The triumphant return of Adcobrovatae's Casseian empire (v1)

Hello all. Not sure if anyone remembers me, but I posted a sort of half-AAR of my Casse campaign in that v1 progression thread that was active around the end of last year. I ended up posting up till around year 166, and then gave up because of the enormity of the task ahead (in comparison to the enormity of the task behind, which wasn't even halfway) So yes, I played a bunch of other games for a year or so, but EB kept calling to me, so about 3 weeks back I picked up where I left off. And since the v1 progression thread is basically dead (though thankfully still around somewhere) I decided I'd just pick up where I left off with a new thread entirely. If you want the full backstory, feel free to read the posts I made in this thread ( https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=93151 ) but beware of walls of text and general verbosity (updates are on pages 3, 4, 5 and 6). But worry not if you can't be bothered, as I'll give a bit of a synopsis of what happened
First though, since everyone loves map progression, here are the maps from all 6 updates.

The Great Casseian Invasion: 216
https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...ofCasse216.jpg

The beginning of a true "Casseian Empire": 206
https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...9-29-40-87.jpg

The start of the Five Man War: 196
https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...5-07-50-51.jpg

The end of the Five Man War, Liberation of Olaf and the Invasion of Carthage: 186
https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...5-27-09-43.jpg

Completion of the "Libyan Funnel" and the start of the Epeirian Collapse: 176
https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...0-40-37-20.jpg

The Invasion of Poeni-Egypt and Epirus' last stand: 166
https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...3-38-11-73.jpg

