The Book of Kings - EB 1.2 Baktrian story

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This an Baktrian AAR, played on EB 1.2 with official fixes applied, but without any other sub-mods.
Difficulty: Hard campaign, Medium battles

Unlike my previous attempts, this will be almost exclusively text-based AAR, with occasional pictures merely help you relax your eyes from reading. I also aim to write it as if it was in fact a translation of an ancient text, so do not expect too much humour here. I also hope, that unlike my previous ones, this AAR will endure until the campaign is finished satisfactorily. But as I have a job and family to care about, do not expect updates much often - my idea is something like once a week, but I am determined not to let just die.

Hope you will enjoy!

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This is the Book of Kings, written by me, Oxobazes son of Ariarathes of Baktria, so that to record the things to which I personally bear witness or heard of from reliable sources, so that they shall not fail into oblivion.

For the history of our ancestors is part of the eternal struggle between Truth and Lie, which is taking place through human agency within the heart of each individual man, I have written this book.

For the great deeds of the past be remembered to inspire us to follow suit and inspire future generations to surpass them in glory I have written this book.

For the shameful deeds of the past to be remembered to deter us from acting in disgraceful manner I have written this book.

To warn the proud by showing many cases where the slippery fortune had raised men to glorious heights and thrown them down in the next moment so they lost what they had had before I have written this book.

To encourage the despairing by showing them that even the gravest misfortune will come to end eventually and sometimes could prove to be actual blessing by mobilizing their best efforts and thus enabling them to prevail with much glory against overwhelming odds I have written this book.

And to demonstrate that the only ambition which is worth any effort is to be remembered as one who lived and died in Truth I have written this book. Alas! after all any mundane human endeavour is in vain: great empires are doomed to fall and riches to be wasted in the same manner as individual life - regardless whether good or evil, fortunate or miserable - will result in death eventually.

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Theodotos was appointed as Satrap of Baktria amidst the great turmoil that followed the death of Alexandros when his former generals were waging war on each other for supremacy. He found his province to be blessed by nature, being of fertile soil and rich in precious metals and inhabited of numerous people accustomed to enjoy considerable wealth and unsurpassed prestige among the other nations within the former empire of Median Shananshahs and beyond. Yet the present state of the country fell short of its potential due to recent wars, tension between native Baktrians and Hellenes who came with the army of Alexandros and afterwards, restive landlords never hesitating to attack their neighbours whenever deemed advantageous, and countless brigands ravaging the country from their mountain strongholds.

He was convinced that to enjoy fully the amenities his ruling position offered to him his realm had to be brought to peace, rule of law and recognition of his authority first. Being vigorous in spirit as well as in body and ambitious by nature, he gathered troops stationed in Baktra and set out on campaign to punish all offenders and settle things in cities and countryside according to his will. Within a few years Baktria was pacified to the great benefit of both the people and the ruler.

However its prosperity attracted many warlords from neighbouring provinces, which were in much worse state, to prey on its riches. Thus to maintain peace at home Theodotos was obliged to wage war abroad to deal with this menace. And glad he was to do so, as it provided him with the opportunity to spread his authority beyond the boundaries of the province commended to him by the Great King Antiochos and to draw upon the resources of newly gained territories. In this way he annexed Paropamisadai to his realm and appointed a general of his in Kophen to oversee this province.

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Local levies instructed in Bactrian garrison yard in Kophen

In enforcing his rule throughout his lands Thodotos on several occasions crossed the boundaries of neighbouring satrapies of Aria, Drangiana and Arachosia, boundaries that were precisely defined in law but hardly recognizable in practice. The respective satraps considered this as an encroachment on their prerogatives, in spite of the fact that they had hardly any control over their nominal subjects in those borderline lands. But they were jealous of the might and wealth of Theodotos and desired to bring him down and take Baktria by themselves. Therefore their protested in front of the Great King and demanded that Theodotos be called off and punished accordingly. They also denigrated him, saying that Theodotos wants to throw down Antiochos and himself be the Great King (which was not true) and for that purpose he builds-up a strong army (which was partly true) and does not pay his tribute to the Great King in full but takes its bigger share for himself (which was true, as Theodotos indeed preferred that the income from taxes gathered in Baktria be spent there to embellish and strengthen the country rather than be sent to Syria to finance the court of the Great King).

Antiochos - hard pressed on all sides by the Ptolemy in Syria, Mithradates in Asia Minor and recent invasion of Pahlavans into Astauene, Parthia and deeper - was at first reluctant act upon these allegations, because it would surely make Theodotos a new enemy of his. On the other hand the Great King thought it more prudent to prevent any other power from arising at all, be it friendly or not, rather than to allow it to grow too strong to be stopped later, should it turn hostile to him. Therefore he finally called Theodotos to Seleukeia for trial and when he refused to come thither, Antiochos gave his assent to the three eastern satraps to make war on Baktria and depose Theodotos by the force of arms.

Confident that mere show of force and the authority of the Great King will immediately bring forward the downfall of Theodotos, armies of the three satraps invaded Baktria and marched on Baktra, pillaging the country in their path. However, the Baktrian army remained loyal to Theodotos, who paid them regularly and quite well, whereas the people were grateful to him as Theodotos ruled justly and re-established law and order throughout the country. Thus Theodotos was safe in his refusal to submit and marched forward against the invaders and crushed them in the field. Recognizing that he is now in open war with the Great King he did not remain in defensive, but pressed forward to secure his land by annexing the neighbouring satrapies meeting little resistance on his path.

At the time when Baktrian armies were campaigning in Aria, besieging Alexandria-Ariana, the Great King Antiochos died in Babylon, on the same day as Alexandros did 63 years earlier. He was succeeded by his son Theodoros Syriakos, but many refused to recognize him, claiming his illegitimate birth. I do not think that there was any truth in these rumours, but I am convinced that they were spread on purpose by those who desired to grab the Kingdom, or at least a part of it for themselves. The whole Arche Seleukeia thus fell into even deeper turmoil than before and its neighbours did not hesitate to avail themselves of the opportunity thus presented to them by internal strife and grabbed even more of the formerly Seleukid lands.

Theodotos too used the pretext of illegitimacy of Theodoros Syriakos to certify his factual independence and ten days after following winter solstice (translators note: i.e. January 1, 259 BC) he was crowned as Basileus Baktrios and established the anniversary of this event as a national festival Eleutheria (Independence) and the beginning of Baktrian calendar.

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People gathering in Baktra to celebrate the festival of Eleutheria (Independence)

In three consecutive campaigns in the course of the first three years of Eleutheria Baktrian armies led by Diodotos, son of Basileus Theodotos and his heir, conquered the whole Aria, Drangiana and Arachosia and incorporated them into Basileia Baktria. Afterwards Theodoros Syriakos recognized that the loss is beyond his current capacity to regain and that continuing war could only cause him to lose even more of the territories which still acknowledged his suzerainty. Theodotos on the other hand was quite satisfied with his conquest and prudent enough to be afraid of overstretching himself. Therefore both kings entered into negotiations that ratified the status quo. Theodoros Syriakos formally recognized Basileus Thodotos as lord over Baktria, Paropamisadai, Aria, Drangiana and Arachosia, collectively known as Basileia Baktria. From now on Basileia Baktria should be considered of equal terms with Arche Seleukeia, free of tribute and without any further obligations, namely with no alliance, be it offensive or defensive, existing between the two Kingdoms. Theodotos, for his part, formally recognized Theodoros Syriakos as legitimate ruler over his current territories and pledged to refrain from any further incursions beyond the mutually agreed border.

Basileus Theodotos than ruled for twelve more years devoted to consolidation and development of his realm. He reformed the military, so that it was composed entirely of full-time soldiers equipped and paid by Royal Treasury. This was particularly welcomed by the people, who were thus relived of the burden of levies and allow them to devote themselves fully to their various crafts, be it agriculture, artisanship or trade. Theodotos also paid a great devotion to gods, embellishing old temples and erecting new, devoting those particularly to the old Baktrian deities of Ahura Mazda, and Anahita. Despite being Hellen himself, he also promoted laws that stipulated equality between all his subjects, regardless of their nationality, because he much desired that Macedonians, Ionians, Persians, and numerous tribes of the steppes and the mountains will live in accord among themselves forming a new nation of Baktrians. Basileia Baktria became very rich during his reign, as Basileus supported by various stimuli mining of gold and other precious metals and gemstones throughout the country and because merchants were now able to travel across the kingdom without fear of bandits.

In the last days of his life Theodotos often advised his son and heir Diodotos to be ware of the Seleukid King and his satraps, to be on friendly terms with the Sakae in the north and the Pahlavans to the west and above all to pay more attention to development of the lands he already has rather than to acquiring of the new. Theodotos died on the first day of harvest in the year twelwe of Eleutheria (translators note: i.e. mid-August 248 BC) in Baktra at the age of sixty-three. Thus ended the reign of the first Basileus Baktrios Theodotos of which Oxobazes was the historian.

Very good! Glad to see U back on the AAR-track...good luck and thanks in advance!

