460 BC · Papremis, Nile Delta
Inaros's Libyan-Egyptian revolt, backed by an Athenian fleet, defeated the Persian satrap Achaemenes (killed in the battle) before Persia crushed the rising by 454 BC.
Persian rule over Egypt was never quiet. In 460 BC Inaros, a Libyan prince, raised the Delta in revolt and asked Athens for help; an Athenian fleet already campaigning in Cyprus sailed to join him.
The satrap Achaemenes, a brother of the Persian king, marched to put the rising down.
Herodotus reports that the two armies met at Papremis in the Delta, that the Egyptians and their allies won, and that Achaemenes was killed in the fighting. The survivors withdrew to Memphis, where the Persians held out in the fortified quarter.
Very little else is recorded. The sources for this campaign are thin and do not always agree, so the shape of the battle itself is largely lost.
It was the most successful Egyptian revolt against Persia in a century, and for a few years the Delta was free. It did not last: a Persian army under Megabyzus retook Memphis, the Athenian expedition ended in disaster around 454 BC, and Inaros was captured and executed.
The scenario takes the part the sources agree on: a rising that wins by pressing hard and early, against an imperial army that is stronger if the fight goes long.
The sides, the commanders and the outcome are historical. Everything about how a match plays — cards, energy, turns — is the game's own, and stands in for a battle whose details are not recoverable.