So there you go, forgive me if the titles were slightly Casseio-centric, since it's pretty obvious they weren't the only empire there (especially near the end. That expanse of blue was scaring the hell out of me) But yes, as far as synopses go, the first 30 or so years had the Casse sitting in England, building things, and not a lot else happening across the map. Then a spy was sent to the Saka via the Po Valley, and found Rome prospering and a lot of other factions being fairly static too. Then around 208-210, the Casse came in force across the channel, cracked a few Gallic skulls, got to Massilia, and found that the Carthaginians had it. Scratching their heads at this puzzle, the fog of war was momentarily lifted to reveal to the Casse that everything up to the Po was white, and so was much of Southern Spain. The Romans on the other hand had fled to Patavium and were being besieged by yet another white army, so when a Carthaginian diplomat made his way to Gergovia and suggested the Shophet wouldn't mind an alliance, the inexperienced Casse immediately handed him their maps and gave the Carthaginians full military access to their lands.
Around 215 however, the Carthaginians decided Gergovia looked nice and decided to besiege it. They were booted back to Massilia, which less than a year later was taken by a promising young Casseian general named Adcobrovatae. So began the arduous task of removing the Carthaginians from this side of the Mediterranean. They were pushed back to Southern Italy quickly enough, but by this stage another succession of events made the Casse look back towards Gaul. The Germans had run out of autonomous regions to push around, and while they had an envoy in Casseian lands in the shape of Hadawulfaz (known affectionately as "Olaf") they were starting to look menacingly towards the Rhine and the curiously unforested fields beyond. The Lusotannan were in a similar position, having mostly wiped out the Carthaginians, who had been too busy focusing their military power on Italy to take note of the growing Iberian power.
So yes, the Casse were bright enough to have a strong army at the Lusotannan border and the Rhine crossings, but these in addition to the army that was rampaging through Italy were straining the coffers a bit given the relatively small size of the empire, so obviously what had to be done was invade both Germany and Spain at the same time. Unfortunately, just before this could happen, Taras rebelled from Carthage and opted to join the, at the time rather impressive, Kingdom of Epirus. Thus began the Five Man War, named after the five main players; the Shophet in Carthage, the Lusotannan Leader crushing resistance in Southern Iberia, the soon to be warlord of the Sweboz Olaf, the laughably foolish King of Epirus who sent army after army to their deaths in the Eastern European autonomous regions while still attempting to fight the Casse through the entrance to the Po Valley, and the newly crowned king of the Casse, Adcobrovatae.
At the beginning to the war, Sicily, and the western isles were taken, and Adcobrovatae led a failed naval invasion of North Africa. At the same time, Sweboz territories were falling easily with even their strongest armies being brushed aside by the Vesontian army. The Casse made the first strike against the Lusotannan and found their new enemy to be tougher than they'd expected. The Epeirotes sent spies and numerous raiding armies against Patavium, but even the militia that had been levied to protect the city was enough to finish off anything they sent. Casseian spies were sent in retaliation, so that by the end of the war in the early 180s, revolts had weakened Epirus substantially. About halfway through the war, the fleet that had limped back to Rome from the shores of North Africa got its chance to show Carthage why it should fear its new king as Adcobrovatae landed and took Atiqua and Carthage. And then realised what a phenomenally stupid idea it was as both cities endured a steady stream of armies coming from both south and west. Even so, Adcobrovatae was more than capable of dealing with whatever Carthage sent, and not only defended Atiqua and Carthage, but managed to take and hold Adrumento as well.
In the meantime, news of their new king's position reached the army in Spain, which redoubled its efforts to remove the Lusotannan and cross the Straits. In the end, the Iberian general got an extremely lucky break when the Casse's first ever political assassination attempt miraculously worked, offing the Warlord's son. The grieving Iberian Warlord left the city he was hiding in to retrieve his son's remains when he ran into the main invading army and was sadly cut down as he fled. Without leadership, the Iberians crumbled into civil war with each territory attempting to assert its claim to overlordship, but they were quickly absorbed by the minor armies the Iberian General sent after them. The main invasion army however boarded a quickly assembled fleet and crossed the straits to take Lixus and Sala within a year, so that the North Africans were now the ones caught in a vice. This took enough pressure off the king that he was able to move south to take Lepki and start to set up what came to be called the "Libyan Funnel". If the King could establish a fort at the point where the coast was closest to the Sahara, he could force all of Carthage's Egyptian forces to fight his army on their way to take back their homeland. All he needed was his rear covered, and the Spanish army was more than happy to oblige, taking the rest of the North African coastline, and finally sending armies to subdue Garama and Tuat.
Finally, the west had been secured, and the Casse had war on only two fronts, both of which were funnels. Sadly in 184, Adcobrovatae died peacefully in his Libyan border fort, leaving the fight against the Egyptians in the very capable hands of his son Caradog. It was around this time that a small village in Gaul near Gergovia started worshiping Adcobrovatae at a hero shrine that had recently been completed for them as a government initiative.
In Northern Europe, the German campaign was over quickly, leaving one city left west of the autonomous region under Sweboz control. This was the seat of the Sweboz warlord, King Olaf, one time envoy to the Casse. He was nearing the end of his life however, so the Vesontian army thought it wise to allow him to die naturally, then 'liberate' the city in his name. So did the Sweboz and the Casse become one tribe. The Germans in the east, under the name of the Neurije Confederacy, were dealt a further blow as Suomi was taken from them, leaving them with the poor homeland of the Neurije as their only holding.
Finally, attacks from Epirus had slowed to such a degree that the Italian army was sent in to take advantage of their weakened state. They tore down the Adriatic coast taking city after city with almost no resistance, until they found themselves in Epirus itself, ready to double back along the inland route, starting with Pella.
The final decade of so far recorded history began with the invasion of Libya alongside the fall of Pella. In the Balkans, the taking of Pella enraged the Phrygo-Makedones, who waited until the invading army was far enough away on its trip north, to take back Pella, and soon after, Serdike. The Casseian army had just taken Vindobona, and had to make quick tracks back to Serdike to stop the Makedonian assault. Unfortunately, the Makedones began pouring across the Hellespont like ants, using their surprisingly well made armies to take back the Balkans and remake a kingdom similar to Epirus. Due to the multi-pronged attacks the Makedonians launched, pushing them back to the Hellespont took the better part of the decade, as well as the arrival of the Vesontian army from Germany, and by 166 the Makedones had nothing but Byzantion on the western side of the causeway. Further to this, an army had been almost completed in Northern Greece to retaliate for the threatening army movements the Greeks had been making, sending armies across the border and then retreating.
After nearly a decade of proving himself by holding the Libyan funnel his father had created, Caradog marched forward into Libya and got the invasion started by capturing Augila. He followed this by marching on Kyrene, taking it, and then realising the Carthaginians were far from exhausted as his spies brought word of two large armies heading across the desert to both Kyrene and Augila. Augila was disturbingly undergarrisoned, but luckily the Iberian army had made it onto the scene, and the army bearing down on Augila was forced back after the Iberians under Caratawc moc Meriadoc won a Heroic Victory at a river crossing. Both armies pushed forward over the decade, each minor battle taking its toll on their numbers till finally they made it to Alexandria, and took the city under the shadow of the Pharos. Caradog continued south with his battered army to take the last city that was needed to secure the lower Nile, Memphis. Upon entering the province, he heard of the oversupply of mercenary forces in the area, and decided that buying an extra unit of cavalry would be the wisest option, leaving the rest till he needed them later as garrisons. Unfortunately, the Carthaginian general, Gisgo, used his initiative to be the last true threat the Carthaginians would pose to the Casse, by buying every last one of the mercenaries and attempting to break off the siege. The battle took place amongst the Pyramids, and Gisgo nearly won several times, but Caradog prevailed in the end, winning a decisive victory that broke the Carthaginians' backbone.

