Down From Africa (An AAR Sidestory)

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Down From Africa
An AAR Side-story

Since my AAR was going to end up being battle review after battle review, I decided to do something different to entertain myself. This sidestory takes place in the same "world" as my AAR, but since the main character does not know of the events of the Arche, it doesn't necessarily directly follow the AAR. After playing several years, I noticed that some units I had recruited many year prior had continued on and seen the bulk of the war. This story will be about one of those soldiers. (Once concluded, I plan to merge this with my AAR and continue it as before from where this ends.)

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

You never cease to surprise us, MAA. :2thumbsup:

I must say I suffered a heart attack when I saw the closed symbol on the "Pyrrhic Dynasty". :sweatdrop:

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Introduction

My name is Tabriqo, and this is my story.

https://img513.imageshack.us/img513/7149/aithiopia.gif

I, my father, and his father before him were all poor hunters.
My familly has lived in a small village just downriver from the
city of Napata on the great river. In the days when I was
born, the lands of my home were along the border between
the lands of the Kingdom of the Hellenes and the lands of
the Kingdom of Meroe. When I was but an infant the king
of Meroe, who was a Hellene himself, sailed down the river
and extended his kingdom all the way up to the walls of the
city of Luxor.

So, for the extent of my youth, I lived under the rule of the
kings of Meroe. To fund his armies, the king levied heavy
taxes and conscripted many people into his armies. When
war came again with the Kingdom of the Hellenes, my father
was drawn into the armies. With a little training, the army
sailed down the river and attacked the Hellenes. The king of
Meroe attacked Luxor without cause, even though there
existed friendly relations between the Hellenes and Meroe.
My father fought for the king of Meroe that day. He died
outside the walls of the city of Luxor, falling to the armies of
the great king of the Hellenes.

[ Nubian soldiers at the Battle of Diopolis-Megale (152BC) : ]
https://img528.imageshack.us/img528/5637/maa3595rw0.png

The king of the Hellenes fought back and personally lead his
armies up the river. Before the inundation had come twice,
that king had pushed his borders beyond the reach they had
been at my birth. Now, my village fell under his dominion.
Having stretched his army of Hellenes greatly and in need of
new fighting men, the king began to recruit soldiers to help
fight against the Kingdom of Meroe. I did not blame the king
of the Hellenes for the death of my father, but rather the king
of Meroe. Thus I volunteered. At this time, I had only seen
just over twenty inundations, and looking back, see that at
the time I was but a stupid child with much more to learn.

Those of us who volunteered were taken to Luxor for training.
I was, and still am, talented with a bow. Us with archery
skills were grouped together, drilled in military discipline, and
taught how to understand orders by horn or banner. After
several months, we joined up with an army of Hellenes and
Aigyptoi under the command of the Hellenic king's son,
[Alypios] Antigonos [III].

Antigonos was a great leader but not the type of man you
would expect fighting a desert war. He was very learned and
proper. He was a true Hellene. He always wore elaberate
clothing and made sure his appearance was perfect at all
times. He brought with him all the luxories of a city and
rarely socialized with his men. On the battlefield, however,
he was a true soldier. He was a great tactician and would
enspire his men, even personally leading charges.

From Luxor, Antigonos marched us east across the desert
and then the mountains. Once on the coast, we marched
south taking control of all villages and ports, though there
were few. Finally we came to the port city that had been
constructed by the ancestors of the king of Meroe, when
they were still rulers of Aigyptos. After a siege, we were
engaged the armies of the Kingdom of Meroe and defeated
them on a hill just south of the city. The infantry held their
line and the enemy threw themselves against it until they
were tired.

[ Tabriqo at the battle of Ptolemais-Theron (149BC) : ]
https://img406.imageshack.us/img406/8139/maa3718ru5.png

Antigonos sued for peace with the king of Meroe, but it does
not last. We were forced to first fight off an army that
besieged us in the city and then another just inland. Due to
enemy elephants and poor training, the Aigyptoi infantry took
heavy losses. In the first battle, the elephants tore through
our right flank. In the second, they charged the center then
paniced and killed many. The battles, were won, nonetheless.

We were forced to remain in the region for more than a year
without any to do. We waited until the last army of the king of
Meroe attacked us. It was the wet season and Antigonos
chose one of the only river crossing to defend against the
attack. In order to prevent any trouble from the elephants this
time around, Antigonos personally ordered us to light our
arrows on fire and target the beasts. While we targeted the
elephants, Antigonos orders the infantry to form a crescent
around the bridge landing. He allowed the bulk of the enemy
force to cross the bridge before charging in and surrounding
them. The enemy paniced again and we win the battle.

[ Elephants at Alypios Antigonos' final Nubian battle (146BC) : ]
https://img99.imageshack.us/img99/1294/maa3948dy7.png

After this battle, the second chapter of my life came to an end
and a new one began. Having served five years, we were given
the option of leaving the army, taking a job as garrison, or
volunteering to continue with Antigonos. Still relatively young
and stupid, I decided to follow the young prince. We travel
west, across the desert until we come back to the river. We
were not too far downstream from my home when we reach the
river and turned to go north. For a moment I considered leaving
the army and travelling up the river to my home, but chose to
stay with the army. I later learned that the Kingdom of Meroe
had regained control of my village, even at that time.

Antigonos and the army sailed down the river. When we pass
the city of Luxor, I realized that this is the farthest I've ever been
from my home. I will travel much further from my home before
my days begin to darken.

As we traveled down the river, we saw many villages, farms, and
cities along the river. There were also great statues, temples,
and pyramids made from stone, built by the ancients. I had
many times seen the pyramids of Merowe, but the pyramids I
saw near the end of our journey were of such a great size that
it is hard to believe they were built by men.

Just passed these pyramids, we left the river and marched to the
city of Alexandreia. I had heard stories of this city, a city of the
Hellenes, a city of greatness. They had said it was something
that only Hellenes could build and was an example of their
greatness. To me, it was just a large, overcrowded, smelly
version of every other city I'd ever seen. If Hellenic greatness
meant putting a lot of people in one place, I didn't see why they
were so great.

During the journey, many of the Aigyptoi had left the army. Once
in the city of Alexandreia, Antigonos went about recruiting more
men to serve in his army, most of them Hellenes. Those of us who
were veterans, wether Hellene, Aigytpoi, or Nubioi, were retrained
and reequiped. I was given a new shield and was offered a new bow,
but found my own superior to anything the Hellenes had to offer. In
fact, my friends and I had a good laugh at what the Hellenes used
as bows.

Before our training was complete or all the necessary replacements
recruited, Antigonos had to sail without us. We had heard of
Persians rising again back home, but cared little. We hadn't seen
anything Persian for hundreds of years. I would soon become very
familiar with the Persians. While we were in Alexandreia, Antigonos
met with his generals and planned a war with the Persians.

The Persians, like the Kingdom of Meroe had gained strength at
the expense of the kingdom of the Hellenes. While the Hellenes
had fought amoungst themselves [Makedonian Civil War
(177-159BC)], the Persians had unified several
peoples and cast out all Hellenic rule. With a new-found strength,
they had invaded the lands of the Hellenes and killed many Hellenes
in a city known as Seleukeia. Antigonos, and all of us in his army,
would lead the war against the Persians and recover what was lost.

My first voyage on the sea was not an enjoyable one. Winter was
fast approaching and the sea was rough. We arrived in Demetreia
several months after Antigonos. It was another Hellenic city much
like Alexandreia, although I liked this one more because it was
cleaner and further from the sea. A few more men joined the army
at the city of Demetreia. Amoungst them were some local archers.
Unlike the Hellenic archers, these men were professional and were
far superior to even my friends and I, who had practiced archery all
our lives.

We did not stay in this city long. Antigonos wanted us on the border,
and so we marched through another desert to another river. They
called the river the Euphrates. It was smaller than my river, but a camp
along its shore became my home for more than a year.

[ Armies of the Arche camped along the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers just prior to the invasion (c140BC) : ]
https://img19.imageshack.us/img19/7546/maa4267nw8.png

[MButcher]

That was a good read, keep up the good stuff.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Extremely good read, though the last three paragraphs might have had a tad too much overview for a Nubian archer. But nevertheless I liked it very much. Keep it up! It's a good idea to learn of all these battles from the point of view of a humble soldier.

[V.T. Marvin]

Noticing the lock on the Pyrrhic Dynasty thread I was shocked. Seeing your explanation and link to another storyline I was surprised. Reading it I was amazed! :applause:

I very much appreciate and admire your decision to abandon your well established (and incredibly successful) way of making AAR and switch to a completely new track into unexplored land. Such decisions are never easy to make, but extremely rewarding when accomplished. :2thumbsup: :bow:

[Subotan]

You never cease to surprise us, MAA. :2thumbsup:

I must say I suffered a heart attack when I saw the closed symbol on the "Pyrrhic Dynasty". :sweatdrop:

Agreed. Brix were shat. O.-

Great stuff, although this Nubian archer seems to be very aware of modern Geopolitics :book:

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks everybody. I plan to reopen my old thread and unite it with this one when this story ends.

I added that paragraph about the overview of the Persian unification at the last minute. I wanted to mention that but it does really seem out of character. I justified it to myself by saying that he is telling this story in his old age after spending years fighting Persia. I figured he would have learned some of the backround behind the war. I probably should have left it out, though.

The next part will have more details about each individual battles and actually start taking the AAR forward again.

[Lysimachos]

The third thread for one campaign, that has to be an all-time record :beam:


I added that paragraph about the overview of the Persian unification at the last minute. I wanted to mention that but it does really seem out of character. I justified it to myself by saying that he is telling this story in his old age after spending years fighting Persia. I figured he would have learned some of the backround behind the war. I probably should have left it out, though.

Perhaps you could implement overviews in objective, third person intermissions, or something comparable. This would leave no doubt about the actual horizon of knowledge the protagonist has, while still informing the reader about the situation beyond that horizon.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Drawing Out the Enemy

Antigonos left the army for some time. He left us in the camp and
returned to his homeland to meet with his father. There was talk
amoungst the Hellenes in the army over things such as citizenship
and democracy, but it meant nothing to me. I spent my time
practicing my archery. After seeing the men from Syria practice
their archery, I took it upon myself to improve by technique. In the
end, I really couldn't compete with them. Their bows were just of
superior construction.

We waited for nearly a year in that camp along the side of the river
Euphrates. Word came that other Hellenic armies had assembled
to the north and were going to join in on the war. At the time I didn't
see the point in it. Our army had defeated the entire army of the
Kingdom of Meroe. We had won a war all alone, I wondered why we
would possibly need help to fight in this war. But in the following
years, I would see skirmishes larger than the battles we had fought
against the king of Meroe. I am not very familiar with the past wars
the Hellenes fought, but it is my belief that in those days we were
about began the largest war every fought by men.

Antigonos eventually returned from the Hellenic home across the
sea and once again went to meet with his generals. One of the
generals, a cousin of Antigonos or something had once wanted to
be king but was now only a general. Rumors went around the camp
that he could not be trusted, but Antigonos gave him an army and
trusted him to lead troops in this coming war. He and other royal
cousins would lead the other armies of the Hellenic kingdom.

While all the other armies were still preparing, we broke camp and
crossed the river they called Euphrates. We crossed a desert and
came to yet another river. They said this one was called Tigris. At
this point, we were deep in enemy territory but had yet to confront
any sizable force. Antigonos chose a good battlefield and set up
camp nearby. He knew that the Persians would counter our intrusion.
If they came to us, it would give us the advantage of choosing the
field and of being the defender.

Antigonos allowed his men to send out raiding parties to gather
supplies. They were not really needed. Supplies continued to reach
us from the kingdom of the Hellenes. Most likely the raids were
simply done by the unexperienced troops and were simply to steal
and destroy for fun. Antigonos allowed it but ordered no farm
belonging to a Hellene to be attacked.

After about a month of waiting, the entire army had once again
gathered in the camp and we were beginning to wonder if we were
going to be ordered to set up a timber wall around the camp or be
ordered forward. Before a choice had to made, we heard news that
a Persian army was approaching and would reach us in three days.

When the day of the battle finally came, we marched out from our
camp and lined up to face the enemy. The Hellenes formed the first
two line with us archers in the third. For me, it was not the first battle
but many of the young men who had been so eager just yesterday
now stood silent with fear in their eyes.

https://img530.imageshack.us/img530/5395/maa4278.png

Antigonos was right to keep us protected behind the infantry, for the
Persians charged forward quickly. Because of the length of our line,
they chose to try and break through the center. The noble Hellenes
in their heavy armor held the line quite well.

https://img26.imageshack.us/img26/1566/maa4280.png

After first breaking their infantry and then a cavalry attack, the battle
paused. From behind me, I heard Antigonos signal to reform the line.
While the Hellenes returned to their position and I checked my arrows,
another wave of Persian attack approached us.

https://img26.imageshack.us/img26/3656/maa4281.png

In this fight, I first witnessed the Persian elite warriors. They charged
in at our line on either side but avoided the noble Hellenes in the center.
Their strength was so great that Antigonos had to order in the second
line in to reinforce the first. While the two armies fought in front of me,
I noticed our cavalry move out to the flanks from behind me.

https://img530.imageshack.us/img530/3130/maa4283.png

Antigonos' companions moved to my right while the lighter horses moved
to my left. By this time, I had used all of my arrows and our commander
ordered us forward to be prepared to reinforce the infantry if necessary. I
stood their nervous for a moment. That is, until I noticed how well the
battle was going for us. The Persians were already beginning to flee and
there would be no need to send us in to assist.

Around that time, I looked around the field and noticed that off on a hilltop
to the south the horsemen of Antigonos had confronted some Persian
cavalry. In a small grove of large palms, the two groups of cavalry fought
eachother.

https://img26.imageshack.us/img26/2276/maa4284.png

Just as the Persian infantry began to get frightened and random men
began to turn and abandon the fight, our lighter cavalry charged across
the field and completely broke the last of the Persian courage. The
infantry and cavalry chased them from the field while we returned to
defend our camp and the baggage train.

We had twice outnumbered the Persians when the battle began. When
the battle ended, we stood uninjured and the Persians had dispersed
into the desert.

Once the army was rested, Antigonos ordered the camp taken down
and we once again moved forward. We moved down this river Tigris,
attacking towns and looting supplies as we went. Antigonos ordered
us to halt as we drew near the city of Seleukeia. It was a city I had
heard of in the tales of the Hellenes. It was the site where thousands
of Hellenes had been murdered by the Persians. At that time, I only
saw the city from afar, but those in the city surely saw us.

Almost as soon as we were in sight of the city another army attacked
us, actually it was two separate armies and was reinforced by the
garrison of the city. This would be one the first of a series of battles that
would determine the war, though at the time I did not put as much
thought into it.

[Vasiliyi]

Awesome stuff! Excellent update!

[CaesarAugustus]

Amazing how you have been playing this campaign since before 1.0, and still keep it interesting ! This is a fantastic read MAA, and I am glad to see you aren't planning to stop anytime soon.

[Potocello]

Awesome chapter! This is a great idea.

[the man with no name]

Good job mate!

[SwissBarbar]

Great idea!!

[NickTheGreek]

Echoing all the previous comments: Great MAA :2thumbsup:

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks, everyone! :bow:

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Yeah, very interesting!

[julius_caesar_the_first]

For a moment I thought the world had ended when I saw that your AAR was locked.

Congratulations!:2thumbsup: It's really impressive how many different styles you can use. Good job and I hope to see something new soon.:beam:

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks.

In my first AAR, I had planned to do every chapter in a unique style. I got bogged down in one section and bored myself, not to mention the readers, so I quite. I've tried to make this AAR collection a retelling of historical events in a different reality. Once again I bored myself with my writting style and changed it up a bit. If anyone doesn't like it, just say so. If it is constructive criticism, I'll know where I should improve.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

The Battle of Seleukeia (140BC)

Only a day or two after our army coming within sight of the city of
Seleukeia, two Persian armies attacked us. Antigonos once again
chose the battlefield. We would fight in a field where a Hellene's
farm had once stood. The burned out ruins of the farmhouse stood
in the center of the open field, but only dry grass stood where there
had most likely once been fields of grain.

We waited as a Persian army marched across those fields towards
us. Because there were so many enemies entering this field,
Antigonos had ordered us to hold back our arrows until they were
close and to choose our targets wisely. The first wave of Persian
attackers slowly marched toward us without fear.

https://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1378/maa4293.png

The Persian footmen moved slowly, but when the Persian cavalry
drew close they charged in. Antigonos ordered us to fire and all at
once the army let loose with arrow and throwing spear.

https://img7.imageshack.us/img7/9273/maa4294.png

Persian cavalry attacked our right side while the Persian infantry
attacked the center. Once again, the nobel Hellenes were did their
job well. They more than held the line, they pushed back the
Persians and cut them to pieces.

https://img7.imageshack.us/img7/3/maa4295.png

As the first row fought back the first wave of the enemy, the second
wave of Persians approached from the line of trees at the far end of
the field. Their cavalry charged forward, tiring themselves greatly,
and moved to the right side of our line. In order to protect the line,
Antigonos hurilied charged his companions toward the enemy horses.
Some of the companions charged through our formation and knocked
a couple of the men near me from their feet. No one was injured, but
seeing the disorganization in the cavalry seemed to worry some of
my comrades.

https://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1974/maa4296.png

Seeing the mass of Hellenes on horses must have frightened the
Persians. They all turned and ran away. They ran back across the
field and looked as though they were fleeing. We soon saw that they
only fell back to join up with the rest of their force and prepared to
move forward again. We could have moved forward and attacked the
Persians while disorganized but Antigonos ordered us to hold our
ground.

https://img530.imageshack.us/img530/623/maa4298.png

I had almost used all of my arrows and I recall thinking that I would
have to conserve the remaining arrows and watch my shots carefully.
Yet again, we would hold our fire until the enemy was close.

The Persians once again restarted the battle by charging their cavalry
in on the first line, while avoiding our strongest men in the center. It
was on the left side of the line, this time. Arrow and spear slowed the
charge by taking down the first row of horses.

https://img530.imageshack.us/img530/6219/maa4299.png

The main enemy army marched toward our center, but a small group
of Persian soldiers, backed up by cavalry tried to circle around our
right flank. Their actions were very plainly seen by all. Even I noticed
their movements and direction. Antigonos quickly scattered this
group with his companions while our infantry held the line in the center.

https://img7.imageshack.us/img7/3905/maa4301.png

By this point in the battle, I had used all of my arrows. I must admit
that I wasted many trying to hit scattered Persian light infantry that
were throwing spears at our first line. It did not matter much. All of
their heavy infantry were engaging ours and Persian cavalry were
difficult to take down with arrows.

Another group of Persian cavalry attempted to circle around the left
side of our line, but they fell into a trap Antigonos had set up during
the pause in the battle. Out from the trees came the lighter Hellenic
horses, throwing spears at the Persians.

https://img7.imageshack.us/img7/7766/maa4302.png

Shocked by the Hellenes surprise attack, the Persians on the left
flank began to scatter. I watched as the Hellenes chased them down
and trampled them.

Yet another group of Persian horsemen entered the field, but Antigonos
rode out to meet them. Far across the field, the two groups of horses
charged in at eachother with full speed. Antigonos had more men who
were better equiped, more experienced, and rode better horses. This
finally group of Persian cavalry was easily wiped out.

At first I did not like Antigonos. He seemed to be a typical Hellene who
loved nothing but himself. After seeing him lead those charges that day,
I grew to highly respect the man. He never walked the camp and spoke
with his men, but he was my leader and with every battle I felt more
drawn to follow him.

https://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6035/maa4304.png

Once their cavalry was wiped out, the Persian infantry were easily wiped
out by Antigonos and his horses from behind. While the infantry and us
archers secured the field, Antigonos ordered his cavalry to chase down
all those who were late to join the battle and rout the last of the Persians.

https://img530.imageshack.us/img530/2457/maa4305.png

The numbers in the battle had been in favor of the Persians but once
again we scattered them without many losses. The Persian army had
been defeated, but most of the men from Seleukeia retreated back into
that city before they even entered the field and fought with us.

It was only a matter of days before yet another Persian army attacked
us, and again they were reinforced by the men from within Seleukeia.
This time the Persians were lead by a relative of the king of Persia but
he brought less men to the field than we had fought in the previous battle.
We fought on the same field, where dead bodies still lay on the ground
ahead of us as we formed up.

Just as they had done before, the Persians sent their cavalry in first. We
let loose our arrows, but they had little effect on the horsemen. We
stopped our fire as they approached our line and charged the Hellenes in
the first line.

https://img530.imageshack.us/img530/6526/maa4309.png

The Persians soldiers followed soon after their cavalry. Man and horse
attacked both sides of the front of our line. They avoided the center.
They must have learned of the strength of the noble Hellenes and sought
to avoid them. Under the leadership of their general, the Persians pushed
back the Hellenes, requiring Antigonos to send in the second line. They
then tried to flank us on both of the sides of the battle, requiring Antigonos
to divide his cavalry to defend the flanks.

https://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6527/maa4312.png

On the right flank, our infantry began to push back to Persians. Most
likely to order to encourage his men on that flank, the Persian general
charged the Hellenes. The Persian cavalry were quite the sight. Both
man and horse were covered in metal. My first thought was that they
looked like some monster born from a forge, and that if there were indeed
man and horse within those monsters, surely they were dying from the
heat.

As he was already around the rear of the enemy line, Antigonos charged
the metal beasts from behind. To my surprise, the companions of
Antigonos killed almost half of them immediately. The rest were
surrounded and slaughtered. At that time, I came to the conclusion that
they were dressed so weirdly to scare their enemy and lacked any skill.
In later battles I would see what those metal monsters were truely
capible of.

https://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4381/maa4313.png

The man from the Persian royalty fell dead with the rest of his men and
panic spread through the Persian ranks. As men tried to flee, the lighter
cavalry charged across the battlefield to trample and cut them down.

https://img7.imageshack.us/img7/9171/maa4315.png

There were thousands of men dead or dying in that field from the two days
of combat. Some of the Hellenes were dead and many were injured. They
said that only ten thousand Persians of of the of fifty thousand who had
attacked us would fight again. The rest were killed, maimed, captured by
us, or ran off to desert their army. From what I saw, I assumed most of
them were dead. Before that day I had never considered a number such as
fifty thousand and could have never amagined seeing that many dead bodies.
From that day on, I would aways be able to think of what tens of thousands
were and could picture what thousands of dead looked like.

When the battle was over, we went about looting the dead and gathering
their equipment. I took a bow from a dead Persian but found it ruined only
a few days later after I had gotten it slightly wet. I did find something nice
that day that lasted much longer. On a dead Persian I found a gold ring. It
was quite beautiful and enscribed with an intrique design. A Hellene friend
of mine in the army later told me that the design looked like it was from a
place called Thraikia, in the Hellenic homeland. Most likely, the Persian
had looted it off a dead man from that region and it had then passed to me.
I still wear that ring to this day.

We approached the city of Seleukeia, but the Persians had drawn all of their
forces within its walls. We did not have any way of getting through those
walls and they would not come out to fight us so we simply passed the city.
We looted the fields and the homes outside of the city and crossed the river.
On the other side of the river was a smaller city, built by the Persians. They
said that it was built by their army while sieging the city of Seleukeia and
before the slaughter. We looted the city but did not destroy it.

Once again Antigonos found a suitable battlefield. The Persians would be
coming to aid the cities and we would block their path. We set up another
camp on the far side of the river. Messagers came to and from our new
camp and news spread that the other armies upstream had broken their
camps and were all marching down the rivers behind us.

https://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4624/maa4319.png

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Cool!:2thumbsup:

[gamegeek2]

You need some reforms to get those super-heavy horsemen into the army. Klibanophoroi?

[julius_caesar_the_first]

Nice!:2thumbsup:

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks for following and thanks to those who've commented.

I had a busy weekend, so I haven't worked on the next chapter yet. I'm trying to devise some kind of challenge for the main character in this story but am trying to tie it to the game in some way and not have it entirely artificial.

