Down From Africa (An AAR Sidestory)

[Africanvs]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Great chapter, I really like this picture!

[Dutchhoplite]

I would be seriously worried with so many Persians around

[Roka]

another great chapter

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Great chapter!

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks.

There was some really weird terrain in that river-crossing battle. It made things more interesting. There is another battle coming up that also had some awkward terrain.

I roleplayed the push toward Susa. (Alypios) Antigonos was angry he didn't have a big battle the previous year and refreshed from his winter. The next chapter is "The Battle of Sousa", where all the Persian forces in the region come to challenge Antigonos.

[Africanvs]

...The next chapter is "The Battle of Sousa", where all the Persian forces in the region come to challenge Antigonos...

Wow, sounds epic. Should be a hell of a battle, can't wait!

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

The Battle of Sousa

After leaving the city of Seleukeia, we did not see any signs of
Mitrozaban or his agents. It may have been that he had invested
so much in his plans in the city that he could not immediately
follow us. More likely was that he remained hidden and continued
to follow us in secret. Once General Antigonos had decided on
moving north, to the city called Sousa, the army marched at a
rapid pace. While on the move, we were marching too quick for
any enemy agents to execute any plans against us.

Even though there were currently no signs of Persian agents, the
general grew ever cautious of his security. Antigonos took much
more interest in our work and would personally question Alys
Iolkios rather than having Captain Damatrios relay the information
to him. General Antigonos grew Obsessed by Security and was
very Suspicious of anything out of the normal. He even became
a Light Sleeper and would often wake in the night prepared to
defend himself. He was not paranoid or imagining things, for there
were truely people seeking to take his life. Now, unlike the previous
years, Antigonos took a personal interest in his own security.

Once we arrived at the Persian city, the matters of security once
again became more critical. When the general was not moving, he
became an easier target for assassins. The general's interest in
his own protection made things easier, for he was more cautious of
his situation at all times. The fact that we had no signs of
Mitrozaban worried me.

The army set up a simple camp and tried to encircle the Persian
city as much as possible. General Antigonos was convinced that
the Persians would come to us and he was right. The garrison
from within the city assembled and marched out of the city to face
us. They had not even waited for many reinforcements to arrive
before doing so.

The small Persian reinforcement army drew our attention while the
garrison prepared for battle. The small force pressed forward.



The Persians attacked the Hellenes and Babylones in the center
of the first infantry line. Once the bulk of the Persian force was
attacking, Antigonos gave the order for the men to break formation
and push the Persians back.



The Persians in this first army did not hold long after that. They
turned and ran. They had bought enough time for the city garrison
to assemble and they then moved forward and that was their goal.



The garrison forces split themselves into two groups. As the first
group moved towards our army, the second group strangely lined
up in the forest just down the slope from the battlefield.



At first, the Hellenes in the first line held, but after several cavalry
charges, the Persians began to break a hole in the line. Antigonos
ordered his cavalry to the flanks and the second line to reinforce
the first at the center.



To the east, the lighter companion horsemen moved up a hill and
managed to outflank the Persian line. At the same time, the heavier
companion cavalry attacked the Persians on the western flank.



The first group of garrison troops were defeated and began to run
from the field. Antigonos ordered the army back into formation and
marched slowly into the forest down the slope. He intended to line
up the troops in the forest and then charge the second group from
the city garrison that had assembled there.

I recall the chaos when the Persians sprung their trap. I was up
the hill with the generals and the royal guards when the fighting
below us grew greatly. The Persians had moved more troops into
the forest than we had expected and managed to ambush the
army while they were still marching.

The army was attacked while marching and out of formation, but
they fought back. The Persian plan was a good one and well done,
but they just didn't seem to have enough men. The units of
Hellenes soon regained their concentration and were able to push
them back.



The Persian did their best and fought to hold the ground. They were
overconfident of their power and fought proudly because they had
elites resting behind their line ready to charge in once the Hellenes
had tired. These elites were taken out of the battle rather quickly
when general Antigonos once again let his presence on the
battlefield be known. He came from behind the Persians and lead
the entire cavalry force in a powerful charge.