https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...2-27-15-90.jpg

https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...2-29-07-54.jpg

So the basic picture in 166BC was that of Casse supremacy in both the Balkans and Egypt. The final note for this synopsis is the fate of Adcobrovatae. The hero shrine the small Gallic village had dedicated to the dead king became a phenomenon which spread to many parts of the empire, mostly western Europe and other parts of the empire he hadn't personally subdued, but even certain places in North Africa took up the worship, with various sects suggesting the king was in fact divine due to his birthplace being the fens of Cornovae and their connection to the Celtic otherworld.

So yes, that ended up being a bit more than a synopsis, so I'll cut it short here and post everything that's happened since then in a second post. What will happen between 166 and 149? Stick around and find out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Soggius Chippius

Hello all. Not sure if anyone remembers me, but I posted a sort of half-AAR of my Casse campaign in that v1 progression thread that was active around the end of last year.
So yes, that ended up being a bit more than a synopsis, so I'll cut it short here and post everything that's happened since then in a second post. What will happen between 166 and 149? Stick around and find out.

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I remember this. You fought the blue monster? Whoa.

Woah very nice, how do you manage all those settlements?

Now you know how the Republic felt before the Roman Civil War.

Right, so, part 2 then.
First off, may as well begin with the most interesting thing first, so here's the world map.

