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The Celtic Viking
11-29-2008, 20:54
The Tale of a Living God

Introduction
This AAR is about my campaign as the Arverni confederation, my favourite faction in the game. I had one going before, but I took a break from it and it kind of got sidetracked until I forgot about it completely. When I finally was reminded about it again I was already installing 1.2, at which point it was already lost. So I've decided to start a new one, which hopefully will be better, and longer.

The settings for this AAR are:

Faction: Arverni
Starting date: Spring 272 BCE
Campaign difficulty: Medium
Battle difficulty: Medium
Modifications: Force Diplomacy mod, City Mod
Historical accuracy: Little. Some things are true and historical, but those would mostly be names. I have no ambition on recreating anything historical, be it army formations, compositions, settlements etc. I try keeping a mentality true to what I interpret would be a good Arvernian one, but that’s as far as it goes: my unprofessional interpretation. Nothing I write here should be the base for your knowledge of history. :laugh4:

House rules

Strategical map
1. Settlements without a governor must have a pause of at least one turn between buildings and unit training. This is to give governors a bigger influence, and make it more important to choose which settlements to have governors in. The exception is if a governor puts up a building queue and then leaves the settlement.
2. Each settlement is first and foremost responsible of its own security. They must raise their own garrison. This rule can be temporarily broken (such as when a settlement is recently captured and can't produce any units yet), but only permanently outside of Gaul.
3. Governments take priority over any other building. Once the "first" one (regional pacification) is built, a couple of other buildings can be built, but the rule of thumb are always to be to build some kind of real government first. Making clients is the preferred option.
4. Winters (and summers in arid regions, if I ever get somewhere that applies) should be spent in either a fort or a settlement. The only exception is if besieging a settlement.
5. Offensive armies must be lead by a general.
6. When dealing with captured Celtic cities, always occupy. Only enslave if given good reasons to do so. When dealing with non-Celtic settlements, enslavement is an interesting choice.

Army composition
1. No skirmishers in any field army
2. Only one unit of Arjos/Solduros per stack. (I each is fine.)

Tactical map
1. General camera should be used at all times.
2. A time limit should only be used if the enemy is attacking a bridge or assaulting a settlement. (It has happened that they just stay on their side of the bridge/out of range from the walls and make no attempt to cross/take the city, and having to cross the bridge yourself/sally because of that is not fair play.)

More might be added at a later date.

Chapters:
1. The Elected God (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=2072982&postcount=2)

The Celtic Viking
11-29-2008, 20:56
Part 1: The Elected God

We are the Arverni, the superior ones. We have come most recently from Germanica to settle in Gaul, but we are true descendants of the Trojans. Our confederacy, which amongst others includes the Sequani, Allobroges and Saluvii, are fighting against the Aedui confederacy. It was their ineptitude at ruling Gaul, showcased by their poor dealing with the Belgae invaders and how they lost land to the Germanics, after they took over the rule from the Biturges, that made us lose faith in their central government and create our own confederacy - but we were not the only ones who did so: the Aquitanians and the Armoricans did so as well. But of all the confederacies, we are the strongest one, and we must be the ones to rule. If we can defeat the Aedui, the others will see this undeniable fact.

I am Aneirin oi Lugos, and I am the Verrix, the High King, of the Arverni. I was born to be King, not because of who my father was, but because I am Arvernos himself, come in flesh. I am a god-king, and I had to be recognized as one by the Vollorix, the underkings, the popular assembly of warriors as well as the tribal elections. This is why I and no one else rules this confederation, and it's a good thing that I am who I am, for we are surrounded by enemies on all sides. I have already mentioned our most immediate threat, the Aedui to the west, but we must not forget the Romans to the south, even though they're not in a position to threaten our supremacy in Europe - yet. Sooner or later, though, they will come crawling up if no one else manage to stop them, and I doubt anyone can. The Cisalpine Gauls are not as strong as we are, and they would need help from us to hold out. But they won't get any help from the Transalpine Aedui, nor will we send any. They're on their own.

