Reunification: a Marcomanni AAR (updated chapter 25)

[Hooahguy]

Author's note:
While not imperative, I would highly suggest you begin by reading my Suebi AAR, which can be found here (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?145523-On-the-Path-to-the-Streets-of-Gold-A-Suebi-AAR-%28updated-11-17-final-chapter%29).
Enjoy!


Reunification: a Marcomanni AAR



Prelude


We were great. Once.

Our empire stretched from the frigid forests of northern Germania down to the warm southern tip of Italia.

We had the strongest armies, we were the best led and best trained, and when Chlodochar of the Suebi was our king, we were unstoppable. He was wise beyond his years, and brought us the glory that we Germanic people deserved.

But then Chlodochar died in battle, felled by Roman swords, and then it all began to fall apart.

His successor Ricfried desperately tried to hold the empire together but our enemies were too many.

With Chlodochar dead, the wild nomadic tribes to the east saw their chance and invaded, attacking like phantoms in the thick forests, killing thousands of brave Germanic warriors. These ghosts fought like no foe we had seen before, and for a long time we were unable to defeat them in open battle.

https://i.imgur.com/hX2dJd7.jpg


Strange painted men from across the western sea came on boats, raiding our lands. We were able to repel the raiders when they came, but they always inflicted heavy casualties and more importantly, they tied up our forces from more important battles. Every man that was used to repel these attacks from these raiders could have helped stem the tide of the disaster that got worse as the years went on.

https://i.imgur.com/W7p0bJ2.jpg


Seeing our weakness, the remaining Romans attacked with a vengeance. They mustered a large army and attacked Brundisium, quickly taking back the city that Chlodochar gave his life to capture.

We managed to defeat that Roman army a few weeks later, which had marched north to "liberate" Italia from our control, but we took extremely heavy losses: there were many more of our dead on the ground than theirs, a Pyrrhic victory in the truest sense.


https://i.imgur.com/3gVnlh5.jpg


But more Romans came. Six experienced legions, fresh from fighting in Africa, invaded Italia to retake the lands that they lost.

https://i.imgur.com/H3QHyF5.jpg


We thought that we would be able to defeat them, but they were too many, even for our best generals. For every Roman we killed, two more took his place on the battlefield. Our armies in the south were defeated, then the survivors were chased down and ruthlessly massacred. We could not fault them for this though, as we did the same time and time again when we had the upper hand. With these victories they pushed us out of Italia.

https://i.imgur.com/fmVkkxG.jpg


Ricfried fell in one of these battles, killed by elite Roman cavalry as he fought to delay the Roman advance and give his men time to escape.

https://i.imgur.com/kZu5eO1.jpg


Even our long-time allies, the Aedui, betrayed us and invaded, taking a number of our towns including the fortress of Vesontio. But we did not let them take it without inflicting serious losses on the attacking Gauls. The defense of Vesontio became famous for how the two thousand defenders managed to kill over four thousand Aedui warriors before finally being overwhelmed. It is said that the walls were covered in blood and the bodies were stacked three deep in some areas.

https://i.imgur.com/voaANVs.jpg


With invading armies on all sides and our leadership crumbling, we turned on each other. Brother fought brother and Germanic blood was spilled as the nation that Chlodochar had worked so hard to build began to fracture into small tribes. The once powerful Suebi tribe were wiped out in the ensuing violence and the survivors became what is now known as the Semnones tribe. But they were a mere shadow of what the Suebi used to be, and they have lost the right to call themselves the true decedents of the greatest tribe the Germanic people have yet seen.

https://i.imgur.com/dIjEaSv.jpg


That was one hundred years ago. Since then, Rome violently expanded beyond Italia. They conquered most of Gaul and Iberia. They took control of Greece, and Anatolia, and eventually conquered the once powerful nation of Carthage as well. At their height they were the only real empire around, seeing that the once-great Germanic empire was in ruins. There was no fighting the Romans; they would win by numbers alone if anyone stood against them.

But then civil war came. Four powerful Roman generals went their separate ways and took large parts of the empire with them. Just like we had fractured, they have fractured as well.

This is where we enter the arena. My name is Theodoric, leader of the Marcomanni. We are a small Germanic tribe, and we have been subservient to our Roman and Gallic neighbors for far too long.

And now it is our turn.

https://i.imgur.com/sIvJu8a.jpg

[parallel-1]

I've read your Suebi AAR before and i loved it!!
this one looks very promising.
how often will you upload a new chapter?

[Hooahguy]

Thanks!
Im not entirely sure yet. Probably with the same frequency as my last AAR so about once a week.

EDIT: actually it might be a bit less than that over the past few weeks since the next few weeks at work are critical and I will be spending many 11 hour workdays there, including Sundays, so we will see.

[The Outsider]

Great AAR already mate, I look forward to it. Also, are you usingaany blood mod? If so what? Those blood effects on the ground are really good.

[Hooahguy]

Just Radious's Graphics mod (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?617884-Radious-Graphics-Mod-(Updated-17-9-2014)). Not only does it improve the blood, it also removes the excessive clouds in the campaign map, excessive/ugly dust effects that slows down performance, and adds new loading screens + faction uniform changes.

Its separate from the rest of his mods so Im pretty sure you can use it without all his gameplay changes.

[Hooahguy]

Chapter One


As the leader of the Marcomanni, I, Theodoric, have been entrusted with leading this faction from the shadows of obscurity into the light of eternal glory.


https://i.imgur.com/QYEPvyf.png


We have a long journey ahead of us. We are surrounded on all sides by tribes and factions who are probably not very friendly to us at all. To our southeast, we have our sworn enemies, the Vindelici. We have been skirmishing for over a decade now, and perhaps soon it is time to take the fight to their own lands and claim their town, Kelheim. The thorn must be removed swiftly, otherwise the pain will increase.


https://i.imgur.com/4itNAf6.jpg


To the southwest are the Romans. They used to be unified into an unstoppable force, but recent internal strife has broken them into civil war. As a result, we should be very cautious about how we deal with them. Getting involved in their affairs too early could spell disaster for us.


https://i.imgur.com/ZZxqPq2.jpg


Directly south are the Helvetii. They do not seem like much of a threat right now, but things could quickly change.


https://i.imgur.com/Ul09Bzh.jpg


To the north, are the remnants of the Suebi, now known as the Semnones. Not much of a threat, if at all. The civil war that tore the first Germanic empire apart really set them back as a regional power, even almost eighty years later.


https://i.imgur.com/gBgcCu7.jpg


To the northeast are the Quadi. They do not seem like much of a threat right now, and we actually are on good terms. But we will have to either absorb them in a confederation or absorb them by force.


https://i.imgur.com/kdsXkig.jpg


And finally to the northwest we have the Cherusci, who are in the same position as the Quadi.


https://i.imgur.com/TOJrL8D.jpg


My father, the former leader of our nation, died last winter. After I took the throne, I began to gather our forces. My father was a wise man, but he was far too soft on our enemies. Never once did he attempt to end the war between us and the Vindelici. That will change. Now.


I raised two armies, one led by me, the other by Farabert, who led the other clans in political opposition to me. Together we marched towards Vindelici lands, where two large Vindelici armies were waiting for us.


There is a river between our lands, and on the banks of that river our great armies faced one another. For a week we sat by the river, until finally the Vindelici made a move.


https://i.imgur.com/TbAXD0b.jpg


It was a rainy day. Why they chose that kind of weather to deploy against us I will never know, but regardless of the conditions we had to prepare for the impending assault.


Farabert set up alongside the western bank with his men, waiting for the Vindelici to come across.


https://i.imgur.com/aDg7vHo.jpg


Meanwhile, I took my forces down the river, forded it, and set up behind a hill. We would strike from the south as Farabert struck from the west.


https://i.imgur.com/6cqPH38.jpg


But the Vindelici commander saw our moves and managed to redeploy some of his troops to meet the new threat that we presented. This victory would not come as easily as we hoped.


https://i.imgur.com/ebF7JOy.jpg


My forces slammed into the hurriedly-prepared flanks of the Vindelici forces, forcing their commander to send more men into the fray to prevent a total collapse of their lines.


https://i.imgur.com/iJKN2GO.jpg


Because their forces were fragmented, the battle turned into a number of smaller melees.


https://i.imgur.com/PVgBfO1.jpg


As forces were being diverted, Farabert charged his forces into the Vindelici lines which were in something akin to a state of confusion.


https://i.imgur.com/SLhkfQi.jpg


The fight on the banks of the river was a ferocious one. No quarter was given by either side as we hacked and slashed into each other in a violent mob. With only a small area to ford the river, it constrained the number of men we could bring to bear against the foe. But slowly we managed to gain a larger foothold on the banks of the river.


https://i.imgur.com/EqAHO9C.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/7YZpubl.jpg


Meanwhile my bodyguards and I participated in a lively game of “run down fleeing enemies.”


https://i.imgur.com/t3OeKAF.jpg


The Vindelici left flank collapsed, and we managed to catch the waiting Vindelici formations totally by surprise, shattering them very quickly. It might have also helped that they were mercenary units who didn’t really feel like fighting us at that moment.


https://i.imgur.com/Kfdz52M.jpg


With no enemies in our way, our men, now rather tired, jogged to position themselves behind the large mob of Vindelici soldiers who continued to resist Farabert’s men.


https://i.imgur.com/spavt8q.jpg


An enemy unit of slingers saw us move into positon and tried to escape, but we caught them before they fled.


https://i.imgur.com/vw2KTU2.jpg


We charged, slamming into the rear of the Vindelici formation, instantly causing half of them to begin to waver.


https://i.imgur.com/XUvNhh8.jpg


As more enemies began to waver and flee, my bodyguards and I continued our task of running down the ones who fled. It’s always a mistake to flee from this kind of thing; it makes it easier for your opponents to kill you if you show your back to them.


https://i.imgur.com/LoQuqzs.jpg


As we enveloped the Vindelici formation, a number of enemy units appeared out of the woods, taking us by surprise. They charged towards the rear of our men. I saw what was happening but I was too far out to get a message to the lower level commanders to intercept. Thankfully one of the unit commanders saw it too and ran to intercept.


https://i.imgur.com/2RRbfgX.jpg


With their units surrounded, we moved in for the kill.


https://i.imgur.com/dfTSD3h.jpg


When it was all said and done, the bank of the river was covered in bodies and blood.


https://i.imgur.com/xj3XXAk.jpg


Our men were exhausted, but victorious.


https://i.imgur.com/tjoRa17.jpg


We had crushed the Vindelici armies, wiping one out completely and seriously damaging the other, while sustaining relatively few losses.


https://i.imgur.com/rSANBvg.jpg


As the shattered remains of the Vindelici army fled towards Kelheim, our armies prepared to move in for the kill.


https://i.imgur.com/IaX3lzi.jpg

[Hooahguy]

Mods used:


Radious's Overhaul, ChampLoos Gold Unit compilation, Traits Talents and Toadies, Germanic Generals redone (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=340442286), 4TPY, KLA's New Roman Generals (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=318287385), Marcomanni unit (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=317544727) (wanted something to add to the Marcomanni roster), Splenyi' Better campaign camera, and the zoom all the way down mod.

[Sp4]

I like the idea. Haven't read more than a few sentences yet but I will soon. Looking forward to it ^^

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Two


With Vindelici forces shattered, we marched on Kelheim. The remnants of the main Vindelici force which we faced at the river fled across the border, away from the town and into the forests, apparently in the attempt to hide and gather more forces. We sent agents to locate them, while Farabert and I assembled our forces to take Kelheim. While assembling for the assault a few kilometers from the town, we received word that the garrison was coming out to meet us in open battle! A foolish move by them, as our vastly superior numbers will make it easy to dispatch them. On the other hand, there are two kilometers of dense forest between us and the town, so a trap could be sprung on us. We had to be careful, even with the odds overwhelmingly in our favor.


https://i.imgur.com/EU6dCFi.jpg


As I waited for all my men to get in the formation for the attack, I looked over the battlefield. I could see the town in the distance. It looked nice, which means I probably won’t burn it down.


https://i.imgur.com/usryR02.jpg


We deployed our men in two lines, separate from one another so when one line found the enemy the other could swing around and hit them from the flanks. One line was the men from my army and the other was the men from Farabert’s army. I instructed the men to make their way through the forest slowly, making use of the brush to conceal our movement until we could see exactly where they went. It worked, and we managed to get pretty close to the enemy as they were still forming up for an attack.


https://i.imgur.com/tKJaQiO.jpg


With their main line tied down by my forces, Farabert’s men wheeled around and slammed into the Vindelici flank.


https://i.imgur.com/pcTFS9I.jpg


They broke quickly, fleeing for the temporary safety of the town.


https://i.imgur.com/HAki1Dt.jpg


It was a decisive victory, with us only taking a handful of losses. I honestly expected them to put up more of a fight, but considering we did outnumber them two to one, I do not blame them for running.


https://i.imgur.com/HAki1Dt.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/fTZL9KF.png


We ended up sparing the lives of our captives, and in return they swore fealty to me. The town was easily captured and the Vindelici leaders seized and executed. Assassins hunted and killed the last Vindelici general who was hiding in Raeti territory, scattering what remained of his army to the winds. And just like that, decades of feuding between us and the Vindelici were over, and now they would fade into obscurity like the wretches that they are.


https://i.imgur.com/huUv3MP.png


With that threat neutralized, we now look towards lands in the north for our next conquest. While conquering neighboring Celtic tribes is always an enjoyable task, we must unite the Germanic tribes under our banner before our real task can begin, because brothers are meant to be unified.


https://i.imgur.com/u33kcGt.jpg

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Three


The Vindelici were gone, seemingly relieving some pressure on our borders. Or so we thought. A Helvetii army wandered into our territory, near our freshly conquered town. For a couple of days it seemed like they would definitely attack us, so we had our men on guard, preparing for invasion.


https://i.imgur.com/bNymIBJ.jpg


But it never came, and the Helvetii army went south towards Quadi territory. How those two interact does not concern us, so we turned our attentions elsewhere.


https://i.imgur.com/JHMSQxx.jpg


The Cherusci had declared war on their northern neighbors, the Frisii, drawing away most of their armies to fight, so it seems like we just found our next target for war!


https://i.imgur.com/z33Z0m3.jpg


A quick reconnaissance showed that the main Cherusci force is fighting the Frisii, and they were about to give each other quite the pitched battle I can imagine. The Frisii would not go down without a fight.


https://i.imgur.com/aafJ0n6.jpg


As the Cherusci-Frisii War raged on, we gathered our forces: an army led by me and another by my cousin, Chariovalda. We had recruited from the prime of Marcomanni society, and fitted them with the best equipment we had. With winter firmly in place, we snuck across the border and made winter camp in the dark forest on our border, preparing to strike when spring came.


https://i.imgur.com/ud6TSmA.jpg


In the meantime we got a surprising declaration of war from an unknown northern tribe, the Rugii. Why they declared war? I'm not sure, but they were far away and I don’t think they posed a threat. But just in case I posted scouts to patrol our northern border and began to raise a force to defend our lands from invasion. Just in case.


https://i.imgur.com/AeI4MQ0.jpg


When the snow receded, we struck. There was an army assembling inside their walls, and a very small one just outside. The plan I had was to strike the smaller army to goad the larger army and the garrison to come out to fight. After some skilled maneuvering, well, to make a long story short, it worked.


https://i.imgur.com/VRxTAQI.jpg


The battle ahead was going to be very hard. The Cherusci had many elite soldiers in their large force that would prove very hard to crack. We had numbers, but they had skill.


Thankfully we were not coming into this battle on one foot. We managed to equip all our men with armor and helmets. No more would our men be charging into battle with bare chests.


https://i.imgur.com/QJd4feN.jpg


We could see the Cherusci soldiers marching towards us in the distance.


https://i.imgur.com/9mCLCbP.jpg


The lines of Cherusci men snaked across the field, and behind them we saw something which struck terror into every man’s heart: artillery. The Cherusci had artillery! This meant we had to move fast to prevent our force from getting annihilated by those giant machines.


https://i.imgur.com/0kU7vKu.jpg


As the two lines closed, I ordered our men to reorganize from two lines to just one, stretching out our line to match there's. Initially the plan was to use the double line to crash through the Cherusci lines, then roll up their now exposed flanks and crush them. But now I made the line stretch. One section of the line would meet the Cherusci head on while the other half would hit the flanks.


https://i.imgur.com/gkwKYX4.jpg


It didn’t work, as the Cherusci just swung their line around to face both in a solid line. Not wanting to risk our forces and spend more time in artillery range, I just decided to charge the men forward.


https://i.imgur.com/yEmJ3BJ.jpg


Some units had to run quite the distance under fire.


Some units were under fire from enemy arrows.


https://i.imgur.com/KMeQfjf.jpg


Others by enemy artillery.


https://i.imgur.com/VQpBy8S.jpg


So when we finally closed the range with the enemy artillery crew, the revenge we took on them felt sweet.


https://i.imgur.com/I060NdN.jpg


Up and down the line, the fighting was ferocious. I watched as parts of the line began to falter, and I had to quickly divert from parts of the line which were doing well to reinforce the other parts.


https://i.imgur.com/LYuUXd9.jpg


I saw a few Cherusci units trying to flank us around a small hill, so I sent a few units to counter them. Among the Cherusci units was the Cherusci general. I was tempted to go out myself and meet him in combat, but Chariovalda stopped me. He said that we could not risk losing me, and volunteered to go instead. I let him; after all, it was to be his first taste of combat.


After that Cherusci flanking force was tied down, Chariovalda charged.


https://i.imgur.com/C0VDZyy.jpg


The battle raged on, and our forced began to take the upper hand in the battle.


https://i.imgur.com/vp7Q4Vz.jpg


All except in the left flank: our units holding down that flank were ground down to almost nothing, with an entire unit being wiped out in the process. So it wasn’t surprising that what was left of the remaining units in that area retreated.


https://i.imgur.com/qXL25BC.jpg


But even though the left flank fell, the center and right flanks turned in our favor, and we managed to get enough troops to the broken left flank to mend it and prevent any more damage. Eventually we broke them, and chased down the remaining Cherusci units.


https://i.imgur.com/TIjVJUl.jpg


The last enemies were driven from the battlefield, and our men, bloodied and exhausted, were finally able to rest and enjoy our first victory in the long war for unification that was ahead of us.


https://i.imgur.com/BEPX589.jpg


We had taken heavy losses. Over a third of our men were now in graves, though we had exacted a much heavier toll on the Cherusci, as almost their entire force was wiped out.


https://i.imgur.com/w6aWbFv.jpg


That night we demanded the surrender of Tulifurdum, and the broken and exhausted garrison complied with no fight.


https://i.imgur.com/bAruRBS.jpg


We consolidated units that had taken heavy losses in preparation for our next push, restored order in the newly captured city, and made sure that our position was secure in case the Cherusci or their Semnones allies decided to make a move.


We also found out that the Romans, under their leader Augustus, had moved in on Koria, ejecting the Quadi in the process. This was certainly an interesting development which we would have to keep an eye on, as the Romans were volatile neighbors who could not be trusted. I suppose that it’s a good thing that they are pre-occupied at the moment, but we don’t know how long that will last. I just hope we can unite the Germanic people when that time comes.


https://i.imgur.com/ih7Wucp.jpg




Author’s note: I will be getting a new computer in the coming weeks, so hopefully you will be seeing better screenshots from me in the near future! Assuming the savegame file transfer goes smoothly, that is.