Very promising. The chronical style is actually not that hard to read and a good idea btw. However, it might be useful for a better geographical understanding if you included some sort of map at the end of each chapter, as certainly not everybody is equally familiar with the names of the provinces.
I hope you will be able to keep this up, as baktrian AARs have a tendency to die young iirc. Good luck.

Yes its good to see a bactrian AAR there arent to many of them. cant wait to see a new installment.

An excellent read, Marvin. I'll sure be following this:yes:

Maion

Very nice start! Keep it going :yes:

Very good read. I agree with I of the Storm though. Some maps would be nice to keep track of your expansion.

Great Idea with the "Historian Viewpoint". It's also nice to see a baktria AAR:yes:

Good luck to your conquests.

A map would really be useful.

I like it, good luck with the rest. :beam:

:smash::smash::smash::smash::smash:

I like it!

Best of luck!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gamegeek2

:smash::smash::smash::smash::smash:

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And what is this supposed to mean?:inquisitive:

Maion

People do that all the time in AARs.

Well, I believe I have to disagree with you. Besides, I still don't know what it stands for:dizzy2:

Maion

Fine, certain people do it all the time. :laugh4:

Thank you all, friends, for your warm reception of my story. It is a great encouragement and motivation for me and I hope I will not disappoint you in the following chapter. I would also like to ask you for your understanding and tolerance with my writing style and grammar, because English is not my first language and occasional verb confusions might demand a lot of empathy on your side to understand what I have meant. :embarassed:
And also note, please, that the bottom of this post contains a nice map, finally :yes:
Well, here it goes, hope you will enjoy!

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Diodotos inherited from his father a large and prosperous realm, in peace with all its neighbours and with secure natural borders. In the north and east there were impassable mountains, in the south and the south-west the vast salt desert. The only open border was that with Margiana, which was guarded by watchtowers and forts and secured by the Royal Army encamped near Bactra. With comparatively little money to be spent on the army, the income of the Royal Treasury was large enough to support extensive construction and mining projects without the need to tax people very high. Diodotos who presided over the establishment and aggrandizement of the kingdom as the leading general of his father’s army now enjoyed the fruits of his previous labours and presided over the realm from his Royal Palace in Baktra without submitting to idleness. On contrary, he was very eager to preside over courts and his verdicts were just, he was keen to discuss new projects with architects and his visions were grand, he often conducted long dialogues with philosophers and his judgement was penetrating. Thus Basileia Baktria seemed to reach that blessed state so desired by all people, where the country blossoms in peace under just rule.

But as it is often the case with great men, Diodotos too, having everything one can reasonably wish for, did not recognize the limit beyond which everything newly gained would have to be paid dearly. And as it is often the case with great men, he too, despite knowing better on his own, fell prey to wrong advice received from those who persuade more by pertinacity than by veracity.

The Fate so wanted that the elder son and heir-apparent of Diodotos, Prince Agathocles, was, unlike his father, more of a general than of a governor. In his youth, he was given lesser commands inspecting border areas, setting up garrisons and dealing with occasional rebellions. Thus he acquired, or thought he acquired, a considerable knowledge in military matters and his restless spirit wanted to distinguish himself in a big campaign of conquest to emulate and possibly overcome his father. While all people were enjoying peace and security, Agathokles alone despised this state, thinking that peace is depraving him of the opportunity to prove himself in war.

As Diodotos succeeded his father, Theodotos Eleutherodotes as Basileus, Agathocles undertook his former position as the commander of the Royal Army. He was now even more bent on using the force commended to him in war and thus he turned his eye on the vast, yet largely unknown lands of India, where populous cities and great treasures were said to lay in the valley of mighty Indus. He therefore entreated his father to authorize him to conquer it and incorporate it into Basileia Baktria. Diodotus doubted the wisdom of such a campaign, arguing, that the Indians pose no threat to his kingdom, but would defend their country vigorously should Baktrians attempt to subjugate them. But Agathocles was confident that this could be done. He came forward to Basileus, his father, and the Royal Council, whereat he spoke as follows:

“Alexander had much smaller empire than we have when he crossed the Straits and yet he did not fear to challenge the King of Kings and marched against him. Now I propose a much smaller undertaking, where our starting position is much more in favour to us, so why should we shy away from it? Once we became lords of India, we secure for us an abundant power-base and countless resources that will enable us to calmly face any future danger from our neighbours who will be unable to take it away from us as we guard the only entrance to that country through mountain passes beyond Kophen. And even if, as some say, we would be unable to subjugate India completely for its vast expanse and warlike population, at least we will reap plentiful spoils during our campaign. Note, regardless what the outcome will be, we have nothing to lose if we ultimately fail, while we have much to gain if we succeed. And succeed we surely will!”

With the benefit of hindsight, I have to say that it was a strange argument to make, yet fully in nature with the reasoning of Agathokles, who was always keenly focused on dealing with the immediate, without considering futre consequences of his actions. For Alexandros in fact did succeed in his vast undertaking, yet his empire fell apart immediately after his death and thus put even his Macedonian homeland in great peril. And the recent history of Baktria herself, considered from the point of view of the Seleukids who claimed inheritance to the former empire of Alexandros, could be used to demonstrate how difficult it is to keep people who desire to be free in subjugation to foreign rule. But at the moment of Agathokles´s speech no one has considered these ominous ramifications or was willing to voice his concerns if someone did.

Thus Agathocles went on to diminish any supposed dangers of the prospective Indian campaign and ridicule those who advised against it, while he was inflating the apparent benefits of attempting it. In the end he succeeded to win the majority of the Royal Council to approve his plan, while Basileus endorsed it because he wanted to avoid contradicting his son and to conceal the split which was slowly beginning to emerge between them.

Gandharan Campaign (244-241 BC)

Royal army, led by Agathocles and his younger brother Heliocles as second in command, left Baktra in late spring of the sixteenth year of Eleutheria (translators note: i.e. 244 BC) and it was a sight to behold. First marched the companions of the generals, heavy cataphracts with riders and chargers both completely clad in iron and bronze, than marched the syntagmae of Pezhetairoi with their proud sarrissas and silver shields, followed by theureoporoi and light troops, whereat the seemingly endless column of soldiers was closed by equally long baggage train. It was the most splendid army that marched through Baktria ever before, all men in the prime of life, their weapons and armour shining in sun. Huge crowds gathered along their way to see the pride of their country with their own eyes and to cheer them as they passed.

In following years, many more armies would march on the same road heading from Baktra to Kophen and beyond, yet alas only a handful of men coming from the opposite direction.

Royal Army spent the winter encamped in the mountains near the pass connecting Paropamisadai with Gandhara, amassing supplies to descent with the coming spring upon the province in front of them. The King of Gandhara, Gandharadzha Gudarz, was taken by surprise by this unexpected and unprovoked attack and ordered all his troops to gather in his capital Taxashila to face the onslaught with his all might and to prevent losing his whole empire by wasting his forces part by part in futile attempts to defend many unimportant places at once. Therefore the Baktrians had been at first met with little resistance and easily penetrated deep into Gandharan hinterland, capturing many cities and villages and put garrisons into them. Just at the end of the campaign season Agathokles with the Royal Army reached Taxashila and laid siege to the city, while Heliokles, who unlike his brother was a keen and able governor, was left behind to set up a civil administration on the newly conquered territories and to gather local levies and mercenaries to reinforce the Royal Army before the final assault on the city.

Upon hearing the news that Heliokles is approaching Taxashila with more than ten thousand mercenaries and local levies, Gandharadzha Gudarz used the following stratagem to induce Agathocles to attack before the reinforcements arrive. He sent one of his trustees to Agathokles, with the instruction to pretend that he speaks for a considerable faction in the besieged city, which ready to betray the Taxashila to Baktrians, but, because of treason of one of its members, the pro-Baktrian faction is now afraid of being discovered by Gudarz, who might find them out at any moment and thus prevent their plans. Agathokles believed the story, being very eager to attack before his brother arrives anyway, because he did not wish to share the glory of expected victory with anybody else. Therefore he ordered the whole army to assault the city on the very next morning without any doubts about the information presented to him.

On the day of battle, Baktrians quickly reached the walls, thinking hopefully that the traitors within the city are letting them in. But once they were beyond the battlements, the Gandharans attacked them from all sides. In the confined space the military prowess of Baktrian soldiers was of little avail and many perished right on the walls. Most of them however reached well into the city, before they realized that they are trapped and subject to attacks form rooftops and countless ambushes form the backstreets. Yet the worst disaster was still to come.

According to a pre-made plan, Gandharans pressed on Baktrians in certain places, while elsewhere they let them a relatively free pass, so that no sooner the Baktrians knew than they were compressed in one densely packed crowd which was subsequently charged by the elephants, Gudarz himself leading the attack from a tower on one of the beast’s back. All attempts to slay the beasts with spears or javelins were in vain and only caused more damage to the Baktrians, because the elephants, enraged by their suffering ran blindly through the densest packs of soldiers apparently as easily as when a horse gallops through a shallow ford, trampling the unfortunate Baktrians to the ground and tossing them to the air. Terrified by the awesome animals and unable to do anything but flee, Baktrians perished by dozens and hundreds in the most horrible death imaginable.