Once the elites had fallen, the rest of the Persians soon followed.
The Persian general escaped this battle and returned to the city.
The city did not surrender.

The army collected the dead and tended to the wounded. The
ambush in the forest had cost over a thousand Hellenes their lives,
accounting for about half our losses for this battle. The Persians
had lost almost ten times as many, counting those who were
captured or deserted.

The army went back to the task of the city's siege. General
Antigonos ordered the construction of ditches and pallicades, but
he was truely an Inferior Engineer and nothing much was
accomplished by the time the Persians had come once again.

Coming up the river valley from the south, another Persian army
approached us. This time it was the personal army of the Persian
king. In the army was not only the king of the Persians but one of
his younger sons. This time, there were not many other Persians
nearby and the king's army would be the only force that would
have to be fought.

The Persians entered the battlefield down a slight slope. Moving up
the old roadway, they came towards the army of Antigonos. When
they drew near, the general gave the order for our archers to fire and
the infantry to prepare for battle.



Once again there was fighting in the forests. The Persian heavy
cavarly, those beasts who were covered entirely in metal, tried to
move up the western side of the battlefield. With the Persian
infantry already fighting with our first line, Antigonos orders some
of the men in the second line to move into the woods. In the
woods, they managed to halt their heavly armored foes.



While the first line held down the bulk of the Persians, Antigonos
lead his own cavlary to the west. Once lined up, they charged into
the forest and joined the battle against the Persian heavy horsemen.



Both cavalry were at a disadvantage in those trees, but the
companions managed to slowy cut through those metaled monsters.

There was battle on the main line, a failed attempt to flank the
Persians on the east, and the massive battle of horsemen in the
forest to the west.

After some time, the Persian cavalry broke from the battle and tried
to get away. I later heard one of the companions saying that this
was due to the king's son being injured. The king's son had been
leading the cavalry but had gotten too close to the fighting and been
stuck by a Hellene's sword. The king tried to take his injured son
from the battlefield but it was too late for him.

The Persian king tried to escape but was caught by the lightly
armored companions. They quickly surrounded the Persian king
and cut through his men.



Soon the lighter companions were joined by the heavier cavalry who
had fallen behind but had managed to catch up to the fight. The
Persian king was completely surrounded. With nowhere left to flee,
the Persian king was killed. This was a great victory for the
companions and for all peoples living within the Kingdom of the
Hellenes.



Antigonos had ordered his men to kill the king if they could and they
did. I do not know why they did not capture him. It would have been
easy. I imagine that it due to the fact he was a hated man to the
Hellenes and many wished him dead. His death ended up being a
great victory in this war and a symbol of the Hellenes' success.

The fighting on the line ended soon after the fall of the Persian king.
This battle had been less costly for the army than the last battle. For
the Persians, it had cost them not just an army but a king.

It was only a week or two before a third Persian force attacked us.
This force was large but untrained and poorly equiped. We all
assumed that the battle would be quick and easy, but we were over
confident.

The Persians came at us in a wide line that could easily wrap around
the flanks. Because of this, Antigonos ordered the second line of
Hellenes to guard the flanks. This left the center weak.



While many Persians attacked the center, other Persians predictably
tried to flank the line. The cavalry was ready for this and broke the
flanking group.



As the flankers fled, the cavalry gave chase. It was the same part of
the forest where the Persians had ambushed the army two battles
ago, a few months earlier. They did it once more. Men equiped with
only knives or spears and no armor attacked the heavy companion
cavalry from out of the forest. The companions were overconfident
and held their ground.

The companions fought bravely but many fell. They said it was as if
the Persians would never stop pouring out from those woods. Many
of these men were simple hunters or farmers like I had been when I
first joined the army of Antigonos. Now they were cutting through the
most elite of the Hellene armies with small knives. In the end, the
companions were the better men and the Persian host fled back into
the forest. The fight was extremely costly and the bulk of the
companions lay dead amoungst the trees.

