Rise of the Brutii

Hi there,
I am back from vacation. I tried to post the PBM before leaving, but the board was down. Here it is now.

Settings were :
-hard/hard
-large unit size (Hastati=80 men) which was default
-long imperial campaign
-10 year turn per player.

The savegame is called Brutii_260_10yr.zip

If you cannot download from the org, try home.earthlink.net/~tonymakhlouf/rtw/

The next 2 players are Ashen and ChaosLord.

Ok. Here's the writeup:

Rise of the Brutii

270 BC

"We Brutii must lead Rome". Tiberius Brutus, 52 years old at the time, is said to have uttered this prediction when he took over control of the Brutii family in 270BC. At the time it seemed rather an empty boast as there were other families vying for power, and all were under the thumb of the mighty Senate. But that was about to change.

Taking advantage of a Senate vote to capture the town of Appollonia across the Adriatic, Titus sends his second son Amulius [4 star] at the head of 512 men to capture the town. The other son, Vibius, leads a unit of cavalry under his brother's command.
Amulius finds the town without walls. He quickly moves his troops to its outskirts where he encounters a unit of militia hoplites. He makes quick work of them using Velite javelins and then surrounds them with the cavalry. He then has his brother Vibius drive the local peltasts out of the town square without much trouble.

269 BC

The good news reaches Rome and the Senate. A second mission to take Thermon is assigned. At that time Thermon was part of the league of the Greek Cities. After spending the summer in preparation, Amulius moves south in the winter and lays siege to the town.

268 BC

The assault on Thermon happens that summer. Using battering rams, the Hastati break through the outer walls and gate at 2 points. The troops pour in to surround the militia hoplites guarding the gate. The cowardly Greeks rout quickly. Soon after the town square is taken.

In the same year, Macedon declares war on the unfortunate Greeks. Athens falls to the Macedonians in the winter of 268

Meanwhile, Cassius, son of Amulius, heads north from Apollonia to clean up some brigand forces in northern Epirus. His true target is rebel-held Salona, which was still unfortified and thus an easy prey.

At the same time in Tarentum, Numerius Carus - a promising general- is welcomed into the clan after his marriage to Paulina, grand-daughter of Tiberius.

267 BC

Numerius is soon put to work by his in-laws, who send him across the straits towards Salona where he is soon joined by Cassius moving overland from Epirus. Their combined force easily overwhelmsd the locals and adds yet another settlement (population 457)to the growing holdings of the Brutii, which have now doubled in size in a mere 3 years.

266 BC

Encouraged by the success of Roman arms, the Senate votes to send an army to occupy Patavium and thus deny the hated Gauls their foothold in Italy. Titus Brutus sees this as a chance to expand into what many consider the Julii sphere of influence. Beating the Julii to Patavium thus becoms a prime objective.

Immediately, Numerius is ordered to sail north from Salona up the Adriatic towards the new target. He lands later that winter to the East of the Gaul settlement.

265 BC

With the advent of Spring, Numerius starts his attack. He hires local mercenaries to beef up his army and starts the siege.

Finding their supplies running low, the Gauls sally out that winter under the command of captain Sennianus with 290 men. Numerius, commanding 306 romans and mercenaries manages to surround them and annihilate them after chasing them into the town. All the Gaul army was lost at the cost of 183 men for Numerius. Finding his remaining garrison rather weak, Numerius puts the entire population to the sword in a show of terror.

The Brutii are rewarded for this action by the Senate with a unit of Rhodian slingers.

264 BC

The insatiable Senate smells more blood. A request is sent out to blockade the port of Sparta. However, the road to Sparta is blocked by powerful Macedon which has captured Athens. Sparta must wait while the Macedonians were dealt with.

263 BC

THe summer is spent in preparation for an attack on Macedon. Wardogs and Hastati recruited in southern Italy are ferried across to Epirus and Aetolia, while Brutii spies infiltrate Larissa.

At the same time, Numerius repulses the first of many attempts by the Gauls to retake Patavium. With his 400 men, he manages to totally surround and destroy a Gaulish force of 660 warband warriors under the foolish command of captain Cador.

Winter of 263 sees the beginning of the long war with Macedon. Amulius moves at the head of the main force of 622 men from Thermon towards Larissa. He finds the gates opened by his spies. With the 300-strong Greek garrison commanded by the able Gyras [4 star], a tough battle is expected. HOwever the foolish general starts the engagement by rushing out of the gate with his cavalry bodyguard. He is surrounded and promptly killed. The pikemen phalanx soon breaks down and the town falls to Amulius who enslaves half the inhabitants.

Meanwhile, captain Lentulus with 277 men engages a small contingent of Macedonians in western Attica and annihilates them.

262 BC

Major fighting continues in central Greece. Amulius spots the main Macedonian army in Boetia [western Attica]. He quickly recruits 2 units of local hoplites and a unit of Cretan archer and then engages the Macedonians under captain Aristocles. A fierce battle ensues with about 780 men on each side. The day is finally won by the determination of the Hastati. This Macedonian army loses about 500 men and is eliminated as a fighting force.

Meanwhile, Numerius repulses a second attack by the Gauls on Patavium.

261 BC

The Senate renews the call to blockade the port of Sparta. Meanwhile, the Brutii consolidate their hold on Thessaly using a second army under captain Galerius to drive away a force of Brigands and a small Macedonian contingent and open up the Northen path towards Macedonia and its capital Thessalonice.

But these plans are interrupted by the movement of a large force under the Macedonian king Antigonos himself south along the coast. Seeing the enemy camped between the coastal mountains of Thessaly to the west, and the Aegean to the East, Amulius decides to strike. He sends Galerius south from Thessaly to engage the rear of the Macedonians while he moves north from Larissa. THe Macedonians are thus caught in a pincer movement in the ensuing battle. Realizing this, ANtigonos orders a hurried retreat north. He manages to slip by with his cavalry but his pikemen are held back by the troop under Galerius until Amulius' force arrives from the south and crushes them. Of the 665 Macedonians, only 16 escaped. But the Brutii sustain heavy losses (200 men), mostly in the command of Galerius who gave up his life delaying the Macedonian retreat.

With this victory, the road to Thessalonice is opened and Amulius proceeds to besiege it immediately.

These good news of victory reach Tarentum just in time for the old Tiberius Brutus to savor them before he passes away from old age.

Ashen and ChaosLord: did any of you pick this PBM up? Looks like the Julii and Scipii are gonna kick our butt.

This is the map as it is right now:

http://home.earthlink.net/~tonymakhl...brutii_map.jpg
And this is a link to the savegame file: http://home.earthlink.net/~tonymakhl.../Brutii260.zip

If anyone else wants to continue this, please reply to this post.

If there are no takers for this PBM I would be happy to play the next decade. I may be able to fit in a few hours of play this weekend.

Yeah i'm sorry, i'll have to back out. When I originally signed up for the pbm I had just got the game. So to pass time in the meanwhile I started a Scipii Imperial campaign. I spent over a week and a half on it and actually finished a game. It was fun, but it got me burned out on playing Romans. I tried to start the save a few times, but its the same battles all over again with the same troops. Add that to my time available to play having been short lately and you see what I mean. Sorry for wasting your time like this, hope you can get enough to keep it going.

I'd love to play this during/after I take the Scipii, but will need to wait one week (until Saturday, the 30th) before I can.

ChaosLord,
it's OK. Maybe you can start a non-Roman PBM? I'd be interested.

TrickyLady,
looks like you should go next. Good Luck.

Tamur,
you can go after TrickyLady

Ashen,
let me know what you are up to. Are you still interested in a decade?


Afrit