Agathocles was waiting with his heavy cavalry in front of one of the city gates to join the fight once the gatehouse would be secured. For a long time he had had no idea what a disaster had met his men inside the city, until a bunch of fugitives appeared in flight followed by a host of Gandharans in pursuit. Agathocles charged the enemy regardless all odds, but once the elephants appeared, his mount got scared by their unfamiliar smell and menacing appearance and no longer obeying his master galloped away, thus saving his life if not his honour.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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More than twenty thousand Baktrians entered Taxashila that morning, full of confidence and pride, less than three thousand of them lived till the evening - no more an army but a flock of terrified birds bursting to all directions as if when an eagle descends upon them.

Agathokles at least tried to rally as much of his men as he could get and join his brother’s army, but he was misled by a local guide and failed to meet him. It was because the guide was actually sent on purpose by Gudarz who wanted to prevent Heliokles from being warned.

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The next day Gudarz led his men to meet Heliokles who was now approaching Taxashila, still about ten miles away and still unaware of the failed attack. Gandharans were now full of joy and confidence, inspired by their previous victory and they immediately charged the Baktrians upon sight, heavy cavalry and elephants leading. Heliokles was barely able to form his troops into a proper line when the charge hit them. Bravely organizing the fight as best as he could, encouraging his men and charging amidst the enemies, Heliokles was slain when his horse threw him down upon seeing and elephant running towards them and the beast then crushed him under its foot. Thus perished, at the age of thirty-one, the noblest man of his time, superb administrator loved by the people and brave general admired by his soldiers, who in his youth underwent the long journey to Hellas to take part at the Olympic Games and returned as the victor and who always balanced the impetuousness of his elder brother by his own moderateness, as he was actually commissioned to do by their Father and King when setting out on the campaign.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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Agathocles with the remnants of Baktrian forces now retreated back to the mountain pass connecting Paropamisadai with Gandhara. Oh the march they were much annoyed by constant skirmishes with restive Gandharans as well as by the weather, which turned severe with the upcoming winter and the height of the mountains. To their great joy and relief, they met in the pass another Baktrian army, led by Kleander Chomoraios, which was prudently sent earlier by Basileos Diodotos to reinforce the forces sent to Gandhara under Agathokles and was now waiting for the beginning of the campaign season in the very same camp which Agathokles established as his winter-quarters the previous year.

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Upon hearing the new of the disaster of previous expedition and the horrible death of Heliokles trodden by elephants, Kleander’s men were much depressed and worried about meeting a similar fate. Their discipline however prevented them from disobeying their commands and so they set on the march as soon as melting snow made the road passable again.

By summer of the eighteenth year of Eleutheria (translators note: i.e. 242 BC) Baktrians quickly regained the western parts of Gandhara by the end of summer they besieged to Taxashila for the second time. They were reluctant to attack the city, though, hoping that prolonged siege and ensuing famine will break its resistance. Thus they spent the winter there, encamped all around the walls, and no sooner they attacked until they got reliable information from within, that the defenders are exhausted already and ready to accept Baktrian overlordship.

The final assault was commanded by Kleander Chomoraios, because Agathokles fell victim to severe fever, not uncommon in those hot and humid lands in the Indus valley. Thus for the second time he was deprived the much desired glory of victor, not sure which of those was more disgraceful for him: whether the first time, when he was worsted by the enemy, or now, when he was overwhelmed by feebleness of his own body. Anyway, in this second attempt the Baktrians finally succeeded, and despite severe losses they were able to capture the city and slain Gudarz, who again fought bravely at the head of his men. Enraged by the losses suffered in the bloody fight and wanting to avenge their predecessors the Baktrians sacked the city completely, while Kleander was neither willing nor able to restrain them.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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With the fall of the capital and the death of Gandharadzha the remaining cities Gandhara gave up any further resistance and surrendered on favourable terms to Baktrians. Gandhara was then turned into Baktrian satrapy under Kleander’s rule, who acted as a plenipotentiary responsible directly to Basileus Diodotos.

Agathokles, undeterred by previous reversals and still wanting to prove himself as a conqueror, now set his mind on further conquest. Thinking rightly that he would hardly find many soldiers in Baktria proper to join him on another campaign in India, where one army was annihilated totally while the other lost almost half of its men, and not wanting to incur wrath of his father by asking him for more fresh forces, Agathokles turned the oncoming campaign into a semi-private enterprise, using his share of spoils from conquest of Gandhara to raise as much local troops and mercenaries as he could find as gathered them on southern border with Sattagydia, which lay further south from Gandhara.

At the same time, back in Baktra, Basileus Diodotos hosted a secret conference with emissaries of the Parthian Shah, which resulted into an alliance between the two Kingdoms. The agreement stipulated that Baktrians shall provide money to the Parthians to enable the latter to prosecute their war against the Seleucids more effectively. Diodotos always considered the Seleukids and the other two Macedonian Kingdoms in the East, Margiana and Dayuan, as the greatest enemies of his Kingdom, while he was in turn maintaining fairly good relations with Parthians and the Sakae. Yet he was so far reluctant to openly join them in their war against the Macedonians, until recent surge of raids into Baktrian territory to plunder the borderlands and gathering spoils convinced him to take sides more decisively.

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Very nice map , that's what they were talking about! Great chapter.

:jawdrop:

That is really good! Excellent narrative and a dramatic campaign in India.

Thanks for the map, I think the guys over in the AI progression thread will be interested too. Nice aggressive pontic behaviour.

Excellent. Thanks for writing it. Hope there are more chapters on the way.

Absolutely epic. Great narration of a very dramatic campaign. Also thanks for providing more eye-candy for your readers. ;) I love the AI expansion! Especially Pontos and Parthia. This is getting more and more interesting. Keep up the excellent work!

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Sattagydia is dotted by many cities and towns along the banks mighty river Indus and its numerous tributaries and lies between the Kingdom of Sindh in the Indus delta of and Gandhara further upstream, thus forming a sort of a buffer between the two. Unlike both Sind and Gandhara, which used to be kingdoms with fairly strong central rule, Sattagydian cities were independent of each other and only loosely connected in various, and constantly shifting, leagues. Most of Sattagydia used to be dominated by the powerful Kingdom of Moriya, with Opiana as the capital and certain Harasp as the leader. But roughly at the time, when Baktrians were campaigning in Gandhara to the north, several Sattagydian cities revolted from the Moriyan rule and declared independence, forming the so-called Kashmor League. They hoped for support from the mighty Kingdom of Sind further to the south, but her King Ispabar refused to provide the assistance he promised and abandoned, the Kashmor League were in fear of Moriyan punishment for their rebellion.

Upon hearing that Agathokles is gathering army for his expedition to Sattagydia, the leaders of Kashmor League sent embassy to him, determined to rather surrender to him on terms and be allies to Baktrians than to fight alone against their former Moriyan overlords and face their wrath. Therefore when Agathokles finally crossed the border dividing Gandhara and Sattagydia at the beginning of the campaign season in the year 21 of Eleutheria (translators note: i.e. 239 BC), most cities he encountered on his march along Indus towards Opiana opened the gates to him and surrendered on terms, either from fear that they would otherwise be sacked and enslaved as Taxashila had been or according to pre-arranged agreement between Agathocles and the Kashmor League. Some even provided troops to fight alongside the Baktrians against Kingdom of Moriya, under command of certain Euthydemos Dionysopolites whose grandfather came to India from Macedon with the Alexander´s army and settled there.

Now the Moriyans found themselves in utmost peril and desperately searched for allies against the forces of Baktrians and Kashmorians. However, due to the geographic isolation of the Indus valley, there was only one such potential ally left and it was the King Ispabar, King of Sind. After some hesitation whether his assistance to the Moriyans would not drag him into was with Baktria, he finally decided that the warlike nature of Agathokles would eventually lead to war with him anyway, Ispabar decided to throw his weight fully on the scale in favour of the Moryians to fight Agathokles with them now, rather than later alone. Therefore Ispabar sent a significant force of his elephants and elite warriors to reinforce the Moryians, together with provisions of all kinds to help them to withstand eventual siege of Opiana. The Sindhi forces managed to reach Opiana just before Agathokles and his army of mercenaries and levies from allied cities invested the city.

Agathokles knew, that due to the supplies sent by Ispabar from Sidh it would be pointless to reduce the city by a prolonged siege, as hunger would stuck the besiegers sooner than the besieged. Besides that, unlike Taxashila, he was now facing a city, which despite its great size was only lightly fortified and breaching the walls by engines should not pose a too big challenge. Therefore as soon as the engines were ready, he immediately ordered his men to attack. Advised from his previous experiences from the campaigning in Gandhara, Agathokles now exercised a strict control over the advance of his army into the city, in order to prevent his men being spread in the maze of streets and attacked from many sides at once. Instead, Baktrians now advanced slowly, but carefully, presenting the defenders with a solid wall of spears when facing the infantry, and a hailstorm of arrows and javelins, whenever the Moriyans attempted to charge them with elephants. Yet, even despite all these precautions, the fight was still extremely bloody and although the Baktrians prevailed, their victory was a hard won one. The defenders gave their last stand right at the centre of the city, on a large square in front of the royal palace of Harasp, where they fought bravely to the last man standing. Afterwards, Agathhokles allowed his men to sack the city for three days and to gather spoils at their wish, because he wanted to reward them for their bravery and loyalty to him and because he wanted to deter the remaining hostile cities in Sattagydia from further resistance and to induce them rather to surrender on terms to him.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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After this victory the Sattagydia as a whole was incorporated into Basileia Baktria as a satrapy, with Euthydemos Dionysopolites being appointed the satrap and given Opiana as his residence. Cities were left to manage the internal affairs by themselves, while the members of the Kashmor League, being allies to Baktrians in that campaign, were treated with the most favourable terms, while those who still refused the new order were punished accordingly.

