The Exodus to Ireland, a Lusotannan AAR

Chapter 1: The beginning of our Reign

Brothers, we have come from across the sea to this island inhabited by our kin of old. Yet they fail to recognize us, so we are forced to fight them.

After we landed on the island we burned the ships, so that we may never look back, and only look forward to a new future in this foreign land where we are the strongest.

We arrived in the spring of 257 BCE, and after the ship burning, our smoke was seen even from a day's march inland.

Slowly we began to find our way around this strange land, our scouts went off in any direction, and our geographer attempted to draw a map of their findings.

We went to several small villages, attempting to gain their loyalties, and most gave it after they saw the array of our host, our men were clad in strong bronze and iron, our spears and armor reflected the sun, it was truly a sight to behold. To these men we were God's.

The chieftain of one village told us of the strongest village in the entire southern half of the island and even provided men to show us its location, he spoke that it had conquered most of the southern half of the island and its defeat was the key to control of the island, it was called Ivernis.

We marched west towards Ivernis and besieged the city, It was defended by a small wooden palisade, but it was thus far the only defense we had seen thus far.

So, during the spring of 256 BCE we surrounded the village with the intent of starving them out.

After a long and tedious siege, one winter morning they sallied forth from their wooden palisades and were eager for battle after the long months of waiting inside.

Our men utterly destroyed them with our rain of Javelins, of which they had no resistance due to their apparent lack of any armor what so ever. But these men were different from the men we had seen before, they carried large shields to make up for their lack of armor and carrier large swords which were extremely well crafted, alas, their strength was not enough, and they were all slaughtered to the last man.

We were merciful to the village, and stayed our sword hands after the battle to the population, they were reluctant at first to accept our rule, but soon they learned to love us, for we had much to teach them in smith craft and in warfare.

So, by 255 BCE we had gained control of the southern half of the island, and our scouts and our geographer had at last mapped the entire island at remarkable speed. Alas the north was uncontrolled and more well strengthened against our control.

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We stayed in Ivernis and consolidated control of the southern half of the island, teaching the population our ways in the smith and in the spear, and in our worship of the God's and of trade, and the village soon grew into bliss.



https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...0-37-47-37.jpg

Our scouts had wandered onto what appeared to be another large island to the east, and they wandered along the coast until they had reached a large village of a people called the Casse, these men were similar to the Belgae that resided in Ivernis, and were stout warriors. We quickly gained trade rights with them in the summer.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...0-41-27-06.jpg

A surprise, occurred in the winter, a Casse fleet had landed upon our southern shore, an embassy we thought, here to negotiate an alliance of sorts, but we were ever aware of their movements, for far too often in our homeland had we been betrayed by who we thought were our closest friends. We had decided the best move would be to call up some militia from the villagers.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...0-46-16-40.jpg

During this time also the Casse had besieged Ratae, another large village on the isle they call Britannia.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...0-47-29-98.jpg

By spring of 253 BCE they had captured the village and increased their influence by a large amount, but we had not been idle either, we had strengthened the wooden palisades into a larger, more organized wall of stout wood.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...0-49-44-85.jpg

So, we watched the Casse embassy wander in our province, until one day in the winter of 253 BCE they wandered into the north, our scouts lost them, and even our scouts in Britannia heard nothing of their return, they were lost, swallowed by the north.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...0-51-00-53.jpg

Finally after any possible threat had left, we moved our army with the militia raised northward, with the intent on capturing the northern half of the island and gaining control of the entire island, our army had camped at the northern most point of our territory.

Meanwhile in Ivernis we had improved the population to a point where we could recruit decent spearmen of their stock, Godillic Spearmen, they are highly skilled in the use of the spear and even though their shield is smaller then ours, they are just as skilled with their defense. So with an area for Clan's to gather, we had started to improve it into a larger area for the training of the young men for our army.

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In the summer of 252 BCE our army moved northward again and engaged a large army commanded by an enemy general, his force was composed of entirely skirmisher's, similar to warfare in Iberia, these men were hardy, and threw their Javalins with great force, yet that was not enough, and our army utterly defeated their's, although our militia had taken considerable casualties in the engagement, and so, we marched to and fro, gaining the support of the surrounding villages all throughout the year.

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https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...1-07-56-06.jpg

Our power in southern Ireland was consolidated, our army was strong, and we were ambitious, yet the burning desire in our hearts was not revealed yet to any.

I saw you say something about this in another thread somewhere. Hehe. Glad to see you took it seriously. Looking good so far. Cant wait till the next installment.

