Rise of Makedonia - Another Makedonian AAR.
Introduction
Alkyoneus, son of Antigonos Argeades who united all of Greece for the first time in history. You accompanied him on his campaigns in the south to defeat the Koinon Hellenon, and in the west to defeat the Epirotes, who consistently refused offers of peace. You were present at the capture of Athens, Sparta, Epidamnos and Ambrakia, and have proven your bravery and unweilding loyalty time and time again.
At 56, not as sharp and capable as he once was and with his work almost complete, Antigonos hands over control of the army to his son, Alkyoneus, heir to the Makedonian throne and a united Greece, to live out the rest of his days governing our capital. Your father has asked great things of you, and has taught you well for the task. The horse and spear still reigns supreme in Greece and amongst the squabbling successors in the east, but in the west our phalanxes are outclassed by the legions of our ambitious neighbours. That's not to say the phalanx is obsolete, however it would require some modification to be succesful in Italy. Thureophoroi, Thorakitai and Peltastai will be the keys to defeating the Romani, should the war ever come.
For now though, the Romans are not your concern. They are weak and have more important enemies to worry about. Your immediate concerns are the cities of Thermon, Krete and Rhodes, the last people of the old Greek world who yet do not answer to the Makedonian throne. After that, you must turn your attention to the barbarian tribes of the north. They are not united and will prove an easy conquest for a king as brave and intelligent as yourself. Their warriors are impetuous and fierce, and if we can 'persuade' them to fight for the Makedonian flag, they will be a fine addition to your armies.
Finally, your fathers greatest wish, which he has every confidence you will fullfil, even though it will not be in his lifetime, is to bring home the body of our greatest king, most magnificent leader of men and conqueror of nations in history, Megas Alexandros, place it at the royal tomb of Pella where it truly belongs and remind those squabbling children of the successor states where they came from and where their loyalties should lie. You aren't going to go by sea though, you are going to go a route that would make Alexander himself proud, carve an empire in the process and bring home Alexander across the lands he himself conquered in times past. Afterall, with piracy at an all time high we can't afford to lose our greatest leader to the rebels of the sea.
Chapter 1 - Disaster
Alkyoneus prepares to lay siege to the city of Thermon. Although they have campaigned with him all across Greece and have witnessed his bravery first hand, some even being saved in battle by the man himself, the men are unsure of his command skills as he has yet to be in charge of a battle. Meanwhile, Kalos Argeades, uncle to Alkyoneus, has been tasked with overseeing the construction of a fleet large enough to safely move the army to Krete, and then Rhodes, after which point Kalos will accompany him in battle in order to gain some experience of combat before the two begin their work subduing the barbarians of the north.
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Disaster! Alkyoneus has been killed by an earthquake in his camp outside Thermon. The ambitious plans of king Antigonos now fall upon Alkyoneus's second in command, his uncle Kalos. Kalos has never seen battle and has spent his career so far governing Pella and then Athens, and now must prove himself worthy. His first task will be travelling to the fort outside Thermon, and then attacking the city itself with the army his brother, king Antigonos, left to his son, Alkyoneus. Construction on the fleet has begun, but must now be left in the hands of local administrators loyal to Makedonia. Kalos is now heir to the Makedonian throne.
Kalos is attacked by the army of Thermon before he can besiege the city. He draws his army upon a hill and waits for the enemy to come to him.
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Kalos may lack experience, but that is favourable to lacking common sense and intelligence. The enemy general sends 80% of his infantry up the hill to attack the phalanx head-on. They drop like flies upon the spears of Kalos' experienced phalanxes.
https://img138.imageshack.us/img138/...nbattledv1.jpg
The enemy send yet more infantry to attack the phalanx but they meet with the same fate as the first wave. A unit of hoplites begin to move toward our left flank and Kalos sees his first opportunity to prove his bravery. After dispatching of the remnants of a unit of medium cavalry, he charges into the rear of the hoplites that have been pinned by our barbarian mercenaries and begins to cut them down.
