[EB AAR] Pontos Rising

[FriendlyFire]

The world in 209 BC:

The Lusos have swept over Gaul like a great tidal wave, reducing the Aedui and Arverni to just a single region each. The Romans have been spared only because they were the first to ally with the Lusos, and have been left fighting the Sweboz and central European rebels. In Hellas, the Epeirotes still hold out in the old Makedonian capital, and the Koinon Hellenon and Getai have both rebounded. In the east, the Arche Seleukeia are fighting the Ptolemaioi and Saba, while still having enough forces left over to crush Pahlava, and leaving Baktria and Saka to fight a bitter little war of their own.

A close-up of the Mediterranean and Black Sea:

Note how I'm still insulated from Rome (by chance), Carthage (by planning), and Arche Seleukeia (mostly by planning). The top four powers are Rome, Pontos, Arche Seleukeia, and Lusotanna.

[FriendlyFire]

Chapter 22: The Death of Three Kings, 209 - 200 BC

During the great Syrian wars, Hystaspis Kianos had torn the heart out of the old Ptolemaioi empire, and left the remains in three relatively independent pieces. The first piece was centered around the coastal town of Kyrene, across the Libyan desert to the west of the Nile. The second clung to a few lands in the Kush, far up the great Nile itself, but this was the weakest of the three pieces, since it was mostly preoccupied with fighting rebellious tribes who had pledged their allegiance to the Sab'yn. The third and strongest piece still held the old Seleukid cities in the heart of Babylonia, and it was the taxes from these great cities that funded continued war-making by all three pieces of Ptolemaioi territory against Pontos.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Ptolemaioi seemed to have a rhythm to their war-making. For several years the only attacks came from Kyrene in the west, marching across the desert towards the Pontic stronghold at Paraitonion. The great walls of Paraitonion allowed archers and slingers to rain destruction on the attacking Ptolemaioi troops, and after they were sufficiently weakened the garrison would sally forth, pitting their pikes against the invaders. Only once did the garrison stay inside their walls, when they were outnumbered by more than three to one. Gradually pushed backwards towards the square, they made the Ptolemaioi pay for every step. When the battle was over less than one-third of the garrison was still on their feet - but not a single attacker escaped the city.

Then the attacks against Paraitonion would cease, only to be replaced by a stream of armies marching out of Babylonia towards the mountain fortress of Karkathiokerta. The Pontic defense here was much more straightforward, since the great height of the fortress allowed the Pontic slingers and archers on its walls to easily out-range their attackers. Sometimes the garrison would only find a few attackers left when they sallied. On other occasions, the garrison would have to charge downhill to persuade the survivors to retreat. And still they came, in all seasons.

Apart from these constant low-level battles, the decade was notable for the deaths of three great kings. The first to die was the Setepenrameriamen, or Basileus, of the Ptolemaioi. He was Themias Kerkeosirites, a Makedonian who ruled the Ptolemaioi lands in Babylonia. Foul-mouthed and sacrilegious to the old gods of the Ptolemaioi, he was not well-loved by his people, and in 206 BC he met his match at the hands of Hystaspis Kianos. Despite his advancing age the Pontic king had been afflicted with the lust for war that seems a trait of the Kianos line, and he took his veteran army out on one last campaign, trapping Themias in the town of Edessa.

A small Ptolemaioi relief force triggered a field battle, and as the lines clashed the Klerouchoi phalangites on both sides found themselves evenly matched. Seeking to break the stalemate, Themias lead his bodyguards in a charge into the Pontic flank. Being pinned down by the veteran thureophoroi there, he did not hear the Pontic war chariots circling behind him until it was far too late. Their scythed wheels cut his horse from under him, and then continued their deadly work, mowing down the remains of his army as it tried to flee.

The second death was that of Ardabur, the Khashaya of the Sauromatae. Rather dull and lazy, he had not realized the growing threat from Pontos, as it expanded across the Black Sea and encroached on the old grazing lands of his steppe tribes. His opponent was Pharnakes Kianos, the youngest son of Hystaspis, who was still trying to make a name for himself in these barbarian lands. Having pacified Chersonesos, Pharnakes had sailed around the headlands to besiege the coastal town of Olbia, bringing his usual army of Hellenic hoplites mixed with local Scythian archers. It was only when his scouts brought word of the Sauromatae royal standard flying above the town that he realized exactly who was inside its wooden walls.

Nonetheless, Pharnakes ordered his archers to chase a few horse-archers away from the main gates, and this allowed his hoplites to easily batter the gates down and walk in almost unhindered. Only when they were inside did they realize the problem they faced, for Ardabur had many heavily-armored horse-archers to defend the town, and he kept them high on the central hill. The hoplites could not keep their distance, for they would be gradually whittled away by incessant arrow fire, but when they tried to climb the hill Ardabur charged his cavalry down into their midst, and now the hoplites had to fight uphill, against men and horses who were as heavily armored as they were. It was only a final despairing charge by Pharnakes that broke the will of Ardabur - and it was Pharnakes himself who cut down the Sauroamatae king as he tried to flee back to the square. But the death of a king had been bought at terrible cost, and the hillside was littered with the shields of hoplites who would never fight for Pontos again.