https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...0-10-10-59.jpg

So obviously, yes, there have been some sizeable changes, but bear in mind this is 17 years since the last update rather than the standard 10, so I can promise you I'm not some sort of blitzkrieg god. Not quite anyway.
At any rate, the first thing I had to sort out when I jumped back on my save game was how to put a dent in the Makedones, since they had the irritating advantage of using Byzantion as a bridge to get across the Hellespont *as well as* that other bloody crossing a bit further down the causeway. Blocking one entrance off meant the other one was open, and even using two armies after I killed off Epirus this was a difficult proposition since the Makedones were some of the most competent fighters I'd faced yet (next to the Gauls with their todger-wielding supermen) So with a dearth of any better strategy, and with my third Balkan army only now getting ready to stab some Greeks, I decided to just try and take Byzantion and weather whatever they threw at me until they had used up most of their current standing army. Turns out this was definitely the correct thing to do, as they threw fullstack after fullstack at me while I tried to juggle two armies along with the necessary reinforcements for injured units for something like 4 years until they finally ran out of steam (relative to how they were before, mind you) and I managed to snare one or two cities in Anatolia.
All this while, I had spies just keeping an eye on Baktria, and while they were certainly looking very threatening, they were still making a hamfisted attempt of holding onto their cities on the steppe. They would make impressive gains, only to have them taken away by revolts, which would end up with them in a neverending cycle of taking and losing. This of course meant the only way I was going to come into conflict with them was if I managed to border with them in Anatolia. Which I managed to do quite nicely until the units Makedon was sending at me constantly from Galatia got on my nerves and I took it from them. This was a phenomenally stupid move, as within a few turns I had half a dozen Baktrian armies right on my doorstep, and Galatia temporarily took over the Levant's role as the premier destination for all conflict and violence in the world for the next year or two. Turned out that those armies were all Baktria had nearby, so I was able to consolidate in Anatolia for a year or two, nicking the remaining provinces off the Maks and confining them to Syria and Syria Koile. Then Makedon had to be left as Baktria's reinforcements arrived, and started trying to take back Galatia (as one of the previous armies had managed to take it while my main army limped back to a town with recruitment capabilities) Eventually took Galatia back, this time for good, then forged ahead to Mazaka. It ended up being a case of using two armies, with one being the attacking army, and one stepping up to be the new main army when the first one needed to retreat for reinforcements (each battle was taking a respectable toll for once) but by the end of the slogging, I had taken everything in Anatolia, was using two armies to push into the Caucasus, and another army to mop up any leftover Makedonian resistance coming from Syria.
So what about Egypt? Well, due to the losses taken after the capture of Memphis, and the general unrest issues in the region, it was a long while before anyone could do anything. Even so, Carthage was happy to sit at the bottom of the map and do stuff all. They had garrisons, and largish ones at that in a few cities, but they simply couldn't be bothered moving them anywhere (and Phoenicia never attacked. Ever. Even up till the stage I'm at now). Unfortunately, while I was waiting for barracks to be completed (to be faced with the sad truth that the best AoR units in Egypt are the Machimoi) something just....horrible happened. Caradog died while carrying out his duties as governor of Alexandria. This meant the only decent general I now had in Egypt was Caratawc moc Meriadoc, who was due to meet Adcobrovatae as well. Which left.....Cynan. Imbecile son of Caradog. By this stage he had one or two positive traits as opposed to what he was in 166, but he was still a pillock, and still incapable of leading an army. Happily by this stage, something happened to the Client Ruler mechanism which allowed them to (about 50% of the time) go against the wishes of their benefactors, and leave the city to become generals, so another promising general (with a decent bodyguard!) ended up leading most of the remaining units (interspersed with Machimoi) down south to rout the Carthaginians from the upper Nile. The only true difficulty was capturing all the cities in a reasonable time frame as they were all so far away from each other (helped by the fact the now destitute Carthies hadn't built roads), but eventually all the cities fell rather uneventfully. The only real trick the Carthaginians pulled was sending one army comprised of a general and about 8 Nubian Spearmen straight up past all my armies straight for Alexandria. He was intercepted around Memphis, but in all honesty, based on the direction he was headed, I think he just wanted to escape back to the Levant. Oh well.