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Four



It took a few months to recover from the capture of Tulifurdum, during which a fresh army, led by a relatively young, but very skilled, general came to reinforce: Nevelung. He was not born of my family but he showed a great deal of skill in the commanding of men, so I adopted him into my family. He didn’t seem to have much ambition, but what he lacked in that area he made up for it with intelligence and capability. It wasn’t long before he became my second in command.


https://i.imgur.com/0YdIl7v.png


It was not long after that we received word that the Helvetii had declared war on us.


https://i.imgur.com/CLKI347.png


We were not worried though. The Quadi sent an army through our lands towards Helvetii lands, as they were also at war with the Quadi. While we had to keep an eye out towards our southern border, we could rest easy for now that the Helvetii were tied down and would not bother us too much.


https://i.imgur.com/oe2JRao.jpg


Back to where all the action was going on, the Cherusci, the Frisii, and the Rugii were mixing it up in the north, making for an interesting spectacle.


https://i.imgur.com/ozmf309.jpg


Eventually the Frisii were driven off by sheer numbers, and a single Rugii army camped near Tulifurdum. We denied them any food around them so slowly they are starving as they entrench their positions. We will deal with them soon enough.


https://i.imgur.com/d9iuLgz.jpg


Nevelung and I were on the move. We took our armies and headed north, to the capital of the Semnones. Our scouts initially told us that the battle would be easy, as they did not have a large army in the area. But we were wrong, and we soon found ourselves facing a combined Semnones force of over 7,000. We had only one thousand fewer men, but it would still be a tough fight.


https://i.imgur.com/EP8EXxZ.jpg


Yet again we were facing a battle by a river. Since Nevelung and I were not marching in lockstep, we had to combine our forces before the Semnones were able to overwhelm one force by sheer numbers.


https://i.imgur.com/ogRmjuO.jpg


The Semnones deployed very effective tactics against Nevelung’s men. Using light cavalry and select heavy infantry, they managed to stall his men from reaching ours for what seemed like the longest time.


https://i.imgur.com/qpQHsFO.jpg


With the reinforcing army held up, the main Semnones force charged towards our comparatively thin lines like a battering ram against a thin wooden wall.


https://i.imgur.com/m6uyl8n.jpg


Our men fought very bravely, fighting tooth and nail to hold off the Semnones horde as long as they could, even against overwhelming numbers.


https://i.imgur.com/PFmAKd4.jpg


Our skirmishers tried to help but a contingent of Semnones cavalry charged them. I had to come to their rescue before the skirmishers were completely wiped out.


https://i.imgur.com/uQjpKIK.jpg


With Nevelung’s reinforcements held up, the Semnones were able to send units around to our side, threatening the entire battle.


https://i.imgur.com/RWzt7g1.jpg


But luck was on our side. One of their commanders was struck down, panicking many of the lower-quality enemy units, and they ran.


https://i.imgur.com/maP7fDx.jpg


At about that time Nevelung’s men reached us. They stopped the enemy flanking maneuver, and blocked off the river crossing, hitting the enemy slingers who rained death upon our men, killing them with a vengeance for all their fallen comrades.


https://i.imgur.com/IJvT2TE.jpg


The battle was turning in our favor. But even with enemy units beginning to rout, it did not stop lone groups of enemy soldiers from wreaking havoc on our lines. One group managed to inflict heavy damage on our skirmisher wing, forcing me to charge in with my bodyguards to save them. We got there in time— barely.


https://i.imgur.com/XTnfH71.jpg


Semnones units were routing at a regular pace now. But yet reinforcements still came, even as they passed by streams of routing men. Their determination was admirable, though it was to be a wasted effort on their part.


https://i.imgur.com/Q2ctTtF.jpg


Our lines were thinning. We had no fresh reinforcements like they had, and it showed. A few of our units began to fall back, as other exhausted units from wherever I could spare were sent to take their place. They fought hard. They fought like wolves in a pack, tearing at exposed flesh whenever the opportunity arose. And this was how our men held the line with tenacity against a brutal foe.

https://i.imgur.com/sdYFMQ8.jpg


Eventually the Semnones reinforcements ran out, and the remaining enemy soldiers broke, and our exhausted men gave chase.


https://i.imgur.com/aFPsuk1.jpg


Nevelung and his men chased down any enemy units they could find, though they took heavy losses in the process. The Semnones had great bowmen who were able to struck down many of Nevelung’s men, but they too were caught and routed.


https://i.imgur.com/Xr8betr.jpg


It was a gory day. Thousands lay dead, soaking the ground in Marcomanni and Semnones blood alike.


https://i.imgur.com/htvrDIB.jpg


We had won, but at great cost. A third of our men had fallen, though they did take over five thousand Semnones with them, and another one thousand prisoners, who we executed. Two of our units had been completely wiped out, and another eight units were decimated. Recovering from this loss will take some time.


https://i.imgur.com/jFnMrSB.jpg


Hot on the heels of our victory, we marched victorious and unopposed into the Semnones capital, Calancorum, that very day. There was still one more Semnones army out there, but we would deal with them later.


https://i.imgur.com/6kTBEPG.png
https://i.imgur.com/vCQFQV4.jpg

With a brief calm, my commanders and I sat down to discuss the recent battle. Recent battles showed us that we need a better, more well-rounded force to deal with our enemies. Our skirmishers were next to useless. They had less than one hundred combined kills last battle. Pathetic. We had to replace them with something else, something better, and not just more swordsmen. We would have to solve this problem soon, because the heavy casualties we have sustained in our wars until now are unacceptable.


And now we turn our attention to more pressing matters…


https://i.imgur.com/8C1qP3S.jpg

[Sp4]

Lightning Riders lol ^^ Nice name. Is that yours or did the game come up with that?

[Hooahguy]

That is the game's doing, I had no part in that.

:laugh4:

[Sp4]

That is the game's doing, I had no part in that.

:laugh4:

I guess it fits... all that hair :D

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Five


Author’s note: I got a new computer and successfully transferred the savegame file to the new computer. Everything is working fine, but I forgot to activate the new Germanic generals mod, so for this chapter you will see the old ones, sorry about that! They will be back next chapter.


The Semnones were all but wiped out. They had one army deep in Quadi territory, trying to seek shelter wherever they could to survive the coming winter. But our agents found them first, and killed off their final commanders. With that, the last whimper of what used to be the great Suebi empire faded into history.


https://i.imgur.com/u2H4UGS.png


The Helvetii were getting more bold. At first an army of theirs just danced around our border, until finally they invaded, and headed straight for our capital. Panic gripped us. We were fairly certain we could hold them off, but regardless of whether or not we could, people panicked. I tried to remain calm for the good of my people, but deep inside I worried about the fate of my home.


https://i.imgur.com/KtmFAcL.jpg


In the end the Helvetii just sat by a river, fortified themselves, and waited. What they waited for I don’t know, but for now we could rest easy and deal with other matters. We had to do something about the Rugii who were hanging around Tulifurdum. While they wouldn’t be a real threat with their single army, combined with other forces they would pose a huge danger. So we had to deal with them now.


https://i.imgur.com/xi1uIYx.jpg


Chariovalda moved in, along with the garrison of Tulifurdum to deal with the problem.


https://i.imgur.com/1cwTrF9.jpg


We set up across the river from the forming Rugii, while the garrison forded the river a bit further down in order to flank them.


https://i.imgur.com/DKg6TVW.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2ceBM3G.jpg


As the garrison force got into position behind their lines, we charged through the river towards the now panicking Rugii lines, which by now saw that they were being surrounded.


https://i.imgur.com/CSCPBga.jpg


We crashed through their lines, destroying any semblance of order in their ranks.


https://i.imgur.com/dvwEDzK.jpg


It only took a few more minutes for the garrison army to slam into the rear of the enemy line, quickly routing any unit who was brave enough to stand against us.


https://i.imgur.com/J48wda0.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/jUFYwlB.jpg


Further down the river, we had a smaller force tying up their elite units. We were having a rough go at it, for the few elite units they had were some of the best in the Germanic world.


https://i.imgur.com/afemIMn.jpg


After routing the right flank of the Rugii force, we rushed to hit the flanks of the elite Rugii force that made up the left flank. But we were stopped by a couple of Rugii elite units who were determined to prevent us hitting the flanks.


https://i.imgur.com/KVLexwD.jpg


But we were stopped for only a short while, and reinforcements came and smashed the Rugii slingers helping stall the fight by the river.


https://i.imgur.com/mNIUFwF.jpg


It did not take long before we wiped everyone out. There were only a few survivors on the Rugii side, and they soon fanned out into the forests.


https://i.imgur.com/D2GZO8H.jpg


We had taken casualties, but relatively light compared to recent battles. No units were wiped out because of this battle, though there were units in the garrison which had taken heavy losses. They would replace them quickly though, as the citizens of Tulifurdum would be flocking to the banners after this battle.


https://i.imgur.com/zb1zu70.jpg


With the only Rugii army in the area gone, we could rest easy for a little while, at least until the Cherusci arrived.


https://i.imgur.com/SHRZJ69.jpg


With one immediate threat gone, we could now deal with the other immediate threat to our lands. And once the Helvetii were dealt with, we could turn north, and the final reunification of our people.


https://i.imgur.com/iFcosO2.jpg

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Six


After making sure Tulifurdum was secure, two armies, one led by Chariovalda and the other Nevelung, marched to the border to take on the Cherusci.


Strangely, when we approached, the three Cherusci armies seemingly fled north, away from their capital of Treva. So we marched in and took the town with light casualties.


https://i.imgur.com/40mKbZo.jpg


With Treva in our control, the Cherusci had to make a move. If they did not attack and try to get territory, they would slowly starve, especially as winter was rapidly approaching.


https://i.imgur.com/x6oo88m.jpg


They did not make a move against Treva, but one of the larger armies did move south, so we jumped at the chance to take on the other two armies. Our first target was the smaller one. Because it was so small, we launched a night attack, giving them only an hour to form up and no time to call the other army to help them.


https://i.imgur.com/JQuG5uR.jpg


There was a moon outside and a light rain, so it was not complete darkness. Not to mention the torches that every unit carried, but regardless, we knew that the enemy was scared out of their minds.


https://i.imgur.com/kEgZeUS.jpg


They did have artillery though, so we had to close that gap quickly. Nevelung charged his men forward, under fire, to charge the scared and confused enemy lines


https://i.imgur.com/49q64qE.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/1pqCIbB.jpg


The enemy artillery did not manage to make much of a dent in our forces before we descended upon them, fury in our eyes and courage in our hearts.


https://i.imgur.com/3TApVOX.jpg


Since we outnumbered them so greatly, Nevelung sent men behind the Cherusci lines.


https://i.imgur.com/e7gJaTe.jpg


This quickly caused a chain rout for many of their units, and our light cavalry chased down the fleeing Cherusci soldiers.


https://i.imgur.com/cdA2tjW.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/lZsAea3.jpg


About then was when an enemy unit of light cavalry came out of the woods to surprise us. Nevelung charged with his bodyguards to intercept them.


https://i.imgur.com/zhULnP1.jpg


In the center of the conflict was the enemy general. They were the last Cherusci infantry unit to hold out against us, but we knew they would not last long.


https://i.imgur.com/NgCe0bv.jpg


Then the enemy light cavalry unit somehow managed to slip away from Nevelung and hit our archers (who had replaced the javelin units who were so ineffective in previous battles) hard. Over half of one unit of archers was wiped out. But Nevelung soon came to their rescue, wiping out the enemy light cavalry unit.


https://i.imgur.com/i97lKEc.jpg


The battle was won.


https://i.imgur.com/eOO3ibW.jpg


We had lost very few men in this battle, and we wiped out one of the armies which stood against us.


https://i.imgur.com/BAVrBXi.jpg


There was another Cherusci army right by our armies, and they fled when offered battle. We soon cornered them by the coast.


https://i.imgur.com/ZUGQXWU.jpg


The clouds were clearing from the recent rain, making for a glorious day in which to slaughter the enemy. A little rain, but that was very insignificant.


https://i.imgur.com/29dPofM.jpg


We marched slowly towards them. We were in no rush, as they had no chance for reinforcements, and for a while we just stood near them, taunting and making sure they knew they would die today.


https://i.imgur.com/7vfIeFN.jpg


Eventually we charged.


https://i.imgur.com/pqe2P1x.jpg


A little bit of maneuvering brought our men behind them, shattering many of their units almost instantly.


https://i.imgur.com/VDQCnhH.jpg


Though our units had some tough fights.


https://i.imgur.com/Hh36Z8M.jpg


Though our light cavalry had their work cut out for them, as they were chasing down routing units without rest during the battle.


https://i.imgur.com/DzGlOK7.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/P2DX6s4.jpg


When the final units were chased down and killed, we celebrated at the defeat of yet another Cherusci army with light losses.


https://i.imgur.com/7w6l6yI.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Z9G0TfS.jpg


With one final army left before the Cherusci were wiped out, were were preparing to move against them.


https://i.imgur.com/v1LAzNn.jpg


But it seems like the Frisii beat us to it. The Cherusci were gone, and for a couple of days it seemed like we would have a bit of breathing room.


https://i.imgur.com/57FTwDy.png
https://i.imgur.com/BtJJCyv.jpg


We were proved wrong. The Rugii are approaching Treva in force, but that is not the real worry.


https://i.imgur.com/oXO17na.jpg


The real problem for us is the Helvetii. They are approaching our capital in force. Im not sure why we were worried about one army; now they brought two armies that are full of heavy infantry and artillery. I can only hope that our Quadi allies can come to our aid before we lose our capital to them.


https://i.imgur.com/BchhISq.jpg

[Bramborough]

I like the night attack on the Cherusci. Last year, I had mostly used Authority or Zeal trees for my generals. In most recent campaign upon coming back to EE, however, I've been using the Cunning tree more; it's been fun. That night attack ability is almost like carrying around an extra agent.

[Hooahguy]

I like night attacks, but I wish that two generals who have the ability to do night attacks can reinforce each other.

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Seven



It only took three days for the Helvetii armies to arrive at Bergium. Our Quadi allies had not arrived so we were outnumbered and surrounded.


https://i.imgur.com/In4v9f3.jpg


We deployed our forces. Siegfried, the general in charge of the garrison, deployed our forces to block off every avenue into our capital. Some lines were on the thinner side, and we hoped that they would hold. The wait was unbearable for the defenders. Seeing the Gallic hordes in the distance slowly approaching, knowing that many of them would not see the sun rise the next morning.


https://i.imgur.com/J06n40D.jpg


Finally they charged, screaming and yelling how they would slice all our heads off. Why the animosity towards us, I don’t know, but our job for the day began then.


https://i.imgur.com/rZ0AuS1.jpg


We were not without support. Our longbow archers were behind our lines, firing as much as they could into the tightly packed hordes of Gallic warriors. They racked up hundreds of kills that day, to their credit.


https://i.imgur.com/wZJw2mL.jpg


To the north of town, the enemy was funneled into narrow roads, and were halted by only a couple of our units, although at great cost.


https://i.imgur.com/OLgXosz.jpg


In another alley we fought hard against some light cavalry, quickly dispatching them. But were then held up by an elite unit of Gallic axemen who came to reinforce their cavalry, who prevented those couple of infantry units we had in that alley from coming around and flanking the huge number of enemies crammed into one street. It was a rather unfortunate thing, as it extended the length of the battle by a good amount of time, resulting in the death of hundreds more of our men.


https://i.imgur.com/EeRFAM5.jpg


Of course, our archers were hard at work, skewering enemies by the dozens with their well-placed shots.


https://i.imgur.com/8IpIdvl.jpg


On the other side of town, the defenders protecting the western side waited anxiously for the other Helvetii army to show up.


https://i.imgur.com/CMBsogt.jpg


They didn’t have to wait long.


https://i.imgur.com/taL47Qz.jpg


The battle had raged for over two hours now, and the battle on the eastern side was still raging, though the enemy showed signs of breaking.


https://i.imgur.com/vSukEwq.jpg


And soon enough, one side of the Gallic eastern assault broke, and our men quickly took advantage of this, slamming into the flank of the other Gallic soldiers. It would not be long until the whole Helvetii eastern assault would break.


https://i.imgur.com/xInPaEX.jpg


Meanwhile on the western side the battle raged. Siegfried took units defending the southern side to reinforce the huge amount of pressure that was being applied to the thin line defending the western side of town.


https://i.imgur.com/PT0v5Fl.jpg


Back on the eastern side, the Gallic soldiers broke, and Siegfried chased them down with no mercy.


https://i.imgur.com/n7im77S.jpg


Around that time a cry went out: we had killed the Helvetii general! Felled by an arrow from our archers, they began to panic. Seizing upon this moment, our men pressed forward, chasing the fleeing enemies over piles of Helvetii bodies.


https://i.imgur.com/MtLp21e.jpg


With all other sides clear of enemies, we threw everything at the flank of the huge number of enemies on the western side.


https://i.imgur.com/qTiGFb0.jpg


A chain rout began, and the slaughter began.


https://i.imgur.com/cmuy9Y8.jpg


The Helvetii were exhausted, and our more than eager warriors hunted them down and gave them no quarter.


https://i.imgur.com/Jkzcz0S.jpg


Our capital was chocked with dead bodies from both sides.


https://i.imgur.com/sFUcYPy.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/MmOukyl.jpg


The cleanup would take days, but we had defended our capital, our sacred home, from the Gallic invaders who wanted to take it from us. But they failed, dying at our hands in the process. They would return to try again, I was sure of it, but for now we could rest easy in the coming weeks and months knowing that our capital was safe.


https://i.imgur.com/Pk3MZ1D.jpg


But one thing was sure: the birds of prey would eat very well tonight.


https://i.imgur.com/wQWrXQL.jpg


It was a great victory for us. We were outnumbered and by superior troops and we still came out on top. Our casualties were large, but not nearly the number we were expecting. We captured a large number of their men, and executed every last one of them. A message must be sent to our foes that anyone captured trying to take our homeland will have no quarter given to them.


https://i.imgur.com/Ggtg2ig.jpg


And of the two large and powerful Helvetii armies which once stood testament to the power of our southern Gallic neighbors, one of them was completely wiped out, and the other went into hiding somewhere in the southern forests, undoubtedly doomed to fall to our Quadi allies.


https://i.imgur.com/TTafnKX.jpg


With the Helvetii threat gone for the time being, we could turn our attention back north, where our Germanic brothers were not cooperating with our attempts to integrate them into our glorious future. And it looks like an opportunity just opened up to strike a blow to their stubbornness…


https://i.imgur.com/gcKE3Sd.jpg

[Bramborough]

Epic fight. Looks like it was quite the bloodbath. Silly Helvetii will think twice about trying THAT again.

What is that melee unit that composed the vast bulk of your army? I don't see them in the Encyclopaedia's Marcomanni unit list. The picture looks more like a Sword Follower than anything else.

Also kinda interested in how much your few Longbow Hunter units contributed.

[Hooahguy]

They are actually a custom made unit for the marcomanni that I asked a modder friend to make for me. They are basically a reskinned sword brothers unit (in the Radious roster) with a but more armor and with more staying power. And slightly cheaper.

