…an urge. An urge to share the most amazing R:TW experience I have ever had. I’ve only played about 12 years worth of my Koinon Hellenon campaign, and it’s been a blast. I must recount it all. All of this has happened in the past few days, but I’m only going by memory here, so some things might be off.
Upon starting up my campaign, I realize I only hold three settlements: Sparta, Athens, and Rhodes. My aging faction leader, Areus, is in Krete with a measly number of peltasts and a couple units of hoplitai. I also have a spy on the island, and instinctually send him into Kydonia. Not a massive garrison force, but just enough middle-tier troops to give my leader’s army a crushing defeat. There was way no way I was going to hastily lose a battle on my first turn.
I decide to check out the current state of affairs. Areus’ son, Akrotatos, a promising young Spartan, is governing Sparta with a fairly large garrison of peltasts and hoplitai. Another general, the Athenian Chremonides, is in charge of Athens with an adequate force of his own. Another general, Agathokles, is spending his time is seeming isolation on the island, Rhodes, with his own small garrison. I also notice my small navy of four fleets. Weak ships, but capable enough to transport any necessary armies throughout the Aegean. At least, I hope.
I check the diplomacy screen. Allied with the Ptolemaioi. That won’t help me anytime soon, but maybe later on. At war with those bastardly Macedonians. Alexander is long dead. If I have any say in it, it’s time for Greece to take revenge on those neighbors to the north.
However, Macedon holds Corinth. Large garrison. They also hold Chalkis, on the isle Euboia. Not to mention Demetrias, not too far north of Attica. Their forces seem large enough to take either of my two, if not both, of my mainland cities without any real struggle. I’m in real trouble here.
So I do what any strategos with a strong interest in self-preservation would do. I sue for peace. (Sorry T.A. I didn’t read your gameplay guide yet, though I agree, it is pretty unrealistic for Macedon to accept. And kind of cowardly on my part.) I send my diplomat to Corinth, and to my surprise, they accept. I knew, however, that ceasefires were rarely observed for long in Ancient Hellas. For the sake of Greece, I hoped that this one would last just long enough.
With my economy quickly plummeting, I knew I must take Krete. It is a central trading post in the Eastern Mediterranean, and would undoubtedly help my financial woes. With an uneasy feeling in my gut, I send Areus and his army (whom I just sent back to the Peloponnesus as insurance against a Macedonian siege), along with additional units of taxeis hoplitai and akontistai from Sparta, to Krete. I outnumber the Cretans about 3:2. However, their experience and quality are superior to that of my army. Tactics would be critical in this siege.
While Kydonia is under siege, I receive a message that Sinope is under siege from the barbarous Pontic king. These Greeks of old sue for my help, but what could I do? My lone standing army is currently busy trying to alleviate my financial troubles, and all other troops are servings as garrisons against impending Macedonian assaults. I do the only thing I could think of. I pack my lone diplomat onto my fleet, and send him toward Sinope.
As I am traveling through the Hellespont, I head right into big trouble. Pirates. Extremely strong pirates. Luckily, I’m able to drop off my diplomat near the ancient site of Troy before having to engage those merciless rebels. I outnumber the pirates 4 fleets to 1, but these pirates are strong, veteran sailors, while my weak navy has yet to engage anyone in battle. My navy is decimated in the fight. One fleet is completely destroyed, while two others suffer heavy losses. My remnants of a navy flee toward Rhodes, where I combine the two weakened fleets into one, leaving me with two fleets of average numbers. This battle seems to have awakened the pirates; for the next ten years or so, their invincible fleet seems to randomly siege the ports of Athens, Sparta, and Kydonia, leaving my navy next to useless for quite some time. As for Sinope, it falls to Pontic control. I’ll remember this outrage. Just let me regain my homeland first.
Back to Krete. I assault the town with three battering rams in my possession. Upon the battle’s outset, I look over at the enemy forces within the wooden walls of the city. Horses, and lots of them. Close to a hundred small Grecian horses crowded just inside the city doors. Ekdromoi hoplites flanked the horses, along with a unit of akontistai. In the town square stood another unit of taxeis hoplites, ready to defend their home to the death.