The conquest of Sattagydia presented Agathokles with an opportunity, which he personally took with a great pride. He led his army to the bank of the river Hyphasis, where stood the twelwe huge altars erected by Alexander almost a hundred years ago to commemorate the farthest extent of his conquest and as a thank offerings to the gods for having brought him victorious so far, and as memorials for his labours. Now it was Agathokles who at those altars offered sacrifices to the gods of the Hellenes, Persians and Indians and organized an athletic and poetic contest as Alexander once did.

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Having thus secured the favour of the gods, Agathokles, now joined by his young son Demodamas, left the remaining matters in Sattagydia to be settled by the satrap Euthydemos Dionysopolites and gathered his troops again to march onto Sind, with which he was de facto at the state of war already, due to previous Sindhi assistance to Moriyans.

The conquest of the vast and wealthy kingdom at the mouth of Indus proved to be much easier than expected. Maybe the lavish sacrifice at the Altars of Alexander did in fact moved the gods to support Agathokles or maybe the horrible sacks of Taxashila in Gandhara and Opiana in Sattagydia prevented the Sindhis to risk a similar fate. In any case, shortly after Baktrian forces laid siege to Patala, the capital city of the kingdom, a faction of Sindhi nobles have slain the King Ispabar, blaming him that it was his short-lived alliance with Moriyan what brought Baktrians upon them. Immediately afterwards they started negotiations with Agathokles and betrayed the city to him on condition that lives and property of the citizens will be spared and Sinh will be granted the status of independent kingdom, recognizing the Baktrian suzerainty and bond to Baktria by close defensive and offensive alliance. Agathokles agreed to these terms and quickly dealt with the remaining loyalist forces in the city.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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The leader of the pro-Baktrian faction was than confirmed as a new king of Sind and Agathokles with his son Demodamodas, who despite his young age showed extraordinary bravery and skill in the street fight, led his troops from Sidh along the old caravan road through Arachosia back home to Baktria. This happened in the twenty-fourth year of Eleutheria (translators note: i.e. 235 BC) and in the thirteenth year of the reign of Basileus Diodotos, of which Oxobazes was the historian.

Another excellent chapter, my friend:thumbsup:

Maion

A very well made chapter:yes:
I can only congratulate to it:thumbsup:

Indeed, indeed!

Great read and excellent screenshots.

Thank you very much, my frieds, for your continuing support. I hope that you will find the next chapter interesting and that you will enjoy it.

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During the time when Agathokles was campaigning in India the core provinces of Basileia Baktria were enjoying unprecedented era of prosperity and development under wise rule of Basileus Diodotos. Initial expenditures on furnishing the campaigns were paid off nicely by spoils and taxes from conquered lands and the gold and spices from India started to flow regularly to Baktra to the great benefit to the Royal Treasury as well as the people. Because now, even more than before, new roads and bridges were constructed to connect the plains and valleys of the realm, ornate temples were erected to pay honours to the gods and merchants´ quarters abounding with all sorts of goods were set up in cities. Overall, riches and order of Basileia Baktria were a source of great pride to her people and great envy to her neighbours.

The only disturbances of the otherwise happy state were caused by occasional forays onto Baktrian south-western border territories by marauding bands from Karmania and Gedrosia, which plundered the countryside in search for spoils. These raids were especially of great annoyance to Arachosia, because the Great Salt Desert provided the bandits with convenient refuge to retreat and hide whenever Baktrian forces appeared to face them. Therefore it was necessary to maintain the satrapal army scattered along the border manning numerous watchtowers a forts to protect the people from this pest.

The root-cause of this annoyance was sorry state of those lands which were still nominally ruled by the son of Antiochos Soter, Theodoros Syriakos. For since the beginning of his reign Theodoros was beset on all sides by rebellious subjects and aggressive neighbours and in spite of all his energetic efforts he was losing one province after another.

After Theodoros formally recognized the independence and sovereignty of Baktrians and Pahlavans, the greatest menace to him first appeared to be the ambitious kings of Pontus, who unified most of Asia Minor under their rule and penetrated as far as Damascus and Assyria, plundering the once proud city of Antiocheia on their way. But in the second decade of Theodoros´s reign even graver threat arose. Under their third King Ptolemaios called Euergetes the Macedonians in Egypt set out on a campaign of conquest, crushing armies of Pontus or of Seleukeia whenever they met them. Before long the Ptolemaioi stood in front of the gates of Pontic capital Amaseia in the west, while in the east they put a strong garrison into Babylon and threatened Seleukeia-on-Tigris.

In his desperate struggle for survival Theodoros Syriakos was forced to squeeze those lands that were still in his grip to the utmost, demanding increasingly higher contributions of men and gold to sustain his armies across numerous fronts. This burden pressed hardest on the provinces of Karmania and Gedrosia, which - due to the agreement which Basileus Theodotos once concluded and Diodotos observed - being relatively safe themselves, became objects of severe exploitation to finance the wars elsewhere. It is no wonder then that impoverished people of those provinces were soon reduced to robbery to sustain themselves by depredation of others.

Basileus Diodotos was willing to remain of defensive and to contain himself to guarding the borders as much as possible as long as those raids were conducted by mere bandits and irregulars and no Seleukid official was implicated in them. Unfortunately, as it often happens, his moderation was mistaken by many for being weakness and effeminacy of the aging King. Seleukid satrap of Gedrosia, Andronomos Karrhaikos, also fell a victim to this delusion. Pressed by his master to provide more gold to Seleukeia, tempted by the richness of Arachosia, driven by ambition, and blinded by overconfidence, Andronomos gathered the troops at his disposal, reinforced by veteran soldiers from Karmania who joined him in hope of spoils, and at the beginning of 26th year of Eleutheria (translators note: i.e. 234 BC) he led his men along the caravan route at the eastern edge of the Great Salt Desert and invaded Arachosia in earnest.

As satrapal forces in Arachosia was scattered all along the desert border they were unable to resist the treacherous Gedrosian onslaught. Therefore Dytikos Stratos (The Western Army) under leadership of Stasanor Siringios was sent from Aria across Drangiana to repel the attack. Both forces clashed within the sight of Alexandropolis, the capital of Arachosia, in a battle where the Baktrians had the advantage of numbers and the Gedrosians the advantage of experience. Nonetheless the result shown that to plunder defenceless villagers is something completely different than to face an organized and well trained army. Both Seleukid leaders, Gedrosian satrap Andronomos and general of Karmanian mercenaries Logbasis Aphrodisias, had fallen in the battle and their army was utterly routed by Baktrians.

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The defeat of Seleukid forces in front of Alexandropolis, however, was just a beginning of a string of events that were to change the world considerably. Because the invasion of Arachosia was headed by a Seleukid satrap, Basileus Diodotos now considered himself to be at the state of war with the Seleukids and was determined not to leave their offence unavenged. Far from showing any weakness, of which he was suspicioned by some, he mobilized Basilikos Stratos (The King’s Own Army) as soon as the news of invasion of Arachosia reached Baktra and riding in front of his men he led them south to put an end to Seleukid invasions once and for all.

It was more than ten years since Basileus Diodotos have seen his son Prince Agathokles for the last time, when the latter was leaving Baktra to start his Indian campaign. Now they both met in Phraaspa in Drangiana; as the Prince was passing through the city on his way home from India and the King on his campaign to subjugate Seleukid Gedrosia. By a strange twist of fate, Basileus Diodotos fell from his horse and severely injured his back when he was on hunt with his son, celebrating their reunion. As he was now incapable to lead the army in person, the King handed over the command of Basilikos Stratos (The King’s Own Army) to Agathokles with an order to expel the Seleukids from Gedrosia, pacify the province and make it a Baktrian satrapy. At the same time Stasanor Siringios was ordered to lead Dytikos Stratos (The Western Army) towards Karmania. In parallel with those military preparations an embassy was sent to the court of Theodoros Syriakos in Persepolis to demand satisfaction and indemnities for the invasion of Arachosia.

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A late Baktrian mosaic unearthed Baktra depicting the aging king Diodotos leading his men on campaign

Theodoros was terrified with the prospect of war with Baktria, especially given the fact that his only significant armies in the east have been destroyed in the abortive invasion. Therefore he apologized for the aggression of his subordinates, claiming innocence as he did not know about it and promising that he will not allow such act to happen ever again.

