Of Mail and Men

Of Mail and Men

(by gamegeek2)

Chapter I: A Whole New World

Sleep in the saddle. Eat nothing but what may fall to your arrow. Drink naught but man's sweat, sheep's milk, and horse blood. Such is the life of a nomad at war, as he rides over the earth, the steady beat of hoof meeting earth sending shockwaves up your spine. Such is the life of a nomad at war. Or so my father says...

I suppose I should introduce myself. Aysaninu - "Horse Lord" or something like that. Not a very feminine name, but I don't care - I was raised as a son anyways. I was my father's only child before his accident in war (I think you can guess what happened). He raised me as a son, cutting off much time for teaching me more "female" tasks. I hated weaving, etc. when I tried it anyways. So I got full upbringing as a male, with few exceptions. And, as all steppe children learn, I could ride as soon as I could walk, a geldling when I could converse, and a fine warhorse (my family is noble) when I could shoot.

Though we are nobles, we live a very similar life, the only difference being tradition-based status and the subsequent benefits, which are relatively minor. In battle, we perform archery like the "commoners" (except the elite cataphracts, which we can't even yet afford to muster) and we bear the brunt of the shock combat (but not pursuit). We tread carefully, trying not to be haughty and abusive; animals (and gods) can make fools of us all.

However, one day, the Hina-Bayai rode into camp, saying that the apples of the "Baktrian" tree were ripe for plucking. He told stories of his visit to their kingdom, adorned with gold mines and beautiful pastures for gold and horses. Drooling, I packed the tent and our belongings in a whirlwind and had the horses saddled up and packed when Father came back from the hunt (a wolf-hunt; I'm good enough with the spear yet).

As we left, the flame of my nomad spirit became a bonfire. The world was mine now, flying over the land (albeit landing with hooves) on Hetairos (my horse, also named in Yavana). My long auburn hair whipped out behind me, and we made hundreds of li* before the heavy winds began to blow. News arrived that the advance guard had captured Chach; but this news was old, the messenger said (he got caught up in the mountains by some angry natives).

Winter - Camped in northern "Sogdiane", a Yavana-controlled land. Haven't met any Yavanas yet, though. Maybe I'll see a few in battle. All the locals say (in their weird tongue, which is strangely similar) is that the Yavanas used to have a Hina-Bayai called "Iskander" who conquered the land from the Yavana homeland (apparently over 5000 li away! I didn't know the world was that big!) to here. Now that he was dead, they said, the Yavanas split up into rival kingdoms and fought each other for power. They also told of the great "Seleukioi" (great, more Yavanas), who took the largest portion of the empire, along with the "Pahlava", "Indioi", "Ptolemaioi", "Hayasadan", and "Pontikoi". I kner that the Pahlava fought us in the past for lands around the Dahyu of the Alanna and Massakata, but we are no longer so big. That was before I came into the world, anyways. I had never heard of the others before. Also, I wonder if "Iskander" is "Alexandros" in Yavana? They sound quite similar, y'know.

Spring brings the siege of Marakanda. News arrived that we had captured Alexandreia-Eschate, another Baktrian settlement. Soon, however, before our engineers arrived, the Baktrians brought a large army and attacked. Too bad I couldn't fight (stupid melee training and 150-pound bows) but I could watch, as long as I didn't get myself killed (or too close to it).

The Yavana troops were a mix of natives and Yavanas. They looked funny...

https://img251.imageshack.us/img251/...advancedg9.png

...especially their heavy horse...

https://img251.imageshack.us/img251/...yguard1jb8.png

... but no horse archers! They're either really good or on some of that Chinese "opium" that I've heard about.

https://img143.imageshack.us/img143/615/clashfp8.png

The latter proved to be correct: my dad + friends (he's the guy in the center above) absolutely demolished their general. They didn't seem to know how to fight us; we just poked them until they were bruised all over and gave them the 1-2. Sure, they did a number on some nobles, but there were alot of the bastards, and we don't have infinite arrows. So we figured, "Why sacrifice the "commoners" for no gain?" Damn large Baktrian army. Here are some sketches, colored in with Chinese pastels and watercolors:


https://img143.imageshack.us/img143/6772/behinddk7.png
https://img143.imageshack.us/img143/...nxroutsnj0.png

With the local Sahiya dead in the battle (along with most of his troops), Marakanda was severely weakened. The engineers finally finished the ram (it was really overdone) and we captured the city without a real fight; we shot down their archers and walked in, and they all just ran back to their homes. Sogdiana was ours.