Three of my four hoplite units man the rams, one charges for the doors, while the other two head for the walls, one on each side of the doors. Three openings should be plenty of room to storm the city and surround the immediate enemy. My two akontistai units trail them, along with the single remaining hoplite unit, and behind them, Areus and his bodyguard cavalry. He’s old, and my faction leader. I don’t want to use him in battle and risk his demise. However, as I shall discover, this old Lakedaimon has plenty of fight left in him.
As my rams work the fortifications, my light troops do their work, hurling their javelins over the walls at those brown ponies and weak hoplites, driving back from the walls toward the center of the city. Their stock of javelins is quickly depleted, however, with only a handful of horses, my main concern, dead. The light horsemen return to the walls, this time not crowding the doors, but opposite my leftmost ram. Hoplites and peltasts quickly trail them, only losing a dozen or so of their own men to the barrage of spears.
The doors and walls cave in. My hoplites drop the rams and reset into proper phalanx formation. However, my leftmost unit doesn’t set into formation quickly enough. The horses came pouring out of the city immediately after the walls before them crashed and charged into the mass of unprepared pikemen. A massive melee ensues, so I quickly throw my knife-armed akontistai into the mess, hoping that sheer numbers will defeat these horses. I take two other hoplitai units out of phalanx and have them, along my remaining peltast unit, also armed with knives, enter the city through its doors and attack the horses, hoping to surround the horsemen. But I forgot. I run into a combined force of hoplites and light infantry, three inferior units against two superior. I now have two melees just inside the walls, both at seeming standstills.
At the rightmost section of the wall I brought down stands my last unit of hoplites. Ahead of him lies a roundabout path to the city square and its defenders. I lead them along this path, leaving Areus outside the walls by himself. But if my last unit of hoplites attacks their last, it will be a standstill. Light bulb goes off. I quickly have my general enter the city in this rightmost gap in the wall, and have him traverse the perimeter to the far end of the city, the opposite end where the two melees are taking place.
Things take a turn for the worse. My unit of hoplites and akontistai are overwhelmed by the horsemen, and quickly rout. Nearly 150 Greeks are seen storming out of the city and toward the distant coast, with nearly 75 enemy horses chasing after them. Luckily, this panic does not spread to the other melee, with my three units fighting the two units of counterparts to a standstill, despite the latter being surround.
At last, the lone hoplite unit makes it to the city square and engages the remaining enemy hoplites. Soon after, Areus sets his Bodyguard into place, with a beautiful view of phalanx backside before him. After a few valiant charges, these enemy taxeis hoplitai are finished. I feel the momentum shifting to my side. The enemy horses have gone off into the distance, trying to kill every soldier that routed. I give Areus a short rest, then have him charge into the remaining melee, which is still at a standstill. No luck. My own infantry impede on the general’s charge, making it useless. But that’s not important anymore. The enemy horses have returned to the city.
I lead Areus around the large melee and into a headfirst charge toward the enemy cavalry. A large horse melee ensues. However, I know immediately that I will be victorious this time, for the enemy horses are completely exhausted chasing down my routed soldiers, only to sprint back toward the city as their own hoplites began to fall. Areus and his Bodyguard simply decimate the enemy horsemen. I turn my attention to the other melee, where the enemy morale seems to be worsening. After a few more moments, the remaining enemy units rout, leading to a complete annihilation of the enemy troops. Victory is mine. Well, an Average Victory at least.