To these words the Baktrian envoys replied: “Oh, Great King, we may be willing to accept either your apologies or your guarantees, but we can hardly accept both. If your satrap was able to invade a neighbouring country without your knowledge or against your will, how can you prevent such things from happening in the future? And if we are to believe you have the ability prevent such things from happening in the future, why did you allowed them to happen in the past?
Moreover, the invasion made by your satrap Andronomos was far from being the only one that originated in your lands and ravaged ours. Lo! In previous instances our Basileus Diodotos, in his remarkable moderation, was willing to endure these annoyances patiently, because he considered those raiders as uncontrollable rascals harmful to both parties and belonging to none and because he respected the truce between our kingdoms that his father and you yourself had made. Therefore we never pursued the raiders beyond the mutually recognized border, content to protect our country and not wanting to violate yours.
But now we see that our patience was mistaken for weakness and that our moderation only gave licence to our enemies. Instead of dealing with those scoundrels who pillaged our villages you, Great King, you allowed your own satrap to rather imitate them, alas, on much larger scale. It does not matter now, whether it was done because of your ignorance or impotence or instigation. In our eyes your right to reign in Gedrosia and Karmania shall be forfeit. “

Appaled by such harsh refusal Theodoros offered to surrender Gedrosia to Baktrians immediately if only his control of Karmania was preserved. This seemed a reasonable to Baktrians, but Theodoros went on, urging that Baktria and Arche Seleukeia should enter into formal alliance.
“It may seem odd, given recent a present hostilities between our kingdoms, to propose an alliance,” Theodoros said, “and you may think that you have nothing to gain by it as you are at peace with your neighbour, whereas I am in desperate need for assistance and allies, because I am pressed on many fronts. Yet, let me show you, that such an alliance would be very much in your own interest as well as in mine. At the moment it is Ptolemaios who is the greatest threat to all of us, because his resources from Egypt are vast and his ambitions boundless. He has already proclaimed himself the true successor of Alexander and rightful heir to all his lands - Baktria included. He may seem too distant to bother you, but consider this: it is only my control of Tigris, which is limiting his advance. If you assist me to hold the line in Mesopotamia, you will keep the threat far from your borders while it is still manageable and other people are fighting for you. If you allow this barrier to crumble, you will be faced with it later at your very homes while it becomes even stronger and you will be alone.”

To this the Baktrians replied that they could hardly be allies to Theodoros, while he is still waging war against their other allies, namely the Pahlavans.

Incidentally, approximately at the same time the Pahlavan Shah was becoming increasingly worried in Ptolemaic advance as well, the more so as his Pontic kinsmen were recently pushed out from Syria and Kilikia by Ptolemaioi and were clamouring for Pahlavan intervention in their favour. In these circumstances it seemed no longer reasonable to continue endless and costly fighting the Seleukids who were too weak to be a danger to Pahlavans, but still well capable to hold Ptolemaioi on Tigris and thus shield Pahlavan flank from greater danger. Therefore as soon as he heard of Baktrian preparations for campaigns against Seleukid provinces of Gedrosia and Karmania, Pahlavan Shah was quick to exploit this opportune moment. He sent an embassy to Persepolis to demand cessation of all hostilities between Seleukids and Pahlavans and recognition of territorial status quo. Theodoros was in no position to negotiate under simultaneous pressure of both Baktrians and Pahlavan and the talks (now tri-lateral) were quickly concluded with his capitulation.

The final settlement thus ratified that from now on there shall be peace between Seleukids on side and Baktrians and Pahlavans on the other. Moreover Seleukids surrendered Gedrosia to Baktrians as indemnity for their previous offences. Moreover Theodoros and his successors shall make no claims to former Seleukid territories lost to Pahlava, Pontus and Baktria. And finally Seleukids shall continue war against Ptolemaioi and shall receive aid for this purpose from Baktrians and Pahlavans either in gold or in men.

Thus the power of the Seleukids finally came to the end, their pride broken and their independence lost, they have become hardly anything more than a protectorate of Phalavns. For while Diodotos once again turned his attention inward, satisfied with what he had, he focused on consolidation and development of his realm, the Persians profited most from the outcome. The prestige of Pahavan Shah reached a new height and before long a new settlement was struck with the other two Persian kingdoms uniting the Pahlavans, with their Seleukid protectorate, Hayasdan and Pontus into a loose federation thereafter known as the Persian Empire. The might of the King of Kings has returned.

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Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

OOC - In game terms, this was one of the most interesting diplomatic encounters I have ever experienced in RTW. After the Seleukid invasion of Arachosia I have offered the ceasefire, which they promptly accepted. But after that I have decided that as Arche Seleukeia is almost doomed anyway, I will divide their eastern satrapies between myself and Pahlava (who will become my greatest adversary soon) and I will use AS later as a rebel faction in Baktrian civil war once the opportunity presents itself. Therefore I have sent my armies to Karmania and Gedrosia, but I did not want to attack AS outright. So I have sent a diplomat to them, demanding 5 000 mnai “or we will attack”. My expectation was that they refuse it as usual and I will get a pretext for my invasion. However, they replied with “please do not attack” and offered an alliance. So I have raise my demand to tribute 1000 mnai for 20 turns, but their reply was the same. So I raised my demand again, wanting them to give me Gedrosia (Pura) or “or we will attack”. To my big surprise, they agreed to that if we become allies. This was hard to refuse so I accepted. NOTE THAT NOWHERE IN THIS BARGAINIG THE FORCE-DIPLOMACY MINIMOD WAS USED - for once the AI recoqnized the ballance of power correctly and behaved quite reasonably. Consequently, as I was already allied with all Seleucid enemies except Ptolemaioi, ceasefires were concluded between AS and their rivals. In the very next turn these former adversaries all concluded alliances. This allowed me to tidy rather chaotic map by changing colours of AS, Hayasdan and Pontus to the colour of Pahlava, role-playing that they have formed a federation - hence my new Persian Empire. You can see the “real” faction map here:

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Thus the peace returned again to the lands of Basileia Baktria. King Diodotos, after he recovered from his injury, has returned to his capital Bactra and presided over the realm for another four years of prosperity and justice. He died three days after the great festival to Anahita in the year thirty-one of Eleutheria (translators note: i.e.229 BC) in Baktra at the age of 64 of which he was 19 years the King. Thus ended the reign of the second Basileus Baktrios Diodotos of which Oxobazes was the historian.

Wow, nice Persian Empire:2thumbsup:. An wow to the diplomacy. The AI might be retarded usually but it has it's moments of pure genius.

Keep up the good work:2thumbsup:

That is soo beautiful!

Love the diplomacy part. Just awesome.

Awesome! :2thumbsup:

Great chapter:thumbsup: Just a minor thing: You mentioned somewhere that you are thinking of using the AS kater on for your civil war. Let me just remind you that AS and Baktria do not share MICs, so things will get very difficult to simulate. Makedonia shares MICs with Baktria, even though some units are mostly restricted to Baktria and thus they have to be added to Makedonia in order for them to actually use them against you.

Maion

Thank you, Maion, good point!

According to the building description Baktria does in fact share its factional MIC with Makedonia, but it also shares its REGIONAL MIC with AS. This will be especially convenient for having the AS represent rebels in India.
What I intend to above that is to edit the EDB by copying the recruitment of some Baktrian units from their factional barracks and pasting it into Baktrian-AS-Ptolemaioi regional ones and editing the faction so that AS only will be able to recruit them there. Thus I hope that my native barracks, which they eventuall inherit from me, will suffice to allow them to field sensible armies and be a worthy opponent. We will see how it develops. :idea2:

Right now it is Pahlava who I am worrying about most - I feel a major war comming...:yes::charge:

Regional barracks in the former Eastern Seleukid provinces are usually on quite high levels, so that should not be the problem. Klerouchoi Phalangitai can be recruited from that. Also some basic medium cavalry. You might want to add some elites. Although you could roleplay that the rebels would not have access to elite unit recruitment, since the Baktrian heartlands belong are under your control, and just add some elites to their armies through console command.

This is excellent. Thank you V.T. Marvin.

Man this is really good. Keep it up. Love the diplomacy part. Just when I was about to drop the intelligence of of the phrase "artificial intelligence"

Thank you once more, dear friends, for all your kind words! I hope you will not be disappointed with the chapter that follows...

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With the demise of Seleukid power the bond between Pahlavans and Baktrians, united in struggle against common enemy, loosened and the relations between the two kingdoms were becoming sour.

After unification of the three Persian kingdoms under his rule, while Seleukids became a mere protectorate of his, Pahlavan king Arshak assumed the title of Shahanshah that was used by the Achaemenid Great Kings of the past. This act, however, also implied a formal claim on the lands of Baktrians, as these were all once conquered by Cyruz the Great and thenceforth a part of Persian Empire. Aria was reputed to be the old country of from which all Persians once came from, while Baktria used to be the richest and the most prestigious satrapy of the realm. The vaunt of the full royal title of Arshak, the Great King, King of Kings, King of countries, and the Light of Arians, was thus a menace to Baktrians, as their hardly gained independence from the Seleukids seemed to be challenged again. And there were also other, more immediate, concerns on both sides.