My archers I think saved the battle. Them and the Hex-bearers, who deployed the curse ability as often as possible, scaring the enemy. The archers had at least 200 kills each, one had over 350.

[Bramborough]

Wow, that's pretty good. I think I've probably had archer units who could have scored that many, but ran out of ammo. Is it the in-game Longbow Hunter, or also a custom unit?

[Hooahguy]

Its the vanilla unit. I think they got so many kills because the enemy was so tightly packed together, so arrows were basically guaranteed to hit.

[Sp4]

I like the night attack on the Cherusci. Last year, I had mostly used Authority or Zeal trees for my generals. In most recent campaign upon coming back to EE, however, I've been using the Cunning tree more; it's been fun. That night attack ability is almost like carrying around an extra agent.

The cunning tree is the best tree for generals in my opinion. Warrior is alright. I don't like the commander one because my generals are almost never in a position to really make use of those things but yeah, cunning is amazing and night attacks are really really powerful.

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Eight



We saw our chance in the late spring. We invaded the Rugii homeland, and found only one army in our way. We offered battle, and an honorable way for them to capitulate to us. But they fled, leaving their capital, Virunium, relatively undefended. So we took it.


https://i.imgur.com/Do0Kj32.png


After occupying and securing Virunium, we found a lone Rugii army cowering in a corner near what was once their capital, starving and demoralized. Their defeat came swiftly.


https://i.imgur.com/ENsplkb.png


There were a couple more Rugii armies hanging around, most likely trying to make for the border and safer territories, and we made haste to offer battle. With nowhere else to go, the larger of the two accepted our offer. We outnumbered them greatly, so what they hoped to achieve I do not know, but we gladly took to the field.


https://i.imgur.com/Z7uhlTA.jpg


We marched confidently towards our foe. We were very confident of victory.


https://i.imgur.com/aea195Q.jpg


Facing off against an enemy this weak almost made this seem like a sport for us.


https://i.imgur.com/qNEJqJK.jpg


That illusion was soon shattered when two hundred Rugii cavalrymen crashed into our right flank.


https://i.imgur.com/0qpiZai.jpg


Elite Rugii infantry crashed into our center, killing dozens of our men just with their charge alone.


https://i.imgur.com/VYI1n2o.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/idaZY9m.jpg


On our right flank our infantry was having trouble with the Rugii cavalry. Nevelung sent in our cavalry to help our men chase off the enemy.


https://i.imgur.com/ewZvsIT.jpg


The battle seemed to stall for a little bit, but then we managed to get around their flanks and charge.


https://i.imgur.com/z8Mn3Au.jpg


While their cavalry managed to harm us in the right flank, their cavalry on our left flank wasn’t as successful.


https://i.imgur.com/pBfNBbc.jpg


After chasing off an unsuccessful cavalry charge, our men went to work on their infantry on the left flank.


https://i.imgur.com/Ead5dLq.jpg


Our archers also helped from the rear, raining arrows down on the Rugii.


https://i.imgur.com/IYXsyBt.jpg


And soon we managed to encircle the entire Rugii force.


https://i.imgur.com/EXG7fim.jpg


The Rugii quickly folded, and the day was won!


https://i.imgur.com/IRsE0t1.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/FK602pa.jpg


We sustained a few losses, nothing too serious.


https://i.imgur.com/Imuk6Uq.jpg


There was one last Rugii land army to deal with. They capitulated extremely quickly, with almost no losses for us. After all they were only about 800 men strong, and facing against an army of almost 3,000 angry Marcomanni warriors, I do not blame them for submitting so quickly.


https://i.imgur.com/i9Rzlvn.png


With that, the Rugii threat was basically eliminated, with only one small Rugii fleet out at sea somewhere. So we could rest easy for now, and concentrate on what was going on around us. The Helveconae and the Arii were fighting between themselves, much to our advantage as the Helveconae will probably be our next target for reunification.


https://i.imgur.com/p9vXdcZ.jpg


We have built a small fleet, our very first one for a very specific reason. Do you remember that Rugii fleet on the run from us? Well, we can’t just have them hanging around forever, can we?


https://i.imgur.com/iZp5Zf9.jpg


Meanwhile, the Frisii have involved themselves somehow with the Iceni pretty heavily, so I suppose it is only a matter of time until we are dragged into that war.


https://i.imgur.com/X0aSJ15.jpg


So as our position in this world grows ever stronger, and as we unite more and more tribes under our banner, our enemies will grow in number. But we will prevail, as we have against the Helvetii (who are still licking their wounds from our last encounter), the Vindelici (gone), the Cherusci (gone), and now the Rugii (soon to be gone). No matter the foe, we will come out on top!

[Bramborough]

Nice installment. Your armies look to be on quite the roll.

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Nine



With our war with the Rugii all but finished, we had to look to our next objective. Unfortunately that would not be so simple as it had been before.

The north was a mess. The Arii and the Helveconae were locked in an alliance and had large forces romping around the northern areas, doing whatever they wanted short of actually invading me. By our estimations there were well over eighteen thousand Arii and Helveconae warriors spread out over eight armies; a very formidable force to be dealt with should we attack. Not that we can really attack them at this point anyways: while we were on very good terms with both nations, they were firmly locked into their alliances, and it doesn’t seem like that will be easily broken. We could field only five armies, and we still had to defend the southern border with at least one army. I tried to get the Arii to break their alliance but they declined, even when we offered over 20,000 gold coins, a pretty decent fortune for any faction, large or small. We will try the Helveconae next, and we will see if they will break their alliance, as they are much smaller than the Arii and might need or want the money more than the Arii did. If they too refuse, we will have a major problem on our hands.


https://i.imgur.com/SjmbKsQ.jpg


Though things were not all well on the home front as we were trying to figure out what to do; plague swept through one army, decimating them and preventing any action for a few months.


https://i.imgur.com/yBtvxyI.png


But with the bad news of the plague came some good news! The Frisii agreed to integrate with us! The first step into a truly united Germanic confederation!


https://i.imgur.com/t5K8oq5.png


Soon after we realized that they had an ongoing war with the Iceni. It took a lot of money but we managed to get the Iceni to halt their pending invasion of our newest town, Flevium. We also found out where the last Rugii fleet was hiding!


https://i.imgur.com/OHYK1v0.jpg


We managed to corner them on the coast and sink the last of the once proud Rugii, wiping them off the map for good. It was not a very hard fight, as they had been at sea for a very long time with minimal supplies, so they were exhausted and starving by the time we found them. In fact, we probably could have let them rot at sea until they fell prey to a storm or something. But I preferred our way, to dispatch them with our steel.


(https://i.imgur.com/1EuuW1I.png


But with the Rugii “threat” gone, we still had the impending doom of over three large Iceni armies coming across the ocean. I know that we are at a rather uneasy peace with them, but at any moment they could just come and violently take towns away from us, just like they did so many years ago with the Suebi.


What is puzzling is that the Caledones, a northern tribe above the Iceni, declared war on us. We never had any contact with them before so I really have no idea why they declared war. We would deal with them in due time though, because a naval invasion is just beyond our reach for now.


https://i.imgur.com/digFUOc.jpg


But then the Arii went on the march, travelling through our lands towards the coast. I’m not sure where they are going, but they are at war with the Iceni so I can only assume that they are planning on travelling across the ocean to attack the Iceni at their home. But of course this leaves the Arii homelands wide open to attack, so perhaps this is an advantage for us? Time will tell, and in the meantime we will consolidate and prepare for the hard battles that are sure to come, whether our enemies are the Iceni, the Caledones, the Arii, or the Helveconae. I might not know what to do right now, but surely the Gods will show me the path to earn our proper seat among the greatest of nations.


https://i.imgur.com/YMUQ1Jp.jpg

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Ten



The Arii launched a large scale invasion of the Iceni lands, gaining ground and taking their capital and another town almost immediately. To be honest I was rather proud of them. They were holding their own in a large scale war and did not need assistance.


https://i.imgur.com/Fxj3GRo.jpg


But this seemingly good news was overshadowed by much better news: the Quadi agreed to join our confederation! We absorbed all their lands and cities, including the formerly Roman city of Mediolanium.


https://i.imgur.com/HfIWxOp.png


The Helvetii were also dealt with in a rather anticlimactic way. They had recently busted their teeth against the forces of the Quadi so they were a shadow of what they were when they attacked our capital so many winters ago. Farabert led his army south and took Octoduris, the capital and only territory of the Helvetii, wiping out the thorn in our side forever.


https://i.imgur.com/wnZ9H4s.png


With all the good news came a little bit of bad news: over the course of a few months, the tribes in the lands that the Arii invaded mounted a counter-attack and now the Arii were scrambling to react. It seems like the Arii bit off more than they could chew in this invasion. This might be a good thing for us because a weak Arii is an advantage for us.


https://i.imgur.com/CXzOuNu.jpg


It was then that our diplomatic scheming when into action. We knew that the Arii were hurting for money. The war with all the island tribes was bankrupting them, and they would do anything for financial help. And we would help them, short of actually helping them take over the islands. But this would come at a cost to them. The Helveconae were still hanging around our lands, not doing anything more than being a small threat. They had three armies and one settlement, ripe for the taking. But as mentioned before, we could not just go and declare war, because they were in a military alliance with the Arii. Had we declared war without breaking up that alliance, we would be facing the armies of the Arii and the Helveconae. Something we did not really want.


Then we got word of the Arii’s financial problems. We offered them 20,000 gold coins in exchange for them breaking their alliance with the Helveconae. They accepted, and we began to slowly move away from the Helveconae. First we began to starve them. They came to our cities asking for food when they could not find any in the fields. We turned them away, saying that we had no food for our own citizens. Of course this was a lie, but we hid our food stores well. Soon they began to head towards the coast, probably aiming to set sail towards friendlier lands.


https://i.imgur.com/DlO227N.jpg


It was then we struck with the full fury of our armies. Isolated and exhausted, they had no choice but to stand and fight. Two armies, one led by the veteran Nevelung and the other by his greener counterpart Karl, faced the single Helveconae army in battle.


https://i.imgur.com/EOvTjTp.jpg


For the first time in our history, we fielded the fearsome ballistae, capable of throwing stones long distances. We were very excited to field it, as it would make sieges much easier. No longer would we need to rely on scaling walls with ladders to capture cities, especially as we will soon have to take on the fearsome Romans and their heavily defended walled cities.


https://i.imgur.com/7yKfb3k.jpg


It was wonderful seeing our explosive shells knocking Helveconae warriors to the ground.


https://i.imgur.com/2hAJQ5E.jpg


There was some fight still left in them though, as they slammed their cavalry into our left flank, but our men held firm.


https://i.imgur.com/rAXIqXG.jpg


In the meantime our main lines collided in the fury of thrown spears and swinging swords.


https://i.imgur.com/8sVOQd5.jpg


It was then that Nevelung’s forces came over the hill, and his cavalry charged into the Helveconae flank.


https://i.imgur.com/Mzxn6Se.jpg


While Nevelung’s cavalry was making a royal mess of the Helveconae forces, Karl and his bodyguards charged to help our left flank with the Helveconae cavalry.


https://i.imgur.com/PmukrZA.jpg


The fighting was fierce, though most of the bleeding was done by their men, thankfully.


https://i.imgur.com/jFVLjN1.jpg


After dealing with the Helveconae ranged units, our cavalry slammed into the rear of the Helveconae line.


https://i.imgur.com/63NQZIX.jpg


After that it did not take long for us to claim victory.


https://i.imgur.com/by6CMRc.jpg


We had almost annihilated the Helveconae army save for a small handful.


https://i.imgur.com/01zqDhe.jpg


While not completely annihilated, that army was effectively gone. Still, we would have to ensure they were wiped out, but we had bigger problems. Three Helveconae armies had left their homeland over two years ago. We had just defeated one of them, and another one was surrounded by our forces. But where was the third army? Our scouts searched the area but could not find them. Did they make it to the coast and sail away? Or maybe they were lying in ambush somewhere, waiting to exact revenge for our actions. We did not know, but I had a feeling we would find out soon enough.


https://i.imgur.com/QQS1cqh.jpg

[Bramborough]

Looks like your diplomatic deadlock has broken up nicely. What a sunny clear day in the midst of winter for the Helveconae battle...the pics just looked cold.

I've noticed how overwhelmingly infantry-heavy your armies are. Part of that is probably just the Germanic unit roster. I'm tempted by the idea of doing same with my Egypt campaign, just to do something different. Throw 17 Thorax Sword units at someone and see how it works out....

[Hooahguy]

A big part of the problem with cavalry, at least for the Germanic factions, is that it takes a level III building to get decent cavalry, whereas for infantry it just takes level II. Also when I first started out, the first three settlements I was in possession of were in three different provinces. So I needed infantry, food, and perhaps one more slot for something else. Thats why my starting armies were so infantry heavy and still are infantry heavy.

Also cavalry dies too easily and ranged doesnt do enough damage.

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Eleven



The Helveconae left their capital and only settlement, Setidava, wide open for attack. So we attacked. I sent one of the (former) Quadi generals with his force, mostly mercenaries, to take the town. They did, but with heavy casualties. It was a hard fight for them, but now the Helveconae no longer have a place to call home.


https://i.imgur.com/tVQnyy5.png


We then cornered one of the last two armies by the coast. They were trapped, and we were going to deliver the killing blow.


https://i.imgur.com/7u7auW4.jpg


They were cornered against a cliff, with a large hill overlooking it. We set up along the hill, wanting to use the height to our advantage.


https://i.imgur.com/Hqsz7np.jpg


The Helveconae had a lot of cavalry, and they made numerous strikes against our main line, almost as if they were just testing our strength, as they pulled back almost immediately after charging.


https://i.imgur.com/oetjXZ1.jpg


Unfortunately for them though, our archers had them in range.


https://i.imgur.com/J9EX7wO.jpg


Eventually when they charged they got stuck in melee with our men, and we struck them down like the dogs that they were.


https://i.imgur.com/Qjet0Vq.jpg


Then their infantry came up the hill. Now I just want to mention that our spies reported that this army was not just your average arrow fodder soldier that we have faced dozens of times. No, these men were hardened elite warriors who would chew up your average soldier and eat them for lunch. So hitting them at range was imperative before they could do too much damage.


https://i.imgur.com/h1tGWSp.jpg


And speaking of range, our cavalry was making a royal mess of the stray Helveconae ranged unit that strayed too far from the safety of friendly spearmen.


https://i.imgur.com/LvLWheU.jpg


And when our cavalry was finished wiping out the enemy skirmishers and bowmen, they turned around and charged straight into the rear of the Helveconae infantry.


https://i.imgur.com/4ov9g9I.jpg


And while our cavalry was making a mess of the enemy ranged units, their infantry was making a mess of our infantry. In one section, their elite infantry wiped out an entire unit of veteran swordsmen, and were halfway through another one when our cavalry crashed into their flanks.


https://i.imgur.com/3NYgFZY.jpg


When those elite units broke, our cavalry chased them down with a vengeance.


https://i.imgur.com/SMZZKgU.jpg


The Helveconae were utterly defeated, with only a handful of survivors on their side, the rest being either killed or captured.


https://i.imgur.com/RyxFPzf.jpg


It was a great victory for us, though at quite a cost, considering how badly we outnumbered them. We had lost one unit of veteran swordsmen, and a few others had taken many casualties.


https://i.imgur.com/Li4WEsZ.jpg


With that remained one final Helveconae army, who reappeared on the other side of a large forest bordering Belgae territory. Perhaps they were trying to cross into their lands for safety?


https://i.imgur.com/Qh6Fn0K.jpg


Whatever their plans were, they did not get the chance to enact them as the Helveconae general, who was the last member of their royal family, was assassinated in a coup by his own men. They did not want to fight anymore, and with their general dead, they surrendered peacefully to us. The Helveconae were no more.


https://i.imgur.com/DebHRep.png


We received word that the Roman faction led by Octavian had declared war on us! And it happened at an almost perfect time.


https://i.imgur.com/pyR5mnR.png


It was quite the folly on the Roman’s part; our scouts did not show any major Roman armies in the area, and they were rather vulnerable, with the Roman towns of Koria, Treverorum, and most importantly, the major city of Vesonto well within our reach. I have a feeling that the Romans would be regretting their decision soon. The war with the Helveconae was over and the Romans would feel the wrath of 17,000 veteran Germanic warriors bearing down on them!


https://i.imgur.com/P2BcIVa.jpg

[Hooahguy]

Chapter TwelveWith the declaration of war from Octavian’s Rome, our armies went on the offensive. We first took the very vulnerable town of Koria without a fight. There was no Roman garrison so we can only assume that they had given up the town even before they declared war. Koria had been a hotly contested town from the very beginning, changing hands almost every other year as it changed ownership from the Raeti to the Quadi to the Helvetii to the Romans, and then back and forth until map makers stopped listing the ownership of the town on their maps, as by the time the maps were distributed, the ownership probably changed by then. But now that it’s in our hands, we hope to keep it that way for a very long time.

https://i.imgur.com/A3ivLE0.jpg

As the map makers were feeling confident enough to label Koria as belonging to us, I, along with Karl, led two armies to assault the Roman fortified town of Vesonto.https://i.imgur.com/G7mU72S.jpg

We had multiple siege ballistae so we were feeling very confident as we launched our assault on the town. We did not thoroughly scout the surrounding areas so there might have been Roman armies lurking about that we did not know of. Even without reinforcements, the garrison posed a serious threat, as they had plenty of veteran legionaries who could do some serious damage.

https://i.imgur.com/Ynr3EC8.jpg

But as we said before, we had powerful siege artillery, so we were not too worried.

https://i.imgur.com/AJW6jgt.jpg

We also had ladders to scale the walls with.

https://i.imgur.com/MLp47jf.jpg

They had veteran legionaries on the walls so we had to whittle them down with our archers.

https://i.imgur.com/eQv7G4e.jpg

They delivered serious damage, as hundreds of arrows fell upon the hapless Roman defenders on the walls, stuck between raising their shields to protect themselves from the arrows and lowering them to protect themselves from our swords as we stormed the walls.

https://i.imgur.com/OxVTjVv.jpg

Some Romans even took the coward's way out and jumped off the walls instead of facing our warriors.

https://i.imgur.com/Tjrip39.jpg

For the ones who decided to stay and fight, they faced our wrath as the walls became slick with the blood of Romans.

https://i.imgur.com/WVhTERu.jpg

With the Roman units on the walls taken care of, the rest of our forces stormed the gaps in the wall created by our artillery. They soon encountered Roman resistance, which was scattered at first.

https://i.imgur.com/l48oYNT.jpg

But enemy reinforcements soon arrived.

https://i.imgur.com/71BYRp2.jpg

The reinforcements we faced were hardened soldiers, and even flanking them had little effect on the morale of the Romans. In fact, they just fought harder.

https://i.imgur.com/2Mgpp6d.jpg

Both sides fought hard. It was a brutal fight, with both sides spilling a lot of blood. We had taken fewer than a dozen casualties taking the walls, but facing these soldiers, we lost hundreds of our men.

https://i.imgur.com/Rz875A6.jpg

The Romans were blocking both paths to the city center, drawing out the bloody fight even longer. But finally we were able to flank the main body of the Roman resistance from behind.

