The Story of Souls: A Sweboz AAR

[julius_caesar_the_first]

Realy realy realy BIG plot twist Great job Olaf

[HunGeneral]

And I though nothing new could be added to this. Great move Olaf

[Olaf Blackeyes]

Chapter Eight: The First and the Last (Part One)
(From the Runic book:)
Autumn 613AD
As i write these words, the reports coming in speak of a great victory to the east. Apparently the Khazar filth tried to cross the river Ormor at its best ford. All that these troops were composed of were levies of undead and slaves, and a few herders to guide them along.
The battle itself was short and decisive.

This victory has left the entire flank of the enemy open to an attack from us. We are gathering our best men to go and put an end to this evil before it can spread like the Huns did before them. I can only pray for their success.

(Three weeks later:)
DAMN THESE BASTARDS!!!!! I simply cannot believe what has happened. We managed to advance about fifty miles into the steppes before we were brutally ambushed by an EVEN LARGER army of Khazar filth. The battle took even less time than our victory did. What few survivors there were reported even LARGER numbers of undead, slave soldiers and highly skilled horse archers. The more and more that came the more and more that took their place on the horizon. The warriors described enemies that stretched on forever.

And these troops are heading right for us! I can only hope that this is due to demonic magics and not a sign of how many actual troops they have.

[Olaf Blackeyes]

Chapter Eight: The First and the Last (Part Two)
(From the Runic book:)
Spring 614AD
This has to be impossible. I know that i CANNOT believe these reports. According to what few scouts remain, the river Ormor had shifted course due to the huge numbers of undead and slave soldiers that marched across it three weeks ago. And the are STILL coming.
Our commander on the Ormor tried to deal with these filth himself. The first of this... flood... of monsters crossed at a point in the north about a month ago, right into a rather large hole in the ground. General Frezdolaz decided to punish them for their mistake. He marched towards the undead at full speed, ready to wipe them out once again. As the battle began he faced a pretty size-able force of Khazars and undead. However he managed to push them back towards the pit that they had set up as their base. However as soon as he reached the edge of the pit, he realized he had made a mistake. In that pit alone had to be 20000 undead and slave soldiers.

And coming up from behind him were even MORE Khazars and undead.

He quickly realized that this was an ambush. However it was a rather poor one. So he ordered his forces to retreat, as fast as possible. However several dozen warriors did not see the danger or heard the command over the sounds of battle and did not retreat. They were slaughtered for their meat.

While the battle was not a disaster it was still a pretty big defeat. Frezdolez pulled his men back into the forests and tried to ambush a pretty significant force about a week later. However the Khazar commander was a smart man. Rather than go in there and fight our warriors, he had his archers and demons set the whole thing ablaze. This drove our men out of the forests, with more than two-thirds of them being roasted alive. The rest were slaughtered by the Khazars.

Since then it has been nothing but defeat after defeat for our brave forces. The next man to try and take on the Khazars was General Guralezez. His forces were brutally beaten on the opposite bank of the Wesser river.

There are reports of undead so numerous that Khazar commanders simply fling them at the walls of towns until they are crushed under the weight on the undead. And still MORE of them are coming. We have broken dams to flood them out, we have trapped them in passes to crush them, we have set trees on fire and burned them out of their camps to slaughter them. AND THEY STILL KEEP COMING!!! By Odin how do these people have so many warriors and undead at their disposal?!?!?! They are currently heading for Crazckow and Warsawoz at the same time. The Poles have been brutally beaten back every step of the way. I have been forced to take command of this collapsing front and call for our full might on this one. I have very little actual military experience so im only in command until a more experienced general arrives. I can only pray that that is soon.

(Two weeks later:)
Well there is finally some good news to report. We have faced off against a HUGE number of undead troops that made up the tail end of this horde in front of us and we won. They finally finished crossing the Ormor about a week ago. It took this force a month and a half to cross a river, A MONTH AND A HALF!!!!!!!!! That is just way too far beyond unbelievable, and yet the proof is right there before my eyes.
Anyway the command of General Igroztelez was the only one still mostly intact within all of Poland. He saw that the Khazar force had finally finished crossing and decided to give them at the least a bloody nose. However these undead were really without a commander they were just following the smells of meat and blood left behind by the Khazar demons and commanders. He ambushed the leaderless undead beautifully.

However there were a HUGE number of them.

This was not a bloodless victory by any means. His command was shrunken by a third at the end of that day. However over 22000 enemy bodies were burned at the end of the day as well.