I personally witnessed similar with the infantry battle in the clearing at
the top of the hill. The first wave of Persians had broken and fallen
back, then came a second wave. After some time, it too started to
flee. We were all overconfident and sure of victory. The Hellenes
were permitted to give chase, but a third wave of Persian troops were
ready to fight and had even managed to encourage many of those who
were fleeing to turn and fight once more.

The Hellenes and Babylones had given chase to the Persians in all
directions. They were scattered and unorganized when the third wave
of Persians attacked. The Persians were poorly equiped and trained
but they attacked from all sides with great strength. I watched from
atop the hill as thousands of Hellenes died to lesser men.

General Antigonos personally moved down from the hill and managed
to regroup a section of the line. This section broke the Persians they
were fighting and charged in at the largest of the isolated fights so as
to save their brothers.



The Hellenes in our army once again regained the advantage. Once
they were reorganized, the Persians were pushed back and defeated.

That untrained Persian army was more successful that the previous
two combined. Even the army of their king had not been as successful.
It may be that they sought revenge for the death of their king and fought
hard. It may just be that we had already begun celebrating and
expected nothing of these men. To me, it seemed that the way the
Persians spread out and surrounded us gave them an advantage over
our solid block of heavily armed men.

When this third army fell, the city of Sousa surrendered and we entered
her gates. The people of the city greeted us warmly. I was surprised to
see so many Hellenes in the city and learn that this city too had once
been part of the Kingdom of the Hellenes. Because of the small
population and friendly greeting, Antigonos ordered the army to hold
their looting to the very minimum.

A month after taking the city, Antigonos moved the army out from the city
to attack a nearby Persian army, but they fled and gave no fight. They
could have given fight for they were about in equal strength to us, but they
had little fight left in them.

Antigonos moved into the old city palace. There, when we first
arrived, he visited the place where one of his ancestors, one of the
kings of the Hellenes, had died. I spent another winter guarding
Antigonos and hunting assassins. There were several locals who
were found to be plotting and they were executed, but we saw no
sign of any professional agents of Persia.

Antigonos received several messages that winter. During the late
summer and early winter, war had broken out in the north, in a
place called Armenia. Two armies of Armenians fought against
the Persians and managed to conquer great streches of this land.
I recall Antigonos breaking his normal stern expression and yelling
something similar to, "They took too long!" The Armenians had
been part of General Antigonos' plan. They were to have begun
their fighting when we first invaded Persian occupied territory. It
had taken them a year longer than expected to get moving and
another year before they had any victories. Antigonos was relieved
to hear they were finally having successes.

Another messenger came up from the south reporting that the
enemy kingdom in Arabia had once again invaded the friendly
kingdom in Arabia. Still Antigonos did nothing.

Many messages were exchanged with Antigonos' generals and
the other armies. The main goal of the war had been achieved
and now Antigonos would have to plan his next move. He called
for reinforcements and ordered another entire army move to the
city of Sousa.

A messenger came form the east reporting that the army of
Aigyptoi and Arabians had pushed all the way to the "Persian
Gates" and set up a camp to defend an important pass. This
meant that we were secure from an attack from the east. The
bulk of the Persian armies had moved to the north by this point
and this defended pass mattered little.

Amoungst all the important messages were letters to his family.
Antigonos would speak and have a servant write most of his
official letters, but the letters to his father and the letters to his
wife he personally wrote. I know nothing of the content of those
letters.

One letter from Hellas was reported proudly to the city. The king
of the Hellenes had concluded that the war had finally shifted power
back into the favor of the Hellenes. I did not know that the Hellenes
were ever the weaker and found it hard to believe that the Hellenes
and the Persians were currently equal in strength.