You mean the enemy kataphracts, gamegeek? Those are the late Hayasdan bodyguard units. The "March of Time" (vanilla Marian Reforms) have to occur for Hayasdan to get them.

[HunGeneral]

Really cool:2thumbsup:

This is a worthy side-story to your other great AAR.

I also think your generals would have a use with such heavy cavalry:yes:. (why not give them Baktria late bodyguards:idea2:)

[Olaf Blackeyes]

MAA all that i can say is that you SCARE THE **** OUTTA ME!!!!
Great job:2thumbsup:

[Maion Maroneios]

Outstanding job there, MAA! Looking forward for the rest :wink:

Maion

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

The Battle of Ethesiphon (140BC)

The army halted on the far bank of the river Tigris and we set up our camp.
General Antigonos set up his headquarters in a recently abandoned villa
and we assembled in the fields around it, digging a ditch and small
palisade around the edge. For several months our supply lines were
unsure and the majority of our food came from what was "scavenged" from
the local farms, villages, and towns. Supplies and messages did come
down the river, but until the garrisons at Seleukeia and the other cities
behind us were removed, we would not be secure.

A messenger camp to our camp one day, about two months after we had
crossed the river. He reported to Antigonos, but soon the camp was filled
with the news that Antigonos' cousin had won a victory. I believe this was
the same cousin that the Hellenes did not trust. Up the same river we
camped along, he had defeated two armies of Persia and moved to
besiege the last of the Persians in that area who had hidden themselvs in
a city to our north.

[Battle of Gaugamela Bridge (140BC), Arche forces commanded by Euktimenos Demetrios Idomeneus : ]
https://img24.imageshack.us/img24/8157/maa4338.png

This news raised spirits within the camp. The defeat of the Persians in the
north meant that there was one less garrison to our rear. It also confrimed
that the reinforcements were still moving forward and would join with us
soon. Being this far into land controlled by an enemy unnerved the whole
army, not just myself. We were in constant fear that the enemy would
circle around our position or one of the garrisons would emerge from the
cities behind us. Every time we heard good new from behind us, our
courage rebuilt itself.

A week or so after the message of the victory in the north arrived in camp,
our scouts spotted a Persian army approaching us. Several days later the
two armies were on the field of battle, facing eachother.

Once again, our general chose the battlefield. It was a flat open field with
a small group of trees on the far side ahead of us, the river and our camp
some ways behind us. Antigonos ordered us into three lines, and we
waited for the Persians to start the battle. Once again, they began by
charging their horses forward first. Their armored horsemen charged into
our right and their standard horsemen charged in at our center.

https://img19.imageshack.us/img19/6668/maa4347.png

General Antigonos immediately moved his heavy cavalry to the right flank
and drew the armored horsemen from our line and into a fight with his
companions. In that battle, just off to our right flank, Antigonos defeated the
armored horses and chased off the Persian general.

https://img13.imageshack.us/img13/365/maa4349.png

While the Hellenes in the infantry line fought with the Persian infantry,
Antigonos moved behind them and wiped out their supporting troops. This
seemed to be the last thing necessary to fighten the Persian infantry. They
fled the field.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/9130/maa4351.png

While the heavy companion cavalry gave chase on the right flank and the
lighter companions gave chase on the left. For those on foot in the army,
we reformed and marched forward.

https://img23.imageshack.us/img23/7416/maa4353.png

We would have no further fighting that day. The Persians fled south but did
not go far. They eventually crossed the river and moved around our rear.
Many in the army wanted to give chase and wipe out those Persians who
had survived, but Antigonos ordered us to remain where we were. Had we
crossed the river and attacked the survivors, the army hiding behind the walls
of Seleukeia may have come out and assisted. The Hellenic officers told us
that leaving the men in Seleukeia behind the walls was much easier than
drawing them out to fight them. This was true, for within a month an army
from the north under the command of one of Antigonos' brothers had
surrounded the city and besieged it.

Before that army could reach Seleukeia or any of the reinforcing armies come
to our aid, we were attacked once more. We thought this was just another
battle like the last, and indeed the enemy brought less men to the field, but
this would be a much more difficult battle. We lined up on the same field
once again and awaited the Persian's approach. As the battle started,
Antigonos hurrily changed his plans. I didn't know it at the time, but would
later clearly see that the army across the river had once again crossed it and
was going to reinforce from the south. We had not finished them or given
chase and they were back to challenge us once more.

The larger army, from the east, was the first to arrive. This time they held
back their cavalry and moved in slowly. They seemed to be buying time for
their reinforcements to arrive. To force them to make a move, Antigonos
moved his horses to either flank and ordered us archers to open fire, over the
first two lines of Hellenes.

https://img19.imageshack.us/img19/4756/maa4357.png

Under a rain of arrow and spear, the Persian army did as Antigonos wanted
and charged the forward and into our line. Both on foot and atop horses, the
Persians pushed forward as hard as they could.

https://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6976/maa4358.png

To everyone's surprise the Persians pushed right through the first line and
force the second line to quickly fill the gaps. I can remember the fear has
had at that moment. Just ahead of me was one of those Persian soldiers
atop a horse completely encased in metal. This time the metal horsemen
cut through the Hellenes just ahead of me. The sound and the appearance
of those metal horses in that moment is just one of dozen of memories from
that war that will stay with me always. Even their eyes were forged of iron.

Behind the enemy line, the lighter Hellenic cavalry had engaged Persian
reserves, but without much success. At the same moment the Persians
pushed through our line, I saw them fleeing the Persians. They pulled away
to the north but managed to gather their senses and would rejoin the battle
before it was over.

A runner ran up to our officer and then left. I knew the day that I had feared
since I joined the army had finally come. The Hellenic officer in charge of the
archers gave the order to draw our knives, swords, or clubs and then gave the
signal to charge. All of us in the archery units, both those who had been
recruited from the villages along the great river and those from the land called
Syria, charged forward to fill the holes that had been made by the Persians in
the combined infantry lines.

I ran forward and then halted with a group of Persians just before me. They
bore large shields and spears, both looked poorly made. I swung wildly at a
Persian soldier and my club hit him in the upper right arm before he could move
his shield. He fell to the ground, but before I could even determine his fate, a
group of Hellenes came between me and the Persians. I spent the rest of the
battle behind this group of Hellenes, helping them push forward. I do not know
the fate of the man I knocked down. If he was not killed by a Hellene, he most
likely would have died from the damage to the bones in his arm.

The battle continued for some time, but I could see nothing from where I was.
Eventually, the Persians broke and fled. The generals of both Persian armies,
relatives of the Persian king, had fallen on the battlefield. Both Persian armies
had been wiped out, but it had cost us greatly. By that point in the campaign,
from all the battles we had fought, we had lost over a third of our initial number.
Thousands in the Hellenic army were now dead. Most likely, the Persians had
lost ten times as many. Although I don't know the numbers. After viewing the
previous battlefield, I had stopped thinking about it.

Back in camp, I talked with a Hellene, who was a friend of mine. Around the
same time I had charged forward, Antigonos had pulled his unit from the battle
and arranged them to fight the reinforcements coming in from the south. This
was part of the reason the archers were ordered forward. Antigonos had to fight
two battles with but one army.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/2479/maa4361.png

The Persians had charged this line, but only the Persian cavalry held their
ground. My friend said that he was their just before the Persian general when
he was offered his life by the Hellenes. Surrounded by Hellenes and with
spears at his throught, he refused to surrender and fought on. My friend claimed
he had been one of the men to stab his spear through the Persian's side and
ended his life.

https://img23.imageshack.us/img23/2728/maa4364.png

Once their general was dead, the Persians paniced and fled. While Antigonos
moved his companions to come the aid of the battle I was still fighting in, my
friend and the remaining infantry in the southern battle charged after what was
left of the Persians.

https://img19.imageshack.us/img19/4281/maa4368.png

After the battle we looted the battlefield and returned to camp. The Persians who
had fought were mostly peasants so I found nothing of great value on the field.
It seems that it was their general who had encouraged them to fight so well.

The reinforcing armies of the Hellenic kingdom soon arrived and we in the army
of Antigonos were allowed to have a break from the war. By this time it was the
high point in the dry season and we spent most of it in our camp. Antigonos
crossed back across the river and met with his brothers [brothers-in-law]. Two
armies would besiege the last two garrisons on the rivers and Antigonos would
take his army deeper into Persian territory. Antigonos' cousin who nobody trusted
would continue his siege against the last garrison in the north. The fourth army,
which was commanded by Antigonos' uncle, would cross the two rivers and be
prepared to come to our aid if we needed it. This was all explained to us by our
officers who wanted us to have confidence in our general.

Once our general returned, we marched eastwards again. It was still very hot
and dry in those lands but we would soon be leaving them. We marched away
from the river until we came within sight of great mountains. I had seen
mountains before and had already crossed a back when we were heading
towards the sea to fight the king of Meroe. These mountains were larger than
any I had seen. On this side of the mountains was land belonging to the
Hellenes, but on the far side was the lands of the Persians. Someone said that
the Hellenes had once ruled those lands too, but another said that it had never
been conquered. This was all tied to their hero of legend, Alexandros, who had
conquered the world.

Our rate of progress slowed greatly when we came to the base of the mountains,
but Antigonos demanded only that we make a camp high in the mountains. We
would not need to cross over them or even reach the highest point... yet. We
set up camp in the largest pass over those mountains. That was the very pass
that all the Persian armies had used to invade Hellenic lands and then to march
down and attack us. From here, we were able to block any reinforcements that
would try to rescue the besieged garrison in the lands below.

Many things were about to change for the army, myself, and general Antigonos.
In a way, the march up that pass was the end of another chapter in my life. No
battle of armies would be fought on that pass, but I would be challenged and
triumph.

https://img22.imageshack.us/img22/7083/maa4370.png

The dry season was coming to an end and soon I would see snow for the first
time. At the same point in time just one year prior, we had been planning to set
out from our camp back in the Hellenic kingdom. We had crossed great distances,
done many deeds, and defeated the armies of Persia in a short time.

[Chirurgeon]

Just finally caught up to this. What a great job my friend. Those look like some epic battles. Ha just saw your update. We posted three minutes apart!

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Great chapter, MAA! Do you mean Ktesiphon?

[NickTheGreek]

YEAH :laugh4: :2thumbsup:

[Dutchhoplite]

Seems the first rounds went to the Macedonians http://i.fokzine.net/s/puh2.gif

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Yep, first year of combat goes to the Arche. The next year is a bit slow, I may cover the whole thing in one entry.

I purposely avoided the Ktesiphon spelling so as not to draw a direct comparison between the historic city and the one in my AAR. In my campaign, the Parthians never expanded to Mesopotamia and built the Cteisphon of history. This was a city built by the Median army when they besieged Seleukeia. Since I'm terrible at coming up with names on my own, I used a alternate spelling of Ktesiphon, though it may not be an accurate spelling of anything.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Haha!

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Winter Snows

Our general, Antigonos, son and heir to the King of all the Hellenes, had
taken his army to the mountains that separated the lands of the Hellenes and
the lands of the Persians. We had not moved all the way up the pass, but
had set up our camp to block any Persian armies just on the western side.

We waited in the pass for an expected counterattack, but it did not come.
Our scouts reported Persian armies moving in the valley in on the other side
of the mountains, but we never saw them. Our army waited in the pass but
saw no combat. Back down at the rivers, the other armies of the kingdom of
the Hellenes besieged all of the Persian garrisons that had not escaped and
no longer could escape.

The army that we had twice fought and twice defeated down by the river Tigris
had still not given up. From our camp, we received word that the army
barracaded within the city of Seleukeia had joined up with the army outside the
walls when they attacked Antigonos' brother's army.

They say the army had to move away from the city and made it's battlefield
along a roadway. Antigonos' brother had in his army many elephants. These
were not the same type of elephant that the kingdom of Meroe had fielded
against us. These were elephants from Syria. I was told that those beasts live
only within the city of Demetreia. Since the army had never entered the city
when we were in Syria, I hadn't seen these elephants and cannot say how they
differed from those I have seen.

https://img22.imageshack.us/img22/1273/maa4372.png

It is safe to assume that the battle began with a Persian cavalry charge. That
seems to be the main tactic of the Persians. It does work at times, but usually
only costs the lives of many Persian horsemen.

https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9853/maa4377.png

They say the elephants were the heroes of the battle. They tore through the
Persian troops and scarred them from the field. I have seen what elephants can
do and wish that I could have seen the sight from the other side just once.

https://img22.imageshack.us/img22/8193/maa4380.png

Once the battle was over, both Persian armies were ready to surrender. The
city of Seleukeia fell back into the hands of the kingdom of the Hellenes and
the Persian armies disbanded. During that winter, the city of Babylon was
taken by mercenary forces and the remaining Persians to our west
surrendered.

The Hellenes I knew in the army said that this pushed the borders back to
their previous point before the war with the Persians. For a time I thought the
war was going to end and I would be free to go home. I had mixed emotions
at this thought. I had grown tired of warfare, but there was only poverty awaiting
me back on the shores of the river where I was born. All confusion over the
subject was dispelled when General Antigonos announced that the war would
continue and the Persians would be punished. His speech to the men was
quite inspiring. For a man who seemed so separate and different from his
men, he still had the ability to get them to follow him.

We spent that winter in our camp, halfway up the mountains. When the first
cold came, I saw my first snow. By the height of winter, I not longer enjoyed the
sight of snow. There was so much of it. It covered the grown and refused to go
away. I would often volunteer to assist the scouts just to get the chance to ride
down into the dry lands below. Most of the time we would actually go up over
the mountians into Persian territory. Even in the valley on the far side of the
mountains, snow covered the ground.

It was around the time when the winter was drawing to a close and the snows
were beginning to melt that my life once again changed. We had set up our
camp back in the end days of the hottest season and it was now the end of the
cold season. We had been in the area for almost half a year without a battle.
Many locals and traders from the cities down below came to our camp to sell
things to us. Some of them brought food for the army to purchase, some
brought simple items or games for the soldiers to buy, and some brought
women. At first, the traders were not allowed to enter the camp, but as the
months passed, the guards at the gates relaxed.

On this particular day, I had just returned from a mission with the scouts.
General Antigonos was busy with something so he came to meet us at the
camp's gate. There, the scout leader gave his report, which was nothing
significant, while the rest of us stood and waited.

While we waited, a small man came around trying to sell some worthless
trinkets to us. We just ignored him and he moved around to each of us. He
seemed out of his mind and his items were all worthless. But this, as it
turns out, was just an act. Each time he pestered a man, he moved closer
to Antigonos. He was right next to the commander of the scouts when I
noticed him draw a knife from his pile of junk. I screemed, I believe it was
something in my native tongue, and ran forward. The lone guard that was
with Antigonos lunged at the man, but the man was quick with his knife and
it was in the throat of the guard before he could even draw his sword. The
attacker then turn towards Antigonos.

Everything was a blur to me, I acted without thinking. Before I knew what had
happened, I had jumped on top of the man. He turned around and struck his
knife at my throat. I dodged it to save my life, but it landed in my upper right
arm. A managed to grab his knife arm with my right hand and grabbed for
something with my left hand. I did not remember at the time that there was a
knife strapped to my belt. Instead I found a rock on the ground and swung it
with full speed at the side of the man's head. He went still.

I slowly sat up and looked around me. Only Antigonos had drawn his sword.
Everyone else just stared in disbelief. In a moment a huge group of
Antiogonos' companions had arrived. They surrounded the general, the
attacker, and me. One of them helped me to my feet while another inspected
the attacker. He was still alive and they carried him off. The remaining
companions escorted Antigonos back to his tent.

I dropped the rock, picked up my bow, and walked slowly toward my own tent.
I noticed there was blood coming down my right arm and turned to head for
the medical tent.

[Chirurgeon]

Nice! Did you have an assasin try to kill him or is that something you just added to the story? Nice touch by the way. Reminds me of Theodotus a bit :)

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Nice twist! I see a great career before our Nile dweller. :wink:

[SwissBarbar]

Yeah, great chapter again :2thumbsup:

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks.

The assassination attempt and failure actually happened. In fact, just about every turn since that time there has been one or two assassins doing their animation toward the army. Fortunately, they must not be very good assassins.

[Reverend Joe]

In that case you really ought to stick a couple assassins/spies in your armies to be safe. You never know when one will get lucky.

[Chaotix]

Awesome job, MAA, keep it up!

[julius_caesar_the_first]

Be careful with those assassins or the heir to the Arche Makedonia might go mad with paranoia. Although that could be very interesting to role-play.

And of course excellent update as always :beam::2thumbsup:

[Antinous]

Looks like the archer might get special treatment soon.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks for the comments.

I did immediately move a spy to the army after the first attempt. I thought about not sending a spy and letting them try their best to kill him for roleplaying. I decided not to do that since it would probably lead to another civil war and I didn't feel like doing that again so soon. With a very old Philippos and an infant Hippostratus (Alypios' son), there would be a power vaccuum that would probably lead to civil war.

I'm having dental problems right now, so I haven't been in the right mood to write, so the next chapter is delayed a bit.

EDIT : Dang! I played about three years worth today, including two crucial battles that were both very close. I just checked and it turns out that none of my screenshots were saved. :wall: I don't know why either. FRAPS was on and it said it was saving, but no new pics in the folder.

EDIT 2 : Scratch that. I found them. My computer had crashed and reset the date to 2007. The pictures were thus dated wrong and back near the beginning of my AAR pictures.

[Roka]

finally caught up with this, great AAR

its my favourite AAR of the moment

here, have a balloon for the full AAR (including the two previous threads) :balloon2:

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks, Roka.

Next chapter soon. Although it is mostly story and little gameplay. I started writing and got on a roll.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

The Basilikon Agema

The gash in my arm was stitched back together like a torn robe. The old
veteran Hellene who had done it told me that too much use of the arm would
probably tear it open and should be avoided. He alsos said to watch it and
make sure it didn't change color or start releasing puss. I was then sent out.
I headed to the other side of the camp. I knew drawing my bow would
impossible in my condition. For the first time in months, I hoped that things
would remain quite for a while so as to give me time to heal.

I took my time and walked very slowly. It was just passed midday when the
merchant had tried to attack on Antigonos. It was by that time approaching
dusk. When came within sight of my tent, I noticed several of Antigonos'
"companions" talking to some of my fellow archers. As I approached, one of
my friends pointed at me and the Hellenic nobles ran up to me. My first
instinct was to turn and run from them, fearing I was to be punished for going
beyond my role as a soldier. I did not run. If I had crossed some line and
done something I should not have, I would accept the fate they had for me.

"Come with us," one of them said in the Hellenes' language. They said some
name or title I did not recognize, "...demands you appear before him." I knew
they spoke of General Antigonos. He went by many names and titles. Most
of the titles I never bothered to remember.

I nodded and we walked back across the camp once more. The men said
nothing more to me as we walked.

I had thought we were headed to the general's tent but instead we came to an
area near the center of the camp. In a large open area, guarded by Antigonos'
companions and royal guards, I saw the man I had fougth with earlier that day.
He was on an upright beam, tied there above the ground. He was much more
bloodied than the last time I had seen him. I do not know what happened
before I got to the open area but as we entered the area, I noticed General
Antigonos. He waved his arm to a Hellene standing just below the suspended
assassin. That Hellene swiftly trust a spear upward and into the assassin.
The man screamed and then fell limp.

General Antigonos turned and for the first time noticed I had walked up. He
smiled, in his way, and drew near to me. "What is your name, soldier?" he
said, demanding more than asking.

"I am called Tabriqo, I am from Nubia," I responded softly, in the language of
the Hellenes. I was still unsure of my fate. Nubia is the name given by the
Hellenes to the province in which I was trained and the answer to the second
question often asked of me by officers. This time, I volunteered the answer
before it was asked.

"My father likes to say 'Every good barbarian is a Hellene, and every bad
Hellene a barbarian'," the general said without a pause, as though I had not
even spoken. "I like to believe that this is true as well. By that statement, you
proved yourself to be a true Hellene today." I stood silently. I did not know if
that was a complement, an insult, or just his way of thanking me. He
continued, "Today I lost a good man who loyaly stood by my side and defended
me for many years. You have proven that you are capible of that job, and it is
unlikely you have connections or sympathies to the Persians." General
Antigonos made his aristocratic smile once more, turned, and walked away.

The captain of Antigonos' guard walked up to me as the general and the majority
of the Hellenes walked out of the great open area at the center of the camp.
This man was very old but still looked as though he could easily fight off any man
half his age. "He's taken a liking to you," he began. "You didn't even think, did
you? You just jumped that guy and saved the prince?" His manner of speech
was much less formal than most of the Hellene nobles I had spoken to. In fact,
he seemed almost less formal than the basic Hellene soldiers with whom I had
spoken and befriended in the army over the years. "My name is Damatrios and
I'll be in charge of you from here. Thanks to the prince, that is." He seemed
annoyed to have to talk to me. "I am captain of the prince's division of the Royal
Guard, which you are now a part of." He paused for a second then abruptly
added, "Follow me," before turning and walking across the opening. I followed,
quietly. As we were leaving the open area, I turned and looked back one last
time at the man whom I had helped capture and was now hanging lifeless in the
center of the camp.

I had not been asked if I wanted this new position, and I assume I could not have
turned it down. I thought Antigonos may have given me this position as a reward,
but at that moment it was all overwhelming to me.

We walked to the collection of tents that made up the command area of the camp.
We entered one of the side tents, Damatrios' tent. I stood near the entrance while
Damatrios sat down next to a table covered in maps and letters. He began to
speak once more in his very informal manner, "The man you killed was just an
agent. He told us that he was working for a man named Mitrozaban. This
Mitrozaban works directly for the Persian king and is nicknamed 'the killer' in their l
anguage. Apparently he is very good. And he is still out there! Since you were
able to handle the last assassin, part of your job will be to look out for and stop
future assassins. The prince has sent for an expert of sorts. You'll be working with
him. That's all." Damatrios called for another guard and I was taken to my new
living space.

https://img12.imageshack.us/img12/9638/maa4626.jpg

General Antigonos had two kinds of men who guarded him. His companions were
nobles from Hellas that rode with him into battle, while the royal guards where those
responsible for his protection outside of battle. The companions would often serve
as guards in time of trouble, such as eariler that day or when meeting with enemy
diplomats, but they were not the ones responsible for his life. Captain Damatrios
lead the royal guards and we were tasked with keeping our general alive.

It was from my fellow guards that I learned most of what I needed to know about my
new job. Some of the Hellenes in the guards did not like me, but many became my
new friends. One of the guards, a man named Duratios, came up to me on the
second day and asked me about my ring. I told him where I had found it and what I
knew about it. I thought the man a Hellene, but he told me his father had come
from Thraikia and that he recognized the design on the ring as from his homeland.
Duratios and I became friends and he helped me greatly in adjusting to all that was
new. For my first week, my friends in the guards showed me what I needed to
know and gave me some training.

I was given a new robe, shoes, and cloak. They were all well made and worth more
than I could have ever been able to purchase on my own. Along with them, I was
given a sword. It was one of the Hellenes' sword, a "kopis" they called it. Since I
could not use my bow until my wound healed, this would be my primary weapon. I
was not given armor, like many of the other royal guards wore, but I would not have
wanted it. Armor would just weight me down and restrict my movements. Months
later, I was given a bow made by the Syrians and taught myself how to use it. Armor
surely would have gotten in the way of drawing my bow.

https://img22.imageshack.us/img22/6564/maa4625.png

About a week after being assigned to the royal guards, a man arrived in camp and I
was told to meet with him. Captain Damatrios, my friend Duratios, and I meet with
this old man in Captain Damatrios' tent. His name was Alys Iolkios and he was the
expert who had been sent to catch the assassins. In this first meeting with him,
Captain Damatrios told him all he knew of the assassins and the situation. Alys
remained silent.

In all the time I knew him, Alys Iolkios spoke very little, and when he spoke it was
always and order or about the mission. I did learn, much later, that he had been
the "spymaster" of the city of Edessa and had been assigned there by the king of
the Hellenes. His job had been not only to protect the city but also to watch over
Antigonos' cousin, who the Hellenes feared would betray their king. About a year
after first meeting him, Alys expressed to me, in an way that was very unlike him,
his anger that his warnings of Antigonos' cousin building up an army had been
ignored several years prior.