But this is a minor fraction of the total forces that these filth can summon so it is going to be a long fight for the people of Germania as well.

[Olaf Blackeyes]

Chapter Nine: A Shift
(From the Latin book:)
Summer 614AD
Well it is official. The Langobards and Pontics have fled the Greek territories. It took the full might of the Legio IX to put down this invasion. They fought the Langobard forces outside of Ephesus and Pergamon. They had a hard fight and i envy the fact that i am not there with them. It took them much of the day but in the end the foolish barbarians could not prevail over our forces.

And, if the reports are correct this invasion was committed with rather poor troops. They speak of levies and militias at best. I guess it is just all of the wars that these heathens are fighting might be running them low on troops, or out of, troops.
But the Greeks are in little position to take advantage of the situation. The Fight to regain Nicaea from the Pontics was far harder. The first battle took place at the landing site. It was fast and victorious.

However the fight to retake Nicaea was far harder and a lot more bloody. It was a bad day to attempt such a thing, but the commander of the Greek army, a man named Theodosius, decided that he need to retake the city as soon as possible before any Pontic reinforcements could show up.
The Pontic defenders had dug into the defenses REALLY deep. And to make matters worse a dust storm set in upon the area as the first assault began.

The first assault was repelled with heavy losses to both sides.

As the dust raged around him, Theodosius decided to send in his very best troops, the Armatus Corps. The Armatians are a very special grade of troops, probably the finest in the whole world, a step above even our Legionaries. They are 1000 slaves that are specially picked out to become the Basileus's personal guard, and are given the best training via many of the means and methods of Old Sparta. They are also given the best weapons, armor, and rewards after the campaign finishes. They live to fight and they fight to live. Theodosius decided to divide the 200 Armatus troops in half, 100 to lead a diversionary assault upon the most guarded part of the walls and the others to sneak around and open a secondary gate for cavalry to pour in through. He also ordered some peasant levies to undermine the walls in order to cause confusion and provide another entrance for the army.
While the peasant made their breach with ease, the Armatian's assault on the walls proved once again their caliber and skill. They hit the walls like a lightning storm. It was 100 Armatians and 1000 Greek militia vs. 6000 or so Pontic militias and 1000 elites. The sounds coming off of the top of that walls were... just plain evil, some of these reports that i have read say. However about an hour after the assault had begun, the Greek militia had been broken, but the Armatians kept fighting. Even when there were only 30 or so left they kept fighting. And they won.

The rest of the Greek militia poured into the city through the hole in its walls. However they were met by the other half of the enemy militias. What ensued was a total brawl, reckless fighting, disorder and in general, sheer stupidity. The Greek militias were forced to flee and regroup outside the walls. But that did not matter at this point, for the other half of the Armatians had broken open the North Gate, and the cavalry had poured into the settlement. This forced the militias and even the remaining elites towards the center of the settlement for a last stand. However the cavalry outpaced the Armatians and other infantry and reached the square first, obliterating some militias that had been left there as a reserve.
It was then that Theodosius decided to do the most foolish thing he could have possibly done. In a vain attempt to win personal glory and a chance for high rank, he charged the retreating Pontics from the front. They promptly surrounded him and cut him down brutally, along with much of the cavalry.

The Armatians once again saved the Greeks cause, by charging the Pontics from the back and giving what was left of the army time to regroup, they also carved up most of the remaining Pontic infantry until the garrison commander was killed. It was then that the Pontics surrendered.
The battle was won at that point, but it was an increadbly costly victory and it was ONLY due to the Armatus Corps.

So now the focus has shifted once again, reports have come in from the north, as well as German messengers, they ask for our aid, but to me it actually sounds like they are begging. BEGGING GERMANS!!!!! HA! HA!
The Langobards and Pontics have fallen back to their own struggles between them and the Sassanids. And the Greeks are trying to rebuild their strength, so it is once again up to good Roman steel to restore order to the frontiers.

[desert]

So are those the strngest unit?
Can I get the stats?

[Olaf Blackeyes]

These arent the strongest, i just beef the **** outta them. And i got a limit of 2 units per army.
Ill get u those stats asap though.

EDIT: Ok i take back what i said, these guys are the strongest unit in Rio's IBFD. However they are one of FIVE variates of the Comitatinses and they all have the same stats. It seems that the main modder was "inspired" by M2TW's unit diversity and found a way to copy it within the RTW engine limits.
These are the WRE Comitatinses base stats:





The ERE has pretty much the same thing, except the bird one is different. AND none of these guys is in charge of the Legionary Eagle, that honor goes to the Auxilia Palatina.