From the time we took the city until spring, we did not see any
Persian armies. We thought it odd that there was no counter-
attack. Many of Antigonos' advisors had said that they expected
to be besieged by spring and we would need to be reinforced to
hold out. The army was constantly prepared for battle, but still
they did not come. It wouldn't be for a year that I learned why. It
seemed the Persians were near to the point of their own civil war.
The king's son, Aram, had expected to be the next king, but his
uncle had gained the title. Aram had moved his army back to their
capital in a show of force. This forced the bulk of the Persians to
also head toward their capital and away from the front.

Several months after the fall of Sousa to the armies of the Arche, Spring 137BC:

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Yeah, and now conquer the whole of Iran!

[Chaotix]

Awesome job! Keep it up, MAA!

[Vasiliyi]

Truly epic MAA, truly epic.

[julius_caesar_the_first]

Looks like all those assassins are finally starting to get to Alypios. I again say that it would be very interesting to see him go mad. It wold be very interesting to role-play a mad Basileus.

And of course great update. But the again I never expect anything but greatness from your AAR. Keep up the great work.

PS: I used the word "great" excessively, didn't I?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks for reading and commenting.

I'm worried that if I take territory far to the east I'll have trouble holding on to it. I had planned to move my capital to Syria once I started invading Iran, but that was more than a hundred years back. The Romaioi and Karchedoi 'forced' me to take territory in the west. I still plan to reunited the empire of Megas Alexandros, though.

I've already had a Basileus go mad, Aristotelis. Ironically, he went crazy fighting in Babylonia and died in Sousa, Elymais. (I briefly alluded to him in the chapter.) Hopefully Alypios Antigonos will not go crazy, but he is getting some paranoia traits. I am still worried his son will be a failure, though.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

I'm worried that if I take territory far to the east I'll have trouble holding on to it. I had planned to move my capital to Syria once I started invading Iran, but that was more than a hundred years back. The Romaioi and Karchedoi 'forced' me to take territory in the west. I still plan to reunited the empire of Megas Alexandros, though.

Great to hear that you have plans worthy of a true Alexandros...

When you can keep Babylonia and Armenia in check (and even Spain), you won't have bigger problems holding Iran, cause the distance-to-capital-penalty is capped by 80% (like everything else). Unless you want to roleplay, of course - though I think that a unison of Roman and Alexandrian empire would be perfect.

[Reverend Joe]

I've already had a Basileus go mad, Aristotelis. Ironically, he went crazy fighting in Babylonia and died in Sousa, Elymais. (I briefly alluded to him in the chapter.) Hopefully Alypios Antigonos will not go crazy, but he is getting some paranoia traits. I am still worried his son will be a failure, though.

Would it be at all possible to choose a nephew over his son?

[Elcmar]

Wow excellent job MAA! Loved the Pyrrhic AAR - nice to read something linked into the same "world" - both great reads!

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks. I'll be getting back to the old "Pyrrhic Dynasty" thread and story telling style after this story end in a few chapters.

Would it be at all possible to choose a nephew over his son?

The problem is that there are very few males in the royal family. Other than Basileus Philippos, his two surviving brothers, heir Alypios Antigonos, and AA's son Hippostratos, there are no other males in the family. I'd have to go back to Pyrrhos II's brothers' decendants to find someone other than the line of Alypios Antigonos and Hippostratos.

[Roka]

another great update

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

The Persian Gates

By the time of the fall of the city of Sousa, we had been fighting the
war against the Persians for three years. The cold winds of winter
came and left once more. Snows fell in the hills and melted away
yet again. Spring came and Antigonos prepared to campaign again.
It was the beginning of the fourth year of the war against Persia, the
thirteenth year I had served Antigonos, and the thirty-fourth year of
my life.

The army had lost many men during the years of warfare and the final
battle of the previous year had lowered the army's strength to half of
what it was when the war began. Antigonos' "companions", his noble
cavalry, had almost entirely been wiped out. Many of the veterans in
the army were getting old and tired of fighting. The army was
reinforced, but many of the new soldiers were raw recruits or poorly
equiped men of the east. To continue the war, Antigonos needed
a new army.