Captain Damatrios told Alys that Duratios and myself would be under his command
and left the mission to us. Over the next month, the three of us spent most of our
time visiting local villages and collecting information. In all this time, Alys never
opened up to us and always seemed very distant and mysterious.

Just when we were beginning to assume that Mitrozaban "the Killer" had left the
region, another merchant was caught with a weapon at the gates of the camp. This
time, he killed himself before he could be captured.

By this time, winter long over and the hot season was quickly approaching. Since
the the Persians would not come over the mountains and fight us, General Antigonos
decided to take the fight to them. The camp was torn down and we began our march
over the mountains and into their homeland. Since Antigonos was more volunerable
while we marched, the entire guard was tasked with protecting him, forcing Duratios
and I to do a double duty. I spent many days inside or just outside of Antignos' tent
as he planned his actions and meet with his generals.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I had planned this to be the intro to the next chapter, but I wrote too much and never managed to get to the bulk of the chapter. That gameplay content will be in the next chapter. If you don't feel like reading the story and are only interesting in how my campaign is progressing, don't read this chapter.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

I found it very entertaining. :yes: Oddly, I like the seemingly "tedious" parts best.

[julius_caesar_the_first]

Same here. This little story about the assassins might not be in the game but it makes the whole AAR much much more interesting. All AAR's have gameplay in them but only the best go beyond that. So congratulations on another very interesting update:yes::beam::2thumbsup:

[Dutchhoplite]

Great update!

[Cyrus]

Great update
i loved it!

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thank you. :bow:

[CaesarAugustus]

Great update, The story is just as interesting as the gameplay, if not more so!

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

A Wasted Year

It happened when the army was over the mountains and nearly
down to the valley floor below. I was riding near General
Antigonos, and we were near the center of the army's marching
column. It was actually Duratios who first noticed them. He
yelled something and pointed up at a ridge to the south, our right.
There were several men up alone the edge. I was unsure of what
they were doing at first, but one of the older guardsmen must have
immediately recognized what they were doing. He was near
Antigonos and quickly jumped from his own horse to knock
General Antigonos from his. Just as he did it, several lead bullets
came flying down, just over the top of the general's horse.

Once again, I took to action without thinking. I turned the horse I
riding and raced back toward an area where it looked as though I
could get up the ridge, all while grabbing my new bow and stringing
it. I caught my thoughts for a moment and looked back. I saw
Captain Damatrios looking my way, but he gave no signal for me to
return, so I rushed on ahead.

The ridge to our south was mostly a shear cliff, but I backtracked a
bit to the west and found an area I thought I could use to get up.
The area I came to was a steep but dry stream bed that had cut a
groove in the ridge that was quite deep. The horse stumbled on the
loose rocks, but it had been trained to carry soldiers and equipment
over rough terrain and soon found its footing.

When I came to the top of the draw, I saw that the area atop the ridge
was flat and had no large trees, though there were many rock and
boulders scattered around. I looked to where I had seen the men with
slings earlier. There I saw five men standing. Three had slings and
were still trying to attack the men in the valley down below, one stood
near a couple horses, and the fifth, armed with a shield and
shortsword, was running towards me.

I galloped the horse forward, drew my new sword, and lept from the
horse and towards the man coming at me. I wish I could say I landing
on top of him and heroically slew him without much effort. I cannot.
The horse was not trained for battle and my leg was tangled in the
baggage I had opened to get to my bow. The horse was scared and
slowed just as I lept, and my leg tried to stay with the horse. The
baggage and my leg were easily freed from the horse, but I missed the
man I lept for. I landed on some rocks, just short of the Persian, but
fortunately had managed to knock him from his feet as well.

My horse ran off, and left me alone to face this Persian. Both me and
the Persian rose to our feet and raises our swords at eachother. He
stabbed his sword at me, which missed its mark. The dramatic lunge
forward left him open and I stabbed at him, hitting him in the chest and
ending his life right there.

As he fell, I moved to rush forward and toward the other four men.
Once again was tripped by the baggage still tied to my foot. I was
fortunate of this event, for the men with slings had turned and released
their shots at me. Because I had unexpectively fallen, them missed.

I rolled sideways and hid myself behind a large boulder. It was a size
about large enough to hide a lying horse. While behind this rock, I
noticed my new bow, which I had already strung up, was still attached
to the baggage at my feet. I untied the baggage from the bow and my
foot and pulled out the arrows which were still in the case at my belt.
I found three undamaged.

I heard the remaining Persians slowly moving forward and could hear
the sound of a sling being swung through the air. I drew my bow and
stood quickly. It would take a while for a slinger to release his shot,
but I could release my arrow as soon as I aimed. As I rose, I saw three
of the men had drawn nearer. Two had drawns swords, but one still
swung his sling above his head. I let my first arrow fly and it hit its mark.
The Persian with the sling fell. I quickly strung a second arrow and hit
the sword-bearing Persian closest to me. The last man with a sword
turned and fled towards the Persian man near the horses. I aimed low
and hit the fleeing man in the leg, for I knew Captain Damatrios and Alys
would want a prisoner. I was now out of arrows.

I turned to look at the final man who had been near the horses. He was
now atop one of them and had scared the others away. He drew a sword
and raced towards me. I reached for the sword at my belt, but realized I
had left it behind the rock when I had picked up my bow. The man with
the arrow in his leg was still standing, screaming in pain, between me
and the man on the horse. As the horseman rode passed the man I had
shot, he swung his sword, freeing the injured man's head from his body.
Before the head had hit the ground, the Persian was riding passed me.
I looked up into his eyes and he swung his sword once more. Rather
than killing me, he simply hit me atop my head with the flat side of the
blade and rode off.

I was frozen. I thought I was dead, but I had been spared. My mind
repeated that last moment over in my head many times. I continued to
see the face of that Persian. He was an old man. He looked battle worn
but still had the appearance of a noble about him. He wore a cloak over
his head and shoulders, but I remember seeing an elaberate armor under
his cloak. As it will turn out, this man was the very Mitrozaban "the killer"
that we had been seeking for months.

I do not know how long I stood there, but it must have only been a moment,
for Mitrozaban was still in sight when I came to my senses. By then, a
group of Antigonos' companions had ridden up to the site of the battle.
They had come up an easier area and from the opposite direction as me in
the east. They paused a moment, looked at me and the dead. They saw
also Mitrozaban escaping. I pointed toward him without saying a word, and
they rushed off after him.

As I was gathering my weapons and baggage, the stupid horse I had been
riding came back. It just stood there and watched me. Had it not run off, I
may have been able to chase after Mitrozaban. I cursed the horse and
retied my baggage and weapons to it before tying it to a small tree.

By this time, both Duratios and Alys Iolkios had arrived and were
inspecting the dead. Captain Damatrios had ordered them to figure out
who the attackers were and interegate any survivors. The three of us
inspected the dead but found nothing of importance. Alys told us that the
fact each of the men carried the same exact amount of Median coins
amoungst their Hellenic coins showed that they were most likely hired
mercenaries and not Persian soldiers. There was nothing of great value
that would help us predict the movement of or stop any assassins.

When we returned to the army, everything had returned to normal and the
army was once again moving forward. We reported everything to Captain
Damatrios, while General Antigonos listened. Captain Damatrios
complimented me for my actions, but General Antigonos remained silent.
After Captain Damatrios and Antigonos spoke for a moment, all of us
were back on our horses and rushing to retake our position near the
center of the column. That night, the companion horsemen returned.
They had found Mitrozaban's horse abandoned, but there was no sign of
the expert assassin. Alys said that he had mostly likely had a fresh
horse ready and had switched horses at some point.

The army moved down from the hills and to a river valley. We moved up
the valley, looting villages, attacking towns, and burning bridges, but the
Persians refused to meet us in open battle. Slowly we moved upriver, but
there was little resistance. If we had continued up the river, we would have
come to one of the Persian capitals. Although we could not have taken it,
for we still lacked the equipment to attack walls. After several weeks of
this, we halted and moved uphill and away from the river. General
Antigonos had the army set up a temporary camp so that they could
gather together and rest.

https://img12.imageshack.us/img12/9110/maa4410.png

Finally, while resting at this camp, a Persian army attacked us. It was
a very insignificant force, less than ten thousand.

The Persians divided into two groups. Their armored cavalry, lead by
their general, attacked from out of a forest, while the rest of their forces
came up along an open ridge. Antigonos divided our army similarly, so
that cavarly would fight cavalry and infantry would fight infantry.

Antigonos waited with his cavalary on top of a hill for the Persian cavlary to
come out from the forest. Once they were in the open, he ordered a charge.

https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/6241/maa4413.png

A division of lighter Persian cavalry charge into the infantry line around the
same time, followed by the Persian infantry.

https://img12.imageshack.us/img12/927/maa4415.png

Both Persian cavalry and Persian infantry fought for only a short time. Soon
they were panicing and running from the battlefield. The infantry gave pursuit
and the majority of the Persians were killed or captured.

We waited for another month in that camp and saw no signs of Persian attack.
In Antigonos' tent, his generals urged him to push forward and take the nearby
Persian capital, but Antigonos knew he had no chance of taking the city and
pushing that far into Persian territory was too dangerous. Antigonos ordered
the army to go out on larger raiding missions, trying to devastate trade and
draw the Persians into a fight, but still there was silence from our enemy.

Alys Iolkios once again heard rumors that Mitrozaban was nearby. Alys,
Duratios, and myself once again tried to gather information from the locals.
Due to the raiding mission we were only met with hostility and we came no
closer to finding him. We do not know if he made any attempts on General
Antigonos at this camp site, but nothing came close enough to succeeding so
that we would have noticed it.

After more than two months in that location, Antigonos once again moved the
army. This time we moved downriver. Along the way we destroyed as many
bridges as we could and tried to block all trade. Near the base of the pass we
had come over, we took control of the few remaining bridges and blocked all trade
from the area called Media to the area called Elymais. Still the Persians refused
to face us.

https://img9.imageshack.us/img9/8804/maa4418.png

While we waited at those bridges, Antigonos received word from his uncle.
Antigonos' uncle [Laandros, youngest brother of Basileus Philippos V] had taken
an army down the two desert rivers around the same time we had crossed over
the mountains. He had taken control of all the regions along those rivers and
had cornered one last Persian garrison inside a city near the sea. The Persians
had sent forces to lift this siege and Antigonos uncle had fought a large battle.

This army of the Hellenes had been armed in the old fashion. Duratios explained
that this was in the style of carrying huge spears, much as the way the Aigyptoi
had fought during the time of my grandfather. I have never seen this kind of army
fight, so I can only imagine what it looked like. I wonder though, if the style was
so effective, why the Hellenes had almost entirely abandoned it?

I was guarding Antigonos when the messenger arrived and delivered the
report of the battle. The report given to General Antigonos said the his
uncle had lined up his troops and taken the first attack. Their lines held.

https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/556/maa4422.png

Once the battle was underway, Antigonos' uncle lead the cavalry around
the flanks and disorganized the enemy reserves. During this attack, the
cavalry confronted the men under the command of a relative to the king of
Persia. He and his men fell to the Hellenes.

https://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1200/maa4423.png
https://img9.imageshack.us/img9/2496/maa4425.png

A second wave attacked from the city, but when the Hellenes in the line
began to give, Antigonos' uncle sent in his reserves and pushed the enemy
back.

https://img24.imageshack.us/img24/2445/maa4429.png

From that point onward, the line of spearmen slowly marched forward and
pushed the Persians back across the battlefield. During the fight another
relative to the king of Persia fell dead and his army was destroyed.

https://img17.imageshack.us/img17/9256/maa4432.png

Antigonos was quite happy to hear this news. The city had surrendered
and his uncle had managed to gain access to the sea. Now, both river
valleys, from source to sea were back in the hands of the Hellenes. Once
again the soldiers of the army began to wonder if the war was drawing to
a close.

These assumptions only grew when rumors began to spread that Antigonos
was getting depressed. It was true. He had expected to cross the
mountains, approach the Persians' regional capital, fight a large battle, and
end the war on his terms. This had not happened and we had wasted a
year wander up and down this valley. Antigonos was tired and fustrated.
As the cold season once again seemed to settle into Persia, Antigonos
ordered the army to burn the last bridges and raise the camp.

Once again, we crossed over the mountain pass. This time, however, we did
not set up camp on either side. Once over the mountains, Antigonos ordered
the army to continue marching until we came to the river Tigris and the city of
Seleukeia. Antigonos orderd the army to set up camp just outside the walls
and gave permission to all men to do as they please during the winter months.
Antigonos spent his time with his family at the great palace in the center of
the town.

https://img24.imageshack.us/img24/2449/maa4444.png

[Belisarius12]

fantastic keep up the good work xd

[strategos roma]

great work, btw, when are you going to reopen your old thread.

[Africanvs]

I just found this and read it through. I really like how you are doing this from the point of view of a single soldier. I was thinking about doing something like that from the point of view of a Roman legionary. I hope you wouldn't mind if I used your idea? Anyway, excellent story!

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks.

I've been busy with Spring Break, but classes have started again. I started the next chapter about a week ago then didn't get back to it. I'll probably start working on the next chapter tonight, if I feel like it. :sweatdrop:

There's probably about three to five chapters left in this story (though I could extend it), then I'll get back to my old thread an old AAR overview style.

The style isn't my invention. It would be cool if you did an AAR with a similar style. I get alot of my inspiration for this AAR sidestory from the AARs of "Count Arach", who did a series of Romani AARs from the point of view of a common soldier (through letters to his family) about a year or two ago. (For those of you who like AARs, if you can find them in the backlog, they are a nice read.)

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Beginning Again, Fresh

My days during the cold season of that year were spent within the
walls of the city of Seleukeia. This city was named for a long
dead Hellene whose family had been friends then enemies to the
current kingdom of the Hellenes. It was a large city, similar to
Alexandreia in Aigyptos or Demetreia in Syria. It was not as
clean or orderly as Demetreia and there were still many signs of
the Persian occupation within the city.

Antigonos was forced to spent his much of his time dealing with
the complex issues of management and government. I stood
guard over many meetings but I rarely knew what his advisors
were talking about. There were many mentions of Antigonos'
father, the king of the Hellenes, and his building projects back in
the Hellenes' homeland. Antigonos did not enjoy these matters
of management. He left most of the minor tasks to his advisors
or his sister's husband.

Many members of Antigonos' family were in the city or came to
visit him there. When we arrived, his sister and her husband, the
man who had taken the city from the Persians, were in the city.
They had taken to the task managing the newly conquered city.
After only a few days in the city, General Antigonos was joined by
his wife and young son, whom he had written to telling of his
intent of wintering the army at Seleukeia. When the war had
started, his son had just been born. By this time he was already
two years of age and had spent little time with his father.

Antigonos spent as much of his time he could with this wife and
son. He preferred privacy when with his family and often order all
of the royal guards out of his private quarters. When I did see him
with his family, he was like a completely different man from the
one I had known. While campaigning, he was a strong leader who
seemed almost unbreakable. He rarely spoke with the men of the
army or even his guard. He had no friends and spoke only of
business. He seemed to be at all times a soldier and a leader,
who would do whatever was necessary to win no matter the cost.

When he was with his family, he acted entirely different. He was
still the vain nobleman, but he seemed much softer and weaker.
He was like any other man that loved his family and wanted to
spend his time with them. He played with this child, spoke at
length with his wife, and spent his time relaxing and avoiding the
problems that were often just outside his door.

I was reminded of my father, back when I was a child and my
mother still lived. Antigonos had the same look in his eyes I had
seen in my father's when he and my mother had watched me play
along the banks of the great river back at my village. With all the
marching, suffering, death, and war I had seen over the
preceeding years, it was nice to be reminded of the peaceful
times in this world.

When I saw General Antigonos' weaker side when with his family,
I did not loose respect for him. I felt that this man was even more
worth defending.

When I was not working for Captain Damatrios and the royal guards,
or doing my fair share of relaxing, I spent my time with Alys and
Duratios looking for signs of spies and assassins in the city. Alys
had heard from his contacts within the city that Mitrozaban himself
had entered the city and was making another plan against Antigonos'
life.

The city had its own network of spies that had been set up when the
city fell to the Hellenes, but Alys prefered not to rely on them. We
worked independant of them and did all our own work. Alys insisted
on avoiding contact with the spy network or sharing information. I
wondered if this was due to some kind of rivalry Alys had with
Seleukeia's spymaster? It did not matter. We were always several
steps ahead of the spy network, though alway one or two behind
Mitrozaban.

Everyday we searched the city, from the palace to the slums, from
the desert to the river. For the first month, we found very little, only
whispers and rumors. From what we heard, Mitrozaban and his
agents were within the city but we knew not where.

Mitrozaban had taken to hiding somewhere within the Persian quarter
of the city, where he was hidden by the locals. With this information,
Captain Damatrios advised sending in troops and harshly punishing
those who helped any Persian spies or assassins. Antigonos was did
not wish to be disturbed during this time. His sister's husband was
convinced that such an act would only cause greater troubles for the
Hellenes from the Persian settlers and locals peoples.

It was the deep of winter but we saw no snow here. Around this
time, Duratios got a lead of an assassin plot against Antigonos.
With much effort and initiative, Duratios had found a location where
a Persian agent was said to be hiding within the city. Once again
we took this information to Antigonos' brother-in-law. We requested
additional guards to take the man by force but instead the
information was passed on to the city's spymaster. He sent one of
his own men into the Persian quarter and quietly had the man killed
without even questioning him.

The body was brought to us. Though angry over not being able to
deal with the situation ourselves, we inspected the body. He was a
young man, and I did not recognize him. Alys was able to identify
him as an agent of the Persian army, though he was not Mitrozaban.
This was a younger, inexperienced assassin who may not have
even been connected to the man we sought. Still, a man who
wished harm on our leader was dead, and that is a victory. However,
the local city spies got all of the credit for the kill.

There were continued rumors of Mitrozaban and his agents, but they
made no visable move. Once a servant of the palace was found to
be plotting to poison the food, but failed. Other than the "normal"
security problem a "prince" has, there were no major attempts on
Antigonos' life made that winter. Rumors were building that
Mitrozaban had a plan and would strike some time in the spring
or summer.

As that spring came, Antigonos made a short trip north. He visited
his rebellious cousin [Euktimenos Idomeneus] in the city of Arbela.
There, he recognized the coming of age of his cousin's son.
Rumors were that this cousin's son was more like his grandfather
[Pefkolaos Idomeneus, the man who had started the Makedonian
Civil War] than his father. They said he sought power and had
claimed that he was the rightful king. I do not know any of the men
in that family, so I cannot judge. Duratios was convinced there
would be another war amoungst the Hellenes if this young man
came to power. Although Duratios jumps at any shadow and sees
trouble where there is none. Perhaps this fear... or should it be
called insight? Perhaps this insight of his was why he was
assigned to work with Alys and I hunting assassins.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/4862/maa4447.png

While we were in Arbela, we encountered no problems with
Persian agents. Antigonos' cousin had his own spies and royal
guards protecting him and the city was quite secure. I found it
odd that the general's cousin had more royal guards around him
then he had.

We recieved word, in Arbela, that the Persians were starting the
campaign season early. After defending for two years, the
Persians finally made a effort to attack. An army lead personally,
by the Persian king, Koyroun, attacked the Hellenic garrison,
commanded by Antigonos' uncle, down by the coast where the
two rivers met the sea.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/3777/maa4448.png

So far, this war had been fought by the sons of the Persian king
and the son of the Hellenic king. The old king of Persia [in the west]
now was personally leading his men into battle against us. From
what I overheard from Antigonos' advisors, the Persian king was not
a great fighter and was best left to administration. They said this
was a symbolic act and if placed in a test of wits, he would make
mistakes. Soon we would see if this was true.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/3097/maa4449.png

Since spring had arrived, the army was already preparing for
campaign. Antigonos sent word to Seleukeia to prepar the army.
By the time we had returned to the city, his generals had prepared
the army to march.

Because of the losses the army had taken in the first two years,
this spring saw fresh replacements in the ranks. Some of the new
soldiers were loyalist troops from the fallen Kingdom of Babylon
and some mercenary archers from Persia. I was unsure if foreign
troops would fight well alongside the Hellenes, but my old unit was
still in the army and we had been quite successful.

I do not know what happened to the plans of Mitrozaban within the
city of Seleukeia. Antigonos only spent a couple days in the city
before marching out with the army. Had there been any plans, there
was now know target for them.

The army marched eastward along the far bank of the river Tigris then
crossed over to the old royal roadway. News came to us that a
Persian army was on the royal road to our east. Antigonos ordered
the army to slow its march and to wait and see what the Persians
would do.

https://img520.imageshack.us/img520/1026/maa4450.png

With us delayed, the garrison to the south would have to hold out on
their own. Only one other army was in the area and it was an army of
veterans from Aigyptos and new recruits from Arabia. As the dry
season approached, this army would have to fight a battle with
Persians trying to reinforce their king.

News arrived of their battle while we were still marching eastward.
The Persian army nearer to us had retreated back into their own
lands and we pushed forward slowly. But our delay meant that the
Aigyptoi and Arabians would have to fight without us. The report said
that they had choosen to attack the Persian reinforcements as they
tried to cross a river ford.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8373/maa4463.png

They held their ground and used the river to prevent the Persians
from flanking them or overwhelming them with greater numbers. As
the Persians crossed, they were there to meet them on the banks.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/9924/maa4466.png

The result of the battle was a complete success. The Aigyptoi and
Arabians held back the Persians. Those Persians who survived the
battle either drown in the river or surrendered.

With his reinforcements wiped out, the Persian king broke his siege
down by the sea and retreated back into Persia. Antigonos
considered giving chase to the Persian king and his army, but the
Persians retreated into the mountains. Antigonos did not wish to
wander the mountains for a second year and instead chose to head
northwards.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7331/maa4485.png

We headed north. Before we crossed into enemy territory,
Antigonos received another messenger. This time he was from the
far south. A kingdom in Arabia had fought a battle against another
one. The friendly kingdom had won but lost most of its army. The
messenger requested aid from Antigonos. The Arabians wanted
troops to defend their city. Antigonos gave them only money to raise
a new army of their own. The messenger was unhappy but took the
money and returned to his home. I recall Antigonos' advisors telling
him that the friendly kingdom was doomed to fall, but Antigonos
chose not to divert troops from the war against the Persians.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8702/maa4505.png

By the time the hottest part of the year was over, we were at the
walls of a Persian city. We still did not have the equipment to take
a city, but Antigonos was convinced he could get the Persians to
come out and fight him. Our army surrounded the city and we
began the siege. All around us there were Persian armies, but
Antigonos was confident of a victory. His vigor and strength had
truely returned. The army saw his confidence and morale grew. We
would be marching toward victory once again.

[Africanvs]

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8373/maa4463.png


Great chapter, I really like this picture!

[Dutchhoplite]

I would be seriously worried with so many Persians around http://i.fokzine.net/s/bloos.gif

[Roka]

another great chapter

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Great chapter! :2thumbsup:

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks.

There was some really weird terrain in that river-crossing battle. It made things more interesting. There is another battle coming up that also had some awkward terrain.

I roleplayed the push toward Susa. (Alypios) Antigonos was angry he didn't have a big battle the previous year and refreshed from his winter. The next chapter is "The Battle of Sousa", where all the Persian forces in the region come to challenge Antigonos.

[Africanvs]

...The next chapter is "The Battle of Sousa", where all the Persian forces in the region come to challenge Antigonos...

Wow, sounds epic. Should be a hell of a battle, can't wait!

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

The Battle of Sousa

After leaving the city of Seleukeia, we did not see any signs of
Mitrozaban or his agents. It may have been that he had invested
so much in his plans in the city that he could not immediately
follow us. More likely was that he remained hidden and continued
to follow us in secret. Once General Antigonos had decided on
moving north, to the city called Sousa, the army marched at a
rapid pace. While on the move, we were marching too quick for
any enemy agents to execute any plans against us.

