Mesopotamia, 268 B.C.
Bagabigna surveyed Seleucia as it lay shimmering in the desert heat. It was a magnificent city, founded some thiry-seven years before by Seleucus Nicator, trusted lieutanent of Alexander the Destroyer and founder of the Seleucid dynasty. It was the seat of Seleucid government in the east. It had the symmetry typical of a Greek city, elegant in its alien splendour.
Bagabigna had just been appointed Satrap of Elymais two years ago, when the House of Artashes seized power in the Kingdom of the Parthians. He had mustered a small army of fleet-footed Parthian horsemen skilled in the art of archery and led them into the fertile Seleucid province of Babylonia with his personal detachment of loyal cataphract bodyguards.
As the cavalry army neared the provincial capital of Seleucia, news began pouring in. The old king of the Seleucid Empire, Antiochus, had just expired in his eponymous capital city in Syria. The mantle of the Seleucid Empire now passed on to his eldest son, Aristarchus, Satrap of Babylonia. Aristarchus was a man of prodigious intelligence, a genius even, some say. But he had no stomach for war, being a self-styled connoisseur of beauty. He dedicated great sculptures and art to the gods, which impressed commoner and lord like, giving him great influence over matters of state.
Bagabigna was unimpressed. When King Aristarchus sent an envoy and arrogantly demanded that Parthia make itself a vassal of the Seleucid Empire, Bagabigna ordered the envoy's tongue cut out and sent back to Aristarchus in a sandalwood box, and set up camp outside Seleucia.
The sight of the impertinent insignia of Parthia, a crown on a purple background, fluttering on banners annoyed Aristarchus greatly, so he summoned his bodyguard and mobilized the local militia.
Aristarchus' plan was to allow the peltasts to pepper the ranks of the enemy cavalry to soften the enemy ranks first. The militia was comprised of javelin-throwing peltasts, drawn from the local population and trained in the Greek style. Then, his personally-led armoured bodyguard would charge into the lightly-armed cavalry, crushing the insolent Parthians. What better way to start his reign with an auspicious victory against a disobedient vassal?
But Bagabigna, alas for Aristarchus, was not obliging. As the peltasts streamed out of the gate, Bagabigna led his cataphract bodyguard thundering towards them. The peltasts managed to unleash a volley of javelins as the cataphracts closed in, but the projectiles glanced off the cataphracts' full-body scale armour. Bagabigna and his bodyguard crashed into the peltasts. The peltasts, faced with the fearsome armoured enemy, lost courage and turned to flee. Every single one of them was cut down.
Aristarchus, seeing the disaster, rushed his 450-strong armoured bodyguard to the aid of the peltasts, but by the time he arrived, Bagabigna had already retreated out of the gate. Against the better judgement of his advisors, Aristarchus gave pursuit, reasoning that his bodyguard, being less heavily-armoured than Bagabigna's bodyguard but more numerous, could catch up and overpower the cataphracts.
Bagabigna rode back behind the front line of Parthian cavalry and Aristarchus pursued, unknowingly riding into a trap the cunning Bagabigna had set for him. The Parthian horsemen had been instructed and drilled to avoid melee engagement with the enemy and to rain arrows on them instead. So when Aristarchus charged at the Parthian front line, it parted to let him pass, and then promptly cut off his escape route. Arrows now rained down from every direction, cutting down the bodyguards.
Aristarchus hesitated for a moment, and then charged fruitlessly at the wily Parthian horsemen, who refused to engage him but melted away as he approached, the hail of arrows never ceasing or abating. Bagabigna's cataphract bodyguard watched from the sidelines as Aristarchus' bodyguard was slowly whittled down.
When Bagabigna judged that Aristarchus' bodyguard had been reduced and demoralised enough, he ordered his herald to signal a cease fire, and then charged into the beleagured Seleucid bodyguard. Aristarchus' bodyguard fought bravely, befitting the elite of the Seleucid army, but were no match for their less numerous but far better-armoured opponents. King Aristarchus, when he saw that he was overwhelmed, abandoned his honour and shamelessly fled the field, running for the refuge of the city.
Aristarchus' son, Cleitos, was a sharp lad of sixteen who, when he saw his father ride into the Parthian trap, rode out with his own bodyguard to help, but he did not reach the battlefield in time. He arrived to find his father's bodyguard vanquished, and his father running away. He burned with shame to see his father the king dishonour himself, so he charged and gave pursuit to a unit of Parthian horsemen. In the heat of the chase, Cleitos did not notice the vice closing around him, and soon he found himself trapped with horse archers sniping at his flanks.
Cleitos' bodyguard, who had just entered service unlike the veteran bodyguards of Aristarchus, lost their nerve and fled, abandoning Cleitos. Deserted by his own men, Cleitos was cut down.
The following day, King Aristarchus, disgraced, succumbed to his injuries, and the citizens of Seleucia sent an envoy to surrender, begging for the magnanimity of the Parthians. Thus it was that fertile Babylonia fell to the Parthians.
NOTE: This is just a battle account of one of the first battles as vanilla Parthia. It's my first time writing an AAR, so I'd like some advice on what can be improved, what other things are expected out of an AAR and so forth. I'd like a CC Level III. Thanks.
Parthian Shot
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