After an irritatingly long period of consolidation (where the Phoenician owned Levant was used as a helpful buffer zone against the Baktrians. If they're not going to fight, may as well make some use of it) finally an army was sent north under the general mentioned previously, but also with Cynan in tow, in a last ditch attempt to get some battle experience under his belt before he faces the Baktrians at the head of his own army. The army began by besieging Petra, but then had to double back the next turn as a fullstack of the neutral Sabaeans had just crossed into Egypt unnoticed (damn them and their sand coloured banners) so the final destruction of Carthage had to wait while the Arabs were taught a lesson in respecting borders.Happily, the Saba army had one general, one unit of light infantry, and over 9000 skirmishers, so they were removed from my borders in short order (after running from my army for about a year however -_-) except for one rather unfortunate turn of events. As my general charged into the rear of the Sabaean bodyguard, he came flying off his horse and hurtled through the air to land on top of one of the Sabaen's swords. So did Cynan become the new head of the Egyptian army. ;_;
And from there, most of the Levant fell pretty quickly. Not because of Cynan of course, but due to each city having a garrison of roughly 2 units (except for one which had a whole one unit of Elite African Pikemen at around 12 men strong :O)
Apart from that, the map has been pretty quiet. Except for Gader on the Straits of Gibraltar rebelling back to the Carthaginians for a few turns, but even then, they made it their new capital so I was able to send spies in to their eastern cities to make them revolt. Oh, and a few Germanic settlements rebelled to the Eleutheroi (the Sweboz being so far gone that not even rebels will join them) but being eleutheroi rebellions, they weren't exactly difficult to put down.
There was one other faction my armies had a fair amount of trouble sorting out however, and that was the Greeks. My Greek army was ready to invade around 165 or so, and invade they did, beginning with Athens, which would be lucky if it had a half garrison at the time, but what I didn't count on at the time was the horrific fighting ability of the Greek bodyguard. There was a general in Athens, and he was reinforced by an army from Corinth with 2 bodyguards in it. I let them form up as they came on to the field far too close together, and eventually their line met my line, and I wheeled my cavalry around behind it to attack the flank. Then I looked at my unit cards and saw they'd dropped from 80 to 60 or so already where they were fighting the bodyguards. And these were Classical Hoplites. It's not like I was fielding Akontistai or anything. Obviously, the best idea at this stage would be to weaken them, so I charged directly into their rear with my horse and killed....6 of them. Out of around 53. The fight continued on like this for some time, with many of my units routing, but I did thankfully finish all the bodyguards off and rout the army. A few units made it back to Athens, and I found myself besieging it on the next turn, but my army was in tatters. I took Athens from the one or two quarter strength units that were still inside, but I made sure the next thing that was ordered was a march by my units back to a friendly city to bring my hoplites back to full strength (I ended up with around half as many units as I'd begun with even then due to routers and massive casualties however)
The rest of the conquest of Greece wasn't too difficult, as that had been their only army, but of course most of their power was consolidated on the northern shores of the Black Sea. So of course, almost directly after taking Sparta, a large Greek army made their way from Olbia across the river to Gawjam-Bastarnoz, laid siege, and took the city. Then it did the standard trick of leaving 2 units in the city while the main army stood outside. The army in Greece was sent up to take the city back, but decided to take on the invading army first, now on its way back to Olbia. My fullstack army hid in the trees by the side of the road to Olbia, and duly ambushed the middling sized Greek army. And lost. Spies later mentioned that the army had three veteran generals each with at least two gold chevrons (where they got them given their laughable lack of fighting with other powers I don't know) so perhaps it made sense that they diced their way convincingly through the army, but the unavoidable point was, the army was broken. The general was killed and most of the men were run down in their escape. The Northern Balkans were completely undefended and open to Greek conquest, and......nothing happened. They just sat in Olbia, quite happy to not go any further. I suppose they felt the point had been made. 3 or so years later, after some heavy duty recruiting and a general shipped in from Rome, another army was sent yet again to beat back the Greeks. Gawjam-Bastarnoz was retaken. However, instead of having a repeat of the previous battle (as the general was green and the makeup of the army was essentially the same, minus the inclusion of 6 slinger units), a new position was taken up on the south bank of the Dniester, and lo and behold, the clever Greeks attempted to cross. And then they went one better and sent their three generals out first across the bridge, to be peppered with sling shots and then meet a merc phalanx head on. Not to labour the point, all three generals ended up with holes through their chests, and the army routed. Yet another army was sent from Olbia, and yet again, they attempted to force their way across the river, and once again, they wished they hadn't. Finally, after a 2 year siege, Olbia fell, and Greece was left with three disconnected provinces and no hope of further expansion. Not that that stops them holding on to their provinces, as two failed invasions of Rhodes have more than proved, but their time will come eventually.
So, that pretty much brings you up to speed with what's happened since the last update, so where does it go from here? (Rejoice! Pictures! The Great Wall of Text is finally over)

