Romani AAR - The Late Republic & The Early Empire

[thelord]

Hey everyone I've decided to start my own AAR for my Roman save, starting in 131 BC, this is mainly so people can follow me with the progress of my campaign rather than a dramatic storytelling AAR.

I'm playing on h/m with some house rules put in, to stick roughly to historical expansion and also I destroy every building possible in every city that i take over, i do this so it takes longer to get new provinces to be valuable and productive which is more realistic than taking over a city with nearly everything already built.

POST ONE - INTRODUCTION

OK now for the introduction to the stage the game is at, the year is 131 BC, my empire stretches from Iberia to Asia Minor. The Marian reforms have been in place for around 20 years and after a century of constant wars I finally have a period of peace. AS, Epeiros, Aedui, Kart-Hadast, Pontos, Saka and Pahlava have all been wiped out. I am currently at war with the Arverni, Macedon and Ptolemaioi. I have no allies to speak of, clearly my expansion has not gone down well with the rest of Europe.



The constant invasions of the Arverni into Cisalpine Gaul have forced me to build forts to block all the passes between the mountains, each with a tough stack of men in. I'm sticking roughly historical accuracy so I won't take Gaul for another 60 or 70 years. Until then i will pick off their invading forces and generally keep them under control.



In the last 2 or 3 decades i have quickly occupied all of Greece, the western portion of Asia Minor and Kydonia. I plan to stop expanding east for a while in order to build up the towns there so I don't have a stretched supply line.

[General Appo]

Nice to see someone who keeps playing after 200 BC. But what have you done to the minimap, it looks horrible.

[thelord]

Nice to see someone who keeps playing after 200 BC. But what have you done to the minimap, it looks horrible.

hmm, I personally prefer it with the borders on. I'm in two minds really, I like having the borders between different factions to have black lines but not for the boundaries between every province. Anybody know of a way to achieve this?

[thelord]

POST THREE - MACEDONIA'S INVASION

The year is 122 BC, and the short period of peace that I was experiencing seems to be over, the Macedonians and the Ptolemys are both launching mass assaults on Asia minor and Lepki. My treasury has been severely plundered because I had to bribe a Ptolemaic army and also my faction leader died. Being replaced by his distant cousin as his own son was 2 years too young. Macedonia is clearly not going to accept that I control Asia minor now and is sending a stack nearly every turn now. This has prompted me to begin the recruitment of a new legion in order to crush their remaining 2 cities and hopefully force them into being my vassal. My new faction heir will lead this legion as he needs some valuable combat experience.



As for the Macedon stack already besieging Sardis, my legion stationed there should be enough to destroy it and hold off any more until my heir arrives to wipe them out. So I sallied out of Sardis to face them, they had superior numbers but my troops were vastly superior to theirs. However their cavalry superiority may prove fatal.



I formed my troops into two lines and engaged the first line with the Macedonians. They flanked the line with some of their cavalry and sub sequentially charged my front-line, at which point I sent my second line forwards to outflank the cavalry.



This results in the simultaneous fleeing of their army and a truly crushing defeat for Macedon.

[Frodge]

Nice I love marian units, being able to retrain your line units in a hell of a lot of provinces really gives you an edge.

[eliad91]

Very nicely done,I thought the talents will be like onagers o well.

[Tarkus]

Interesting stuff! But I just think the placement of forts on all those nothern Italy mountain passes and at the ends of bridges looks...well...too gamey for my blood.

Am I alone in this?

Keep it coming, thelord!

[CaesarAugustus]

Good AAR! I like following the progress of another player's campaign. That campaign map and the banners are a bit of an eyesore, but other than that...

[thelord]

POST TWO - INVASION OF LEPKI

Winter 128 BC, the Ptolemys are constantly blockading my ports in Greece and Asia minor, so I decided to teach them a lesson by invading their huge city Lepki. It was also a good opportunity to try out some of the new artillery available to me from the Marian reforms. In particular the 1 talent stone projectors. Costing a whopping 30000 mnai for one unit! Thankfully I have a large amount of cash in my treasury so I can afford to be experimental.



In 127 BC i made my assault without waiting to build any siege equipment, however this turned out to be a mistake as the stone projector was not enough to create a whole in the large stone wall on its own. So I suffered a defeat and had to withdraw.



So i made a second assault the following turn in the Autumn of 127 BC and this time i managed to bash a whole in the wall and take they city, killing the Ptolemaic faction heir in the process. No doubt I will see the arrival of several stacks trying to retake the city in the next few years.