https://i.imgur.com/7MRj1Fb.jpg

Being pressed from all sides, even the Roman veterans crumbled in the face of our seasoned warriors.

https://i.imgur.com/94lFgjJ.jpg

Things were finally looking as if the battle was won, but then came another large group of Roman defenders, who came with vicious dogs who jumped at us and tried to tear our necks from our bodies. It was a shame that these dogs were bred for such a purpose, with no free will of their own, and it was with heavy hearts that we had to kill them along with their human masters.

https://i.imgur.com/8Mez7Dn.jpg

Finally the Romans began to flee, and the city was ours!

https://i.imgur.com/hFc9evS.jpg

The city was a mess. Besides having two large holes in the wall, the city was littered with dead bodies, and blood literally flowed down the street in some areas. Cleanup and repairs would take a long time.

https://i.imgur.com/dodFq74.jpg

It was a great victory though. We had lost barely over 600 men, and had annihilated the Roman garrison.

https://i.imgur.com/IF1KuXe.jpg

The Roman town of Treverorum also fell to us, with very light casualties. We had taken three Roman towns in the first month after the Romans declared war on us. The war was going very well, and still no sight of any major Roman armies! If the war continued like this, I would be shocked if the war lasted longer than a couple of years.

https://i.imgur.com/6vLNduw.jpg

Meanwhile, our scouts found the city of Rome. The Roman faction led by Pompey had control of the famous city that our forefathers had conquered a century ago. That was a shame though, because we were on good terms with Pompey, though that was probably because of our war with his rival, Octavian.

https://i.imgur.com/XQdIT0J.jpg

Word of our victory over the Romans spread, and our confederation grew. The Arii, freshly kicked off the British Islands by the local tribes, had entered the fold of our glorious confederation of Germanic brothers.

https://i.imgur.com/PM3GHTL.png

The Nahanarvali, who were in a war with Dacia, also joined our confederation on the condition that they ended the war with Dacia, who we were on good terms with.

https://i.imgur.com/CHOgkNg.png

Finally, the last holdout were the Helisii. They were fiercely independent, but with a bit of coaxing they joined us as well.

https://i.imgur.com/RU1zVvW.png

With the Helisii in our confederation, the Germanic tribes were finally united under one banner. We have not been this strong since the times of Chlodochar! That first battle with the Vindelici which started our whole rise to greatness seemed like it happened so long ago!But with the tribes united, others feel rightly threatened by us. After all, we were one of the largest and strongest powers in the region. Everyone in the past who faced us ended up dead, so for a reason I cannot fathom, the Gauls declared war on us, who were joined by their allies, the Belgae, who we had tense relations with for decades now.

https://i.imgur.com/8i6SRxd.png

But that was not the worst news to come: the Caledones, a British tribe who declared war on us a few years back but never acted on it, had attacked and taken the town of Flevium! The town’s garrison fell quickly to the combined Caledones forces and everyone was slaughtered.

https://i.imgur.com/JORzTpR.jpg

I was incensed! The Caledones would pay for this with their blood! We would spill their guts over the graves of our brothers and sisters! There would be no rest until their blood is avenged, and the Caledones will rue the day they stepped foot onto our shores!

[Bramborough]

Lol, I like the bit about the mapmakers giving up on tracking Koria ownership.

That indeed was a robust garrison at Vesonto. Not sure I've ever seen a full 20-unit AI garrison, with mostly quality troops. I guess Octavian had the place loaded up with Level III+ military buildings? Rather surprised that the battle prediction was so lopsided in your favor; I suppose because of your general and the two ballistae.

Pesky Caledones....

[Hooahguy]

Radious's mod increases the garrisons across the board so if you have high level buildings (level III and above) you will most likely have a full garrison. Never saw garrisons that strong though as most my garrisons are levies or slightly better. Then again, the town I took had mostly level IV buildings.

And yeah, Koria has changed hands so many times it went from "oh wow, the Quadi took Koria!" to "oh, the Quadi took Koria, and then lost it again to the Romans? Whats new?"

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Thirteen


News of the Caledones invasion rocked our people. Never before had a foreign tribe so haughtily attacked and conquered our lands. We had others invade, yes, but never had they taken territory. An only partially irrational panic gripped us, as the invasion brought on memories of their invasions so many years ago when the great Suebi empire began to crumble. Were we about to face the same fate?

We looked back upon the Helvetii attack against our capital only ten years ago in which the intrepid defenders managed to drive off the invaders against great odds. The Defenders of the Hearth, they were called, the valiant three thousand warriors who stood to defend our homeland against invasion. With Siegfried as their commander, they stood proudly, ready to face any threat.

And now they were called upon again to defend our lands. They made haste for the coast, meeting up with Nevelung’s army along the way. Not too far from where the Caledones violated our people, we met them in battle.


https://i.imgur.com/ij54Mtt.jpg


On a glorious autumn day did Nevelung and Siegfried face the two Caledones armies which had invaded our lands.


https://i.imgur.com/onQ0IBT.jpg


The Caledones had field artillery so we had to move fast to prevent them from inflicting too much damage. Our commanders had our men stalk through the woods on approach, hiding from enemy eyes until the moment came to charge. But there was a large clearing which we must cross before we can wipe out the enemy artillery crews.


https://i.imgur.com/RMnUq2g.jpg


The second our men emerged from the woods, the Caledones artillery aimed at us, killing dozens instantly.


https://i.imgur.com/7wm1sNU.jpg


It was not a great start to what was to become a very bloody battle. We charged towards the enemy while under fire from their artillery. We were in disarray. Men hesitated among explosions, fearing to press on. Nevelung and Siegfried rallied the men, urging them to press on. But even with the rallying cries of the heroes of the Marcomanni, our forces were uncoordinated. As a result we did not attack the enemy as one, and instead as broken groups of men, allowing for the Britannic warriors to pick apart entire Germanic warriors.


https://i.imgur.com/TPJYkn3.jpg


The Britannic warriors who we fought were not your average warriors. These were not levy spearmen or anything. These were battle hardened troops with tough armor and an even tougher resolve. They were veterans from wiping the floor with the Arii a few years back when the Arii had invaded their lands. The Arii invasion ended in failure, as the Britannic tribes converged on them and subsequently kicked the invaders off their island. So this was making to be a much tougher battle than expected. Some of them also had funny hats.


https://i.imgur.com/Po37GKl.jpg


Our commanders managed to stabilize the line and plug any gaps before any more serious damage could be done. The battle raged for hours. Nevelung told me afterwards in a letter that watching our men go tooth and nail with the Britannic warriors was one of the most nerve-wracking things he has ever gone through. Three units of our swordsmen were wiped out by the armor-clad Caledones, who were only defeated when we managed to get units around their flanks.


https://i.imgur.com/HUNQrVn.jpg


The Britons also had a lot of cavalry. Their cavalry outnumbered us three to one, but our cavalry was heavier, so while our heavy cavalry tied up their heavier cavalry, their light cavalry attempted to attack our men. They didn’t have much success in that. Whatever experience their infantry had, their cavalry clearly did not share.


https://i.imgur.com/b5kWnYU.jpg


Finally the enemy broke into a mass rout when we killed one of their generals. Those chariots are really not designed for agility (and if you knock a wheel off it is rather easy to kill the riders), so I’m not so sure why their generals would think it’s a good idea to ride around those things on a battlefield. Though I will admit that I do want one. I wouldn’t use it on a battlefield, that would be insane, but I would love to race down the streets of Bergium on one.


https://i.imgur.com/zCS8OWD.jpg


While our cavalry chased down the last of the Caledones, we surveyed the battlefield. It was carnage. Almost six thousand bodies were strewn over the field, and their blood would soak this field for years to come.


https://i.imgur.com/WmkiaGC.jpg


Our casualties were heavy. Almost two thousand of our brothers were slain, and many more were injured. We had lost three entire units, and many more had taken serious casualties. The Caledones, on the other hand, were basically wiped out.


https://i.imgur.com/RsTYBON.jpg


On the heels of our victory, Nevelung and Siegfried swooped in and re-took Flevium. What was once lost was now back in our hands.


https://i.imgur.com/aZRMspH.jpg


I wished that with the good news of the defeat of the Caledones invading force things would get quieter but that was not the case. Three armies were at our border. Two of Pompey’s Roman armies and one Dacian army (they were military allies) were seemingly poised to invade. After sending some envoys, it seemed like the Dacians were pretty angry at us, but more on that later. In the end they did not invade, much to our relief, and they moved away from the border.


https://i.imgur.com/lYlH8bL.jpg


A month after the Caledones defeat, the Iceni seemed to think it was a good idea to declare war on us. I really have no idea why they would do that, but those Britons, so unpredictable!


https://i.imgur.com/ImZNUfH.png


No huge invasion force landed on our shores, but there was one Iceni army that had been camping out near Treva. We had been okay with it for some odd reason but now that it was war, this would not be tolerable. Though when a freshly raised army led by a green general by the name of Folcher offered battle, the Iceni general seemed genuinely surprised; I guess he never got the message that we were now at war. Sucks for him I guess.


https://i.imgur.com/t9iACvY.jpg


We had artillery for this battle, and our men seemed a little too excited to see it fire at the enemy.


https://i.imgur.com/h29eI4Z.jpg


The Iceni had a lot of cavalry in their army, so our men had to buckle down and use their counter-cavalry tactics against the attacking cavalry. And even with our fancy tactics, it eventually broke down into single combat between the Iceni cavalrymen and our swordsmen.


https://i.imgur.com/8nYcrop.jpg


We managed to chase down their general once again since he was on those very impractical chariots (seriously, who thought it was a good idea to fight on one of those?).


https://i.imgur.com/rqodabg.jpg


One expects an untested general to hang back for his first battle and not get physically involved, but that clearly was not Folcher’s style. He saw an opening through the lines and charged right through into the Iceni skirmisher units. He might not have been right at the front of the charge, but he was in the very respectable third rank I heard, so good on him! A real leader of men!


https://i.imgur.com/ACexpxZ.jpg


Around this time some Iceni heavy cavalry snuck around and hit one of our units of archers. They devastated the unit, though we managed to save them at the last minute, but by that time the vast majority of the unit was slain.


https://i.imgur.com/EaB8ghu.jpg


Back on the main line, the Iceni infantry had for the most part fled already, save for a single unit of woman warriors. We were surprised that they outlasted their male compatriots, and even though we ended up slaughtering all but two of them (who managed to flee into the woods somewhere), they earned our respect.


https://i.imgur.com/3My32VY.jpg


On the other hand it was kind of enjoyable to run down the other fleeing Icenis, capturing anyone who we could and killing the ones who resisted.


https://i.imgur.com/ToKkbKg.jpg


We had won the day and captured over two hundred Iceni prisoners. We ended up enslaving the ones we captured, as Folcher felt kind of bad for surprising them with the declaration of war earlier.


https://i.imgur.com/N7nvQSQ.jpg


It was then that a peace envoy came from the Iceni. For some reason they now wanted peace. I’m not really sure why they even bothered to declare war on us in the first place if they just wanted peace as soon as they suffered one defeat, but whatever works for them I guess. Besides, we have enough enemies now that we don’t need the Iceni to be at war with us as well. So we accepted their peace offer and put the very short war behind us. For now.


https://i.imgur.com/ODXGXmX.png


Do you remember how the Dacians hated us and seemingly were about to invade with their Roman allies? Well I finally found out why. One of the old Nahanarvali generals, a man by the name of Sigivald kept leading small raiding forces into Dacian territory, killing innocent villagers and plundering whatever they could. Somehow this went unnoticed and unreported by my advisors. Apparently the complaints by the Dacians had been ignored by a select few advisors who were profiting from the raiding, so news of the raids never reached me.

I executed Sigivald and the corrupt advisors in an effort to placate the Dacians. We will see what that will do, as the Dacians are extremely angry I let something like this slide for almost three years now. Besides being angry at the advisors who took corrupt money in exchange for ignoring an action that could result in a war we are not prepared for with an empire that is roughly our size and strength, I was angry at myself. Something like this happened under my watch; I was supposed to be better than this. I was supposed to be vigilant against actions like this but I had failed. For the first time in over twenty years, I felt like I had failed as a leader of my people who had entrusted me to lead them into glory. Of course the path would not always be smooth for us, I knew that from the very start, but this was a travesty and I could only hope that the gods would continue to show us favor.


https://i.imgur.com/IYVvVZ0.png



After the executions I made a trip to the altars of Wodanaz, Teiwaz, and Thunaraz. I made offerings to them for their continued protection against our foes, the ones who lay beyond our lands and the ones that hide within. We had been lucky so far, but who was to say how long the gods and fates would remain on our side?

[Bramborough]

"Some of them also wore funny hats". Classic.

I don't get chariots either. Tried to use them a good bit in my Pontus campaign. As far as I could tell, their sole worth was that they were a great way to get an undesirable general killed off.

What the heck was that Iceni female unit? I'm in the late stages of an Iceni game and have unlocked and used just about everything they have (I think). Don't recall running across those troops. Heroic Nobles? That's the only unit I can think of that I haven't recruited yet.

[Hooahguy]

Some sort of higher-end female ax unit. Im not sure if they are a Radious unit or a Champloo unit. Either way they put up a good fight.

Also just to say how bad my relations with the Getae are, they are currently at around -280 relations with me. Up from -310 but still bad.

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Fourteen



Farabert, my friend and leader of the rival families, died a few days ago. He was seventy years of age, only two more than me. He died of an illness which he most likely got while leading his army in Octoduris. I knew I always hated that place, it was a dirty town with sewage running in the streets, even with the much vaunted Roman sanitation systems. Farabert tried to clean it up but clearly that cursed town got the best of him.


https://i.imgur.com/OmReEl3.png


His death got me thinking about my own. I was not much younger than he was, so I had to begin to think of who would succeed me should I pass from this world. Nevelung was my favored choice. He was still relatively young, not even 50 years old, so he would have a good while of leadership. He was definitely qualified for this position as well. He is a true leader if I have ever seen one. He might even be a better one than I am! But besides his obvious qualifications, we share the common goal of attaining glory for our people, and to once again expand our empire to the size that the Suebi once had us. We had expanded under my watch from just a single region in the middle of Germania to a swath stretching from the western sea, to the northern sea, and then almost to the eastern sea. And soon I hope to reach the southern sea as well! The sheer magnitude of what we have accomplished in just twenty five years has shocked everyone, but not me. We Marcomanni have been destined for greatness from the beginning. We had our triumphs and tragedies over the decades, but we will come out on top, now and forever.


But back to the present! With the Britannic invasion dealt with for the time being, it was time to deal with the Belgae, who had always been a thorn in our side for as long as I could remember. We had never been at war with each other until now, but there was always an air of mistrust between our two nations, with them hating us because of how successful we were and us hating them because they hate us. Clearly they just hate us because they ain't us. Anyways, we never had a reason to fear them, as they never really had any strength behind them. That is, until they got into an alliance with the somewhat powerful nation of Gaul, who decided that declaring war on one of the most powerful nations in the known world was a good idea. So the Belgae dutifully followed their masters into war, which was a rather tragic mistake on their part. What a shame, we could have been such great allies.


I took my army of veterans alongside Chariovalda who had another army and headed towards the Belgae town of Bavay. We encountered no resistance, and we conquered the town effortlessly.


https://i.imgur.com/a8HLgxz.jpg


We then left and headed towards the fortified Belgae city of Nemecatum, and once again, no defenders in sight. Where were all the Belgae? After taking Nemecatum we decided to hold back for a little while until we could ascertain the position of the surviving Belgae forces.


https://i.imgur.com/NPABBr0.jpg


It didn’t take long to find them; they surfaced near the town of Vesonto. After scouting for a bit, it seemed like besides a couple of very small forces peppered throughout the countryside, there was only one major Belgae army, which was the one parked right next to Vesonto. The defending armies, led by the new leader of the opposing families, Ricohard and another army led by a general from my family named Adalwin took to the field. The Belgae tried to retreat, but we had forced them into battle.


https://i.imgur.com/36ojMBv.jpg


Because we had known about the Belgae being in the area, I left my army in the capable hands of my captains, selected, my best bodyguards, and traveled south to Vesonto to join up with Adalwin’s army as a member of the much-vaunted Thegnoz Drugule, who are considered the elite of our armies. We only recently began to train them as they have to be drawn from existing veterans and only recently were we able to afford to let hundreds leave the army for more training. They were all on the older side, so it should not be too strange to have someone who was almost seventy years of age among the ranks. Was this risky? Of course, but I was still in great shape and my body had not yet begun to falter from age, so I was not too worried. I just had to stay away from ranged units and I should be fine. It has been a while since I have seen battle, and I wanted to get another taste of it as soon as I could. After all, I was almost seventy years of age, and even if I fall in today’s battle, it would be preferable than to dying of old age, decrepit and wasting away on some bed.


With our potential deaths in mind, we donned our armor and set out for battle.


Not wanting any surprise Belgae reinforcements, we took to the field as soon as we possibly could. The conditions were not great, as it was snowing rather heavily. We were confident though, we had defeated in the past much larger foes so this should be a simple affair, and a way to get my sword wet with blood once more instead of hanging back like I am used to.


https://i.imgur.com/kjVc8nh.jpg


We lined up in our ranks, eager to start the battle. In our army we had a unit of field artillery, which was pushed up front, and we were on either flank to allow for a clear field of fire for them.


A cry went up. "Enemy field artillery!"