To the west there was another army that was remotedly garrisoned
without a purpose. It was commanded by the husband of one of
Antigonos' sisters. This was a different man than the one who
governed Seleukeia, though I do believe I saw him visit the city
during our time there. This army was recruited just before the war
from places called Pontos, Ionia, and regions nearer the Hellenes'
homelands.

When this army arrived in the spring, Antigonos took command of
them and left the city of Sousa. All of the royal guards and most of
the surviving companions went with Antigonos. We left the old army
behind to defend the city. I had made, and lost, many friends in the
old army. I said my farewells to those who still lived and travelled
with the general, eastwards again.



We heard news that Aram, the man who should have been king of the
Persians, was to the east and Antigonos sought a battle against him.
By the time we arrived at the mountains that divided the Hellenes'
territory and the Persians' territory, our spies reported he had moved
north. He was moving from the Persian capital and heading for the
Persian regional capital to the north, the same one we had approached
two years earlier but not attacked [Ekbatana, Media].

The army marched eastward. We crossed a couple rivers, crossed
over some hills, then came to the mountains. These were the
mountains that separated the homeland of the Persians and were
only crossable in a place called the "Persian Gates". We came to
this pass and found the camp of the Aigyptoi and Arabians allies.

Still we heard no news of Mitrozaban or any other assassins. Alys
was growing frustrated at that fact. He broke with his normal silent
personality on one occation and expressed how angry he was at the
fact we had not been able to capture Mitrozaban in Seleukiea. Alys
was growing quite old and it seemed he was wishing for one last
victory in his life.

When we arrived at the "Persian Gates", we set up came along side
the allied army. I there were men from the great river in that army
and was curious if there were any in that army that spoke the same
language as me or even could have come from the same village.
Once while patrolling for Persian agents, I visited their camp. I
walked through the camp for most of a day, talking with the soldiers
there. I was mostly checking for any signs of Persian agents or
collaberators in that army, but I was also interesting in what type of
soldiers came were there who came from the same lands as I.

Near the end of that day, I was surprised to find a man that was from
very near the same area as I, he even knew the name of my father. I
spent the rest of that day talking with him of our homeland. He was
one of the younger sons of the village head of a town downstream from
my home. My father had visited his father many times to trade.
When he met me, he was surprised at my clothing and position. I
was the son of a poor hunter and he the son of a successful village
head, but now I was the wearing the expensive clothing.

Because he was a younger son and his father would leave little to him,
he had decided to make a life for himself and leave his home. With his
horse, he had joined the armies of the Hellenes and gone on quite a
journey through Arabia. He told me all about his travels through the
deserts and of the battles he fought. We spoke together several more
times and he introduced me to a couple of his friends who had been
raised close to where we had both been born. They all told me the
stories of their lives and of their journeys through Arabia. I enjoyed
speaking in my native tongue, but my new friends and I were soon
parted.

All of the soldiers who had come from the lands of the great river were
rewarded for their years of service. They had been in the military and
fighting for a year or two longer than I had. Their successes against the
kingdoms of Arabia were greatly rewarded by Antigonos. To each man
a grant of land along the great river or a gift of gold was given. They
separtated from the Arabians and were allowed to go home or to
wherever the wind carried them. I said farewell to my newfound friends
of my homeland and we all went our separate ways.



Antigonos' plan was for the men of Arabia to be the reinforcements
for the new army as we crossed over the mountains and struck at
the head of the Persian serpent. Events to the south changed this
plan. Once again the enemy kingdom in Arabia attacked the friendly
one. This time, they brought even more soldiers and the friendly
kingdom had even less. The reports from the messengers said that
the king of the friendly kingdom bravely lead his men into battle and
managed to hold out for quite some time.



When the enemies outflanked the city from the far side and killed
the good king, the army fled back to their homes. The messengers
say that the Hellenes who commanded the army of the friendly
kingdom tried to defend the city for as long as they could. They
could not hold out long.