First off, let's have a look at who's going to be consigned to the rubbish bin of history in the next year or two.
https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...0-34-19-31.jpg
As you can no doubt see, Makedon's final stronghold is just on the verge of falling (in fact, it will this turn. I just thought I'd be all awesome and dramatic and show you the sunset of a mighty civilisation rather than saying "They died. I lol'ed"
The Ptolemies are being phenomenally irritating in that Cyprus is just strong enough to not warrant an attack, especially when Baktria is quite a bit more of a pressing issue, but they're still around, which means they're still more than capable of gaining cities via revolt. And then filling said cities with slave units whose 6 attack is more than capable of ripping apart men with near on 30 defense. Go figure I suppose. Cyprus will get its eventually.
Oh, and look at that. Carthage now only has Phoenicia left. I like how that works so much I'm actually considering just leaving them there until Baktria goes down......but then again no. Their own stupid fault for wanting Massilia I'm afraid. Also I can't have them nicking off with Carthage and Utica when the inevitable happens and I lose them to revolt when I change capitals again.

And next we have...
https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...0-39-05-39.jpg
The Greeks. Being self-important arsehats as usual, refusing to hand over Rhodes when I've asked nicely for it twice already. Oh well, the units you see forming up down there are the third diplomatic committee I'm sending over, and I'm making damned sure it'll be far more persuasive than the last ones I sent.
Apart for that however, they still have Trapezous and the eastern city on the Crimean Peninsula, so they're a way off destruction yet.

https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...0-35-23-48.jpg
Next, we have the Neuriji, having taken even more territories around the Baltic. Both revolted to them however, so they've yet to make any militaristic movements. The first was Sapmi, which revolted a few turns after the Baktrians decided to take it off my hands. Next was the settlement in between them whose name escapes me (Edit: Sweet Jesus, it's right there on the picture. Oh well, you're more than capable of reading it yourself, so go ahead) , again because of Baktrian cackhandedness. I suppose I'll get around to wiping them out eventually, but really they're just not posing any threat at the moment, so I guess until they descend upon Gawjam-Bastarnoz, they'll be left right alone.

https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...0-39-44-46.jpg
Hah, bet you forgot about this lot. Well, so did I, which is why it came as a bit of a surprise when I noticed they were sending practically their entire army to Petra to try it on with me. If they're anything like the last army I faced, a few horsies should be enough to send them on their way, but you never know. That might have just been to lull me into a false sense of security.
at any rate, I'm not terribly concerned what they end up doing. If they take all of Egypt while I'm fighting back Baktria, more power to them. As soon as I reach Persia though, they'll be going the way of Cyprus and Rhodes.

And finally....
https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...0-34-39-39.jpg
Yes! I know! They're still around! They only have one province, but they must be the only faction in the game aside from me to have never lost their home province at some stage (Except for the Saba, but I refuse to accept that as an achievement). Another interesting fact is that until about 3 years ago my faction wasn't even aware of their existance.
I'm quite looking forward to the two or three battles that will seal their fate. It's a good goal to work towards.

So with that said, I'd like to finish with some of the personalities of the Casseian Empire.