A second later, Belgae explosive shells began to rain down upon our lines, exploding with the sound of thunder as shrapnel killed and injured dozens in an instant. We pressed forward, holding our shields closely to our bodies, hoping that the relatively thin wood and metal could withstand a direct hit.


https://i.imgur.com/punW4ef.jpg


Our artillery replied in kind, though, trying to silence theirs before they could do any more damage. They didn't manage to hit any of the Belgae artillery, but they did manage to get a few great hits on their infantry, which will be a help later.


https://i.imgur.com/dm7SlBn.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Ko0PyW9.jpg


Our reinforcements were only about a kilometer behind us, but for some reason, Ricohard decided to hold the line up until they could catch up. Fatal mistake for hundreds of our brothers, who fell due to just being inside Belgae missile range, not to mention constant artillery fire. I was incensed as we waited for the others to catch up while we kept getting hit. This battle was already being mismanaged and we were just getting started!


https://i.imgur.com/yRclsYS.jpg


Finally our advance resumed, and we finally made contact with their lines. We threw our javelins, striking dozens of the waiting Belgae spearmen down. Before they could recover, we charged. We were on the left flank. In the center, our men were hitting one unit of their artillery, while on the right flank our men pressed hard to take out their other unit of artillery, which was trying to hide in some woods and being protected by bands of spearmen. But they could only resist for so long, and they fell beneath our swords. And when we reached their artillery crews, we slew them with a vengeance.


https://i.imgur.com/klztBUx.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/FO6GWU2.jpg


Among the ranks of Belgae infantry were their naked warriors. They weren’t really naked, rather they had only a loincloth to clad themselves with but otherwise they wore neither shirts nor pants. Rather interesting if you ask me, though their lack of armor made them easy to kill. But what they lacked in armor they made up for it with ferocity.


https://i.imgur.com/FGSMs8T.jpg


The left flank had to deal with the Gallic cavalry. This was not a hard thing for them to do as they were armed with spears, and had been deployed on that flank for that reason. Good call for the commanders, if I may say so myself.


https://i.imgur.com/z70ygcc.jpg


Then there was the center of the line. That’s where we were. We were not facing their elite units, but there were a substantial number of Gallic spearmen, not to mention the heavy spearmen belonging to their general’s bodyguard.


https://i.imgur.com/FvjZwtl.jpg


We ran forward, calling out to each other who we would be taking as an opponent. I picked a Gallic warrior with a bare chest with blue and red trousers. We faced off. He took a swing at me which I swiftly blocked with my shield. I took my own swing at him which was blocked as well. He swung his sword in an arc, and I jumped aside to avoid the blade. But it was then I found my chance. I hit him with my shield which made him stumble and sliced my sword through his upper leg. He went down on one knee, screaming in pain, swinging wildly at me in an effort to end the agony. He managed to cut me in the thigh, but I grimaced and ignored how much it hurt. I drew my blade up and sunk it into his neck. I watched the life fade from his eyes, pleading to me for mercy. But he would get none from me. I felt alive as the adrenaline surged through my veins. Another Gallic warrior came at me and I cut him down with a swift slice through his chest. I managed to cut down another two more before they all fled.


https://i.imgur.com/oJ9Qd19.jpg


Finally the Belgae turned and fled. We chased them with arrows, explosive shells from artillery, and the traditional cavalry. Few got out alive. This time more than ever it was a pleasure to see our men ride down the fleeing Belgae.


https://i.imgur.com/voO29cj.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/O1VK4ic.jpg


It was a great victory for us, and it sealed the fate of the Belgae from one of mediocre existence to one of annihilation.


https://i.imgur.com/6bDr7Cw.jpg


There were still a couple of Belgae tribal leaders roaming the countryside, hiding from our forces as best they could. But they could not hide from our agents, who killed them one by one, scattering their forces into the wind, effectively ending the sovereignty of the Belgae people.


https://i.imgur.com/r4pDzzh.png


But with all the good news, there is always bad to go along with it. The wound I sustained in battle got worse. That Belgae warrior’s sword had cut deep and efforts by our best healers to close it were not working. The wound began to fester, and the sickness spread to my leg, and then to my whole body. I have been bedridden for almost a month now, during which I have been writing this chronicle of the journey I set us on almost three decades ago. As for wound treatments, nothing has been working. Sacrifices to the Gods have yielded no reprieve from my suffering. I recalled Nevelung from the field and we spent the days talking about my vision for the Marcomanni and the Germanic people. I can see my death coming closer as I become weaker. I made Nevelung swear to me to continue this chronicle after I pass, so this will not be the end of the narrative of how we went from a solitary tribe of a single region to a large confederation of brothers with almost two dozen regions under our control.


And with the empire I have nurtured in good hands, I can peacefully pass from this earth and into the welcoming arms of the All-Father.


https://i.imgur.com/hA2LuGN.png

[Bramborough]

Dudes deciding it's a good idea to fight a battle without wearing any clothes, let alone armor....that's amusing enough. But in the snow during a northern European winter...ok, now that's downright comical. Silly Belgae.

Rather sad to see ol' Theo bite the dust. But he lived a good life. Could've been worse; he escaped the misfortune of being king during a GC campaign, and managing only to build a couple of farms and recruit a few cannon-fodder spears before he died off....

[Hooahguy]

Well with a 4 turn per year mod then the kings last quite a while actually in the GC. Chlodochar from my Suebi AAR managed to last a long time, I think about ~150 turns before I killed him off.

Anyways, next up is my first open land battle with Octavian's Romans!

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Fifteen



My name is Nevelung. I am the man who my predecessor, Theodoric, entrusted to lead our people to the realization of his dream of a lasting Germanic empire. I have accepted this burden with a heavy heart, as Theodoric was a leader who was loved by all, and he welcomed me into his family with open arms. He will be remembered as the one to take us from obscurity and into prominence in the great arena we call our world.


https://i.imgur.com/7b22rjo.png


The Lightning Riders were the personal army of the leader of our people. They have faithfully served the ruler of our people for many years now. For almost three decades they served Theodoric. Now, they were to serve me. It would be sad to leave The Lone Fighters, who I had led for the past twenty years. And after saying goodbye to my old family of brothers, I left them and joined my new brothers, who were camping by Nemecatum, protecting it from another impending Caledones invasion.


https://i.imgur.com/XEpNUWt.jpg


But our focus was not on the unruly Britannic tribesmen about to land on our shores, but of a Roman city that was soon to fall to our forces: Bibracte. With towering walls and over five thousand Roman defenders, trying to storm the city would be suicide for any attacker. Should we assault, we would sustain thousands of casualties. So we waited it out. The city only had about a year’s worth of supplies, so it would not take too long before they would be forced to come out and face us or surrender. But other forces were at play. The Gauls were lurking nearby with two large armies, and the Romans had another two armies in a nearby town. Because of the threat that four enemy armies could converge upon our forces besieging the town, I decided to send four of our own armies, led by the generals Karl, Caesorix, Ricohard, and Adalwin. Just in case.


https://i.imgur.com/yDCbBHb.jpg


But no relief army ever came. That might be because we managed to intercept every message from the city asking for help, but in any case, the defenders finally emerged from the city to challenge us.


https://i.imgur.com/g9LFoTZ.jpg


Ricohard, who was the overall commander of the four armies, deployed just behind the ridge of a large hill that overlooked the battlefield. I’m not entirely sure why he didn’t just set up on the crest of the hill, but I'm sure he had a perfectly valid reason for doing so. Moron.


https://i.imgur.com/TbbSjAp.jpg


From afar we saw the Romans approaching us in a calm, orderly fashion. They seemed a bit too calm, considering they were outnumbered over three to one. So something was up, and we knew it. So we watched them carefully as they jogged towards the hill.


https://i.imgur.com/2kiqcR7.jpg


Meanwhile our reinforcements were arriving. Caesorix arrived first from the east:


https://i.imgur.com/AyJVNLL.jpg


And just as Ricohard saw Caesorix’s men begin to arrive, the Romans came over the hill. Where did they come from? The Romans we saw from afar could in no way have arrived that quickly! Clearly they must have been hiding at the bottom of the hill, trying to surprise us. We managed to open fire on them quickly though with all we had.


https://i.imgur.com/xo3f7Av.jpg


The Romans brought some quality units to the fight, including many veteran legionaries, archers, and elite city guards, all came to bear for this fight. They would die gloriously by our swords.


https://i.imgur.com/kQYoAvq.jpg


One unit of Roman auxiliary cavalry tried to charge our lines, but was cut down immediately by a storm of our arrows and javelins.


https://i.imgur.com/kmwfiPZ.jpg


The reinforcements led by Karl and Adalwin say that as they jogged towards the battlefield they could see the arrows and artillery flying, even from a few kilometers away.


https://i.imgur.com/nhMnPIN.jpg


Ricohard told our artillery to target their general, who was riding between the Roman lines and encouraging his men. We aren’t entirely sure if they managed to hit the enemy general, though they did score a number of hits on his bodyguard.


https://i.imgur.com/NkgPLPJ.jpg


Roman legionaries are renowned for their discipline, achieved by an iron-like obedience to their leaders. It was to be admired, I think. I wish our men had that kind of discipline. Though what we lack in sheer discipline, we make up in ferocity. And having seen the kind of ferocity our warriors are capable of, there is no way that the Roman legionaries could ever match it.


https://i.imgur.com/zf8UmV4.jpg


But we did not only face the disciplined Romans. They had enlisted the help of Gallic auxiliaries, who fought with Roman armor but in the Gallic way. But we had fought Gallic soldiers many times before, and they fell with ease.


https://i.imgur.com/GXUzz3Z.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/kREObg0.jpg


But with the routing of the Gallic auxiliaries, that is where the easy part of the battle ended. The Romans threw everything they had at our center, where only a few lines of our men held the line between the Romans and our artillery. They pushed hard to get to the artillery. The romans knew that if they could break through to the artillery and destroy it that would send ripples down our ranks and demoralize us. Not to mention they would be able to roll up our flanks. But we held firm, not letting a single Roman get through, but those units in the line of the Roman assault took very heavy casualties. A total of seven of our units took extremely heavy casualties, with a number of those were teetering on the edge of being wiped out completely.


https://i.imgur.com/IdYDwbS.jpg


But we pulled though, and the romans were routed, leaving thousands of bodies littering the field in their wake.


https://i.imgur.com/5DGBT8w.jpg


It was our first open battle with the Romans. Forget fighting in tight city streets where sheer numbers and brutality wins, here we out-maneuvered and out-fought the Romans, and even though we lost almost one thousand five hundred men in the process. Their losses were total though, and we strolled into Bibracte with no opposition. After all, we did kill off basically every male Roman who could take up arms against us beforehand.


https://i.imgur.com/ZE4je2m.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/x6tHFjA.jpg


I wish that the Romans knew when they were beat. But then again, they didn’t bow to Cathage, so why would they bow to us? We wanted some peace and quiet in the south, to deal with the Gauls and then finally the Britannic tribes who will probably always be a pain in our sides and would only cease when we brought the war to them. But in the meantime, we would have to finish up this silly war with Octavian’s Romans, which I had a feeling was about to ramp up.


https://i.imgur.com/CH9jXtk.jpg

[Bramborough]

Epic battle there. They may have been outnumbered with no possibility of a win, but those legionaries put up a nice fight.

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Sixteen



As we were smashing the Romans in the south, the Caledones landed an army on our northwestern shore, right near Nemecatum, where Chariovalda and I were stationed to protect us against invasions such as them. This would be my first chance to prove myself with the Lightning Riders, being their new leader and all. I wasn’t a new commander by any means, but leading a new batch of men is always a nerve-wracking experience.


https://i.imgur.com/AFCnuJ9.jpg


We had pressed them up against the coast, giving them no way of escape, as I have been told that those remarkably short-sighted Britons had burned their boats before beginning their march inland. They must be feeling rather silly right now as we took the field.


https://i.imgur.com/jJqn2iT.jpg


The Caledones decided to charge us before we could bring all our forces to bear against them and bring them a crushing defeat. This was good though, as it meant our archers could work their magic on them to full effect, and our swordsmen could shower them with javelins as they charged.


https://i.imgur.com/k6zaram.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/7KNdthp.jpg


And charge they did. The Caledones descended upon us with a savage fury. They knew they were hopelessly outnumbered. They knew they were doomed, but they charged anyways. For that I had to admire them.


https://i.imgur.com/9ICEkrk.jpg


But considering how much we outnumbered them, they could not hold down our line and protect their flanks. So I sent the cavalry around their flanks, smashing their ranged infantry and scattering them from the field.


https://i.imgur.com/zKpMekP.jpg


They folded quickly, and I allowed our cavalry to give chase to make sure that they were properly shattered, as there was not an immediate need for them to return and smash the flanks of the Britannic infantry.


https://i.imgur.com/A5b0By8.jpg


Speaking of which, they were not doing so well against our heavy infantry. The Britannic infantry tended to be lighter and faster than ours, which were great for hit and run attacks, but if you could pin them down they were very easily smashed.


https://i.imgur.com/WrvvyAk.jpg


Soon the rest of this initial Caledones landing force were on the run.


https://i.imgur.com/ZNtyX5a.jpg


And we gave pursuit as always, cutting down hundreds of them and capturing many hundreds more.


https://i.imgur.com/xU9W5pu.jpg


Save for a few survivors of a unit of spearmen (who undoubtedly fled back across the sea to warn their brethren of the hell that awaits any Britannic invasion force who dared step foot on our lands), the Caledones were utterly demolished. And my first time leading the Lightning Riders was a great success! No insubordination, no issues with my leadership, giving me confidence in this new army that I was to command for my time as faction leader.


https://i.imgur.com/6CAKn4Y.jpg


But the Britons seem to never learn. Scouts report that more Caledones invasion forces were preparing to land, so we made ready for the next challenge that would come from across the sea.


https://i.imgur.com/zQLdi6e.jpg


While this was happening in the northwest, in the south our generals were preparing to move against the combined forces of Gaul and Octavian's Romans. This was our first time facing the Gauls in battle, after having crushed their Belgae allies earlier last year. The Romans who would be reinforcing the Gauls in this battle were the garrison of the town of Gergovia, which was our next goal. After chasing the Gauls around for a few days, we managed to catch them in their camp. Roman reinforcements were shadowing us, but it would take a while for them to catch up to us.


https://i.imgur.com/RI7PaSy.jpg


Our field artillery was set up to smash down the walls of their camp to allow easier access for us. Their camps were designed to funnel enemy troops into a killing zone, so breaking up that zone is imperative.


https://i.imgur.com/eS0yO8o.jpg


Seeing as they were under artillery fire, the Gallic general decided to charge his men out and towards our lines instead of waiting to be struck down by artillery. A wise move by them, as artillery wreaks havoc on infantry that is packed together.


https://i.imgur.com/X1QSpjL.jpg


The Romans were sighted. They were still very far away and marching slowly towards us. We did not want to have to face both the Gauls and the Romans at the same time, so we were in a rush to defeat the Gauls before we had to deal with the Romans.


https://i.imgur.com/KXl8Rbj.jpg


We had deployed our men in a line, as always, but Caesorix had deployed his cavalry behind a hill on the right flank, hidden from sight. So when the Gallic cavalry predictably hit our infantry on the right flank, Caesorix charged the cavalry right into the surprised Gauls. They had walked into our trap, and we crushed the enemy horsemen almost instantly.


https://i.imgur.com/e4aNZh8.jpg


But there was no such trap laid for the left flank, which was left without cavalry support. They had to face a combined force of Gallic infantry and cavalry on their own, and even though they put up a fantastic fight, they took heavy casualties.


https://i.imgur.com/Tg3fBbq.jpg


But not for too long. Our reinforcements, who were running as fast as they could towards the battle, had arrived to relieve the left flank. First with cavalry support and then with heavier infantry should it be needed.


https://i.imgur.com/N4oyusZ.jpg


The Gallic general tried to intervene, but we headed him off with a wild charge by our cavalry, killing the Gallic general and most of his bodyguard.


https://i.imgur.com/eI82C5h.jpg


With the Gallic general dead and their cavalry gone, it would not take long for our more heavily armored men to take down the Gallic infantry.


https://i.imgur.com/5VbvNOD.jpg


Then the Romans arrived. We had set up lines to counter the Roman juggernaut with, but the majority of our forces were still held up with the Gauls.


https://i.imgur.com/4xUUkxp.jpg


The Romans charged in their legionaries, crashing against our lines with a fury that I can only imagine struck fear into our ranks. I was told that it was a sight to behold: heavily armored men clawing at one another in a desperate attempt to kill each other. It was truly kill or be killed when it came to the Romans. No quarter would be given and none would be received.


https://i.imgur.com/tJZwrr3.jpg


Finally our cavalry returned, and a massive charge against the Roman flanks began. With a rallying cry, our horsemen set about the task of crushing Roman resistance, who, by this time, were pressing our line rather hard. But our men were standing strong against the waves of Romans.


https://i.imgur.com/RWJpyoi.jpg


But not everyone could hold off the Romans. Our left flank had begun to collapse under the sheer weight of the Roman numbers, and we had to rush reinforcements in so the Romans could not use this to their advantage.


https://i.imgur.com/MMEfjWU.jpg


Even with our better infantry, the fight was ferocious. These Romans seemed to know what they were doing. They fought for every inch of ground, even when outnumbered and surrounded.


https://i.imgur.com/sxWOBTG.jpg


But eventually they broke and ran, as all men do. Even the strongest, most elite and ferocious warriors have a breaking point. It is just a manner of when.


https://i.imgur.com/tYCTywn.jpg


It was a bloody day.


https://i.imgur.com/J6NFoOa.jpg


Thousands lay on the ground dead or otherwise seriously injured. Most of them were Gauls or Romans, but over 1,600 of our men lay among the dead. The Gallic army was crushed. Fewer than one hundred of the almost three thousand Gauls who initially too the field against us remained, and they scattered into the woods. The Roman survivors fled back to Gergovia, thinking they would be safe there.


https://i.imgur.com/ZAUTSj6.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ImVL1TG.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/SVkeCAq.jpg


They weren't, as we swiftly marched on the town and took it with no resistance.


https://i.imgur.com/gyFf5gQ.jpg


Another Roman town had fallen to us, yet another in what was now a long line of conquests. More were sure to follow, though how long until the feared Octavian himself came to face us? For now he was hiding in the fortified port-city of Burdigala with a mighty force by his side, so I think it is only a matter of time before he brings it to bear against us. But we will be ready, and the gods will give us victory, just like they have a thousand times before and undoubtedly will in battles to come.

[Bramborough]

Invade Britain and take out those pesky Caledones and whoever else is up there...they won't stop jacking with you otherwise.

Another nice battle with the Romans...

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Seventeen



Less than a month after we repelled the second landing by the Caledones on our shores, they landed once again, and once again we marched out to crush the invaders.

https://i.imgur.com/2gjwppM.jpg

The odds this day were much more even than before. We were not able to prevent a reinforcing Caledones army to come in by sea, as they were right on the heels of the army which had already landed. So we would have to use all of our tactical skill to ensure that we see victory for this battle. And perhaps a little help from the Gods as well.


https://i.imgur.com/uSuwvRI.jpg


From afar we could see the Britannic ships slowly making their way towards shore, struggling against the rough waves that battered the coast. The twenty or so ships made an imposing sight as we nervously waited for the Caledones to arrive. If these Britons played their cards right, they could easily crush us by landing on the shore behind us as the other army hit our lines from the front.

https://i.imgur.com/Btjt8LF.jpg


Initially I considered pulling our army back to a position where we would have an easier time defending but in the end I decided against it. Our artillery was already deployed and I decided to just curve both flanks towards the shore to prevent a flanking attack by their chariots, which were a silly and yet deadly part of the Britannic armies. While they were fragile, they could also pack quite a punch when they charged into enemy lines. Theodoric hated those chariots, and I had a feeling I would hate them just as much.


https://i.imgur.com/HtMOmUH.jpg


Then the Caledones did something which surprised me. They charged towards our main line, not waiting for their reinforcements to land first. This puzzled me. Why would they do this? It went against every tactical convention to split a force like that, especially because their reinforcements were still almost thirty minutes away from being able to land, as the rough seas were making it difficult to travel. The Gods were clearly on our side this day!


https://i.imgur.com/Qn4EVi5.jpg


The Britannic horde descended upon us, howling and screaming in a strange tongue about what I can only assume was promising our deaths.


https://i.imgur.com/zm7fzbZ.jpg


All along the left flank and center we were pressed by the Caledones, as we desperately tried to force them to turn before the reinforcements arrived, as our artillery and archers rained death upon them.


https://i.imgur.com/gapBhND.jpg


Taking lessons from previous battles, I rushed our cavalry in. Sending them around to first deal with their light cavalry, they crashed into the Caledones from behind, crushing the enemy morale, as not only were they being cut down from the front, but also being crushed underneath the hooves of our cavalry from behind as well.


https://i.imgur.com/bcfXAc6.jpg


It wasn't long before we had them on the run! First a unit of spearmen broke. As their comrades saw these spearmen begin to flee, the rest began to as well, losing the will to fight as their blue body paint began to wash off with their fallen comrade's blood that splashed over their bodies like rain falling on a rock.


