Arche Seleukia - A highly militaristic campaign

So I've gotten into EB again after a few years hiatus. I've always loved Arche Seleukia for their hugely diverse army, their cataphracts, elephants, chariots. The list can go on. It's about 240BC and I've flattened out on my ridiculous expansion. Playing on VH/M battles.

The game began fairly generically. I sent my archer stack out of Asaak and attacked the Parthians, which allowed me to keep my allies. Aasak fell pretty shortly, but I held onto Zadrakata for a year or so before it fell too. Unfortunately, Alexandreia-Eschate fell to the Sakas after a year, and Marakanda was the only thing between Saka Rauka and my steppe towns. I heavily invested in Anatolia and Marakanda during the next few years - I absolutely hate losing territory, but Marakanda suffered from a very low population base. With me playing on Huge battles, Marakanda was almost unable to recruit troops, so I built up the rest of Margiana and rushed to Dahae Riders and skirmisher cavalry. They absolutely saved my holdings in the east, and I mimiced that success in Persia against the Parthians.

In the west, I upgraded Antiocheia to get Prodromoi and medium phalanxes, but I didn't go on the offensive just yet. Instead, I merely held against the Ptolemies while investing in infrastructure in Anatolia, Persia and Babylonia. Sardis and Ipsos, and Mazaka were my money making cities, with Seleukia, Susa, Persepholis and Gabai receiving markets and mines. I eventually sent a small force to conquer and exterminate Tarsos at roughly 265BC, very late for me. At that time, I conquered Pergamon after a lengthy siege, purely for the money, and conquered Side after Tarsos, just because the Ptolemaioi were being annoying there. In the east at this time, I sent a stack of horse archers and slingers and took back Zadrakata with minimal casaulties. The next year, I finally mustered the energy to launch a major invasion of Syria and expelled the Ptolemies in Sidon, Heirosolyma and Salamis. I took Bostra the next year. In doing so, I destroyed nearly 10 armies and crippled the Ptolemaioi offensive power in Syria, and the next few years were uneventful barring the random 3 unit seiges.

On the eastern front, the period between 265BC to 257BC was extremely turbulent. Bactria, who were neutral, marched their full stack armies near Prophthasia and A-Marigana, so I quickly recruited phalanxes and built high level walls. I conquered the rest of Anatolia. Marakanda had recovered thanks to my investment in health and population and was now the powerhouse of the region. Supplemented by mercenaries, I pushed Saka out of A-Ariana and took Nisa from the Parthians, albeit it soon rebelled. Undeterred, Nisa spent the next few years swapping hands, but I moved on and almost wiped out the Parthians, leaving them with only Asaak and one other city. Saka was being treated similarly, and after my brutal conquests of their towns they are only left with three provinces (I can't remember the name at this point). The Parthians, however, are extremely tenacious and are hitting back with force, and my depleted armies fell back. At this point, I suddenly had about 5 or 6 high level family members suddenly bite the dust, and Seleukia and Babylonia were on negative population growth. My money flow, which used to be nearly 30000 mnai a season, fell to only 25. Excacerbating this was the recruitment of my royal army, an elite force of men who was to wipe out the Ptolemies in Syria. Fate, however, thought differently.

In 254BC, winter, the Sab'yn marched an enormous army next to Bostra. I had recently lifted an enormous Ptolemaoi siege with my elite phalanx, royal guard and some thorakaroi and my garrison was at half strength. I was wary, but they made no move for the next year or so,k and I forgot about them. The Pontic army, an enormous force of three thousand, suddenly betrayed me and took Mazaka, so I rerouted my hetaroi and prodomoi to drive them off. Syria was left with no fast response force and the treacharous Sab'yn beiseged Bostra with nearly four thousand men. I routed the Pontics from Mazaka, utterly annihilating their three thousand strong army of infantry and cavalry with a cavalry force of less than one third of their strength, with only 10 percent casaulties. My elite cavalry could not return home, for two other Pontic armies with similiar numbers was heading for my money makers in Ipsos and Sardis. The Sab'yn attacked, plowing through my walls and their hordes of unwashed Arabians raced down the street. I annihilated them. My garrison, outnumbered six to one, met them haed on and crushed them in the streets of Bostra. There were only two avenues to the centre of my city, so I had my half strength medium phalanxes guard the lesser and my elite spearmen, with my elite phalanx, plug the main avenue. I took less than 30 percent losses, while the enemy suffered over 70, and would have been completely routed and massacred were it not for the time running out.

On the western front against Pontos, my depleted cavalry army destroyed the other two Pontic armies, killing all but one of their family members. My army of less than 1000 horses had, by this time, slaughtered over nine thousand Pontic men, and I erased Pontos from the map. I sent my depleted garrison from Bostra to Antiochea to retrain, and likewise for my cavalry, but my garrison was bribed by the Ptolemaiois and dispersed - a shame because they were very experienced, but only a loss of 60 men or so. More family members died of old age and my income really fell, and I planned to rectify that by conqurering Egypt. Once again, the history stops my plans.

The Makedonians, once staunch allies, besieged Pergamon with an army of two thousand. I had a bare force of only 400 as garrison, and two family members. I won through time out, but my garrison had been annihilated. My royal army, which was about to march into Egypt, was quickly turned around and rushed towards Anatolia. I marched a great phalanx of men, drawn from the garrisons of five cities, and recruited generals to lead them, and defeated the Makedonians at their city (I'm at work so I can't remember the city name - Myz something) and my royal army is now en route to take Byzantium. I've begun recruiting another, non-elite army to take on the weakened Ptolemaioi but that will cut my income even more - I'm barely making 20k a season now. And in the east, I'm having trouble holding onto the Parthian and Saka cities I'm conquering. There's the constant forays into my territory from the Ptolemies, disrupting my trade, and the replenshing of troops and hiring of mercenaries is proving very taxing in the east. Meanwhile, the threat of invasion lurks, ever-present, from the massive armies of the Bactrians against my large cities at A-Margiana and Prophthasia. My elite force is tied up in Anatolia and will be preoccupied as I invade the Hellenes proper. The future is looking very difficult indeed. More in depth re-write later.