Even though there were currently no signs of Persian agents, the
general grew ever cautious of his security. Antigonos took much
more interest in our work and would personally question Alys
Iolkios rather than having Captain Damatrios relay the information
to him. General Antigonos grew Obsessed by Security and was
very Suspicious of anything out of the normal. He even became
a Light Sleeper and would often wake in the night prepared to
defend himself. He was not paranoid or imagining things, for there
were truely people seeking to take his life. Now, unlike the previous
years, Antigonos took a personal interest in his own security.

Once we arrived at the Persian city, the matters of security once
again became more critical. When the general was not moving, he
became an easier target for assassins. The general's interest in
his own protection made things easier, for he was more cautious of
his situation at all times. The fact that we had no signs of
Mitrozaban worried me.

The army set up a simple camp and tried to encircle the Persian
city as much as possible. General Antigonos was convinced that
the Persians would come to us and he was right. The garrison
from within the city assembled and marched out of the city to face
us. They had not even waited for many reinforcements to arrive
before doing so.

The small Persian reinforcement army drew our attention while the
garrison prepared for battle. The small force pressed forward.

https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/46/maa4518.png

The Persians attacked the Hellenes and Babylones in the center
of the first infantry line. Once the bulk of the Persian force was
attacking, Antigonos gave the order for the men to break formation
and push the Persians back.

https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/5183/maa4519.png

The Persians in this first army did not hold long after that. They
turned and ran. They had bought enough time for the city garrison
to assemble and they then moved forward and that was their goal.

https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9708/maa4520.png

The garrison forces split themselves into two groups. As the first
group moved towards our army, the second group strangely lined
up in the forest just down the slope from the battlefield.

https://img8.imageshack.us/img8/2448/maa4527.png

At first, the Hellenes in the first line held, but after several cavalry
charges, the Persians began to break a hole in the line. Antigonos
ordered his cavalry to the flanks and the second line to reinforce
the first at the center.

https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/4977/maa4522.png

To the east, the lighter companion horsemen moved up a hill and
managed to outflank the Persian line. At the same time, the heavier
companion cavalry attacked the Persians on the western flank.

https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/6/maa4523.png

The first group of garrison troops were defeated and began to run
from the field. Antigonos ordered the army back into formation and
marched slowly into the forest down the slope. He intended to line
up the troops in the forest and then charge the second group from
the city garrison that had assembled there.

I recall the chaos when the Persians sprung their trap. I was up
the hill with the generals and the royal guards when the fighting
below us grew greatly. The Persians had moved more troops into
the forest than we had expected and managed to ambush the
army while they were still marching.

The army was attacked while marching and out of formation, but
they fought back. The Persian plan was a good one and well done,
but they just didn't seem to have enough men. The units of
Hellenes soon regained their concentration and were able to push
them back.

https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/696/maa4526.png

The Persian did their best and fought to hold the ground. They were
overconfident of their power and fought proudly because they had
elites resting behind their line ready to charge in once the Hellenes
had tired. These elites were taken out of the battle rather quickly
when general Antigonos once again let his presence on the
battlefield be known. He came from behind the Persians and lead
the entire cavalry force in a powerful charge.

https://img10.imageshack.us/img10/771/maa4528.png

Once the elites had fallen, the rest of the Persians soon followed.
The Persian general escaped this battle and returned to the city.
The city did not surrender.

The army collected the dead and tended to the wounded. The
ambush in the forest had cost over a thousand Hellenes their lives,
accounting for about half our losses for this battle. The Persians
had lost almost ten times as many, counting those who were
captured or deserted.

The army went back to the task of the city's siege. General
Antigonos ordered the construction of ditches and pallicades, but
he was truely an Inferior Engineer and nothing much was
accomplished by the time the Persians had come once again.

Coming up the river valley from the south, another Persian army
approached us. This time it was the personal army of the Persian
king. In the army was not only the king of the Persians but one of
his younger sons. This time, there were not many other Persians
nearby and the king's army would be the only force that would
have to be fought.

The Persians entered the battlefield down a slight slope. Moving up
the old roadway, they came towards the army of Antigonos. When
they drew near, the general gave the order for our archers to fire and
the infantry to prepare for battle.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8825/maa4544.png

Once again there was fighting in the forests. The Persian heavy
cavarly, those beasts who were covered entirely in metal, tried to
move up the western side of the battlefield. With the Persian
infantry already fighting with our first line, Antigonos orders some
of the men in the second line to move into the woods. In the
woods, they managed to halt their heavly armored foes.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/9181/maa4546.png

While the first line held down the bulk of the Persians, Antigonos
lead his own cavlary to the west. Once lined up, they charged into
the forest and joined the battle against the Persian heavy horsemen.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/2820/maa4547.png

Both cavalry were at a disadvantage in those trees, but the
companions managed to slowy cut through those metaled monsters.

There was battle on the main line, a failed attempt to flank the
Persians on the east, and the massive battle of horsemen in the
forest to the west.

After some time, the Persian cavalry broke from the battle and tried
to get away. I later heard one of the companions saying that this
was due to the king's son being injured. The king's son had been
leading the cavalry but had gotten too close to the fighting and been
stuck by a Hellene's sword. The king tried to take his injured son
from the battlefield but it was too late for him.

The Persian king tried to escape but was caught by the lightly
armored companions. They quickly surrounded the Persian king
and cut through his men.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/4202/maa4550.png

Soon the lighter companions were joined by the heavier cavalry who
had fallen behind but had managed to catch up to the fight. The
Persian king was completely surrounded. With nowhere left to flee,
the Persian king was killed. This was a great victory for the
companions and for all peoples living within the Kingdom of the
Hellenes.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/3682/maa4552.png

Antigonos had ordered his men to kill the king if they could and they
did. I do not know why they did not capture him. It would have been
easy. I imagine that it due to the fact he was a hated man to the
Hellenes and many wished him dead. His death ended up being a
great victory in this war and a symbol of the Hellenes' success.

The fighting on the line ended soon after the fall of the Persian king.
This battle had been less costly for the army than the last battle. For
the Persians, it had cost them not just an army but a king.

It was only a week or two before a third Persian force attacked us.
This force was large but untrained and poorly equiped. We all
assumed that the battle would be quick and easy, but we were over
confident.

The Persians came at us in a wide line that could easily wrap around
the flanks. Because of this, Antigonos ordered the second line of
Hellenes to guard the flanks. This left the center weak.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8141/maa4559.png

While many Persians attacked the center, other Persians predictably
tried to flank the line. The cavalry was ready for this and broke the
flanking group.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7098/maa4560.png

As the flankers fled, the cavalry gave chase. It was the same part of
the forest where the Persians had ambushed the army two battles
ago, a few months earlier. They did it once more. Men equiped with
only knives or spears and no armor attacked the heavy companion
cavalry from out of the forest. The companions were overconfident
and held their ground.

The companions fought bravely but many fell. They said it was as if
the Persians would never stop pouring out from those woods. Many
of these men were simple hunters or farmers like I had been when I
first joined the army of Antigonos. Now they were cutting through the
most elite of the Hellene armies with small knives. In the end, the
companions were the better men and the Persian host fled back into
the forest. The fight was extremely costly and the bulk of the
companions lay dead amoungst the trees.

I personally witnessed similar with the infantry battle in the clearing at
the top of the hill. The first wave of Persians had broken and fallen
back, then came a second wave. After some time, it too started to
flee. We were all overconfident and sure of victory. The Hellenes
were permitted to give chase, but a third wave of Persian troops were
ready to fight and had even managed to encourage many of those who
were fleeing to turn and fight once more.

The Hellenes and Babylones had given chase to the Persians in all
directions. They were scattered and unorganized when the third wave
of Persians attacked. The Persians were poorly equiped and trained
but they attacked from all sides with great strength. I watched from
atop the hill as thousands of Hellenes died to lesser men.

General Antigonos personally moved down from the hill and managed
to regroup a section of the line. This section broke the Persians they
were fighting and charged in at the largest of the isolated fights so as
to save their brothers.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/6269/maa4563.png

The Hellenes in our army once again regained the advantage. Once
they were reorganized, the Persians were pushed back and defeated.

That untrained Persian army was more successful that the previous
two combined. Even the army of their king had not been as successful.
It may be that they sought revenge for the death of their king and fought
hard. It may just be that we had already begun celebrating and
expected nothing of these men. To me, it seemed that the way the
Persians spread out and surrounded us gave them an advantage over
our solid block of heavily armed men.

When this third army fell, the city of Sousa surrendered and we entered
her gates. The people of the city greeted us warmly. I was surprised to
see so many Hellenes in the city and learn that this city too had once
been part of the Kingdom of the Hellenes. Because of the small
population and friendly greeting, Antigonos ordered the army to hold
their looting to the very minimum.

A month after taking the city, Antigonos moved the army out from the city
to attack a nearby Persian army, but they fled and gave no fight. They
could have given fight for they were about in equal strength to us, but they
had little fight left in them.

Antigonos moved into the old city palace. There, when we first
arrived, he visited the place where one of his ancestors, one of the
kings of the Hellenes, had died. I spent another winter guarding
Antigonos and hunting assassins. There were several locals who
were found to be plotting and they were executed, but we saw no
sign of any professional agents of Persia.

Antigonos received several messages that winter. During the late
summer and early winter, war had broken out in the north, in a
place called Armenia. Two armies of Armenians fought against
the Persians and managed to conquer great streches of this land.
I recall Antigonos breaking his normal stern expression and yelling
something similar to, "They took too long!" The Armenians had
been part of General Antigonos' plan. They were to have begun
their fighting when we first invaded Persian occupied territory. It
had taken them a year longer than expected to get moving and
another year before they had any victories. Antigonos was relieved
to hear they were finally having successes.

Another messenger came up from the south reporting that the
enemy kingdom in Arabia had once again invaded the friendly
kingdom in Arabia. Still Antigonos did nothing.

Many messages were exchanged with Antigonos' generals and
the other armies. The main goal of the war had been achieved
and now Antigonos would have to plan his next move. He called
for reinforcements and ordered another entire army move to the
city of Sousa.

A messenger came form the east reporting that the army of
Aigyptoi and Arabians had pushed all the way to the "Persian
Gates" and set up a camp to defend an important pass. This
meant that we were secure from an attack from the east. The
bulk of the Persian armies had moved to the north by this point
and this defended pass mattered little.

Amoungst all the important messages were letters to his family.
Antigonos would speak and have a servant write most of his
official letters, but the letters to his father and the letters to his
wife he personally wrote. I know nothing of the content of those
letters.

One letter from Hellas was reported proudly to the city. The king
of the Hellenes had concluded that the war had finally shifted power
back into the favor of the Hellenes. I did not know that the Hellenes
were ever the weaker and found it hard to believe that the Hellenes
and the Persians were currently equal in strength.

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/2112/maa4576.jpg

From the time we took the city until spring, we did not see any
Persian armies. We thought it odd that there was no counter-
attack. Many of Antigonos' advisors had said that they expected
to be besieged by spring and we would need to be reinforced to
hold out. The army was constantly prepared for battle, but still
they did not come. It wouldn't be for a year that I learned why. It
seemed the Persians were near to the point of their own civil war.
The king's son, Aram, had expected to be the next king, but his
uncle had gained the title. Aram had moved his army back to their
capital in a show of force. This forced the bulk of the Persians to
also head toward their capital and away from the front.

Several months after the fall of Sousa to the armies of the Arche, Spring 137BC:
https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/496/phasethree.png

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Yeah, and now conquer the whole of Iran!

[Chaotix]

Awesome job! Keep it up, MAA!

[Vasiliyi]

Truly epic MAA, truly epic. :2thumbsup:

[julius_caesar_the_first]

Looks like all those assassins are finally starting to get to Alypios. I again say that it would be very interesting to see him go mad. It wold be very interesting to role-play a mad Basileus.

And of course great update:2thumbsup:. But the again I never expect anything but greatness from your AAR:beam:. Keep up the great work.:smiley:

PS: I used the word "great" excessively, didn't I?:laugh4:

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks for reading and commenting. :bow:

I'm worried that if I take territory far to the east I'll have trouble holding on to it. I had planned to move my capital to Syria once I started invading Iran, but that was more than a hundred years back. The Romaioi and Karchedoi 'forced' me to take territory in the west. I still plan to reunited the empire of Megas Alexandros, though.

I've already had a Basileus go mad, Aristotelis. Ironically, he went crazy fighting in Babylonia and died in Sousa, Elymais. (I briefly alluded to him in the chapter.) Hopefully Alypios Antigonos will not go crazy, but he is getting some paranoia traits. I am still worried his son will be a failure, though.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

I'm worried that if I take territory far to the east I'll have trouble holding on to it. I had planned to move my capital to Syria once I started invading Iran, but that was more than a hundred years back. The Romaioi and Karchedoi 'forced' me to take territory in the west. I still plan to reunited the empire of Megas Alexandros, though.
Great to hear that you have plans worthy of a true Alexandros...

When you can keep Babylonia and Armenia in check (and even Spain), you won't have bigger problems holding Iran, cause the distance-to-capital-penalty is capped by 80% (like everything else). Unless you want to roleplay, of course - though I think that a unison of Roman and Alexandrian empire would be perfect. :yes:

[Reverend Joe]

I've already had a Basileus go mad, Aristotelis. Ironically, he went crazy fighting in Babylonia and died in Sousa, Elymais. (I briefly alluded to him in the chapter.) Hopefully Alypios Antigonos will not go crazy, but he is getting some paranoia traits. I am still worried his son will be a failure, though.

Would it be at all possible to choose a nephew over his son?

[Elcmar]

Wow excellent job MAA! Loved the Pyrrhic AAR - nice to read something linked into the same "world" - both great reads!

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks. I'll be getting back to the old "Pyrrhic Dynasty" thread and story telling style after this story end in a few chapters.

Would it be at all possible to choose a nephew over his son?
The problem is that there are very few males in the royal family. Other than Basileus Philippos, his two surviving brothers, heir Alypios Antigonos, and AA's son Hippostratos, there are no other males in the family. I'd have to go back to Pyrrhos II's brothers' decendants to find someone other than the line of Alypios Antigonos and Hippostratos.

[Roka]

another great update

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

The Persian Gates

By the time of the fall of the city of Sousa, we had been fighting the
war against the Persians for three years. The cold winds of winter
came and left once more. Snows fell in the hills and melted away
yet again. Spring came and Antigonos prepared to campaign again.
It was the beginning of the fourth year of the war against Persia, the
thirteenth year I had served Antigonos, and the thirty-fourth year of
my life.

The army had lost many men during the years of warfare and the final
battle of the previous year had lowered the army's strength to half of
what it was when the war began. Antigonos' "companions", his noble
cavalry, had almost entirely been wiped out. Many of the veterans in
the army were getting old and tired of fighting. The army was
reinforced, but many of the new soldiers were raw recruits or poorly
equiped men of the east. To continue the war, Antigonos needed
a new army.

To the west there was another army that was remotedly garrisoned
without a purpose. It was commanded by the husband of one of
Antigonos' sisters. This was a different man than the one who
governed Seleukeia, though I do believe I saw him visit the city
during our time there. This army was recruited just before the war
from places called Pontos, Ionia, and regions nearer the Hellenes'
homelands.

When this army arrived in the spring, Antigonos took command of
them and left the city of Sousa. All of the royal guards and most of
the surviving companions went with Antigonos. We left the old army
behind to defend the city. I had made, and lost, many friends in the
old army. I said my farewells to those who still lived and travelled
with the general, eastwards again.

https://img27.imageshack.us/img27/1204/maa4577.png

We heard news that Aram, the man who should have been king of the
Persians, was to the east and Antigonos sought a battle against him.
By the time we arrived at the mountains that divided the Hellenes'
territory and the Persians' territory, our spies reported he had moved
north. He was moving from the Persian capital and heading for the
Persian regional capital to the north, the same one we had approached
two years earlier but not attacked [Ekbatana, Media].

The army marched eastward. We crossed a couple rivers, crossed
over some hills, then came to the mountains. These were the
mountains that separated the homeland of the Persians and were
only crossable in a place called the "Persian Gates". We came to
this pass and found the camp of the Aigyptoi and Arabians allies.

Still we heard no news of Mitrozaban or any other assassins. Alys
was growing frustrated at that fact. He broke with his normal silent
personality on one occation and expressed how angry he was at the
fact we had not been able to capture Mitrozaban in Seleukiea. Alys
was growing quite old and it seemed he was wishing for one last
victory in his life.

When we arrived at the "Persian Gates", we set up came along side
the allied army. I there were men from the great river in that army
and was curious if there were any in that army that spoke the same
language as me or even could have come from the same village.
Once while patrolling for Persian agents, I visited their camp. I
walked through the camp for most of a day, talking with the soldiers
there. I was mostly checking for any signs of Persian agents or
collaberators in that army, but I was also interesting in what type of
soldiers came were there who came from the same lands as I.

Near the end of that day, I was surprised to find a man that was from
very near the same area as I, he even knew the name of my father. I
spent the rest of that day talking with him of our homeland. He was
one of the younger sons of the village head of a town downstream from
my home. My father had visited his father many times to trade.
When he met me, he was surprised at my clothing and position. I
was the son of a poor hunter and he the son of a successful village
head, but now I was the wearing the expensive clothing.

Because he was a younger son and his father would leave little to him,
he had decided to make a life for himself and leave his home. With his
horse, he had joined the armies of the Hellenes and gone on quite a
journey through Arabia. He told me all about his travels through the
deserts and of the battles he fought. We spoke together several more
times and he introduced me to a couple of his friends who had been
raised close to where we had both been born. They all told me the
stories of their lives and of their journeys through Arabia. I enjoyed
speaking in my native tongue, but my new friends and I were soon
parted.

All of the soldiers who had come from the lands of the great river were
rewarded for their years of service. They had been in the military and
fighting for a year or two longer than I had. Their successes against the
kingdoms of Arabia were greatly rewarded by Antigonos. To each man
a grant of land along the great river or a gift of gold was given. They
separtated from the Arabians and were allowed to go home or to
wherever the wind carried them. I said farewell to my newfound friends
of my homeland and we all went our separate ways.

https://img27.imageshack.us/img27/9812/maa4578.png

Antigonos' plan was for the men of Arabia to be the reinforcements
for the new army as we crossed over the mountains and struck at
the head of the Persian serpent. Events to the south changed this
plan. Once again the enemy kingdom in Arabia attacked the friendly
one. This time, they brought even more soldiers and the friendly
kingdom had even less. The reports from the messengers said that
the king of the friendly kingdom bravely lead his men into battle and
managed to hold out for quite some time.

https://img27.imageshack.us/img27/6700/maa4584.png

When the enemies outflanked the city from the far side and killed
the good king, the army fled back to their homes. The messengers
say that the Hellenes who commanded the army of the friendly
kingdom tried to defend the city for as long as they could. They
could not hold out long.

https://img27.imageshack.us/img27/7225/maa4590.png

This friendly kingdom fell to the kingdom of those who apposed the
Hellenes easily once its army was defeated and its king killed.
Antigonos took the message without much emotion. He seemed
to be expecting that the kingdom would fall and did not care much
when it did. However, the next kingdom in line to fall to this enemy
was one that Antigonos wished to hold onto. The Arabians who
were at the time assisting us were from this kingdom. They afraid
for their homeland. In a sign of friendship and support, Antigonos
ordered these Arabians back to their homeland to defend it from the
enemy kingdom in Arabia. He even ordered that a newly built fleet
be used to ferry them back there.

The old army was weakened and forced to defend Sousa, the
Aigyptoi had been retired, and the Arabians were now returning to
their homeland. With only this new army, we had to stand on our
own when attacking at the very heart of Persia.

[Cyrus]

Wonderful update!:2thumbsup:

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks, Cyrus.

That chapter was meant to be a couple paragraphs long and be just an intro, but I ended up dronning on again. The content that was meant to be the bulk of the chapter will be in the next. I'll probably work on that tonight or tommorrow.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

The Persian Homeland

We no longer had any allied armies to reinforce our army but the
supply lines behind us were safe and the new army was well
rested. General Antigonos was ready for the next move and
ordered the army over the mountains. There were signs of
defensive positions on the "Persian Gates" but the few men
stationing them retreated as soon as they saw us. There was
no resistance at all.

Once out of the mountains, we began moving northeast. Once
out of the mountains, Antigonos ordered the army to begin looting
the villages and towns. He was trying to draw the Persians into a
battle in which we could defend. For several months, we had
complete control over the countryside. There was no sign of the
Persians and the general began to consider setting up some sort
of government to control the regions we now occupied on this
eastern side of the "Persian Gates".

I did not like these lands, they were dry but with few rivers. There
were some Hellenes in these regions, but fewer than we had seen
at the city of Sousa. The great man named Alexandros had spread
this far in his conquests and even further. When I had heard the
stories of the great Alexandros, I never imagined how far his soldiers
had to march. He must have truely marched to the ends of the earth.
I feared we may have to do the same.

It was near the time of the year when the cold season began to
approach that we finally found Persians to fight. Two huge armies
approached us from the south and the west. Antigonos chose a good
place to defend, where we held the highground, and we waited.

The army took up position on flat ground, half way up a hill. Because
of the difficult terrain around the edges of the hill, the Persians were
forced to approach us from below. The old army had been armed with
spears, but this new one was trained to fight only with sword. Our
position on the slopes meant that the swords would have an advantage.

https://img27.imageshack.us/img27/9942/maa4609.png

The first Persian army came up from the south. They marched up
the hill and spread out to try to flank the line. Antigonos' choice in
battlefield made this impossible and the Persians were forced to
attack our center. A small Persian force came up the hill and
tested our line while the majority waited just below the crest.

https://img27.imageshack.us/img27/5896/maa4614.png

The small force sent to test the line did not take much for the
infantry to defeat. The infantry from Pontos held their position and
did not follow the Persians down the hill when they gave up the fight.
Still the majority of the Persians refused to come all the way up the
hill. Antigonos decided that it was time to force the Persians to
move and sent his cavalry down the hill to the southeast.

https://img27.imageshack.us/img27/4967/maa4612.png

When the cavalry attacked, the Persians reorganized their line to
defend themselves from the horsemen. This was the sign that
Antigonos was waiting for and he ordered the first line of infanty
forward. With horsemen running behind them and Pontic infantry
moving down in front of them, the Persians paniced and charged
the infantry line to their front. The infantry pushed forward and
quickly broke their attackers. The Persians paniced again and
were chased down from the hill.

https://img27.imageshack.us/img27/8051/maa4615.png

When the first army of the Persians began to flee, the second
army was already near. Antigonos ordered the second line of
infantry to form a line facing west. We once again waited. As the
first row of infantry returned from their chase, they took position
behind the second and rested where they could reinforce if needed.

https://img27.imageshack.us/img27/4844/maa4616.png

Antigonos mounted his horse and lead his companions and the
Hellenic cavalry down the hill to the south. The two lines of Pontic
infantry then began to slowly march down the hill to the west. I sat
on the top of the hill and once again watched my general lead a
charge into the weakest point of the Persian lines. The Persians
did not wish to fight after this charge and turned to move from the
field. Antigonos signalled to the infantry and they came charging
down the hill and into the Persians with their backs turned.
Antigonos ordered his cavalry in and watched as his army crushed
the armies of Persia.

https://img27.imageshack.us/img27/9339/maa4619.png

Captain Damatrios ordered the royal guard down from the command
post as the battle came to and end. We joined General Antigonos
at the base of the hill. Around him, the men of the army were already
looting the dead Persians. These Persians had all been poor and
carried almost nothing of value. Even their weapons were hadly worth
the material from which they were made.

More than half of the second army left the battlefield alive and
retreated to the south. The dead Persians numbered tens of
thousands while ours was was just over one thousand. Many of the
Persians, who had not escaped southward, deserted the army or
surrendered to our soldiers. From the survivors of this battle, we
first learned of the problems over succession to the Persian throne.
Aram had been next in line to be King of Persia, but a man named
Parkev had been raised to the throne in their western capital. Aram
had sought to contend this and withdrew his forces to that capital,
leaving these lands defenseless.