* Han distance measurement. 3 li ~ 1 mile

(DISCLAIMER: Apologies for anything that might offend you. I am not a female myself, just that all the other AARs are from male perspectives; I wanted to do something different.)

Good start, I particularly liked "we just poked them until they were bruised all over," sounds like a sound military tactic.

So you Saka Rauka? What difficulty? Can't wait to see another Saka Rauka empire.

Man how will the Yuezhi be, can't wait.

Give us some campaign screens too.

Niceh.Looking forward to new chapters.

some really nice screenshots, especially that overhead shot of the cavalry melee...not sure i've seen a shot like that before.

Chapter II: Bak Problems (Call a chiropractor :help: )

We barely had time to settle in before the Hina-Bayai ordered us out of Marakanda. "We are not out of arrows yet. As long as we have horses to ride and land to ride them on, why stop? The lighthouse of Baktra points us to the dock of success." What's a lighthouse, anyways?

Well, we pulled up to port, but fled at reports of a huge Yavana army approaching. One of them wasn't tired from marching yet...

https://img257.imageshack.us/img257/...nter271tw3.png

Only 16 bodyguards of the foe's made it out alive that day. Not a single other survived. It usually snows around here during winter, often enough that the ground is almost always covered with the stuff throughout the cold season. There were many bare patches on the ground that day; the snow was overdue. Instead, it snowed arrows that day. Funny, though; they didn't hit us. And I turned 14, too. Still can't pull that damn bowstring to my cheek.

Spring 270 - Stupid engineers haven't arrived yet. Oh well, maybe the Yavanas aren't fighting each other after all. Hey, wait! Are those Yavanas coming outta the settlement? Better get my sketch tools...

(My dad is right to the king's left)

https://img232.imageshack.us/img232/...albizesvk6.png

"Warriors of the Saka. Friends. Soldiers. Whatever you want to be called; I believe you know you have been called and why, right?"

"YEAAAAAAAAAA" and "Of course we do" echoed across the plains.

"We come for what we deserve. Not revenge against our old foes, the Dzin who tore down our old empire. We come with hammer and nail, not bow and spear. We come to build anew what lies destroyed countless li to the east. We come for a new beginning!"

(the army starts a "HOO HOO" chant)

"But the Yavanas rudely forced on us the extra baggage of bow and spear!"

(chant grows faster and louder)

"Let's make sure we didn't carry all that extra baggage in vain, then!" And he pointed his sword at the foe.

https://img507.imageshack.us/img507/6079/arroweq5.png[/URL]

(I had to put that shot up there somewhere).

https://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1594/impacttn5.png
https://img520.imageshack.us/img520/7089/pshot1oc2.png

Today, we lost many a man, and killed 5 for each of our losses. Nobody exemplified this more than the guard of one of our generals, who captured the city, defeated 2 full phalanxes in conjunction with some nobles, and defeated the enemy's bodyguards' remains, losing only 15 men through these tasks.

The Baktrian "Empire" is now gone, replaced with the blueprints and foundation of a new Saka Empire. The time of carefree ignorance and indiferrence on the open steppe is over. The nomad bonfire has been extinguished inside me; the imperial one just got a firestarter. And a hell of a lot o' wood.

Ahliea what difficulty is that?

And that was the problem I tried to avoid. I figure if I just kept on conquering I'll loose lots of money every turn and be unable to recruit or hire mercenaries or retrain, so by the time I reach Parthia or the Seleucids, there would be so little troops left that they will wipe me out.
So I disbanded and built up.

But I see you doing pretty good. Hope you can aviod being wiped out.

And again what difficulty?

