Struggle for Power - A Romani AAR

**WonkoTheSane** · 10-04-2008, 01:34

Yes, another Romani AAR.

I've been playing EB since 0.81 and I just love this mod!
Now I'm around 218 BC in my Romani Campaign and I decided to write an AAR about it. It's my first one and I'm not a native English Speaker, so there could be some errors. It's mainly for fun, so don't expect regular updates.

Prologue: 8 years ago…

527 years after the foundation of Roma (226 BC), Roma

Caius Aurelius Cotta lay in his bed, with one foot in the grave. He had been suffering from a terrible foreign disease which he had caught in Gaul. He even felt worse when he got the news that Manius, his son and heir, had fallen in the battle for Bibracte. He knew what was happening in the Senate now. As he was unable to designate a new heir, the politicians would fight for the power. He had to step in and speak a word of power! He had called for a clerk to write down his decision and political testament. He chose Titus Aemilius Lepidus, the substitute of Manius, as his heir. He got weaker and weaker and hoped that the clerk would come on time.
Meanwhile, in the Senate, Manius Claudius Crassus saw his time coming. He knew that Cotta wouldn’t survive this day, and now he brought the Senate to accept him as the new leader of the SPQR. Cotta detested him, and he knew that Cotta wouldn’t accept him as his successor, so he sent out some soldiers to arrest the clerk. The plan worked, and Cotta could not stop his seizure of power. Caius Aurelius Cotta died later that day, unable to stop Crassus.

(this is just a little introduction, in the next chapter you will hear a little bit about the political situation in the Roman Republic, and in the third chapter the action finally starts!)

**desert** · 10-04-2008, 02:00

I offer your AAR an alliance with my AAR, so we can be brothers in arms against the world.

**WonkoTheSane** · 10-05-2008, 00:23

Greeks and Romans against the world!
You're having some trouble with me in Sicily, nontheless...

Chapter I : History Lesson

535 years after the founding of Roma (218 BC), Venetia, in a fort near Patavium

Kaeso Aurelius Cotta sat in his tent, and was bored. Crassus sent him to Venetia with a huge army to stop the Makedonian Invasion. “Ha! Why doesn’t this old fool fight himself?” he thought. The Makedonians did not attack in the last months, so Kaeso decided to write down his thoughts about Roman History, for those who will come after him. Let’s have a look at his notations:

I The Roman Wars

The Tarantine War (269 BC – 267 BC)

Beginning: Battle of Kalabria 269 BC
End: Conquest of Taras 267 BC

A short-lived war against the city of Taras, which ended with the conquest of Taras by my father Caius Aurelius Cotta.

The Punic War (266 BC – 243 BC)

Beginning: Conquest of Messana 266 BC
End: Destruction of the city-state of Atiqa 243 BC

The Karthadastim declared war on us when we took Messana. In the war we could take Sicily, Sardim and Korsim from them. Later, we even landed in Africa and conquered the city of Atiqa. But then the strong army of Kart-Hadast attacked our client state and after they regained control in Africa, they arranged a ceasefire with us.

The Aedui War (253 BC - )

Beginning: Conquest of Mediolanum 253 BC

Our war on the Aedui started when we attacked Mediolanum. Then we allied with their enemies, the Averni and the Sweboz, and slowly took their cities. Now they only hold two major cities and the strongly garrisoned exclave of Aventicos.

The Makedonian War: (219 BC - )

Beginning: Attack on Venetia 219 BC

This war started one year ago when the Makedonians started to invade the land north of Dalmatia with their complete military force. I am currently defending Italy from their greedy hands with my army.

II Politics

After the death of my father, Crassus became the new leader.

He truly is the stereotype of an old fool. He is fat, lazy and highly corrupt. He is sitting all day in his palace in Messana, wasting our money and doing obscene things with his mistresses while I have to sit in this rainy camp and fight the Makedonians!
Of course, he didn’t forget his old friends who helped him on his way to power. They are all governors of our big cities in Italia now, and are all just like him, a bunch of disloyal, corrupt, fat and old idiots.
But things are about to change. The highly decorated general Manius Iulius Mento was chosen as the new heir. He has fought a lot of battles in Gaul and is now on his way to Roma to assist me in my fight against the Makedonian armies.

He is a military genius and I hope that he will find a way to survive against the Makedonian superiority. I guess that Crassus isn’t able to find one… I wonder if he still fits in his old armor?

Kaeso was not able to go on with his thoughts because he heard loud voices from the outside. He went out of his tent and saw one of his scouts running towards him.
“Sir, the Makedonians are moving in our direction!” he cried.

(next chapter: battle against the makedonians)

**MarcusAureliusAntoninus** · 10-05-2008, 02:51

Interesting start...

**Aemilius Paulus** · 10-05-2008, 04:37

Originally Posted by WonkoTheSane

Yes, another Romani AAR.

Don't feel bad, its quite the contrary. The vast majority of the people on these forums are big-time Romani fans, its just that they are a bit afraid and intimidated to speak out. I always look forward to every Romani AAR, despite the fact that I have read close to 50 of them. Romani AARs are definitely my favorite. Great work. Keep it up!

So are you going to write about the early days of your campaign or skip right to roughly 220 BC?

**WonkoTheSane** · 10-05-2008, 14:46

Thank you Aemilius!
After the "History Lesson", I'm going to continue from where I am now, 217 BC.

Chapter II

536 years after the founding of Roma (217 BC), Venetia, north of Patavium

Kaeso was standing on a hill and watching the Makedonian army. It consisted mainly of phalangites, peltasts and some Celtic mercenaries. But north of him, Captain Merjaheruz was leading an army of the Sweboz that was supporting their king to conquer the fortress of Iuvavoeta. Messages were exchanged and the Sweboz were willing to help him against the Makedonians.

(i would be very happy if someone could tell me a better color for the Ptolemaioi, because i don't like this one either)

The Roman army lined up on a hill south of the Makedonians.

They waited until the Sweboz army was near the Makedonians, then the Velites attacked the phalanxes.

As the phalanxes advanced, the Velites retreated and Kaeso ordered that two thirds of his infantry should line up in front of the phalanxes.

The infantry then performed a direct attack on the phalangites, while the Sweboz were attacking the weaker infantry of the Makedonians.

The remaining third of the infantry positioned itself next to the great phalanx and attacked it from the side, following it to break up and flee.

Then Kaeso and his cavalry attacked the phalanxes from behind.

The attack from all sides soon broke up their formation and caused the remaining infantry to flee.

But Kaeso knew this victory was nothing but a bee sting, because the Makedonians have brought over 20.000 men to Illyria. The situation was quite hopeless.

**hrrypttrbst** · 10-05-2008, 16:34

That's gonna be a full scale war never saw the AI doing that in my campaings. Oh yes did forget something...

AWSOME AAR!!!!!!!!

**penguinking** · 10-06-2008, 03:20

That's awesome. This AAR is off to a great start.

Good luck with the horde!

**Cbvani** · 10-06-2008, 03:43

Nice AAR so far! I'm very interested in how you will manage to hold off the horde of Makedonians, and how you intend to stop them from just sending wave after wave at you if you can hold them. Do you use any console commands at all, for roleplaying purposes or otherwise? I'm curious.
Hope the politics aren't neglected, however. I like politics in my AARs.... and the Romans were good at it.