Peloponnesian Stirrings: Preparation for the First Battle of Mantinea

As the first signs of Autumn are seen with the cold mornings and reddening night sky thoughts turn to unfinished business in the Peloponnese circa 418 BC.

The Hoplite battle of Delium of 424 BC settled matters conclusively in Boetia against the Athenian Empire. However since that time political agitators have set in play machinations to embolden the Athenian Assembly again, this time to attempt to stage a devastating coup in Sparta's back yard (an early form of domino theory) by coxing Argos into battle with its traditional enemy Sparta ("boo hiss").

This led to the epic hoplite clash of arms at Mantinea in 418 BC dubbed as the "classical Greek v Greek hoplite battle". I hope to play this battle before Xmas 2013 or early 2014. In the meantime I have to count figures and doubtless paint a few more (it would be a shame if I didn't) and finally get round to reading the big "Thucydides" (before Xmas, no light matter).

I plan a reading campaign on three fronts. An old battered paper copy (see above) plus a new fangled digital version (FREE) of the same thing as an iBook on my iPhone and then I have "The Landmark Thucydides" (see below) to cross reference places to maps if (or rather when) I get lost trying to find where things are or in some cases were.

I also have a nice large map from "The Pelloponnesian War" board game from Victory Games I map resort to sticking pins into.