Very interesting! Looking forward to the next installment Spoof.

Great AAR idea spoofa, the next installment should be good.

thanks for the responses, I was thinking about writing the next installment and I had already played the next chapter out but then walked away for an hour or two for lunch and then came back and just wasnt in the mood :laugh4: Ill get it in tonight sometime I hope.

haha, i see you DID take this seriously, I remember you talking about this earlier as well. looks god mate, keep it up!

Chapter 2: The Battle of Feasting Crows

(Sorry about the stretched screen guys, I hadn't decided to resize them to 600x800 until this chapter and they wont revert to the new size on my first chapter, plus one on this chapter is stuck in between big and small for some reason and I cant change it, ill try to fix it better next time.)

Once again you are all here to listen to the history of our exodus, and how we became the masters of this land.

In 252 BC during the fall months we had heard news of a massive village called Emain-Macha, Long ago stories tell of how our forefathers had settled in Ireland, and these were the most akin to us on the island, They had a huge temple complex built in this area.
https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...7-44-02-71.jpg

This temple was remarkable, It was filled with blacksmiths who crafted jewelry and weapons for the surrounding area, and many people flock to this area to buy and sell things, as well as worship God's. We had captured this temple and the surrounding villages, and secured their loyalty before marching upon Emain-Macha.

Finally we moved upon the village defended once again by a small wooden palisade. Throughout the following months until the spring of 251 BCE we had attempted to starve them out, and during that spring they sallied, these men were far less fierce then the Belgae from Ivernis, yet these men were far more numerous and our army was much weakened from the siege and previous battle with one of their field armies.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...0-55-48-37.jpg

their forces numbered almost twice as many as ours, and their commander was a fierce warrior and a sharp tactician, we knew this battle was not going to be easy.

and so, we arrayed ourselves in two lines, the Milities formed the first rank,

https://www.europabarbarorum.org/ebc...us_milites.gif and behind them the Scortamareva

https://www.europabarbarorum.org/ebc...ortamavera.gif

along with what was left of our Gestikapoinann,

https://www.europabarbarorum.org/ebc...ikapoinann.gif

and behind and to the right of them our Cavalry arrayed in their fierce masks and Falcata's.

https://www.europabarbarorum.org/ebc...aro_epones.gif

and to the Cavalries right the few surviving Caetranann.

https://www.europabarbarorum.org/ebc...caetranann.gif

and so we waited for the enemy to amass outside their wooden walls and assault our battle line, yet we had a suprise for them yet, as they approached they saw only our Milities, because we had ordered our scortamareva's to hide in the tall grass.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...0-58-58-34.jpg

As the battle lines clashed, the longest and hardest battle yet fought by our people took place, The Battle of Feasting Crows at the beginning, the upper hand was obviously ours, but as time went onward our milites slowly began to step backwards under the pressure and were beginning to mingle into the second reserve line.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...1-04-00-03.jpg

The battle continued, and we looked around at our men, and saw the fear of defeat in their eyes, the enemy was simply too many, we thrusted our spears into one and three took his place, and some of their men were fierce warriors armored like us, the Cwymr.

https://www.europabarbarorum.org/ebc...asse_cwmyr.gif

These men bit deep holes into our battle lines and routed our milities, and slowly ate at our Scortamareva's, luckily their less armored bretheren called Lugoae's fled, and we could focus more on these heavily armored men.

https://www.europabarbarorum.org/ebc...sse_lugoae.gif -Lugoae's


After the first of their men fled before us, we began to see the spark of victory grow into a fire. Their men were disheartened, and the only one's who stood firm were the Cwymr.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...1-10-45-01.jpg

Although a large group of Lugoae's fled, they still had many more, and they were beginning to surround our flanks, so our general did a courageous thing, and charged his cavalry into the flank of the enemy trying to envelope our right flank, and routed them back towards their city.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...1-10-53-85.jpg

Though, while he did this he failed to notice that our left flank was completely surrounded, and were quickly being cut to pieces and losing hope.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...1-11-14-59.jpg

Suddenly, our left flank gave way! the milities gaurding it fled like cowards! leaving our Scortamareva's open to attack, although they are stout men heavily armored, a determined attacker can kill them, and they were not an asset to be easily sacrificed.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...1-12-54-34.jpg

Somehow, our general had managed to rout the Cwymr's on our right flank and freed some of our Scortamareva's, and they were able to engage the enemy enveloping our left flank.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...1-16-03-39.jpg

Our general had once again showed his bravery and charged headlong into the enemies flank, causing an utter panic that quickly spread throughout the enemy warband, and they fled before his might, they cared not for anything but their own lives at this point, trampling over fallen comrades and running straight into our spear points without even realizing what was going on.