Just to our south the main capital of the entire Persian Empire was
within our grasp. Antigonos knew the prestige that would come with
taking this ledgendary city and could not let such an oppertunity
pass him up. He gathered the army and gave a great speech to the
men about the honor we would all soon have. The army was entirely
behind him and ready for the attack on the city. We began the
march to the south.

https://img27.imageshack.us/img27/3125/maa4624.png

Even though we had just heard of the problems in the Persian
Empire, they were already concluded. By the time we reached the
main Persian capital, the Persians had already chosen their king.
To our north, the new King of Persia, King Parkev, was marching
an army toward us that outnumbered us two to one.

[Olaf Blackeyes]

:jawdrop:Just...plain:jawdrop::jawdrop::jawdrop::jawdrop:

[vartan]

haha King Parkev? why does the Persian King have an Armenian name?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Well the "Persians" are actually Hayasdan. I could have made up a name to make it more Persian, but I'm bad at making up names and just posted what his name actually is.

Though, it can be roleplayed. He is actually the king of Media and dual monarch with the kings of Parni. When Hayasdan fell, the king of Hayasdan was in Hyrkania and his decendants intermarried with the kings of Media. I can roleplay that that is where some of the Armenian names and such came from... :sweatdrop:

[vartan]

In any case, great AAR! I'm enjoying it much!

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Great update! Are you also at war with the Pahlava?

[Reverend Joe]

Man, MAA, I would feel NERVOUS commanding an all-sword-infantry army, and with only your general to provide heavy cavalry. It's not an army that's suited for the East; the only real strength it has is the archer division.

[HunGeneral]

Great update MMA:2thumbsup: - seems like the war for Persia is nearing its grand battle.
You really must be brave to march to the east with an army of mostly swordsmen and with so little cavalry.
By the way: what's the situation with the Nomads are they still romang about or has the new "Persian Empire" anaxed them? + are the Indo-greek doing anything against the Persians?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thank you for reading, everybody.

I'm neutral with Pahlava, although I'm roleplaying that they support the Medians. They really do, too. The two of them have an extremely strong alliance and leave their mutual border almost completed undefended. One of the reasons I've been reluctant to head eastward too quickly is so that I'm not forced to fight the eastern Persian king before weakening the western Persian king.

The Persians (Medians [Hayasdan]) don't have the ability to recruit horse archers or heavy cavalry in Media or Persia. They have a lot of foot archers, though. We shall see how the swordsmen hold up against a powerful Persian army in the next chapter... :beam:

The eastern Persian king has pushed as far north as Dahyu Mazsakata and Kangha, but hasn't gone into the northern steppe. They are fighting hard with the steppe tribes (Saka Rauka) but are always pushed back. The Sarmatians are doing absolutely nothing.

The Indo-Hellenic Kingdom defeated the last forces of the Seleukids, leaving them with only a half dozen unbeatable gold chevroned family members guarding their last town. The Indo-Hellenics are unsuccessfully trying to invade southern Iran and the Persians (Pahlava) are trying to invade the northern Indus valley. I was planning on an overview of other events that happened during my current war, when I got back to my old format. I have some pics of what the Indo-Greeks are doing and may talk about them then.

[Roka]

https://img27.imageshack.us/img27/9339/maa4619.png



awesome screeny

and a great chapter too

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks. I almost didn't add that picture of Antigonos, but I had spent the time to set it up and put it in there anyways.

I'm working on the next chapter but I've been busy with University lately. "The Battle of Persepolis" is coming up tommorrow or so...

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

The next chapter ended up being somewhat long. I'm going to break it up into a couple pieces and post one a day for the next couple days. This first one is just a short story segment...

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Forgotten to the Ages

During our time of conquest in the homelands of the Persians, we
saw little sign of the enemy assassins, spies, and agents that had
bothered us so greatly during the years in the lands to the north.
Mitrozaban had made attempts against Antigonos' life almost
monthly two years prior but in those times there was no sign of
him. Because the age of Mitrozaban, Duratios suggested that he
may have simply died or even retired. Alys feared that the spies in
Seleukeia may have caught him after we had left the city and
deprived us of our rightful kill.

Although we had all worked to find Mitrozaban, Alys had dedicated
almost all of his time during those years to finding that man. Now
he had vanished and Alys had felt as if he would never achieve his
victory. The gods made certain of that fact when Alys died while
we besieged the Persian capital. Alys had grown quite old and
gotten sick during that campaign. Once we set up camp around
the Persian capital he seemed to improve but then died during the
night, in his sleep.

https://img10.imageshack.us/img10/7370/maa4628.jpg

For four years, Duratios and I had worked with Alys searching for
agents and defending our general. During that time, Alys had
barely spoken of anything but our work. To me he did not feel to
be a friend or even a comrade, but I felt great respect for the man.
Even though my father had been a kind and open man, the death
of Alys reminded me of the day when the men returned to the
village and told me my father had died in battle. Alys would be
missed, not simply for his knowledge and skill with the secret arts.

In less than a month a Hellene, who was trained in Syria for the
arts of dealing with enemy agents, arrived in the camp. His name
was Kallistratos, and he was to replace Alys. He was much more
open and friendlier than Alys but that almost seemed to make him
weaker. He was older and better trained than Duratios and I, but
we had experience. Though he was in charge, it was I who
basically lead all actions against Persian agents.

https://img10.imageshack.us/img10/1043/maa4630.jpg

As if reborn, the Persians came for us all at once. Their problems
had passed and they were ready to fight with us once more. First
we saw signs of Persian agents, then scouts, and finally came the
army of Persia, lead by their king. The new Persian king, King
Pakor (Parkev) would personally face General Antigonos on the
field of battle.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

The Battle of Persepolis (134BC)

It was nearly winter once more when we first saw the first signs of
the Persian army. It was a huge army with soldiers from all over the
Persian Empire. About a third of the army was cavalry and this
great number of horses would prove to be a very important factor.
The new rulers of the Persians, King Pakor, and his son, Vardan,
were leading the army. They planned to stop us where we stood
and wipe us out, to the man.

General Antigonos' understanding of battlefields once again gave
our army an advantage. The army took up position on the side of
a mountain with a hillside so steep we thought nobody could climb
up it in battle. Because of this, Antigonos set up the two lines of
infantry on either side of the steep slope where the hill was easier
to climb.

When the Persians took the field, they slowly moved forward and
the archers from Hellas let loose their arrows to rain down on them.
A part of me missed the days when I would rain arrows down on
the enemies, take cover, and wait for the battle to end. For me,
things had gotten much more complicated. Those days were a
lifetime ago even though it had truely only been a three years back.

The Persians marched through the rain of arrows. At first it seemed
that their army was dividing into two parts to climb up either side of
the hill, but then we saw that they would divide into three. While two
small groups moved up the sides of the hill to attack both flanks,
most of the Persians began a charge straight up the steep hillside.
Quickly Antigonos ordered the line to form up at the top of the hill.
Due to the flankers, we still required a large force to guard the flanks
and could not form a strong center.

https://img10.imageshack.us/img10/7682/maa4640.png

First the Persian infantry hit the line, both in the center and on the
flanks. Then the Persian cavalry made its move. The entire mass
of horses moved to the east and to our right flank. They turned and
charged forwad. There were thousands of horses charging with a
great sound. Up the side slope to the east the horde came
crashing into the line of Hellenes and "Anatolians".

https://img10.imageshack.us/img10/379/maa4642.png

The men of our army, only armed with swords, could not hold back
the horses and thousands died. The line began to be pushed back.
Antigonos ordered the Hellenic cavalry in, but they stopped by
flanking detachment of Persian horsemen off to the east of the battle.

The right flank infantry began to worry and the horses pushed right
through them. All around me the officers and advisors of Antigonos
began to panic. One Hellene warned that it was time to retreat and
that the general should be defended. Captain Damatrios ordered the
royal guard to take up positions around the general. I strung my
bow, put it to my side, and drew the Hellenic sword from my belt.

https://img10.imageshack.us/img10/3905/maa4644.png

General Antigonos alone had confidence in his eyes. He ordered
everyone back to where they were and called for his horse. An
old advisor told him to flee the battle, but he would not even hear
him speak.

Once on his horse, Antigonos lead his companions forward. First
they charged east and broke the battle where the Hellenic cavalry
was held down. Then, gathering all the horsemen around him, he
turned back west and toward the battle. There, on that eastern
hillside, General Antigonos lead a couple thousand Hellenes on
horse against ten thousand Persian cavalry who were supported
by several thousand Persians soldiers.

https://img10.imageshack.us/img10/7522/maa4646.png

Encouraged by their general, the Hellenic cavalry fought fiercely
against the exhausted Persians. The flank of the Persians was
weakend. Once again, our infantry were pushing back the enemy.
Even on the western flank, the infantry pushed back the Persians
and began to work their way around the rear of the Persian line.

https://img10.imageshack.us/img10/6591/maa4649.png

Antigonos ordered his cavalry away from the fight to rest, but once
again had to confront the Persian cavalry in the open. The two
great divisions of cavalry charged right at eachother and clashed
at the base of the steep hill. There, Antigonos found and slew the
hier to the Persian throne. Prince Vardan fell dead and his men
scattered.

https://img10.imageshack.us/img10/4674/maa4650.png

When I saw Antigonos leading his cavalry in another charge of the
Persians on the eastern flank I knew the battle was ours. There in
the east, King Pakor was surrounded by Antigonos and his horses.
Separated from his guards, the newly crowned Persian king fell to
a common soldier from the lands called Pontos.

https://img10.imageshack.us/img10/4055/maa4653.png

With their king and his heir both dead, the Persians were leaderless
and lost their will to fight. Chased down the hill, the Persians gave
up the field and Antigonos won another great victory against the
Persians. However, the cost of the battle was great. More than ten
thousand in our army were now dead. This one battle had cost the
Kingdom of the Hellenes almost as much as the entire rest of the
war combined. The Persians lost about the same number and then
another ten thousand deserted.

https://img10.imageshack.us/img10/3831/maa4656.png

A few weeks later the garrison from the city combined with the
reserves from the dead king's army and attacked us again. This
time we had all of the advantages and the battle went exactly how
Antigonos had planned it.

https://img10.imageshack.us/img10/8072/maa4662.png

Only a few in our army fell that battle, but more than a third of the
men who had marched into these lands no longer drew breath.
Antigonos had drawn the Persians into a great battle and had
pulled a victory out from it.

https://img10.imageshack.us/img10/8446/maa4665.png

The great cost of the war was beginning to draw on the peoples of
the region and even on the peoples of both great kingdoms. The
Persians were finally ready to talk.

[the man with no name]

:smash::smash::smash::smash::smash:

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Great chapter! :2thumbsup:

[Vasiliyi]

I love your screenshots. And your way of writing. (the centered paragraphs.). I thought about copying it but decided against it. Your story/aar is fascinating. Keep it up.

[vartan]

Oh no...Vardan is dead!

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks for following and thank you to those who have commented.

I don't know what was up with that battle. The terrain files in EB were altered and normally you don't get any weird battlefields, but every now and then there is a anomaly like that. It certainly made for an interesting battle, though.

Oh no...Vardan is dead!
The "Persians" stupidly sent both their king and their heir to attack me. Poor Vardan could have been king of Persia but instead died at the hands of a Makedonian prince. :skull:

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Blood and Stone

Within the walls of the Persian capital was a nephew of the old
Persian king, King Koyroun. After the second battle outside of the
Persian capital, the garrisons of the city were almost entirely
destroyed and this member of the Persian royalty was ready to
talk with Antigonos. The Persian prince set messengers to
General Antigonos informing us that he wished to meet and
discuss terms. Antigonos and the prince meet in the field outside
the walls of the Persian capital. These lands were between the
walls of the city and our fortifications. We were far from the walls,
but close enough that the Persians could retreat inside quickly.
Antigonos gathered the entire guard but none of the companions.
We walked toward the city and were meet by the Persian and an
equal amount of his guards.

At first the two groups just watched eachother, but then Antigonos,
his aid, Captain Damatrios, and another guard moved forward. Most
of us in the guard waited some distance back. The Persian governor
and his small group of men did the same. Between the two groups
of elite royal guards, the two generals spoke. I do not know what
they said or what happened, but I had a bad feeling suddenly.

I do not know the causes or how it began. The first thing I saw was
a on the Persian guards lunging for General Antigonos. Captain
Damatrios was quick enough to get between the attacker and
Antigonos. At this, all the men in the gathering at the center of the
field jumped forward and a fight was underway. On either side, the
two divisions of royal guards rushed forward, both Persian and Hellene.

At first I reached for my sword but instead chose to grab my bow. I
had already strung it. As I ran forward, I let arrows fly. I used all I had,
about ten. I believe each one met its mark on the Persians rushing
forward on the far side of the field.

By the time I was near the center, my arrows were gone. I dropped
my bow. I then drew my sword and swung at a Persian coming
towards me. We exchanged blows for a moment, but luck was on
my side. I thrust my sword forward and pierced his stomach.

The battle ended as soon as it had begun. On the ground lay nearly
half the Hellenic royal guards. With them were all of the Persians.
Antigonos kneeled over the royal Persian prince. He had blood
coming from his neck and spoke only a few words in his language
to our general before he was dead. Antigonos let loose a curse and
stood up to look around. He noticed the body of Captain Damatrios
and walked over to him. He spoke another curse and turned
violently away. He began walking back toward our camp.

The companions quickly arrived from the camp and surrounded the
scene, but there was nothing left for them to do. When I noticed
Duratios amoungst the surviving guards, I was glad. We exchanged
glances and then together looked toward Captaing Damatrios. Us
in the royal guard surrounded and protected Antigonos as we rushed
back to the camp. Inside the Persian capital there was clear activity.

As we walked back to the camp, the rest of Antigonos' aids and
generals came out to greet us. The one who had joined him in the
field had died with Captain Damatrios and several of my friends. I
heard Antigonos say to his generals, "It is time to take the city. We
should burn it to the ground." By the time we reached the camp,
Antigonos had calmed.

When the army had gathered, Antigonos addressed them. He said,
"I have been attacked with speaking of peace with the Persians."
At this the army grew angry and began yelling. "I have defended
myself and the Persian governor is dead." There were cheers.
"We shall take up arms and take the city now, before they can
recover." The cheers grew and bloodlust filled the eyes of the
soldiers. Antigonos continued, "This city shall not be destroyed.
This is our prize and we will take it whole. We shall not repeat
the mistakes of Megas Alexandros. You shall have your prizes
but do not make yourselves barbarians this night. Take up sword
and shield, we shall press forward immediately."

Without an commander or a garrison, the city hardly resisted at all.
What was left of our army marched into the streets of the Persian
city and began looting and terrorizing the populace through the night.
I stayed near General Antigonos. The next few days would be
difficult days for us all.

[Territorial positions in 134BC, during the First Persio-Hellenic War, after the fall of Persepolis to Antigonos III.]
https://img10.imageshack.us/img10/4681/phasefive.png

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Filthy Barbaroi! A thrilling chapter. I'm eagerly awaiting the outcome of this. :yes:

[Vasiliyi]

:2thumbsup: Nice chapter!

[the man with no name]

:2thumbsup:

[Dutchhoplite]

Great updates!

[Roka]

great updates MAA, I eagerly await the next chapter.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks for following.

I had planned to post another chapter today but didn't get it finished. Since I had a long day, my plan is to finish it tommorrow. It is just a story chapter and centers around the sacking occupation liberation of Persepolis.

[Olaf Blackeyes]

It is just a story chapter and centers around the sacking occupation liberation of Persepolis.

Im sure that the 'citizens' will thank you forever for 'liberating' them from Persian bondage.:laugh4::laugh4::laugh4::laugh4::laugh4::laugh4::laugh4::laugh4:

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

http://www.1stmuse.com/frames/persian_persepolis.gif

Stone and Fire

We entered the walls of the great Persian city. By nightfall on the
first day we had not yet gained complete control over the city.
There were no Persian soldiers remaining, but Antigonos did not
wish to risk acting overconfident. This was the Persian capital and
it did not require a soldier to kill a man.

Through the night, the city rioted. The soldiers of our army went
into the city and looted the town. Many of the city's own people
joined them. When daylight came once more, Antigonos ordered
the men to search the city for enemies and gain complete control
over it. The royal guard escorted General Antigonos down the main
street of the city and into the center plaza near the main palace.
This was for show to the people of the city, for there was no person
left within those walls willing to openly fight with an army of the
Hellenes.

All expected Antigonos to move into the great palace of the city.
He did not. Antigonos chose a large mansion that belonged to a
noble of the city. The noble had died, fled, or hidden somewhere
else. Antigonos' generals questioned why he did no move into the
city palace or even take one of the greater homes still occupied by
one of the nobles. Antigonos said that it was not part of his plan.
The generals seemed confused and angry but the aids and advisors
of Antigonos already knew the was plan.

As for the great palace, Antigonos ordered it not to be looted or
damaged by the soldiers. A few things were carted away personally
for Antigonos and some things were secretly stolen, but he palace
was left nearly untouched. This too confused the generals and
soldiers of the army.

Antigonos spent most of the day issuing decrees and orders to the
peoples of the city and the army now in possesion of the city. A few
people of the city were executed but most did not appose us. I stood
by his doorway most of the day. After what had happened outside the
walls, I felt responsible for the general's protection and did not wish to
leave it to any man, not even my fellow royal guard.

It may have been the loss of Captain Damatrios that drove me. First
Alys had died, then Captain Damatrios. I felt I had to protect Antigonos.

As night fell once more, the army increased their looting and harrassing
of the people. Antigonos retired to his private quarters. When he
dismissed the last of his aids and his guards, I moved outside his door
and stood their to guard it. Theodas, a member of the guards and the
man who was to replace Captain Damatrios, told me that I could retire.
"The guards by the entrance will ensure the safety of the prince," he
said. I refused. "Very well," he replied bluntly and left. Their were
guards outside and just down the hallway, but I still felt the need to
guard the general.

For the first part of the night, I stood by the doorway. As I stood there,
a servant passed by in the hallway. He was a Persian, most likely
someone who had served a Persian noble in this town just days
earlier. As he passed, I turned to look at him. I most likely looked
angry and tired. As I turned I saw fear in his eyes and he hurried
passed. At the time, I thought it funny that would frighten anyone.
I've since realized that it may have made sense. The Hellenes called
my people, and many other peoples from the lands beyond the great
river, the Aithiopioi. Although, they use that term too broadly and
incorrectly to describe my people. This servant had rarely or never
seen a man from the lands of my birth. Since I had joined the guards
I had eaten well and put on some muscle. To a simple servant of these
lands, I may have been very rare and surprising a sight.

As the night streched on, I considered simply going to the new guards'
barracks and resting. Had Captain Damatrios been around to organize
the guards I would feel more secure of General Antigonos' safety. As
things were, I did not feel right.

As the midpoint in the night approached, another servant came down
the hall. This man was carrying a water basin and walked right up to
me. I knew this was for the general and he would be angry if it was not
ready for him when he woke. I checked the man, found him unarmed,
and let him enter the general's room. All the servants had been
checked and there shouldn't have been anything to fear from them.

The servant entered the room but did not immediately come out. He
should have simply put the water down in the antechamber and left the
room. Once again, I had the odd feeling. I rushed into the room but
saw nobody. I continued forward into Antigonos' sleeping chambers.
There the general was slepping, with the servant standing over him,
holding the general's own sword. I yelled and ran forward, but the
servant stabbed downward quickly.

General Antigonos rolled, pulled out a knife, and was quickly on his
feet. He seemed to have been on his feet before the assassin had
even finished his swing. The general had taught himself to sleep
lightly and it had saved his life. I ran forward, my own sword in hand,
though I do not remember drawing it, and stabbed at the servant's
midsection. Just as my sword met with his stomach, I thought of
sparing him so he could be questioned. It was already too late. My
sword went through the man and he fell motionless to the ground.

General Antigonos looked at me and smiled as though nothing had
happened. "I shall speak with the man who allowed these servants
to work here in the morning," he jokingly said. He walked over to me
and and spoke once more, "You seem to have a sense for these
things, Tabriqo."

Antigonos' personal servant entered the room and looked shocked.
When I saw this man I thought to myself that he should have been
the only person I let into the room. I had been so exhausted I did
not have the sense to stop a strange man from entering a room alone
with our sleeping general. I was angry with myself for letting that
assassin into the room, but I knew if I hadn't been at that doorway
he would have entered and killed the general anyway.

Only General Antigonos, his servant, and I stood in the quiet room.
To both of us, Antignos asked with a smile, "Have the guards not
even noticed?" The servant quickly started to come up with excuses
about why he alone was checking the sound then quickly ran off and
started calling the rest of the royal guards.

Antigonos looked beyond me, out onto the balcony. The forced smile
left his face. I turned and looked as well. From the far side of the
city came an orange glow. When Theodas, Duratios, and the rest of
the guard entered the room, Antigonos did not speak of the assassin
but of the city. "I want you to send your men and find what happened,"
he said to Theodas, pointing out the window. "If it is our army, I want
the men responsible arrested by morning and the fires extinguished."

I called Duratios and Kallistratos over to me. While Kallistratos
inspected the body of the assassin, Duratios and I checked the
mansion. In the kitchen we found one of the servants dead. The
assassin had not been one of the servants at all but rather a man
who sneaked in and took the place of one. After more than a year,
professional enemy agents were once again making attempts on the
general's life.

[Vasiliyi]

I like how you are using simple assassination attempt to write your story, very original. Keep up the good work MAA

[Noddy The Beefy Egg]

Introduction

My name is Tabriqo, and this is my story.

https://img513.imageshack.us/img513/7149/aithiopia.gif

I, my father, and his father before him were all poor hunters.
My familly has lived in a small village just downriver from the
city of Napata on the great river. In the days when I was
born, the lands of my home were along the border between
the lands of the Kingdom of the Hellenes and the lands of
the Kingdom of Meroe. When I was but an infant the king
of Meroe, who was a Hellene himself, sailed down the river
and extended his kingdom all the way up to the walls of the
city of Luxor.

So, for the extent of my youth, I lived under the rule of the
kings of Meroe. To fund his armies, the king levied heavy
taxes and conscripted many people into his armies. When
war came again with the Kingdom of the Hellenes, my father
was drawn into the armies. With a little training, the army
sailed down the river and attacked the Hellenes. The king of
Meroe attacked Luxor without cause, even though there
existed friendly relations between the Hellenes and Meroe.
My father fought for the king of Meroe that day. He died
outside the walls of the city of Luxor, falling to the armies of
the great king of the Hellenes.

[ Nubian soldiers at the Battle of Diopolis-Megale (152BC) : ]
https://img528.imageshack.us/img528/5637/maa3595rw0.png

The king of the Hellenes fought back and personally lead his
armies up the river. Before the inundation had come twice,
that king had pushed his borders beyond the reach they had
been at my birth. Now, my village fell under his dominion.
Having stretched his army of Hellenes greatly and in need of
new fighting men, the king began to recruit soldiers to help
fight against the Kingdom of Meroe. I did not blame the king
of the Hellenes for the death of my father, but rather the king
of Meroe. Thus I volunteered. At this time, I had only seen
just over twenty inundations, and looking back, see that at
the time I was but a stupid child with much more to learn.

Those of us who volunteered were taken to Luxor for training.
I was, and still am, talented with a bow. Us with archery
skills were grouped together, drilled in military discipline, and
taught how to understand orders by horn or banner. After
several months, we joined up with an army of Hellenes and
Aigyptoi under the command of the Hellenic king's son,
[Alypios] Antigonos [III].

Antigonos was a great leader but not the type of man you
would expect fighting a desert war. He was very learned and
proper. He was a true Hellene. He always wore elaberate
clothing and made sure his appearance was perfect at all
times. He brought with him all the luxories of a city and
rarely socialized with his men. On the battlefield, however,
he was a true soldier. He was a great tactician and would
enspire his men, even personally leading charges.

