[Epeiros/Pergamon AAR] Philetairos' Gift

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Sorry your last one died on you. Looks like you're off to a good start, though. From you minimap, it looks like so are Sauromatae and Pahlav.

[QuintusSertorius]

Siege of Halikarnassos

Marching from Pergamon with a newly-formed army, Alexandros Aiakides laid siege to Halikarnassos. He had come on the invitation of the Greeks living in the area, claiming a tyrant had installed himself in the capital keeping a bodyguard of vicious Karian tribesmen around him at all times. Arriving as liberator, Alexandros led the assault in person.



Once again it was superior Pergamene tactics which turned the tide. Archers and slingers rained death down on the defenders and there was little fight left in the survivors when the Galatians stormed the walls. The tyrant Akestes was killed in the streets.



Defense of Nikaia

Pergamon's ruling council had determined that Byzantion should be the next addition to the confederation, and dispatched an army across the straits of the Hellespont. This angered the Pontic Kingdom who had treaties of friendship and assistance with the current ruling faction in Byzantion and beyond. They issued an embassage who threatened war if Pergamon did not withdraw. Unperturbed, Pergamon continued with it's investment of Byzantion, and Pontos attacked Nikaia in retaliation.



Pyrrhos had only the garrison of local levies, but he also had a contingent of Kretan mercenaries. Demonstrating his supreme confidence, he marched out of the formidabble stone defenses and fought the invaders in an open field. It was the actions of his cavalry which were decisive, routing the hapless levies pressed into service by Pontos.



Editorial note

Another siege won by skirmishers outside the walls causing horrendous damage to anything unarmoured in the city.

In the second instance, the attackers were a couple of units of levy hoplites and some skirmisher cavalry. Pathetic really.

262BC:



I don't think the siege of Byzantion will take long, but I haven't got time to do it tonight, bed calls. Apologies if it's all looking a bit familiar to anyone, there was a reason why I expanded the way I did last time. Grab up the soft targets with mines first, basically, then build up your infrastructure. I seem to be able to support two armies all of a sudden, though both are barely even half a stack.

Sardis and Ipsos keep yo-yo-ing between revolt and calm, I've got spies in each and assassins working on their happiness buildings.

I moved Baktria's starting stack to Cape Horn, they can have it back in about five years when Baktria are supposed to have emerged. As it is, they're just annoying me.

[QuintusSertorius]

Siege of Byzantion

As though to highlight the plight of Pontos and it's status amongst it's allies, not only was their attempt to take Nikaia repelled, but Byzantion fell as well.



Only a token resistance was put up by a people tired of their tyrant.



Battle of Bithynia

Now that Nikaia was secure, Pyrrhos could look to taking the fight to Pontos. A Pontic army was gathering inside the borders of Bithynia, an insult which could not go unpunished.

Despite having a smaller force composed only of mercenaries, Pyrrhos offered battle.



His smaller force outmaneuvered the Pontic army, made up almost entirely of pitiful peasant levies.





Pyrrhos, though now entering his sixties, still led the final charge that drove the raiders off.



It was a humiliating defeat for Pontos.



As a result of the battle, a cessation of hostilities was agreed, with Pontos relinquishing it's claims on territory on this or the other side of the Hellespont.



Revolt in Sardis

Spurred on by Pergamene agents promising better conditions and genuine freedom as opposed to the oppression of Seleukid rule, Sardis rose in revolt in 258BC.



Wasting no time, Pergamon dispatched an army to aid in the changover. There were still some Seleukid loyalists holed up in the citadel, so it was down to the soldierly Oroidos Byllideus to oust them.



Fighting was brief and fierce, and ultimately the day was Pergamene. A government sympathetic to the new confederation was installed.




257BC:



Sardis captured and my lands joined up - and without having to go to war with the Seleukids either. That's the result of some concerted agent-effort to get a revolt that I could capitalise on. Had a spy in Sardis for the better part of a decade, and a constant string of assassin-sabotages.

However I can't afford to repair the Temple of Ephesus yet. That's a massive 40000 mnai to fix. I had to use some cheeky FD to take Patavium off the Romans, I don't want them wandering off too early. Especially when they've tried to take Messana several times.

[QuintusSertorius]

Capture of Tylis

The mercenary general Admetos Kossikos was dispatched north with Pergamon's northern army, to take Tylis. While it wasn't Greek, and thus didn't fall into the policy of uniting disparate Greeks into the Pan-Hellenic Confederation, it had once been part of the Thracian Kingdom that Pergamon had once been part of. Besides it was rich in mineral resources and offered a staging point for the hiring of Gallic and Thracian mercenaries, fierce men who'd be a useful addition to Pergamon's armies.



It was a hard fight, but one in which Kossikos' greater numbers eventually prevailed. He himself played an active role in the battle, leading from the front.