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With half of their forces and almost all of their infantry destroyed it becomes clear the enemy have lost the battle miserably. Kalos signals his mobile infantry to form on the left flank and advance towards the remainder of the enemy forces whilst he and his cavalry move to dispatch of a unit of Peltastai which has become detatched from the rest of the army. The enemy general sends what skirmishers he has left to attack our mobile infantry, where they are cut down effortlessly.
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With his army destroyed, the enemy general fights to the death, surrounded at the points of our spears. With such a humiliating defeat, what else could he have done? Out of 2,200 soldiers, only 200 remain. Our forces lose less than 70 men.
Left defenseless, Thermon surrenders to Kalos Argeades and there is no resistance as his forces enter the city. To show his intentions are honorable, Kalos takes no slaves and his men are given the order not to loot or pillage.
Kalos has completed the work of his brother, king Antigonos. For the first time in history, the entire Greek peninsula is united under one king and there is peace between every city. A new era of peace and prosperity in Greece lies before us. An ambitious program of building now begins. Roads and ports must be built, and solid trade routes re-astablished after the chaos of the past 11 years.
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The fleet is almost built, and it is time to convince Krete and Rhodes that they want to be a part of the Makedonian kingdom. If gold will not convince them, our spears most certainly will.
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I hope everybody enjoyed this first installmentas much as i have enjoyed making it so far. Stay tuned in the next couple of hours as Kalos Argeades sails to Krete and Rhodes with his army to convince them that they want to become satraps to the Makedonian throne.
Re: Rise of Makedonia - Another Makedonian AAR.
It's awesome! =O
Nice short paragraphes of text, with a couple of screenshots. I really like it thusfar, and if you continue like this, it will certainly be great.
It's also pretty cool too see all these AAR's on the forums ATM. You should really hang on to this, it's really great.
Re: Rise of Makedonia - Another Makedonian AAR.
Chapter 1 - Continued
A son of king Antigonos has come of age, Demetrios Argeades. He has to this point proven to be a terrible tactician and not as sharp as Antigonos could hope, but after 4 years of studying in the academy of Athens that may change. At 20 he will join his Uncle Kalos in his campaign to subdue the barbarian tribes of the north where hopefully, combined with his studies in Athens, he will grasp an understanding of tactics and prove to be a brave leader for when the time comes to begin the march to Alexandreia to bring home our greatest leader of all time. If he proves not to be up to the task of soldiering however, his huge influence as the son of king Antigonos will prove useful on the campaign.
https://img126.imageshack.us/img126/...metrioslb8.jpg
Kalos sets sail for Kydonia with his army. After a brief encounter with a fleet of rebels they arrive safely on the islans and lay siege to the city. The fleet moves to blockade the port.
https://img61.imageshack.us/img61/2443/kydoniare9.jpg
Obviously Kydonia has had some internal problems during the last 10 years, the city is defended by only a unit of hoplites, archers and some medium cavalry of the general. Kalos watches as his men batter down the gate and walls of the city.
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The enemy general decides to attack us at the gates along with his archers, but they are cut down by the spears of our mercenary hoplites. The general retrats to the town square. As our Thureophoroi march along the streets after him he turns and charges with the remainder of his bodyguard. He lies slain at the foot of our soldiers.
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The Kydonians fight on the city square to the very last man. Honorable beyond words no doubt, but where did it get them? The city is ours, they needed only to pledge their allegiance to Makedonia and home to their wives they could have gone. Kalos sends 1150 slaves back to Greece to ensure the population of Kydonia becomes loyal. Since Kydonia is an important city due to its location and valuable resources, Kalos orders the fleet to anchor in port and prepares to stay in Kydonia for a year to establish a stable administration and garrison, for outside the city there are known rebel activities.
Re: Rise of Makedonia - Another Makedonian AAR.
Chapter 1 - Continued
With a loyal administration installed in Kydonia, Kalos sails to Rhodos. It seems the Rhodians were anticipating our arrival and their pitiful army was assembled to meet us just inland of where we disembarked from the fleet. They have only levy hoplites but a good number of slingers. Still, their defiance is suicidal and victory is assured for Kalos.