From Luxor, Antigonos marched us east across the desert
and then the mountains. Once on the coast, we marched
south taking control of all villages and ports, though there
were few. Finally we came to the port city that had been
constructed by the ancestors of the king of Meroe, when
they were still rulers of Aigyptos. After a siege, we were
engaged the armies of the Kingdom of Meroe and defeated
them on a hill just south of the city. The infantry held their
line and the enemy threw themselves against it until they
were tired.

[ Tabriqo at the battle of Ptolemais-Theron (149BC) : ]
https://img406.imageshack.us/img406/8139/maa3718ru5.png

Antigonos sued for peace with the king of Meroe, but it does
not last. We were forced to first fight off an army that
besieged us in the city and then another just inland. Due to
enemy elephants and poor training, the Aigyptoi infantry took
heavy losses. In the first battle, the elephants tore through
our right flank. In the second, they charged the center then
paniced and killed many. The battles, were won, nonetheless.

We were forced to remain in the region for more than a year
without any to do. We waited until the last army of the king of
Meroe attacked us. It was the wet season and Antigonos
chose one of the only river crossing to defend against the
attack. In order to prevent any trouble from the elephants this
time around, Antigonos personally ordered us to light our
arrows on fire and target the beasts. While we targeted the
elephants, Antigonos orders the infantry to form a crescent
around the bridge landing. He allowed the bulk of the enemy
force to cross the bridge before charging in and surrounding
them. The enemy paniced again and we win the battle.

[ Elephants at Alypios Antigonos' final Nubian battle (146BC) : ]
https://img99.imageshack.us/img99/1294/maa3948dy7.png

After this battle, the second chapter of my life came to an end
and a new one began. Having served five years, we were given
the option of leaving the army, taking a job as garrison, or
volunteering to continue with Antigonos. Still relatively young
and stupid, I decided to follow the young prince. We travel
west, across the desert until we come back to the river. We
were not too far downstream from my home when we reach the
river and turned to go north. For a moment I considered leaving
the army and travelling up the river to my home, but chose to
stay with the army. I later learned that the Kingdom of Meroe
had regained control of my village, even at that time.

Antigonos and the army sailed down the river. When we pass
the city of Luxor, I realized that this is the farthest I've ever been
from my home. I will travel much further from my home before
my days begin to darken.

As we traveled down the river, we saw many villages, farms, and
cities along the river. There were also great statues, temples,
and pyramids made from stone, built by the ancients. I had
many times seen the pyramids of Merowe, but the pyramids I
saw near the end of our journey were of such a great size that
it is hard to believe they were built by men.

Just passed these pyramids, we left the river and marched to the
city of Alexandreia. I had heard stories of this city, a city of the
Hellenes, a city of greatness. They had said it was something
that only Hellenes could build and was an example of their
greatness. To me, it was just a large, overcrowded, smelly
version of every other city I'd ever seen. If Hellenic greatness
meant putting a lot of people in one place, I didn't see why they
were so great.

During the journey, many of the Aigyptoi had left the army. Once
in the city of Alexandreia, Antigonos went about recruiting more
men to serve in his army, most of them Hellenes. Those of us who
were veterans, wether Hellene, Aigytpoi, or Nubioi, were retrained
and reequiped. I was given a new shield and was offered a new bow,
but found my own superior to anything the Hellenes had to offer. In
fact, my friends and I had a good laugh at what the Hellenes used
as bows.

Before our training was complete or all the necessary replacements
recruited, Antigonos had to sail without us. We had heard of
Persians rising again back home, but cared little. We hadn't seen
anything Persian for hundreds of years. I would soon become very
familiar with the Persians. While we were in Alexandreia, Antigonos
met with his generals and planned a war with the Persians.

The Persians, like the Kingdom of Meroe had gained strength at
the expense of the kingdom of the Hellenes. While the Hellenes
had fought amoungst themselves [Makedonian Civil War
(177-159BC)], the Persians had unified several
peoples and cast out all Hellenic rule. With a new-found strength,
they had invaded the lands of the Hellenes and killed many Hellenes
in a city known as Seleukeia. Antigonos, and all of us in his army,
would lead the war against the Persians and recover what was lost.

My first voyage on the sea was not an enjoyable one. Winter was
fast approaching and the sea was rough. We arrived in Demetreia
several months after Antigonos. It was another Hellenic city much
like Alexandreia, although I liked this one more because it was
cleaner and further from the sea. A few more men joined the army
at the city of Demetreia. Amoungst them were some local archers.
Unlike the Hellenic archers, these men were professional and were
far superior to even my friends and I, who had practiced archery all
our lives.

We did not stay in this city long. Antigonos wanted us on the border,
and so we marched through another desert to another river. They
called the river the Euphrates. It was smaller than my river, but a camp
along its shore became my home for more than a year.

[ Armies of the Arche camped along the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers just prior to the invasion (c140BC) : ]
https://img19.imageshack.us/img19/7546/maa4267nw8.png

how can you start a civil war and split factions?

[Roka]

more great stuff

[Horatius Flaccus]

I just signed up to congratulate you! IN-CRE-DI-BLE!

I have been following this since the "Antigonid Dynasty" and although I must say i liked your old style just a bit better, your AAR('s) are the most interesting and epic I've ever read. It's an alternative history done right.

Just wanted to say that, and I think I'm speeking for all who are lurking so now and then, so keep up the amazing!

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Very well written, and very much suspense this time I might add. Great! :2thumbsup:

[Reverend Joe]

Man it's weird to watch the Seleucid empire degenerate over the course of the AAR into a tiny sliver on the coast of Persia.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I like how you are using simple assassination attempt to write your story, very original. Keep up the good work MAA

more great stuff

Very well written, and very much suspense this time I might add. Great! :2thumbsup:

I just signed up to congratulate you! IN-CRE-DI-BLE!

I have been following this since the "Antigonid Dynasty" and although I must say i liked your old style just a bit better, your AAR('s) are the most interesting and epic I've ever read. It's an alternative history done right.

Just wanted to say that, and I think I'm speeking for all who are lurking so now and then, so keep up the amazing!
Thank you all. And welcome to the Org, Horatius Flaccus. It's always nice to hear from some lurkers.

Almost every AI turn, Persian assassins do their attack animation. I've been roleplaying and making up stories about all those failed attempts. For a while there, the Persian assassins disappeared and I was afraid that my story about a bodyguard was ruined, but once I took Persepolis they reappeared.

how can you start a civil war and split factions?
I did not actually split a single faction. I just used the Baktria faction as the second half of the civil war. Baktria shares the same factional MICs as Makedonia and it was quite easy to get them to behave like Makedonia. You just have to rename and recolor the faction. There are many threads around talking about doing such. (I editted my minimaps that I posted in this thread so that it looked like the Baktria province was still a separate faction. It was really just part of the same faction that played the other side of the civil war.)

Man it's weird to watch the Seleucid empire degenerate over the course of the AAR into a tiny sliver on the coast of Persia.
I had thought they would hold out against Pahlava a little better, but once Pahlava got on a roll they nearly pushed them into the sea in less than a decade. Then the Indo-Hellenic Kingdom (Baktria) betrayed them. The Indo-Greeks had almost taken that last town when the Persian Empire (Pahlava & Hayasdan) went to war with the Indo-Hellenic Kingdom (Baktria) and both forgot about the Seleukids entirely.

[lenin96]

After seeing this AAR I decided to read the "Antigonids: A Makedonian AAR" and then "The Pyrrhic Dynasty" and now aI'm up to this, it's brilliant:2thumbsup:! Maybe you should explain why the western Persians have Armenian names by saying that the western part was ruled by Armenians and Armenians made up a lot of the aristocracy in the western half or something similar?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

After seeing this AAR I decided to read the "Antigonids: A Makedonian AAR" and then "The Pyrrhic Dynasty" and now aI'm up to this, it's brilliant:2thumbsup:! Maybe you should explain why the western Persians have Armenian names by saying that the western part was ruled by Armenians and Armenians made up a lot of the aristocracy in the western half or something similar?
That's a lot to read up on. Thanks for reading.
I'm kind of roleplaying that. The western Persian nobles are Median, and the royal family of Media is a merging between the dethroned Hayasdan king and Median nobles. When playing, I kind of just ignore the names if they don't seem right. :sweatdrop:

[Maion Maroneios]

Been catching up a few chapters, MAA, and I can say this really keeps surprising me after all those updates. I never get bored reading this AAR!

Maion

[strategos roma]

how do you get kleorochoi and thoriakitai as macedon??:help:

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks, Maion.

how do you get kleorochoi and thoriakitai as macedon??:help:
Makedonia should get the Klerouchoi Phalangitai in the L3 Regional MICs in a few regions in the east (see the recruitment viewer for details). As for the Thorakitai, I editted the files a little in order to enable them. Some files are already setup to allow Thorakitai for Makedonia so all you need to do is add "macedon" to the ownership line in the EDU and give them recruitment in the EDB.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I haven't had time to write lately. I had a busy weekend then ended up buying "Empire - Total War". So, I've been playing that. I is not what I expected. Everyone was saying it was all new and different, but it just seems to be an upgraded Total War engine. I don't know why people keep saying ancient era mods are impossible, though. Playing shouldn't delay my writting much, but my AAR may end up catching up to where I am in the campaign.

I'll probably end up starting the new chapter today or tommorrow. Don't expect too much, though. :sweatdrop: Just for fun, here's a map of Tabriqo's travels in the military:
https://img110.imageshack.us/img110/3276/tabriqocampaign2.png
Green Dot : Long time camp or long time spent in a city (more than 1 turn in a location)
Orange Dot : Significant Battle by the army
Red Dot : Siege by the army

I have a lot of random maps that I draw when bored, thought I'd start sharing some that have to do with this AAR. :sweatdrop:

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

I like maps. Was he recruited in Diospolis? How long is he underway by now?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Oops, I forgot to add the key. Edited that post to show what the dots mean.

I like maps. Was he recruited in Diospolis? How long is he underway by now?
I think he was recruited in Pselkis but the army was gathered in Diospolis before heading out. It should be almost 15 years since he joined the army at this point in the campaign. I had meant to add a dot for his homeland but forgot to. It is just south of the Pselkis-Meroe province border.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Fire and Ice

I fell asleep during the early morning. I did not sleep long. While
the sun was still new in the sky, General Antigonos called all of
his advisors, generals, the Royal Guards, all the soldiers who had
been guarding the estate into the courtyard.

There, within the walls of this Persian mansion, were the men who
had started the fire. They were hung up on upright timber in the
same way thieves, traitors, or enemy agents were punished by the
army. I had seen and done this to many who were thought to be
spies. This was different. These men were soldiers of the
Hellenes' kingdom and were only guilty of harming their enemy.

From the stories I heard later, the men had been looting the city
during the evening of the day before. They were in the poor section
of the town. The soldiers had met up with some Persians who they
believed were being rude. When the soldiers demanded the
Persians apologize, the Persians fled into a building and locked the
doors behind them. Perhaps encouraged by wine, the soldiers
decided to set fire to the building and chase out the Persians. The
fire spread quickly and burned a whole section of the lower city
before it was stopped.

The next morning, Antigonos had those seven men executed before
all our eyes. Some of the General's generals protested but the
strength of his resolve on the matter ended the protest quickly.
Word spread quickly through the city, and soon all knew the cost
of breaking an order of General Antigonos. The act enspired
confidence in the troops and morale seemed to rise. The event also
covered the rumors of the assassin. News of assassins normally
would have lowered morale in the army, and this was avoided.

Kallistratos, Duratios, and I continued our investigation of the
assassin but found nothing new. Great news came several days
later when one of the other royal guards approached us with a
servant of the estate. The servant had reported something to him
and he thought to bring him to us. The servant, a small Persian
man, said that a man had talked to him and asked for his help in
poisoning Antigonos' food. This servant had promised to help the
man but then came directly to us. He said the man was going to
bring a special poison the next day to a certain part of the city.
We told the servant he would not be punished as long as he
helped us catch the man.

We took this information to the new captain of the royal guards,
Captain Theodas. Captain Damatrios would have given any
resources or men to any plan Alys had conceived, but now both
Captain Damatrios and Alys were gone. Captain Theodas was a
Hellene whom they called a Makedone. He was very proud that
he was so and thought all who were not were less than himself.
Kallistratos was a Hellene from Syria, Duratios was from the lands
of Thraikia, and I was born on the great river to the south of the
Kingdom of the Hellenes. Captain Theodas was not kind to his
fellow Hellenes and we were not even that. He did not wish to
help us with our work, but after some convincing by Kallistratos,
he agreed to give us the command of as many men we needed.

The following day, the three of us and a small group of soldiers
were hiding near the location where the servant went to meet with
the man. We did not have to wait long. A man approached the
servant, they spoke a moment, the man handed an item to the
servant, and then they separated. As the man tried to leave,
Kallistratos, Duratios, and I came out from the building in which
we were hiding and blocked his path. He saw us, turned, and ran
the other way. He ran into an alley and right into our soldiers.
We were close behind him and he could not escape.

What he had given the servant was poison and he was most
certainly an assassin from the Persians. We brought the man
back to the army camp and questioned him. As was normal, he
knew of no future plans and was simply an agent for a larger
group. He did tell us who had given him his orders. The
assassin was an old Persian man named Mitrozaban. It was
the same Mitrozaban I had seen in the mountains years earlier,
the same Mitrozaban we had failed to capture in Seleukeia, the
same Mitrozaban we had thought dead.

https://img7.imageshack.us/img7/3962/maa4689.jpg

While the Persians fought eachother, my job had been easy.
Now that they were ready to fight us again, the assassins had
returned and Mitrozaban was there to lead them.

We once again played the game of chasing Mitrozaban's
shadow. Several attempts at sabatoge and assassination were
caught. None of them since the assassin during that night
were ever a serious threat. Kallistratos busied himself setting
up a network of informants. Duratios would walk the poor parts
of the city and listen for rumors. I spent my time either near
General Antigonos or partrolling the city and countryside.

Antigonos administered the conquered city with the army.
Crimes were strickly punished and the people were restricted
in their actions. It was not Hades for the people. There were
no taxes raised and Antigonos made sure the supply of grain
was controlled. The people of the city were much happier
than I expected.

Antigonos had the army reinforce the city walls and prepare for
a siege. Reinforcements were being recruited in the lands
between the two rivers to the west, but they would not arrive
until the spring. Everyone within the city expected another battle.

Reports from Persia said that Aram, son of King Koyroun, had
become king. Both the new king and his son were dead so the
old dynasty was back in power after only a year of absence.
Aram restored his throne and regained the power of his father.

Days passed into months and there was no sign of the Persians.
Scouts reported that Persian forces had completed withdrawn from
all of the lands of the Persian homeland, and messengers said that
they were no longer fighting in the lands called Armenia.

The season of winter came again. Snow could be seen in the
mountains but the city saw little. When the spring came still war
did not. Antigonos was ready for a new plan and sent out
messengers to King Aram and requested they meet.

[Horatius Flaccus]

Good chapter! :smash:

I wonder why they have withdrawn their troops, civil war maybe?

[julius_caesar_the_first]

Something I would really like to see (but I doubt the AI will actually do it) is Phalava or Persia (Hayasdan?, Media? what should I call them? :laugh4:) finally declaring war on the other and the Persians having a true civil war in the middle of a Makedonian invasion.

But as you said, they are waaaay too friendly with each other for this to happen.

[lenin96]

Great chapter as usual.:applause: It does seem the Persian are haaving a civil war, maybe MAA used force diplomacy.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Great chapter. Perhaps you bring up the Pahlava-half up against the Armenian-half?

[the man with no name]

:beam::beam::2thumbsup::2thumbsup: I love this AAR

[strategos roma]

Great post. r u goimg to go all the way to india??

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I appreciate the kind words. :2thumbsup: Thanks for following.

I've gotten bogged down in work for Uni and haven't been playing or writing lately. I haven't even visited the forums (other than checking to see if I have PMs) since I posted this last update. I may stay busy for the next couple weeks but may write something during the weekend if I am feeling like it (I've been working on a couple papers and just want to rest my brain most of the time). I haven't yet planned the next chapter, but it will be another pictureless story chapter.

So far, I've only fought Media-Persia (Hayasdan) although I now share a border with Parthia-Persia (Pahlava). I don't want to spoil anything for the next chapter, but I will say that I have been trying to get the two Persian sides to go to war since the end of the Makedonian Civil War.

My plan has been to push all the way to India since the beginning. I would have gotten there by now if the Romaioi hadn't betrayed me and 'forced' me to destroy them. I still plan to push east and rebuild Alexandros' empire, but it may still take many years. (Getting to the Indus River may be where this AAR finally concludes if it makes it that long.)

[Ariovistus Maximus]

On behalf of (well, myself :clown:) and many lurkers I would like to applaud your AAR! I really like the 1st-person point of view; makes it MUCH more authentic. :applause::applause::applause:

:bow: Hail to the king of the AAR forum! :bow:

[Vasiliyi]

Perhaps its time for an update MAA?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

It's not dead yet, I just haven't had time. I wrote the majority of the next chapter more than a week ago but didn't ever finish it. I'll try to finish it up and post it in the next couple days... hopefully. I'm also near the end of Tabriqo's story, so I'll see if I can't finish that up to get a better break point before returning to the overview style.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Diplomacy (Part I)

We learned that King Aram of Persian had gathered an army just
north of the Persian homelands we then occupied. Although the
army was large, all of our scouts and spies reported its quality very
low. If they chose to fight us, even without our reinforcements from
the west, the battle would be a simple victory for our side. The
generals of army advised Antigonos that we march the army north
immediately, defeat that army, and capture the Persian king before
he could gather a true army. Antigonos refused to march forward
and continued to push for talks with King Aram.

At the time, I thought it foolish to push for peace when victory was
in our sight. All of us who doubted General Antigonos soon learned
of what he already knew. An messenger from the east came to
meet with Antigonos. He came from the lands of the river called
Indus, but he was a Hellene. There, on the far side of the Persian
Empire, Hellenes were also at war against the Persians. We had
won the war on our side, but they were loosing on their side. The
messenger's main reason for visiting was to request aid in their war,
but he also brought news of the gathering of a huge army to our east.

This man's kingdom was already nearly defeated by the Persians
and they were moving armies away from that war and westward to
fight with us. The northern Persian king was ready to move his entire
force against us. With half of a Hellenic army remaining in the
conquered Persian capital, it would have been impossible to fight
these many armies from the north and east. With this information,
the generals and advisors of Antigonos quieted their requests for war
and accepted a plan to force the Perians into a subserviant peace.

Antigonos gave this kingdom to the far east a small amount of silver
but told them he would not help them as long as they sought the
destruction of the Hellenistic royal line which was called the Seleukid
Dynasty. This family had been long friends of Antigonos' family and
he sought to protect them. It did not come quickly, but several years
later the war between those two distant Hellenic factions came to an
end. As promised, Antigonos then sent silver to support both.

https://img9.imageshack.us/img9/3742/maa4705.jpg

Before we received a formal message from King Aram, another
messenger from the lands of Arabia came to meet with Antigonos.
A small kingdom allied to the Hellenes had come under attack of a
larger enemy kingdom. Although they were outnumbered, the king
of the small kingdom had won a great victory. Once the enemy
began assaulting the wall of their capital, the Arab king moved his
cavalry out from the city and attacked the enemy reserves.

https://img9.imageshack.us/img9/2420/maa4678.png

After defeating the enemy cavalry, the allied king charged the enemy
general and killed him with an attack from two sides. With broken
morale and no leadership, the enemies assaulting the walls broke
formation and were wiped out by the city defenders.

https://img9.imageshack.us/img9/1306/maa4680.png

The messenger was from the allied kingdom and came requesting
assistance from Antigonos. Their kingdom had been saved, but
their army was destroyed. Last time a small kingdom to the south
had requested assistance, Antigonos had sent none. This time
Antigonos acted very differently. This allied kingdom was just
across the sea from my homelands and was very important to the
security of Antigonos' father's kingdom. Antigonos sent word to the
lands of Syria to gather a force to march south and to this kingdom.
Another message was sent to his father. Once Antigonos' father
had agreed with the plan, the army would march south and attack
the enemy kingdom in Arabia.

General Antigonos had already begun to shift his attention away
from the war in Persia by the time King Aram sent word agreeing to
discussions. For a month, messages were sent between the two
men. Finally conditions were good for a meeting between Atigonos,
prince of the Hellenes, and Aram, king of the Persians. The two
leaders would meet and it would be the task of the Royal Guard to
protect Antigonos.

[Horatius Flaccus]

You're back! Great chapter, as usual.

I'm curious what you are going to do if the "Great War" is finally finished.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

https://img9.imageshack.us/img9/2420/maa4678.png


Brilliant picture!

[Vasiliyi]

:2thumbsup: Good to see an update.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks.

I've already started the next chapter, so the wait until the next posting shouldn't be as long as this last time.

I'm curious what you are going to do if the "Great War" is finally finished.
There's always another war. I'm still at war with The Iberian Confederacy, Numidia and Mauretania, The Kingdom of Sab'yn, and there is trouble in Gaul that is threatening to undo the balance of powers. Besides, the Persian Empire isn't going to be silent for long, the AI never forgives. But Basileus Philippos V is getting quite old and it is about time to hand over the Arche to his son.

Brilliant picture!
That picture was one of the reasons I chose to even talk about that battle. It really wasn't critical to the story, but I loved that picture.

[BerkeleyBoi]

Wow, awesome story you're telling and even more awesomer pictures! Took me a long time to catch up, but now I look forward to the next updates!

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks BerkeleyBoi. Nice to see you in this forum again.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Diplomacy (Part II)

General Antigonos and King Aram were to meet and discuss the
end of the war that we had been waging for more than ten years.
The two leaders would meet in a small town north of the Persian
capital we then controlled. We prepared to ride north with a
portion of the army but only the royal guard would join Antigonos
in the city when he meet with the Persian king. Our scouts
would search the city first.

We were all concerned for the safety of General Antigonos. Last
time he had attempt a peacefully meeting with a Persian leader,
he had barely survived the encounter. Antigonos said he trusted
the honor of the new Persian king. We could not argue with our
leader, we could only protect him.

General Antigonos had lead us for many long years. We had
come through hard times, but our general always brought us
victory. He was born around the same time as I was, though our
births were very far from eachother, in a great many ways. He is
son of the king and will one day, himself, be king of the Hellenes.
He is a great leader of men. He could get any man to follow his
lead and then win victories when he took him into battle. The
only weakness I saw was when he was in the cities. He disliked
the jobs of managing cities and left much of that work to his
advisors. His advisors seemed pleased when he did little of this
work. They did not wish the power for themselves, but prefered
not to argue with their general when he chose to make decisions.
They often disagreed with his choices and often had to openly
appose them to prevent a grave mistake. Fortunately, Antigonos
was surrounded by loyal and skilled followers.

https://img9.imageshack.us/img9/4770/maa4695.png

On the other side was King Aram, ruler of the Persian Empire.
They say that it was Aram who lead the war against the Kingdom
of Babylon during his father's rule. This had started the great war
we were then still fighting. Aram was said to be a noble leader but
at times was unable to prevent his generals' horrible acts, such as
the slaughter of Hellenes when Persia took the great city of
Seleukeia. When Arams' father died by our army, he did not
become king of Persia. It was not until his relative and that man's
son also died by our army that Aram was able to become king.
In a way, Aram owed his throne to Antigonos, though he also
owed the loss of his father to Antigonos. Our spies reported that
King Aram was a wise and well liked leader, but his people were
growing tired of the war.

https://img9.imageshack.us/img9/9466/maa4694.png

Several days before we to leave Captain Theodas spoke with
Duratios and I. He told us that we would not be joining the guards
and would stay behind in the Persian capital. He did not tell us
why he had chosen this. Later, we talked with another member
of the guards who had been told the same thing. He was also
from the land of Thraikia.

It was natural for Duratios and I to investigate and we asked other
members of the guards. We found that yet another man had been
told to say as well. This man was a Hellene, though. We
discovered that only those who were the Hellenes called
Makedones had been ordered to accompany the general. It was
clear that these orders came from Captain Theodas. He did not
like any person who was not a Makedone, even fellow Hellenes.