On one hand, Shahanshah Arshak was worried that Basileus Agathokles, unlike his father and grand-father, did not leave the command of Basilikos Stratos (The King’s Own Army) upon his ascension to the throne. Rather, Agathokles commissioned his son Demodamas to take over the generalship of Dytikos Stratos (The Western Army), while he himself remained at the helm of Basilikos Stratos and ruled the realm from its camp. For his warlike nature made him feel uncomfortable among splendid palaces and ornate temples of Baktra, while he enjoyed the life amidst his troops who tolerated and even admired his roughness and daring. Agathokles, who’s motto was “Prepare in peace what you need in war” (and war was never far away from his thoughts), reinforced the army with a corps of elephants received from his Indian provinces, introduced field artillery, and exercised all different branches of his army to act together in a swift and concerted manner. To an outside observer, however, this intense training and build-up might seem like preparations for attack and it is no wonder that Arshak was gravely concerned by that.

On the other hand, Basileus Agathokles too had good reasons to be suspicious of his western neighbour. Under the thin surface of Hellenistic kingdom, Baktria, and especially her western provinces of Aria and Drangiana, was still inhabited largely by Persians who might respond favourably to Arshak’s claims rather than uphold the congenial, yet foreign, dynasty of Hellenic kings. It did not escape Agathokles’s notice, how Arshak earlier often stirred rebellion among Persian nobles against their Seleukid overlords. Therefore Agathokles considered the strength and loyalty of his soldiers to be of prime importance in the circumstances and did not dare to trust the command of the two principal armies to anybody else but to himself and to his son. Moreover, his somewhat arrogant sense of pride prevented Agathokles from approaching Arshak in a friendly manner and attempting to renew the mutual sympathy that existed between his late father and the Persian Shah.

As too often in the history of human folly, Fear, Mistrust and Ambition had conspired again to uproot Peace and had planted a seed of War in its stead, which spindled and flourished and brought plentiful reaping.

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It was Arshak who struck first. The campaign was carefully planned in advance and put Basileia Baktria in utmost peril. The overture was a minor rebellion, induced by Persian money, of mountain tribes in Paropamisadai. To quell this disturbance, Agathokles led his army thither, thus leaving the western border guarded only by his son Demodamas with Dytikos Stratos (The Western Army). This happened in late autumn of the year thirty-one of Eleutheria (translators note: i.e.229 BC). Early next spring the war broke out as large Persian force, led by certain Farrokhmard, invaded Aria and marched on Alexandreia. Demodamas therefore led his army north to protect the city, whereupon the Farrokhmard sharply changed direction towards Baktra. The intent of this manoeuvre was to lure Dytikos Stratos (The Western Army) into encirclement as another Persian army, led by general Gondofar, advanced to fall into Demodamas’s back. At the same time third Persian army led by the satrap of Astauene and one of the highest ranking nobles of the realm, Suren Haushyangha, was to invade Aria from south-west, induce local Persian nobility to revolt and take over the province.

Precise timing and surprise were precondition to the success of the whole scheme and ultimately also the cause of its failure. Because the plan failed to take into account the speed with which Baktrian armies could march throughout the realm, thanks to excellent roads, built with great care and expense by Theodotos and Diodotos. Luck also intervened in Baktrian’s favour, because Shah Arshak himself was unable to lead the campaign in person, as he was incapacitated for several weeks by sudden sickness. Poisoning was suspected, but nothing was proved.

Not long after the first Persian troops crossed the border, Basileos Agathokles was notified of their invasion through his well-organized system of royal post and was able to immediately return from the eastern mountains in a heroic forced march of unprecedented speed and to block the advance of Farrokhmard’s army. This in turn allowed Demodamas to face the Gondofar’s army in confidence with his rear now being secure.

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Surprised by the unexpected return of Basilikos Stratos (The King’s Own Army) to the west, Farrokhmard had to abandon the original plan of clenching and destroying the army of Demodamas between himself and Gondofar, and he had no other choice than to face Agathokles instead. Agathokles took a convenient defensive position along a mild elevation, prepared to launch an immediate pursuit should the enemy attempt a withdrawal. Farrokhmard, though, attacked confidently, and while he kept Baktrian centre, formed by formidable phalanx of Pezhetairoi, in check by a slowly approaching phalanx of his own, he sent most of his heavy cavalry to crush Baktrian left flank while annoying Baktrian right flank with the rest.

However, as Pahlavan cataphracts and Median lancers climbed up the hill to charge onwards, they saw, to their trepidation, ominous silhouettes of Baktrian war elephants which were until then hidden below the horizon. Scared by the unfamiliar smell and roar of the mighty beasts, Persian chargers lost much of their momentum and baulked. At that moment Agathokles charged them in turn with his elephants followed by Baktrian cavalry and light infantry with that. The Persian attack collapsed almost immediately and their whole right flank was routed. Afterwards Persian phalanx in the centre was crushed by the steady advance of Pezhetairoi from the front and assault of Baktrian light infantry from the rear. With that, the few remaining Persian units on Baktrian right flank were forced to retreat as well. Of the great army of twenty-eight thousand, less than one in five escaped, while less than two thousand Baktrians were lost.

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Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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At the same time, still unaware of the return of Basilikos Stratos (The King’s Own Army) and subsequent defeat of Farrokhmard’s army, Persian general Gondofar led his fifteen thousand men onwards, supposedly in pursuit of Dytikos Stratos (The Western Army) under Demodamas. Great was then his surprise, when his scouts informed him that Demodamas is marching on in battle order to meet him, while Farrokhmard is nowhere to be seen. Gondofar had barely the time to withdraw on a nearby hill, taking defensive position in a forest there. Undaunted, Demodamas ordered his troops to charge uphill and engage the Persians in hand-to-hand combat as they were mostly archers and thus would be in disadvantage against Baktrian heavy infantry. Demodamas also sent his Arachosian light cavalrymen around both flanks of the enemy in a broad encircling movement. Convenience of high ground was of no avail to Persians when faced with disciplined advance of Baktrian line infantry in stout armour bristling with spears, while Arachosian mounted javelineers harassed Persian rear by missiles. Once Gondofar himself met his death in the fight, the rest of his men either surrendered or fled away.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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Encouraged by this victory, Demodamas pressed forward to the south, as the third Persian army under Suren Haushyangha was reported to operate between Alexandria in Aria and Propthasia in Drangiane, stirring revolt and looting the countryside. This was the smallest of Persian invasion forces, less than ten thousand strong, as Suren was not supposed to fight regular Baktrian armies, but to inspire uprising and lay siege to Baktrian garrisons. These expectations, however, quickly proved wrong, because local nobles were hesitant to rise against their King, as they were quite satisfied with their current status and unwilling to bet on uncertain future. Before long Suren learned of the catastrophic defeats of the other two Persian armies and recognized that his mission would be in vain. Accordingly he begun to withdraw back to Astauene, but he was hindered on his march by numerous ambushes and other sorts of annoyance, because the two resounding Baktrian victories induced local nobility to prove their loyalty by resisting the invaders forcefully and attacking them on sight.

Demodamas, on the other hand, was kept well informed of Suren’s movement and was quickly gaining on him. When the two armies met, the Persians stayed no chance against Baktrian superiority in numbers, arms, and training and they were all duly killed or taken into captivity. Suren Haushyangha himself saved his honour if not his life as he fell in battle, fighting bravely to the bitter end.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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Meanwhile, immediately after the victory over the Persian army of Farrokhmard, Basileos Agathokles retaliated by launching an invasion of his own into Persian province of Margiane, which was only a decade ago conquered by Pahlavans from the Seleucids and where Shahanshah Arshak was reputed to momentarily reside.

When the horrid news of the crushing defeats of Persian armies and Baktrian counterattack into Margiane reached Arshak’s court in Antiocheia, he was overwhelmed yet unbroken. He hastily gathered the survivors from the abortive invasion, reinforced them with all troops he could get in the province and being still too sick to campaign himself, he nominated his trusted bodyguard Barazan to lead them in his stead. The most opportune place where to face advancing Baktrians appeared to be the Valley of Snakes, where the merchant road from Baktra to Antiocheia passes through a deep valley, whose forested slopes would provide an excellent cover for ambush. Here, however, Persian hopes were shattered by the extraordinary speed with which the Basilikos Stratos (The King’s Own Army) marched, being conditioned by long and extensive training under Agathokles. Thus the Baktrians passed through the Valley of Snakes before the Persians arrived. This in turn put Barazan into difficult situation. He was already on the western bank of Oxus and did not dare to cross the mighty river again with enemy so close to his rear. Therefore he was obliged to form his men into battle order and attack Agathokles against all odds.

The battle took place on a place which favoured the Baktrians who were tactically on the defensive. Their left flank was protected by a sheer cliff that protruded from the surrounding plain, while on the right there was open woodland that covered Baktrian infantry from charge by imposing Persian cataphracts. The space in between was barred by phalanx of Pezhetairoi and spearmen with elephants and cavalry in reserve. Barazan opened the battle by a powerful charge along the edge of the forest, but was unable to penetrate through Baktrian lines. His cavalry and greater part of infantry were soon entangled in melee, while the rest of his troops tried to circumvent the Baktrian line through the forest only to be slaughtered by Baktrian light infantry which was hiding there. Thereafter Agathokles run his cavalry around in a wide right hook and charged the Persians from their rear. Outnumbered and encircled they surrendered immediately while Barazan committed suicide on the spot.