We gave chase to the exhausted and demoralized Britons, cutting them down when we caught up to them. Our men were tired, but still had enough energy in them to chase down the fleeing enemy, killing or capturing anyone they came across.


https://i.imgur.com/SeWnutf.jpg


But then the first reinforcements began to land on the shore.


https://i.imgur.com/k4O1a0b.jpg


Thankfully the first Britannic army had for the most part been defeated by that time, with our cavalry mopping up the remnants of their army. The battlefield was already covered in dead Britons and broken chariots, and we had not even begun to engage this second army, who were quickly approaching.


https://i.imgur.com/g8mqtKs.jpg


Most of the Caledones reinforcements had not landed yet, so we turned our artillery on them. Switching from an explosive artillery shell to one of solid iron, they tore through a number of their ships, sinking them. The enemy units they carried drowned as well, their armor dragging them beneath the turbulent waves as they desperately tried to claw their way to shore. None of those on the sinking ships survived that we could tell.


https://i.imgur.com/wNii3z7.jpg


But most of the Caledones avoided our artillery, and landed on the part of the shore right next to our lines. They probably could have landed further on down the shore and forced us to turn our lines completely around, but they probably did not want to risk any more of their ships sinking and taking an entire unit along for their ride to the bottom of the sea.


https://i.imgur.com/dcBQblC.jpg


The Caledones formed up opposite us, as we stood over the bodies of their dead comrades. And with not a moment of hesitation, they charged at us with the same howling and screaming that we have now come to know as standard for the Britannic tribes. Our tired men summoned all the strength they could and charged towards the Caledones who were descending upon them.


https://i.imgur.com/VNooCzS.jpg


As our warriors engaged the first elements of the Britannic reinforcements, the main element arrived, and our artillery tore into them with explosive shells.


https://i.imgur.com/QClpySs.jpg


Our exhausted and blood-soaked men desperately fought to keep the Caledones from breaking through. They were already close to breaking through to the artillery and that was something we could not allow. The Caledones tried everything to bash through our lines, and even tried to go around our forces to attack us from the rear. We only just managed to stop them in time.


https://i.imgur.com/8lDF5mk.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2YxJCV9.jpg


Finally we had whittled the Caledones down to the last of their units, who despite being hopelessly outnumbered and doomed, and many of which fought like mad to kill as many of us as they could before they were killed in turn.


https://i.imgur.com/stiIXPD.jpg


But eventually they were routed, and with a vengeance for our fallen brothers we ran down whoever we could reach.


https://i.imgur.com/4Rx057E.jpg


Even I participated, hunting down the remnants of one of their heavy swordsmen units who decided to not fight to the death. It was a sweet thing to die for one's people. It was an even sweeter thing to kill those who meant your people harm.


https://i.imgur.com/2Lu0dQw.jpg


It was a tremendously bloody battle. There was a thick layer of dead bodies, dead horses, and broken chariots that covered the battlefield.


https://i.imgur.com/nNMn891.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ewvUEar.jpg


It was a tremendous battle for us. We had lost just over a thousand men but had killed almost five thousand of the Caledones. Two of their armies were completely shattered if not wiped out completely. But there was still one question which bothered me. Why had the Caledones army which had already landed now waited for the other army to land before attacking? It would make much more tactical sense to combine forces and then attack. But one captured prisoner, who happened to be a captain of one of the generals, revealed that the two generals were feuding before the attack. Each wanted the glory of leading the attack for themselves, so instead of working together to defeat us, they were crushed individually.


https://i.imgur.com/iSDKltp.jpg


But this would not be the end of our conflict with the Britannic tribes. This was far from the end. Because where the Caledones came from there were thousands more to take the place of those we had just killed. This war would never end if we just keep fighting off whichever army decides to land on our shores, whether it is the Caledones or their allies the Demetae, or even the Iceni. We would have to defeat them in their own homeland. Nothing less would do.


If they will not make peace on their feet, they will make peace on their knees.


https://i.imgur.com/Cn5yFnu.jpg

[Bramborough]

Cool battle. Brits and their daft chariots. Nice use of the artillery on the yet-to-unload ships...not sure I would've thought of that.

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Eighteen



There comes a time in every leader's tenure when he must make difficult decisions. In my case, I have decided to bring the war to the very shores of Britannia. For decades we have sustained attack by the Britannic tribes, and finally it was time to solve this problem at its source. Having crushed the Britons time and again, I decided to send them a peace offer. Maybe they learned from their many defeats at our hand and would want to live in peace. At least for a little while anyways. Our envoy returned empty-handed. Clearly they were in this fight until the last man.


We needed a plan. This was not going to be an easy fight, as the Britons had concentrated their forces into the southern half of their island. Bringing the fight to them would require at least half a dozen of our armies, if not more. This was going to be a monumental effort on our part. Tens of thousands will die, but before we can embark on ships there is another problem that must be addressed before we can begin any attack on the Britons: the Gauls.


After scouting the Gallic territories, we discovered that the remaining four Gallic towns were either lightly defended or totally absent of enemy forces. So I gathered three armies together, led by the generals Meginrat, Caesorix, and Meginhard, and they launched their assault on the Gallic lands. They were later joined by a fourth army, led by Leudagar. Their first target was Cenabum, which was taken with little resistance.


https://i.imgur.com/zVmht7l.jpg


After leaving a token force behind to ensure security, Caesorix and Meginhard moved onto the next town, Darioritum, taking it with some losses but very light compared to what we expected. The remainder of the Gallic defenders along with their government took to the sea, fleeing for safer waters as we took over their town.


https://i.imgur.com/btEHXex.jpg


And while Darioritum was being taken over, Meginrat marched down to the town of Limonum, taking it with no resistance. Where were the Gallic armies?


https://i.imgur.com/Mbe8v1J.jpg


There was just one final Gallic holding left, and that was Iuliobana, which was on the northern coast of Gaul. But we took that over quickly as well with few losses. The Gauls were essentially defeated, having no more lands and no more armies, save for a couple of small fleets which scattered into the wind. We decided not to pursue at sea, as I didn't think that the small Gallic fleets posed a real threat. But armies were still stationed by the coastal towns, as the possibility for a Roman naval invasion was still very real.


https://i.imgur.com/xq250zC.jpg


Our lightning campaign through Gaul had worked. The Gauls posed no threat to us now, so all that was left was to deal with the Romans and the Britons. We never found out what happened to the Gallic armies. We had defeated one of them near Gergovia, but other than that, no significant Gallic armies were to be found.


I convened a war council to decide how to deal with the challenge of the Britons.


For hours we debated how best to execute the invasion. Ricohard suggested a frontal assault on the southern area of the island where the majority of the Britannic forces were assembled.


Chariovalda did not like that idea.


"Our spies say that there is only one good landing site in that whole area, and what if they attack us as we are coming off the boats? We will be wrecked even before we land! Look at the most recent invasion by the Caledones. We wrecked that second army as they came off the boats since they could not organize fast enough! A similar fate could awaits us if we pursue this course."


I agreed with Chariovalda, and Ricohard's plan was scrapped.


Siegfried suggested that we assault the fortified town of Camulodunum first, capture it, and then press outwards through the island.


"If we can capture that major port city, we can use the defenses of the city as a starting point for the rest of the campaign through the island. A strong base from which to expand from is critical."


I liked that, but I raised an issue.


"That sounds like a great plan, but how to we take the town? A direct assault might work, but considering how close the rest of the Britannic armies are to the city, it does not seem like a very good idea to try to take them on all at once. Even though we are committing at least six armies and over 16,000 men to this campaign, we need a cautious approach to this endeavor. I clearly remember how well the Arii did initially against the Caledones and their allies, but then they got overwhelmed and crushed later on in their campaign. We must learn from their mistakes this time around."


But not everyone agreed that we should invade the Britannic lands. One of them was a statesman by the name of Warin.


"Why do we need to invade them at all? Why not keep the current situation where we have armies posted on our border with them and we keep repelling them as they attack? Why risk so many of our men in what can only be called a fool's errand? I remember very clearly the Arii invasion of the island. I remember how well it went initially for them, as they tore through Britannic armies like a sword cuts through grass. But then the Britannic tribes rallied, and ended up crushing them. In fact, that's how the Caledones got more power! They led the charge against the Arii, and ended up capturing the former Iceni capital of Camulodunum, refusing to return it to the Iceni. And so the ruled became the ruler!


Don't get me wrong, I do believe that the Caledones are a threat. But I feel we should concentrate on the Romans first before we plan an invasion like this; I do not want us to befall the same fate as the Arii."


I pondered what he said for a minute or two.


"Warin, I understand your trepidation towards an invasion of the Britannic islands, but have you faced the Britons in battle before?"


Warin replied that he had not.


"Well then, let me tell you something about the Britons. Specifically the Caledones. They are unrelenting. They will keep invading our lands until the end of days! Do you not remember what they did to Flevium, when the Caledones captured it? They butchered a large portion of the population, and they are still recovering from that attack. The Britons are a brutal people, lacking any of the tact that we civilized people have, and as such, must be subjugated if we ever want peace. As for the Romans, we will deal with them afterwards, since for now they are acting very defensively. They are pressed on all sides, and as we speak, the combined forces of Pompey and the Dacians are hitting them hard in the south. While we certainly cannot leave the southern flank unguarded, they have not shown the same aggression that the Caledones and their friends have. At least not yet anyways. Things might change, which is all the more reason to start and conclude an invasion of Britannia sooner rather than later."


Warin said nothing, seemingly understanding my point.


Then Leudagar, a relatively green general who helped take the final Gallic town of Iuliobana, spoke up.


"What if we attacked the town of Iska? It's a bit further away from Camulodunum, but it has large beaches on which to land and our spies report that there are few, if any, Britannic armies lurking about there. It seems like an ideal place to land our forces. If we take Iska, it might provoke the Caledones and their allies to assault in an effort to retake lost lands, ultimately giving us the upper hand."


https://i.imgur.com/EMfS9yb.jpg


I liked that idea, but I worried that landing so far away from the main bulk of the Britannic forces would leave our shores open to attack, or maybe even a full-on invasion. Leudagar suggested that we leave a couple of armies behind to counter any possible invasion, and ferry them over to the island later to assist in the conquest once we were sure that our shores were safe from attack.


We agreed it was a sound plan. We would land with six armies around the town of Iska and capture it, giving us a base on the island from which our conquest will be launched from. We would see how the Britons react. If they would charge into our waiting forces, all the better, but should they attack across the sea, we should be ready for them as well.


https://i.imgur.com/5PDxWie.jpg

[Bramborough]

Warin....always one in every crowd, huh?

I usually like Iska as well when invading Britain...but don't really feel "safe" until I've got Calumodunum. Those Brits can be unusually troublesome.

[Hooahguy]

Yeah, though it looks like Im going to have to go for a total conquest though. At least of the Caledones and the Demetae, both of who refuse peace no matter how much money Im offering them. Trading with Egypt, Pompey, and Antony gives me a huge cash surplus. Im almost literally swimming in cash. I tried to give the Demetae at least 20,000 to end their war with me but they refused. What annoys me about the Demetae is that they just hang out in southern Britannia, doing nothing. At least the Caledones invade every now and then.

The only reason why I am worried about them is because Ill be facing the combined armies of the Caledones and the Demetae. Thats it. Im hoping that the Caledones will invade once more so I can crush them before I invade. They have already rebuilt halfway and due to some annoying poison attacks I have to wait 3 turns to reinforce my armies which took casualties before I can invade, and by that time they would have rebuilt their forces.

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Nineteen


It took a couple more months before we could get everything in order, but once the seas calmed, we prepared to board the ships to invade Britannia.

There was an air of excitement by the docks in Iuliobana, where almost fourteen thousand men prepared to board ships to defeat an enemy that have caused our people so much trouble for over a hundred years. We would finally have retribution!

In the end, we decided to send only five armies over for the first wave. Our spies reported that there was a considerable threat of Caledones invasion by sea. They had their ships ready to go from Camulodunum at a moment’s notice. We could not allow them to ransack our towns again, so one of the armies that was initially slated to head over the sea was held back to help defend against a possible threat.

There was another bump in the road. One of my oldest friends, Karl, had died. He was supposed to lead one of the armies in the invasion, but he had fell ill and passed away. He had been one of my closest friends for a long time now, as he started out with me when we were both young captains under Theodoric. I was sad that my friend would not be able to see us conquer Britannia like we had once dreamed of many years ago. He will be sorely missed.

https://i.imgur.com/QMNAhJe.jpg

But I could not mourn Karl for too long. There was an invasion to launch! It was already late in the summer when we boarded the ships and sailed towards Iska.

https://i.imgur.com/bu0fw88.jpg

When we landed there was some snow on the ground. But that did not deter us, and we took Iska with ease. The garrison crumbled quickly under the sheer might of our armies. We stayed around Iska for the winter, waiting for the Caledones or the Demetae to strike.

https://i.imgur.com/hKiDAqx.jpg

But nobody ever came. They were all seemingly encamped by Camulodunum, making it very easy for our spies to poison the wells that their armies used, killing thousands of their men. The huge armies that we once feared were now but a shadow of what they were.

Finally when spring came we left Iska and moved towards the Demetae homeland of Mordiunon. We took it easily, executing their uncooperative elders which we captured and anyone else who dared oppose us. For years we asked the Demetae for peace but they rebuffed us time and again. Now the chickens have come home to roost. When the other Demetae heard that they had lost their homeland, they sent a single emaciated army towards us, not even 1,300 men to face a force of over five thousand. It was almost sad to see how pathetic this was. But we took to the field anyways. They wanted a fight, so they would get a fight.

https://i.imgur.com/JsVqJqb.jpg

The already severely whittled down Demetae charged our lines, sprinting to close the gap and get away from our missiles which rained down upon them.

https://i.imgur.com/hxFiEx1.jpg

The Demetae had hired a number of mercenaries to boost their numbers, including a large number of light cavalry. But even with them charging into our heavy infantry, it was not enough to break us.

https://i.imgur.com/R5OKosM.jpg


But even though they were heavily outnumbered, we had to admire the Demetae. They fought hard, and while I might hate them for their stubbornness but I'll be damned if I don't admire them.

https://i.imgur.com/Wosh5Ya.jpg

But in the end, all that was left were dead bodies, broken spears, and fleeing Britons.

https://i.imgur.com/G4kQTLc.jpg

A crushing victory for us. Not even one hundred of the Demetae managed to escape.

https://i.imgur.com/y5VPw88.jpg

And with the path to the Caledones town of Sleaford wide open, we jumped at the opportunity. By then the news of our arrival had spread through the land, and many chose to flee rather than face our might. A delegation arrived at my camp. The Caledones asked for peace, but in their haughtiness they also requested eight thousand gold coins in exchange! I almost laughed at the very thought of giving them peace now that we had the upper hand! I rejected their offer and sent them on their way, like they had to our offers of peace so many times in the past.

https://i.imgur.com/tCvpxMw.jpg

Taking Sleaford would not be as easy as taking the last two Britannic towns had been. This time four thousand Britons stood in our way, and they were determined to defend Sleaford until the last man.

https://i.imgur.com/fcPbEak.jpg

Their army consisted of mostly Caledones, but also about a thousand Demetae warriors who had taken refuge nearby. Scouts reported that they planned on attacking, not waiting for us to come to them. We prepared accordingly. The first action of the day was a cavalry assault by the Demetae on our left flank. But they were intercepted by our cavalry, preventing them from doing any real damage.

https://i.imgur.com/Gv5Xgng.jpg

Then came what was left of the Demetae warriors. They courageously charged us, under heavy missile fire, which cut many of them down even before they could reach us.

https://i.imgur.com/ufZDI07.jpg

The few who did make it to our lines were quickly cut down. There simply were not enough of them to do any real damage to us.

https://i.imgur.com/gNQQPKq.jpg

Then our scouts saw the other three thousand Caledones. They were hanging back far from the battle, seemingly waiting for the Demetae to be slaughtered before attacking. It was very puzzling as to why they would not combine their forces and attack as one. This isn't even the first time they did not coordinate their forces. I will never understand those Britons.

https://i.imgur.com/BQwkDvm.jpg

Finally when the last of the Demetae had fled the field, the Caledones moved forward. They were titillating targets for our artillery, who battered them with explosive shells, killing dozens.

https://i.imgur.com/NHT7Le5.jpg

Finally our lines smashed together in a whirlwind of flesh, blood, and iron. They pressed us hard on our right flank, but we threw in reinforcements and our men held the line.

https://i.imgur.com/NqmOy6j.jpg

Then something shocking happened. Their general was killed when he charged us in one of those stupid chariots, and in the time it took for that news to spread through their ranks, the Caledones cracked and fled in a mass rout!

I was very surprised how quickly they broke and ran, even units that had lost less than a third of their men ended up fleeing in a panic.

https://i.imgur.com/cp4h4cL.jpg

But they could not flee very far, as our cavalry descended upon on all who tried to flee with a merciless vengeance. Hundreds were either killed or captured in the ensuing rout.

https://i.imgur.com/UagyH5h.jpg

We surveyed the scene. Thousands were dead or dying on the field, and the blood soaked into the earth.

https://i.imgur.com/ccHKGwr.jpg

It was a great victory. Over three thousand Britons were killed and five hundred were captured, with just over two hundred escaping into the surrounding woods. Sleaford was now in our hands at a very small costs to us. Not even eight hundred of our men had fallen in the battle. I know that sounds kind of callous to say, as each of those eight hundred men had families, but considering that we were expecting heavy resistance, I was preparing for thousands of dead on our side, not hundreds. So while the loss of those eight hundred were very sad, I am simply glad that we do not have to bury more of our own.

https://i.imgur.com/cxpxMDC.jpg

At this time we began to look towards Camulodunum. At the time they had little in the way of defenders, which was great for us. Unless of course, the Iceni enter the war. The Iceni were still a huge question for us. They had a number of large armies roaming the countryside, and while they did not show any blatant aggression, we had to be careful with them. We did not want to deal with the powerful Iceni armies and navies while dealing with what was left of the Caledones. We can only hope that they do not join the war until we are good and ready for them. But I will tell you this: their time will come soon enough.

https://i.imgur.com/T2ihHFb.jpg

When winter set upon the land, we hunkered down, waiting for spring to come to launch another attack. Word spread that the remaining Demetae forces, or what was left of them, had disbanded and scattered into the winds in despair. What fools they were to try to take us on! But no tears will be shed for their departure, as they chose the path that led them to here.

Before we could take Camulodunum and then face the Iceni, we would have to deal with the last of the Caledones, who seemed intent on making a final attack on us before being extinguished like the last burning embers in a fire pit that is about to die out.

https://i.imgur.com/6wzz5sl.jpg

[Bramborough]

"Chariot insanity" rears its head again, lol. That'll teach them pesky Brits....

Liked the shot of the exploding artillery shells.

