[Epeiros/Pergamon AAR] Philetairos' Gift

[QuintusSertorius]

Syria

Messaneos had to defend the crossing once more from another direction, the garrison of Antiocheia marching out to avenge the death of their commander.



This time Messaneos knew where they would cross.



While some elites spearheaded the crossing, it wasn't much of a battle.





238BC:



Still fighting to be done in Syria, and even in Anatolia this turn. Although the break didn't last long, I did move some of their stacks to where they might combine against me. Shame they've done a poor job of merging them so far, if they'd combined the armies they used in Syria, it might have been a real battle. I tried not to exploit the crossing, sitting quite a way from it, but I still had numerical superiority.

I did do my first round of serious FD on the world a few turns ago. Baktria were going in silly directions, Pahlava weren't doing anything and those damned Armenians were tring to conquer the steppe again. Rome had taken Tolosa, and wasn't moving against Carthage in Sicily, so I sorted that. Sweboz are starting their regular explosion.

[Swordmaster]

Excellent stuff, and much of it, which is how we like it. Especially the personal challenge there, that was awesome.

[QuintusSertorius]

Excellent stuff, and much of it, which is how we like it. Especially the personal challenge there, that was awesome.

I must admit, I liked that a lot. When the enemy general came across, I had a unit of Thureophoroi nearby and he had nothing else to use, so I thought I'd just leave it and see. 50-odd Mossolon Agema cavalry against 30-odd Makedonian hetairoi - the latter have much heavier armour, overall their defense is about 6 points higher. But they kept using their lances so while they'd get kills, they were much slower than mine. Convinced me swords are better in a press than lances, that's for sure.

I didn't leave the Seleukids for long, but they did start things up again. I think raiding their territory makes for some action, if only they'd combined some of those stacks. Would also be nice if the AI disbanded or retrained units with less than 25% of their strength, or better yet anything under 50%.

Messaneos' army is weathering well so far, two big-ish battles and his main line is barely touched. Should be more big battles coming up, and I think I'll start pulling some more Seleukid armies from wherever I can find them.

[QuintusSertorius]

The Seleukid War, 238BC

Syria

Messaneos had fixed upon one last battle before he left Syria. The Seleukids were running out of armies, and there was only so long his ships would be safe before the Seleukid navy woke up. Retreating for the shores, he was attacked one last time.



He set up with the coast to his back, leaving lots of open space for his cavalry to operate.





The Seleukids came on, phalanx to the centre, Jewish spearmen opposite the Pergamene left and swathes of skirmishers and freed slaves.



The view from the front line.



Larruos commanding on the left saw the first action.



In the centre the phalanxes engaged.



Larruous charged a group of Jewish spearmen trying to outflank the Pergamene line. Some skirmishers came to his aid.



Meanwhile Messaneos had taken his cavalry wing all the way around the enemy, and now could see their rear.



Larruos broke his opponents, then spurred away to begin charges to the rear.



The Gallic horse routed a second group of Jewish spearmen.



Messaneos rode down some freed slaves.



Only the phalanxes in the centre were left.



The Gallic cavalry appearing behind them crushed their spirit.



The regular phalangites fought on, despite those in the rear ranks seeing they were being surrounded.



It was the return of the Gallic cavalry that ended their resistance.



Messaneos had been granted a string of victories, and now he departed these foreign shores.

[QuintusSertorius]

The Seleukid War, 238BC

Phrygia

Young Megarikos was marching back to resupply his army in Sardis when a Seleukid force fell upon him in the mountain passes in Phrygia. He was outnumbered by a small margin, but chose to fight anyway.



Megarikos made for the heights, the Seleukids with the same idea.



The Seleukids came over the top of the hill. Their height advantage allowed them to rain missiles down on the Pergamenes, who had a hard time responding.





The lines engaged and the Seleukids tried to turn the Pergamene right. Megarikos ordered his peltasts onto the flank.



On the left the Pergamenes moved to turn the Seleukid flank by return.



Megarikos charged into the melee on the right.



The Galatian mercenary horse charged home.



Megarikos pushed through the enemy and moved around them.



He charged home, routing the flankers.



The centre and left were still struggling.



Now able to move more freely, Megarikos crashed into the back of the Seleukid line.



Two of the three phalanxes broke.



Soon the whole army was in flight.



Megarikos had won, but taken many casualties. A lot were wounded by missile fire, particularly those who had lost eyes to sling bullets.



Editorial note

I actually lost this battle to a post-battle CTD, but even though I repeated it with an auto-calc, I thought it was interesting enough to see one that was quite close for a while. I hate fighting uphill.

237BC:



On his way back, Messaneos decided to take Rhodes. There was already a spy there and it fell almost immediately. Now he's in control of the island, which can churn out Rhodian slingers for me. I'll wait a little while, mashing up the Greek navy before FD-ing a ceasefire since they need the trade income. Especially now Makedonia have grabbed some territory to match them. I now have 9 territories after 35 years (approx 140 turns), which isn't bad going.