May as well start the whole thing off with the eternal embarrassment of the Casseian Empire. The man who fought against destiny to become the most complete and spectacular failure he could possibly be. Cynan the Illiterate.
https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...heimbecile.jpg
How a man directly related to Adcobrovatae and Caradog could be so poor a human being is difficult to come to terms with. More perplexing is the fact that he was the child Caradog chose to succeed him. Don't go thinking Cynan is Caradog's only son. Oh no, Caradog had 3 boys, one of whom has lived most of his life in Memphis, and is currently Governor. And quite a good one at that. Adcobrovatae's line extends even further, with 7 living decendants. The truly perplexing thing however, is that Cynan was Caradog's chosen. He went everywhere with him. fought on campaigns alongside him. And yet, he picked up none of his father's traits. He still has trouble with simple concepts, as his picture shows. His only truly good point is his gregarious nature, a happy change from his rebellious youth, but it doesn't go far to redeem him. Currently he is sidelined from leading his army, being made temporary governor of Bostra, while the empire holds its breath in anticipation of what sort of man his 9 year old son Brennos ends up being. We can only pray his innumerable faults and his wife's sickly ignorance are somehow overcome to bring forth a new hero.
Last interesting point on Cynan is, despite his not being Faction Leader, due to the social changes within the empire, he is considered close to royalty, being both the son and grandson of legendary heroes. Thus, despite an almost unanimous dislike of him, he does pull quite a bit of weight. Which leads to his newest 'decree', based on the mutterings of a number of Cornovian druids intent on enshrining Adcobrovatae even further than the 2 decade old hero worship has. It has been suggested that Adcobrovatae was in fact an incarnation of Llew, come from the Otherworld when Britain most needed him, evidenced by Adcobrovatae's meteoric rise due to campaigns against the Carthaginians. Thus, Cynan, not bereft of family spirit, has ordered this to be accepted as the new religious truth, and ordered the worship of any deity other than Llew within the borders of the empire to be strictly forbidden. Old temples have been pulled down and replaced with new groves in Llew's honour, in direct contrast with both Adcobrovatae and Caradog's tolerance of foreign religions. Even the temple fortress honouring Dagda in Camulosadae has been pulled down under this decree, which hasn't gone far to endear Cynan to the people of Britain. People he has, of course, never met in his life.
Still... the Cornovians are right pleased.

https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...neralvjeru.jpg
And here is the General who has replaced Cynan, shipped in urgently from Carthage itself so that someone with more than half a brain ends up leading Casse's warriors in the east. He may not be the most exciting person on the face of the planet, but at the very least he knows what he's doing, and he does it well. A solid commander, and while history may forget him, he will be a vital part of it nonetheless.

https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...eneralvmak.jpg
And here is the general currently laying siege to the Makedones. A one time client ruler who dispensed with his title in favour of leading men against the Baktrians. A man who would in other times be completely ignored due to his lack of any real discernible qualities, but who currently has the respect of many due to his earnestness and desire to achieve despite his many disadvantages, in direct comparison with Cynan whose steadfast refusal to make positive use of his many advantages has lost him the respect of the great majority of his underlings.
Rianoros also has the added bonus of leading cavalry into battle, allowing him to enter the fray, and giving him a reputation as something of a fighter, unlike almost all Casse nobility who prefer to direct their men from behind the battle line on chariot.

https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...ofcaucasus.jpg
The final two men are the rising heroes of the Casse push east. Bel moc Orromoros, nicknamed Belli Mawr, after the Celtic War God, is the general in charge of the push into the Caucasus against the Baktrians. His ability to command men is almost unmatched by any contemporaries, and his men are some of the most battle-hardened in the known world. It is after all the evolution of the Vesontian army, sent across the Rhine decades ago to deal with the Sweboz. Men are constantly replaced due to casualties inflicted by the Baktrians to the extent that it is doubtful any man within the army has a memory of the initial crossing, but the history and cameraderie act like a standard. A standard that can never be taken away beyond obliterating every man in the army, and so far, nobody has come close.

Finally
https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/...cthemighty.jpg
Cataradoc moc Meriadoc. The son of Caratawc moc Meriadoc moc Iberia. The empire's greatest living general. He might have stiff competition from Bel moc Orromoros, but he has fought quite a few more battles than his rival, being the chief general in the battles against both Makedon and Baktria, known as far greater enemies of the Casse than Epirus, which fell before Bel's spear. He might not be quite an equal to Caradog, and certainly not to Adcobrovatae the Great, but Caratadoc the Mighty is a hero in a time when very few abound.

Anyway, I think that's enough for now. Let me know what you think. I should be posting another one in a week or two about what happens between now and 140. Laters all.