The third and final death was that of Hystaspis Kianos himself - but his was a peaceful end, safe in Edessa and surrounded by his loyal troops. And thus in 200 BC his elder son Zenon was crowned the new king of Pontos. His father had expanded the Pontic realm to include all the lands of Syria and most of the Nile - what would Zenon do?

[Atraphoenix]

good luck to you for your full scale war.
I mostly never attack more than one front. I like divide and conquer style.
Plus do not worry about about romani they should be busy with their nemesis Lusos, ın my campaigns I have never seen them successful in their struggle against lusos.

[FriendlyFire]

good luck to you for your full scale war.
I mostly never attack more than one front. I like divide and conquer style.
Plus do not worry about about romani they should be busy with their nemesis Lusos, ın my campaigns I have never seen them successful in their struggle against lusos.

Trouble is, I want to worry about the Romans :) I want them to beat the Lusos and take over Europe so the whole thing can end in a climactic Rome/Pontos war. I've given the legions an extra secondary hitpoint, and that seems to helping - it's enabled the Romans to crush the remaining central European rebels, and combine with the Lusos to finish off the Sweboz:

[vollorix]

@FF: if 2 HP won´t work properly, though i guess they should, try to give romans "ap" for their gladius. I suspect that is the actual reason for the Lusotanians to steamroll anyone in Europe, but i´d gladly see the result of long term observation, and since you do not interfear in their affairs, you only will have to worry about uber legions which once would knock on your door ^^

[kidpacific]

Really awsome AAR. Please contiue.
May i ask how to use chariots effectively? In my Casse and Pontus game, they are useless except when they run amok.Thanks in advance.

[FriendlyFire]

@vollorix: So far the secondary hitpoint seems to be working - when I look at combat-depleted Roman stacks after they've fought Sweboz and rebels, there are a lot more survivors in legion units than in the regional auxilia. Remains to be seen how 2HP-legionaries face against AP-Lusotana, of course. Not sure I want to give them AP swords, because that'll make them really hard for me to kill too :)

@kidpacific: I only use the scythed chariots against enemy units which are already engaged, and are already having a hard time (e.g. tired, shaken, unhappy about casualties). I typically send them on a big sweeping arc around one flank once the lines are fully engaged, then let them sit FAR behind the enemy till the opportunity arises. You want them a long way back because they seem to need a long runup for a good charge. They also make excellent general-killers: if the enemy general is doing his usual "charge at your infantry line, fight for a bit, pull back, then charge again" trick, then slamming chariots into his back while he's engaged is often an instant kill. If you time things right, they only have to make ONE charge in a battle, because they'll trigger a mass rout. And then they are absolutely devastating against routing enemies - just click on the enemy unit furthest away, and they will plough through all the nearer enemies as well. Almost painful to watch. Baby them for a couple of battles, and they'll get enough experience to increase their defense stat and do much better in melee - then you can risk using them for two charges in a battle instead of just one :) But really they're my "prestige" unit for Pontos - it's not clear they're the *best* unit for the money, but they sure are fun.

[kidpacific]

Thanks for ur detailed reply. I'll try ur tactic.

[Tyrfingr]

Seems that you will have to FD the brown death back to Hispania, maybe restore some provinces to Carthage...

[Atraphoenix]

Carthage has no chance against lusos, nearly all of my campaigns end with 3 powers my empire, lusos in celtic lands, getai in the middle, ı am in the east....

[FriendlyFire]

Chapter 23: The Sons of Ba'al

As the new king of Pontos came to power, some old constants remained. The eastern Ptolemaioi in the provinces of Babylonia were forever trying to reunite their fragmented empire, and between the years 200 BC and 192 BC they besieged the mountain city of Karkathioketa no fewer than 17 times, and the city of Edessa in the plains below 8 times. Every single one of these assaults was thrown back, thanks to the high stone walls that surrounded both fortress cities, and the slingers and arches who stood on those walls. Steppe riders from the mountains of Armenia were now attached to the garrisons, and they harried the Ptolemaioi as they fled the field after each unsuccessful attack.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

For a time it seemed as if Zenon Kianos could reign from Asia Minor, relying on these strong border garrisons to repel all invaders. Meanwhile his younger brother Pharnakes was carving out a small corner of the kingdom for himself across the Pontus Euxinus, in the lands of the Skythians. In 198 BC Pharnakes besieged the coastal town of Tanais, which was controlled by the Sauromatae. As well as local mercenaries, Pharnakes used many thureophoroi in his new army. He was still trying to find the right combination of troop types to counter the armored horse-archers of the Sauromatae, and fearing their compound bows, he decided to starve the defenders out.

After a year-long siege, the Sauromatae general Bairoraspos was forced to sally. Pharnakes was a capable but somewhat unimaginative commander, and responded to this sally by charging most of his troops towards the main gate, while sending a few to batter more breaches through the wooden walls. The fight at the main gate quickly degenerated into a confused melee, as Sauromatae infantry tried to fight their way out, and their cavalry charged in from the flank. However, the side breaches allowed more Pontic troops to move behind the Sauro defenders, and they finally carried the fight to capture the square and the town. Pharnakes's decision to starve the defenders out was vindicated, for not only were their numbers considerably reduced, but their horse-archers were brought to battle on the flat just inside and outside the gates, instead of being able to hang back on the central mound and rain arrows down on the Pontic troops.

At the same time, Zenon Kianos had been roused to action by news from the deserts of Libya. The isolated Ptolemaioi there had overstretched themselves, and lost control of the inland town of Augila to Numidian rebels. The Ptolemaioi were too weak to retake the town, but their Carthaginian allies had strong armies nearby. If left to their own devices, it seemed inevitable that Carthage would capture Augila, and then use it as a stepping-stone to threaten Pontic control of the Nile. Meanwhile the real power lay in the nearby coastal Hellenic city of Kyrene, which was the last outpost of the Ptolemaioi in the west. To counter this threat, Zenon sailed south from Asia Minor past the island of Kypros and down to Alexandreia, then westward along the coast, collecting the experienced garrison from Paraitonion as he passed, and finally arrived off the coast of Kyrene.

Wasting no time, Zenon assaulted the weak garrison of Kyrene in the fall of 197 BC, a season after his younger brother had captured Tanais far to the north. This was a battle almost like those of the founding of the Pontic kingdom 70 years before, with Pontic pikemen resisting all attempts by lighter Ptolemaioi troops to throw them back out through breaches in the wooden walls. Lighter thureophoroi took over for the push to the square, where Zenon himself led his bodyguards in a final charge, and then reviewed the troops under a fresh Pontic flag. Thus was Ptolemaioi resistance in the west crushed.

The race was now on between two great powers to build up their strength in this inhospitable landscape, and as Carthage's armies marched along the coastal road, the Pontic navy brought in more troops from Paraitonion and Alexandreia to garrison Kyrene. This in turn allowed Zenon to move his conquering army into the desert in an attempt to deter Carthage, and for a time it seemed as if they would content themselves with taking Augila from the rebels. Their armies contained many veteran troops, including well-armored Libyan pikemen, the Sacred Band of Carthage itself, and elite Liby-Phoenicians, both on foot and on horseback, and surely any of these could easily crush the rebels underfoot. More importantly for Zenon, it would give him more time to build up his strength, and for his spies to watch these new opponents in action.

The Carthaginians had other ideas, and in the summer of 195 BC their smaller army marched out of the desert to give battle to Zenon. After so many rumors and speculation about the elite Carthaginian troops, it was almost a relief to finally face them - and especially when the Pontic klerouchoi phalangitai from Alexandreia proved capable of holding their ground against the fabled Sacred Band. A charge from the Carthaginian cavalry fared no better, and as the attacking army started to dissolve Zenon finally sent his chariots sweeping into action, chasing down the routers and fertilizing the coastal plain with their blood.

No sooner had this first threat been seen off than the second (and much larger) Carthaginian army attacked. Zenon formed his army into close ranks and waited, and this time it was the Carthaginian cavalry who attacked first, charging into the thureophoroi guarding the Pontic flanks. As the lines closed the Carthaginian general waded into the fray, and with the support of his bodyguards the red-cloaked Libyan pikemen finally succeeded in breaking through the center of the Pontic line. His moment of triumph was short-lived, however - once again, the Pontic chariots came charging around a flank, their cruel spikes and scythes brought the general crashing to the ground, and now his army found themselves leaderless and pinned against the Pontic line. Local machimoi troops from Paraitonion charged in behind the chariots, slamming into the rear of the Carthaginian troops and completing the rout. Finally only the geen-clad Liby-Phoenician infantry were left, standing their ground and fighting to the death rather than leave the field of battle.

Despite their terrible losses, Carthage's diplomats refused all offers of a ceasefire. The kingdom of Pontos had a new enemy.

[Horatius Flaccus]

Nice!

[FriendlyFire]

Carthage has no chance against lusos, nearly all of my campaigns end with 3 powers my empire, lusos in celtic lands, getai in the middle, ı am in the east....

I've given up on Carthage doing anything much - they still haven't even finished off western Africa! Plus if I take them out of the equation then Rome can grow that little bit bigger. Generally try to avoid force diplomacy, although I've moved AI armies occasionally to give smaller powers a chance (e.g. I moved the starting Koinon Hellenon stack on Krete to Sparte, and later I saved Pahlava by moving a couple of encroaching Seleukid stacks to India).

[FriendlyFire]

Chapter 24: Beset on Every Side

Zenon Kianos now saw his chance to leave a legacy - from being a king without a cause, he would turn himself into the man who would rid the world of the sons of Ba'al. First he had to rest and replenish his army, battered after their previous battles for Kyrene, but by 193 BC they were ready. Leaving a strong garrison in Kyrene, he sailed along the coast to the next Carthaginian stronghold, landed, and took the city of Lepki under siege.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Zenon was hoping for a single climactic battle for Lepki, but the nearby Carthaginian commander sent in a scout force first, seeking to relieve the siege with a mere handful of men. This small army was treated contemptuously by Zenon's phalangites, who were no longer scared of the Carthaginian troops. After the enemy cavalry had been seen off, Zenon sent local Garamantine mercenaries around the flanks to stab the Carthaginian spearmen in the back, followed by a sweeping run of his beloved Pontic chariots. These monstrosities from the past were too much for the outnumbered Carthaginian troops, and they broke and ran for the safety of the city walls, only to be run down by Zenon's steppe riders, who rode on to enter and capture Lepki.

Lepki was the first Carthaginian city to fall into Pontic hands, lying as it does on an ancient border between Hellenic and Phoenician colonies. Zenon's army was taking no chances, and put most of the inhabitants to the sword - when they found out just how much of the city was devoted to veneration of the dead, they thought this had been a fitting act. There were few local troops who could replace their losses, so Zenon continued to rely on reinforcements by sea from Asia Minor and Alexandreia. In these lands the tribes of the Garamantine use barbarian spearmen clad in animal skins and carrying hide shields - they are well-suited to fast raids across the desert to the next tribal oasis, but the Pontic troops thought them terribly vulnerable to missiles, and unlikely to stand and fight in the main line of battle.

They would find out soon enough, for the Carthaginian commander quickly besieged the Pontic troops inside Lepki, and his army made extensive use of Garamantine mercenaries. Zenon ordered an immediate sally, and his phalangites began remorselessly grinding away at the Garamantines, who in turn tried desperately to move around the flanks. They could not find an opening, and soon began to rout. The elite Libyan pikemen, veterans of many battles in Africa, were another story - cutting their way through their Pontic counterparts, they were only stopped when Zenon's mercenary band of Ethiopian swordsmen charged into their rear. Finally, in a clash of bodyguards and chariots, the Carthaginian general himself fell, and Carthage's attempt to retake Lepki had failed.

Zenon now looked forward to a steady stream of reinforcements, to allow him to march up the coast towards Kart-Hadast itself, but what he saw in the harbor one day in 192 BC caused his face to harden. The expected fleet from Asia Minor, which he imagined to be full of good Hellenic phalangites and thureophoroi from Sardis and Ipsos, turned out to be a light ship carrying a single apologetic messenger. The reinforcements had been recalled to Asia Minor, Pontos had a new enemy, and all because of some lowly captain's decision! As far as Zenon could make out, this Captain Menophilos had been the commander of one of the border forts that enclosed the Makedonian province of Mysia, guarding the important bridges and crossing points. The Getai, allies of Pontos, had been trying to take the provincial capital of Pergamon from the Makedonians for years. Apparently one of their princes had been soundly beaten in battle, and had retreated with the remnants of his army to the bridge in front of this fort. The Makedonians had sent a single band of professional hoplites to finish off the prince, who had appealed to the Pontic captain for aid, reminding him of their alliance. Feeling compelled to intervene, the captain had taken his levy hoplites, charged the Makedonian professionals, and carried the day - but Pontos was now at war with Makedonia.

Having seen off the Getai, the Makedonians besieged the bridge fort in 191 BC with a strong force of hoplites. There still wasn't a qualified general in the area - word had urgently been sent to Pharnakes Kianos, the younger brother of Zenon, who was in the lands of the Skythians, but it would take a year for him to cross the Pontos Euxinus and arrive in Asia Minor. The fort would fall long before then, and therefore the local governor marched out to relieve it, taking with him an army raised from nearby Thracians and Gauls. The Makedonians fancied themselves masters of the bridge, but the Pontic governor proved an able tactician, sending his troops racing across a nearby ford, led by his cavalry. The Celto-Hellenic hoplites just had time to form their lines on the far bank when the enraged Makedonians attacked, charging with their own hoplites in shield-wall formations. Surrounding and subduing these dense formations took some time, but eventually the Galatian heavy spearmen and Thracian cavalry won the day. The western borders were secure once more.

The year still wasn't over, however. The Arche Seleukeia, once the masters of Pontos, had been undergoing a resurgence in the east. Instead of challenging the Ptolemaioi for mastery of Babylonia, they had marched great armies up into the mountains of the Caucasus and begun to reassert their control over the kingdom of Hayasdan. Now some of these armies were coming down out of the mountains on the other side - and one had just laid siege to the Pontic border town of Ani-Kamah. The mountain war had begun, and Pontos was beset on every side.

