A strong defensive position is squandered by the hapless rebel leadership, effectively ending the Bohemian Revolt. Incredibly, the war it ignited would continue on, engulfing most of Europe for three decades. A simple battle to get your feet wet.

A letter from King Charles convinced Prince Rupert of the Rhine that he ought to fight a much larger army. Parliament won a lopsided victory. Only the stubborn stand of the Whitecoats prevented total disaster. This has more moving parts than the White Mountain scenario.

The battle that won Canada for the British. This battle introduces Counter-attack Reactions.

The battle that ended the Wars of the Roses, and saw the ascendancy of the Tudors. This small and curious scenario gives you a peek at the Absorb reaction and introduces Command actions, turning on the timely arrival of fresh troops.

The Grand Alliance broke the French line – but paid for it with heavy losses. French commander Villars wrote to the king after the battle: "If it pleases God to give your majesty's enemies another such victory, they are ruined."

Henri IV defeated his Catholic opposition, thanks in part to enemy mercenaries who were sympathetic to his cause. It wasn't enough to win over Paris; his rule would not be accepted until he converted. This is a tricky scenario – a dance of screens.

Complicated politics saw French and English troops on both sides of this battlefield, widely admired as Turenne's masterpiece. You will need to master all three Reaction types to triumph here.

A diversionary attack by Grant disguised Clinton's advance on the Patriot flank. Outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered and outplanned, they've gotta make an all-out stand – at least until the main body of the army can escape. For experienced players.

From C3i #32

From C3i #32

If Polyaenus is to be believed (a big if!), Philip isolated the Greek left with a faked retreat, while the teenaged Alexander destroyed the famous Sacred Band of Thebes and smashed the Greek right.

Persia's light cavalry is no match for our boy's infantry and Companions, and it doesn't help the Persian cause that no one is really in charge. About the only thing they have going for them is they're on the other side of a river. Will it be enough?

Darius had a numerical advantage – how much exactly is impossible to say – but most of his troops were ineffectual light infantry that weren't actually engaged. Both sides concentrated their strength on their right, and it was a race to see which side's left would collapse first.

Numbering somewhere between 100,000 and one million (!), Darius's army vastly outnumbered Alexander's. But he was still trying to fight the Macedonians with Persian methods, and after some hard fighting, Alexander broke the Persian left.

Crossing the river with a small part of his army, Alexander was initially outnumbered, and the enemy's fearsome elephants threatened to break the phalanx. But daring and complicated maneuvers threw the Indian army into disarray, securing victory for Alexander in his last major battle.

One of the many battles fought by Alexander's successors (the Diadochi), this one proved tactically inconclusive. But the capture of Eumenes's baggage was enough for his Silver Shields to turn him over to Antigonus for execution.

Like Gabiene and many other battles from the Wars of the Diadochi, this battle saw two armies that were mostly identical in structure and tactics. And like many ancient battles, the death of a single man, the enemy commander (in this case Antigonus), was sufficient to secure victory.

One of the most famous actions of the day saw fewer than three thousand men mount a desperate, hard-fought, and ingenious defense of the Union left flank against the repeated assaults of nearly five thousand butternuts.

Confederate assaults caused the Union to retreat, then Union assoults caused the rebs to fall back, and on and on, back and forth, possession of the Wheatfield changing hands repeatedly, neither side gaining any real advantage, with thousands of casualties

Sickle's line formed a salient at the Peach Orchard, which collapsed under pressure from the Confederates. Sickles himself was hit in the leg by a cannonball. To counter rumors that he had died, he sat up on his stretcher and puffed at a cigar to show that he was still breathing.

Anderson's attack on the Union center came close to breaking it, opening a gap in the line. The line – perhaps even the Union – was saved byt he 262 men of the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which charged a brigade over five times its size, suffering 215 casualties.

Impressive defensive works constructed on the initiative of Brig. Gen. George Greene (a civil engineer) allowedh a desperately thin blue line of around two thousand men to beat back nearly five thousand rebs. (Before playing, be sure to read the "Geary" card and keep its effects in mind.)

The Confederates attacked the Union line en echelon in a series of bloody assaults. Meade shuffled men from one part of the "fish hook" to the next, pushing back and plugging holes in his line. At the end of the day, the line held.