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Twenty



Camulodunum was in reach. Besides the garrison, which had been whittled down by our agents already, there was nobody else there to protect the biggest city in Britannia. So with two armies we charged down and attacked.


https://i.imgur.com/9xlDMER.jpg


The garrison was weak, but could still do some serious damage if we are not careful, so we would be bashing down the walls in two places then storm the town.


https://i.imgur.com/2F9q2hL.jpg


The Caledones were brave to not take cover during our bombardment, almost to the point of sheer foolishness. Dozens were torn away from their positions on the parapets as the heavy stone projectiles smashed into the walls, shattering stonework and bones alike.


https://i.imgur.com/6XPHww1.jpg


On the right side of the town, a few units landed on the shore. They were a small group of reinforcements sent to help the garrison. We wondered why they didn’t land directly in the harbor, instead of landing outside and trying to run to the safety of the city walls.


https://i.imgur.com/8JpGlOj.jpg


But we can’t really complain now, can we? We rushed our men to the shore upon which they landed and slew them as they got off the boats. I almost felt bad for them, as they almost escaped our forces.


https://i.imgur.com/3fJM0hg.jpg


But that was not our problem anymore. A few light units coming off of boats barely registered a threat to us. But the fight was about to ramp up, as our ladders were pushing towards the walls and the other men were swarming through the breaches in the walls. Our plan was to tie up enemy forces with the forces going over the ladders and then surround them by units coming through the breaches. The Caledones did not have enough men to hold the line everywhere so it was going to be easy to surround them.


https://i.imgur.com/O8hxCYc.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/VuxboXE.jpg


But our men on the ladders soon ran into trouble. Due to the steep slope, our men were hopelessly exposed as they were surrounded and fighting off hundreds of Caledones defenders, some of who mercilessly hit our men with missiles, causing massive casualties.


https://i.imgur.com/h9FKRd5.jpg


But it did not take long for reinforcements to arrive, and they quickly relieved our beleaguered men, who by that time had lost almost two thirds of their numbers in less than thirty minutes.


https://i.imgur.com/4pBPPXf.jpg


With the initial resistance defeated, the rest of the lower portion of the city was strangely empty. No second line of defenders was found.


https://i.imgur.com/H0b4x0R.jpg


But there was a final line of defenders though. The way Camulodunum was set up allowed for three rings of defense. Provided they had a full garrison and some additional forces to defend the city, they would be able to defend all three levels of the city. Defenders on the wall to try to fight off the attacks as they come over the wall, a second ring of walls with a raised position overlooking the lower section of the city, and finally, an even higher positon of walls and towers, containing the city’s chieftain house and mead hall. So in this case, the final few defenders holed up at the final ring of defenses, determined to die than to flee. When our units finally reached the final defenses, our men were charged by a unit of Britannic cavalry, in an attempt to drive us off.


https://i.imgur.com/ZE7M7cl.jpg


They failed, and when the last of the defenders were forced to fight our men in hand to hand combat, they were destined to fail.


https://i.imgur.com/0FeQF8S.jpg


It was a great victory. The largest city in Britannia was now under our control, and we could now move forward in the final conquest of the Britannic isles.


https://i.imgur.com/TgqLdkV.jpg


We were rather lucky this time, as the Iceni did not try to intervene and help the Caledones in defending their towns. But we had a feeling that should war break out with the Iceni, and it definitely will in the near future, they would try to take back their homeland.


https://i.imgur.com/ecCneJv.jpg


But that did not mean that the Caledones did not try one last invasion of our home. One final army of the Caledones made a brave attempt to attack us on our own shores. Why? I am not entirely sure, but maybe it was to please their gods, that even though they have thrown themselves against our defenses a dozen times, this would be their last battle cry. Or maybe it was because we falsified information that all the defenders around Nemecatum had left the city, leading them to be overly confident and land on our shores. But instead of an empty city, ripe to be taken over by hungry Britannic forces, there was a Germanic army waiting for them.


https://i.imgur.com/qhqyq4F.jpg


We struck at night.


https://i.imgur.com/QK6cwiJ.jpg


Both sides had brought artillery, so we had to close the gap as soon as possible.


https://i.imgur.com/bYv1aLL.jpg


And once again, those Britons charged us with their chariots. But they did not do much damage as most of them were cut down almost immediately by a volley of our javelins.


https://i.imgur.com/tZ1Tknt.jpg


Our forces were locked in combat with the Britannic invaders, and with our archers using fire arrows, it made for quite the sight, as swarms of light ascended and descended across the night sky. It was quite the pretty sight, if there wasn’t for the small affair of slaying every Briton who got in our way of course.


https://i.imgur.com/YVB2cEI.jpg


The battle raged. We did not have overwhelming force this time around, so we had to carefully position our men to make sure that there were no gaps in the line. The Caledones had sent in some of their best troops for this battle, so it was our best men against their best men, making for a very even battle.


https://i.imgur.com/Gwvm4Ej.jpg


But as with all battles, the Caledones eventually crumbed, and we ensured that as few Britons as possible left the field alive, giving us yet another great victory.


https://i.imgur.com/vR68XCA.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DE0ykrg.jpg


With the Caledones general dead, over three hundred of the invaders captured, and just over sixty of them escaping, their hopes for retribution for the lands we have taken from them perished.


https://i.imgur.com/kQZTbUV.jpg


So as the sun was setting for the Caledones and their reign of terror, we could look forward to the final conquest of the Britannic islands, and peace to rule in our northern lands.


But even though we would be safe from outside threats, there was always the problem of traitors from within. I found out that Warin, the tribal leader who had argued against invading Britannia, had been spreading lies about me and my family, saying how I was not fit to rule since I was raised from the ranks into office by Theodoric. This had to be crushed immediately. I had him held in a cell until we could search his home. We ended up finding gold coins minted in Briton. Treason! This could not stand, so after a quick vote by the other elders, we had Warin executed for his traitorous behavior.


https://i.imgur.com/RR1RRgW.jpg


But this spelled trouble. Warin was in high esteem of the population. How many other elders had his thoughts? Would I be able to hold this confederation together for much longer? How long until we fell apart, just like the old Suebi empire fell apart. I could only hope that the duty to hold us together would fall upon someone who was more qualified to deal with something like this than me.

[Bramborough]

You'd think these Brits would've figured out by now that chariots aren't really the way to go....

A ha! So THAT'S why Warin was arguing against crossing the Channel!

Your description of the event, however, leads me to think...would be kind of cool if the player's party had an "Execute" and/or "Imprison" ability. What's the use of being King if you can't chop folks' heads off in the public square or throw 'em in the dungeon?

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Twenty-one



Predictably, the Iceni declared war on us. It was in their nature to do stupid things like this, but instead of telling them they should reconsider and getting peace back for another year or so before they decided they were strong enough to take on the combined armies of the Germanic Confederation, we chose to accept their declaration of war and strike back. Hard.


https://i.imgur.com/0DtIYsf.jpg


The Iceni, with maybe more sense than their predecessors, Had two armies blocking the way to their only holding on the Britannic mainland; a fortified city named Stanwick. Incidentally it was also the capital of the Iceni people. The first army was on the smaller side and was encamped by the first path to the city. We took to the field with a single army, led by a family member named Sigimund, coaxing them into combat.


https://i.imgur.com/0KWUfmm.jpg


The Iceni were stronger than the Caledones. They had better infantry, better ranged units, and more importantly, better cavalry. They had these feared shock cavalry that could just tear through enemy lines like they were nothing. We had nothing of the sort. As such, our artillery made targeting them a priority. But the nimbleness of cavalry made them hard to hit, and perhaps it would have been more wise to hit easier targets, like their heavy infantry?


https://i.imgur.com/9floGkG.jpg


The battle began in earnest when the Iceni heavy shock cavalry hit our main line, right in front of our artillery. That surprised us. Never before had heavy cavalry hit our lines right in front of the artillery. They usually hit us on the flanks, hoping to turn it and then roll up our flanks while their heavy infantry attempted to bust through the center to reach our artillery. But this time, we had positioned our artillery a bit too close to our main line, and the artillery crews lost a few men when a couple of the cavalrymen managed to break through our line. They caused so much trouble for us that Sigimund had to charge in to help the struggling infantry beat back the Iceni shock cavalry.


https://i.imgur.com/zy13167.jpg


Our center wasn't the only place that was hit by heavy cavalry though. They also hit in customary fashion both flanks with heavy melee cavalry. Not enough to break our flanks, but enough to warrant reinforcements to rush in to assist our troops.


https://i.imgur.com/F89Ktaz.jpg


But as always the Iceni crumbled under our might, and we brutally cut them down until all that was left was blood and body parts.


https://i.imgur.com/i92kueX.jpg


It was a quick an easy victory. We lost fewer than 200 men in the battle, a mere pittance to the over 1,100 that the Iceni lost. Their army was shattered, and the handful of survivors scattered into the surrounding woods.


https://i.imgur.com/5nBB3Pw.jpg


With the way into Stanwick wide open, I took my army and two others and besieged the city. I wasnt sure if we should starve them out or not, but time would tell and I would make my decision later. So for now we would put the town under siege and see what would happen.


https://i.imgur.com/blA5bjx.jpg


At that time the Iceni elders came to us, asking for peace. They even offered 6,000 gold coins to end the war and give them some relief! I laughed in their faces and sent them on their way. There would be no peace. Just like I wrecked the Caledones, I would wreck the Iceni as well.


https://i.imgur.com/TQ4nehi.jpg


There was one final Iceni army roaming about the area. They were stronger than the last army we fought. When we confronted their army, they initially fled. But we cornered them by the coast, and they had to fight.


https://i.imgur.com/b0yeutL.jpg


Striking them down with our artillery, the Iceni had to charge us, or face a fiery death by exploding artillery shells.


https://i.imgur.com/sZgOIP0.jpg


They had once again brought their heavy shock cavalry, but we were able to surprise them with our melee cavalry, who caught them by surprise as they were preparing to charge into our infantry. While shock cavalry are fantastic against infantry, they are pretty mediocre against other cavalry, as their long spears made fighting other mounted units less than practical.


https://i.imgur.com/4pFW0j2.jpg


Our infantry and archers got to work. They had their work cut out for them, as they had brought plenty of heavy infantry and were putting up stiff resistance.


https://i.imgur.com/rwyY0DR.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Dwmc3Km.jpg


But they could not stand up to us, and with our expert infantry and archers killing them by the dozens, they soon turned and fled.


https://i.imgur.com/lXyjJ2N.jpg


But they could not flee far, as they were on the coast and had no boats to leave the shore on. So we captured the rest and put them in chains. We did not harbor the same intense hatred against them that we had against the Caledones, so we took a softer approach to prisoners with them.


https://i.imgur.com/wyu0TGJ.jpg


With the end in sight, I decided to assault Stanwick in the early spring and not wait out the siege. While the Iceni had no more armies roaming about that we had to really be worried about. So gathering my forces together, we assaulted the city.


https://i.imgur.com/MKA31m8.jpg


After bashing down a portion of the wall, we sent in our men. Four units of heavy infantry pushed ladders to the walls while the rest charged through the hole in the wall that our artillery had made.


https://i.imgur.com/hamOvNR.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/zzu9jV4.jpg


We faced little resistance initially. The few units who opposed us at the first ring of defenses crumbled rather quickly as we swarmed over the wall.


https://i.imgur.com/sZrvGyQ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/1q5fZdD.jpg


We moved into the city. Unlike Camulodunum, there was spirited resistance.


https://i.imgur.com/vjZ7moo.jpg


When we rushed up the ramp to the second row of defenses, we met very stiff resistance. Iceni heavy infantry met us at the entrance, bogging us down for over two hours. Hundreds were killed as we struggled to break through the choke point. It was savage fighting, with some resorting to using their fists and even their teeth to attack their foe wherever possible.


https://i.imgur.com/MrK1JCQ.jpg


Our men got very tired so I gave the command to begin cycling out exhausted and battered units and to replace them with fresh ones.


https://i.imgur.com/FI9OyNO.jpg


Eventually we got the upper hand and began to push out to a more open area, giving our numbers a larger advantage. But even though the Iceni knew they were doomed, they still fought to the last man.


https://i.imgur.com/Xeqptfa.jpg


Finally we broke free. There were only a few units remaining of the defenders, and try as they might, they had but a thin line of defenders against our unstoppable force, and those defenders broke quickly.


https://i.imgur.com/RHJCIzA.jpg


By that time the battle on the ramp to the second level had fully subsided, leaving only a large mass of dead bodies. Our reinforcements had to make their way over this huge pile if they wanted to help their brothers in the fight. I could smell the stench of the bodies, already beginning to rot, all the way from the entrance to the city. It would take days to clean it up, something I imagine our men were not looking forward to.


https://i.imgur.com/JVEeSrf.jpg


Finally our men reached the final level of the city, where the seat of the Iceni government was. There were not many Iceni defenders left, as most of them had thrown themselves against us at the ramp, and they were quickly cut down.


https://i.imgur.com/QO34sLS.jpg


Stanwick was ours! Our losses were relatively heavy, but considering the ferocity of the fight, could have been much worse.


https://i.imgur.com/Y662JHp.jpg


The Iceni elders, who had fled the city before our arrival, begged for peace. We gave it to them. We were satisfied with our recent conquests, having wiped out two Iceni armies and taken their capital. But we were not done with them yet, not by a long shot.


https://i.imgur.com/aHrVQAg.jpg


But before we could finish off the Iceni once and for all, we would have to deal with our oldest enemy: the Caledones.The recent break in the fighting for them had allowed them to partially rebuild their forces around their capital of Eilodon. This was going to be a tremendous battle. The Caledones had been at best an annoyance and at worst a grave threat to our nation for over three decades now. And now, with three armies of the Germanic people, we were about to end that threat once and for all!


https://i.imgur.com/QBCgcdc.jpg

[Bramborough]

Nice siege battle, with their layered resistance. I note you lost almost 700 while the Iceni defenders were credited with only 435 kills. Friendly fire, do you think? Or perhaps kills by towers aren't counted in the total?

The preceding field battle was amusing, in that it's always a little incongruous to see shirtless dudes on a snowy field. Nice leg amputation shot, lol. :-)

[Hooahguy]

Yup, tower kills arent counted.

New chapter incoming!

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Twenty-two



I sat in my tent, reviewing maps of the area around Eilodon. I was camped with my army outside the town of Stanwick, which we had captured only a few weeks before. We were preparing to move out in the coming days and I wanted to be sure that we knew the lay of the land very well before charging in. An initial estimate of the Caledones had them at around six thousand strong. That was not a for sure estimate, only one that our scouts reported, so for all we know we will take the town unopposed. Or face a much larger force.


One of my aides entered my tent.


"Nevelung, we got word today from Iska."


"What happened in Iska?"


"They found the bodies of a number of the Demetae on a shore near the town. They appear to have drowned while at sea."


So the Demetae were finally wiped out. They took to sea last year after we had thoroughly trampled them into the ground, in a desperate attempt to keep their tribe alive. But they were just on two boats and had limited provisions. They used to be resupplied by the Caledones when they could, but after we took their coastal towns, the Demetae desperately tried to find safe harbor. They found none with us, and they had been caught trying to flee to the more friendly Iceni waters when they sank. A similar fate befell the Gauls years ago, though there were no friendly waters for the Gauls to flee to, and had been caught by pirates and executed.


https://i.imgur.com/tEAS6GI.jpg


With the good news in mind, my army, as well as the other two armies led by Fulbert and Hroderich, packed up and attacked Eilodon, the last refuge of the Caledones.


https://i.imgur.com/uqxGctv.jpg


We outnumbered them almost two to one. Our agents had misled the two other Caledones armies, and as such, they would be of no help to the Caledonian defenders.


I looked over the battlefield as our artillery pounded the quickly advancing Britons with explosive shells. I could see Eilodon in the distance. It was hard to imagine that the end was in sight for this long struggle with the Caledones.


https://i.imgur.com/c2fkY7o.jpg


The Britons rushed forward at full speed, determined to close the gap and get out of range of our artillery.


https://i.imgur.com/svKtgih.jpg


We were ready for them though, and four and a half thousand Britons collided with our heavy infantry with a tremendous roar. The clanging of metal, the hiss of arrows, and the clamor of men screaming at one another as they desperately tried to kill their foe before they were killed themselves filled the air. Such sights and noises were almost music to my ears.


https://i.imgur.com/1bZMyEq.jpg


Our left flank was holding firm against the Caledones assault, but the right flank was having trouble. They had arrived to the battle a bit later than expected, and had to run into position. But they were not able to get into the correct position in time, and had to quickly re-adjust to ensure the right flank was not turned. The Caledones saw this and committed their heaviest troops to the fight, surrounding parts of the disjointed right flank as they fought to keep their homeland.


https://i.imgur.com/O1YzqRr.jpg


But Hroderich, who I sent to fix the developing situation on the right flank, sent our cavalry around our surrounded men. Charging into the exposed flanks, they routed the Britons who only moments before were boasting about their impending victory. "You dogs will never live to see tomorrow's dawn! Our island will remain free!" they screamed at us, moments before our cavalry's spears tore into them.


https://i.imgur.com/jBQyQcL.jpg


The battle turned in our favor. As the right flank finally began to break free of the Britannic encirclement, the left flank began to circle what was left of the Caledones on their end. We had positioned our left flank at the bottom of a steep hill, so steep that our horses had a hard time getting up there. So now the Britons were trapped against a steep hill, and our warriors crashed into their flank, causing instant panic among the enemy ranks.


https://i.imgur.com/ZVgrYaQ.jpg


The Caledones folded. Fleeing for their worthless lives, we hunted them down as we chased them into the town. Fewer than three hundred managed to escape, the rest either killed or captured.


https://i.imgur.com/gDGu8Ik.jpg


The town was ours. We had taken a large number of losses, but for everyone one of us they killed, we took four of theirs. While I would not say it was an easy battle, it certainly was not as difficult as I thought it was going to be. When we took the city we executed every fighting age man we found. We had no mercy for the Caledones, just like they had no mercy in their numerous invasion of our own lands, including the sacking of Flevium, where they brutally murdered every man woman and child in the town. We had more mercy than that, and left the women and children alive. But for their fighting age men we had no such mercy. They faced the same fate that our own people did at the hands of their brethren. Their elders also faced the execution block. They perpetuated this war, and they would face the consequences of seeing their people slaughtered and the conquest of their lands. Fate did not smile upon them anymore.


https://i.imgur.com/KLAos6A.jpg


There were two more Caledones armies out there. One was a small one that we were not worried about. The other was a tad larger, but I was still not worried about. They were cut off from the land with no supplies and alone. Their defeat will come soon.


https://i.imgur.com/oo554Zz.jpg


And soon it did. The smaller of the two Caledones armies attacked in the evening the day after we captured the town. They had tried to launch a sneak attack, but they failed to coordinate with the other Caledones, and they were easily cut down even before they reached the town.


https://i.imgur.com/laj0Iz6.jpg


The other army, hearing of the crushing defeat of the other army, tried to flee south. Were they trying to take Stanwick in a last ditch attempt to gain some land back? Or were they just trying to flee to somewhere a bit safer? It did not matter- they had to be wiped out. With the Caledones starving in the middle of winter, we struck.


https://i.imgur.com/6p4p6Y0.jpg


Snow was falling in the early afternoon as the enemy slowly made their way through the snow.