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The battle is short and the Rhodians are defeated, 450 Makedonian soldiers are killed by slinger fire however and Kalos orders his cavalry to chase and cut down every Rhodian they possibly can, only a handful escape. Kalos and his army march into Rhodos unopposed. Bitter from losing so many men to slingers in the battle, including 30 of his good friends and finest bodyguard cavalry, he sends 6,000 slaves back to Greece and allows his men a short period of pillage.
Meanwhile, rebels loyal to the old regime have laid siege to Kydonia. Kalos surely cannot leave Rhodos so soon as the city would surely rebel, so the defence of Kydonia falls upon the puppet administrator Deinokratis and a unit of mercenaries Kalos hired before leaving to defend the city until loyal natives could be levied.
The rebels attacked Kydonia 600 men strong, outnumbering Deinokrats almost 4-1. However, their leader was so confident that their numbers would win the day that he brought only one ram. His army was pinned at the gates by our mercenary hoplite-phalanx and destroyed. The survivors ran and went their seperate ways.
Meanwhile in Pella, a huge military complex has finished construction. King Antigonos, now 63 years old, begins putting together an elite force of heavily armoured assault troops and royal infantry and cavalry, drawn from the finest and strongest individuals in your homeland, ready to make up the elite-arm of your forces in preperation for the coming wars with the barbarian tribes of the north.
In Athens, king Antigonos's son Demetrios is proving to be a superb administrator and more than capable governor. It has been decided that he will govern Makedonia from Pella once king Antigonos joins his ancestors in the afterlife, instead of going on the campaign with Kalos to Alexandreia.
A son of Alkyoneus, former heir to the throne, struck dead by a disasterous earthquake outside Thermon, has come of age. He will accompany his uncle Kalos on the campaign to Alexandreia, just as he would have accompanied his father Alkyoneus.
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This concludes the first of 3 chapters. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as i've enjoyed playing and writing it so far. Tune in later (or maybe tomorrow), when Kalos, his nephew Persius and his now massively experienced army with its new addition of elite assault infantry and royal cavalry will embark upon a campaign to conquer the cities of Serdike, Tylis and Byzantion, with the overall objective of making use of their fantastic light cavalry and fierce light infantry and skirmishers.
Also, i'll include more pictures, especially now that i have access to the elite/royal units of Makedonia which, i have to say, are the most beautiful looking units in the entire mod.
Re: Rise of Makedonia - Another Makedonian AAR.
Nice AAR! It gives a different feel than MarcusAurelius's, even though you're playing as the same faction. BTW: You wrote the introduction before you actually started the AAR, right? That must have sucked, writing all about Alkyoneus only for him to die of an earthquake right in the beginning... Still a great AAR though.
Re: Rise of Makedonia - Another Makedonian AAR.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaotix27
Nice AAR! It gives a different feel than MarcusAurelius's, even though you're playing as the same faction. BTW: You wrote the introduction before you actually started the AAR, right? That must have sucked, writing all about Alkyoneus only for him to die of an earthquake right in the beginning... Still a great AAR though.
Yeah, i wrote the introduction and typed it up just as Antigonos handed over the army to Alkyoneus and retired to Pella. Very next turn, earthquake. Funny really, it only killed him, not a single soldier in the army was harmed even though they were in the same fort.
However, luckily i had a general the exact same age and of the same bloodline (brother to king Antigonos) Kalos, who was ready to step in. I had thought of changing the storyline to start with Kalos but i figured i'd just leave it because i guess it adds something to the whole thing that nobody has seen here yet.
Re: Rise of Makedonia - Another Makedonian AAR.
Chapter 2 - The Barbarians
Our great king, Antigonos Argeades, has died at the age of 64, just as he had finished raising 1050 infantry and 100 royal cavalry that will make up the elite wing of your army. His brother, Kalos Argeades has deservingly inherited the throne of Makedonia and a united Greece at the age of 36, and his son Demetrios Argeades is now heir at 20. They have both travelled to Pella to pay their respects.
