gates
  • The 7 central areas of the Spartans are considered to be "walled", with a positive modifier in Shock; no terrain cards are used to represent this feature of the battlefield (but the help on the card will display the relevant details)

  • The Immortals are represented by HI, not the standard archer MI, following the comic interpretation of this soldier
  • Elephants are considered as War Beasts, more oriented to the melee than the standard elephants.
  • The Spartan Army has two custom special cards, both usable in the Missile Phase, representing some of traps set by Leonida (in the comic); one Stratagem card inflicts 2COH to an enemy while the second Stratagem is capable to eliminate a card.
  • The Spartan Army has a new special rule, DISCIPLINE, that allows the Spartan player to move the LI to the second line and to use the combined movement replacing an LI with a PH or HI  unit.
  • The Persian Army has one custom special card (Fear), used to boost the melee combat of a unit: when this card is selected the persian CRT roll is modified with a +3, but at the same time the attacking unit suffers an automatic 1 COH.
  • The Persian Army can always deploy two units in the Play phase

As a result of these changes Hoplites is now able to support These features will be fully documented in the future releases of the game so stay tuned.

References

The Wikipedia Entry
The 300 DVD
The complete works of Frank Miller