Good another comedy AAR .


On thing though . How do you get those close up shots ?

Actually, my brother killed my old Saka Campaign, which I intended to do an AAR on. That certainly failed, so I started this one when my comp came back from repairs.

Playing on VH/M. It's not so bad once you take Baktra; you have a profit even if you keep your guys. I'll probably disband, since it's a long march to Sulek, which I should probably allow to build a few more buildings anyways. Keep a couple guys for marauding Pahlava, who often attack Chach and Marakanda.

EDIT: Baktra on low order (can't disband or it'll riot) and I didn't exterminate since I wanted a city once I was out of debt.

I hope you don't meet any half stacks of dahae nobles and cataphracts

Worst I ever met (in my last Saka Campaign) is like 2 Parthian generals, some dahae, and some Azad Asavaran. I just skirmished and ran.

Chapter III: Yavana: Friend or Foe? (Maybe Both...)

- Winter of 270 - (Somehow there's not much snow...)

Baktra truly is the "golden lighthouse" that was promised. But the Yavanas, despite their obvious technological advances, were strange, especially their treatment of less wealthy folk. The miners at least got paid in portion of what they extracted from the earth. A slightly more level society was established, where nobles were not so far above the people as they were before. While we tried keeping the town as a sort of vassal, reforms were clearly needed. The "Baktrioi" didn't mind our new reforms too much, except that the natives were their equals now (socially, too), and so were we. They said it reminded them of their "poleis" back in "Hellas" (sounds like "hell." I hope they're different...)

The guys here are kinda rude. Sexist at least, comparatively, women are (usually) equals in our society, despite them rarely being as good warriors as the men; their abilities are equally as important to our society, and we recognize this. Many of them were "klerouchikoi" from Hellas and brought old-style armour with them, with six-packs specially molded in the stuff. At least it's nice bronze protection; they use it for war also. The guys parade around in the streets once they're done with their daily work on the farm or in the shop, and fight like "hoplitai" with each other. Some of them come in on horses, with similar spears.

One day, they came around to our area and started drooling at me. Geez, haven't they ever seen long, red(-dish) hair before? Well, I figured I'd better write down what they said for my Yavana language studies.
"
"Ezetάste τe mαkriά kόkkine trίcha tes!"

"Apό Zeus, tes prοkletikeis!"

"Pairno ten prote dokimei!"

"Hochi, e pόrne mου!"

And they started fighting. I figured I'd better talk to them in the little Yavana I knew...

"Tύpoi, edo!"

They didn't listen. I had to just rip off from other Yavanas now.

"Εlate edo ean thelete na erthete se sexoualike epaphe me me" I said in a 'sweet' voice, not knowing what it meant, but knowing it always got men's attention.

It worked. Now the plan was in place...

They came over here with shouts of "Tha me pantrepsete?" 'Pantrepsete' meant '[you] marry.' Geez, I'm only 14. When do these people marry anyways?

"Εan me thelete, prepei na me nikesete!" Atalanta's challenge. 'If you want me, you must defeat me.' "Eton agona, enas se enan chrono," I said, to specify that they must beat me in combat, one at a time.

"Tes akribos ena kοritsi!" they said, and they wrestled to see who went first. Meanwhile, I grabbed my armour, bow (Finally, I can pull it! Those Yavana gymnasia helped alot...), and (blunted) xiston (didn't want to kill these guys and I can't use a kontos yet; they're too heavy...). I also fitted a scale covering ("kataphraktos" style) over his body and chest, and his head got some metal protection. My armour was specially made oversized, so I could grow into it, and for a female; my helmet was of an evolved "Boiotian" style.

It was an amusing scene when I returned to the agora/plaza complex to battle. The guys were all naked, dressing in their armour, and immediately dropped what they had. Some laughed at my armour, which was probably unfamiliar to them; it had scale and (literally) breastplate, along with lamellar armguards, etc. Others wolf-whistled or fainted. One of them, who was clearly first, said (I brought my Yavana translator this time) "Whatever. I can fight just as well mounted." The loser mounted some 'Makedonian' horse and grabbed a blunted spear intended for practice. He pulled his helmet ('Korinthios' style) down. It was rather outrageous, with a plume running from top to the bottom of the back. I laughed at him, and pulled out my bow.