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Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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This defeat deprived Arshak of the last chance to stop the Baktrians before they reach Antiocheia. For the majority of her citizens hailed from Macedonian veterans, who would be more favourable to their Baktrian kinsmen rather than to their defeated and deserted Persian king, Shahanshah Arshak did not risk to be besieged in Antiocheia and fled away to Parthia to mobilize his vast realm for the next season of the war.

Free from her Persian garrison Antiocheia threw her gates open to Agathokles, who confirmed its status as Hellenic polis and capital of the whole Margiane, which was formally annexed to Basileia Baktria as an allied state. This happened at the very beginning of the thirty-third year of Eleutheria (translators note: i.e. 227 BC) and in the second year of the reign of Basileus Agathokles, of which Oxobazes was the historian.

https://i233.photobucket.com/albums/...iaMargiana.jpg

Late Baktrian mosaic depicting Agathokles as he receives submission from Antiocheia in Margiane

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

OOC - In game terms I have used "The Force Diplomacy" minimod to force ceasefire on Pahlava and to obtain their surrender of Antiocheia-Margiane, because I did not want to kill their king, who was left alone in the city, in a siege and I could not event teleport him elsewhere as long as he was inside...

Great narration! :2thumbsup:

Truly great. What an epic struggle. This is like reading a really good history book. Keep up the awesome work.

I am very glad that you like my story! Now, however, I need to consult with you something and I would love to hear your advice, because I played yesterday for a while and really enjoyed it, but have had some doubts afterwards on two issues and I am seriously considering a reload.

1.- Use of elephants: I have modded the EDB so that Pahlavans may build their top-tier faction barracks everywhere. It is really nice, yesterday I had a battle with a full-stack Pahlavan army, nearly half of which was composed of elite cataphracts and Grivpanvars (they are just amazing!:2thumbsup:). That is perfectly O.K., yet, I won rather easily, because my elephants (one unit of them is a boastful part of my royal army) proved to be awesome cata-killers, crushing the armoured horsemen in spades and routing the rest. This is of course perfectly all right, but I felt like cheating nonetheless.
So, what do you think - How, if at all, should I use my elephants without being too cheesy?

2.- Pontus: This completely unrelated to my front, but may have some repercussions of later gameplay. Despite its amazing start, Pontos proved, once again, its lack of staying power and was annihilated by the Yellow Fever who blitzed the whole Asia Minor (in 5 turns!!!) before I noticed that. This is the main reason why I am considering reload: to give them another chance. Still, I do not know, how to save them from being immediately crushed again. Maybe teleport them elsewhere (Crimea?) or give them more provinces? Or money?
What do you think - Should I give Pontos another chance? If yes, how?

3.- What to do with the Ptolemaioi: Pahlavan AI is stupid as usual to wage war on two fronts. Despite the fact that they are appalligly losing in the west to Ptolies, they still seem focused on me in the east. I do not want to blitz them or to see them wiped out between me and the Ptolies. Should I use console to hinder Ptolemaic advance? Or shoud I launch naval expedition to Mesopotamia and fight them there? If the latter, any suggestions on how to explain such move in the story?
So, any suggestions on how to deal with too fast decline of Pahlavans and explosion of the Yellow Fever?

I would not shy away from the console and force diplomacy, what I want to achieve is challenge and an epic story to tell.

Looking forward to your ideas!:2thumbsup:

2.- Pontus: Try giving them another chance. Maybe spawn some armies using the console for them.

3.- What to do with the Ptolemaioi:Try using the console to remove all their money. But I heard it will take some time for the effects to become visible. Once this happens you could roleplay them collapsing economicly because they overstretched themselves.

You could also try teleporting a couple of armies of theirs to the Sahara.

Congratulations on a great AAR:2thumbsup: and I hope this helps:smiley:.

First of all : Great writing VT!


Pontos : give them money, cities in Asia Minor and maybe some armies.

Ptolies : give Atiocheia, Damascos and maybe 1 extra city away to the Seleucies. Give Petra, Bostra and Palmyra to Saba and teleport some armies over.

Nice AAR! I haven't had time to play Baktria myself, sadly...

1. Use your elephants as much as you like. Looks like you earned them with those early battles in India. I haven't found elephants very effective in EB, but that was 0.8 with African elephants... If your EDB mod is causing Pahlava to build only elite units, you might consider using the console to give them a few eastern skirmishers (Gund-i-palta? the eastern Akontistai equivalent) or Peltastai just to make sure they have some units who can threaten elephants. If you get tired of elephants or they're not fun to play, the next king can be "fiscally responsible" and replace them with a half-stack of Pezhetairoi or hellenic cataphracts or something. ~:)

2. Sure, reload, why not? Some form of FD and/or console manipulation should keep them alive, if you pay attention.

3. I'm actually facing a very similar situation to yours in my Rome campaign - strong Pahlava fighting both an Indo-Baktria and the Yellow Death. Since the latter is so painful to deal with, I'm hoping to manipulate matters so the east will be interesting to play with once Rome gets there. The parts of my plan which would apply to your game would be: drain Ptolemy money via console, teleport their active armies to Cyprus, and add units to Pahlava in front-line cities and armies (or teleport armies they have from the east to the western border). Now that I've noticed there's a problem, I'll be training a diplomatic corps like QuintusSertorius did in his AARs, so I can FD provinces away from the Ptolemies and give them to Pahlava, Pontus, AS, or KH (maybe). That should be a lot quicker for Baktria to do than for Rome - you obviously have a diplomat near the Pahlava, just need one near Pontus and the Ptolemies now. And Hayasdan maybe, though they look fine in the 233 map.

With such a diplomat network, you could even force a "civil war" on the Ptolemies, similar to what Mediolanicus suggested. Asia Minor to Pontus, Mesopotamia, Syria, & Judea to a "new" AS, far southern Egypt to Saba. Then Baktria and Pahlava can fight over the remaining eastern scraps of the original AS without destroying the faction.

O.K. friends, thank you for your advice (and do not be shy to continue giving me your feedback)!

I have reloaded the game and manipulated the situation in the west so that Pontos was restituted to her former holdings in Asia Minor, Pahlava,AS and Hayasdan got the Mesopotamia, Sophene and Assyria, and I helped Saba to get Petra, Bostra and Palmyra. Ptolemaioi are still a juggernaut though.

I have introduced a new House rule to restrict myself: elephants may not be charged specifically against cataphracts and should not perform complex manouevres in the battle (I guess that in real-life it would be next to impossible to steer a herd of elephants in the heat of battle as easily as, say, horses).


This is not a standard update. I just want to share with you a few screenshots from one particularly nice battle before the reload. Therefore nothing of that actually happened in my story, which will continue from where it ended last time, i.e. conquest of Margiane.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i233.photobucket.com/albums/...Propthasia.jpg

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i233.photobucket.com/albums/...shofTitans.jpg

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i233.photobucket.com/albums/...nvarvsEles.jpg

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i233.photobucket.com/albums/...eBaktrians.jpg

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i233.photobucket.com/albums/...ePahlavans.jpg

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i233.photobucket.com/albums/...ia/Results.jpg

Hope you liked this! "Real" continuation of Arshakou Polemos coming soon...

I love the history-chronicle style of writing, V.T. Marvin! This AAR is reads great and has piqued my interest in Baktria, I am looking forward to your next update.

Very good!

this is the sickest aar i have ever seen perfect blend of narrative story with pictures of battles a+++... i always wanted to creat a indo greek kingdom but found it too daughting a task nice job though... maybe u can include some more depth on ur econmic state espcially with the indian cities for my sake

Thank you again for your continuing support, friends, and please forgive me for not updating for a while - damned job keeps me too busy lately. :sweatdrop:
Major assessment of the economy and overall state of the Baktrian Kingdom is due when I will get to the end of the reign of Agathokles, but this still a bit into the future. For now you have to contend yourselves with a brief account of another clash between the Baktrians and the Persian Shahanshah. Hope you will enjoy it!

https://i233.photobucket.com/albums/...ouThanatos.jpg

The catastrophic failure of Persian invasion of Baktria and Aria, utter defeat of all four Persian armies mustered in the east, annexation of Margiane by Agathokles and disgraceful flight of Shahanshah Arshak from Antiocheia had not only constituted a tremendous loss of life and gold invested in the war, but also a severe blow to the prestige of the Shah. Not surprisingly Arshak became as eager to repair his reputation by a new campaign against Baktrians as his subjects grow reluctant to support this undertaking of his. Thus the next year passed in relative quiet as Agathokles was occupied with pacification of the resistive nomads who inhabited the vast steppes of newly subdued Margiane while Arshak was gathering another army and confined himself to occasional raids to plunder Baktrian borderlands.

Full-scale war broke out only at the very beginning of campaign season of the year thirty-five of Eleutheria (translators note: i.e. 225 BC) with a massive Persian invasion of Margiane.
To ease the burden of supplying his vast host Arshak divided his force into two armies which should advance towards Antiocheia in parallel, some hundred miles apart, only to join together in pincer movement if Agathokles decided to meet them with his Basilikos Stratos (The King’s Own Army) to give battle.

