479 BC · Plataea, Greece
The decisive Greek land victory that ended the Persian invasion, where the Spartan-led hoplite phalanx broke Mardonius's army.
After Salamis, Xerxes went home and left his general Mardonius in Greece with the pick of the army. Through 479 BC Mardonius held Attica, offered Athens generous terms to change sides, and burned the city again when it refused.
The Greeks assembled the largest allied hoplite army they had ever fielded, under the Spartan regent Pausanias, and moved into Boeotia.
The two armies faced each other for days without engaging, each unwilling to attack on the other's ground. Persian cavalry harassed the Greek supply lines and fouled their water, and the Greeks decided to fall back to a better position at night.
The withdrawal went wrong in the dark and the army arrived scattered. Mardonius attacked what looked like a rout. The Spartans and Tegeans took the weight of it, held, and broke the Persian line once the fighting closed; Mardonius was killed, and the camp fell soon after.
Plataea ended the Persian invasion of Greece. Combined with the fleet's victory at Mycale the same year, it removed Persian forces from the Greek mainland for good.
The scenario is a contest of position before it is a contest of arms: neither side wants to attack into the other's strength, and the opening is created by a mistake rather than a manoeuvre.
The sides, commanders and outcome are historical. The card pool and the turn economy are the game's own way of making that tension playable in a few minutes.