Duratios began to talk of Captain Theodas and was convinced that
we would soon be forced to leave the royal guard by his orders. I
did not understand Captain Theodas at that time and decided to
not worry like Duratios. Duratios later told Kallistratos and he
agreed with him. Even though Kallistratos was an agent working
directly for General Antigonos, Captain Theodas had let it be
known that he wished him replaced. Even though Kallistratos
was a Hellene, Captain Theodas did not like him.

The problem came to a quick end by the word of Antigonos.
General Antigonos did not know of Captain Theodas' orders to the
guards but ended those orders quickly. A day before he was to
leave, General Antigonos spoke to me while I on guard. He
suddenly stopped what he was doing and thought a moment. He
turned to me and said, "I want you to stay close to me when we
meet with the Persian king, Tabriqo." He then quickly returned
to the papers he had on the table. I was honored he personally
trusted me with his safety, though I had proved I was capible.
Captain Theodas was in the room and hear this and was not
happy, but he could no longer order me to remain in the city. All
of the guard joined Antigonos when we travelled the next day.

We travelled north across the lands of Persis. When we came
within sight of the town, the scouting group approached the army
and reported that there was only a handful of Persian guards in
the town and no other forces nearby. The scouts left to patrol
the hills and the small army set up camp where we had stopped.
Antigonos, his aids, and the royal guards moved forward. There
were just under twenty of us in the guards. There had been
several more, but we had not filled our numbers since that time
a negotiation turned into a fight and Captain Damatrios had died.

We entered the small town; I forgot what it was named. The city
was bare. It looked as though no person had lived there for many
months. In the center of the town, the largest building had several
Persian guards near it. Captain Theodas and a couple others
entered the building and came out soon after. Captian Theodas
reported that there was nobody inside but it had been cleaned up.
Antigonos, his aids, myself, Captain Theodas, and another guard
entered the building while the others spread out.

We sat and waited. "Should the Persian king have not been
waiting for us here?" one aid asked.

"Perhaps it is a trap," another suggested.

"They would not be that stupid," Captian Theodas said brazenly.

"He seeks to establish an upper hand by having the power over
the meeting's beginning," Antigonos confidently said. "We shall
let him have this," he said, taking a drink of wine.

We waited until midday. One of the royal guards entered the
room and reported that a small army had approached and a
small group of men on horses were coming towards the town.
I checked my sword, bow, and arrows. I was ready for a fight.
One of the Persian guards entered and confirmed that it was
King Aram.

A group of Persian men entered the building shortly. A short
bearded man wearing an odd hat sat in the center. This man
was introduced as King Aram, "first king" of the Persian Empire.
I did not think much of him at first but soon learned he was
worthy of the great respect he commanded. He proved to be a
worthy challenge even for the charisma of Antigonos.

The story of that day and the one that followed is not a story I am
suited to tell. I spent my time watching every man's slightest
movement and never letting my guard down. General Antigonos
and King Aram spoke in the Hellene tongue at great length. I did
not bother trying to follow what they spoke of. On the first day the
two men spoke with eachother as though they were two fighters
circling the other looking for an opening to strike at. By the
second day they spoke as though they were long time friends.
Although this friendliness covered a tension even I was aware of.
It was clear that both sides wished peace but also wished to be
seen as the victor in this war.

From what I understood, both the Persians and our forces were
weakened but both men played as though they had all the power.
I did not know it, but we were weaker than I had thought that day.
The reinforcements coming to join us were weak, and the lands of
Persis, away from the capital, were rioting under our control.

By dusk on the second day, the two leaders had come to a decision.
We spent a second night in the army camp outside the city and the
following day returned the the Persian capital of Persepolis. In the
city, Antigonos gave a speech to the army, reporting that the war
was over. The Persian Empire had accepted peace. King Aram
would end the war and would even convince his fellow Persian king to
pull back his troops that were marching on Persepolis.

https://img9.imageshack.us/img9/5164/maa4697.jpg

Antigonos did not believe we could hold the lands of Persis. In order
to achieve peace, these lands would be returned to King Aram. The
Hellenes gained some land to the north, though I do not remember
all of the names of the lands there. The city of Sousa would become
part of the Kingdom of the Hellenes. I do not recall all of the details,
I was simply happy that the war was over. I did not know then what
I was going to do, or if General Antigonos would still need my service.
But I would soon learn my job was not yet completed.

https://img20.imageshack.us/img20/4613/phasesix.png

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

I like it very much. :yes: Now how long did that peace last?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I like it very much. :yes: Now how long did that peace last?
Thanks, Centurio.
How long can one trust the AI? Fortunately, I almost completely destroyed their military. It may take them a while to rebuild.

That chapter took me longer than I thought it would to write. Finals are coming up, so I may be delayed in the next chapter too. I'll have it done this weekend at the quickest. I haven't decided yet, but the next chapter may be the final one in this story line.

[HunGeneral]

Great work MAA as usual:2thumbsup::2thumbsup:

I must admit I didn't think you would make peace with the Persians, but these twists really add to the story:yes:

Good luck with putting thoose Sabeans under the sand (and with work in RL:thumbsup:).

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

The March West

As we prepared to leave the city, the army once again began to
loot the city and its people. The cases were few, but noticeable.
General Antigonos did not stop them. They were soon joined
by many of the city's own people. There was no order but there
was also no chaos.

Several days after we had returned and announced the new of
peace, a small Persian army approached the city. They set up
camp outside the city. The following day we marched out from
its gates leaving the remaining looting to the people of the city.
Restoring order was then a task for the Persians.

General Antigonos was not overconfident with the army's
security and ordered the scouts to continue searching ahead of
us as well as the lands we had just left behind us. He did not
wish to risk being overrun by a Persian army as we slowly
marched back towards the Kingdom of the Hellenes now that
we had no stone defenses. There was no attack and the peace
remained in effect even after the Persians regained control of
their ancient capital.

We arrived at the mountains that separated the two once-warring
kingdoms. This was the second time this army marched over
them. The army moved slowly over the mountains and to the
other side of them. Antigonos did not march the army at a rapid
pace, our supplies were completely secure, and once we had
reached the place they called the "Persian Gates", we no longer
even feared a betraying attack by the Persians.

At the Persian Gates, we finally encountered the rest of the
reinforcements that had been coming to our aid. When the news
of peace came, they had halted at the Persian Gates and begun
the construction of the fortress, by order of Antigonos' father. This
unbuilt fortress would now mark the extent of influence of the
Hellenes. The reinforcements which had managed to join us
in the Persian capital now left the army to join the forces of
the new fortress.

Antigonos lead what was left of the depleted army into the lands
called Elymais and to the city of Sousa. Here, we met with the
army I had served in so many years earlier. These two depleted
forces joined together to make an army that was near full strength.
We would remain in Sousa for a year.

[Horatius Flaccus]

Great, as always!

Are you going to return to the "overview" way of story telling?

[Vasiliyi]

Very nice MAA. I have enjoyed this AAR very much. Tis a very good read.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks.

Are you going to return to the "overview" way of story telling?
Yes, soon...

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Old Friends

In the city of Sousa, I met with some of my old friends who had
joined the Hellenes at the same time as I as mercenary archers.
Ever since I had joined the Royal Guards, we had grown distant
and then when Antigonos took command of another army I
thought I would never see them again. Now we spoke of old
times as old friends. Several of the men I had known had died
and a few had deserted the army since the last time but many
still remained.

We spoke of our homes back along the Great River and our early
experiences in the army of the Hellenes. We spoke of the war
against the Kingdom of Meroe where both us and General
Antigonos first learned the ways of warfare. It was through my
old friends that I learned the Kingdom of Meroe had once again
pushed north and the Hellenes had given up territory. The
Hellenes had chosen to take defense and give territory that was
not easy to hold, but this meant that my village would now be
deep inside Meroe territory.

When I had left my village, I had thought I would die in battle. I
had no family left and no land there. It did not matter in what
country I had been born. I hadn't thought I would return home
and now, after all that had happened to me, I did not even think
it was possible. After all I had seen and all I had experienced,
how could I return to the life of my father in a land that now
seemed foreign to me?

Two months after we had come to the city of Sousa, Antigonos
reorganized the two newly combined armies. Those who had
served in the army for as long as I had were permitted to leave.
All of those who had joined with me in the land of the Great River
were given a sum of money for their service and returned home.
I said farwell to many of my old friends, not only those from the
lands I was born but those from Aigyptos and the Hellenes who
were in the army. The old Hellene who had been my commander
when I was an archer was given a piece of land in Aigyptos and
retired from the military entirely.

General Antigonos busied himself with task such as reorganizing
the army while his advisers handled the work of managing the
city of Sousa. Since it had been conquered, it had not had a
governor and was managed by the military. Now Antigonos'
advisors were going about the work of transferring control of the
city from military rule that that of the King of the Hellenes. I did
not understand this work and Antigonos did not care to deal with
it. It seemed odd that a man who was destined to rule the
strongest empire on this world would care so little for the tasks
of management.

[NickTheGreek]

Good stuff, lets get this thing moving again

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Old Enemies(Part I)

I had come to think that with the end of the war, my task of
hunting down assassins would be over and Antigonos would
not have to be living in fear of his life, any more than an average
member of a royal family. The Persians may have stopped the
open war, but the hidden war of agents and assassins had not
come to an end. Some time after coming to the city, one of
Kallistratos' contacts reported that one of the palace servants
was spending a great deal of money at the bazaar, so Duratios
and I had a talk with him. After some persuasion, he admitted
that a Persian man had been paying him to report on the daily
routines of Antigonos. With this, it was obvious that the
Persians still sought to assassinate Antigonos.

The game of hunter and prey began again, in that city, during that
year. Sometimes the assassins were the hunters and sometime
we were the hunters. Captain Theodas gave us little aid during
those months. Most of the work hunting the assassins was done
by Kallistratos, Duratios, and I with little help from the rest of the
Royal Guards. Because Antigonos had taken an interest in these
matters of security, we did not report to Captain Theodas, but
directly to General Antigonos. This meant we were not restrained
by Captain Theodas, but this also that we got no aid for him.

When the wife and son of Antigonos came to live in the city,
Antigonos drew even more distant from this tasks of management.
This also meant that he would deal less with our actions, leaving
the task of protection against covert acts entirely in our hands.
Kallistratos met with Antigonos less every week and the three of
us were forced to work alone, and now we had the additional task
of protecting three people from assassination.

Fortunately, none of the assassination attempts were very well
planned out and none were successful. Most were found out by
the lowest level of common guard and few had any chance for
success even if performed perfectly. At times, we felt that it was
more of a game than an actual attempt to take the life of Antigonos
or his family, though we were worried at times.

The game went on for almost a year, but it finally had an end. After
some effort on our part, one of the failed agents, who had tried to
poison the royal family, gave us his contact in the city. He was a
local man who frequented the markets and wine houses. Duratios
and I went into the city and searched for him where he was known
to frequent. We spotted the man one day in a market and followed
him. When he was alone in an isolated part of the city, we finally
confronted him. A well trained agent would have known he was
being followed and been prepared, but this man was completely
surprised when we finally confronted him. He gave up without a
fight and begged for his life.

This man was but a greedy little worm that was working for the
Persians solely for money. This angered us but also gave us a
chance, and we took it. Paying off the man to tell us all he knew
was a simple task, especially when his only other option was death.
He told us the names of the Persian agents, where they would hide,
and what their upcoming plans were. Most interesting of all was the
fact that they were lead by and old Persian noble named Mitrozaban.

[Maion Maroneios]

Highly interesting, it seems Mitrozaban is still on the loose after all... Nice chapter, by the way :thumbsup:

Maion

[Roka]

nice chapter, i thought we'd seen the last of that pesky assassin

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I had thought that guy was gone, too. After I attacked Persepolis, he just disappeared. I was kind of disappointed since I had based so much of the story on him. Since he was so old, I had thought he had died. Then suddenly he was back again, the same guy. Still trying to do something to the army (the assassination animation).

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Old Enemies(Part II)

We chose to attack Mitrozaban with a small force and as quickly
as we could. We reported what we had found to Antigonos and he
gave us permission to attack. Captain Theodas was not told of our
plans but Antigonos ordered three additional members of the Royal
Guards to go with us.

The location we had been told was outside of the city walls, down
by the river, in a slum near the city. Myself and one other Guards
entered the slum first. We came to a collapsing winehouse that
was near the building we had been told. For a few coins, the owner
allowed us to go onto the roof and a promised to remain silent
gained him some additional coins later. Kallistratos entered the
winehouse a short time later and acted as one of the patrons.
Duratios and the two remaining Guards circled around back of the
slum from the river side and stayed low.

We waited for most of the day. On the building we were targeting,
we noticed men constantly checking the alley and occasionally
coming onto the roof to look around. When he was certain that the
Persian assassins were in that building, Kallistratos gave us the
signal to attack.

I waited until one of the men was on the roof and let loose an arrow.
The other building was just across a wide street from where I was,
and the man clearly saw me when I rose to shoot. It was already
too late for him. At that range a perfect shot was certain and I hit
him in the neck. He tried to scream out but blood not sound came
out. He quickly fell.

I let loose another arrow across town, which hit a wooden post near
the river. This was the signal to Duratios. When I did this, the Guard
with me jumped down from the roof, into an alley to the side of the
winehouse. I moved to the edge of the roof and watched the entrance
to the other building.

After a moment, we could hear a noise from inside the building and
three men ran out from the entrance. The Guard who had been with
me, ran into the center of the wide street and blocked their path.
They paused and drew weapons. While they were standing
motionless, a let loose a series of arrows. Two men fell, but I
missed the third. He ran back into the building.

I put my bow at my side and pulled out the Hellenic sword while running
back into the winehouse. On the ground floor, all of the patrons of the
filthy place were going about their day as normal, though they were
clearly aware of what was happening outside. Kallistratos joined me
and we went outside to join the other Guard. The three of us entered
the warehouse building where the Persian agents were hiding.

We did not expect it to be as dark inside the building as it was. It was
a large open room filled with crates, but with no windows or cracks in
the walls. While we adjusted to the darkness, two men jumped out
from the sides and swung their swords at us. I blocked, the enemy's
sword and slashed mine across his chest killing him. The other Guard
was not as fast and fell to the Persian sword. I quickly stabbed at the
second man and he fell. While I searched the room, Kallistratos
checked the fallen Guard, but he was dead.

The room seemed empty of further life. There were stacks of crates
and sacks of various things scattered all through the room. The roof
was high, but few things were stacked higher than my head. There
were two doorways, the one we had come through and one on the
opposite wall. I slowly walked toward the second doorway, but before
I came to it someone walked through it. An old Persian man shuffled
through in quite a hurry. He was looking down and seemed worried,
but when he looked up to see me he almost looked relieved.

The old man smiled and stepped to the side where he sat on one of
the crates. He did not speak and just as I was about to say something,
Duratios and the two other Guards came through the same doorway.
"He is the only one left," Duratios said looking at the old man.

I walked towards the old man and I was finally able to recognize him in
the darkness. He was the very same man who I had seen more than
five years ago on the mountain pass in the lands called Media. He had
the chance to kill me back then but simply hit me on the head with the
flat side of his sword. He looked much older now and though he smiled,
he looked defeated. As I stared at him, he looked back at me. "I
remember you," he said in the language of the Hellenes.

"You are Mitrozaban?" Kallistratos interrupted.

"I am Mitrozaban, servant to the Kings of Media," he responded.

"Today is your last day," Duratios calmly said.

"I understand," Mitrozaban replied and got up from the crate. He
dropped to his knees and stared forward. Nobody moved, so I moved
forward with my sword. As I got next to him, Mitrozaban looked up at
me as though he suddenly remembered something. "Honor dictates
that I tell you the one called Theodas is not to be trusted," he said
looking into my eyes.

"What do you know of honor!?!" one of the Guards yelled.

"Each man must live by their own code," he said calmly, still
looking at me. I knew of what he meant, for I had become
something not too different from this man. He looked forward again
and spoke, "I do not know by what code this Theodas lives, but
you will want to watch him."

He was then silent. I pointed my sword toward the earth and raised
it above the old man. When I paused, Duratios said, "Do it," and I
did. I thrust the sword down through his shoulder and into him. He
fought with all he had left to die dignified. The old spy Mitrozaban
simply remained knelling for a time then fell forward, dead.

https://img189.imageshack.us/img189/3145/maa4720.png

[Maion Maroneios]

Wow, that was a really great chapter. I love those spinoffs, they add real flavour to the whole storytelling. It may sound strange, but I actually felt sad that Mitrozaban died. He was quite a mysterious and clever bloke, I liked him :sweatdrop:

Maion

[HunGeneral]

So the great Assassins is no more.... kind of strange he seemed a worthy rival. I wonder how you will lead this on...

Great work as usualy MAA! It is an honour to be reading your work:bow:

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

A worthy end to the Mitrozaban story. :yes:

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Mitrozaban had been following my army around for about six years, with about a year gap in the middle, during the "Persian Civil War" that I role-played. He was a worthy opponent to the Royal Guards and agents hunting him, but he finally met his end. I turned the one event of killing an assassin into two chapters, there. :sweatdrop:

I haven't finished writing them yet, but I'm planning on wrapping up this story in the next two chapters.

[Reverend Joe]

Mitrozaban turned out to be less of a snaky character than I expected; the "assassin with honor" was a nice surprise.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

New Enemies

The night was dark but calm. It had passed midnight but it was still long before dawn. The sky
was clear and nearly all the stars in all the heavens could be seen as you looked up. It was a little
cool, but the air was dry and there was little wind. The day had been hot, but once the sun had
started to go behind the hills, it had cooled quickly. It would remain cool well into the mid-morning.

Outside the inner entrance to the old palace in Sousa, two guards stood watch. Since the outer
wall of the palace had been secured and was guarded by the army, they had little to worry about
and almost nothing to watch for. Within the palace, Alypios Antigonos III and his family slept.
Antigonos was the son of Basileus Philippos V and heir to the throne. For many months he and
his army had remained here in the city of Sousa after a long war with the newly rebuilt Persian
Empire. Though peace had come with the Persian Empire, Antigonos felt it best to wait to see if
the Persian king would betray the peace. While he stayed in Sousa, Antigonos' wife and son had
come to join him. The family now slept, while the cool night slowly passed.

The plaza of the palace the the guards watched had been empty all night, but now two men
emerged from a door on the far side of the plaza. The two men wore the ornate armor of the
Basilikon Agema and strode with confidence strait toward the two guards on watch. "The Prince
is asleep right now, what do you need," one of the guards asked the two men as they approached.

"Captain Theodas has urgent business," one of the Basilikon Agema said. As he spoke he motioned
back towards the door from which they had come. There, another man had appeared. As the
common guards looked across the plaza to see if they could recognize the man, the two men in
the Basilikon Agema continued to walk right up to them. With a quick thrust, a knife found its
mark between the ribs of one of the door guard's chest. "What is---" the other guard tried to say
while attempting to turn to confront the other man from the Basilikon Agema who was now behind
him. His words were cut short when a hand covered his mouth and a similar knife found his lungs
from behind.

The two guard were quickly dragged to the edge of the plaza, where the Persians had planted a
garden. The two murders rushed back and joined with Captain Theodas and two other members
of the Basilikon Agema who were with him. The five men waited for a moment to see if they had
been seen and an alarm would go up, but the calm night remained silent.

The five men entered the palace as silently as possible. As they walked through the halls, with
there swords drawn, they encountered not a single person until they came to the chambers of
Antigonos and his family. Outside the door stood two guards, but these men were also members
of the Basilikon Agema. Captain Theodas walked up to the men, alone, and adressed them by
name. "I need to speak with the Prince," he said to them. They hesitated and Captain Theodas
used that moment. Pulling his sword from his belt and swinging in one swift movement, he cut the
throat of the first man. With his hand still pulling his own sword from its shelth, the second man
was stabbed through the chest. He tried to scream out as he fell to the ground, but Theodas was
quickly on top of him muffling his screams until his death.

Captain Theodas stood up, brushed himself off and walked into the room. Two of the men with
him grabbed the dead men and followed Theodas, dragging the bodies from the hallway and into
the private quarters of Antigonos. The remaining two men stood by the door and took the
positions of the fallen men so that anybody passing by would not notice the missing guards.

Captain Theodas was now within the private quarters of Prince Alypios Antigonos III. It was a
series of three rooms. The first large room was were Antigonos conducted business while in his
quarters, while two to the sides were sleeping chambers. Off of the main sleeping chamber was a
balcony with a view of a garden. It was most likley in this very room that another Basileus of
Makedonia had died, though in his sleep, several generations back. Looking into the adjoining
room, Captain Theodas saw the bed of Antigonos. He looked back at the two remaining men and
whispered, "I'll do this myself. Stay close to me." With his already bloody sword still drawn,
Captain Theodas and his men began to creep forward and into the sleeping chambers of
Antigonos and his wife.

Suddenly, the silence is broken with a scream from the entrance. Shocked by the noise, Captain
Theodas turned quickly to see one of the men he left outside. He was now entering the private
quarters, hands at his side near his waist. Blood poured from the man's side, he looked directly at
Theodas for a moment then fell over dead. Several new men follow the dying man into the room.
These men are also part of the Basilikon Agema, but Theodas quickly recognizes them as men
who were not loyal to him. Most of them were southern Hellenes.

Captain Theodas knew he had been found out, but before all was lost, Theodas rushes into his
leader's sleeping chamber and toward the bed. All his plans are shattered, but he hoped to still
complete his task. When he saw that there is no person in this room, sleeping or otherwise all
was over. The sleeping chamber was empty, and many men seeking his life were behind him.
Theodas turned toward the balcony, thinking it a possible escape, but there too a couple figures
stand. This time it was the two men from the Basilikon Agema who had been responsible for catching
enemy agents. The Thraikioi had his sword drawn and the Nubian had an arrow in his bow,
aimed right for Theodas.

Seeing enemies before them and behind them, one of Captain Theodas' remaining men turned
and ran for the hallway. He tried to push his way through the men but was cut down before he
could even leave the room. There, he fell, next to his dead companion who had staggered in a
moment before. The last remaining man with Theodas raised his sword, but Theodas touched
him on the shoulder and he quickly lowered it. These two men could not stand up to the dozen or
so who were in Antigonos' private quarters and however many more awaited them outside.

For a time that seemed like an eternity, nobody moved. From behind the two loyal Basilikon Agema
on the balcony, another figure appeared. This time it was Alypios Antigonos III, himself. With his
own weapons drawn, he stepped forward and looked at Captain Theodas. "You had been so
loyal. Why would you betray your oath?" Antigonos asked.

"It is you who has betrayed us," Theodas responded calmly. "You and your father have betrayed
Makedonia and all the great leaders who came before you." Antigonos narrowed his eyes, in both
anger and a little confusion. Theodas continued, "Your father has betrayed Makedonia and
embraced the Hellenes. He has made us weak. Even you have betrayed us. To seek peace with
an enemy while the war was in our favor. You will never be forgiven for that."

"Perhaps it would be best for you to not comment on things you do not understand," was
Antigonos' only retort.

"I understand that the Hellenes are weak and do not deserve equal standing with us Makedones."
Now Theodas was speaking grew louder and began showing anger. "In an ultimate betrayal of
our history and our forefathers, your father has abandoned Makedonia all together and moved the
council to the city of Athenai." He spoke the last word with a deep and honest contempt. "Your
father has given citizenship to the Hellenes, the Epeirites, and even Thraikioi, and you have
trusted your life to foreign filth," when he spoke this last part, Theodas turned to the two men
behind Antigonos, the Thraikioi and the Nubian.

"It seems clear that you are the only filth in whom I have placed a misguided trust," Antigonos
responded with a small smile in the corner of his mouth.