252BC:



I'm conscious there haven't been a lot of battle yet, I guess mostly because I'm not at war with anyone. I'm getting myself situated and set up, and I think I need some bigger population centres before I start warring. I do now have two armies, one in Mysia (pictured) and one in Tylis which I'll move out shortly. I don't plan to have any more than those for a while, and they're deliberately a mix of recruited troops and mercs. I'm trying not to deplete my populations by hiring stuff, though I also hire mercs to disband them and recruit my regional/factional version of the same troop.

I'm not teleporting armies anymore (haven't done for a while), which is why I haven't tried to take Krete. Lacking a navy or the resources to build one, I basically have to take Mytilene (and it's naval yards) if I want to expand any more. All my likely targets are islands; Mytilene, Rhodos, Krete and Salamis. Most involve warring with another faction.

Rome are contained for now. Baktria are refreshingly inactive (due to the stack still sitting on Cape Horn). Otherwise things are pleasantly quiet.

[QuintusSertorius]

A Change in Direction

With the death in early 252BC of Pyrrhos, the Basilieu, and the accession of his son Ptolemaios to both the Pergamene throne and the leadership of the Pan-Hellenic Confederation, there was a change in the kingdom's strategy. Ptolemaios gathered his generals, governors and advisors in the winter while the armies were quartered away to outline his plan.

"Pergamon must become a naval power." He said opening the gathering. "Until now we have relied on our strength on land and on allies for sea transport, but this must end." He let that sink in for a moment before continuing.

"To our east we are constrained by the fierce Galatian tribes and the great powers of Syria and Egypt. While I think one day we can face their might with confidence, now is not yet that day. To the north east is the domain of Pontos, and while we have beaten them in war once before, it is too soon to free the Greeks of Paphlagonia from Persian rule."

There were mutterings around the table, some of his generals desired a new round of hostilities with Pontos.

"And to our west across the Hellespont the Antigonid kingdom of Makedonia and the Getic tribes to the north constrain us. I do not feel war there would be profitable while we are still settling matters in Byzantion and Tylis."

He paused to take a deep breath, this was the most controversial part of his strategy. "We lack the deep harbours needed to build ships of war. There are islands in the Aegean and Mediterranean, rich islands, just sitting there for the taking. Krete is incessantly at war with itself, the various tribes and factions fighting for control, just crying out for a strong hand. Rhodos and it's command of the sea lanes is right within our sphere of influence, there are factions in the city sympathetic to leaving the Koinon Hellenon. And Mytilene is within sight of the balcony outside this very room."

"Mytilene is the key to all of this. It has the deep harbours we lack and the skilled shipbuilders would could construct a navy of our own. No more would we be reliant on privateers and pirates to ship our troops to where they need to be. This is a dangerous plan, for Mytilene is allied to the Antigonids. We must expect a response from them in our holdings on the other side of the Hellespont. But we are ready."

And so it was agreed upon, there were questions of clarification, but no dissenting voices. This was a bold strategem for the new king, but an appropriate one worthy of his father who had led the expansion of Pergamon from merely a Mysian power to an Anatolian one. Besides the inhabitants of all of those islands were Greek, and thus more Hellenes would be brought into the confederation to unite Hellas.

[Swordmaster]

Nice. Keep an eye on Baktria, though. I see the Saka are having an okay time, so don't be surprised when they siege Baktra into a premature death.

[QuintusSertorius]

Battle of Lesbos

It was in 251 that the king's plan was finally put into action. He sent a relatively inexperienced commander at the head of the army; he would have gone himself but there were far too many things to do in Pergamon.

The invasion prompted an immediate response from the Antigonid allies.



Eleaios drew up in the formation that had become the standard for Pergamene armies.



His skirmishers were busy at the start of the battle.



The remainder of the first Antigonid group were showered with missiles.



Then came on the second, and in that formation the governor of Mytilene.



When they engaged, Eleaios' wings looped around. He led the enveloping maneuver on the right.



He also led two charges to the rear of the Antigonid phalanx.





The second charge broke them, and it was the Gallic mercenary cavalry who killed the last of the enemy.



The governor managed to escape the rout back into the city, but he was killed as the Pergamene troops stormed in after him.



247BC:



I finally FD'd peace with Makedonia a few turns ago when it was clear they weren't actually going to do anything. Now they've turned the tables in Greece, so I may have to intervene. They went from being at risk of destruction to suddenly threatening KH with extinction.

Ptolemies and Seleukids are allies. Strange. Both are pretty strong, either might be a good target for a nice war in a bit.

Meanwhile I've got my army in Mytilene preparing for the invasion of Krete. Given KH's troubles, I think I'll hold off on that for a while yet.

Saka are looking nice and healthy. Same with the Sauromatae. Romans are contained, though they took Messana then declared a ceasefire with Qarthadast. Lusotanii haven't exploded yet, nor have the Sweboz. Still lots of rebel territory out there.

Nice. Keep an eye on Baktria, though. I see the Saka are having an okay time, so don't be surprised when they siege Baktra into a premature death.

They seem more interested in duking it out with Pahlava in the steppes, and Baktria's much-reduced army is besieging Kophen. Perhaps when they've got that I might give them their army back.