"Over 2000 years ago there was a city called Sparta. The city had only two purposes, to train for war and to fight the wars she trained for. In time Sparta became renowned for having the fiercest and most disciplined fighters in the known world. Probably their greatest moment came in 480 BC when, at the pass of Thermopylae a mere handful of Spartans led by their heroic King Leonidas, sacrificed themselves to delay Xerxes and his Persian Hosts from invading Greece. In SPARTAN you will re-live the events of the times [...] and maybe even re-write history!"

Spartan and Gates of Troy are both turn-based empire-building strategy games set in ancient Greece. They are the third and fourth games in a series of very similar games by Slitherine Strategies, a UK-based development company. The first two were set in different eras, Legion in the early to mid Roman era, and Chariots of War in the ancient mid-east. In Spartan, lavish detail was paid to recreating an accurate simulation of ancient Greece, although a few sacrifices were made in the interest of making a better game. Troy has a few extra features and different maps but otherwise they are essentially the same game, which is why we putting them together like this.

Most of the time your mission is to re-create the history of Greece as it was, but the game is usually open-ended enough that you can instead choose to re-invent it to suit your tastes if you desire. Perhaps you want Sparta to actually conquer Athens? Take control of the Lacedaemonians (Spartans) and see if you can pull it off. Have the Persians take over Greece this time, or maybe get the Romans in several centuries early. Or perhaps the Athenians should build the Colossus instead of the Rhodians. All of those and more are possible.

Slitherine is planning a fifth game in the series, slated at present for release sometime in 2007. Some information about the new title has been released, but the latest from their forums suggest that they are still seeking input on the game. The possibility was not entirely ruled out that even the name may be subject to change. If you're interested, visit the Official Slitherine forums to have your say on the matter.

Reviews

Many other game review sites have already reviewed Spartan and Gates of Troy, but we hope to bring you one of the more comprehensive reviews. Most reviewers agree that both games are quite good, but don't just take our word for it. See our Orion Sector Review for more information, as well as some of our favorites of the other reviews below.

Other Spartan Reviews:
IC Games Review
Deaf Gamers Review
Strategy Informer Review

Other Gates of Troy Reviews:
Wargamer Review
Strategy Informer Review
Deaf Gamers Review

Mods

Modding is supported by the games and there is little you cannot change; unfortunately the Spartan map editor is more difficult to use than I would prefer. But if you can put in the effort to master it the options are very nearly unlimited. I actually had trouble finding the map editor at first, so we've chosen to mirror both it and the XLS Mod Tools here on Orion Sector for your convenience.

Currently there are three official mods for Spartan on the official Slitherine site, including a "berserker" mod that makes the AI much more difficult. We haven't found any player-made mods yet, but we hope that will change in the future.