"We seek to purify, not destroy," Theodas yelled. "We will restore a proper Makedone to the
throne and restore power to the military. Your father and you do not even have a right to the
throne. Only a true Makedone should have the right to rule, not an Illyrian halfbred raised by
Romaioi and Spartiatai like your father. Or you, who was raised in a palace and does not even
know how to be a proper general." Antigonos just stood there while Theodas yelled and insulted
him. At one comment, the men behind Theodas had make motion to move forward and silence
the traitor, but Antigonos had given them a single look that made them stand where they were.
"Do not think you have saved yourself from you fate," Theodas continued, "I do not act alone."

At this, Antigonos finally spoke, "Yes, we are well aware of that. How do you think we knew of
your plans this night?"

Theodas paused, slightly surprised. It was the Thraikioi, Duratios, behind Antigonos who next
spoke, "We know that you were meeting with the Persian assassins and tried to get their help.
We also know that General Ptolemas was conspiring with you. After some effort on our part, he
was willing to tell us all he knew."

Theodas sighed and looked to the ground as he realized what had happened. "I thought it was
odd General Ptolemas was not at the feast tonight," Theodas said.

"We were not sure how many of the Basilikon Agema were going to join you so we thought it best to
isolate only you and those who were loyal to you in this trap," the Duratios continued.

"This is not over," Theodas slowly said, as his eyes once again raised and looked into Antigonos'.
He spoke again with strength in his words, "You have betrayed your people and their strongest
beliefs. There are many who think as we do. Your father mended a divide in our Arche only to
begin another. You will not see peace in your reign!" With that, Theodas plunged his sword into
his own chest. With one final cry, he fell to the ground and died.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Wow! :2thumbsup: That was really a great chapter, very much suspense - I was really fearing for the royal family. Great work!

Philippos is a half Illyrian? I wasn't aware of that, how comes it?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Actually, it is Philippos V's grandmother (Alypios Antigonos III's great-grandmother)(Pyrrhos II's mother) who is of Illyrian and Epeiros blood. It is just something I role-played, though I don't think I've mentioned it since practically the Romaioi War. Pyrrhos' father was governor of Illyria and married a local, who claimed decent from the royal family of Epeiros. I made up a family tree a while back, I'll just post that (though there are a couple of spoilers since it is from about five years later):

https://img43.imageshack.us/img43/199/familyline.png
(Organized by Generation) (I realize some of the Greek is wrong)
(Family Lines that have ended are not shown [like the sons of Alkyoneus])
Red are those that are or have been Basileus of Makedonia.
Orange are those who claimed the throne during the civil war.
Long lines (like Euboulides and ones near bottom) represent children that are born to such an old character that they end up a generation later than they should be.
The two "Branches" represent a bunch of relatives that are still alive but aren't important.

[Horatius Flaccus]

Amazing chapter! :2thumbsup:

Perhaps Euktimenos is behind all this...

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

MAA, your devotion is really amazing! I always get confused with family relations and can barely memorize the royal family. Here, take this balloon: :balloon3:

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks for reading.

Perhaps Euktimenos is behind all this...
There will be mention of Euktimenos in the next chapter... :book:

I always get confused with family relations and can barely memorize the royal family.
The reason I originally made that picture was to help myself keep things straight. I kept forgetting how all the characters were related and wanted to get it right if I mentioned relations in the AAR. ...Other than the two unimportant branches of the family, the lines seem to be dying off...

Next chapter : "The Journey Home"

[strategos roma]

Come on, when's the next post?

[Maion Maroneios]

Give the man a break, will you? He's doing as best as he can.

Take your time, MAA. Good things need time :2thumbsup:

Maion

[Roka]

another great update

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I am a bit late for the next chapter. Since it is summer, I haven't been playing the game, writing, or even visiting the fora too often. I have the next chapter (last in this style) half written, but I'm not sure when I'll finish it. I'll try to get it finished tonight or in the next couple days.

[Julius Augustus]

Marcus Aurelius, this is without doubt the most epic and stunning AAR I have ever read. Your devotion to your campaign is incredible. It was was what brought me to become really interested in EB in the first place.
Accept this balloon.:balloon2:
Keep working on this AAR. It is:2thumbsup:

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I had planned to make one final chapter, but since I ended up rambling in the chapter I decided to break it up. I'll post the "one" chapter in parts over the next couple days in three of four parts. It is mostly off topic story.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

The Journey Home (Part I)

For the month following Captain Theodas' attempt to take the life
of General Antigonos, the city of Sousa was in chaos. And it
was what was left of the Royal Guards who caused the chaos.
Duratios had managed to find the plot against Antigonos and his
plans managed to stop Captain Theodas. For this, Duratios was
made the new Captain of the Royal Guard. At the commanded
of Antigonos, Duratios began a purge of the Royal Guard and the
army officers. There had been less than forty men left in the
Royal Guard when Theodas made his attempt on the life of our
general. After the investigation, all but sixteen of us were now
dead or had disappeared.

To perform the purge of the officers and army, Duratios gathered
a unit of regular soldiers. These men were from the lands called
Pontos. They had proven themselves to be good soldiers in
battle and were surprisingly loyal to Antigonos. With these
soldiers under Duratios' command, many of the army officers
were arrested and questioned. About a third of all of them were
executed. General Ptolemas was the first to die for plotting but
many more had been involved and ended up with his same fate.

For a time, I feared that General Antigonos would go mad and
begin to kill all enemies he saw in the shadows. Even my friend
Duratios the new Captain, who was known for striking at shadows,
began to grow weary of the killing. However, as soon as it began,
it came to an end. I am not sure when I noticed, but one day
everything was back to normal. The Royal Guards, helped by
the soldiers from Pontos, guarded the general, the city
administrators ran the city, Antigonos' advisers returned to the
task of struggling to get him to make management decisions,
and the royal family spent time together away the troubles. All
things had returned to how they were and there was no further
sign of betrayal.

At the time, we all heard rumors that similar events had occured
elsewhere in the lands of the Hellenes. It was rumored that
even that the King of the Hellenes himself, had to have some of
his advisers and generals executed. They say that the son of
Antigonos' untrustworthy cousin even tried to rise up when he
mistakenly heard Antigonos was dead. Rumors had spread of
Antigonos' dead before the news spread of the foiling of the plot.
They say the son [Synlekteinos of the Demetrids] wanted to
have his father claim the throne when he thought Antigonos
dead, but the father [Euktimenos of the Demetrids] managed
to stop his son before he acted too rashly. When they heard
the news that Antigonos still lived, the father proved correct.

A second winter came to the city of Sousa since we had arrived.
During the winter an army of Persia had marched up to within
sight of the scouting parties of one of the border forts, but had
quickly withdrawn. After Antigonos secured trade with and
through the Persian Empire, he was sure of peace. Through
spring, no further signs of Persian aggression was seen.
Antigonos decided that peace was secure for the time and that
we would not spend a second summer in Sousa. We had
spent a year and a half on the border, without a single battle.
With his father aging, it was time for Antigonos to return home
to the land of Hellas.

[Horatius Flaccus]

Great!

I really like how you call Phillippos the 'King of the Hellenes', it adds a sense of 'realism'.

[BerkeleyBoi]

Jeez, this AAR is as sweet as ever. How many more chapters are left?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks for following.

What I'm posting now is the cut up last chapter of this story. It will probably have three or four parts, including the previous chapter.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

The Journey Home (Part II)

Before we left the valley of Sousa, Antigonos made a short
visit to one of the main forts upriver. This had been the fort
that had been the Persian army had approached during the
winter. Antigonos made that surprise visit to make sure it
was secure. After this short, uneventful trip we returned to
the city of Sousa, where the army was nearly ready to march.
The remains of Antigonos' original army was made ready to
march and we headed west. For many months of that year,
the army made slow progress across the dry lands. Before
we made a rapid march for the west, Antigonos and his family
wanted to stop and spend time with many of their relatives in
many different cities nearby.

As we left Sousa, Antigonos announced that we would be
marching west, but when we left the city he had the army
march south along the river. The army was surprised, but he
had told all of those close to him, including myself, that he
planned to visit his uncle. We marched along the river and
down to the sea. This was the first time I saw this sea
distant sea. We passed many towns as we marched along
the coast, but we continued until we came to a walled city.
In this city was another army of the Hellenes, though few
Hellenes served in it, that was commanded by Antigonos
uncle [Laandros]. In the city, Antigonos met with this last
surviving uncle and his aunt. He also met, for the first time,
his three year old cousin. Antigonos and his uncle talked
a great deal.

"I fear what would happen to my family if both I and my father
were to die," I recall hearing Antigonos say. "The Arche would
fall to my son, but he is not yet ready." His uncle listened
closely as he spoke. "If something were to happen to me, I
want you to promise that you will take in my family and protect
them."

His uncle paused then spoke clearly, "I have served my brother,
your father, without question. If the gods strike him down, I shall
serve you. I give my oath that I will also serve your son and honor
this request. I will fight with everything I have to protect your
family and fight any battle for them."

With this agreement, I heard that his uncle promised to become
"regent" for Antigonos' son if anything were to happen to Antigonos.
I was glad that nothing happened while we were in that city.
While there, I had been told that the royal family was so small
that this meeting meant that most of the royal family was no in
this town along the enemy border. I kept a constant guard for
assassins, attacks, or any kind of trouble. None came.

We left this city after one moon and marched up the two great
rivers of that land. Next, General Antigonos met with his two
sisters and their husbands. We returned to the city of Seleukeia
once more and then traveled to the ledgendary city of Babylon.
There were many ruins, but most of the city was built like a city
of the Hellenes. They said that the city had been damaged many
times over the centuries and the newest reconstruction had been
done by the Hellene who became the King of Babylon. The
fighting in this last war had once again damaged the city and
they was still some damage to the walls. After visiting his two
sisters, Antigonos once again began the march north.

When we came to the lands called Assyria, we stopped and set
up a camp. Antigonos sent a message to his untrustworthy
cousin [Euktimenos of the Demetrids]. The message told him
that he and his army would be passing through the region but
did not directly invite him to meet with us. A message returned
full of empty praise and congratulations on victory in the war.
Antigonos waited to see if his cousin would show respect and
come to meet with him. He did not.

During the time in that camp, I heard one of Antigonos' loyal
generals suggest an attack on this distant cousin. "He cannot
be trusted. If he will not rise up, his son will," the general said.
"Your father made a mistake by letting him live and we all made
a mistake when we did not notice him raising an army. If we
strike him down now, we may look strong in the eyes of our
hidden enemies."

"No," Antigonos replied. "It was not Euktimenos who tried to
have me killed. Euktimenos is the son of a Thraikioi. The men
who tried to kill me would never support him. We do not have
the strength to face him now and if we strike him down our
enemies will just call as frightened." Soon after this, we lifted
the camp and marched across those lands and into the lands
called Syria. Antigonos made many stops at towns and cities,
but we finally came back to the city of Demetreia.

In Demetreia, the losses to the army were replenished, the old
retired, and the remaining retrained. Antigonos chose to wait
for good weather and we spent the next winter in the lands of
Syria.

In Syria many things changed for me. Duratios, now Captain
of the Royal Guard, was very busy with his new tasks,
especially gathering new men for the Royal Guard to replace
the losses and those who had betrayed Antigonos. Since there
were many agents protecting the city of Demetreia and the
people were loyal, the task of defending Antigonos and his
family was an easy one for me, though I never let down my
guard. As spring came, I learned that Kallistratos would not be
traveling any further on our journey. His home was Syria and
he was going to retire and remain there.

My friends from the army were dead or had gone home, those
who had been there when I joined the Royal Guard were dead,
both Captain Damatrios and my mentor Alys, and now
Kallistratos would be leaving. Once again, I considered retiring
and returning to the lands of my birth. I did not seem needed
any longer and my age was finally beginning to affect me.

[Horatius Flaccus]

Very good, looking forward to the last chapter(s)!

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

The Journey Home (Part III)

While the winter months churned the sea, General Antigonos
and his army remained at the city of Demetreia in the lands
of Syria. During this time I did my duty but thought of where
my actions would take me next. I could return to the lands of
my birth, but there was little there for me. I could ask for
some land and retire. Many who had done far less than I had
been given land by Antigonos or his father and settled down
after the wars. Although I was always the hunter and do not
know if I could become a farmer. Or I could choose to travel
to Hellas with General Antigonos. I finally chose to stay with
my general and follow him to his home, serving him until he
said he would need me no further. I had spent almost half my
life serving this man and it was my choice to continue to do
that very thing.

When spring came, a great fleet would carry the whole army
across the sea and to Hellas. Given my experiences with travel
by sea, I was hesitant to welcome the coming journey. When
I talked to Duratios about it and he said that this journey was
coming at a much calmer time of the year than my last journey
and that the waters would be much smoother. The seas
proved to be calm and the trip was quick and easy.

The armada of ships, loaded with men and the spoils of war left
the lands of Syria and followed the coast, heading west.
Antigonos chose to stop at several cities during the journey.
Most of them were quick stops that had little interesting
involved. However, there were a couple cities that were very
impressive.

The first of the interesting city was on a large island called
Rhodos. The city was built like a fortress, with a great wall
facing the land and a great harbor facing the sea. There was a
large fleet of warships in the harbor and many trading ships.
Next to the harbor was the great treasure of the island. It was
a giant statue of one of the gods, however it had fallen to the
earth. During one of my patrols around the city, I walked out
to the statue and looked at what remained. The fallen god was
so large that a single finger of the statue was the size of a
small man.

When asked about the statue, the people of the city were
happy to talk about it. They said that one of Antigonos'
forefathers, a general named Demetrios, had tried to take the
city long before his family had forged their empire. When he
was forced to leave the island because of the king of Aigyptos,
Demetrios had left much of his siege equipment behind. The
people of the city had then taken this equipment and melted
it down to create the great statue and celebrate their victory.
After many years, another man named Demetrios came to the
island with an army, this was the great Demetrios that the
Hellenes look up to. He did not fail like his grandfather and
took control of the city and the island. This second Demetrios
left the statue standing but warned the peoples of the island
that they should not to ever stand against his family again.
He warned that betray would unleash a fury like the rath of
the gods.

They say that twenty years later, all of the lands of Hellas
rebelled against the great Demetrios. During this rebellion,
the earth shook around the island. The tremor brought the
statue of their god to the ground. Because of the warning
Demetrios had delivered years earlier and this warning from
the gods, the island did not join the other Hellenes in their
rebellion. A priest warned of even greater tragety if the
statue was rebuilt, so it remained where it had fallen. The
island has never even considered another rebellion since
those days, a century ago, when their god fell to the earth.

After the island called Rhodos, we sailed back to the mainland.
There we visited several more cities. In one, a great tomb
stood. They say it was built for a local king back in the days
of the old Persian Empire, but it looked like it was built for an
emperor. It stretched into the sky in many different layers,
covered in statues and carvings. These were my first sights
in the lands of the Hellenes, and they were things that I could
hardly believe.

https://img31.imageshack.us/img31/9365/mausoleumd.jpg

We returned to our ships and continued to sail. This time
we headed north along a coastline. I saw several other cities
across those lands, with impressive temples and palaces like
nothing I had seen before, except maybe the ruins in Aigyptos.

Finally, we sailed across a small sea filled with islands and
came to the lands called Makedonia. These were the lands
where this great Kingdom of the Hellenes had been born. The
port was impressive and extremely busy, however the lands
were not what I expected. They were simple lands like many
others I had seen, filled with farmers. General Antigonos
unloaded the army and marched them through the two old
capitals of this land. Great crowds gathered as we entered
the city called Pella. The city, though, looked old and
unimpressive. It looked empty, as though many of the people
who had once lived here had moved elsewhere, perhaps to
the port city or a newer capital.

We then moved to the even older capital, here were the graves
of the royal family. Here, Antigonos gave tribute to his
forefathers and honored the grave of this grandfather, who
had been the winner in the great war the Hellenes fought
amongst each other.

After some time in the lands of Makedonia, which were filled
with meetings with boring nobles, Antigonos and the army
moved south and to the new capital of the Kingdom of the
Hellenes. The march was slow and many nobles required
time meeting with Antigonos in every city. I believe Antigonos
was even more annoyed by these meetings than I was.

We visited many towns, marched to the sea and from it many
times, saw many great temples to the gods, and passed a
great many sites of great battles. We even passed the ruins
of a city that was completely destroyed by the great
Alexandros when he first came to power so long ago. Finally
the great capital of the Hellenes was before us.

This was the great city that I had been expecting to see. It
had been built away from the city but had grown to connect
with its the port. There were several layers of walls, with an
old city, a newer city, and an un-walled portion of the city that
was still expanding. In the center of the old city stood a hill
covered in temples and statues to the gods. At the base of
this hill was a great market and a newly built complex that
housed the king and government of all the Hellenes.

https://img269.imageshack.us/img269/4461/oneone.png

They said that the old city had been destroyed when the
Hellenes fought each other and had rebuilt by Antigonos'
father. I could see that many of the buildings were old but
many others looked freshly carved from the stone from which
they were built.

We did not immediately enter the city. First the army
prepared so we could enter the city in a great march through
the streets. The entire city gathered to see us return and
view General Antigonos returning from his great conquest of
the Persians. On that warm sunny day, with more people
that I had ever seen gathered in one place, I rode with
Antigonos down the streets of the largest city in the world
as a hero.

[Horatius Flaccus]

:smash::smash::smash:

Great!

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Conclusion or New Beginning?

The Hellenes' capital was the great city of Athenai. In that huge city,
I finally saw the King of the Hellenes. When the army reached the
center of the city, at the base of the great hill and its temples, the
King was their waiting for his son. They embraced that day in front
of a great crowd. This was greeted with a loud cheer. The rest of
that day was spent celebrating, giving speeches, and feasting.
When the sun was low in the sky, I sought out my normal duties,
but Duratios told me that the King's Royal Guards would protect the
royal family at the feast that night. With that knowledge, I choose
to escape the crowds.

The first night I was in that great city, I walked the streets and
watched the city. It was not my last time. It was a very interesting
city, filled with many different peoples. People from all across the
lands ruled by the king came to his capital to do their business.
There were people from places I did not even know existed, with
stories of things I do not know if I believe. With every day the city
seemed to grow. In the years I lived in that city, I saw fields outside
the walls turn to streets and temples rise from nothing.

I lived in that city for many years of my life. General Antigonos, his
wife, and son moved into the new palace, built some distance from
the market. There, they lived with the king and his queen, mother of
Antigonos. The king tried to get his son to join him in managing
their great empire, but the king soon learned what we who knew
Antigonos already knew. Antigonos had no skill in civilian
management.

The government of the Hellenes was complex and I am not worthy
of describing it. Simply, it was based on a group of men who came
from all across the lands of Hellas. They would meet and deal with
the issues of the empire. The king would take part in these meetings,
often bring Antigonos with him, and guided the discussions. They
say that the king could change any decision that was made by this
group, but I never saw him do that.

For years, my life involved protecting Antigonos at the palace, in the
city, or at these meetings, though we were not allowed to enter the
meetings and were made to guard the entrance. Starting soon after
the time we came to the city of Athenai, I was often ordered to
guard Antigonos' son, Hippostratos. At that time, he was in his
eighth year and was already growing into a leader. He spent much
of his time studying with great teachers. Hhe showed me respect
that I was not deserving and often chose to speak with me casually.
He asked many questions about his father and the war. I enjoyed
my time with the young prince, but I was often reminded that I had
grown old but not married and had children of my own.

When I was not protecting Antigonos or other members of the royal
family, I spent my time in the city or tracing things that seemed a
danger to the royal family. Duratios was not busy after the first year
and we continued our friendship. This time in my life was boring, but
at that point in my life, I was happy with it. The city was safe and
peaceful, with no assassins or enemy armies. The whole Kingdom
of the Hellenes enjoyed this time of peace. The Persians did not
attack and the Kingdom of Meroe was too weak to challenge the
Kingdom of the Hellenes. There was fighting in the western lands
called Iberia, but nothing that was important.

https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/1710/maa4726.png

For many more years, the wise old king (Philippos V) ruled these
lands and peace was enjoyed by all. The old king had faded in his
late years, but was still a powerful leader of men and kingdoms. He
lived much longer than most and managed to keep his mind about
him quite well. I never directly spoke with the king, but I could see
how he was able to get men to follow him simply by being near him.

https://img189.imageshack.us/img189/3875/maa4727.png

Antigonos (Alypios Antigonos III) could get people to bend to his will
and lead them in battle, but he never had the skill of his father at
managing a kingdom. He was not the greatest general ever, but he
had brought us victory. They say his father was a greater general
in his youth, but had faded with his age. I also heard that neither
of these men could stand up to the king's father, Antigonos'
grandfather, who had crushed two empires and reunified the
Kingdom of the Hellenes. Antigonos may not have been the
greatest man in his family or even the greatest man of his time,
but he was a true leader and took care of those below him. He
was only a few years older than I, but I looked up to him. He would
soon be king and the fate of the world would be in his hands. It
was my choice that I would stand by his side until I die or he
releases me.

[Olaf Blackeyes]

Wow 73 huh?

[Antinous]

Sounds like its about time to help the king go to sleep. ;|

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

I just managed to catch up with the story. It's really good storytelling you made there, it feels like an eternity that I was following the fate of these men and their empire, and I never get tired. Great stuff. :2thumbsup:

Will there be another chapter, or is the sidestory now closed? Seems like a good exit point to me.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Well, that last chapter was the end of that story line. I'm going to go back to my overview style of telling the story. Just an postscript: You may have noticed that the common thread throughout the story was the main character indirectly coming to terms with this father's death. In the beginning, he wanted revenge against the Kingdom of Meroe, who he blamed for his father's death, but it didn't help him. Throughout the story, he looked up to father figures, such as the spy Alys, but they always seemed to fall short or died. And it ended with him realizing that he had spent his whole life trying to rebuild his childhood only to realize his adult life had passed him by. If I had not been writing as I went and making it up as I played the game, it would have flowed better.

Thanks to all those who have been following and commenting.

I have started the next chapter and it will be about the other events of the Persian War, away from the army of Alypios Antigonos III.


Wow 73 huh?
I had been waiting for him to die, so that I could write into the story a quick return to Hellas and crowning of Antigonos. It never came and Philippos just seemed to keep going forever. And he doesn't die yet, he still has years ahead of him after this point in the story.

[Reverend Joe]

When asked about the statue, the people of the city were
happy to talk about it. They said that one of Antigonos'
forefathers, a general named Demetrios, had tried to take the
city long before his family had forged their empire. When he
was forced to leave the island because of the king of Aigyptos,
Demetrios had left much of his siege equipment behind. The
people of the city had then taken this equipment and melted
it down to create the great statue and celebrate their victory.
After many years, another man named Demetrios came to the
island with an army, this was the great Demetrios that the
Hellenes look up to. He did not fail like his grandfather and
took control of the city and the island. This second Demetrios
left the statue standing but warned the peoples of the island
that they should not to ever stand against his family again.
He warned that betray would unleash a fury like the rath of
the gods.

They say that twenty years later, all of the lands of Hellas
rebelled against the great Demetrios. During this rebellion,
the earth shook around the island. The tremor brought the
statue of their god to the ground. Because of the warning
Demetrios had delivered years earlier and this warning from
the gods, the island did not join the other Hellenes in their
rebellion. A priest warned of even greater tragety if the
statue was rebuilt, so it remained where it had fallen. The
island has never even considered another rebellion since
those days, a century ago, when their god fell to the earth.

I love the reimagining of the Colossus story! :2thumbsup:

[Vasiliyi]

:2thumbsup: Awesome finish of this story. Kind of sad how the main character never did get married and have kids. Either way it has been very entertaining.

Excellent work MAA

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks for reading.

I had come up with that story about the Colossus a while back but never had the opportunity to add it to the story. It was part of the rambling that I did in the last chapter that made it turn into many chapters. I like making up details for an alternative history, I just wish I could have found a good picture for the Colossus on the ground to post in that chapter.

Sorry about some of the droning on. I wish I could have developed some of the characters a little bit more, but it is time to move forward with the campaign. The next three chapters will be telling the other events that occurred in or during the First Persian War.

This thread is going to be closed now and the story will return to the old thread. To continue the story or leave any comments (even if they are about this thread) go here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=102986&page=23