As I watched out artillery do their thing, I reflected over the past few years and how far we have come. Once long ago, these islands were considered unconquerable. The Britons were too wild, they said. But we had proven them wrong; we were about to put down the last remaining force of a people who had terrorized our predecessors for over two hundred years. Would our annexation of Britannic lands go over peacefully with the natives? Time would only tell.


https://i.imgur.com/ZvBWoSB.jpg


The battle began with cavalry action from the Caledones. In an attempt to flank us, they sent light cavalry behind us. Or they tried to anyways. Our cavalry rushed to intercept, and in the ensuing melee, wiped out the Britannic cavalry.


https://i.imgur.com/W5WbaFq.jpg


Most of the Caledones infantry were levies, but they still had some heavier infantry in the mix. They gave us some trouble, but we were just too much for them, and they eventually crumbled.


https://i.imgur.com/wUweWtx.jpg


When the battle turned into a rout, we chased every last one of those Britons as they tried to flee to fight another day.


https://i.imgur.com/u2zbriG.jpg


We didn't let them.


https://i.imgur.com/CL4ps8f.jpg


The Caledones had been utterly defeated. Barely over two dozen of them had managed to flee, and even so, they were later hunted down by our patrols.


https://i.imgur.com/XHfaCTN.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/doCn73D.jpg


The few survivors took to a boat and fled to sea, just like the Gauls and the Demetae had done before. They would not last long.


https://i.imgur.com/k0ib4wx.jpg


And just like that, the Caledones were gone as a threat to our people. Two hundred years of being subject to their incursions, and now it was over. For two hundred years we were in fear of those Britons who painted their bodies in blue, came over the sea, and attacked our shores. But now they had been reduced to a single boat as they fled our wrath. We felt no pity. They brought this down upon themselves. We could have lived in peace, but they wanted war. We offered peace time and again, even after we crushed their invasion forces over and over, but they refused. Now they had nothing. Their gods have abandoned them. Fate did not smile upon them. They had no hope left, and undoubtedly one day we would find their bodies on the shore. I only wish that I could see their faces as their ship eventually sinks beneath the waves, knowing that declaring war on us was the biggest mistake of their wretched lives. But for now, the mere thought would have to do.


So as I moved with my army to the western shore of the island, preparing for our next target, I smiled, and the Gods smiled back.

[Bramborough]

Nice final battle in the snow; good pics. So Britain is done now?

[Hooahguy]

Only have the Iceni left in Ireland, but thats an easy battle I think as last I checked it was lightly defended. Then they will probably throw whatevers left of their forces against us and then I can finally fully concentrate on the south and Octavian, who still somehow has a stranglehold on Massilia even after a dozen assaults on it by Dacia and Pompey.

[Hooahguy]

Hey folks, sorry for the super long delay, real life and other games grabbed my attention but don't worry, this isn't over yet!




Chapter Twenty-three





During the long winter, I contemplated whether or not I should leave the Iceni alone. They did not pose much of a threat at the moment, and with them being confined to their last territory, I wondered if it would be a good idea to just let them be in the hopes that they would stay where they were.


But that idea was quickly removed from my head when word came back that the remainder of the Caledones had attacked a small fishing village on the Britannic coast, near Iska. Killing all of the villagers and taking all of their winter food stores, it seemed like the winter was not treating the Caledones very well. But that was to be expected, considering that they were confined to the ocean and the winter seas are notoriously unkind to the wandering.


We later caught three men wandering on the shores near Flevium. When we questioned them, they revealed that they were the last survivors of the Caledones; the others had all been lost at sea. After admitting that they had participated in the raids on our lands, we put them to death. And so ended the once great Caledones people, who once ruled Britannia but now were nothing, exiting the stage not with a shout but with a mere whimper.


https://i.imgur.com/cQ0XaWu.jpg


We had a truce going with the Iceni but that clearly was not going to last very long. Already our spies report that they have already begun to rebuild their forces, which could only mean they were either planning for a final stand on their last piece of land that they held or they would try to regain their lost lands in another futile attempt. So we would strike first and wipe them out for good. Then we would be able to divert our forces to the south and finally deal with the Roman threat.


I began to gather my forces. I would take my army and two others, led by the extremely capable Leudagar and the yet untested Hroderich. We were expecting stiff resistance, and reports are saying that the Iceni have already raised two full armies, plus another one that is roaming the seas somewhere near us.


We made landfall on the Iceni southern coast. The Iceni armies were nowhere to be found, which puzzled us greatly. Then we received word that they had sailed south with an unknown destination. That concerned us greatly, and I put all coastal garrisons on high alert.


https://i.imgur.com/8OPsyjK.jpg


With an absence of real opposition, we easily took the last Iceni settlement, Elbana. It was rather disappointing to see how easily it fell, I was really expecting a harder fight from the Iceni.


https://i.imgur.com/GvLy29K.jpg


Now we had to deal with the remaining Iceni fleets which were sailing around our coasts, and they were sailing rather close to the towns of Iska and Mordiunon. They were certainly a threat, but they didnt seem to be making any sort of real move towards attacking any of the coastal towns. This puzzled us, as in the past, desperate nations will tend to hastily attack any nearby settlement that was remotely vulnerable in an effort to survive. Noticing a lack of movement on the Iceni side, we tried to coax the enemy to attack by withdrawing our forces from coastal towns and hiding them. But this did not work, as we later realized that the Iceni had no way of knowing our garrison strength anyways, so clearly they were playing it safe, which was rather uncharacteristic of them. Or maybe they were biding their time...


https://i.imgur.com/2IHYGhx.jpg


Finally they made a move, but it was disappointingly sparse. They attacked Elbana with a single army, which was really no match for our overwhelming numbers and overall superiority.


https://i.imgur.com/zHMAqRR.jpg


They came in from the south, which was a huge tactical blunder for them, as that path funneled them into a narrow pass underneath a cliff, making easy targets for our archers.


https://i.imgur.com/rZ1x3rl.jpg


I put my best troops by the walls of the cliff, and they waited for the screaming horde of Britons to descend upon them, eager with drawn swords and spears to draw Germanic blood. But they would not get the chance they were so eager for, as we were prepared for them, and cut them down with javelins and arrows as they approached.


https://i.imgur.com/1PRkqIo.jpg


With almost two thousand Britons hitting our lines in a concentrated manner, the battle deteriorated into more of a brawl than an organized battle. A mere four units of heavy infantry were tasked with holding off the entire Iceni force. Our units lost cohesion as the Iceni threw everything from shock cavalry to heavy infantry to even chariots (again!). But even as we lost our cohesion, the sheer fighting skill of our warriors kicked in, and our battle-hardened men persevered with minimal losses.


https://i.imgur.com/RVsKoHG.jpg


Slowly we pushed forward, pinning the Iceni against the cliffs. Since we ridiculously outnumbered them, it was easy to completely encircle them, and the ensuing bloodbath quickly eroded the morale of the Iceni, causing a chain rout.


https://i.imgur.com/Nc2O88F.jpg


Some managed to slip away from the battle, but were soon cut down by our pursuing forces.


https://i.imgur.com/e5xVkzz.jpg


It was an overwhelming victory. We had totally wiped out the attacking army, and had sustained very light losses. So far, I was disappointed in the Iceni response, but perhaps they would surprise me in the near future?


https://i.imgur.com/DDnOyNT.jpg


They would not. A large storm hit the seas, sinking most of what was left of the Iceni fleets. I can only thank the Gods that none of our fleets were out there, as we sustained no losses from the storm that ravaged the Iceni. The wreckage and the bodies washed up on our shores as a macabre reminder of the power of the ocean.


When the seas calmed, we sent out fleets of our own, and they discovered the remnants of the Iceni, and quickly defeated them before the Iceni could find a safe haven.


https://i.imgur.com/JcNd58E.jpg


And thus ended the chapter of our history that I think will be come to called "the Britannic Wars." It took almost a decade to conquer Britannia, and I was relieved that it was finally over, even if the overall campaign was mostly underwhelming. I honestly expected a more dogged resistance from the Britannic peoples and I wish that they had the guts to send everything they had against us instead of running like they did so often.


But now we could finally concentrate on a worthy enemy! The Romans are much stronger than any of the Britannic nations, and could always be relied upon to provide a pitched battle. But I was getting older. When I received word that the Iceni had been defeated, I was already sixty-seven years of age. Already my long-time friends had begun to pass away. Chariovalda, who was a close friend to both me and to my predecessor, Theodoric, had passed from a fever last winter. He was a seasoned veteran of many campaigns, so his loss was a great blow to us.


https://i.imgur.com/rzy0Aca.jpg


I cannot imagine that I have much time left, and I can only hope that my successor continues the legacy that Theodoric passed on to me and that I will do my best to pass on to him.


But while I was thinking of who my successor should be, I began to send armies back to the mainland. There was no need to have so many armies in Britannia anymore, though I was planning on leaving two armies there, just in case. But the rest would be heading south, to warmer climates. I want to knock down Octavian and his Romans from their haughty pedestals at least one last time before I passed from this world. Those sniveling Romans in Burdigala would soon know our name...


https://i.imgur.com/coguWxi.jpg

[Bramborough]

Agree that it's disappointing the Iceni didn't put up a better fight. On to some hopefully meatier opposition with Octavian! Nice leg-sever pic, though.

The horizontal-striped barb trousers always make me think of the Hamburglar from those 70's/80's McDonalds commercials (I guess I'm dating myself here, aren't I?).

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Twenty-four





Nevelung passed from this world after falling ill during the winter. He was seventy-one years of age. He accomplished much in his reign as leader of our people. He took the war to the Britannic tribes and expanded our lands in Gaul. No longer will we suffer the Brtiannic attacks on our shores, and no longer will we have to live in fear of them. Under his leadership, we have subdued many tribes, both Britannic and Gallic, and now that we are stronger than ever, that list is only going to increase now that we can fully concentrate on the Romans.


https://i.imgur.com/betGuE5.jpg


I am his appointed successor, Leudagar. I fought with Nevelung in the Britannic campaign. Together we defeated the Caledones and the Iceni, and assisted with taking the last Iceni town of Elbana. I have learned many things from that great man, and I hope to continue his legacy of making our people even greater than they were before! With no threat towards our northern border, we could put our full might upon the Romans


https://i.imgur.com/fqfn6t1.jpg


After a bit of rest in our Gallic territories, we headed south, towards the Roman port town of Burdigala. Our scouts reported a strong Roman presence in the town so we brought over ten thousand men with us to assist in taking the town. I elected to have my cousin Fulbert lead the assault with his army, called the Wolves of War. They were seasoned besiegers, whereas my army was much less so. While he would be taking the principle glory in this battle, it was better for our people overall to have someone in command who knew what he was doing.


https://i.imgur.com/7gRr6Sr.jpg


But when we arrived at the city, we learned that there was no fortified Roman garrison, merely a barebone forces to patrol the streets. Very disappointing for our men, who wanted a proper fight after being denied one by the Britons for years now.


For a year we besieged them, cutting off their supply lines while keeping ours intact. For them it was a brutal siege. Stories came out of cannibalism within the ranks of the Roman Garrison. Finally, as winter was preparing to set in, we began our assault, mainly to put them out of their misery, as for some reason they refused to surrender.


https://i.imgur.com/0KqTe2T.jpg


A couple of Roman units tried to flee the city on ships, but the Gods were on our side, and blew the ships to shore before they could escape. Stranded on the shore, the malnourished Roman units tried to flee back into the city, but were cut down by our overwhelming numbers.


https://i.imgur.com/BnnAqmH.jpg


Our siege equipment blew a hole through the walls, and Fulbert prepared to send our men into the city. We had built eight siege ladders to scale the walls with in addition to the artillery. His plan was to wipe out the garrison with half of his force on the walls while the other half stormed the city through the breach and took the gates. Afterwards the two halves would meet up and take the rest of the city.


https://i.imgur.com/tneaQAs.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/vTt4EVH.jpg


As our men stormed the breach and climbed the ladders, our archers sent a hail of arrows upon the defenders crowded on the walls, waiting for the impending assault.


https://i.imgur.com/cUquSMn.jpg


And when our men finally climbed those walls, they were met with furious resistance. The Romans knew they were doomed, and wanted to take as many of us as they could with them before they were slain. They fought bravely, but it was not enough.


https://i.imgur.com/KuIzcb6.jpg


Even the bravest of men can get overwhelmed, and all that remained of the defenders on the walls were bodies and puddles of blood.


https://i.imgur.com/EdUrzGs.jpg


There were not many defenders left. The hunger and desperation of the siege had taken over half of the original garrison, so only a couple of units stood against us after we slaughtered their brothers on the walls. We could tell they were terrified as we barreled down the road towards them.


https://i.imgur.com/4NQVW1I.jpg


Knowing the armor of the Roman units and how large their damn shields were, Fulbert sent units around to flank the Romans who were blocking us from entering the city center. Watching our units go through the light forestry in the city, I was saw the beauty of the city we were about to conquer. It was truly a gorgeous city, with a wonderful view of the sea and the surrounding area. The Romans had been privileged to have this city for so long, shame for them to lose it!


https://i.imgur.com/hf2cPHh.jpg


Back at the city center, we easily broke through the first line of Roman defenders. Initially we had thought the battle won, but many more Romans appeared at the far side of the city center, and we charged to meet them. Their resistance, though, was much more dogged than we had experienced up until now.


https://i.imgur.com/dHcRvyO.jpg


They put up a good fight...


https://i.imgur.com/AyRR7Bl.jpg


But in the end they were no match for us.


https://i.imgur.com/m3KRE9A.jpg


The city was ours, We had taken light losses in the assault, with most of our casualties being from the archers in the towers rather than Roman swords. I felt almost bad for the Romans, who on the surface seemed so powerful and terrifying, but just like an egg, once you broke their outer shell they were soft and easily destroyed.


https://i.imgur.com/3aTWpYL.jpg


With the northern Roman stronghold in our hands, the soft underbelly of Romans lands were exposed. Taking advantage of that, we rushed towards the breadbasket of the region, taking the town of Tolosa effortlessly.


https://i.imgur.com/sXwj9Pd.jpg


But as Roman towns fell to us, we could only expect the Romans to strike back, so even as we were celebrating our recent victories, we had to ensure we remained on guard. For as every hunter knows, an animal is most dangerous when it is wounded...

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Twenty-five



They say that hubris is the downfall of everyone. And for a man named Meginhard, it was.


After a string of victories over the seemingly weak Romans, a dangerous way of thinking arose.


"These Romans are no threat! We have been met with only victory! Every time we have encountered these Romans we have soundly beaten them!"


People seem to forget that every time we have fought the Romans so far, we were on an equal or higher footing. We had yet to fight them when we were at a disadvantage.


And so we embarked on a dangerous road. I sent out an order among our generals to keep scouts on patrol and ensure that one did not enter battle unless one was sure of victory, but my words fell on deaf ears. A number of our generals split from the main force and went deep into the Roman-held countryside in Iberia, looking for a fight.


One of these generals was Meginhard, a senior member of another family. A seasoned general from the campaign in Britannia, he and his experienced group of soldiers, which he named the Bear-Sons went alone through the northern part of Iberia. Wrecking a couple of small Roman forces, their arrogance took hold of them. With great fanfare, I received a message from him, proclaiming that he was marching on the Roman town of Aracillum, which at the time seemed undefended an an easy target.


But it was a trap. Waiting within the city were over three thousand Roman soldiers, waiting for Meginhard to get close enough to attack. Normally, a single army of ours would have no problem taking on a force of three thousand Romans, especially since most of them were levies drawn from the city. But a Roman army had been following Meginhard. The Roman Legio VII Herculia, led by a man named Faustus Silius Vetus, shadowed Meginhard for over a week, skillfully avoiding detection by our scouts. And then at the worst possible time, he struck.


https://i.imgur.com/xZOxPDe.jpg


Meginhard was surrounded. He knew it too, as he rode around, shouting words of desperate encouragement to the men who knew they were doomed.


https://i.imgur.com/8VWWZdX.jpg


The artillery got to work, desperately trying to inflict as many casualties as possible before the Romans got too close.


https://i.imgur.com/94g7Zwu.jpg


But the Romans were not just coming from the front. From our rear a large group of heavy Roman cavalry began to flank us.


https://i.imgur.com/PQ7xSar.jpg


Following them were hundreds of heavy Roman infantry, determined to surround and slaughter us.


https://i.imgur.com/ovvw1rK.jpg


Our cavalry rushed out to intercept some of the Roman auxiliary cavalry on the left flank, and fought an embittered battle with them.


https://i.imgur.com/TbLx8iq.jpg


In the center, Meginhard and his bodyguard charged to meet the heavy Roman cavalry that was trying to hit his army from behind. He knew he was charging to his death, but he rallied his men valiantly and charged anyways, killing many Romans, among them one of the generals who was a senior aide-de-camp to Faustus Silius Vetus.


https://i.imgur.com/TU59DCe.jpg


On the outskirts of our formation, our men clashed with Roman cavalry who were harassing us in any way they could.


https://i.imgur.com/8N3V4Y1.jpg


Eventually the main body of Romans under General Vetus got close to our main formation. Meginhard ordered a counter-charge in an effort to break up the momentum of the charging Romans.


https://i.imgur.com/B2k2sXI.jpg


But Roman infantry were coming from our rear flank as well. Meginhard sent the only forces remaining who were not currently in combat, a mere three hundred men to face a force of over three times their size who were barreling towards them. They bravely stood and fought to the last man, eventually being overrun. Meginhard turned the artillery towards the rear in an attempt to assist our beleaguered warriors, but it was of no use.


https://i.imgur.com/LagTY2T.jpg


The Romans forced a gap in the line, and pushed their cavalry through it to our soft targets like our archers and artillery. They stood no chance against the Roman cavalry.


https://i.imgur.com/GT8aLtT.jpg


Having been slaughtered by Roman cavalry, the few survivors from our archers fled the field.


https://i.imgur.com/fbvV25n.jpg


Seeing their brethren fleeing the battle was disheartening to our infantry who were still fighting, but they did not lose heart themselves. They fought tooth and nail to take down as many Romans as they could before they fell themselves, an act worthy of the bards to sing of for generations to come.


Meginhard, who had lost most of his men already, sent out the order to recall the cavalry, who were still on the far side of the battlefield, tenaciously fighting the Roman cavalry on the flanks. He ordered them to charge into the rear flanks of the Romans in an effort to relieve some of the pressure.


https://i.imgur.com/gnwoMQj.jpg


For a short while it seemed to work, but then Meginhard was killed, felled by a Roman spear through his chest. Determined to fight to the death, many of those who remained pledged to die to the last man, taking as many Romans with them as they could.
And die they did, the sheer number of Romans overwhelming them.


https://i.imgur.com/SDlU7r8.jpg


With no leader and their comrades dying by the hundreds around them, who could blame the soldier who decided to flee and attempt to survive?


https://i.imgur.com/BnE5lVl.jpg


And so the battle was lost, our dead strewn across the field like seeds flung by farmers planting their fields.


https://i.imgur.com/wHFRFQe.jpg


Of the almost three thousand warriors who set out with Meginhard over three months ago, fewer than two hundred managed to flee to safety. It was certainly a crushing loss, losing an experienced army along with a very experienced general.


https://i.imgur.com/5b9XXD8.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/TwLB21p.jpg


News of the defeat spread like fire across our lands. I sent out an order immediately to all of my generals: nobody was to venture into Roman lands unsupported again to suffer the same fate that the Bear-Sons did.


But while this was a defeat, and a bad one at that, we would be able to easily recover from it. Already the Bear-Sons were resurrected back in the homeland under a new commander, and they would get their revenge on the Romans some day.



Author's note: I will be gone for the next month, so expect a new update in July!