With Greece united and peace all over the peninsula, population and economy are booming like never before. Kalos is now in command of a huge and experienced army and is ready to conquer the northern provinces of Dardanoia, Odrysai and Chersonesos Thraikia so that we may exploit the use of their excellent light cavalry, skirmishers and fierce light infantry.
While in Pella, Kalos has tasked Demetrios with raising an army with troops from every city in Greece to show a strong sense of unity. Without this army, Greece will be defenseless when Kalos is away in Asia Minor and Egypt, and our prosperous and rich cities must look very tempting to our ambitious neighbours, the Romani.
Kalos marches north to begin his campaign.
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Re: Rise of Makedonia - Another Makedonian AAR.
Re: Rise of Makedonia - Another Makedonian AAR.
The battle of Tylis
With a suitable administration installed in Serdike and Demetrios's task of raising an army half complete, Kalos and his nephew Persius (son of Alkyoneus who died tragically in an earthquake earlier) attack the city of Tylis. Learning from his previous mistake, Kalos hires a unit of naked madmen to storm the city. More used to fighting in the ways of the barbarians and pumped up on mystical mushrooms they are better suited to bearing the brunt of the enemy soldiers, tiring them out and giving our own troops enough time to get into position, discharge their javelins and surround the enemy forces.
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Our naked mercenaries prove worthy of their reputation. Despite heavy casualties they continue to cut the enemy down one after the other as our Agriganian assault infantry and Thureophoroi hammer at their left flank.
https://img91.imageshack.us/img91/46...ftflankwe9.jpg
Eventually the enemy general is surrounded and impaled by a spear, knocking him dead to the ground. His men, partially surrounded and taking heavy casualties, lose heart and turn to run toward the city center, hoping to make a last stand. Kalos decides it is time for persius to get his sword wet and sends him in to cut them down as they run.
https://img210.imageshack.us/img210/...routersqm4.jpg
It seems Kalos' 20-year old nephew has quite the taste for blood. As he is cutting down routers he encounters resistance from a unit of half-strength heavy peltasts. He charges head first and they quickly break.
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He persues the enemy to the town square where, along with his bodyguard, he destroys the remainder of the enemy forces. Out of 1800 enemy soldiers killed, 680 are credited to Persius and his 42 bodyguards.
Tylis is taken. The population is tiny. No slaves are sent back to Greece and there is barely anything to loot. Not even a simple system of drainage exists in the city. Once shown the benefits of Makedonian civilization this region should have no problems with loyalty whatsoever.
Re: Rise of Makedonia - Another Makedonian AAR.
Very interesting AAR, Dayve. Keep up the great work
Re: Rise of Makedonia - Another Makedonian AAR.
Pergamon
In the last 3 years Kalos has taken the cities of Byzantion and Nikaia with nothing serious to report. There has been peace and harmony in Greece for over 10 years now, and the economy and population are booming like never before. We have conquered Dalmatia and added its gold mine to our collection. New buildings, ports, carriage roads, temples, great markets and sanitation have been under constant construction in every city since the peninsula was united. Aside from the army of Kalos in the east, another has been raised in Makedonia should any threats arrive whilst he is on campaign, and yet our treasury still overflows with more money than we can possibly spend. Makedonia is argurably the leading world superpower, and we have the deceased king Antigonos who united all of Greece, and his brother, king Kalos who continued his work, to thank for it.
https://img509.imageshack.us/img509/...nikaiontk1.jpg
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The garrison of Pergamon is huge and will prove the first real obstacle on the path to Alexandreia. After an almost two year siege, the garrison sally forth to attack.
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The enemy attempt to overwhelm our center held by the weakest forces, the phalanx levies. They hold their ground well, but despite the huge casualties the enemy keep on pushing forward to the center.
https://img252.imageshack.us/img252/...phalanxfs5.jpg
The levy phalanx begin to break under the weight of enemy numbers
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And so the royal shock infantry charge in to fill the gap. The enemy are tired and begin to gradually fall back from the fresh infantry.
https://img122.imageshack.us/img122/...oyalcavts3.jpg
The royal cavalry thwart an attempt at flanking our right
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And the naked madmen Kalos has come to employ as often as he possibly can fight mobile enemy infantry to prevent them getting at our left flank.