It was like those love chases that you hear of in stories, except the girl is shooting arrows at the guy. He was dumbfounded, shouting "No Fair!" as arrows bounced off his shield. Finally, one found its mark, landing on the knee, and he fell off of his horse. Sucker.

The rest of the guys suffered a similar fate, and the street was soon strayed with KO'd teenage boys. Seriously. Then, someone emerged from his house, and said "Fine, I'll fight you, Asysaninu." How'd he know my name?

He stood on foot, with spear and - bow? Very un-Yavana. Just like mine, too. He winked at me, and hit me on the arm with an arrow. I was tired and jumped down, saying: "Whatever. But just a date."

It turned out the guy wasn't one of those opium-smokers lying KO'd or in the Asklepion. He called himself 'Andronikos' and he was rather nice, and conversed with me on the difference between our two cultures. We had to use lots of hand gestures to properly communicate, but this fostered our knowledge of each others' tongues. He said that the 'Hellenic' (Yavana) culture often downplayed women as inferior to men, and that, after he met nomads like us (before we conquered Baktria, too!) that he didn't understand why the couldn't be social equals. We discussed war, military tactics, history, etc. and even played a game where different-colored rocks represented different types of soldiers. He apologized for the wound as well, but he said that he wanted to meet me.

I had come that night armed and unsure. I left with a new friend.

Chapter IV: (BTW, I'd like some resps, :))

- Winter 267 -

My father writes:

Asysani,

"Have new lands now. Hope to see you soon. Place called "Margiana." We had spy, he make people angry. People beat up satrap, we beat up people and take place. We kill thousand men. Stupid Persian bow-spear people."

Praise be to (not sure who) that those damn Gray people didn't declare war - yet...more news.

Oh yeah, I'm 17. Got a better bow, too; one of those that we hunt men with in battle and forest animals in the forest. And the kontos; it's as tall as a tree when you stand right next to it. Hopefully I can join the Aysiramj soon...

- Fall 266 -

https://img134.imageshack.us/img134/...nthakr3.th.png

As I gazed upon it with my eyes, I was in wonder. How could a settlement grow big enough to allow such a thing for a government and council?

"Eh, it's not too big," said Andronikos. "Athenai has something about 5 times the size of that." I was in shock; where did these Yavanas come from? Obviously they had great wealth, and huge populations in large cities, far larger than our puny 'kantha'. Andro said we could make it into a nice polis. I hope...

I ride north to train for battle with father and campaign with the king. But I got sick before the fight, so I couldn't participate...It was too bad, for it was a spectacle, despite the small size of the armies. I couldn't not draw it, though; I moved my tent to nearby the scene and saw...

https://img138.imageshack.us/img138/...oot1fk7.th.png

Those beasts were rarin' to go that day. Steam bellowed from their nostrils as the men strung their bows. It was seriously scary; I was afraid that at any moment, they would charge someone random over and kill them. Poor enemies; the horses took out their extra energy on them. I swear, I will ride one of those beasts into battle one day. And when I do...

https://img530.imageshack.us/img530/...suitmb3.th.png

... that will happen to someone...

She's going on the battlefield? I thought there's no woman unit for Saka

EDIT: Historically, Iranian nomads' women were often as good as their men at battle, albeit not as practiced (kinda like the women of Sparta). Who do you think guarded the Scythian homelands while the Scythian men tore up the Near and Middle East, ravaging Assyria and Babylonia and extracting huge tributes from Egypt to turn them back? Who spawned the legend of the Amazons? Well, it was the Iranian nomad women, famous for their unnatural skills as warriors compared to more "civilized" peoples. Asysani was simply raised as a son (her father didn't have any before his accident in battle) and has taken this to the extreme. Remember, this is historical fiction.