Money has been a problem recently, possibly because I've got so many men under arms and haven't conquered anything. Taking Rhodos has already made a difference in just at turn, that'll be the big port. Aside from possibly Kyrene while the Ptolemies are still my allies, I'm not sure I want to expand for a bit. Quite safe where I am. Plus I need to look to my economy for a bit.

[QuintusSertorius]

Atintan's Raids

The war with the Seleukids simmered away with several inconclusive marches and counter-marches. Meanwhile across the Hellespont, Sosistratos Atintan, a young general with the northern army, led some lightning raids on the Triballi and Scordisi.









233BC:



The Aedui were really struggling against the Romans, so I figured I'd raid some places and give them some new territory. Plus experience for both my northern army and a young FM. Two brief sieges and job done. Hopefully that will slow their marginalisation in Gaul in favour of the Arverni, who are allies of Rome. I also had to FD Mediolanum back to them after the Romans took it, been a full-time job trying to contain Rome.

Seleukids are starting to get annoying; they send useless stacks of 6 units to besiege my settlements, which I then beat off without actually fighting, only for them to try another one. I don't want to take Ipsos yet, but I might have to. They're also failing to combine what they have into an effective force. There's a group nearby which doesn't have any proper regular phalanxes. Then there's a small stack with two regular and one elite phalanx. Put them in that other stack and there's a half-decent army there. They've also grown in strength, I think another deep raid might be in order once things are calm in Anatolia again.

Greece is still stalemated. Must be why KH accepted a ceasefire a while back without even having to use FD. Course I did also sink their navy. The Aedui are thrown into the mix there now they share a border with Makedonia. They've just besieged Dalminion, too. Maybe that'll attract the Romans to taking the Illyrian coast?

[QuintusSertorius]

The Seleukid War, 233BC

Mysia

Messaneos had been shadowing the Seleukid army for most of the year, marching and counter-marching, but neither side willing to offer battle without an edge. And neither had been able to get that edge. So he was completely surprised by the sudden bold move of the Seleukid commander to break off contact and march deep into Pergamene territory. Not simply deep, but to the heart of it - he invested Pergamon itself.

This added a whole new dimension to this war; Messaneos' wife and his children were in Pergamon. He could not afford to fail. The Seleukid force was larger than his own, though not as big as the combined might of his army and the garrison of Pergamon. He had no intention of relying on their strength, though.



Forest covered much of the battlefield, hindering the movements of both the Syrian pikes and Pergamene cavalry. The enemy was bold in their numbers and advanced.



They made an impressive sight.



But then they halted. Tired of the delays, Messaneos ordered the advance.



The lines closed.



Megarikos had command on the left, he and the Gallic horse made straight for the Seleukid light cavalry.



They drove them far from the main fighting, and fought their own separate battle.



Never wanting for valour or skill at arms, Megarikos cut a swathe through the lighter opponents and led the howling Gauls in the chase as they ran.



Still the lines hadn't closed, the Seleukid pikes apparently nervous of making contact.



As Megarikos began the trip back, Messaneos still struggled to pin the enemy down.



Ordering a charge, he began a flanking movement.



Some units broke on the left, but it was a confused affair.



Messaneos killed some skirmishers, trying to get a clear run to the rear of the enemy line.



A channel opened up as two phalanxes tried to fight back to back.



More units routed, but the whole picture was still unclear.



Eventually the enemy gave way.



A vengeful Messaneos had won the day, but not without many Pergamene casualties.



Nevertheless the threat to the capital had been averted. Messaneos nearly rode his tired horse to death reaching the city after the battle to see that his family was safe.

Editorial note



I've got to be honest, I didn't have a clue what was going on during most of that battle, the stats don't even help build up a picture of it. First, there was the really annoying habit of the Seleukid phalanxes to keep edging away every time I advanced. Eventually I just had my front line charge them, which is why they got chewed up as badly as they did. Second, their phalanxes got all mixed up, so I couldn't get at the rear or flank of any of them. They just seemed to fight on and on and on, then suddenly all routed.

I think it's time I stopped using those Anatolian hillmen, they're not very good. Always seem to get messed up out on the left, too. Perhaps it's time to bring in the Thracian peltasts.

[QuintusSertorius]

Campaigns of the rogue general Alexanor Messaneos

His compact with Atintas still healthy, the two generals marched for Kallatis with their borrowed army. The first stage of their plan had been successful, and now for the second. The capture of the Getic coastal city which had once been a Greek colony. Information gleaned from outlying villages suggested there was still a vibrant Greek community in the town, but that it was in many ways subservient to the Dacians. This could not go on.