Initial success on the wings and a stubborn infantry contest had all the makings of a decisive Royalist victory. But the cavalier cavalry pursued the main roundhead horse, and the unsupported infantry was scattered by Parliamentarian reservee cavalry.

A surprise attack grabbed key terrain and threatened the Royalist flanks. Recovering from the chaos, a counterattack broke the roundhead center, splitting Essex's army. An attempt to envelop the two halves was thwarted by the London Trained Bands.

Attacked from opposite directions and outnumbered more than two to one, the King appeared to be doomed. But the enemy just couldn't coordinate; stubborn Royalist resistance denied Essex anything more than a tactical victory.

The New Model Army at last achieved decisive victory at Naseby, leaving Charles without a field army. It was also a political victory, as they captured (and published) letters in which the King plotted with foreign troops against his subjects.

Meanwhile, in Scotland, Montrose sought to block the intervention of the Solemn League and Covenant, and near Perth won a decisive victory – supposedly losing only one man to Elcho's two thousand dead. Yeah, sure.

400 desperate men defend Auldearn from a Covenanter army nearly 2,000 strong. Their only hope is that Montrose will arrive in time to turn the tide. He better hurry it up!

The decisive battle of Caesar's Civil War saw him square off against his old ally Pompey the Great. Knowing he would lose a straightforward clash of arms, Caesar gambled everything on a bold stratagem.

In a dense fog, a massive – but badly coordinated – Russian army launched a surprise attack. As the fog lifted and fresh Allied troops poured in, their desperate, doomed defense improbably turned into a lopsided victory.

Luxembourg split the French army in two, attempting a risky double envelopment of Waldeck's line. He succeeded, and the enemy only escaped total destruction by the skin of its teeth. Both players should read the "Retreat to Nivelles" card carefully before playing.

Catinat's superb generalship and innovative use of a mass bayonet charge turned nearly even odds into a smashing victory.

Eugene's careful defense and choice of terrain negated the French numerical advantage, resulting in a decisive victory that persuaded the English and Dutch to join Austria in its war against France, getting the Grand Alliance band back together.

The towns of Blenheim, Oberglauheim, and Lutzingen anchored hte Franco-Bavarian army, and they did not expect the enemy to dare an attack. At first, it seemed a folly, but a French blunder created the opening Marlborough needed for a breakthrough and a decisive victory.

Villeroy stretched his army to secure his flanks. Seeing an opportunity, Marlborough risked envelopment with a much shorter line that allowed for a greater concentration of force against weakpoints in the enemy's line. Marlborough's gamble paid off in a lopsided victory.

As Eugene marched toward Paris and final victory, his supply line was overextended. It crossed the Scheldt at Denain, a fortress held by only 10,000. A cunning night march allowed Villars to bring 24,000 to bear against the doomed defenders. His victory at Denain ended Eugene's advance.

After a daring night march, the Prussians planned to overwhel the Saxons with a surprise attack, then roll up the Austrian flank. But a staggered river crossing gave Charles time to hastily form up, forcing Frederick to improvise. The Austrians were obstinate but were ultimately routed.

Here Charles had overwhelming numbers, devastating artillery, favorable terrain, and the element of surprise. Which makes his lopsided defeat all the more humiliating. But he came close. "At Hohenfriedberg I fought for Silesia," Frederick recalled later, "but at Soor, I fought for my life."

Meanwhile, in the Austrian Netherlands, the dynamic Maurice de Saxe had the Pragmatic Army of Maria Theresa's allies on the ropes. Charles marched to their rescue, took command, and then... the Austrians sat on their hands and watched while they got the tar beat out of them at Rocoux. Huh.

Urged to attack, Charles declined, confident his formidable defenses would throw back any frontal assault. So imagine his surprise when the Prussians made a play for his rear. Charles sent Browne to fight them off. The battle went poorly for the Austrians, but did inflict heavy losses on the Prussians.

Charles's only major victory was at Breslau against the Duke of Brunswick-Bevern. But before you go patting him on the back, bear in mind that to pull that off, he had to throw 84,000 men against the Duke's 28,000. It took all day, and until the final hour, the outcome remained in doubt.

Frederick brought 33,000 against the flank of Charles's 66,000 in a textbook example of an oblique attack. It was Old Fritz's most complete and brilliant victory, suffering a mere six thousand casualties, while the dumbfounded Charles lost twenty-two thousand – a third of his army.