EDIT 2: Progress update: About 258 BC. Have wiped out Pahlava and Baktria. Trying to build an economy and expand into India; Gandhara is simply the most awesome region in the game for about anyone, especially the Saka (Indian Longbows + Guild warriors,Indo Heavy Cavalry, Hellenic Guard + Cavalry,more. Only Scourcouw really competes for awesomeness).

I Have Kophen, Chighu, Gava-Maszakata, Chach, Marakanda, Baktra, Khiva, Nisa, Alexandreia-Eschate, Antiocheia-Margiane. Aiming for Takshasila, Sulek (which'll feature something funny).

Nice! A lot faster than me, maybe I should restart the campaign and try blitzing instead of disbanding...On second thought no, don't want to be annoyed to hell by the grey and yellow again.

And I know all that. But your character is a woman. She has two large breasts and no beard. Don't remember seeing a unit like that in my Saka battles.

I look forward to how you're going to show us a screenshot of her up close ^^

Chapter V: When Scale meets Spear: The Conquest of the Indo-Hellenes

260 BC - Paropamisadai

For many weeks I have rode below these mountains, along with our conglomerate of Parsigan, Saka, Daha, and Subeshi. The hoof-beat of our steeds barely make tracks in the hard mud anymore, so little their opportunity to eat has been. I thought that these mountains might have some food; perhaps they all died from some sort of Hellene disease. All I know is, we have a city ahead of us, and we must follow the path beaten out by scouts' hooves.

...several weeks later...

At last, we have forded and reached the great river. And the city lies in front of us; our spy tells that their forces are superior in number, but weaker in valor and skill. Pah! Let them come at us. We can wait until they starve, and when they come forth they will be weaker and not many of us will die. If they attack sooner, the sooner the city gets a new ruler. How can we lose?

The answer is, we couldn't. And didn't either:

https://img91.imageshack.us/img91/558/uhohql0.png

https://img146.imageshack.us/img146/3773/caughteq8.png

(green arrows are intentional in the latter. forget whose archers those are...)

Our years of training had finally begun to show. We crashed into the enemy horsemen, routing them while our archers shot their 'phalangitai' from all sides. To hold the pikemen in place, our archers set up an anvil while we hammered from behind.

https://img257.imageshack.us/img257/4231/meus0.png

Such a tactic was employed against another pike phalanx, but those pikemen did not flee instantly; their commander was in that very unit. The brave footmen turned to face us, determined Hellenic looks in their faces as they thrusted their weapons at our mounts. Though we were among them with our kontoi, they still managed to kill many men. We broke of and re-mounted the charge, losing a few but killing 20 or so and losing 5 more before killing the general and causing the phalanx to run.

Our other horsemen effectively dealt with their share of enemies:

https://img180.imageshack.us/img180/...ngspearrk6.png

Their standards torn by arrows, they decided that their lives were better than their honor. Not that it mattered; they died anyways...

We decided that they deserved to live. There was to be no huge slaughter like in Pahlava, the home of those determined purple bastards. Here, at least, good men (and women) lived and deserved to continue that way.

255 - Plains of Gandhara

I actually miss Kophen. It was so nice there; everyone, Sindi, Hellene, Daha, Parsig, and Saka got along and profited together. Andronikos himself took himself, his merchant business, and our two children there as soon as a 'royal eye'/client ruler was established there. Hopefully little Alexandros and Artemis (or 'Hita' as her friends call her; it's her Parsig nickname, apparently after a goddess who mirrors the Hellene 'moon-maiden') have taken to riding as well as a proper Hellene education (Hita just learns from Alexandros, since the Hellene schoolmaster won't let her go there).

My late father, who died at the same time as his charge, the Hina-Bayai, was right about war after all. There was no water in sight, and our only meat was what we shot and the occasional dead horse. For days we trudged on through the desert, and our horses once again failed to make tracks in the dirt. This land was supposed to be full of rivers; where was the water? The great farmland? The mines of sacred metal?

Then, on the Horizon, a river! We ran towards it, ignoring our exhausted and sweating bodies, crying out for rest; we were blind to the great walls far closer to us. Only when the water was blocked off by Hindi guards did we have to retreat and make camp. We fell asleep as dusk was setting, our exhaustion was so great.