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and so we slaughtered them to the last man.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...1-19-10-68.jpg

Afterwards, the few that had escaped into the city attempted to organize a second attack, but they fled before they reached our battle lines, due to the effect of moving our line back about 200 paces, so that they had to walk over their fallen comrade's dead and disfigured bodies to reach us. The bodies were being feasted upon by the crows, and they flocked to the battlefield in the hundreds, which is why to this day it is called The Battle of Feasting Crows.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...1-26-55-78.jpg

The battle was won, but with a large sacrifice, we lost at least half our manpower during that battle, although they lost much, much more.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...1-27-31-96.jpg

and so, in the summer of that year after we had rested, and gathered our dead and had committed the proper burial rites, we built a ram, and prepared for the final assault upon the village.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...1-29-07-84.jpg

Our approach was unanswered, they threw no javelins over the walls, I think they were tired, and ready to submit to our control, yet a few urged on their fight, and these few we had to kill in order to gain control. Among those is their general, Hama was his name, he was a stout man, and he rode a chariot, as did the rest of his bodyguard, their chariots were fearsome, large, and powered by two horses, nobody wanted to be in their way when they came charging.

After we had battered down their gates, our strongest Scortamareva's charged in, and Hama and his bodygaurd charged directly at them, determined to deny them access to the settlement. Alas, his attempts failed, he was slain, along with all but two of his bodyguard who fled back to the town center. The horses were stacked, dead upon one another, unintentionally creating a barrier for any more troops that were to enter through the gate, so the rest of our army was delayed in the coming, and our Scortamareva's had to cope on their own, but they did a fine job, and slaughtered any resistance.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...1-35-36-14.jpg

After they reached the town square the battle was won, all the enemy laid slain inside the walls, and our troops were free to enter the town without resistance, the population was scared at first, thinking we were an unknown band of warriors from an unknown tribe from within the island, little did they know we were their kin of old, and soon they began to accept our rule, Infact many flocked to Ivernis, and it grew to large size, and we started a construction process to better order the city and to increase its size.



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https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...1-41-30-68.jpg

Thus was our general crowned king of the Godilis, king of Iberia in Ireland, and even back in Iberia, a rumor was heard of our doings.

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/...1-38-23-68.jpg

We were victorious, and finally all of Ireland was under our control, now we could focus on larger ambitions, now that we had a firm power base in the British Isles.


The world as of 251 BCE - Spring


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Haha brilliant stuff. Good win to that sally though without the cavalry I dont think it would've gone your way ^^

Btw, i've never played Luso, is owning the british isles part of their victory conditions? and how did you make the towns you owned rebel in Iberia?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by raenor

Haha brilliant stuff. Good win to that sally though without the cavalry I dont think it would've gone your way ^^

Btw, i've never played Luso, is owning the british isles part of their victory conditions? and how did you make the towns you owned rebel in Iberia?

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yes Ireland is a victory condition, oh and to get them to rebel i just disbanded everybody and took all my family members with me :laugh4:

Very interesting aar.

I see that Chirurgeon's idea continues to spread. :laugh4:

Soon, unit pics from the EB website will be the norm. They're just so damn good looking. :2thumbsup:

This is wonderful Spoofa, awesome idea and great storytelling. I love the way it's been going, please keep it up. :2thumbsup: Can't wait to see more of this tribe's exodus.

i love it!

Can't wait to see how you are going to deal with the Casse.

Hey guys, Looks like tonight Ill have chapter 3 out due to the fact that I have no homework tonight for once in my life :laugh4:

this was a cool idea...any chance you'll redo it with 1.0?

oh of course, but I have a question, does Lusotannia get anymore regional or factional units in the ireland/british isles sector for 1.0? I was finding my ability to field anything besides the typical godillic spearmen up there, and the medium armored spearmen i had brought from Iberia were starting to dwindle in numbers, I was started to think that if i continued then eventually all i would have were the godillic spearmen left for my armies! and they arent really a battle winning force, though they better then the typical militia.

well, there are 5 goidilic units, plus 3-4 generic celtic units recruitable in ireland, and several other generic or regional units in briton. i dont think you can recruit any factional units in ireland, though, if that's what you were asking.

oh no, you gave me what i was looking for, I didnt think I could get any of my iberian troops down there, what about the Godillic Vascii equivelent guy's? I should be able to make some of them right? :beam: