EB AAR: The Parni

[johnhughthom]

The Parni: a Europa Barbarorum After Action Report

Prologue: The Funeral

The four men stood around the funeral pyre, Arshak the new Sharhdar of the Parni following the death of his father, his son and heir, also named Arshak, his younger son, Tirdad, and finally his father's Captain of Horse, Harasp. All four men were lost in their thoughts as they watched the flame consume the great Sharhdar, Phrapates.



Arshak senior was contemplating his father's last words on his deathbed. "Son, show the Greek King the honour he deserves. Be true Parni." Honour and honesty had been the guiding principles of Phrapates life and his son wanted to continue that tradition. He had a different view on the relationship between the Greek Basileus to the west and his people from his father however, they had had many arguments on the subject and it had blighted their relationship in recent years. To Phrapates the Parni had been a bulwark against tribes hostile to civilization, he saw the Greek Empire as a continuation of the great Persian Empires, and the Parni as a loyal and trusted ally. Arshak saw the relationship as one between great Empire and useful servant, as soon as the usefulness was gone the Greeks would turn on them. He feared the recent Parni occupation of the lands of the rebellious Satrap of Parthyaia would bring hostility from the Basileus in Mesopotamia. His father had seen it as retaking lands in the name of the Empire, no doubt the Greeks would see it as a threat to their power. His father's last words had left him unable to act first however. He was broken from his thoughts by the sight of a group of horsemen approaching, it seemed the Basileus representatives had finally arrived.



Arshak junior's thoughts were similar to those of his father. He had marched with Harasp against the Parthyaian Satrap and watched the local Greeks as they welcomed their liberators into their cities. He had seen contempt and disgust in those faces, the Greeks had seen them as conquerors not liberators, a people beneath Greek culture and learning. He saw shame that a people like the Parni, and their Dahae allies, had come to the rescue of good Greeks. He knew his father's thoughts, his feelings on the Greek Basileus, how could he persuade him to "rescue" more Greeks?



Tirdad's eyes were not on his grandfather, rather they were on his brother. The heir to their father's crown. Tirdad was not a man to stand aside and allow fate to bypass him, he wasn't looking back to his grandfathers reign, or to the immediate future and his father's reign. His thoughts were solely occupied with how he could better his brother show their father the younger son would be a better Sharhdar. Or perhaps therer would be a way to take the decision out of his father's hands...



Harasp was the oldest man of the group, well past his fiftieth summer he still loved life in the saddle and vowed to stay alive so long as there was an enemy of the Parni yet to fight. He had led the Parni horsemen into the lands of the Satrap of Parthyaia after the rebellion and won battle after battle. Peace had reigned in the six months since the war had been won, already he was growing restless.


The horsemen reached the mourners and Arshak saw that it was Harasp's sons who had come to pay their respects, not the representative of the Greek Basileus. His eyebrows narrowed, messengers had been sent to every major Greek city informing them of the death of Phrapates, inviting representatives to pay their respects, an important part of Parni tradition. Representatives from the Saka and Sarmatian noble tribes had come, each bearing messages of condolence from their masters, and gifts for the new King. Even a messenger from the Indians, far to the south had come to show respect at the passing of a great leader.

The day went on and no Greek ambassador came. As he watched the dying embers flicker in the air, standing alone Arshak spoke to his father for the final time. "I will honour your last request father. I will show the Greeks the honour they deserve." He turned away to his horse and joined the rest of the group to return to Nisa.

[johnhughthom]

Chapter One: East of Nisa...

Tirdad took a long swallow from his goatskin canteen, waiting for his scouts to return. Ever since he was a boy he had patrolled these plains, watching for bandits and hostile tribes. Now he was watching for the people he had been protecting, he was certain that they were arrogant enough to march west on foot, expecting numbers to win over ability and honour. The scouting party crested the top of a hill to his north and shot a flaming arrow in an easterly direction, they were coming then...

Rather than split his forces up to flank the enemy, Tirdad kept the group together and rode to the hill where his scouts were waiting. He wanted to have a look at the enemy himself, numbers and troop types, before he committed to a course of action. The scouts were sitting around, drinking from their own canteens, eating fruit and berries they had collected, clearly the enemy weren't close enough to be a threat.

As the main force reached the top of the hill the scouts remounted their horses, the enemy were closer than Tirdad had imagined, the scouts had simply been showing their disdain for the Greeks with their nonchalant attitude. "You better have some of that forage left for after the fight." Snarled Darman, Tirdad's second in command and son of Harasp.

Looking over at Tirdad, Darman nodded his head toward another hill to the left of the approaching Greeks. Tirdad nodded assent and half the horsemen moved down the hill, out of sight of the approaching army, and galloped to the hill.

Tirdad was now able to see the force approaching him, around three hundred men, most of them infantry with maybe a quarter light cavalry. A small number were heavily armoured spearmen, the rest amateur warriors taken from their fields to die. Tirdad felt a sudden anger at the arrogance of the Greeks to think such a force could take Nisa.

He forced himself to stay calm, rash action would see him lose men today, these Greeks would be defeated with the bare minimum losses to his forces. Just then he saw Darman reach the hilltop to his right, he was in arrow range of the Greeks and he sent volleys into the tightly packed spearmen. As they turned to their left to move toward Darman they came into Tirdad's range, he raised and lowered his arm to signal his men to fire. Two volleys hit the spearmen, who stopped in panic. They couldn't run or they would be shot down from behind, so the entire force charged at Tirdad.

His men waited until the enemy were almost upon them, then swung right and rode away, shooting at them as they ran. The infantry were unable to keep up, and Tirdad wheeled his men back and charged the Greek light cavalry. The heavy Parni horsemen smashed right through the Greeks and wheeled around for another charge. The enemy cavalry were running from the field. As Tirdad looked back to Darman he saw the remnants of the Greek infantry steady itself for Darman's charge. He urged his men forward and charged the Greek rear as Darman hit the front. The Greek army, already shattered by the volleys of arrows and seeing their own cavalry swept from the field so easily, was unable to resist and tried to flee. They were cut down by sword, lance, axe and arrow. The only Greeks who left the field alive were the cavalry who had fled minutes before. Tirdad sent word back to his father in Nisa and moved further east, toward Greek land.

Nisa.

Arshak prayed before the holy flame in the temple of Ahura Mazda, asking for a sign of how he shoudl proceed against the Greeks. Was he to be the instigator, or should he would for the inevitable betrayal? He received no answer, and was reminded of his father's belief that the Gods don't tell man what to do, rather they support the bold and decisive man who interprets their desires himself. Leaving the temple he noticed a filthy horseman riding into the city, he had clearly been on the road for many days.

"My Lord!" The man exclaimed, having seen his King. "A message from your son!" Swiftly dismounting the man told Arshak of the Greek attack and Tirdad's victory."Good man, go get yourself something to eat and a bath. You have earned it my friend."

Back in Arshak's tent a meeting of the great men of the Dahae confederation took place.

"The war begins then, I have waited many years for this." Said Harasp, he expected to be given a large force of men and free reign to attack the enemy as he saw fit in the old Parni tradition. He would be disappointed.

"This is a new war for our people," began the King, "we cannot fight in the old style against this enemy. They have cities, cities teeming with men they can throw against us. To defeat them we need to take their cities, and our old way of fighting will not let us do this. We need to be clever, fight them hit and run, harry them until we have an army that can take cities and bend the populace to our will. This will take time."

Keyarash, first minister of the Dahae confederation spoke next. "My Lord, I haven't yet made you aware of one of your father's great secrets. Every city within twenty days ride of our lands has a spy within it's leadership, working for us. Your father wasn't quite as naive as you may have believed, he understood this day may come and made sure he would be ready for it. No Greek army will get into our lands without our knowledge, you can be assured of that."

The King turned to his eldest son, "I want you to gather up as many able bodied men as you can. The blacksmiths have been making spears for the last few weeks. Arm them, train them. I need them in the field within six months, we need to learn how to fight like these heirs of Iskander if we are to win this war."

[Unintended BM]

Good work. I like it.

[johnhughthom]

Arshak I: The early years

The first four years of the reign of Arshak I saw his small bands of horsemen mount hit and run raids on Greek forces. The Basileus was desperate to create a large eastern army to crush the resistance of the nomads, every detachment that was sent east from Mesopotamia was ambushed and decimated by Arshak's men. The forces raised in his isolated eastern territories dared not move against the Parni due the the threat from Sakae tribes.

The entire situation in the east was chaotic during these years, apart from the conflict between the Greek Basileus and the nomads of the Parni and Sakae there was also a bloody conflict ongoing between the Sakae and the Indo-Greek Baktrian Kingdom. Arshak feared being brought into the conflict, he had cordial relations with both groups but the conflict had reached a stalemate and he was worried that he would be seen as the man who could tip the balance.

Arshak the younger had raised the standing army his father requested, a motley bunch of men too old or poor for horseback, criminals hiding from justice and mountain tribesmen, they were stationed in the northern steppes, a days ride from Khiva, ready to defend Parni lands if necessary. In reality they simply existed to deter any Baktrian or Sakae ideas of marching into Arshak's lands, enabling him to concentrate on the Greeks to the south.


Darman also patrolled the region with a band of veteran horsemen, nobody would enter unseen. A number of bandit goups from the mountain tribes had been harrasing Dahae tribes over the previous few years, lightly armoured and armed with axe and shield they had frustrated most efforts to catch them. Darman's men caught up with the bandits after shadowing them for a few days, trapping them on a hillside. The horsemen fired volley after volley of arrow into the bandits killing most of them and leaving the rest wounded. Darman watched the pile of corpses and injured men for movement, seeing none he ordered on final volley into the group before leaving the scene.

[johnhughthom]

Arshak II: A new King

The great temple to Ahura Mazda in Nisa saw a massive crowd gather for the funeral of Sharhdar Arshak, he had lived over sixty years and stabilised the fledging Parni Kingdom. The Greek Basileus had thrown army after army against his forces and each had been beaten back convincingly, the forces coming from the west had never been able to join with the remnants of his eastern Satrapies. In the latter years the men coming from the west had changed from numerous levies to smaller number of heavier armed phalangites, it was clear the Emperor was realising this new enemy would not be defeated easily. Arshak I hadn't brought any new territories into his control during his reign, he knew taking the isolated eastern pockets of Greek control would bring him into the Baktro/Sakae conflict in the region. Parni expansion would be south and west, let others bleed themselves over the east.



His son was now Arshak II, he had led many of the victories over Greek forces in the southern territories. Just before his father funeral an emmisary had arrived from the Greek Basileus with on offer of peace if Arshak swore fealty as a vassal. The letter had referred to his Kingdom as "Parthyaia" the name of the Satrapy they had taken from it's rebellious governor. It was a name the Indo-Baktrians, themselves a former Greek Satrapy, also used in reference to the Kingdom. Arshak had spent many years ruling the city of Hekatompylos, capital of the former Greek Satrapy, and learnt much of it's history. He was fascinated with the old Achaemenid Kingdom that had been overthrown by Iskander, that overrated Greek conqueror. None of his ancestors had had any effect against the Parni horsemen, Arshak doubted the "Megas Alexandros" would have done any better. He made Hekatompylos his new capital, the old northern steppes could look after itself, he was looking south and west. Hekatompylos was a fine city, but there were others he wanted. Next was Persepolis, he wanted the great Achaemenid cities in the region under Parni control, the Greeks used the name of Iskander to show their greatness, he would revive the memory of Cyrus as a banner for a reborn Empire, ruled from the east with the Greeks vassals and subjects of a great eastern ruler.



Tirdad had lost most of his ambition for Kingship in his latter years, time spent ruling a city had bored him and left him desperate to return to patrolling the vast extants of the Kingdom. Killing Greeks from horseback was all he wanted from life, and it was something he was good at. He had been promised even more horsemen by his brother, and he would be free to lead them his way, his fathers obsession with trying to build a Greek style army would not be imposed on him.



In the northern steppes Tirdad roamed with his band of grizzled, veteran horsemen. Few Greek forces dared to attack here now, he was mainly patrolling against the threat of other nomads trespassing on Parni lands. On hearing of the death of Arshak he had taken the city of Antiocheia Margiane, the main source of the Greek threat to Arshak II's northern lands. The last Greek controlled region was to the north east, they were too busy defending against Sakae raids to threaten the Parni.

First Minister Keyarash presented a large goatskin document to the new King after the ceremony, laying it down Arshak looked at it baffled and asked Keyarash what it was. It was a map of the Parni Kingdom, and the lands surrounding it, garishly coloured. It had been commisioned by his father and men had ridden many miles to gather the information needed to create it. Arshak took it with him to Hekatompylos, he would use it to direct the focus of the expansion of his Kingdom

[johnhughthom]

Arshak II: The Persian expedition

Three months after his accension to the throne Arshak II began his quest to take Persepolis for his Kingdom, he took his new army south, the largest group of horsemen the Parni had ever sent forth. The Basileus in Mesopotamia had gotten wind of the build up in Parthyaia and had sent a lage force to engage Arshak. Less than a day out of Hekatompylos the King spotted the Greeks on a hill to his south, he was able to ride around them, keeping them at bay with a constant barrage of arrows, forcing the Greeks to follow him rather than engage from the advantageous position their general had sited his forces on.

The Parni scouts were far superior to the Greeks, Arshak knew the enemy position at all times and the Greeks found themselves coming over a hill top to face a hail of arrows from a small detachment of horsemen who then retreated before they could retaliate.

As the armies moved south, through forested lands, the Greeks found themselves coming out of thick woodland to see the entire Parni army in ready and waiting. A number of volleys were fired, causing panic amongst the Greeks, before Arshak once again withdrew. Greek morale was at breaking point by this stage, it seemed magical how the Parni knew where they were at all times and materialised as if out of nowhere.

The decisive battle came deep within Greek territory, Arshak sent Tirdad with a small detachment of veteran horsemen to flank the Greeks and held position on a small hill. It was a good defensive position, but not a great one, he wanted the enemy to think he had made a mistake. He knew he could rely on his brother to keep hidden until the enemy were within range of the main force, then come from behind and cause confusion and panic among the Greeks. The plan worked flawlessly and the much larger Greek army was destroyed with virtually no Parni losses.

Before he could attack Persepolis Arshak needed to bring the region of Gabiene under his control, his victory in the region had given him support amongst the locals and taking the city of Gabai would strengthen Parni control. The network of spies built up over the preceding three decades came into it's own as a Parni sleeper agent opened the city gates for Arshak. The horsemen rode in and took the city, slaughtering the small Greek garrison.

Moving on to Persepolis would have to wait however, the agent told Arshak that two large armies were en route to the city, each around the same size as the army he had defeated a few days before and both composed of soldiers from the Greeks wars in Asia Minor and led by veteran Greek nobility. It seemed the Basileus would not give up his connection to his eastern holdings without a fight