To the east there are the Germanics. They long for our wealth, our land, our weapons and armour. But they are not united, and it will take time before they can summon an army great enough to come and threaten us. Once they do, though, we'd better be ready, and we must have the Aedui defeated by then. We can't let this infighting defeat us, so it must be ended quickly, and favourably for us, or else we will be no more. To the south-west lies two possible threats, and it's just a question of "who" and "when", not "if", someone comes poking at us from there. Those would be the Lusotannans, natives in the area with a propensity to rely on ambushes, with quick and strong light infantry, and the Carthaginians, who are first and foremost merchants and sailors, but still not to be underestimated.

This makes four fronts, but lets also not forget that Casse may be our allies for now, but they can't be trusted for long. Right now, they hunger only for Britain, but if they ever achieve that goal, they'll be looking to return to the mainland and that means going to war against whomever's left here. We intend that to be us, so we must stay ever as vigilant to our north as well. It is obvious that in a full out war, this would be untenable. Not even I, Aneirin, god-king of the Arverni, could hold off against such a pressure. It would mean our defeat, and we cannot let it happen. We must crush the Aedui once and for all. This is why I am now marching on Bibracte together with the Sequani. Their greatest city must be taken now.

Of course, I am not alone. Belenos oi Lugos reside in Viennos, and Amminos is in our stronghold Gergovia, both commanding respectable armies. Since I have reports of a small band of Aedui warriors coming up from the south, Belenos will have to deal with them. Amminos will march against the Wolcas to our south-west.



http://www.junsele.com/viewpic.asp?id=96798


(This isn't a picture from the real campaign, because there I had already laid siege to Bibracte, and I wanted to show their moving plan as well. The arrow for the Viennos garrison shows where the Aedui stack is.)

Hax
11-29-2008, 21:01
Best of luck! Haven't seen any interesting Gallic AAR's for a while (that stick in Gaul, I mean! ^_^)

Maion Maroneios
11-29-2008, 21:08
Ditto, I'll be following this one closely. Even though I despise smelly barbaroi, that is:laugh4:

Maion

The Celtic Viking
11-29-2008, 21:21
Hey! We Gauls invented soap, you drunk, Makedonian pig! But thanks anyway to both of ye. :nice:

Maion Maroneios
11-29-2008, 21:26
:laugh4: Seriously now, good luck with it mate:thumbsup:

Maion

gamegeek2
11-29-2008, 21:39
Funny. No Gallic AARs for a while, then two spring up within a week of each other. And opposite factions too!

FYI, mine's on VH/M.

Olaf Blackeyes
11-30-2008, 01:32
Im just loving all the "barbarian" faction AARs that are coming up now. makes me feel less alone :beam::2thumbsup::beam:

Maion Maroneios
11-30-2008, 11:00
Im just loving all the "barbarian" faction AARs that are coming up now. makes me feel less alone :beam::2thumbsup::beam:
Just enjoy your 'unloneliness' for the time being, barbaros. That's until we Makedones come over and kick your hairy butts all the way to your sorry moms. MWAHAHAHA!!!

Maion

Olaf Blackeyes
11-30-2008, 18:33
Just enjoy your 'unloneliness' for the time being, barbaros. That's until we Makedones come over and kick your hairy butts all the way to your sorry moms. MWAHAHAHA!!!
Maion

All right then "civilzed" fool ill take you up on that challenge anytime anywhere.
*Grabs an axe and several dozenwarriors to chase Maion around*

Yyrkoon
11-30-2008, 18:43
Great setup. Don't screw up :laugh4:

The Celtic Viking
11-30-2008, 22:04
Thanks, that's a good advice. ~:)

You can expect an update tomorrow, or if things go wrong the day after that.

PriestLizard
12-04-2008, 11:45
Nice setup, good start! ~:) Where's the update? :P

The Celtic Viking
12-07-2008, 16:58
Thanks! I know it's almost a week late now (so sorry about that :embarassed:), but it is coming. It just needs some finishing touches, as they say.