This friendly kingdom fell to the kingdom of those who apposed the
Hellenes easily once its army was defeated and its king killed.
Antigonos took the message without much emotion. He seemed
to be expecting that the kingdom would fall and did not care much
when it did. However, the next kingdom in line to fall to this enemy
was one that Antigonos wished to hold onto. The Arabians who
were at the time assisting us were from this kingdom. They afraid
for their homeland. In a sign of friendship and support, Antigonos
ordered these Arabians back to their homeland to defend it from the
enemy kingdom in Arabia. He even ordered that a newly built fleet
be used to ferry them back there.

The old army was weakened and forced to defend Sousa, the
Aigyptoi had been retired, and the Arabians were now returning to
their homeland. With only this new army, we had to stand on our
own when attacking at the very heart of Persia.

[Cyrus]

Wonderful update!

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks, Cyrus.

That chapter was meant to be a couple paragraphs long and be just an intro, but I ended up dronning on again. The content that was meant to be the bulk of the chapter will be in the next. I'll probably work on that tonight or tommorrow.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

The Persian Homeland

We no longer had any allied armies to reinforce our army but the
supply lines behind us were safe and the new army was well
rested. General Antigonos was ready for the next move and
ordered the army over the mountains. There were signs of
defensive positions on the "Persian Gates" but the few men
stationing them retreated as soon as they saw us. There was
no resistance at all.

Once out of the mountains, we began moving northeast. Once
out of the mountains, Antigonos ordered the army to begin looting
the villages and towns. He was trying to draw the Persians into a
battle in which we could defend. For several months, we had
complete control over the countryside. There was no sign of the
Persians and the general began to consider setting up some sort
of government to control the regions we now occupied on this
eastern side of the "Persian Gates".

I did not like these lands, they were dry but with few rivers. There
were some Hellenes in these regions, but fewer than we had seen
at the city of Sousa. The great man named Alexandros had spread
this far in his conquests and even further. When I had heard the
stories of the great Alexandros, I never imagined how far his soldiers
had to march. He must have truely marched to the ends of the earth.
I feared we may have to do the same.

It was near the time of the year when the cold season began to
approach that we finally found Persians to fight. Two huge armies
approached us from the south and the west. Antigonos chose a good
place to defend, where we held the highground, and we waited.

The army took up position on flat ground, half way up a hill. Because
of the difficult terrain around the edges of the hill, the Persians were
forced to approach us from below. The old army had been armed with
spears, but this new one was trained to fight only with sword. Our
position on the slopes meant that the swords would have an advantage.



The first Persian army came up from the south. They marched up
the hill and spread out to try to flank the line. Antigonos' choice in
battlefield made this impossible and the Persians were forced to
attack our center. A small Persian force came up the hill and
tested our line while the majority waited just below the crest.



The small force sent to test the line did not take much for the
infantry to defeat. The infantry from Pontos held their position and
did not follow the Persians down the hill when they gave up the fight.
Still the majority of the Persians refused to come all the way up the
hill. Antigonos decided that it was time to force the Persians to
move and sent his cavalry down the hill to the southeast.



When the cavalry attacked, the Persians reorganized their line to
defend themselves from the horsemen. This was the sign that
Antigonos was waiting for and he ordered the first line of infanty
forward. With horsemen running behind them and Pontic infantry
moving down in front of them, the Persians paniced and charged
the infantry line to their front. The infantry pushed forward and
quickly broke their attackers. The Persians paniced again and
were chased down from the hill.



When the first army of the Persians began to flee, the second
army was already near. Antigonos ordered the second line of
infantry to form a line facing west. We once again waited. As the
first row of infantry returned from their chase, they took position
behind the second and rested where they could reinforce if needed.



Antigonos mounted his horse and lead his companions and the
Hellenic cavalry down the hill to the south. The two lines of Pontic
infantry then began to slowly march down the hill to the west. I sat
on the top of the hill and once again watched my general lead a
charge into the weakest point of the Persian lines. The Persians
did not wish to fight after this charge and turned to move from the
field. Antigonos signalled to the infantry and they came charging
down the hill and into the Persians with their backs turned.
Antigonos ordered his cavalry in and watched as his army crushed
the armies of Persia.