Thankfully, it rained that night - we woke to the feel on our faces, as we fell asleep on the ground - and by moonlight we celebrated, bringing out our dusty cups and setting them in the ground while we prayed to the gods. Fully rested, we celebrated, in the most rowdy and loud ways we could - I swear the enemy king woke up and could not sleep. The same may have been true for many a man in the great city, Taxila. Our spy took the opportunity to inform us that the enemy host was twice our size, and featured bows as tall as a man, beasts as tall as a tower (and five times as deadly to boot!), and swords so great they were wielded in two hands. He also handed us the king's plan - to attack after breakfast.

As the sun rose, we adorned our bodies with oil and exercised in the nude to warm ourselves up for the inevitable clash that would occur that day. Our fortune was not infinite - our commander was suffering from voice-loss and I had to give all verbal commands, translated from hand signals. But I had to give the rallying speech on my own. When their great gates slowly began to open, the commander nodded. I rode forward, and turned around, not knowing what to say. Then I noticed that the rain was fading to a drizzle. Hmm...

https://img518.imageshack.us/img518/...herightpl8.png
(I ended up fighting mainly with my lance, though)

"As all of you notice, it is raining. Well, for us, it's raining water, and we savor every drop of it, and fully deserve it after ours and our horses' legs' toil in the desert. Do you not agree?" Strangely, the men cheered at my pathetic improvisation; perhaps...

https://img183.imageshack.us/img183/8817/guestdg4.png

"But what will it rain for our foes, the Hindus who cower behind those walls until their master's prod comes along to drive those asses into battle? The enemy, who enjoy every luxury from the Dzin to Hellas? What will rain on our foe today? I have consulted the weather-man and the astrologer, but neither can foresee what will rain on them. But I am sure a warrior can..." I yielded to a chant of "Arrows, Arrows!" and caught my breath.

"It seems they have 100 horsemen behind those facades. Well, I suppose that means we out number them by our number to 100. My friend here, our spy [name withheld for obvious reasons], says that their warriors are townsfolk who are given arms (and maybe armor) and told to pray to Siva before heading to battle!" Our spy nodded in agreement.

"Exactly. So that leaves only the 100 horses, and they have 100 warriors. Hmm..." I said in mock thought. Everyone chuckled.

"I suppose we don't need a lesson on how to herd sheep. What I will tell you is that, despite their obvious inferiority, they will cower behind shields. Even their 2-handed swordsmen have shields strapped to their arms. So treat your arrows like the water you bring on campaign; don't waste them when it won't help at all. Like your water, the arrows will be depleted; but do not despair. We made it to this city when we were parched of the liquid; we will win this battle, even if we run out of missiles. Trust the bow and the spear, and they will guide you to our inevitable victory!"

At that point, men erupted from the stone facade and spilled onto the field like a stream into an empty basin; spreading quickly and wherever possible.

https://img179.imageshack.us/img179/9554/host1jq4.png

Then their captains ordered them into good columns, but some impetuous fools charged at us and were quickly dispatched (like the above peltastai). After their example, their archers marched forward to provide covering fire, but we didn't by it; the Parsigan marched and gave them arrow for arrow, while we massacred their spearmen. An entire unit disappeared under our fire; many others suffered the same fate.

https://img518.imageshack.us/img518/4974/500deadgd3.png

500 dead in less than half that time in seconds. Such things remind one of the cruelty of war. The drizzle clinked off of the Aysiramja's (my unit's) and Hoplitai's scaled, and steam rose from our mouths. The enemy (by now a simple horde due to the confusion) smashed into the infantry's scale and spears, but the line held fast in its shieldwall. Their levies were simply stalling and weakening our line. At this they did well; our men suffered minimal casualties but were exhausted of their energy quickly as the levies' superior numbers allowed them to slowly flank the shieldwall. However, the enemy swordsmen moved in early, so my unit was able to ride around to their flanks (rear for some of them) and charge...

https://img246.imageshack.us/img246/...gflank1bi8.png

...and again...

https://img91.imageshack.us/img91/558/uhohql0.png
And again... you get the idea. Some of the spearmen broke, and were shot down. But those swordsmen refused to yield; were they true warriors, or had they had one too many? ~:)

Then the terrible beasts came. The tower-tall ones the spy had described. Their skin was like three layers of leather, and they had horns where a moustache normally goes and a snake for a nose. Upon them rode archers in "towers" of sorts. Slings, we decided, would be best against these beasts; at least the beasts would feel them, and some bones might be broken...