[Atraphoenix]

another superb update!
Personally I leave cyprus alone for Ptolemies, and conquer Rodos for seleucids and let them enjoy their family members womanizing and under the humiliation I have made to them.

[FriendlyFire]

another superb update!
Personally I leave cyprus alone for Ptolemies, and conquer Rodos for seleucids and let them enjoy their family members womanizing and under the humiliation I have made to them.

Thanks :) I hadn't thought of taking Rhodos and then giving it away - that would certainly avoid the problem of every other faction launching naval invasions as soon as I conquer it. Cunning!

[FriendlyFire]

Chapter 25: 191-188 BC

The most fearsome part of the Seleukid force that laid siege to Ani-Kamah in 191 BC were the Kataphractoi, armored behemoths that had never been seen before by the armies of Pontos. Accompanying them were regular phalangites, but they were easily outnumbered by the levy garrison that held the town.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It seemed that the Arche Seleukeia were merely testing the defenses of Pontos - when the garrison sallied, and quickly surrounded, harassed, and finally shattered the phalanx, the Kataphractoi cantered calmly away, ignoring the despairing cries of their infantrymen fleeing the field behind them. After the corpses had been cleared from the field, a Seleukid diplomat arrived to explain that this had all been an unfortunate misunderstanding, due to a headstrong young captain, and that of course the Arche Seleukeia desired peace. Pontic spies revealed the real reason for this sudden change of heart: the Seleukids had now overrun the Kingdom of Hayasdan, exiling the royal family to the steppes beyond the mountains, and their armies clearly needed a few months to reform and reorganize. New Pontic armies were hurriedly raised to meet this threat.

Meanwhile, in far-off Africa, Zenon Kianos fought a great battle in defense of the city of Lepki. The Carthaginians had brought many mercenaries to the fight, including Hellenes, Gauls, Iberians, and even Ligurians from northern Italy, and the different contingents were commanded by no less than three different generals. To face them, Zenon had reinforced his own army, and also counted on his son Megabazos to march out from the city with locally-raised troops to reinforce his position. However, on the decisive day the Carthaginians arrived at the battlefield much sooner than Zenon had expected, and his son's force arrived too late to affect the outcome.

The battle was fought on farm slopes next to the coast, around an old farmstead that Zenon used to anchor his line. He stretched his long phalanx out into the grain fields, the men resting there as the Carthaginian force advanced up the slope to meet them. Soon cries went up in every language, as the mercenaries urged each other on, seeking to be the first to break through the wall of Pontic sarissas poking out of the grain. Zenon kept some of his forces in reserve, expecting the Carthaginian generals at any moment to lead their elite cavalry bodyguards in a crashing charge.

Minutes passed, the cries of encouragement were changing to those of pain and mortality, and still the generals did not charge. Suddenly, as one, they turned and left the field, accompanied by a few reserves, but leaving the vast majority of their mercenaries to face their fate without leaders. Zenon took swift advantage of this unexpected good fortune, sending his own light troops around behind the enemy line, to hurl javelins into their rear and then charge home. Caught between immovable sarissas and fresh charging troops, and sharing no common language with which to organize a cohesive defense, the tired mercenaries died by the hundred - it is said that to this day the fields of that farm give especially abundant crop. Thus was Lepki saved again, but Zenon knew that it could not hold out forever. The disposable mercenaries had bought the Carthaginians time to raise more troops of their own, from the elite garrisons of Kart-Hadast itself, and stopping that threat would be his life's work.

While Zenon sought to hold onto (if not expand) his lands in Africa, his younger brother Pharnakes had finally arrived in Asia Minor to take command of the campaign against Makedonian aggression. No sooner had he arrived in the great city of Nikaia than he found himself besieged there, by a small Makedonian force whose path was otherwise blocked by Pontic border forts. He soon saw off the attackers, crushing them into the spears of Nikaia's garrison as he and the governor led their bodyguards in charges of the old style.

The Pontic cities of Nikaia, Ipsos, Sardis, and nearby Ankyra had been recruiting troops for the past year and a half in expectation of Pharnakes's arrival, and so he found two considerable armies waiting for his command. Less of a tactician than his brother, Pharnakes strove for simplicity in all things, and brute force where necessary. Rather than waste time in strategic maneuvering, marches and counter-marches, he simply ordered both armies into battle in the same season, simultaneously besieging the Makedonian island fortress of Mytilene and their subject city of Pergamon. And there he sat, determined to starve the defenders out instead of taking the cities by storm .

The garrison of Pergamon was the first to run out of supplies, sallying forth in 188 BC with less than half of its original manpower. Throughout this time a Makedonian general had been trying to raise an army nearby to break the siege, but Zenon had prevented this by the simple expedient of recruiting every mercenary band as soon as it appeared on the market, paying them to resettle elsewhere in the Pontic kingdom, and thereby starving the Makedonians of their manpower. When the garrison sallied they therefore found no reinforcing army to support them, and Zenon's local klerouchoi phalangites easily held the Makedonian hoplites and local axemen at bay. Even when the enemy general charged, breaking the phalanx apart, Pharnakes still had troops in reserve, and simply sent a unit of thureophoroi in to support the disrupted phalanx, and bring the Makedonian crashing to the ground.