The first force, led by Lord Vanan headed directly northwards across the steppe, while the second one, under personal command of Shahanshah Arshak marched along the caravan route more to the east. Between them the two Persian armies would be more than a match for the Baktrians, but once again Tyche intervened in Agathokles’s favour, when a Persian messenger communicating the progress of the first army to the Shah was intercepted by a Baktrian patrol. Agathokles exploited the opportunity to the utmost. Not only did he gain precise information on the movement of the invaders, but he also supplanted the messenger with one of his own trustees to deliver a forged message to Arshak that the Vanan’s force is about a week behind schedule. The ruse brought the desired outcome, as Arshak, who was anyway hindered by his siege train, slowed his advance accordingly and thus gave Baktrians the much needed time to engage Persian forces in detail.

https://i233.photobucket.com/albums/...rgeofVanan.jpg

Battle of Vanan´s Rush
Thereafter Agathokles rushed forward to cut of Lord Vanan on his march to Antiocheia. Pressed between a river and the Baktrian army Vanan had no choice but to attempt to force his way through despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered by Baktrians and Margianian militiamen. His bet was on splitting Baktrian line in half by a steady advance of his infantrymen formed into a phalanx in a copy of Hellenic custom, which was then to be followed an exploited by a powerful charge of mighty Persian cataphracts. Sound as it was the plan failed on superior skill and morale of Baktrian phalangites who managed to stay their ground and while their adversaries were pinned down Agathokles ordered his elephants to charge the from the flank. Afterwards the Persian infantry give way in haste and fled amidst a great slaughter while the noblemen fought till the bitter end until they were either killed or routed as well by Baktrian cavalry and spearmen. Vanan himself was slain in the fight but his name was immortalized as the people since called the battlefield “Vanan´s Rush” to commemorate his daring yet vain attack.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i233.photobucket.com/albums/...fVananRush.jpg

Once the Persians gave way Agathokles did not bother with their pursuit and led his men in a forced march to the east to engage the Shah in turn.

Battle of the Kings
The battle took place on level plain some hudred and fifty miles south-east from Antiocheia where both sides had a good view on one another and formed their lines in parallel, with the fronts being of approximately the same length. Agathokles formed his phalanx in the centre, guarded on both flanks by spearmen and skirmishers. His elephants were deployed on the far right wing to form a screen in front of Baktrian cataphracts. King himself and his guard stayed in reserve, prepared to engage when and where necessary. The Persian force was composed mainly of light infantry and archers; it apparently testified how low was the authority of the Shah in wake of the disaster of the previous invasion as most of wealthy Persian nobles and their armoured retainers were almost absent in the force.

Agathokles opened the battle by ordering his army to advance steadily forward. Arshak, surprisingly, did not used his archers to weaken the Baktrians by fire, rather he ordered his men to charge in turn, with his right flank leading and the rest following somewhat behind. The merit of this unusual tactic proved itself soon enough. While Baktrian left flank was engaged already, the right still advanced forward. The spear-wall of the phalanx thus opened, allowing Arshak to charge his cataphracts through the gap and fall onto Baktrian phalangites from their rear. Seeing the imminent danger Agathokles responded by committing his Royal Guard and himself to the fight. This forced the Shahanshah to retreat with Baktrian Guard and Royal Companions pursuing him.

https://i233.photobucket.com/albums/...heKings-01.jpg

The battle line meanwhile became broken and several independent encounters were going on. Eventually the Baktrians on the left prevailed and Persians opposing them routed. In the centre the phalanxes slowly chewed through the Persian infantrymen who showed a great personal bravery trying to penetrate through the pikes and cut-down the phalangites in close combat. Some two hundred paces more to the front the two Kings and their Companions clashed again to settle their dispute once and for all. Shahahshah Arshak, despite being in his late sixties, proved himself a mighty warrior and horseman, shining example to his people.

https://i233.photobucket.com/albums/...heKings-03.jpg

The two great Kings almost meet face to face in battle - a late Baktrian freize discovered in Kandahar, Afghanistan

Nor did Agathokles allowed any doubts of his honour to arise. Cutting his way through the mob of iron-clad horsemen he wanted to challenge Arshak to a duel. However before he managed to get close, his adversary was slain by an eager Companion, certain Teleklos, son of hipparchos Archelaos, who thus deservedly gained the right to recline during banquets at the age of mere seventeen years.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i233.photobucket.com/albums/...gs-results.jpg

After the death of their King the remaining Persians promptly surrendered. Agathokles then showed his magnanimity by releasing the prisoners of war and releasing to them the body of the fallen King with his weapons and armour to be buried in Pasargadai next to Cyrus. For Arshak, even as enemy, was still respected as great king, founder of mighty empire, and his memory shall not be disgraced. Afterwards the Baktrians duly buried their dead and erected a trophy to commemorate their victory.

https://i233.photobucket.com/albums/...heKings-02.jpg

Soon afterwards an embassy hurriedly arrived from Persia with the purportedly to negotiate the end of hostilities. By the right of inheritance the throne now should have passed to Arshak’s eldest son Spanyasph who had previously been appointed by his father as satrap of Khwarazm. Yet his succession was thwarted by Arshak’s Grand Vizier and Spahbed Darman, who, being present in the capital and having close relationship to the most influential noble families of Persia, exploited his position and proclaimed himself the King. At first his position was far from certain as rebellions against the usurper were to be expected. Therefore he devised a most cunning scheme, which should have help him to establish himself as the Great Shah more securely.

According to this scheme his envoys spoke to Basileus Agathokles as follows:

“Hear, hear, great king of the Hellenes! We bring you a message of peace from our Lord, most noble Shahanshah Darman, King of countries. Recent warfare between our nations was most unfortunate and we shall not hide our share of responsibility as it was our King, Arshak, who invaded your country and not you who invaded ours. However, Arshak paid the highest price for his ambitions already. Upon his death, Darman, his closest lieutenant, who always had been a friend of Baktrians and advised against the war, assumed the burden of lordship to heal the wounds inflicted by war on our and your countries alike. He did so in despite of the claim of inheritance of Spanyasph, eldest son of late Shah Arshak, just because Spanyasph is irreconcilable enemy of Baktrians and is bent on continuing the war whereas Darman wants the peace between us to rule again.

Darman, his justice be hailed, also would like to offer you a reimbursement for the damage caused by the recent war. However, because the Royal Chest is empty right now due to the expenses of the unfortunate campaign of late Shah Arshak there is not enough gold to match his generosity and satisfy your rightful demands. Therefore Shah Darman offers you to take the revenue of the province of Khwarazm as a security until our fiscal situation allow paying the indemnity in gold.”

What went unsaid, of course was, that Khwarazm was held by Spanyasph, who was most unlikely to accept further humiliation after being deprived of his father’s throne. Agathokles of course knew that very well and in his eyes it just gave the outrageous deal appearance of plausibility. He reasoned that as Spanyasph naturally refuse to submit Baktrians would then be fully entitled to take the province from him by force. Khwarazm would yield enough in tribute to pay all Baktrian expenses many times over. The deal was thus tempting to Baktrians. However, it was not without merit from Darman’s poit of view either. Of course, he would lose one province, but more importantly he would got rid himself of dangerous pretender, Spanyasph, without having to commit himself personally to his removal which would be done by the Baktrians. Thus the deal seemed attractive for Darman as well.

Without much delay Agathokles agreed to Darman’s proposal. Cease-fire between Basileia Baktria and the Persian Empire was signed, technicalities regarding the exchange of prisoners of war worked out and the Persian embassy was sent home with plentiful gifts from unsuspecting Agathokles, who then set out on the march to Khwarazm to take his promised indemnity. Afterwards, once Agathokles was conveniently far away in the north-west, Shah Darman set his real masterplan into motion...

It ceases to amaze me the quality of the screenshots in these AARs. I can never seem to capture things perfectly. Excellent job! Love the one with the kings horses and the battle raging in the backround. Very nice indeed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by V.T. Marvin

https://i233.photobucket.com/albums/...heKings-03.jpg
The two great Kings almost meet face to face in battle - a late Baktrian freize discovered in Kandahar, Afghanistan

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I haven't read it sadly (no time), but from what I see your AAR is marvellous.

The above picture is fantastic, how do you add the depth? It looks 3D really. :yes:

Yup, great update again!

Nice. I like your screenshots, too. Keep up the good work! :2thumbsup:

Great job V.T. I really like this AAR. Baktria has always been one of my favorite factions. You've inspired me to do an AAR on them some day.

Thanks for your support, friends, but real-life defeated me again, so I regret to say that this AAR have to be put on hold (probably permanently). :shame:
I still have the savegame (so there is a technical possibility to continue eventually), but what I lack is the time to play, and than much more time to write the story and edit the screenshots to make it an AAR. I apologize for starting something I am unable to finish properly and wish all fellow-AAR-writers more endurance and free time than I have!:embarassed:
:sorry2:

Sad. Can't be helped. Anyway, I liked it a lot. Hopefully you'll find time to continue it and good luck with RL

Too bad. I'm sorry to see this end:sad:. Good Luck with RL.