And they did. When our stones met the beasts, they let forth shrill blasts out of their snake-noses. They scared away our hoplitai and caused them to rout (I didn't blame them) and caught us charging some swordsmen. We stabbed them in the belly and legs, killing or KO'ing several, but we had to withdraw; 10 were left, and two more were killed by arrows. I was one of the lucky ones...

...then...

https://img246.imageshack.us/img246/4979/finallyfs0.png95
(sorry, I shot a teeny bit late)

Their king fell from his beast, struck by a stone, and his 'elephantas' fell with him, crushing him to death. For a moment there, I felt remorse. Then, I yelled at the others: "Look, you fools, he's dead! Their leader is dead!" Not only that, the beasts were running through their own ranks, trampling and killing those who were unfortunate enough to meet the soles of the elephantes' feet. We added to the chaos with slings, and only one elephantas was left, and it was a full li away by that time.

Many of the routing men recovered in the streets and launched a brave, but feeble assault and were beaten back with almost no survivors. They simply painted their walls' arrow-torn standards white. A good idea.

This AAr is getting nicer and nicer... you're a good storyteller, gamegeek.

Hey thanks. I'd like some more comments to improve...taking a bit of a break...

i like this! suggestion: get rid of banners and arrow markers.....

yeah, i intend to...

Sorry, my computer's screwed and the hard drive has to be wiped. :fortune:

WHAT???!!!
haha... funny joke.....

Early April fools I am sure :) Whatever game geek you better get to it.

Over or not i'd jus like to say this has been a crackin' aar and has inspired me to start my own Saka game. And by the way how awesome are horse archers :laugh4:

I just found this AAR today. I'm sad it is dead. I liked it. There was some humor in it, but it also shows the amazement a steppe barbarian (and a female one too kudos for that) would have if they see all these wonders like big cities and elephants and strange people with stranger cultures (at least from her point of view). I would follow a retry of this idea. Maybe put some small historical facts right like opium, which might well have existed at the time, but certainly wouldn't have come from China, since it was the brits in the 19th century who got the chinese addicted, actually it is more likely that it would be used in pakistan/afghanistan/north India region in which you were before this AAR sadly died.

Yeah, had to reinstall everything on my computer; some stupid virus bogged by computer down so slow that everything had to go. It's terrible, and I really hope I can reconstruct it and do it again. At any rate, once 1.1 is downloaded I'll have another crack at a Saka empire and pick up from there (I might have to use force diplomacy and reconstruct some buildings, oh crap...)

As for you saka players, I have some advice:

Mandate: Skill with horse archers and cataphracts, and ability to exploit their abilities. Think of it this way:

Foot Archers/Mercenary Persians: Cheap defense and ram-bearers.
Horse Archers: Used to shoot at levies or occupied enemies (aka engaged or going somewhere on the battlefield)
Early Nobles: Horse Archers able to take a hit and act as a light version of the Cataphracts
Cataphracts: Kick the enemy when he's down from the horse archers. Remeber, if they don't need to charge, don't make them.
Early Generals: Horse Archers (slow as Cataphracts) AND Cataphracts

Rule I: DO NOT LOOK WEST. To the west is a halfstack of guys, 3 or so early nobles. It all looks tempting, but if you do this, Parthia will eat all of them as you struggle with the junk you have.

Rule II: BAKTRIA FOR BREAKFAST. They are your first target. Pick up Chach along the way: just make sure you eat their whole faction by turn four. Hint.

Yea I hope you continue this AAR as well! The concept is really good.