At the death of their commander the enemy army broke and ran back for the city, and now it was the turn of the contingent from Ankyra to charge into action. Heavy Galatian heavy spearmen, proudly wearing blue cloaks as the picked infantry bodyguard of a Pontic general, braved boiling oil to race through the gates behind the routers, capturing the gatehouse. As they were weighed down by their heavy armor and discomfited by the hot oil, Pharnakes then allowed them to rest for a while, before leading them into the square and the final capture of Pergamon.

Mytilene's garrison had stretched out their food supply to last even longer, but that just meant they had fewer men fit to take the field when the last dog had finally been eaten. Facing impossible odds, they surrendered without a fight six months after Pergamon fell. And thus by the winter of 188 BC, 84 years after Ktistes Mithridates Kianos had first led his army to war, Pontos finally controlled all of Asia Minor.

[Tyrfingr]

This could be the best aftermath-picture I've seen!

[vollorix]

Good stuff, FF! I´ve injoyed the writing, your naration is getting even better, imho :)

[Ludens]

This could be the best aftermath-picture I've seen!

[Atraphoenix]

When Carthage attack me, I know that they do not stop until you conquer whole african lands.
It will be a long, a very very long campaign.
Good luck

[FriendlyFire]

Chapter 26: 187-185 BC

[There's a lot more happening in each year as the global conflict heats up, so I'll try to make the fronts a bit clearer]

Carthaginian Campaign: While Zenon Kianos rebuilt his army in Lepki, his Roman allies continued to land small expeditionary forces near Kart-Hadast. Zenon could not stand the thought that Rome would seize this great prize before he could get there, and so he left Lepki in the hands of his son Megabazos and set sail again along the coast, landing and besieging the next Carthaginian city of Adrumeto. Carthage's nearest army was out of reach to the south, having been outpaced by the Pontic fleet as it raced up the coast, and Zenon had time to orchestrate a set-piece assault of the city in 187 BC.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Gaining the walls easily, the Pontic thureophoroi and Cretan archers rained missiles down on the Carthaginian elites in the streets below, forcing them to retreat to the square where the governor stood. Here the battle became another push of pike against Libyan spearmen, and Zenon's superior numbers soon took their toll. The Carthaginian governor fell to a machimoi sword, and his city quickly followed. Zenon could now threaten Kart-Hadast itself.

This new threat spurred the Carthaginians into a frenzy of recruitment, and they now sent three armies marching south. One beat back the latest Roman expeditionary force, another guarded the border, and the third and largest army besieged Zenon in Adrumeto.

Possibly the Carthaginians intended to combine these three armies before the final assault on Adrumeto, but Zenon was not going to give them this time. He sallied forth immediately, pitting his veteran klerouchoi phalangites from Alexandreia against the elites of Kart-Hadast, who were supported by a host of local troops. This seemed to shock the Carthaginian commander, who ordered an immediate withdrawal while leaving the phalanx to cover his retreat. He managed to save half of his army, but mere numbers did not tell the story, for he had abandoned the best troops of Carthage to die before the walls of Adrumeto. Zenon's path to Kart-Hadast now seemed open.

Armenian Campaign: After the initial Seleukid siege of Ani-Kamah in 191 BC, they had launched two more attacks in the succeeding years, fleeing each time from the hail of missiles from its high stone walls. Meanwhile Pontic troops had been streaming in from the west, and in 185 BC a young Kianos prince finally went on the offensive, taking a mostly Hellenic army from the northern coast of Anatolia and laying siege to the old Armenian town of Kotais. He was Antipatros son of Arses, and at the age of 20 his slick ways already led some to compare him favorable to Zenon's own son Megabazos.

Antipatros sent word to Zenon that the Seleukids had replied with a small relief force, led by an overconfident general who immediately charged the Pontic hoplites. Counter-charged by Cappadocian hillmen, he had fled in disarray and been run down by Steppe riders, leaving his army leaderless and easily flanked.

Victory came cheaply to Antipatros, and he reported that the grateful citizens of Kotais were offering their immediate services as light troops, skilled in the mountain ways of fighting.

A later message from Antipatros carried a more somber tone, for he had been besieged in Kotais by a large force of phalangites. Before sallying, he had explained his tactics to his men: the hoplites would stand firm against the Seleukid sarissas, while the professional Pontic thorakitai would flank as soon as an opening presented itself. In doing so, the thorakitai had taken heavy casualties, and it had been up to the hoplites to finish the job. Still, Antipatros could not resist including the casualty rolls in his report, emphasizing how few Seleukids had left the field alive. His star was clearly rising, and he wanted his king to know it.