What Atintas did not know, however was that Messaneos was already thinking ahead to his next campaign, and even an endgame. He could not run from the Basileu's agents forever, he needed somewhere to build a power base of his own. But that was for the future, the now was Kallatis, which they laid siege to.

Kallatis

The garrison of the town were completely unprepared for the arrival of a foreign army outside their walls, so swift was the Pergamene army's march. There were few defenders willing to resist.



It wasn't really a battle, Messaneos lost few men.



Taking his share of the plunder and slipping away on a horse during the night, Messaneos then left Atintas alone to face the music.

Editorial Note



For the first time I witness firsthand just how scary Thrakian elites are. They went through the general and his bodyguard like they were nothing, and the unit of Lugoae defending the square lasted about a minute with them in their rear.

Bosphorous

Messaneos spent a year planning for his next move, hiding around in the countryside and drawing on his contacts for favours. His plunder went into greasing palms and more importantly hiring mercenaries. Lots of mercenaries. In the summer of 226 he gathered his mercenary army in the Thrakian forest and trained them in the manner of Pergamon's armies. He welded them together into a cohesive fighting force. He promoted the leader of one mercenary contingent to his second-in-command, to aid in co-ordination during battle.

Then one of his other favours came in. He was friends with the commander of Pergamon's navy, Admiral Damosthenes. His request was simple: provide transport for his army to the Bosphorous region. There were Greek communities there who he had been in communication with and some factions within them would welcome anyone who would overthrow their tyrants.

When they landed he asked one more thing of Damosthenes - bring back his family. These plans in motion, he disembarked late in the campaigning season. He was attacked immediately by the army of the tyrant.



They appeared in the distance, marching through the driving snow. Messaneos had deployed in the standard Pergamene fashion.



The lines closed, though it remained eerily still and quiet.



Then suddenly both armies pitched into action. The air was ablaze with arrows from foot and horse-archers.



Some Scythian nobles charged the Pergamene line.



Messaneos and his Thrakians drove them off.



Meanwhile the Taurii foot attacked.



Getting frustrated at the volume of arrows buzzing around, Messaneos ordered his mercenary horse-archers to push up and drive their counterparts away.



A swirling melee ensued, broken when the Thrakians charged home.



Messaneos' second and the Gallic mercenaries charged to the rear and broke many of the Taurii infantry.



Several fraught charges later, their entire army was in flight.



And in spite of many wounded by arrows, a victory was forged. Messaneos' mercenary army had performed adequately well.



Editors Note



I was actually a little surprised at how easy that battle turned out to be, not least because of my suboptimal use of my horse archers. I got frustrated at everyone being shot up, so just charged them after the enemy horse archers, which at least got them away from my infantry. Their foot archers had greater range than my Kretans too, which meant I couldn't touch them.

The Thrakian cavalry I originally sent after the fleeing Scythian nobles kept on charging when I wasn't paying attention and routed one band of archers. That's when I spotted them close by the horse archers, who were suffering in melee, and they massacred the enemy horse archers. They and indeed all my cavalry got a lot of kills in that battle.

[Timoleon]

I really like the way you describe battles step-by-step and you analyse them afterward. Keep going!
How do you take so many screenshots? Do you use some specialized software or do you alt-tab out of the game all the time?

[QuintusSertorius]

225BC:



My soon-to-be Bosporan Kingdom, the dynasty Messaneos will found. He took Chersonesus with ease (there was hardly anything left, so I auto-calc'ed), and his two sons are on the ship coming back. I won't be sending anyone or anything else up there, it's going to run it's own business. Perhaps when Ptolemaios finally dies (73 and still kicking) some kind of reconciliation between Messaneos and Pergamon can be made.

Rome have broken through in Cisalpine Gaul. Hopefully they'll turn to the Illyrian coast next. Qarthadast are romping through Spain. For added chaos, I gave the Arverni Numantia again, though as consolation I gave the Lusotanii Ivernis in southern Ireland, which had bizarrely revolted to the Aedui.

The Getai accepted a ceasefire without the use of FD, which is becoming a pattern. Maybe my faction is strong enough that they're more willing to listen? Seleukids are at war with Hayasdan now as well as Pontos. Pontos finally took Trapezous.

Pahlava still aren't moving much, I think I might need to FD them some territory to get them started. Zadrakata at the very least.

Makedonia are still useless, even after I moved all of KH's standing armies to Cape Horn. Literally all of them.

I really like the way you describe battles step-by-step and you analyse them afterward. Keep going!
How do you take so many screenshots? Do you use some specialized software or do you alt-tab out of the game all the time?

I hope they don't come off as a little repetitive, since I use broadly the same tactics most of the time.

I Alt+Tab out of the game, paste them into Paintshop Pro, convert them to JPEG then save them, then back into the battle. Nothing fancy just a little effort.