KH vs Seleucids

[Marcus Ulpius]

First I'd like to thank all members of the EB team for doing a terrific job and changing RTW into a much better game. The mod is fantastic and I doubt anyone will play vanilla RTW after playing EB.

Now, to the question. After experimenting with the Romanii I've started a new KH game. I was able to ally with Epirotes and it saved me from the initial Macedonian assault. After the Macedonians were reduced only to Mytelene, it was Epirotes turn to go. I've expanded to Byzantium and took Chersones with a naval expedition. While I was doing all this, AS was thoroughly beating Ptolemaioi out of Asia Minor and Ioudea (hope it's spelled that way). It all started at Halicarnasus, which was taken by the Seleucids and after I've sent a spy there it rebelled for me.

The war started. At first it wasn't that hard. I took Sardis and Nicaea rather easily. Macedonians (who were occupying only Pergamon for some time) became my allies. After some struggle I was able to take Ipsos and that's where it stalled. First of all Asia Minor is a very volatile place. There are 2 full stacks of Arverni (who are allies of AS), strong Pontos army (who are my allies), and there's always a possibility of Macedonians backstabbing me from Pergamon. So I have to keep very strong garrisons at every city. Advancing further down southern coast of Asia Minor is very difficult as the next town (I think it's Sidis) is much closer to Seleucid centers of power (Antioch, etc.) than to territories under my control.

Bactrians are busy, fighting Saka and Pahlava suffered some serious defeats from AS and is not attacking . Ptolemaioi have taken back Herosolema, but from the look of things Seleucids will probably recapture it soon. Lately Seleucids send armies of increasing strength at me, and I see more and more Kleruchoi, Pezhetairoi etc.

So, the question is, how as KH can I counter those troops? I see that KH roster doesn't have such a good infantry (I'm not even speaking of Agematos Basilikou, which are almost indestructible). Of course flanking phalangitai helps, but it doesn't help against Agematos and it's hard to flank when the enemy fields 4-5 units of Kleruchoi.

[Redmeth]

Sounds like a great campaign, welcome to the forums.

Expand to the north set up a type III or IV in Singidunum and Serdike and tap into those great Celtic and Thracian troops the Peltasts, Prodromoi, Cordinau Orca and Rhompaiaphoroi will provide with much needed firepower also from Crimeea you should tap in into some Horse Archers their mobility should allow you to position them behind the phalanxes and rain death on them, but don't waste your arrows shooting from the front, your hoplites should be good enough to stem the initial phalanx attack but move fast and flank and charge them before they break through your hoplites.

Also after the Vanilla Marian reforms you should get a KH phalanx troop.

Good luck and Have fun!.

[Hax]

That's exactly what I did with the KH when fighting Pontos. I pinned their phalangitai with my hoplites, then circled around with my Bosphoran heavy archers (I used my horse archers to draw the general away) and I rained death on them from the rear.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Ally or at least get trading rights with Ptolemies and Maks - forget about Maks right now, if they attack your cities behind you, then you reprioritize and forget your Seleukid campaign, focusing for a couple of years on just totally crushing them. You need that sea trade with Ptolemaic cities (i assume you also have crete by now?). Don't let the Seleuks siege your larger cities keep men in forts in passes or on bridges to keep them from closing off trade. Make sure you have basic mines in all your "inner cities" that can have them - don't put them in cities that border your allies or neutral factions as it might tempt them to attack them. Maybe save up for one big mine somewhere that you have a family member with an architect or other building bonuses (it makes it quicker and cheaper sometimes by a lot). Then keep a member with miner trait in it to maximize the money.

[Marcus Ulpius]

Thanks for the advice. I've built a broad anti-Seleucid league (KH, Pontos, Ptolemaioi, Hayasdan and Bactria) against AS, Arverni and Saba. KH, Ptolemaioi and Pahlava are actively at war against AS, but both of the later are losing. Saba were fighting Ptolemaioi, and after Ptolemaioi took back Petra (the city on the Sinai peninsula) there's a ceasfire between them. I'm waiting for Bactria to attack AS, but it's not happening despite Bactrians constantly marching troops through eastern provinces of the AS.

The economy is working (have around 70000-80000 mnai right now). I'm fortifying my 3 cities in Asia Minor, building stone walls and better MICs so that I could reinforce troops without having to depend totally on moving troops from Greece.

I can recruit Bosphorian Archers and horse archers from Chersones. Bosphorians are starting to be used against Seleucids already. Macedonians have only Pergamon left and are surrounded by my cities. If they backstab me, I'll wipe them out. I think I'll expand into Thrakia and hope that my cities in Asia Minor will be able to withstand Seleucid attacks until I could recruit good Thracian troops and have enough power to push the AS back.

[Swordmaster]

Keep things mobile. Don't get stuck in Asia Minor for too long, I've had exactly the same situation as you have now way back when 0.81 was out, and I had decades of going back and forth around Ipsos and Side. Get your navy up and running, and launch naval attacks on Syria itself. Antiocheia is their main recruiting center in the west. Conquer Sidon and Damaskos and gift them to the Ptolemaioi (risky, for it might turn the whole war in the direction of the Ptolies, who will treat you with even more stacks).

[Olaf The Great]

Asia minor is known to be the hardest place to fight for a reason...

[Teleklos Archelaou]

you might use force diplomacy to make macedonians into a protectorate too if that seems logical for you.