[Global Diplomacy: Time to kick off the Roman/Iberian wars. Pontos was allied with both of them, so it was just a matter of sending my fleet to blockade a Lusotana port - there was even a little Roman fleet nearby to observe the casus belli. This triggered the collapse of the alliance between Lusotana and Rome, and kicked off a wave of diplomatic changes over the next year. A Roman army aimlessly wandering around Europe soon besieged a temptingly-undefended Lusotana town, but elsewhere the Getai did the same to a Roman province, and swiftly allied with Rome's old enemy Epeiros.

So my Roman allies are now fighting Lusotana for Gaul and Germania, while trying to fend off the Getai and Epeiros in Illyria. I've disabled their ability to recruit vigiles, in the hopes that they'll start churning out more heavy legions and stand half a chance]

[Populus Romanus]

I hope the Romani survive. But it is looking doubtful. Excellent update, as usual!

[FriendlyFire]

I hope the Romani survive. But it is looking doubtful. Excellent update, as usual!

If all else fails, I'll mount an invasion of Iberia :)

[Cute Wolf]

very nice AAR! Keep up FF!

[FriendlyFire]

Chapter 27: A Brief Family Interlude

Thankfully the Kianos line has been blessed with an abundance of sons, and the royal Pontic family is in no danger of dying out anytime soon. Since they're starting to spread all over the map, I thought it would be helpful to do a quick summary of who's who, as of 185 BC.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Hystaspis Kianos (265 BC - 200 BC, faction leader) had four sons:

• Zenon (57, S/C/V/U/P/D), the current king of Pontos, carving his way through Carthaginian lands. My best general: a gifted leader, great tactician, and strategic expert, tempered only by his love of beauty. Still hale and hearty despite his advanced age.
  
  
• Pharnakes (55, D/U/V/S/P/L), semi-retired in Pergamon. Not as blessed as Zenon, and has gotten increasingly testy as he ages. Hates strangers and is a good defender with a strong reputation as a famous victor, so well-placed to protect our western lands from treacherous Greeks.
  
  
• Gobryas the younger (27, S/U/V/U/O/L), moving into Armenia. Positive but still untested in combat, and may need to be watched a bit more closely than most: he's mildly extravagant, likes a flutter, welcomes foreigners, and is careless of personal security.
  
  
• Neoptolemos (22, D/C/V/S/O/D), also moving into Armenia. All that book learning in the Great School of Aramvir seems to have gone to his head: he's erudite and a skilled debater, but also worryingly seditious. What is it with young men these days?
  

Pharnouchos Kianos (253 BC - 192 BC) had two sons:

• Gobryas the elder (41, S/U/V/U/O/L), sailing from Anatolia to Africa. Makes a good ruler, since he's practical, humane, even-handed, a good trader, a grower, and has an understanding of natural philosophy. Sadly, he's also a raging drunk.
  
  
• Antipatros (20, S/C/V/S/O/D), just captured Kotais in Armenia, and a rising star. Positive, extroverted, fluent, and a consummate self-publicist and politician, with a wife above reproach, and angling for the top job. The only blot on his copybook is that he's mildly extravagant and financially irregular, but when your very first trait is "wealthy" perhaps that's inevitable…
  

Arses Kianos (256 BC - 195 BC) had one son:

• Arsames (27, S/C/V/S/O/D), currently defending Mytilene. Extroverted, erudite and a skilled debater, he can convince you of his many talents, but is also venal, sly, and of doubtful courage. Secretly infertile, so this interesting bloodline is unlikely to be extended.
  

There's also a new generation of grandsons of Hystaspis:

• Megabazos Kianos (32, S/U/L/U/O/L), son of Zenon, is helping his father in the wars against Carthage. Not like his father, but his lack of combat talent is compensated for by his calm and sober demeanor, and his devout and reverent behavior. Could make a calming (if lazy) governor.
  
  
• Ochos Kianos (34, D/U/L/U/O/L), son of Pharnakes, is also sailing from Anatolia to Africa. The least-blessed of all the Kianos clan: standoffish, flagging, and a jobsworth, with a powerful advisor and an ignorant but fruitful wife (who thankfully has only had girls so far).
  

I've also accepted many sons-in-law, favoring Hellenes for their governing skills, but I try to make it a rule that only a Kianos can lead a campaign.

[Populus Romanus]

Interesting.

[Tyrfingr]

You mind posting a family tree?

[FriendlyFire]

You mind posting a family tree?

The full family tree is too damn big at this point :) But here are the three current branches of the royal Kianos line.