Captain Damatrios ordered the royal guard down from the command
post as the battle came to and end. We joined General Antigonos
at the base of the hill. Around him, the men of the army were already
looting the dead Persians. These Persians had all been poor and
carried almost nothing of value. Even their weapons were hadly worth
the material from which they were made.

More than half of the second army left the battlefield alive and
retreated to the south. The dead Persians numbered tens of
thousands while ours was was just over one thousand. Many of the
Persians, who had not escaped southward, deserted the army or
surrendered to our soldiers. From the survivors of this battle, we
first learned of the problems over succession to the Persian throne.
Aram had been next in line to be King of Persia, but a man named
Parkev had been raised to the throne in their western capital. Aram
had sought to contend this and withdrew his forces to that capital,
leaving these lands defenseless.

Just to our south the main capital of the entire Persian Empire was
within our grasp. Antigonos knew the prestige that would come with
taking this ledgendary city and could not let such an oppertunity
pass him up. He gathered the army and gave a great speech to the
men about the honor we would all soon have. The army was entirely
behind him and ready for the attack on the city. We began the
march to the south.



Even though we had just heard of the problems in the Persian
Empire, they were already concluded. By the time we reached the
main Persian capital, the Persians had already chosen their king.
To our north, the new King of Persia, King Parkev, was marching
an army toward us that outnumbered us two to one.

[Olaf Blackeyes]

Just...plain

[vartan]

haha King Parkev? why does the Persian King have an Armenian name?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Well the "Persians" are actually Hayasdan. I could have made up a name to make it more Persian, but I'm bad at making up names and just posted what his name actually is.

Though, it can be roleplayed. He is actually the king of Media and dual monarch with the kings of Parni. When Hayasdan fell, the king of Hayasdan was in Hyrkania and his decendants intermarried with the kings of Media. I can roleplay that that is where some of the Armenian names and such came from...

[vartan]

In any case, great AAR! I'm enjoying it much!

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Great update! Are you also at war with the Pahlava?

[Reverend Joe]

Man, MAA, I would feel NERVOUS commanding an all-sword-infantry army, and with only your general to provide heavy cavalry. It's not an army that's suited for the East; the only real strength it has is the archer division.

[HunGeneral]

Great update MMA - seems like the war for Persia is nearing its grand battle.
You really must be brave to march to the east with an army of mostly swordsmen and with so little cavalry.
By the way: what's the situation with the Nomads are they still romang about or has the new "Persian Empire" anaxed them? + are the Indo-greek doing anything against the Persians?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thank you for reading, everybody.

I'm neutral with Pahlava, although I'm roleplaying that they support the Medians. They really do, too. The two of them have an extremely strong alliance and leave their mutual border almost completed undefended. One of the reasons I've been reluctant to head eastward too quickly is so that I'm not forced to fight the eastern Persian king before weakening the western Persian king.

The Persians (Medians [Hayasdan]) don't have the ability to recruit horse archers or heavy cavalry in Media or Persia. They have a lot of foot archers, though. We shall see how the swordsmen hold up against a powerful Persian army in the next chapter...

The eastern Persian king has pushed as far north as Dahyu Mazsakata and Kangha, but hasn't gone into the northern steppe. They are fighting hard with the steppe tribes (Saka Rauka) but are always pushed back. The Sarmatians are doing absolutely nothing.

The Indo-Hellenic Kingdom defeated the last forces of the Seleukids, leaving them with only a half dozen unbeatable gold chevroned family members guarding their last town. The Indo-Hellenics are unsuccessfully trying to invade southern Iran and the Persians (Pahlava) are trying to invade the northern Indus valley. I was planning on an overview of other events that happened during my current war, when I got back to my old format. I have some pics of what the Indo-Greeks are doing and may talk about them then.

[Roka]

awesome screeny

and a great chapter too