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Seeing that all is lost our royal cavalry charge the enemy rear to strike the killing blow. The army of Pergamon is broken and turns to flee behind the city walls.
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But our Thessalian heavy cavalry pursue them through the gate and mop up the pitiful few survivors at the town square.
A loyal local leader is placed as governor of Pergamon and 720 levy soldiers from the overpopulated island city of Mytilene are stationed on garrison duties there, as well as 480 for each of Byzantion and Nikaia.
Since war with Seleukia is inevitable, Kalos decides to strike the first blow and begin on his terms. The garrison of Sardis was recently destroyed fighting a large Ptolemaic army, also destroyed, and only a tiny force remains in Sardis. The magnificent city with its huge walls is taken with the loss of only a hanful of men.
The Ptolemies obviously do not approve of our recent conquests as they blabbered on about transgression for a few months and then began blockading our southern ports and Rhodos. Perhaps a deserted soldier has betrayed our ultimate plans of taking Alexandreia and stealing back our king by tipping off the Ptolemies? No matter. Seleukia is weak from 40 years of constant warfare with the Ptolemies and the young kingdoms pecking at her eastern borders.
To be continued...
Re: Rise of Makedonia - Another Makedonian AAR.
wow, a couple of those shots from the pergamon battle are wonderful!
Re: Rise of Makedonia - Another Makedonian AAR.
Side
A son of Kalos, Orestes Argeades, has matured. He excelled in the Spartan Agoge and displayed leadership potential.
https://img153.imageshack.us/img153/8746/orestesiw7.jpg
At 21 he began raising an army from our homelands of Pella and Demetrios. At 23 he marched to Asia Minor to join his father on campaign and captured Halikarnassos after an army of Ptolemaioi weakened the garrison but retreated after failing to capture the city for themselves.
Meanwhile in the east, after taking their last city in Asia Minor the Seleukids approached Kalos with an offer of ceasefire which he happily accepted. He sent a gift of 25,000 minai as tribute and assurance that the plans of Makedonia no longer involve the Seleukids.
Kalos laid siege to the city of Side in southern Asia Minor. Thousands of reinforcements arrived to assist the Ptolemaioi in their attempt to sally from the city and defeat Kalos. He retreats but is persued by the entire force and prepares his men for battle. The armies of Ptolemaioi outnumber us with around 3,200 men to our 2,500, and Kalos' plans of conquest are seriously threatened.
Kalos forms his men up with a small mountain covering his left flank.
https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/...mbyrockuo1.jpg
The enemy attack the length of our line evenly, but make the mistake of sending most of their weak levy troops head on against the experienced silver shield pikemen that have been with Kalos since the wars with the barbarians north of Greece, the very same silver shields that stormed the city center of Tylis over 10 years ago. Their levy troops are soon annihlated.
https://img140.imageshack.us/img140/...shieldson9.jpg
On the left flank our Pezhetaroi begin to crumble under the weight of Ptolemaioi medium-phalanxes.
https://img210.imageshack.us/img210/...ualtiesnu0.jpg
But before they can capitalize the enemy general falls in battle and their entire army is surrounded, pinned on the tips of our pikes and attacked from the rear by mobile infantry and cavalry.
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The Ptolemaioi army is destroyed save for a few remnants that fled the field before they were surrounded and are holed up in the city of Side hoping to make a futile last stand at the city center. The field is absolutely littered with the corpses of both Makedonian and Ptolemaioi soldiers.
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Kalos has won a heroic victory, but it came at a cost. He will now hire mercenaries to take the city of Side, where he will remain with his army until his son can bring up much needed reinforcements as soon as the people of Halikarnassos become loyal.
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The extent of the Makedonian kingdom as of 243BC:
https://img256.imageshack.us/img256/...of243bckj3.jpg