The center branch is the "Hystaspic" line, descended from Hystaspis Kianos, who was blessed with four sons:


The left branch is the "Mithridatic" line, descended from Mithridates Kianos. This is in danger of dying out unless Gobryas or Antipatros have a son:


The right branch is the nearly extinct "Arsamic" line, descended from Arsames Kianos. His grandson (also Arsames) is almost certainly the last, since he's infertile. (The middle unnamed dead guy was adopted, not a true Kianos)

[FriendlyFire]

Chapter 28: Carthago Delenda Est

And… we're back!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

In 186 BC the kingdom of Epeiros had landed a small army near the Pontic port of Halikarnassos. The army then marched through Pontic territory until it reached the island of Lesbos, where it was soon joined by a second landing force. This was a clear and blatant violation of the treaty of 257 BC between Ariobarzanes Kianos and the great Pyrrhos of Epeiros (see Chapter 11: Negotiating with Pyrrhos), whereby Epeiros would hold sway over all lands to the west of the Hellespont, while Pontos laid claim to all lands to the east - including those such as Lesbos which were previously held by Makedonia, at least according to the Pontic interpretation of the treaty. What's more, the Epeirote army was also devastating the very limited farmland available on Lesbos.

The governor of Mytilene at this time was Arsames Kianos. Eager to counter the rumors about his lack of personal courage, Arsames pre-emptively attacked the two Epeirote armies, wiping them out but also triggering a state of war between Pontos and Epeiros.

Across the Hellespont, the Greek colonists in Byzantion chose this moment to throw off their Getai rulers and declare their allegiance to the Koinon Hellenon. Seeing the great advantage that such a buffer state would provide to Pontos in any future war against Epeiros, Arsames immediately sent a diplomat to negotiate an alliance with the Byzantines. Pontos now sided with the Koinon Hellenon against the Epeirotes and Makedonians.

All these events were a mere sideshow to the great conflict unfolding far to the southwest, in the lands of Carthage. First, the Carthaginians had sent an army deep into their old territory, to try once again to retake Lepki. Opposing them was Megabazos son of Zenon. His father had taken the Pontic army further north, forcing Megabazos to raise a mercenary army supported by local Numidian cavalry to lift the siege of Lepki. This was to be their first real test.

As the battle lines clashed, it was hard to tell who was fighting who, since both sides were using mercenaries. However, only Megabazos had hired phalangites, and these stood firm against the onslaught of two Carthaginian generals. When the Carthaginian leader fell to the sell-swords, the Carthaginian army dissolved into a rout, only to be mercilessly hunted down by the swift Numidian horsemen.

Further to the north, Zenon had been resting and refitting his army in Adrumeto, but was himself besieged by a second Carthaginian army. Zenon ordered an immediate sally, trusting that his veteran klerouchoi phalangites could hold the center of the line against elite Libyan pikemen.

The two great armies formed up and faced each other outside the walls of Adrumeto. Zenon soon won the battle of the skirmishers, as his Cretan archers decimated the native light troops sent out to counter them. But then the two lines of heavy infantry clashed, and for a long time there was no clear winner. Finally Zenon led his cavalry behind Carthaginian lines, sending his steppe riders on ahead to pin the Carthaginian leader, and following up with a crushing charge by his own bodyguards. Once again a Carthaginian army lost its general and immediately dissolved into a rout, but this time there was a worse fate than to be stabbed in the back by a Numidian lance, for Zenon let his scythed chariots loose on the routers, cutting down all in front of them.

The Carthaginians had taken a great gamble, sending almost all of their troops in the two armies to fight Zenon and his son - and they had lost. Now Zenon would not give them a second chance. Taking the best men from his army, he marched out and laid siege to Kart-Hadast, which was defended by just a handful of elite Carthaginian troops.

The Carthaginians did not have enough men to defend the vast walls of Carthage, and so chose to stay in the central square. As the Pontic phalanx moved through the streets to challenge them, they were met by a hail of javelins, followed by an all-out charge of the cream of Phoenicia, Libya, and Iberia. The elites were better man-for-man, but the Pontic troops stood firm - and soon a second Pontic phalanx crashed into the rear of the Carthaginians. They fought bravely to the last, but the outcome was never in any real doubt.

Zenon ordered the population of Kart-Hadast put to the sword, seeking to humble this once-mighty empire, but he almost immediately regretted the decision. Not by nature a selfish man, this act of wanton violence went against his very nature, and it is said that he was forevermore plagued by nightmares of the days of violence that followed the capture of Kart-Hadast.

One benefit of the slaughter of Kart-Hadast was that Pontic spies now found it very easy to convince the citizens of neighboring Atiqa that it was in their own interests to open the gates of their city to Zenon. "Zenon the butcher", the spies called him, and they spread rumors of his bloodthirstiness throughout Atiqa. A lot of exaggeration and a little gold soon sufficed to open the gates, and a small Pontic force stormed through. Again, there were far too few Carthaginian defenders to do anything other than make a desperate last stand on the square, and Machimoi infantry from far-off Egypt were only to happy to send them to their maker. Atiqa fell a few weeks after Kart-Hadast, and the spies kept their word, for Zenon did not slaughter its inhabitants - instead, he sold half of them into slavery.

Carthago Delenda Est.