The acquisition of Krete (along with the decimation of my navy, I discover) seem to curb my growing debt. After a few turns, I’m making a profit, as I’m sending my diplomats (I’ve commissioned another one by this point) to peoples across the map, forming trade agreements as I go. My goal now is to build an offensive against the bully Macedonians. They seem to have become entangled in an all-out war with the Epeiros. Excellent. I send a diplomat to Ambrakia and suggest an alliance. They accept. Hmm. I decide to extend these diplomatic relations a bit further. I ask that they attack the Macedonians. They counter with a simple favor in exchange: that I attack Macedonia as well. Hah! So let me get this straight: You (Epeiros) will attack the Macedonians, as long as I attack them as well? Excellent, I think to myself. Macedon doesn’t stand a chance.
I have Athens commission spies, whom I send to every Macedonian city. My army is nowhere near where it should be to properly begin my assault on the Macedonians. I slowly but surely have Athens build a mix of troops, as Sparta is still incapable of building anything besides taxeis hoplitai and akontistai. However, as I’m slowly building an army, I notice an Epeirote fleet head around the Peloponnesus, and deploy a fairly large army on the island of Euboia! Chalkis is poorly garrisoned and after a couple of turns, the Epeirotes take the settlement. I am dumbfounded.
My shock wears off fast, however, as Macedon besieges Thermon, and again I am officially at war with the Macedonians. I see this was only a ploy, however, as that same Macedonian army deserts Thermon and lays siege to Athens. “What do I do?” I think to myself. My garrison in Athens is nowhere large enough to take on the full stack of Macedonians.
So I try a counteroffensive. I send Areus’ army (which was still in Krete at the time) back to Sparta with my miniscule navy, leave the elderly Areus as governor of his hometown, and have his son, Akrotatos, hire a couple of mercenaries, and besiege Corinth with the remnants of his father’s army. Its outnumbered garrison doesn’t decide to wait around. After being besieged for only one turn, they, along with a couple units of reinforcements, assault my young general. Let’s see if he has the same fighting spirit his father has.
Numerically, I again outnumber the enemy about 3:2. But more importantly, I’m playing defense. As I scan the enemy, I only see one major obstacle: a large Macedonian unit of Hetairoi. I take up a strong defensive position upon a hill in the corner of the battlefield, set up a line of taxeis hoplites, along with one unit of ekdromoi, with two units of akontistai set up behind them. There is no way their hoplites and archers can break this line. Their general, however, might.
After their exhausting march uphill, they begin to position themselves for the impending battle. Their archers begin taking a few of my men, but nothing significant. But then here it comes, their cavalry charge of nearly 100 hetairoi. They try to break a seam in between my units of taxeis and ekdromoi, who put up a valiant defense. A few horses manage to break through, but they are only met with a mass of akontistai armed with daggers. The melee begins.
All along the line, their three units of hoplites begin battling mine, but I clearly have the upper hand, as the enemy are clearly exhausted from their forced march. After a few minutes, the enemy routs, including the few remaining hetairoi. I use ekdromoi and young Akrotatos to clean up the routing enemy. This time, a Heroic victory is mine.
Akrotatos gains a trait deeming him as the conqueror of Olympias, as Corinth goes over to me when the few foes who escaped the last battle disperse. The siege of Athens is lifted, and the huge Macedonian army returns northward. Perhaps the Epeirotes are going on the offensive there as well. They transported their large army back to their homeland from Euboia, leaving only a two-unit garrison behind. Whatever the reason, my economy is now booming, as Corinth provided a huge income boost. Greece is now mine.
Well almost. Athens’ nearest neighbor, Chalkis, remains in the hands of my ally, Epeiros. Thermon lies to the west, with its own large garrison. The Macedonian homeland lies to the north, and it seems to be ripe for the taking. Asia Minor lies across the Aegean, and perhaps its time that a true Greek takes revenge on the descendents of Xerxes. So many options.
So I decide to betray my ally. Using Akrotatos’ army, I take Chalkis easily, I have truly united Greece (outside of, perhaps, Thermon). Athens, Sparta, Rhodes, Corinth, Chalkis. Watch out world. Here come the Hellenes.
Thank you, EB, for making this game what it should have been out of the box. I am eternally grateful. I wait in eager anticipation for future versions, and the Holy Grail known as 1.0.
:2thumbsup:
